RP760 Rotoplant

The RP760 ‘RotoPlant’ range has been designed for high speed container handling and filling particularly aimed at powder & particulate packaging industry sectors. This includes pharmaceutical, chemical, and food ingredient companies using glass or composite containers, requiring clean & compact filling.

In these cases, an auger filling machine would usually be employed for product dispensing. RP760 ‘RotoPlants’ may also be used in conjunction with high speed counting / weighing machines for tablet packaging solutions, over-coming the problems associated in dispensing tablets through small container apertures at high speed. Due to the effective vibration of dispensed product and container while the container is cycled within the RotoPlant, high production throughput can be achieved that otherwise would be impossible.

Rotoflex

The optional revolutionary ‘ROTOFLEX’ split turret option can also be specified for applications requiring a swift changeover in container base sizes. This provides packers with the ability to carry out extremely fast changeover / clean down procedures, and is done without any requirement for tools or support engineers. All parts of the turret & dust extraction system may be easily withdrawn by simply removing locating pins and operating quick release catches, these functions can be carried out by the line operator in situations where line support engineers would generally have been used in the past.

Container and overflow chute agitation (vibration) is applied through the base of the containers while located within the central turret. Containers are held within a star-wheel centre turret and driven over a fixed, twin radial track arrangement. An independent radial track is positioned between the fixed tracks and is oscillated by an eccentric drive arrangement. This provides a harmonically controlled lifting of the container and in-turn, the overflow chute located above. On the down stroke the centre rail passes below the fixed rails, effecting a sharp tamping action. The frequency of vibration may be adjusted to suit individual product requirements, providing the optimum settling for product being filled.

Safety guarding is manufactured in 1Omm poly-carbonate. Hinged doors fitted to front & rear sides of machine to allow unhindered access during cleaning & tooling changeover. Safety interlocks prevent operation of the machine being started if any doors are not closed. For added protection, doors are automatically locked when the machine is cycling, and inhibited from opening until machine has stopped.

Photo Gallery

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Head Config

A range of change part tooling & turrets may be supplied with each machine, depending upon individual application & container specification. A very versatile feature of the RP760 is the possibility to re-tool the machine for 8, 12 or 16 heads simply by exchanging the centre turret and associated tooling; this is made even easier if the ‘ROTOFLEX’ turret option is fitted allowing quick & easy removal & replacement of turret segments. Both turret and scroll drive systems are servo driven and correctly synchronized by advanced servo drive technology, this allows for unique timing to be saved for each scroll / turret combination to be saved against each recipe (container parameters). The advantage of such versatility is the ability to run large containers at medium speeds on 8 / 12 head combinations, but still be able to run smaller containers at higher speeds on a 16 head arrangement. The use of servo motors has all but eliminated the requirement for gears / gearboxes, etc. making bringing maintenance requirements to an absolute minimum.

Specification

Control

A high resolution 10.4″ color touch screen sealed to IP66, that can be optimally positioned to suit the operator via a pivoting arm is used for all machine set-up and control functions.Animated mimic displays indicate machine status and operation, with active indication of inhibits / alarms. All container specific parameters are saved against unique recipes providing instant machine control configuration for all containers being handled. 1,024 recipes are available, with recipe naming being totally flexible and meaningful.

Single display also provides full control of auger filler (EasiFill or ServoFill) if present. In this case, intelligent check-weigher feed-back is also included as standard.

All motors are variable speed (Conveyor, Scroll, Turret, Turret & Vibration, plus In-feed & Out-feed Tables, auger drive, Stirrer drive if the additional equipment is present). The conveyor & scroll drives are synchronized to the turret speed and track accordingly if machine speed (entered in containers / minute) is changed. All Servo & inverter drives connect to the central control panel via CAN bus link that also monitor each individual drives status and error conditions in the unlikely eventuality of a problem occurring.

Sophisticated diagnostic monitor and alarm reporting is included, providing both pictorial & informative information on any problem, both within the machine itself & if connected, peripheral equipment both downstream & upstream of the Rotoplant.

Ethernet port is included to allow connection to factory network. This allows for remote backup / restore of recipe & machine parameters, and the option to view the control screen in real time remote to the packing line, this can be useful for monitoring production and line efficiency.

An RS232 printer port is also provided allowing hard copy reports to be produced of recipe & machine parameter settings.

The operator panel is multi-lingual, allowing for instant language switching.