At IFFA 2013 (Hall 11.0/11.1) Multivac will be presenting several technical innovations, which make a significant contribution to improving the energy efficiency of thermoforming packaging machines and to increasing the overall machine effectiveness. These innovations are integrated in the high-performance R 535 model, which will be one of the highlights on the Multivac stand.

"We have combined a number of different approaches in the R 535 to give increased energy efficiency and to produce better material and process efficiencies, all of which have a very positive effect on the overall machine effectiveness", explains Valeska Haux of Multivac.

Servo drive units instead of compressed air
In order to reduce the energy consumption of the thermoforming packaging machine, Multivac has replaced a large number of compressed air operated components with servo drive units. The components affected include the lifting units for the forming and sealing stations as well as the STS 10 film punch. In addition to this, the R 535 is equipped with a MVP 600 vacuum pump from MULTI-VAC, which is characterized by its lower energy consumption than that of comparable pump combinations.

Thanks to the use of servo drive units, the movements of the lifting units can be controlled exceptionally accurately as regards their speed and opening width. This contributes to an overall increase in the cycle output. This new technology also significantly simplifies the running on the machine of packaging materials with different thicknesses.

Sparing use of resources
The R 535 is equipped with cooling water flow control, and this means that the new machine concept consumes less fresh water than traditional machines.

The utilization of packaging material is improved by means of sealing and cutting stations, which are moved by servo motors, and by the use of segmented cutting tools. Thanks to these innovations, it is possible to reduce both the size of the partitions between the packs and the width of the film edge trim. The film trim is significantly reduced by these measures.

Overall machine effectiveness improved
In order to reduce the downtime for die changes, Multivac has equipped the R 535 with a drawer system for changing the forming die bottom section. This purely mechanical system also enables inspection and intermediate cleaning of the dies to be performed quickly.

The control of line components, such as Multivac's OP 625 labeler and TTO direct web printer, is integrated in the HMI 2.0 user terminal of the thermoforming packaging machine. This solution enables the operator to control the packaging machine, labeler and printing system centrally via one single control logic. This means not only fewer cables, but also simple procedures when putting the systems into operation.

Quality control has also been optimized. The R 535 has automatic empty pack monitoring. The associated MBS 105 conveyor system for discharging the finished packs is also equipped with a metal detector.