Cheese Treatment Line Advanced

A treatment line for plasticizing cheese.

Container carousel

The container carousel is intended to make the supply of the containers as constant as possible. When the carousel is stationary, the plasticized container must first be driven out of the carousel. After that, a new non-plasticized container can be placed in the right place in the carousel.

When changing the container, the robots will empty and refill the other containers. The moment one container is empty, the carousel will rotate through one position.

Robot 1

Robot 1 will take the cheeses out of the container with the shelves. When the cheese has been removed from the container, the robot will put it away in the cheese turner. When the robot has put the cheeses away, it will first remove the shelves from the top of the cheese turner and place them under the cheese turner where they can be removed.

Cheese turner

When the robot has placed the shelves with the cheese in the cheese turner, it will be pressed against the conveyor belt by the cheese turner. The cheese is then rotated with the conveyor belt. The moment the cheese is turned, it will also be placed in the correct position for further processing of the cheese. When the machine is running, the cheese is on the conveyor belt and the shelf will be raised. The cheese is then transported to the plasticizer.

Plasticizer

The plasticizer will apply the plastic layer to the cheese. The cheese will be plasticized by means of drops that are applied to the flaps of the rollers. Additionally, it is important that the correct settings have been selected for plasticizing. These settings can be selected on the control screen. After plasticizing, the cheese will be further transported to the depositing belt.

Cheese depositing belt

After plasticizing, the cheese can be put back on the shelf. Consequently, the cheese is transported from the plasticizing belt to the end of the depositing belt. The deposit belt is a conveyor belt with a small head roller diameter to minimize the height difference between the shelf and the conveyor belt. When the cheese is at the end of the deposit belt, a clean shelf must be present before the cheese can be placed on the shelf.

Shelf washer

When the robot has put the cheese away, the robot will place the shelf on the chain conveyor. The chain conveyor will start to rotate, transporting the board to the shelf washer. The shelf will be fed through by means of a driven drum with a pressure roller. During transport, the shelf passes powered brushes and a number of nozzles to clean the shelf. After cleaning, the shelf is dried by means of a brush and a conveyor belt carries it towards the point of removal.

Roller conveyor shelves

When the shelf has been cleaned and ends at the roller conveyor, the shelf is fed through to the end of the storage belt. If the cheese is at the end of the depositing belt, both the depositing belt, and the roller conveyor will rotate simultaneously and the cheese is transported to the shelf. This happens until the shelf is full. When the shelf is full, the shelf is transported further to the last roller conveyor.

Robot 2

When the shelf is on the last roller conveyor, the shelf must be put back in an empty container. At the last position in the container carousel, there is an empty container that is automatically filled by the robot.

2 Plasticizing tanks

The plasticizing medium is stored in the plasticizing tanks. The tank is pressurized with compressed air, which transports the plasticizing medium to the pneumatic valve of the plasticizing belt.

The total installation consists of: