Hygienic enclosures for vacuum pumps

Food producers and processors are expected to clean their machinery regularly via washdowns, as part of meeting hygiene standards. In the process of cleaning, vacuum pumps in particular should be effectively protected from the aggressive cleaning media. For vacuum pump protection, Leybold developed a series of hygienic enclosures, which are stainless-steel housings available in seven different sizes, tailor-made for each vacuum pump.

Risk of contamination eliminated

Leybold is a specialist in vacuum pumps. It says that in the food industry, vacuum pumps are often placed directly next to the processing and packaging lines, and thus not implemented in the equipment. This leads to a higher vacuum performance because, losses in pumping speed over longer pipelines are avoided. A direct positive result of this, are shorter process cycles and a better product quality. On the other hand, unprotected pumps are directly exposed to aggressive cleaning media during the rinsing processes. Over time, this leads to corroded vacuum pumps, shorter life cycles, higher costs and ultimately even to food contamination.

Stainless steel enclosures protected

To counteract these risks, Leybold developed a new protection concept with the Hygienic Enclosures. Encased by these stainless steel enclosures, the vacuum pumps can be positioned near machines and systems without problems. “On the basis of the protected Leybold vacuum pumps we can create better and more robust solutions for the demanding food applications,” says product manager Niels Gorrebeeck. “Of course, this applies all the more to applications such as stuffers, tumblers and of course packaging machines, where the machines and systems are cleaned and disinfected particularly frequently and intensively.”

Tailor made & easy to install

The stainless steel enclosures are customised for each vacuum pump, according to Gorrebeeck.

As a result, each enclosed pump can run constantly on every working pressure. The only limitation is the maximal ambient temperature for the enclosure. But the normal working temperature in F&P environments are around 10 °C, we qualified most enclosures up to 25 °C. Further all the enclosures are offered as a Do It Yourself kit and can be as well installed as commissioned by the user themselves without great effort. “These properties make of the Hygienic Enclosures a cost effective, sustainable solution. In the end, Hygienic Enclosures makes investments in expensive piping obsolete and at the same moment they offer a better pumping speed performance,” said Gorrebeeck.              

Sustainable solution

This also applies not least with regard to future packaging concepts. Gorrebeeck believes that the industry is also well equipped for this with the new enclosures: “Regardless of which solutions will prevail, food applications can be operated from today more hygienically, ergonomically as well as flexibly. Leybold can successfully accompany these processes into the future with our holistic solution approaches.“