As an example, AHS’s test center is a 645 sq-m (6,942 sq-ft) testing facility centered around a test workshop equipped with product transfer systems from brands that fall under the AHS and Advanced Material Processing (AMP) umbrella, including Cablevey Conveyors, Spiroflow, Kason, and Marion.
Comprehensive testing helps food processors make well-informed decisions regarding conveyor type and brand selection based on known material properties. This approach also allows equipment engineers to create customized solutions that align with processors’ specific requirements, which leads to improved product quality, conveyor reliability, productivity, and uptime.
More assessable and comprehensive testing
“With material testing, the main concern is usually conveyability. Through laboratory analysis, we can assess the flowability of the material to determine the throughput (a conveyor) will be able to deliver,” says Emmanuel Ricohermoso III, operations and testing manager of Automated Handling Solutions Germany GmbH Test Center in Friedrichsdorf, Germany.
However, many in the industry are now seeking a deeper understanding of the material characteristics of their product prior to this step. In a fully equipped laboratory, powders can be evaluated to determine bulk density, moisture content, and angle of repose to determine flowability.
“If the material test is something that is already part of our portfolio and it is already set up in the lab, we often offer it at no cost to food processors,” says Ricohermoso. “Typically, we only charge if there is some special setup that we must do for the testing itself.”
In the food industry, it’s common for processors to test—and even retest—their products on the conveyor systems they are considering purchasing. After all, every food product or raw ingredient has distinct characteristics that will determine how it behaves under the stresses and pressures of conveyance. This testing offers crucial insights into flow characteristics, throughput, breakage potential, safety measures, cleaning requirements, and maintenance protocols. It also plays a vital role in enabling accurate equipment evaluation and sizing.
“Laboratory analysis is a quick and simple way to assess product conveyability,” says Ricohermoso. “Instead of testing a bulk of sample, 150 kg or more, lab analysis will only require a kilo of the sample to measure the densities (bulk and tapped); moisture content; particle size distribution; friability; and flowability indices such as Hausner ratio, Carr’s Index, angle of repose, and slip angle. We also consider qualitative analysis such as the tendency of the sample to be static, to form ratholes, to bridge, or to compact.”
If preventing product damage is less of a concern to processors, other options can include a range of conveyor types. Aeromechanical conveyors such as Aeroflow can be used for rapid product transport. These conveyors have a tubular design where a cable assembly, with evenly spaced polyurethane discs, moves at high speed. Enclosed aeromechanical conveyors are a good choice for conveying large volumes of products such as powdered and granulated sugar.
The information derived from these tests is proving invaluable to address product-specific challenges with powder, such as compaction, abrasiveness, stickiness, and insufficient flowability. These factors can even play a critical role in selecting the type of conveyor system—whether aeromechanical, flexible screw, or tubular cable drag.
He adds that lab analysis requires less work but offers a lot of data about the material itself. “This process helps us come up with a suitable device that is tailored to the product,” says Ricohermoso.
Because the test center is part of a network of international test sites available to food processors within AHS’s family of companies, it’s a simple matter to perform a required test at one site and transfer the results to the needed location around the world.
In this regard, the test center offers an extensive array of conveyor types to food processors for testing purposes. The facility also provides testing on a full range of other associated equipment necessary for material handling and production, including bag conditioning, bulk bag discharging and filling, dewatering, sieving, mixing, and drying.
The test facility includes a state-of-the-art in-house laboratory dedicated to material characterization.
Visit Cablevey for more information, and view a virtual tour here.