Ultrasonic sealing on open-frame sealing system

Linco Food Systems
Thursday, 16 December, 2010

The IlaPak Vegatronic VT2000 OF is a vertical form fill and seal (VFFS) machine with an open-frame design which allows for ease of set up, maintenance and cleaning. The open-frame concept provides a high standard of hygiene, sanitation facilities, accessibility and ease of unrestricted monitoring of operations. It is suitable for a range of different bag styles.

The open-frame design has all mechanical components, such as: film pull motors and belts, jaw closing motors and levers, film path unwind rollers and motors, etc, all located directly at the required position in the machine configuration. This means that only the electrical components are housed within a separate enclosed cabinet which allows for a reduction in linkages and mechanical connections from within a closed cabinet to the actual moving parts. Motors and belts are directly connected, eliminating much of the wear and tear of mechanical components.

Ultrasonic sealing systems are now being integrated on the vertical packaging machine to produce a good level of consistency and reliability. This type of solution is beneficial for all applications where the product characteristics may affect the tightness of the seals of the pack.

In the salad industry, in particular, ultrasonic sealing has reduced the percentage of bags rejected because of defective seals, in addition to a significant reduction of re-processing time and labour required. This benefit, already important in itself, is not however the main advantage resulting from the use of ultrasonic technology.

According to IlaPak, the biggest savings comes from the reduction of about 20 mm on the length of films of each bag, which, multiplied by some million bags a year, allow to assume a ROI of 12 to 18 months.

Ilapak was among the first manufacturers of packaging machines to focus its attention on ultrasonic technology. After having integrated several ultrasonic systems in VT2000 with closed frame, the VT2000 open-frame machine can now be supplied with ultrasonic sealing.