Hygiene standards for the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and meat and food processing industry are being continually tightened. The cleaning of machines is a priority to meet all the stringent hygiene and aseptic requirements. The aim is to strive continuously and carefully for higher speed cleaning to save costs and claims. Van Beek has designed a patented innovative screw cleaning method for these specific sectors: the ‘SpeedClean’ concept that drastically speeds up and improves the cleaning of screw conveyor systems and makes them more ergonomic.
Manufacturers normally clean machines under high pressure or with steam in combination with cleaning products and disinfectants. A commonly used technique for saving costs in the process industry is ‘cleaning in place’, also called CIP, where machines clean themselves automatically from the inside out. CIP is difficult for a screw conveyor. It was still very labour-intensive to clean a screw conveyor, since not all the parts were fully accessible. Van Beek changed this with the patented concept of the “SpeedClean”.
The concept of the SpeedClean was designed by Van Beek’s Research & Development team and can be used both in screw conveyor systems and screw heat exchangers. The screw of the SpeedClean lifts into the cleaning position in one vertical movement. This includes bearings and seals.
The screw is lifted in a user-friendly and ergonomically correct way. In the cleaning position both the trough and the screw are each separately fully accessible for cleaning and inspection. After cleaning and inspection the screws fall back into the original alignment and positioning.
Van Beek has obtained a patent for this concept. Tests with the SpeedClean are possible in the Van Beek test centre. The SpeedClean is being officially introduced at the Industrial Processing trade fair from Tuesday 30 September to Friday 3 October 2014 and can be viewed on Van Beek’s stand number A030 in hall 3.
