Incubator and pallet cooling project for a dairy company in Greece
Hellenic Dairies is one of the biggest dairy companies in Greece – which means it is active in an industry in which both heating and cooling systems play a key role. airinotec specializes in this field, and has developed an integral project for Hellenic Dairies: on a fully automatic basis, the yoghurt products are initially incubated before being cooled down in the pallet cooling system after the incubation period. The project was adapted precisely to the individual circumstances, and in addition to first-rate, reproducible results, also offers an additional savings potential.
High-quality dairy products from the third generation
The family-owned company Hellenic Dairies has been operating in the dairy business for three generations and distributes its products in 47 countries. The success of the company is based on several mainstays: innovative products are just as much a part of its success as excellent raw materials, the best technology and strict standards of hygiene. With these ingredients, the 800 employees produce dairy products that have an authentic, traditional flavor.
Indispensable for dairy products: efficient refrigeration
Efficient refrigeration is one of the most important requirements of a dairy, although some products have to mature in the incubator first. Since every dairy company has different requirements and different conditions are found in every business, it is difficult to standardize the systems for such requirements. At Hellenic Dairies, there were various tasks to manage: on the one hand, an efficient cooling system was required, and on the other hand, an incubation facility.
Cooling and incubating with greater energy efficiency
For the pallet cooling system, airinotec used an in-house development: AccuCool technology. This discontinuous system enables just-in-time cooling for a wide range of products. The refrigerated pallets are distributed to the various locations in the racking system. Once the individual cooling time has elapsed, the pallets are discharged as required. The specially-developed Rapid Cooling Technology plus (RCT+) air guidance system reduces the cooling period while increasing the energy efficiency. The second system to be installed is a fully-automatic incubator. Here, yoghurt is incubated at exactly 42 degrees. A time or ph-value-controlled recipe management enables an optimum and reproducible level of product quality.
With our various systems, we are able to cover the full range of corporate requirements.
Once the required degree of incubation has been reached, the pallets proceed to the cooling tunnel fully automatically. The company’s Cool Master-CM automation platform, which is based on Siemens Simatic S7 and Rockwell automation, ensures that all the subsystems are coordinated with each other. This keeps the personnel costs low and increases the energy efficiency at the same time – which also reduces costs. In the event of a service call, the geographical distance is hardly an issue: with its Global Remote System, airinotec is able to provide immediate customer support. Secure and rapid communications as well as error analysis and processing can be carried out via the system using VPN.
Efficient use of standard components
The project in Greece is a perfect example of the work of the company which is based in the Franconia region of Germany: at airinotec, industry expertise combines with engineering knowledge and efficient thinking. This means that airinotec can offer the perfect balance between individual solutions and acceptable costs. The system costs are optimized with the use of standard components. However, these are used in such a way that they are adapted to the respective operating processes on a customized basis – in this case, to the increased hygiene and safety requirements of a dairy company.
