Food Plants & Safety: Electric Valve Actuator Features To Prevent Contamination, Issues, & Processing Delays

Food plants operate on a whole different level than other product processing plants. The machines, work areas, and employees must follow specific guidelines to ensure that food is clean, safe, and properly prepared. If any issues were to occur, there could be health problems for consumers or major recalls for the company. This is why it's important to have specific parts that can make everything go smoothly. As food is prepared and packaged in your plant, it's a good idea to consider machine control with electric valve actuators. These mechanical parts provide ways to controls motors, speeds, and everyday operations in the plant. The electric actuators eliminate the need for other power methods like gas and oil. It's a much cleaner process for food and comes with multiple other features to ensure proper plant safety while eliminating processing delays at the same time.

Automatic Off Switching

Packing food and ingredients comes with precise measurements needed for packing and serving sizes. As food is processed through the machine, functions and controls can be started and stopped automatically with an electric valve actuator. The instant stopping speed makes it easy to distribute an exact amount of food and then cut off the motor and pipes from pumping out any more ingredients. The speed of the motor allows the machines to repeat this process hundreds, if not thousands, of times during a daily schedule. This allows your plant to make as many food packages as needed. Orders can be processed quickly and all of the elements will be evenly distributed.

Overload Protection

At a food processing plant, motors and operations are running a consistent basis. Temperatures, overheating, and over working of the machines can create all types of problems. When it comes to areas with an electric valve actuator installed, a lot of those potential problems can be minimized or eliminated completely. This is because these valves will come with overload protection. If the valve senses that there is a problem, it will kick into protection mode. This will block the motor from operations and can help prevent any messy disasters like food spills. It can also prevent food contamination from leaking parts or part malfunctions.

Manual Joysticks

Along with automatic valve use, you also have the ability to add manual joysticks to an electric valve actuator. These joysticks allow workers to operate the valve by hand if needed. During food production, this can be helpful for a number of specific situations. For example, you may have specific flavors or toppings for desserts like ice cream and cream puffs. A single joystick can be used to control multiple actuators and deliver a variety of flavors. The joystick can also be used in certain situations like when the machines are operating on a different system or with special orders. For example, you may have a special holiday version of a food. A joystick can help you transition from the special food to regular varieties. They can be installed and implemented in a variety of ways custom to your set up.

Diagnostic Functions

Dealing with a delay in a food processing plant can cost thousands of dollars every day. Additional delays can come as you troubleshoot the problems. One way to help get through problems quickly is with an electric valve actuator that has diagnostic functions. When a problem occurs, the diagnostic readings can give you a detailed report of the error listings. Through these errors, you can determine the exact problem and find a solution more quickly.

Shop around to find a company that can help you with the purchase, installation, and service of an electric actuator, such as ETI Systems. The transition will be seamless and create better ways to operate food equipment.


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