Fruits
Extracting juice and pulp from fruit in canneries has produced a series of complex machinery that sort, core and peel a wide variety of fruit. Volta has special textures used in optical scanners that sort berries of all kinds as well as grapes in the wine industry. Because of e-coli outbreaks, there has been a new demand for food grade belts in bulk handling inside of packing sheds. Volta conveyor belts are hygienic and can save breakdowns in the middle of the season on these highspeed sorting lines. Seasonal work is often done around the clock in a fixed harvest time with unplanned maintenance being a costly last resort.
Acidic fruit
A common failure of many plastics used in conveyor belt comes from chemical attack of the belt compound. Most chemical exposure comes from plant cleaning operations. There is a group of food products that contain natural juice corrosives. During the processing of these fruits acidic liquid is present. There are applications where the fruit is packaged in pickled acidic solutions as well. Conventional belts quickly crack and develop micro-fissures which harbor pathogens and weaken the belt. Volta has developed a line of materials that resists this degradation making our slicing and packing line belts an invaluable asset in fruit processing and canning factories. Pineapple slicing is an important cash crop in many countries and audits are carried out on behalf of international supermarket chains. Volta material is recognized as conforming to the highest standards of efficiency and safety.
Frozen fruit release properties
In this factory, eight incline conveyors transfer frozen fruit pieces to a horizontal conveyor. A standard release texture does not have sufficient irregularity or depth to break the bond created by a film of water carried by the fruit. When modular belts are used the refreeze action allows the fruit particles to remain stuck in place on the surface for hours extending the wash down time increasing water and chemical usage. After testing some of our more exotic textures, we decided together with our retrofit partners to use a tight roof top pointed profile that only allows a limited amount of contact surface with the ice-forming fruit. The conveyors successfully transfer the product with no sticking.
