How Baumer sensors work to deliver complete hygiene in food processing environments

The food and beverage production industry has to abide by very stringent legislation, particularly when it comes to production processes. With this in mind, food manufacturers must opt for sensors and processing equipment that ensure complete food hygiene throughout the manufacturing process.

PIF spoke to sensor and instrumentation experts Baumer UK to discuss their range of sensors that work to deliver hygiene in food processing environments and how thesesensors can work for you.

What is a sensor and how do they work?

Broadly speaking, we are surrounded by sensors every single day. They work to make our lives easier by turning lights on when they detect our presence, adjusting room temperatures as required, detecting smoke or fire to keep our homes safe and many other tasks. Sensors work to automate many aspects of our everyday lives. This is part of the reason they are so heavily used in industry.

Whilst there are many different ways to explain what a sensor is and what it does, generally speaking, a sensor is an input device that provides an output dependent on the physical media it is presented with. Sensors come in many different forms and can control a wide variety of inputs and outputs within industrial applications, such as ensuring food hygiene in the manufacturing process.

Read on to learn more about how sensors work to promote hygiene in food processing environments.

Why are sensors vital to the food manufacturing industry?

Sensors can accurately detect and identify contaminants in food and beverage production processes to ensure safety throughout. One of the main reasons food manufacturers are relying more and more on sensors is that they enable them to attain higher levels of quality and consistency.

Baumer optical sensor system for hygiene in food processing environments

Baumer worked with Fraunhofer IVV Dresden to develop a mobile cleaning device (MCD) that ensures hygiene in food processing environments through the use of an optical sensor system. This solution can identify cleaning requirements and determine the relevant parameters for need-based and efficient cleaning of food manufacturing processes before carrying out these cleaning tasks autonomously.

Baumer supplied the hardware centrepiece of this optical cleaning system: the CX Series 5-megapixel GigE camera. Fraunhofer IVV Dresden opted for this camera due to its good image quality and high-camera sensitivity. These features make the detection of contaminants under UV light quick and easy, whilst the 5-megapixel resolution makes it easy to detect small soiled spots over large areas without losing any information.

Furthermore, this camera is perfectly suited to maintaining food hygiene in manufacturing due to extensive third-party compatibility with image evaluation that is supported by MATLAB and LabVIEW.

To select the correct cleaning parameters, the MCD machine requires spatial orientation. This is where the Baumer IFBR 17 series inductive proximity switch came in. The Baumer IFBR 17 series can determine the position of the machine easily. Plus, thanks to its completely hygienic stainless steel design, the Baumer IFBR 17 is perfectly designed to safeguardhygiene in food processing environments.

The experts at Baumer explain that “the smooth sensor surface with no dead spaces prevents the accumulation of dirt and contaminants and ensures hygienic, resilient and reliable MCD position detection.” This made the sensor solutions put forward for the MCD machine perfectly suited to Fraunhofer IVV Dresden’s hygienic application.

Efficient monitoring of the flow velocity and media temperature in food processing environments

Baumer continues to excel with sensors that deliver hygiene in food processing environments. The Baumer FlexFlow sensor was implemented by Arla Foods to measure the temperature of a medium and its flow rate at their Falkenberg location for the hygienic production of cottage cheese.

The FlexFlow sensor carefully monitors the flow and temperature of media throughout the food production process. In this application, FlexFlow can monitors and regulates the clearing speed in the flow and return lines of a Clean in Place (CIP) system. As a result, optimum cleaning results are maintained throughout the manufacturing process.

As such, the FlexFlow sensor can deliver increased process safety due to its precise measurements, which ensures incredible hygiene standards throughout food processing environments.

Baumer sensors for hygiene in food processing environments

Baumer excels in the design and development of sensors that ensure food hygiene in manufacturing processes. Why not speak to one of their helpful experts to find out how a Baumer sensor can deliver hygiene in your food processing environment?