Final Report Summary - HYECON2 (Demonstrating the hygienic, energy optimized HYECON products for the foodstuff industry)
Executive Summary:
4.1.1 Executive summary
Jumping-off point for the HYECON project activity was not only to pick the low hanging fruits – but to make a difference to the market and to our businesses. We leaped onto what turned out to be a great DropBelt journey that included our own blue-collar workers, engineering consultants and people with a vast amount of traditional conveying know how and it all came together in the erection of our first full scale prototype. This part actually showed the heart of the FP 7 program – building an actual conveyor game changer, solving all kinds of technical problems but having in sight all the time the vision of a new product ready to be marketed and now curiously investigated by many different customer types. They might be going for the floor space saving conveyor method, they may be going for the cost effective conveying method or they may be going for the closed, corner turning conveying, or even use the Dropbelt as a mixing device for a more complex product configuration. One thing for sure the HYECON Consortium has developed an innovation that will change the world of conveying and that has the capacity to boost European productivity.
More specific the Dropbelt is a unique concept for conveying materials, as the materials are inside a closed bag, which ensures a gentle, unruffled and shielded transport of goods. The Dropbelt can be installed hanging in the ceiling and turn 90 and 180 degrees’ sharp corners and smoothly run up and down, which both saves floor space i.e. does not take up production space. Due to the mentioned features of the Dropbelt, it is often possible to after-install the Drop-belt in existing facilities with already installed machineries, pillars etc. The Dropbelt further allows having multiple loadings and unloadings. Furthermore, from an energy point of view the Dropbelt is a serious alternative to the pneumatic material conveying in tubes.
In addition to the big drop belt innovation also the various components of a traditional conveyor belt installation were subject for developing innovative solutions in order to reduce i) water consumption in conveyor cleaning in the food industries, ii) down time due to cleaning, iii) need for soap/cleaning stuff and iv) energy consumption.
Among those other innovations we also did some rather ground-braking innovations for the drum motor and the within the cleaning in place systems.
The Permanent Magnet (PM) drum motor is also a unique concept: firstly because the motor can NOT burn off; secondly because it has a constant torque at all speeds and thirdly because it only heats up to 40 C-degrees compared to conventional motors heating up to 70 C-degrees. The PM motor has an in-build frequency converter with which that an automatic start/stop function can be applied implying considerable energy savings. Furthermore, one few size variants PM drum motor can replace a broad range of conventional motors meaning remarkable savings in both stock space and in capital needed for stock of spare parts.
The HYECON Cleaning in Place system consists of a specially developed and designed chamber mixing a consistent flow of water and air. Thus during operation, the only variable costs are the costs of water (in liters per minute). The mixing of water with air makes it possible to obtain considerable reduction of water usage, which is an important cost factor in cleaning conveyor belt. Tests have proofed up to 50% water savings. The CIP system can be used for automatic cleaning while the conveyor belt is running but also for cleaning of the foodstuff products itself such as for example chickens, peas s and strawberries.
All the various HYECON components developed in phase one have during this phase been shown to potential customers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, both directly on customers’ factories and at various fairs. At factory-site visits the customer’s products were directly applied on the conveyor to demonstrate the efficiency.
The project demonstrations have proofed considerable potential savings in water, energy and time and there are great expectations to the future sales of all the components
Project Context and Objectives:
Summary description of project context and objectives
The HYECON 2 Demonstration Activity Project is a follow-up project aiming at bridging the gap between the research & development results created in the HYECON 1 project and the market. The RTD work performed in HYECON 1 resulted in exciting innovations for which, however, further activities are necessary for ensuring a commercial success for the SMEs. In particular this concerns up scaling of prototypes to an industrial scale, demonstrating and proving the viability of the solutions in terms of detailed cost-benefit analysis at different types of end-users so as to verify increase in hygiene, decrease in resource use and overall cost. This analysis should identify key parameters at end-users affecting the cost-benefit calculations and will form the basis for a calculation model in which potential customers can easily calculate return on investment for investing in the different HYECON solutions.
This project has thus been aiming at demonstrating and validating the state-of-the-art products developed in the former research for the benefit of SMEs scheme and thereby increase the competitiveness of the participating SMEs by proving that the products provides a significantly higher return on investment for the end-users. The result of the project is partly market penetration actions for each of the innovations, an associated marketing strategy and a plan for establishing the different products as part of a HYECON overall brand for these innovative products. The project will enable the SMEs to commercially develop, exploit and service the market after this Demonstration Project ends.
