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BARCODING, LABELLING & PACKAGING
THE BENEFITS OF ELECTRIC AUTOMATION IN PACKAGING
T
he British Compressed Air Society (BCAS) calculates that, on average, 30 per cent of a company’s entire energy costs can be attributed to compressed air generation.
Compressed air systems are also generally
accepted to cost eight to 10 times more than electric systems. So, it is not surprising that electric automation is increasingly becoming a serious consideration for companies looking to upgrade or replace their pneumatic systems. At a time when reducing energy consumption
is a key financial and environmental concern, electric automation (EA) delivers significantly over air driven processes. Using a comparison based on one pneumatic cylinder unit with a travel time of 1.29 seconds, a Festo electric cylinder unit with the same travel time achieves energy savings of 705kWh per year – a saving of roughly £120 per year at current tariffs - and a 93 per cent reduction in carbon emissions. This is for just one cylinder - imagine the saving scaled up to a large industrial plant with multiple units.
Electric automation (EA) is an increasingly popular choice for companies wishing to replace or upgrade their pneumatic systems. Here Aniq Rehman, technical specialist in EA for Thorite, explains the benefits of EA and what makes it particularly appropriate for packaging processes.
However, EA also delivers a number of other benefits, all of which are extremely relevant to packaging companies. The nature of automated packaging presents a number of challenges. Frequent changes of direction and differing speeds are required along the line, there is a need for absolute precision during repeat actions and, where the packaging of consumables such as food and drink or pharmaceuticals is involved, scrupulous
cleanliness must be maintained. Pneumatic systems can rarely meet these
challenges quickly or easily, as they often demand frequent manual intervention to set and readjust the drive at multiple stages of the packaging process.
BENEFITS OF ELECTRIC AUTOMATION EA allows multiple positions and differing speeds to be programmed within a given stroke.
30 MAY 2024 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS
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