Everything from a single source

Juices and fruit wines, pressed directly from the juice of harvest-fresh fruit, are especially delicious. Between Grimma and Döbeln, between Oschatz and Colditz, magnificent strawberries, cherries, blackberries, and raspberries, as well as plums, apples, and pears, ripen in large quantities in the “Obstland” under favorable climatic conditions. In the heart of this fertile region, in 1936—just outside the city of Döbeln—a sweet cider and fruit wine pressery was established. It is the origin of today’s Sachsenobst GmbH pressery.

Since 1990, Sachsenobst GmbH has been a subsidiary of Obstland AG Dürrweitzschen. From 1997 to 2000, the winery underwent extensive reconstruction and modernization in line with the parent company’s philosophy of offering both liquid and solid fruit products from a single source. Investments totaling more than €11 million transformed the once-small family-run cider mill into one of the most modern processing facilities in Saxony. Beyer Mechanical Engineering GmbH played a significant role in this modernization.

As part of the modernization efforts beginning in 1997, all systems and conveyor equipment were equipped with drives from Bruchsal. Till Beyer explains: “We received gear units, motors, inverters, and open-loop controls from SEW as a complete package. That was a major advantage for the increasingly sophisticated systems.”

Investment in a new palletizing system

August 13, 2002, went down in the history of the Sachsenobst Winery as “Black Tuesday.” The “once-in-a-century flood” of the Freiberger Mulde River inundated all buildings, destroying the entire bottling equipment. The next flood struck in 2013. This necessitated an extensive overhaul of key plant components. Among other things, a call for tenders was issued for a multifunctional palletizing system.

“Beyer Mechanical Engineering was the only company to submit a quotation that met our specifications in terms of both timing and technical requirements,”emphasizes Johannes Zimmermann. “Our requirements were ambitious: The system to be installed would handle all conveying and handling processes for the incoming empty containers, the pallets, and the crates containing returnable bottles, as well as the cartons with disposable bottles. We didn’t have much space to work with.” Therefore, the palletizing system was built on two levels. In addition, an automatic new-glass pusher had to be installed within the limited space. In total, the system can transport 8,000 1.0-liter bottles per hour.

Multifunctional palletizer

Once a layer has been prepared, a clamping-jaw gripper picks up the entire layer and places it on a Euro pallet. But the palletizer performs additional tasks as well. To ensure that there are always sufficient pallets, crates, and bottles available, pallets containing empty containers are continuously fed in via a conveyor belt. The palletizer discharges the pallets of returnable containers layer by layer and transfers the containers to an unloading table. From there, the separated crates are automatically transported to the Beyer bottle unpacker, where they are unpacked and conveyed on to the cap remover, while the empty returnable crates are conveyed to the crate washer. The empty pallets are stored in a pallet magazine.

The single-use bottles are packaged in cartons or trays, which are also palletized. For this purpose, Beyer mechanical engineering built a second gripper, which is called a “louver gripper” due to its operating principle. This louver gripper rests on a shelf within the machine’s operating area until it is needed. The palletizing system places the clamping-jaw gripper on this table and automatically disconnects the mechanical connection. The system operators then disconnect the gripper from the current and compressed air lines. Afterward, the gantry picks up the louver gripper in two steps. The mechanical connection is established automatically, while the electrical and compressed air lines are connected manually.

Exclusion of Interference Zones

To ensure collision-free operation of the machine, extensive interference zones had to be defined and excluded from the respective work area. These interference zones differ—in some cases significantly—depending on the gripper head used. A motion controller is used to coordinate the drive axes MOVI-PLC®^® advanced is responsible for coordinating the drive axes. The user program running on this controller allows for the definition of up to 16 different interference zones. They can be configured and activated individually.

“Implementing edge rejection requires both fast communication and high control quality from the components used. The^MOVIAXIS®multi-axis servo drives in connection with the CMPZ series synchronous servomotors,”emphasizes Ralf Reinhardt, Head of the Technical Office at SEW-EURODRIVE in Meerane.“The MOVI-PLC®^® advanced motion controller controls the axis modules of the MOVIAXIS^® system. It is in constant communication with the higher-level SPS of the palletizing system. Based on lessons learned from the flood disasters, the control cabinet was installed on a platform at the height of the upper level."