PAC AG
PACKAGING
FEATURE DEVICE PREVENTS DAMAGE
Brillopak has used an ‘electronic apple’ in the development of its UniPAKer robotic crate to help minimise damage to fruit during packing
rillopak has come up with an innovative way of using an electronic apple to inform and assist development of its UniPAKer robotic crate packer for fre sh produce. Bymeasur ing the G-forces that an apple is subjected to during the crate packing process, this intelligent logging device has enabl ed Brillopak’s engineers tomake des ign enhancements that willminimise damage and bruising to delicate fruit.
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The electronic apple is a shock and temperature logger encased in a carrier shell thatmimics the shape, size and density of a real apple. The ‘dumm y’ apple takes the place of a real apple tomonitor and locate sources of damage to fruit dur ing handling and transportation. Force and temperaturemeasurements are recorded by the device and sent via bluetooth to an app that presents them in easy to re ad and analyse graphical or Excel formats. Usi ng the results, Brillopak has redesigned the UniPAKer’s reject systemand optimised the picking and placing operation to reduce G-force stress on fruit, thus reducing damage-induced waste. On Brillopak’s UniPAKer lines flow-wrapped or pillow packs of apples are usually pass ed through a vision or checkweighing systemprior to entering the pick and place system, to check that each pack contains the correct number of fruit and tha t no apples have be en chop pe d up by the packaging machine. Reject packs are ejjected fromthe line and any good apples are reintroduced into the process. The UniPAKer was using a reject systemthat push ed apples 90° off the side of the conveyor, do wn a chute. However, this was resulting in bruising to fruit, preventing reworking. Brillopak ran tests which involved inserting the electronic apple into flow-wrapped packs and running the packs through the systemto record G-forcemeasurements. This exercise revealed that the existing systemwas causing the apple to be subjjected to forces of up to 26G in places, but if that G-force could be reduced to less than 6G, there would be no damage. The company designed and tested a new gentle reject systemthat achieved exact ly this. The systemuses tangential force to guide the rejected apples off the belt at an angle via a flexible polyurethane ban d mounted on an electronic servo motor controlled pusher.
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The other operation on robotic apple packing systems that c an be a hotspot for damage is the pick and place system. Brillopak has developed a new robot control systemthat has allow ed it to optimise the acceleration/ deceleration curve by enabling greater adjustability of parameters. “When lifting a pack of apples, the robot armaccelerates strongly upwards into a curve, th en decelerates do wn i nto the crate, so the pack is tightly controlled as it reaches the bottom of the crate,” explained Peter Newman, Brillopak technical director.
Measuring the G-forces on the electronic apple during the pick and place process, Brillopak was able to verify the system’s ability to lift bags of apples and lower theminto crates without subjecting themto force that would result in bruising.
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