MechChem Africa January-February 2021

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

Tectra Automation has engineered a unique automated cake cutting sys- tem for Brenell Quality Desserts in Pietermaritzburg. Brenell used to cut its cakes manually, but it sought an automated solution that would be more productive, faster, more precise and could cut more than one cake at a time. Tectra Automation, along with Ultrasonic Systems designed and manu- factured an automated turnkey solution that met all these requirements. The new system uses an ultrasonic, vibrating blade to perfectly cut each cake inunder oneminute. The ultrasonic cutter vibrates 40 000 times per second, result- ing in fast cutting at high precision with much less damage, to very high food and beverage industry safety standards. Automated cake cutter GEMÜ, the manufacturer of high-quality valves,measurement andcontrol systems, has launched the GEMÜ R563 eSyStep, a newcontrol valvewith amotorised actua- tor. The valve specialist has also expanded the GEMÜ 566 control valve with the GEMÜ eSyStep actuator. The GEMÜ R563 eSyStep control valve is preferred for control applications with low flow rates. With kV flow values from 63 ℓ /h to 3 300 ℓ /h, it is possible to respond to customer-specific control requirements. Due to the use of selected plastics and elastomers in the media-wet area, the valve has a wide range of uses and can be used with a wide variety of media, for example for supplying water The current economic situation might offer excellent opportunities for acquisi- tionswithin its fieldof operation, suggests Bearings International (BI) managing director Bart Schoevaerts. This comes off the back of increased collaborationwithin the Hudaco Group, to which BI is mem- ber. Plans for the next year also include expanding and optimising BI’s branch and franchise network across Africa. Recent developments include a new partnership agreement that will see BI distributing IE2 and IE3 motors from ABB in 2021. Initial stocks arrived in late December 2020, withmore to followdur- ing the year. “We are incredibly excited about the future of this partnership and look forward to offering the market a

“The new system positions, cuts and portions two cakes in minutes – a mas- sive time saving for the client,” says Nico Davies, mechatronics engineer at Tectra Automation. Once the cake is positioned, a live curtain is activated forworker safety and the ultrasonic blade is cleaned after every cycle. The solution usedBoschRexroth four- axis linear motions products, Aventics pneumatic clamping systems, a Bosch Rexroth aluminium profile and a control system to achieve a fully automated and scalable system for the client. “Using virtual meeting platforms, we worked very closely with the customer and Ultrasonic Systems throughout the design, production and FAT processes,” says Davies. “The lockdown didn’t slow our processes at all andwemet all project timelines.” for mixing precise ratios of acid and lye in ion exchangers. The GEMÜ R563 eSyStep is also used inwinter service vehicles. The proportion of brine in the road salt is regulated by the motorised control valve. The brine tanks are equipped with sensors and an automatic water supply to keep the pro- portion of salt and water at the optimum ratio at all times. The GEMÜ 566 control valve can also be used to control minimal vol- umes thanks to its kV values of 63 ℓ /h up to 2500 ℓ /h, eachwith an equal- percentage and linear control character- istic. The separation between the media- wet area and the actuator component is premium brand motor of choice,” notes Schoevaerts. Also introduced in2020was the CRAFT range of bearings, which have beenwell-acceptedby themarket andwill be expanded in 2021, while on the power transmission side, BIwill addaheavy-duty V-belt to its offering, “and there are a few other products and services we plan to launch in 2021, so watch this space,” adds Schoevaerts. “The hard lockdown certainly made it more difficult to visit and winnewcustomers,whilethevari- ous lockdowns around the world have impacted the availability of some products. In addition, the cost of logistics has seen an increase, while customers have postponed or even

“With such a wide range of Bosch RexrothproductsandTectraAutomation’s collaboration with expert suppliers such as Ultrasonic Systems, we are able to cre- ate a truly customised, turnkey solution drawing on a bouquet of premium-quality international brands,”Davies concludes. q achieved via an isolating diaphragm available in EPDM or FPMmaterials. Inaddition to thepneumaticallyand manually operated actuators already available for the GEMÜ 566 control The new automated cake cutting system from Tectra Automation uses an ultrasonic, vibrating blade to position, cut and portion two cakes in minutes.

eSyStep actuator for GEMÜ

valve, a design with the GEMÜ eSyStep motorised actuator will alsobe available in the near future. www.gemu-group. com

As well as launching the new GEMÜ R563 eSyStep control valve with a motorised actuator, GEMÜ is also expanding the GEMÜ 566 control valve range to include the GEMÜ eSyStep actuator option.

New products and services for BI

cancelled key planned projects,” notes Schoevaerts. “We have learned a lot, made the nec- essary changes and will continue to make future changes to become more resilient against future crises. I would like to thank our customers and employees for their continuous support and trust in the BI brand,” he concludes. www.bear- ings.co.za

Single direction thrust ball bearings from part of BI’s recently introduced Craft Bearing range.

January-February 2021 • MechChem Africa ¦ 37