When it comes to balancing between food and beverage productivity and compliance with safety regulations, selecting the right lubricant system for use with food and beverage processing equipment such as chain driven roller conveyors, is highly critical and can be challenging. By using proper lubrication procedures, businesses can reduce the risk of contamination and optimise their operations in the long-term. Contamination of food or beverage products can have a negative impact on manufacturers, leading to a substantial financial loss, lower productivity, and irreparable damage to business reputation.
John Sample Group, through its JSG Industrial Systems business, holds the distribution rights to SKF Lubrication Systems across the Asia Pacific. JSG Industrial Systems has been providing access to products and solutions from SKF which has the engineering competence to design state of the art bearing assemblies, incorporating customised lubrication systems that greatly extend maintenance shutdown periods.
For businesses within the food and beverage processing industry, JSG offers the SKF ChainLube systems for chain driven roller conveyors. Dependent on the application, this can incorporate either air assisted nozzles or airless oil projection type nozzles. These systems can be configured to ensure a food-safe, reliable, and easy-to-use solution.
The SKF Chainlube systems can be designed to operate in low and high temperatures between -25°C to 220°C, and high humidity as well as in applications where condensation might occur. In particular, the oil projection type nozzle system is specifically developed for food and beverage applications such as baking plants, proofers, cereals processing, freezers in ice-cream and frozen food processing, conveyors for calibration, washing, cooking and pasteurization, and conveyors for fruits, vegetables and meat processing, among others.
An example of the wide range of systems that are available is the SKF Model CLK Chainlube system, which includes a central unit with an oil reservoir of 7.5 litres capacity that precisely delivers a metered volume of lubricant to the points of friction of each chain link whilst the chain is in operation. This solution also uses double projection nozzles to project the lubricant on the lubrication points; a chain roller sensor that emits a signal used to control the volumetric piston pump when the system is in lubrication phase; and two stainless steel tubes to deliver the metered lubricant quantity from the central unit to each nozzle. All of these features make this solution suitable for the particular requirements of the food and beverage industry.
Some advantages found by companies when using the SKF Chainlube systems are that these systems help prevent foreign body ingress and reduces energy consumption and maintenance costs compared to manual lubrication. Additionally, the system eliminates the risk of lubrication points being missed through human error, decreases chain wear, improves productivity by eliminating unplanned downtimes, and enhances operator safety by reducing intervention for maintenance.
JSG Industrial Systems designs, develops, and supplies engineered industrial systems which increase assets lifetime, reduce operational risk and contribute to environmental sustainability. The company has paved the way to growing the lubrication systems business in Australia and other regions. It provides access to products and services for a variety of global sectors including food & beverage, mining, transportation, agriculture, marine, energy, construction, and manufacturing.