Demag Quadro hoist assists food processor

30 August 2018

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Demag’s LDC-Q Quadro chain hoist has worked with multi-head weighing system manufacturer Multipond to provide a handling system for an end user in the food industry.

The LDC-Q is fitted with four hooks, to enable operators to handle flat components and to use customer-specific load handling attachments, in applications such as the automotive industry. It combines two of the LDC-D double chain hoists already launched by Demag, but uses only one drive. Combined with mechanically synchronised hook lead-offs, the system provides uniform load handling, says Demag, including being able to pick up loads with an asymmetrical weight distribution up to a ratio of 70:30.

Demag combined the LDC-Q system with a Multipond multi-head weighing system to enable customersin the food and pharmaceutical sectors to ensure exact net weights specifications are met when goods are packed.

Demag supplied the system to a tuber processor, who required operational set-up to be faster and easier for staff. The production plant uses multi-head weighing systems to ensure that each individual packaging unit has the correct weight, accurate to one gram. Every time a batch is changed, the weighing system components that have come into contact with the product need to be changed.

Prior to the installation of the LDC-Q, staff were required to climb onto a platform to remove the parts of the system that transported and guided the product, to put in a washing machine installed a floor level, before setting up the weighing system again, taking around 60 minutes for each machine.

The weighing machine is now suspended from the LDC-Q chain hoist, which travels on a rail with a length of around 4m. When a batch of product is changed at the production plant, the hoist moves the weighing machine to an aisle area, where staff can remove the necessary components, set them up, or replace individual load cells, all at a convenient height.

As a result, set-up times have been cut by around 60%, and safety has been improved thanks to the elimination of working platforms and climbing.

A key part of the system is ensuring that the hoist provides perfect stability, to ensure that the weighing system remains accurate. To achieve this, a special spring assembly was developed to pre-tension the weighing device at the highest hook position. A spring system was integrated for each chain fall, to minimise any oscillation during the weighing operation.