CASE STUDY Product category: Electric Actuators Industry: Packaging Problem: Machine design required high-speed, with precise staging and feed timing for accurate, consistent package counts per carton. Solution: Two Tolomatic MXB belt-drive actuators—one to position cartons, the other to move them to a fill zone. Results: Space-saving, durable, cost-effective solution with consistent position repeatability. Belt-drive actuators from Tolomatic deliver speed and positioning accuracy for innovative packaging technology Tolomatic MXB rodless electric actuators meet demanding requirements of carton staging and feed system. DES PLAINES, ILL.—Builders of packaging machines continue to develop new technologies that boost product throughput and lower costs for their customers. One such technology, recently developed by Cloud Packaging Equipment Co., is designed to ensure both fast and accurate filling of pouches and cartons. For speedy and precise carton movement, the carefully designed cartoning portion of Cloud’s new system relies on a pair of MXB belt-driven actuators from Tolomatic. Cloud’s new Performa SP packaging system is a horizontal form-fill-seal (HFFS) pouch machine that makes plastic bags out of a flat roll of plastic film, then fills the bags with product and seals them. The Performa SP system is designed with state-of-the-art technology and precise calibration to process 4,500 pouches per minute with the greatest efficiency possible. Cloud has completed construction of two of its Performa SP systems, which are used to fill and package small sugar pouches used in restaurants. Currently, the company is in the process of building two more of the systems. At the end of the Performa HFFS process, a transfer wheel allows an exact count as filled pouches are dropped into cartons. Pouches follow a carton as it indexes to complete the

desired count. When one carton is filled, pouches start dropping into the next unfilled carton. The higher speed of the new machine also required a new carton staging and feed system, because the actuators used in the carton staging and feed timing are critical to ensure accurate and consistent package counts per carton. Actuators play key role in cartoning Key components of the cartoning system include two actuators, one for the initial positioning of each carton and another to move cartons through the fill zone. Cloud got help in choosing these actuators from Flow Products Inc., a Chicago-based...

Fast, precise movement distinguishes actuator choice On the Performa machine, the MXB-P actuators work with servo motors to provide both the speed and the positional accuracy required by the cartoning system. The servo drives also allow carton size and fill count to be changed via programming, which is quicker and easier than making mechanical changes to linkages or conveyor sections. “With programmable servo drives, we can develop a set of motions that work for a particular product, and then save that information so the system can set itself up the next time we run that product,” said Sybeldon....