Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Application Example
Introduction
K-Tron feeders are used for a variety of applications within the pet food manufacturing process. Screw feeders (both volumetric and loss-in-weight), liquid lossin-weight, and weigh belt feeders are used for metering and high accuracy feeding of ingredients into a mixer (batch or continuous), an extruder, as well as before the packaging line.
Above: K-Tron Smart Weigh Belt (SWB) feeders are available in closed frame (shown) or open frame models. Left: K-Tron screw feeders are designed in sanitary construction for ease in cleaning, with options for 3A requirements
Mixer
Process
All ingredients are fed either onto a conveying line or direct to the mixer by gravimetric weigh belt feeders or screw feeders depending on the material characteristics and feed rate requirements. Each of the feeders is outfitted with some sort of reload or refill device, which can include pneumatic conveyors or simple gravity drop bins complete with level indicators. The mixture leaving the mixer is often labeled the mixed meal. It is then loaded into another feeder and fed with the pigment direct to the extruder, usually utilizing either single or twin screw feeders.
Process
The feed of the mixed meal to the extruder can be with either volumetric or gravimetric feeders. Volumetric feeders are typically used only with meal that is preconditioned, or optimal for screw feeding flow, without a possibility of bridging or buildup. However, the addition of other proportioned ingredients such as water, steam, animal fat, and molasses can change the flow properties of the mix considerably.
to process Extruder
Managing the delivery of the dry feed to the extruder is most important to tight ingredient and moisture control. If these key process parameters are not controlled, improper extrusion can result, costing manufacturers significant costs in wasted product. In order to achieve an acceptable degree of dry feed accuracy, ( 1% of the maximum delivery rate), a high precision feeder system based upon weight is imperative. Volumetric feeding systems to an extruder can often vary as high as 6% accuracies due to such factors as bridging and improper flow of the premix to the screws. Utilization of K-Trons loss-inweight algorithm and smart refill techniques ensure that a consistently high accuracy of dry ingredient feed can be maintained. Once a predictable dry feed delivery system is utilized, then the other ingredient feeds (such as moisture addition or alternate liquid addition) can be managed by coordinating them to the dry feed system on a ratio basis.
Packaging
Application Details:
After the extrusion and drying step the product is cut, dried and weigh metered prior to feeding to the packaging line
Process:
After the dried product is weigh metered, it is often times sprayed with liquids prior to going to the packaging line. The addition of these liquids can be done two ways. For a more economical approach, the K-Tron control system with PID can be integrated with a liquid flow meter (like those by MicroMotion). The liquid pump delivery is controlled by the PID
function to provide moisture control which is proportioned gravimetrically. This same arrangement can also be used for addition of the water and or steam to the extrusion steps mentioned above. As an alternative, and in cases where even tighter control of liquid addition is necessary, a liquid loss in weight feeder combined with a positive displacement pump is used to meter the liquids sprayed onto the product. In the case of a varied product mix, e.g. multiple colors and/or shapes, each line of dried and sprayed product is sent to its own individual weigh belt feeder, where it is metered and sent to a horizontal conveying line, and then on to the packaging machine. The percentage of each individual component is managed by the recipe controls.
Extruder
Oil
Dryer
PID pump
Process:
The cooked and baked nugget by itself rather unpalatable. Typically various animal fats and flavors are gravimetrically mixed onto the product after drying and before packaging. Due to the higher cost of these ingredients, and a definite need for overall quality control, the use of weigh belts, loss in weight feeders and KTron PID pump control systems are of utmost importance. As stated above, K-Trons unsurpassed repeatability and stability in feed accuracy through the use of the patented SFT load cell design
Yellow
To packaging units...
Flavor Enhancing
www.ktron.com
2011-07
CONSULTING & PLANNING PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS EQUIPMENT INSTALLATION SERVICES 24-HR SERVICE TRAINING
Manufacturing plants: K-Tron Pitman Routes 55 & 553 Pitman, NJ 08071 USA Tel: (856) 589-0500 Fax: (856) 589-8113 e-mail: info@ktron.com Member of EHEDG K-Tron Salina 606 North Front St. / P.O. Box 17 Salina, KS 67402-0017 USA Tel: (785) 825-1611 Fax: (785) 825-8759 e-mail: info@ktron.com K-Tron (Switzerland) LLC Lenzhardweg 43/45 CH-5702 Niederlenz Tel: +41 62 885 71 71 Fax: +41 62 885 71 80 e-mail: ks@ktron.com
(0590000459)