Steel belt manufacturer IPCO introduces new optical CBT 2G tracking system to optimise bake oven conveyor performance
As a company that will next year celebrate 100 years of bake oven belt manufacturing, IPCO’s experience in belt technology is unparalleled and has helped drive the development of a comprehensive range of associated components. These include rolling supports, sliding supports (e.g. skid bars and graphite stations), frames, end stations, pulleys, cleaning devices and more.
For a belt to track properly, the line and all the parts that touch the belt (i.e. belt supports, rollers and the like) must be straight and level with gravity and each other. They must also be in good working order and not worn down. When these requirements are fulfilled – in other words with perfect, stable conditions and fine adjustment of the drums – a properly designed conveyor will track straight and true without the need for a tracking system.
However, as Marko Leber, Global Products Manager at IPCO explains, such conditions are rare in a working environment. “Temperature changes alone will cause the belt to track one way or the other – so steel bake oven belts require some form of tracking.”
IPCO’s Compact Belt Tracking (CBT) system offers an excellent solution when active tracking is required on an existing conveyor and a rebuild is not practical or desirable. Previous CBT models used a physical belt edge detector but the newly introduced 2G employs an optical sensor instead, eliminating any contact with the belt edge and enabling increased tracking speed and precision.
The optical sensor continuously monitors the position of the belt edge. Any deviation immediately triggers a corrective action in the CBT 2G unit to restore smooth, straight running. The tracking effect is achieved by tilting rollers that cause the belt to move laterally in the appropriate direction.
Like its predecessor, the CBT 2G model can be mounted to an existing conveyor, usually with little modification, making it ideal for retrofitting. This next generation model delivers a range of benefits including:
- Faster, more precise tracking performance.
- Easier installation, set up and servicing.
- Contact-free optical belt edge sensing.
- Longer working life for device and belt.
IPCO has been involved in bake oven conveyor design for decades, often working hand in hand with oven builders to ensure that an oven reaches its full potential. This extends to ongoing partnerships with bakeries and the company has a Special Engineering team who can provide expert technical support.
“This experience gives us an in-depth understand of how a belt behaves in an oven, how it interacts with other component parts that make up the system,” says Marko Leber. “This means we can deliver inspection and maintenance services that go beyond the belt, with investigations encompassing the entire line to understand how the system as a whole is performing.”
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Editor, International Bakery
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