Cheese Treatment Line Expert

An expert cheese treatment line developed by RMA Techniek

Conveyor belt supply / discharge

There is a straight conveyor belt at the beginning and at the end of the line. The supply belt (at the beginning) is required if it is desired to feed the cheese manually. This belt then connects to a curved belt to send the cheese into the line. The discharge belt (at the end) is required if it is desired to discharge the cheese again after plasticizing.

Curved conveyor

As the second and second to last machine there is a curve conveyor in the line. The function of the curved belts is the connection between the straight belts for the manual feeding of the cheese and the plasticizing line.

Robot 1

Robot 1 removes the shelves with cheese from the container. When the shelf is out of the container, the robot places it in the cheese turner. When the robot has put the shelf away, it will first take the shelf from the top of the cheese turner and place it under the cheese turner, where the shelf can be removed.

Cheese turner

When the robot has placed the board with cheese in the cheese turner, it will be pressed against the conveyor belt by the cheese turner. The cheese is then transported away 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 cleaning belt.

If the cheese is entered manually, the turner does not have to turn. Then the conveyor belt in the turner is used as a connection between the curved belt and the cleaning belt.

Cleaning conveyor belt

The cleaning belt provides the connection between the cheese turner and the plasticizer. Two steps are attached to the frame of the cleaning belt so that an employee can reach the cheese at a good working height to spread it.

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. After plasticizing, the cheese will be transported to the depositing belt.

Chain conveyor shelves

The chain conveyor for the shelves provides the connection between the cheese turner and the shelf washer. This runs under the cleaning belt and the plasticizer and transports the shelves.

Shelf washer

When the shelf arrives at the shelf washer, the shelf will be fed through by means of a driven drum with pressure roller. During the feed through, the shelf comes over powered brushes and a number of spray nozzles to be cleaned. After cleaning, the board is dried by means of a brush.

After the washer there is a conveyor belt that carries the shelves towards the point of removal. This is a closed conveyor belt since there is a possibility to feed the cheese without a shelf. The cheese will end up between the rollers on a roller conveyor.

Additionally, there is a possibility to dispose the shelves without cheese. To do so, the shelves will continue at the discard point instead of waiting for a cheese.

Cheese depositing belt

After plasticizing, the cheese can be put back on the shelf. Subsequently, the cheese is transported from the plasticizing belt to the end of the depositing belt. The deposit belt is a conveyor 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.

Also, there is the option of manually discharging the cheese. Then the cheese will continue without a shelf on the line towards the discharge conveyor.

Roller conveyor shelves

Once the cheese has been put back on the shelf, it ends up on the roller conveyor. The roller conveyor has an open piece at the beginning and end through which the spoons of the robot fit. At this point, robot 2 will pick up the shelves again. Another option is to dispose by hand so there is no shelf involved.

Robot 2

If the shelf on the roller conveyor is for shelves, the shelf must be put back in an empty container. That is the function of robot 2. An empty container will be ready on the turntable and it will be filled.

Turntable container

Robot 1 and robot 2 have a turntable in front of the containers. The container arrives via a roller conveyor and is turned into the right position for the robot. After the container is empty / full, the turntable continues to rotate to properly position the container for disposal.

Roller conveyor containers

The roller conveyor containers are the roller conveyors to and from the turntables.

The container is placed on roller conveyor 1. The roller conveyor carries this container through to turntable 1. There is room here to buffer 1 container. This can be useful for the lead time of the line.

Roller conveyor 2 connects the 2 turntables with each other. Here 3 empty containers can be buffered.

Roller conveyor 3 connects to turntable 2 and is also the end point of the line for containers. At the end of this track, the container can be picked up again.De totale installatie bestaat uit: