First mover controls beverage conveyor systems with iC7-Automation

The primary aims of the investment by Brasserie Caulier in Péruwelz, Belgium, were to increase production volume and production efficiency while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions and water consumption. Legendre Conveyors was tasked to design a new bottling line for the brewery.

For improved energy efficiency, Brasserie Caulier decided to harvest energy released during boiling. Previously, this energy was lost, but in this project the aim was to reuse harvested energy to heat the hot rooms all year round. For optimized water consumption, the short-term goal was to reduce water consumption from 7 liters to 4 liters of water for every liter of beer produced.

For the conveying systems and the bottling line, the project requirement was to increase nominal throughput up to 20,000 bottles per hour and optimize conveyor efficiency for improved CO2 footprint.

In order to contribute to the decarbonization target, efficiency of the bottling line conveyors was optimized using a combination of 46 iC7-Automation units and 46 VLT® OneGearDrive gear motors. The project also used 12 iC7-Automation 0.55 kW drives for control of induction motors on a conveyor belt.

Commissioning of the new bottling line by Legendre Conveyors commenced in June 2022, with support from Danfoss Drives. The iC7-Automation is easy to program using MyDrive® Insight software. The position of connectors supplying voltage and motor connection is better than before. The larger control panel is also easier to read. The diodes to see status about communication are also improved compared to VLT® AutomationDrive FC 302. Mounting hole dimensions are identical from one generation of drives to the next.

Using the iC7-Automation drive, Legendre Conveyors well and truly met the project requirements for conveyor efficiency. They also found the drive convenient to install and use.

The first reaction from Younes Taleb, PLC Programmer at Legendre Conveyors was: ”The design of the iC7-Automation is perfect. The disposition of the information on the control panel is clear, the fieldbus diodes are better than before, and the new MyDrive® Insight software is more intuitive and user-friendly when managing the drive.” 

Furthermore: “The improvements that Danfoss Drives has made are super: the fan position, moving main supply to the left, motor connection to the right, and color codes for safety and non-safety components.’’

With the new generation of components in the Danfoss iC7 series, the improved availability of the drives was truly appreciated by Legendre Conveyors. As such, Legendre Conveyors is ready for the next generation of drives and for another 20 years of reliable performance.