Signal conditioning
Dynamic weighing
in chocolate packaging
When FlexLink faced the challenge of implementing dynamic weighing into a packaging system for the confectionery company Carambar, FlexLink selected HBM as a partner. HBM analysed the requirements and needs for this project and provided a fitting solution with the help from ClipX
F
lexLink a company with over 80,000 installations worldwide, specialises in industrial flow and conveyance solutions, as well as robotic solutions
that integrate associated services like engineering, performance check tools, maintenance and so on. In France, FlexLink has well and truly taken off, thanks
to the acquisition in 2012 of ADMV. Initially a manufacturer of vibratory bowl feeders - and then specialist machinery, created for the specific needs of customers, as well as collaborative robotics, today, this division employs around one hundred people. “By joining FlexLink, we have extended our
geographic coverage and made the whole world aware of our collaborative robotics speciality,” explains Dominique Aumaitre, project manager at the Crémieu site near Lyon. This success in generating interest in the company’s
collaborative robots recently saw FlexLink work with one of the world’s leading confectionery manufacturers. FlexLink’s French division developed a packaging/ palletisation collaborative robot system for Carambar & Co. In addition to manufacturing Carambars, the Carambar & Co also brings together other well-known brands such as Terry’s, Poulain, Suchard, Mi-Cho-Ko, Krema, La pie qui chante, Malabar and les pastilles Vichy. The collaborative robot system installed at Carambar
incorporates two HBM PW18 load cells linked to an the ClipX industrial conditioner with DIN RAIL mounting. Three lines have been delivered to the confectionery manufacturer so far.
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The high-speed machine produced by FlexLink for Carambar performs the filling and palletisation of Carambar crates.
THe PaCkaging ProCess The pre-wrapped Carambars are placed in a hopper, which is used as buffer storage. They are taken by a cleated belt conveyor at a 45° angle, which pours them into plastic crates. Once full, the crates move along a conveyor system, before they are finally picked up by a collaborative robot, that places them on a pallet. “The specifications required a knowledge of the global weight of Carambars loaded onto each pallet. Rather than assessing the pallet, we have decided to weigh each crate individually and calculate the overall heaviness of the crates loaded onto the pallet,” explains FlexLink’s Samuel Hacquin. “The load cell was placed under the crate, which had been filled by the cleat conveyor belt. This type of conveyor is obviously not suitable for dosing, as the sweets fall randomly by the
August 2020 Instrumentation Monthly
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