Many manufacturers with global influence are interested in concentrating production capacity in a few places.

The hygiene and personal care industries certainly follow this trend. Therefore, products such as toothpaste require larger batches. In addition, each site produces a wider range of variants.

Therefore, modern factories must be capable of mass production while providing maximum versatility.

Faced with this complex task, EKATO SYSTEMS in Schopfheim in the southern Black Forest of Germany built a new factory for the discontinuous production of toothpaste.

In the past, the maximum capacity of toothpaste production plants was 4,000 to 5,000 liters, with an hourly output of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 liters.

Continuous or batch production is possible. Continuous systems can achieve high throughput, but are not very versatile in terms of product changes; because different ingredients sometimes require their own dispensing and mixing techniques, recipe changes usually bring about conversion and readjustment.

When toothpaste is not uniform enough, it is not easy to be reprocessed. The biggest challenge for continuous equipment is to ensure the uniform dispersion of active ingredients such as sodium fluoride, even after changes in the distribution system.

On the other hand, the productivity of the existing discontinuous plants cannot be significantly improved without major renovations to the plant equipment. In order to meet the needs of toothpaste manufacturers, EKATO therefore had to build a larger factory.

The toothpaste production system basically consists of a vacuum container with a stirrer, a homogenizer, and various distribution systems for introducing ingredients into the process.

The liquid composition is either measured and then vacuum inserted into the container or dispensed by gravimetric method. The powder and thickener used to increase the viscosity can be added through the integrated homogenizer or sucked into the container through a valve at the bottom of the container.

For larger mixer sizes, EKATO must determine the dosage and dispersion time of the components, the mixing and homogenization time, the vacuum value, and the necessary agitator and homogenizer performance.

Configure the stirrer and homogenizer according to the mixing performance equation of the mixing technology.

Based on its rich experience, EKATO determines the power coefficient "Ne" (or Newton number) of each impeller and the specific viscosity curve of the product.

In addition to the product concentration, the equation also includes speed and diameter-indices of 2, 3 or even 5, these values ​​are especially important. This is why it is important to configure the stirrer and homogenizer drive correctly.

EKATO builds the right agitator for each product.

The drive supplier NORD needs to configure a high-performance motor and gear unit according to EKATO's calculations, and make it as efficient and durable as possible.

Since the agitator drive is installed on the top of the production mixer, it should be as compact as possible despite the need for high performance.

[NORD DRIVESYSTEMS geared motors meet the standards set by a record-breaking factory: no other drive manufacturer can produce an industrial gearbox of this size in a one-piece housing. ]

This application, which relies on uniform product quality, requires speed and continuity.

Due to the high viscosity of the product, the radial and axial loads on the agitator shaft are very high, and the drive configuration must be considered.

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS configures and provides two 250 kW motors with industrial gear units, which can provide a nominal output torque of 242,000 Nm.

NORD is the only manufacturer in the world that produces ultra-large industrial gearboxes in this power range with a proven one-piece UNICASE housing.

Therefore, although the size of the SK 15407 3-stage helical bevel gear device is impressive, it is still relatively compact because the UNICASE design allows the use of larger rolling bearings and can withstand greater forces.

[Alexander Lukas is the head of R&D at EKATO SYSTEMS, and Peter Dittmers is the managing director of NORD DRIVESYSTEMS in Germany. ]

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