GEA Smart Sealing System

GEA has introduced its Smart Sealing System for use with its vertical food packaging machines for the frozen food market. The system uses special metal tapes in the sealing area that are designed to eliminate the need to replace the traditionally used Teflon tape on the heated sealing jaws after just a few hours.

The system is designed for pillow and gusset bags packed with frozen vegetables, fruits, potato products, meat, meat alternatives, fish and seafood. Though initially developed for use with PE mono materials, it can also be used with all widely used laminates, including recyclable material structures such as BOPE, MDOPE, PP-based laminates and paper laminates.

Instead of the Teflon-tape method, the sealing system uses metallic strips with a non-stick, PFAS-free (polyfluoroalkyl substances) coating. It is designed to seal up to one million bags without changing the sealing strips. Without having to change Teflon strips, the packer can run almost continuously, reducing downtime.

The product provides sealing of the bag with the incorporated product in seal detection system. This reduces the possibility of open packages while also preventing sealing of the bag when food is detected in the seal area.

The system uses an increased pressure for each seal and a reduced cooling time for each cycle, which results in a faster running speed and a 20% increase in machine output.