Schmersal Inc. highly regarded for its robot and machine safeguarding products, has expanded its product line to include safety controls that meet stringent requirements for high-pressure washdown.
The Schmersal group recognized a need for safety beyond the typical interlock and light curtain used in everyday automated applications.
Certain applications, in particular the meat processing industry, call for special wash down requirements to reduce the possibility of bacteria growth on the controls themselves. Schmersal has designed products to meet these application needs.
What is the rating system that applies to wash down applications within the meat processing industry?
In order to meet the needs from industry the IP69K rating was developed in Europe. The IP69K rating calls for products to be designed to withstand high pressure and high temperature wash down with minimal ingress. Based on this new rating Schmersal has designed a series of products to meet this rating for use in meat the meat processing industry.
Food and packaging applications are considered growth markets for the robotics industry. What needs to be considered and how would a customer benefit?
In many applications that require extreme high pressure wash downs, such as the food and beverage industry, the primary benefit realized would be the reduction in bacteria growth which contributes to safe food products. The secondary benefit is the life extension of the controls themselves because the products are designed to be used in high pressure areas they are not susceptible to water damage and failures because of ingress of water. This, of course, results in savings long term for the customer.
Schmersal Inc. plans to demonstrate products applicable to the food and beverage industry at the National Robot Safety Conference XXI (Dearborn, Michigan, October 26-28, 2009).
For more information, contact Schmersal Inc.