Project Results:
4.1.3 Main scientific & technological results/foregrounds
This section regarding scientific and technological results /foregrounds is not relevant in this case as the project is about market dissemination. However, some minor technical adjustments have been developed during this project phase as consequences of the trial and error processed when demonstration the equipment to potential customers but these improvements are not regarded as technological results as such.
Potential Impact:
Potential socio-economic impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation of results
Socio – Economic impact
The societal potential impacts are partly energy and environmental impacts partly safety and health impacts. Environmental impact is an issue that has increasingly gained the awareness of both producers and in particular the end-users of conveyor systems. The HYECON targets these issues in different ways. Firstly, the developed HYECON motor use less energy than current SOA drum motors, which is not only good for the environment, but the savings also represents sound economy for the end-users seem. Secondly, the hygienic design of HYECON components combined with the developed CIP solution contribute to significant savings in terms of water and detergents.
The production of safe food, to be trusted by consumers, is a key challenge. Any evidence or belief of a potential risk from food has the potential to result in severe loss of sales to the company. Also from a socio-economic point of view there is a huge benefit though the total cost attributably to failures in food safety are difficult to estimate, as they potentially should include costs associated with the diseases themselves as well as losses of products, exports and consumer confidence.
Dissemination Activities and exploitation of results
The SME´s chose jointly to disseminate all findings, in face to face meeting or presentations. As illustrated below the HYECON products are shown in a direct way towards the potential customers, but also towards end-users. In particular, the new drop-belt product has to be explained and shown in order to grasp the basic idea of the “corner turning conveying concept”. That has been done primarily with the trailer with the demo drop-belt touring around Europe. As shown below in 4.2 part table A2 the SMEs have participated in various exhibitions.
The strategy for exploitation of the result achieved in the HYECON project relies heavily on demonstration and proof of concept. The demonstration activities have been taken care of by mainly 4 sales persons from the respective SMEs. We have realized that face to face discussions with customers in the food industry is necessary, since new technologies is adopted fairly slowly in this sector.
List of Websites:
Project website address: www.HYECON.com
Contact Project Coordinator: Jesper Ellegaard,P. Ellegaaard A/S,Phone: + 45) 40 403 403,e-mail: jee@ellegard.dk
4.1.1 Executive summary
Jumping-off point for the HYECON project activity was not only to pick the low hanging fruits – but to make a difference to the market and to our businesses. We leaped onto what turned out to be a great DropBelt journey that included our own blue-collar workers, engineering consultants and people with a vast amount of traditional conveying know how and it all came together in the erection of our first full scale prototype. This part actually showed the heart of the FP 7 program – building an actual conveyor game changer, solving all kinds of technical problems but having in sight all the time the vision of a new product ready to be marketed and now curiously investigated by many different customer types. They might be going for the floor space saving conveyor method, they may be going for the cost effective conveying method or they may be going for the closed, corner turning conveying, or even use the Dropbelt as a mixing device for a more complex product configuration. One thing for sure the HYECON Consortium has developed an innovation that will change the world of conveying and that has the capacity to boost European productivity.
More specific the Dropbelt is a unique concept for conveying materials, as the materials are inside a closed bag, which ensures a gentle, unruffled and shielded transport of goods. The Dropbelt can be installed hanging in the ceiling and turn 90 and 180 degrees’ sharp corners and smoothly run up and down, which both saves floor space i.e. does not take up production space. Due to the mentioned features of the Dropbelt, it is often possible to after-install the Drop-belt in existing facilities with already installed machineries, pillars etc. The Dropbelt further allows having multiple loadings and unloadings. Furthermore, from an energy point of view the Dropbelt is a serious alternative to the pneumatic material conveying in tubes.
In addition to the big drop belt innovation also the various components of a traditional conveyor belt installation were subject for developing innovative solutions in order to reduce i) water consumption in conveyor cleaning in the food industries, ii) down time due to cleaning, iii) need for soap/cleaning stuff and iv) energy consumption.
Among those other innovations we also did some rather ground-braking innovations for the drum motor and the within the cleaning in place systems.
The Permanent Magnet (PM) drum motor is also a unique concept: firstly because the motor can NOT burn off; secondly because it has a constant torque at all speeds and thirdly because it only heats up to 40 C-degrees compared to conventional motors heating up to 70 C-degrees. The PM motor has an in-build frequency converter with which that an automatic start/stop function can be applied implying considerable energy savings. Furthermore, one few size variants PM drum motor can replace a broad range of conventional motors meaning remarkable savings in both stock space and in capital needed for stock of spare parts.
