Reliable performance and clean operation with Festo

The process involves no fewer than five separate operations. The customer demanded that all five stations should be fully automated and linked, and that throughput times should be fast. Also essential – given the stringent regulations applying throughout the pharmaceutical sector – the line had to be built to a hygienic design.

Last but not least, despite the unpredictably of handling bulk goods, the customer wanted a highly reliable line to minimise downtime and maximise productivity.

At the first station on the production line, the boxes to be filled are separated, and at the second they're lined with a plastic bag inflated with air. The volume of air needs to be consistent, and this is achieved using a Festo pressure sensor SPAU for measurement. An IO-Link® ensures there’s a secure connection between the analogue, binary and serial communication devices.

Also at this station, the top of the bag is folded over the box edge: vital for preventing possible reverse contamination of the chemical additive. This stage of the process uses a handling system equipped wit a Festo semi-rotary drive DRRD, rodless drives DGC-K, and compact cylinders ADN and ADNGF.

Additive accuracy

The next stage is the filling of the chemical additive at the dosing station. Starting with a coarse flow for faster filling, this is subsequently scaled down to a fine flow to ensure the required filling quantity is accurate to ± 20g.

At the fourth station, the filled bag is sealed using pulse sealing. The top of the bag is shaped using Festo stainless steel round cylinders CRDSNU in a clean design and a complex spreader system, followed by pressing together. Finally, at the fifth station, the boxes are closed with a lid, which involves a number of Festo drives DGSC and DGC.

By making the complex straightforward and the unpredictable reliable, as Simon Brantschen from Burgener AG acknowledged: “the components from Festo play an important role in the successful system concept.”