Category: Food/Beverage

Case studies of parts cleaning & sanitizing applications for food/beverage industries; cleaning macrobins, totes, pans, trays, pallets, mixing components, etc.

Return Conveyor Tote Washer – Case Study 23189

return conveyor tote washer load-unload ends — Return conveyor tote washer load-unload ends

Background:

This company is a warehouse supplier to a leading grocery store chain in the Mid-Atlantic and East North Central United States. Specifically, the warehouse facility operates a piece-pick area where individual products are picked, placed in plastic totes, loaded onto trucks, and shipped to the various store locations to keep shelves stocked.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

The facility processes large quantities of grocery products for the distribution of both food and non-food items. These products are placed in various totes ranging in size from 19″ x 12″ x 7″ to 22″ x 16″ x 17″, many of which have attached flap lids.

The totes can accumulate factory dirt, dust, or contain spilled contents from broken bottles such as jelly or shampoo. Consequently, this foreign matter needs to be cleaned to prevent contamination of the grocery items.

The FDA has regulations in place regarding the distribution of food. As a result, the facility needed an efficient way to clean the large volume of these various-sized containers to be in compliance. They also wanted an exit conveyor to return the totes back towards the infeed station.

Solution/System:

In this case, the solution was a model C-24 stainless steel conveyor washer with 24-inch wide flat-wire belting and a return conveyor belt. In addition, the belt has pushers every 24 inches to help move the totes through the system. Moreover, fixed side guide rails hold the lid flaps at a slight angle to promote water drainage. Furthermore, the system has three stages: wash, rinse, and heated dry with two air cannons in the dry module to blow standing water off the totes. The variable frequency drive (VFD) has a 1-10 FPM speed allowing the system to process one tote every 20 seconds (6 FPM). Also, the unit is fully insulated to conserve energy.

Other system features include:

steam exhaust system
electronic eye to sense parts
locking door switches
door safety switches
marine clean-out door
oil skimmer
automatic timers
multiple water level controls

Please contact us to learn more about cleaning applications and systems like this!

food safety tote washer

Tote Bin Washer for Food Distribution – Case Study 22570

Background:

This family-owned company specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of food and food-related products. Significantly, the company is a leading national foodservice distributor to restaurants, casinos, resorts, healthcare facilities, educational facilities, and more. Because of this, they utilize a variety of totes and bins in the distribution of products.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

The FDA has regulations in place for food distribution. In order to be in compliance, these plastic totes and bins need to be cleaned regularly to remove dirt, organic food matter, and other materials to prevent the contamination of the food in transport. Employees at the facility manually washed 400 plastic totes a day, 18″ x 26″ x 6″, with a power washer, the results of which did not meet cleaning requirements. Consequently, the process was inefficient and wasted water and human resources. With this in mind, they needed an automated system to effectively clean a large volume of totes for reuse.

Solution/System:

The solution was a model C-24 tote bin washer with a 24-inch-wide belt, a 20-inch working height, and consisting of 3-stages: recirculated wash, recirculated rinse, and short blow-off with a 10 HP regenerative blower. Another key point is that the totes are loaded onto the conveyor on edge.

In addition, adjustable side guide rails support the totes and can accommodate new bins of other sizes. Furthermore, the throughput is 400 totes/day in a single 8-hour shift. Other system features include insulation, safety guards on the load and unload ends, automatic 24-hour/7-day timer, filtration rated for 200 GPM, and a steam exhaust system.

Results:

The results were that the automated tote washer provided consistent and thorough cleaning of all totes, ensuring that the company met regulatory cleaning guidelines. Likewise, they increased their productivity, utilized their human resources in other areas, and saved money on water.

Please contact us to learn more about cleaning applications and systems like this!

food safety tote washer

Tower Garden Cleaning – Case Study 22902

Conveyor Washer for Tower Garden Cleaning

Background:

Indoor vertical farming is a sustainable agricultural initiative that can produce more food from fewer land and water resources. Indoor food growers need to keep their environments clean and free of unwanted bacteria to prevent food contamination. Vertical farming uses food-growing towers that can be as tall as 15 ft. and weigh as much as 30 lbs. each. Tower garden cleaning is essential to food safety.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

Organic plant material and soil need to be removed from the food growing towers after each cultivation and the towers need to be thoroughly cleaned. Consequently, manually cleaning the towers by hand is a tedious and cumbersome process.