The HYECON Cleaning in Place system consists of a specially developed and designed chamber mixing a consistent flow of water and air. Thus during operation, the only variable costs are the costs of water (in liters per minute). The mixing of water with air makes it possible to obtain considerable reduction of water usage, which is an important cost factor in cleaning conveyor belt. Tests have proofed up to 50% water savings. The CIP system can be used for automatic cleaning while the conveyor belt is running but also for cleaning of the foodstuff products itself such as for example chickens, peas s and strawberries.
All the various HYECON components developed in phase one have during this phase been shown to potential customers in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, both directly on customers’ factories and at various fairs. At factory-site visits the customer’s products were directly applied on the conveyor to demonstrate the efficiency.
The project demonstrations have proofed considerable potential savings in water, energy and time and there are great expectations to the future sales of all the components
Project Context and Objectives:
Summary description of project context and objectives
The HYECON 2 Demonstration Activity Project is a follow-up project aiming at bridging the gap between the research & development results created in the HYECON 1 project and the market. The RTD work performed in HYECON 1 resulted in exciting innovations for which, however, further activities are necessary for ensuring a commercial success for the SMEs. In particular this concerns up scaling of prototypes to an industrial scale, demonstrating and proving the viability of the solutions in terms of detailed cost-benefit analysis at different types of end-users so as to verify increase in hygiene, decrease in resource use and overall cost. This analysis should identify key parameters at end-users affecting the cost-benefit calculations and will form the basis for a calculation model in which potential customers can easily calculate return on investment for investing in the different HYECON solutions.
This project has thus been aiming at demonstrating and validating the state-of-the-art products developed in the former research for the benefit of SMEs scheme and thereby increase the competitiveness of the participating SMEs by proving that the products provides a significantly higher return on investment for the end-users. The result of the project is partly market penetration actions for each of the innovations, an associated marketing strategy and a plan for establishing the different products as part of a HYECON overall brand for these innovative products. The project will enable the SMEs to commercially develop, exploit and service the market after this Demonstration Project ends.
Project Results:
4.1.3 Main scientific & technological results/foregrounds
This section regarding scientific and technological results /foregrounds is not relevant in this case as the project is about market dissemination. However, some minor technical adjustments have been developed during this project phase as consequences of the trial and error processed when demonstration the equipment to potential customers but these improvements are not regarded as technological results as such.
Potential Impact:
Potential socio-economic impact and main dissemination activities and exploitation of results
Socio – Economic impact
The societal potential impacts are partly energy and environmental impacts partly safety and health impacts. Environmental impact is an issue that has increasingly gained the awareness of both producers and in particular the end-users of conveyor systems. The HYECON targets these issues in different ways. Firstly, the developed HYECON motor use less energy than current SOA drum motors, which is not only good for the environment, but the savings also represents sound economy for the end-users seem. Secondly, the hygienic design of HYECON components combined with the developed CIP solution contribute to significant savings in terms of water and detergents.
The production of safe food, to be trusted by consumers, is a key challenge. Any evidence or belief of a potential risk from food has the potential to result in severe loss of sales to the company. Also from a socio-economic point of view there is a huge benefit though the total cost attributably to failures in food safety are difficult to estimate, as they potentially should include costs associated with the diseases themselves as well as losses of products, exports and consumer confidence.
Dissemination Activities and exploitation of results
The SME´s chose jointly to disseminate all findings, in face to face meeting or presentations. As illustrated below the HYECON products are shown in a direct way towards the potential customers, but also towards end-users. In particular, the new drop-belt product has to be explained and shown in order to grasp the basic idea of the “corner turning conveying concept”. That has been done primarily with the trailer with the demo drop-belt touring around Europe. As shown below in 4.2 part table A2 the SMEs have participated in various exhibitions.
The strategy for exploitation of the result achieved in the HYECON project relies heavily on demonstration and proof of concept. The demonstration activities have been taken care of by mainly 4 sales persons from the respective SMEs. We have realized that face to face discussions with customers in the food industry is necessary, since new technologies is adopted fairly slowly in this sector.
List of Websites:
Project website address: www.HYECON.com
Contact Project Coordinator: Jesper Ellegaard,P. Ellegaaard A/S,Phone: + 45) 40 403 403,e-mail: jee@ellegard.dk
