Motion controller perfects Yorkshire pudding recipe 24 November 2010

Western Mechanical Handling (WMH) has developed a machine to produce perfect Yorkshire puddings every time.

The Cornish machine builder, which specialises in automated food handling systems, used drives and controls equipment from automation specialist Mitsubishi Electric.

Its machine deposits exact amounts of Yorkshire pudding batter into baking moulds for a frozen foods manufacturer, and solves problems of inconsistency by getting away from standard motors running for a set time.

WMH developed a Mitsubishi servo-based system which irons out the inaccuracies of batter pumping, while also increasing throughput.

Using peristaltic pumps, the batter is now delivered to +/- 0.1g accuracy, with steady flow achieved by WMH mapping the pump into discrete operational zones.

In brief detail, the system comprises a 10 axis J3 servo drive arrangement. Each servo is linked via Mitsubishi Electric's high speed SSC net. Nine of the axes are dedicated to the depositors, each driving 32 pump chambers.

The servos are each programmed with a map of known volume to be dispensed, and the required number of pump rotations can be calculated depending on the required product settings.

An anti-drip mechanism has also designed into the system, which stops excess product causing cleaning issues later in the production cycle. Cleverly, the servos suck excess batter back into the nozzle at the end of each cycle.

The tenth axis then drives the depositor heads carriage, which synchronises with the conveyor speed, as detected via an encoder feedback. According to the firm, this helps increase throughput and reduce waste.

Brian Tinham

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