Solution/System:

In this case, the solution was a C-14 conveyor washer that automatically cleans the tower garden sections after each cultivation. The food is cultivated, most of the growing soil is removed for re-use, and the metal growing sections are then sent through the conveyor washer where they are blasted with hot water to remove residual dirt. Compressed air at the end of the wash section blows water off of the parts. The sections are then ready to be re-packed with dirt and seeded. The single-stage, recirculated spray module has an increased length of 144” and processes parts at 33 FPM. A special belt was designed to hold the parts in place and special manifolds ensure that both the ID and the OD of the sections are cleaned.

The system also features:

350-gallon heated tank
10 HP pump
marine clean-out door
hinged canopy access lids for complete access
Allen Bradley PLC & 600 Panelview
multiple water level controls
electronic eye sensors at the load and unload ends
stainless steel construction.

Please contact us to learn about more cleaning applications like this!

food safety indoor farming vertical farming

Pallet Washer – Case Study 22570

pallet washer cleaning system — Pallet Washer

Background:

This company is a leading national warehousing, distribution, and logistics firm. In particular, they offer a wide range of services including plastic pallet repair. Repairing damaged plastic pallets is a more sustainable solution as it keeps them out of landfills and the ecosystem. An aqueous-based pallet washer can be part of that solution.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

Damaged pallets need to be cleaned when having repairs done. Thus, the company needed an automated pallet washer to help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their pallet repair services.

Solution/System:

In this case, the solution was a model C-24 pallet washer. This cleaning system is specifically designed to wash plastic pallets that are as large as 48” x 48” x 6.5”. In addition, the pallets are cleaned on edge or vertically. Rails on both sides support the pallets in this orientation. The system shown is a single-stage, wash-only unit and is truly modular as additional rinse modules and dry modules can be added in the field.

The system also features:

water level controls
5HP pump
easy-access filtration basket
insulation
steam exhaust system
end-of-cycle beacon light
door safety switch
main breaker disconnect

Please contact us to learn more about cleaning applications and systems like this!

pallet washer

Tote Cleaning for Food Processing Plant – Case Study 22810

Conveyor Food Tote Washer C-24 | Better Engineering

Background:

This company is a global agricultural cooperative and the leading handler of dried fruits. They use plastic totes to transport the dried fruit throughout the food processing operations.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

Their old tote cleaning system was inefficient and only removed approximately half of the contaminants from the totes.

Solution/System:

The company needed to clean dried fruit from totes and bins used throughout their manufacturing process. This Cyberjet C-24 conveyor washer with a 24” wide belt has flat-wire belt pushers to forward totes/bins through system, side rails that keep the totes/ bins in place as they cycle through wash, rinse, and steam heat stages, and powerful spray nozzles to remove the contaminants. System cleans 600 bins/hour. Rugged stainless steel construction and NEMA 4x controls cabinet.

Tote and Tray Cleaning Food Distribution – Case Study 22851

Tote Washer C-36 for Food Industry | Better Engineering

Background:

This company is a nationwide catering and food distribution company.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

They needed a system that could handle large volume cleaning of their totes and trays used to transport food.

Solution/System:

The C-36 conveyor washer automatically cleans their totes and trays in which their food is transported. This cleaning system washes, rinses, and dries 120 bins per hour. The features include stainless construction, rails along the conveyor belt to hold the totes and lids in position, steam heat for the wash and rinse stages, electric heat for the dry module, steam exhaust system, etc.
Additional highlights include: fully insulated machine, in-line bag filter, locking door switches, electronic eyes to sense parts, marine clean-out door, steam heat, and steam exhaust.

Macrobin Conveyor Washer for Farming – Case Study 23175

Background:

This company is a conglomerate of farms growing different varieties of potatoes. They use macrobins in the harvesting of their crops.

Parts Cleaning Challenge:

As this was a new plant, they had no previous cleaning equipment and needed something that could guarantee that their macrobins were washed, rinse, sanitized, and dried.

Solution/System:

A conveyor washer with a 48″ wide belt was designed with three (3) stages: recirculated heated wash to sanitize the macrobins at 140° F. A fresh rinse with optional heat if needed and a short blow-off were added. The system cleans 1,000 macro bins (with ventilation) per 8-hour day. Along with filters on the wash and rinse, the machine was also equipped with marine clean out doors for easy maintenance, electronic eyes to sense parts and control the unload end, and a Dema valve to automatically control the introduction of detergent.