Cologne, March 2020 – For consumers and the government, a maximum of safetyand quality in the production of food is essential. In order to ensure the higheststandards of hygiene, food producers and processors are obliged to clean theirmachinery regularly via washdowns. To guarantee that vacuum pumps areeffectively protected from the used aggressive cleaning media, Leybold hasdeveloped a series of Hygienic Enclosures. The vacuum specialist offers usersthese stainless steel housings in seven different sizes, tailor made for eachvacuum pump.
Risk of contamination eliminated
In the food industry, vacuum pumps are often placed directly next to the processing andpackaging lines and thus not implemented in the equipment. On the one hand, this leads to ahigher vacuum performance because, losses in pumping speed over longer pipelines areavoided. A direct positive consequence of this, are shorter process cycles and a better productquality. On the other hand, unprotected pumps are directly exposed to aggressive cleaningmedia during the rinsing processes. Over time, this leads to corroded vacuum pumps, shorterlife cycles, higher costs and ultimately even to food contamination.
Effectively protected in stainless steel enclosures
In order to counteract these risks, Leybold has developed a new protection concept with theHygienic Enclosures. Encased by these stainless steel enclosures, the vacuum pumps can bepositioned near machines and systems without any problems. „On the basis of the protectedLeybold vacuum pumps we can create better and more robust solutions for the demanding foodapplications“, emphasizes the responsible product manager Niels Gorrebeeck. „Of course, thisapplies all the more to applications such as stuffers, tumblers and of course packagingmachines, where the machines and systems are cleaned and disinfected particularly frequentlyand intensively,“ the product manager explains.
Tailor made & easy to install
Gorrebeeck explains that these stainless steel enclosures are tailor made for each vacuumpump. As a result each enclosed pump can run constantly on every working pressure. The onlylimitation is the maximal ambient temperature for the enclosure. Nevertheless, the normalworking temperature in F&P environments are around 10 °C, we qualified most enclosures up to25 °C. Further all the enclosures are offered as a Do It Yourself kit and can be as well installedas commissioned by the user themselves without great effort. „These properties make of theHygienic Enclosures a cost-effective, sustainable solution. In the end, Hygienic Enclosuresmakes investments in expensive piping obsolete and at the same moment they offer a betterpumping speed performance“, argues Niels Gorrebeeck.
Sustainable solution
Incidentally, this also applies not least with regard to future packaging concepts. Gorrebeeckbelieves that the industry is also well equipped for this with the new enclosures: „Regardless ofwhich solutions will prevail, food applications can be operated from today more hygienically,ergonomically as well as flexibly. Leybold can successfully accompany these processes into thefuture with our holistic solution approaches.“
About Leybold
Leybold is a part of the Atlas Copco’s Vacuum Technique business area and offers a broad range ofadvanced vacuum solutions for use in manufacturing and analytical processes, as well as for researchpurposes. The core capabilities centre on the development of application- and customer-specific systemsfor the creation of vacuums and extraction of processing gases. Fields of application are secondarymetallurgy, heat treatment, automotive industry, coating technologies, solar and thin films such asdisplays, research & development, analytical instruments, food & packaging, as well as a multitude ofother classic industrial processes.
About Atlas Copco
Great ideas accelerate innovation. At Atlas Copco, we have been turning industrial ideas into businesscriticalbenefits since 1873. By listening to our customers and knowing their needs, we deliver value andinnovate with the future in mind. Atlas Copco is based in Stockholm, Sweden with customers in morethan 180 countries and about 37 000 employees. Revenues of BSEK 95/ 9 BEUR in 2018.
For more information: www.atlascopcogroup.com
