Food Transfer/Distribution System has gateless design.

Press Release Summary:



Able to move products in several directions on one line and into any packaging system, roflo® 3 gateless food transfer and distribution system offers gentle, linear motion and does not induce product damage or flavor loss. Modular nature of this reversible servo-driven system, which employs pans from 3-3.5 m long, minimizes moving parts, and roflo® 3 can be in-fed from multiple locations while handling multiple products on one line with no cross contamination.



Original Press Release:



New tna roflo® 3 Launches at Interpack



Dusseldorf, Germany Trade Fair Center, 24-30 April 2008, Hall 17, stand A28

tna roflo® 3 maximizes production line options

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY - (24-30 April 2008) - tna, a leading supplier of turn-key, integrated packaging and processing solutions for food production companies worldwide, launches roflo® 3, the first servo driven, totally reversible, gateless and truly modular food transfer and distribution system, at Interpack 2008, Dusseldorf, Germany Trade Fair Center, 24-30 April 2008, Hall 17, stand A28.

The creative engineering team at tna has designed a system that combines 'sophisticated simplicity' engineering, high performance innovation and complete flexibly through a gentle reversible servo-driven, linear motion, gateless transfer and distribution system.

tna has coined the device that makes this reversibility possible the 'switcheroo' (a mechanism that separates the roflo® pans, tilts them to inverse the way they connect and then moves the product in the opposite direction). To understand 'switcheroo' it is important to briefly explain the unique motion of roflo® 3. Product gently slides along roflo® 3 pans with a linear motion technique - slowly forward and fast backwards, with each pan overlapping the next by a few millimetres. When the product reaches the desired location the pans simply open to discharge the product. tna has essentially created a 'virtual gate' and removed a 'bulky', difficult to clean and unnecessary mechanical part.

The 'switcheroo' functionality of roflo® 3 offers automatic finger touch factory reconfiguration of an entire line or a section of line. roflo® 3 can be in-fed from multiple locations, whilst handling multiple products on one line, with zero risk of cross contamination and a significantly reduced or eliminated need for accumulation.

tna's roflo® 3 dramatically reduces the 'cost of ownership' for its users as the exact same transfer and distribution volume can be achieved with much fewer modules, reduced product breakage and fewer down-stream systems; this all leads to a dramatic footprint, product and capital saving compared to anything currently on the market. With common parts and software, the roflo 3® also integrates seamlessly with tna's robag®, vertical form, fill, and seal (VFFS) baggers, as well as most other packaging systems.

With a system that combines total reversibility, with a gateless design and servo driven linear motion, the core benefits are truly impressive:

o Move products in several directions on one line and into any packaging system.
o Absolute minimisation of moving parts - to improve efficiency and provide a low maintenance and easy to clean system.
o Virtually no product damage or flavour loss.

When roflo® 3 is used purely for product transfer the advantages of the system over alternatives are also significant.

roflo® 3 is a truly modular system, with pans measuring between 3 to 3.5 meters in length. This means it is a system that is easy to install, maintain and move - especially when compared with conventional singular pans that can be 20 meters or more in length.

To drive costs even lower for their customers tna has developed the 'carriage pans' to reduce the number of servo drives required on a long line of product distribution and transfer pans. The 'carriage pans' are linked to the servo drives, which allows one servo drive to power the linear motion of up to seven 'carriage pans'.

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