Drives & Controls March 2022

29 www.drivesncontrols.com March 2022 FOOD AND BEVERAGE n Stepper motors help to shrink canning machines L ancashire-based Micro Can supplies canning machines to microbreweries and canning customers across Europe and the US. The machines can place, fill and seal cans precisely and at speed with liquids such as beer, wine, water, soft drinks or fruit juices. The company’s CL5 five-head filling machine was previously the mainstay of its business because it was the only machine the company produced. But some customers asked about a smaller version. They wanted to save space without compromising on quality. To cater for them, Micro Can designed a two-head filler machine with a smaller form factor – 1.1m long and 0.6m deep, saving space compared to the CL5’s 3.6m x 0.7m footprint. The IMP2 two-head machine can fill and seam up to 720 330ml cans per hour (depending on the can size and its contents). It has been designed for single-person operation in either a semi-automatic mode, or fully automated end-to-end. Extra equipment can be added if required. A priority when designing the new machine was to keep its footprint small. “Most customers wouldn’t have the space for a large compressor and dryer, so, we made the decision to drive the seaming rollers with a stepper motor, which also came with some advantages,” recalls Micro Can design engineer, Antony Lyons. One of the main attractions is that the stepper does not require mechanical adjustments.“The seaming rollers need precise adjustment to produce a quality seam,”Lyons explains.“This was done mechanically on the pneumatic seamer, but it is now adjusted on the HMI thanks to the motor’s built-in absolute encoder.” The use of stepper motors also cut the number of components required – such as seals, bearings, pneumatic speed controllers, airlines and fittings – further helping to reduce the machine’s size. The bill of materials was reduced because the ease of monitoring the position of the seaming rollers means that there is no need for the extra sensors and cables required in pneumatic systems to ensure that a seam has been completed. Micro Can chose a BLE2 brushless DC motor from Oriental Motor, which is less than half the size of a similarly rated AC induction motor, helping to achieve the desired space savings. The machines also incorporate an Oriental AZ series closed-loop stepper motor. The brushless DC motor rotates the cans at 800 rpm, while the closed-loop motor positions the seaming roller accurately to seal the lids onto the cans. It took about two weeks of collaborative design work between Micro Can and Oriental to get the new two-head canning machine operating. Micro Can is now using similar stepper motors for its five-head filling machine which can fill and seam 2,000 cans per hour, as well as an even larger ten-head machine with a 4,000 can/hour capacity.“We have also designed our own labelling machine to complement our canning lines. This also uses three motors from Oriental Motor,”Lyons reports. n A UK manufacturer of canning machines has produced a two-head machine that uses compact motors to save space. Part of Micro Can’s two-head can sealing and filling machine, showing the seamer mechanism (bottom) and the two motors that power it.