Buhler has just launched its long-goods C-line, a processing system that aims to improve quality and efficiency of pasta production.
Along with higher throughput capacities, the company claims that the new technology the system incorporates alsoguarantees maximum uptime, better safety, improved hygiene and better quality.
The C-line has been designed from scratch. According to the company, the advantage of suchnew equipment designs is the opportunity of applying newmanufacturing techniques, alongside proven technologies, such as the tried-and-tested high performance Polymatik extrusion technology.
What is new, on the other hand, is the possibility of processing pasta sticks of up to 2.5 metres in length. Buhler says that the system's design means that the end product quality can be maintained at aconsistently high level even with high outputs.
The cutters are equippedwith brand-new, wear-resistant linear actuators, which means that the machine can carry out both cutting and breaking operation. And during this process the spaghetti elbows transferred to the cutter arealigned so precisely that losses are reduced to the absolute minimum, with the trimmings returned under hygienically safe conditions - the company claims.
Output has also been improved upon, and according to Buhler, the C-line can produce up to seven metric tons of finished pasta at a time.
Drying of the finished products remains a sophisticated science. The highdemands involved are met by the established Buhler Turbothermatik dryingtechnology, which optimises the drying process. Thevital requirement in drying - which is to ensure uniform moisture distribution across the entire stick width - has been meticulously designed. By further tightening the tolerance of the final moisture content of the end product, the company says that it has proved possible to also furtherincrease product quality and output.
The climate inside the dryer is automatically controlled by the new Buhler Pastelec control system, as isthe entire production process. The Pastelec control system is amodular, easy-to-expand, leading-edge product which can be adapted tospecific needs.
State-of-the-art sensors and actuators, combined with computerised control engineering, ensure that the desired parameters are accurately maintained.
When it comes to the installation of pasta production lines, speed iscrucial, the company says, something that the C-line is said to allow pasta plantoperators to achieve: new connection elements and pre-assembled units minimiseinstallation time while boosting quality.
All system components are standardised and of tried-and-true design, allowing start-ups to becompleted rapidly. On top of that, the modular design of the line is said to enable theentire production capacity range to be covered.
Buhler has beenmanufacturing pasta production equipment for 100 years now. The company says that the focus of its development efforts is to ensurehigh uptime and minimum life cycle costs.
Buhler is a global technology group and system partner for plant andequipment and for process expertise in the fields of food processing,chemical engineering, and die casting, with a worldwide payroll of about6,500.