Market: Food Packaging Industry
Product: DGS20

A company in the food processing industry came to us with a need for an encoder on a meat packaging machine. The machine is being designed to automatically wrap and mark individual Styrofoam trays of meat products. The encoder provides the master timing for the machine, keeping track of the position of the tray at all times. Based on the position of the Styrofoam tray, other machine functions will be triggered; i.e. the wrapping & cutting of the plastic wrap and price marking.

The encoder is designed to mount to the outer aluminum panel of the machine via a flange mount. A timing belt and pulley is being used to drive the encoder shaft. The customer estimated that this type of drive arrangement could apply a direct radial load up to 10# on the encoder shaft and could cause bearing failures and limited bearing life if not compensated for. The other major factor to consider, in this application, was the environment. Even though the machine was designed for relatively clean and controlled areas, like meat departments at grocery stores, the encoder could be subjected to wash downs periodically by the end user. This led to a requirement for the encoder to be completely protected from hose directed sprays.

The DGS20 was chosen as the best solution. The DGS20 is designed to meet an IP66 rating when the optional shaft seal and a cable exit version ( through a cable gland ) is selected. The DGS20 has an aluminum sleeve with bearings capable of 35# radial and 40# axial loading which provided the required life at the 10# load specified. A standard shaft with a flat was specified to provide a flat surface for the pulley set-screw minimizing the chance it could slip. The standard, rugged aluminum cover with a rear exit cable gland for strain relief was chosen to provide the rugged package they desired.. Other specifications called out by the customer included; a gated marker pulse, +5vdc differential line driver output, 48" cable leads and 256 counts/rev. The final version selected was based on the following catalog model: DGS20 DG-0256-5LD-FCB-4A.