Benefits of Electric Actuators in the Food Industry

Electric actuators offer various advantages for many industries, and the food industry is one of those. They are designed to perform in a rough and challenging environment. Here are a few benefits:

• Speed up Operations: Certain processes such as wash-down, caustic cleaning, slicing, and cutting can wear out the food equipment over time. Hence, it is important that the actuators are corrosion resistant and functioning well. Depending on the materials used for the construction, electrical actuators perform these operations with ease and less maintenance. These actuators increase efficiency and enhance feedback by speeding up the operations.
• No Fluid Leakage: Unlike hydraulic actuators, there is no fluid leakage in case of electric actuators. It helps eliminate contamination on food processing and packaging assembly lines.
• Hygienic Designs: Electric actuators are designed in such a way that they help eliminate the gathering or accumulation of bacteria or food particles in crevices. Many times, they are available in a cylindrical shape that helps in minimizing the contamination on the actuator after the cleaning process.
• Corrosion Resistance: Electric actuators made of high-quality corrosion-resistant materials which can withstand harsh environments. Stainless steel is known for its corrosion resistance in harsh environments. Which is why, this material is used to construct actuator bodies, fasteners, and motor housing.
• Clean and Robust Actuator Technology: The food production and packaging is vast and ever-changing. Also, there are several compliances and legal regulation these units need to meet. Filling machines are vital part and have to handle dry solids, powders as well as thick and thin liquids. This wide range of equipment requires a hygienic design that can keep products clean and withstand stringent cleaning procedures. Electric linear actuators play an important role in these machines. It allows specified filling and meets stringent cleanliness requirements with various processes including wash-downs.

Applications of Electric Actuators

Electrical actuators are a crucial part of food processing and packaging systems. They allow you to control your production more efficiently by providing motion to the machines at required speeds. In addition to this, they help in eliminating potentially harmful fluid powered systems from the food production environment. Vowing their uses, electric actuators are widely used in the following areas.

• Conveyor Process
• Bread Robots
• Packaging Robotics
• Ergonomic Stations

Learn more on this topic in our related blog: Driving Force for Industry Productivity: Linear Motion

Thus, the food industry is following the trend of automation to complete the packaging and other processes with ease, and increase production volumes. However, it is essential that you get the actuators installed from a reliable manufacturer and service provider. Electric linear actuators by Venture Mfg. Co. is one of the renowned manufacturers of electric actuators and service provider as well and can meet your automation needs in the food industry. These products help in every step of the process.

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What are the Uses of Linear Actuators in the Industrial Applications?

There are a number of industrial applications, which employ electric linear actuators. Here are some most common and major application areas of these actuators:

• Window Automation: This is one of the most talked about areas of application of electric linear actuators. Actuators have a vital role to play in window automation. They allow for easier access and an improved ventilation. How? Actuators help in automating the opening and closing of windows for natural ventilation. This natural ventilation is useful for keeping the temperature of the building low at night, and even in extracting harmful smoke and heat during any fire emergency. This is only possible with the help of electric actuators.
• Agriculture & Outdoor: Agricultural industry implements several heavy duty equipment, such as harvesters, spreaders, tractors, and many more. These equipment are required to carry out linear motion to operate. Linear actuators have the capability to withstand extreme work conditions in the agricultural open field. Combine harvesters use levers to divert the grain flow. These levers are operated with the help of linear actuators. Additionally, the nozzle angle of the spreaders can be adjusted by these actuators. Other than agriculture industry, electric actuators are also used for solar tracking applications. The angle of the solar panels can be adjusted to follow the sun’s orbit, which helps increase the efficiency of solar panel system.
• Special Factory Machinery: Electric linear actuators are being used increasingly in manufacturing industries for automating equipment, such as material handlers, slurry tanks, and several automotive equipment. Applications, such as factory machinery used to cut carpet rolls also employ linear actuators for raising or lowering the blades.

Learn more on this topic in our related blog: Role of Actuators in Enabling Industrial Automation Functions

These were some major industrial application areas, which use the electric linear actuators extensively. Employing these actuators in these applications increases the overall efficiency, and betters the performance. However, the manufacturer from whom you buy a linear actuator matters a lot. It is always a good idea to consult experts and get these extremely useful equipment from trusted and experienced manufacturers and suppliers. This will not only help you get good quality actuators, but also improve the overall performance. One such manufacturer of good quality custom electric linear actuators is Venture Mfg. Co., which has a huge experience in the field.

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Case Studies of Actuators Used in Food Industry

Several of the movements and functions of actuators can be changed and customized to meet the needs of the food industry:

• Problem: Actuator Function of Movement Not Easily Adjustable

Pneumatic actuators don’t allow the movement/ function to be altered. They are able to provide movement according to a pre-sent magnitude and range that cannot be altered. This is a challenge when working with differently sized equipment. The range of movement will need to be altered according to the size.

Solution:

This can easily be fixed using an electric actuator. However, if space is a constraint, you can opt for an electric actuator integrated with a servo motor.

• Problem: Ultrasonic Food Cutting Machine Incompatible with Actuators

Most pneumatic actuators might be unable to support an ultrasonic cutting machine to cut different shapes and sizes.

Solution:

Opting for an electric rod actuator is a solution. It is easily customizable and can integrate seamlessly with ultrasonic cutting machines. It is important that the components as well as the paint used should be of quality allowed by the local Food & Health Authorities.

Learn more on this topic in our related blog: Revving Up the RV Experience: How Actuators Power the Modern RV Industry

Choosing the right actuator for your food manufacturing, or processing systems is extremely important. Actuators can help solve problems in the food industry related to manipulation of equipment. A reliable actuator will ensure that the processes run smoothly while providing you with reliable results. When considering actuators, two factors play the most important roles, one is repeatability, and the other is level of customization. Since, the needs of consumers keeps changing your processes should be easily customizable. The actuator should also be able to provide you high levels of repeatability. This ensures that you get accurate results every time.

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