Rockwell Automation Helps Protect Food Safety and Pharmaceutical Quality with New Hygienic Hardware

Food and pharmaceutical makers can better protect the integrity of their products using new hygienic industrial control hardware from Rockwell Automation. The new Allen-Bradley Kinetix VPH hygienic servo motors and a new stainless-steel version of the Allen-Bradley PanelView Plus 7 graphic terminal both help minimise contamination during production and ease compliance.

The stainless-steel PanelView terminal can be used on a machine in a “splash” or contaminant zone without the need to be covered or isolated. This helps protect product quality and simplifies the cleaning processes, while removing obstructions to the human machine interface (HMI), so operators can better monitor production.

“In food and beverage manufacturing, demand for more product varieties is creating a need for smaller, more flexible machines with the HMI located in close proximity to the process,” says Christo Buys, Business Manager, Rockwell Automation. “The stainless-steel version of our PanelView Plus 7 terminal stands up to the rigours of contamination and cleaning to make this possible.”

The new Kinetix VPH hygienic servo motors can improve machine reliability while enhancing consumer safety by meeting stringent hygienic standards. The hygienic design – including high-grade stainless-steel housing and a smooth surface – can withstand wash downs and reduce the risk of contamination.

 “Some servo motors can fail just weeks after they’re exposed to cleaning and sanitising agents,” Buys explains. “Alternatively, motors can be covered and protected during the cleaning process; but that creates a lengthier cleaning process and can introduce contamination risks. Our new hygienic servo motors make cleaning and sanitisation easier and more efficient to help reduce machine downtime and improve overall equipment effectiveness.”

 The servo motors are designed per the EHEDG and 3-A sanitary standards and are IP69K rated and NSF certified. They seamlessly integrate with the Allen-Bradley Kinetix 5500 and 5700 servo drive platform, using single-cable technology to help optimise a machine’s speed and accuracy. And they’re available in a range of sizes and options to help meet a variety of application needs in food and pharmaceutical production. 

The product is the industry’s first general-purpose HMI terminal that is certified by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) in the United States. It has an ingress-protection rating of IP69K to support high-pressure, high-temperature chemical wash downs. It also uses a food-grade silicone gasket with a distinct blue colour to help production workers notice if it’s been damaged and needs to be replaced.