Compact
Up to 80 packs per minute
Standard drive system
The standard pneumatic drive system is used in the majority of Thermoformer applications. This design has been used since the very first machines, all be it the geometry has changed on the drive system to improve contact and the pinch roller style and design has also improved. We have developed a roller and belt standard that gives a good level of drive across all speed ranges without skidding.
This style of drive allows the operator and maintenance teams to change rollers, belts and bearings very quickly and easily. All wear parts are very easy to access and simple to change. We have a simple ‘easy clip’ roller system that is used to help change pinch rollers in seconds.
Wet environments or heavy products
The ‘HD’ variant of the Compact machine has been designed to be used in a wet environment, where normal elastic belting drive systems fail, or where the products that are being converged are very heavy.
This style of belt is driven by individual motors giving the operator a very accurate and configurable acceleration and deceleration to help with a more gentle handling of slower bulk products. The HD design is very robust and suited to harsh environments with a positive sprocket drive never slipping with water or product debris.
Compact Design
Where cost and space are at a premium and performance is essential. The Compact Converger range is designed to interface with small and medium size Thermoformers of any brand. The infeed/Index ‘fingers’ sit directly between the cutting knives, to guarantee the best possible pack presentation and negating the need for any outfeed conveyor system on the outfeed of the Thermoformer, saving space.
Single set of ‘finger’ infeed belts that fit inside the Thermoformer and also index the packs onto the outfeed of the Compact Converger.
Small machine footprint, adding only 1400mm to the length of the Thermoformer.
Some multi-format applications can be achieved with simple combinations of formats on the same machine with no change parts.
Standard and long infeed belt lengths to cater for different versions of the Thermoformer guarding.
Draw depth capability of +/- 50mm using a simple height adjuster to raise and lower the interface/index beds. This compensates for any draw depth changes on the Thermoformer without need to manually adjust other machines on the line or have packs dropping a distance from the knives compromising on the presentation and orientation of the packs
IP65 Environmental protection
Pack pitching
Packs are discharged with the maximum possible pitch for the available cycle time. Any parameter changes that are made are appraised and the Compact automatically re-programs the release settings to give maximum product discharge pitch.
HMI displays the minimum possible pack pitch on a given set up.
By changing the conveyor speed on the HMI you can see the pitch increase to the desired amount. Standard pitch would normally be at least 1x pack length
HMI
Omron touchscreen interface with simple set up and recipe selection. Speed parameters can be changed using the “Tortoise & Hare” buttons. Pack pitch is shown on the screen and the maximum pack pitch is calculated for any given cycle speed.
- Up to 8 languages can be displayed on the HMI
- Tortoise & Hare Speed control
- Line control options are selected and configured on the HMI
- Long-life LED backlight displaying more than 65,000 colours
Line control
Simple to configure line control with options to enable and disable on the HMI. The Compact Converger will take a run signal from the downstream machinery and pass this on to the Thermoformer. There are various other options that can be integrated into line control depending on the philosophy on the line. Local and global E-Stop circuits and sequential shutting down or delayed restarting can also be configured.
Maintenance
The designs of both the Compact and Compact HD are modular in construction and wear parts and proprietary mechanical components can be changed in minutes. The whole ethos of our machine range has the customer in mind to allow easy and simple ongoing maintenance. We keep downtime to a minimum on the production line, so all parts need to be accessible and simple to change if required.
Changing a rubber ‘pinch roller’ takes seconds, with the index section unclipping and the roller slides out of location.
Belts can be changed in seconds too. The infeed sections and the index beds are all removable with quick release plungers, giving the operator or engineering team the ability to simply slide the belt out of position and replacing. With the tension on the belt created when in the final position, the belts will take no time to change.
- ‘Easy clip’ idle rollers
- Quick release ‘pinch rollers’
- Easy and quick change elastic belts
- Modular belts featuring a quick removable link for speed on removal
- Timing belts and motors directly accessible when the side covers are unlocked and folding down
Options
- Parabolic guide rails
- Product build back sensor
- Individual speed control for each guide rail – used for difficult to handle packs and wide edge leading packs for greater control
- Separate motors on the outfeed and infeed/index – where additional control is needed when accelerating more difficult to handle packs
- Wide frame machines (580mm plus inside cut width) to cater for wide Thermoformer diesets
- IP67 Guide rail motors – moulded plugs and no terminal box
- IP66/67 main machine drive motors (Options vary on different versions of the machine)
- Languages on request
- Pack turning kits
Features
Hover over the yellow dots to find out more.