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Valve islands for the dairy industry

Bürkert has developed valve islands that are extremely well suited to dairy plant applications. The Type 8652 and new Type 8647 valve islands offer a multitude of benefits in this type of hygienic food and beverage processing environment. Here, we explore the benefits that Bürkert valve islands can bring to your dairy processes.

Bürkert valve islands offer flexible automation and control solutions that can assist with a multitude of dairy plant applications, ranging from Clean in Place (CIP), to dosing, pasteurisation, Ultra High Temperature processing (UHT), and process heating and cooling.

New technology in the dairy industry

Automation in the dairy industry consists of process control and production management. All actions needed to control a process with optimal efficiency are handled by a control system on the basis of pre-programmed instructions.

A process control system normally incorporates:

  • User interfaces, used by the process operator to communicate with the control system and the process.
  • Process Control, often a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), executing actual control of the process.
  • I/O-system interfaces with control modules and transmitters in the process.

Bürkert’s experience of commissioning new technology in the dairy industry is very much at the field level. We can offer a network of connected field devices, comprising sensors, transmitters, controllers, actuators and – as part of our particular focus here – valve islands.

Valve islands for dairy applications

In the industrial dairy industry, all processes are automated on a central or distributed basis. Drawing on all our years of working with the dairy and wider food and beverage industries, we understand the priorities of dairy producers. Among the wish-list of non-negotiables, cost benefits are clearly a high priority. Beneath that, from an operational perspective, we know that intuitive operation, fast commissioning, easy maintenance, reliable and precise actuation, and space-saving assemblies are all crucial elements of dairy technology.

A valve manifold from Bürkert can go a long way towards meeting all of these objectives. For instance, our Type 8652 and new Type 8647 units can be used for the automation of large hygienic valve clusters in a dairy plant. This gives you large-scale control of solenoid valves, pressure sensors, process valves (such as ball or butterfly valves), and flow sensors to name but a few.

The beauty of using a valve island for dairy automation is their pneumatic and electrical interface with your processes. Digital and analogue input and output modules are used to detect sensor inputs – such as flow, pressure, temperature, level – and control actuators. Whilst signals are transferred via PROFINET/PROFIBUS fieldbus protocols through the valve island. All of which gives you a high degree of automation and minimises human error and training requirements.

Minimise downtime and maximise plant availability

Bürkert valve manifolds simplify your automation processes. Both of our marquee valve islands feature LC displays that give you fast, detailed device status updates. Displayed in plain text and in real time, these status readings can help you to monitor the position indicator of pilot and process valves and provide detailed error diagnostics.

Our valve islands also minimise downtimes and maximise plant availability. Wear-optimized, predictive maintenance is made possible by displaying the number of switching cycles possible via the PC control and any exceeding of predefined alert thresholds via the LC display. Plant shutdowns, which can be seriously costly for a dairy producer, can also be a thing of this past. This is thanks to hot-swap valve changes that can be made during operation.

Type 8647 valve island raises the bar

Where the new Type 8647 differs, is that we have partnered with Siemens to combine their SIMATIC ET 200SP I/O system. As such, valves can be treated as digital outputs of the ET 200SP. This provides easier and faster project planning via Siemens’ Totally Integrated Automation Portal (TIA Portal), which provides you with unrestricted access to their complete range of digitalised automation services.

Furthermore, we believe that the Type 8647 is the only valve island on the market today that features an integrated pressure sensor. Competitor valve islands require either a terminal controller or a pressure control valve with a digital display. Whereas, the Type 8647 makes it easy to measure and monitor the pressure of a control valve and the pressure course. Pressure notifications are sent via your fieldbus control and reports can also be generated.

Contact Bürkert today

All in all, our exceptional valve island solutions can maximise your dairy plant’s all-important cost savings, time savings, process safety and reliability. To speak to Bürkert about your dairy technology requirements, please contact our sales team today on +44 (0) 1285 648 720 or email sales.uk@burkert.com.

Type 8647

AirLINE SP – electropneumatic automation system

Type 8647
  • Direct connection to the I/O systems SIMATIC ET 200SP and SIMATIC ET 200SP HA
  • Integration in Siemens PCS7 possible
  • Combination of fieldbus, pilot valves and I/O modules
  • Easy diagnostics by LC display
  • Safety-related shut-off of valves possible

Type 8652

AirLINE – the valve island optimised for process automation

Type 8652
  • Safety-related shut-off of valves possible
  • Higher plant availability with PROFINET S2 (system redundancy)
  • Process reliability through pneumatic functions
  • Optimised for installation at the bottom of the control cabinet
  • EX-Versions: ATEX / IECEx Zone 2, cURus Haz. Loc. CL I, II, III Div 2