High hygienic standards are crucial in food and pharmaceutical packaging to ensure product quality on the supply chain from the producer to the consumer. In heat sealing machines pharmaceutical tablets are aseptically packaged into blister packs. Different parameters have to be controlled during the packaging process. For example the force, which is applied to press the two parts of the blister pack together, is very important for the quality. Exact force measurement is also needed in other packaging applications. In quality assurance the force, that is needed to open a package, has to be measured. There are many requirements for components in these kinds of applications. Food and pharmaceutical industry requires a high industrial protection class and a good clean-ability to ensure the hygienic production. As packaging machines usually have a high throughput, the measurement often has to be performed very fast and with high accuracy. In some cases the measurement frequency is up to 5 kHz, while the forces are in the range of only a few Newton. Depending on the process the force transducers have to withstand temperatures from -40 up to +200 °C. tecsis offers transducers, which are used in these kind of applications. Typical examples are the force transducer types F1222 and F1224. The very compact force transducer F1222 is very thin; depending on the nominal force between 3 and 7 mm. They are therefore ideally suited for applications with limited space. The transducers are made of stainless steel and fulfil industrial protection class IP65. Forces of 1 kN and more can be measured with the type F1224. Also the force transducers F2221 and F2222 are used in packaging applications. These types can measure tension and compression forces. They are also made of stainless steel and can be used under similar conditions.
Edited by: Teoman Tugsuz
