Integration Design for the Peanut Butter Production Line

For production workshops of a certain scale, operating a single machine independently and then manually transferring materials results in extremely low efficiency and excessive personnel losses. So, how can a production line with multiple machines achieve coordinated production? This article takes a coordinated peanut butter production line that has already been put into operation as an example to present the simple machine integration design.

I. Introduction to Main Production Equipment

A recently renovated peanut butter production line (Retrofit for 300Mesh Peanut Butter Production) we completed for a old customer consists of four main production devices: colloid mill A, colloid mill B, high-pressure homogenizer, and filling machine. (You can watch the production scene video to see the production equipment.)

The first colloid mill coarsely grinds the peanuts, the second mill further finely grinds the peanut butter, and the high-pressure homogenizer homogenizes the butter into a very fine consistency of 300 mesh. This results in the finished product meeting filling standards.

II. Integrated Machine Design Concept

Based on the above introduction, our design concept is to connect these four pieces of equipment in series to achieve collaborative production. The client's requirement was for simple, coordinated production, and they wanted a design that remained cost-effective. Therefore, we immediately began the design process based on the client's needs.

2.1 Integrated Work Flow

1)Overall Flow: Colloid Mill A → Small Buffer Tank 1 → Pump → Colloid Mill b → Small Buffer Tank 2 → Pump → Large Retardant Mixing Tank → High-Pressure Homogenizer → Finished Product Storage Mixing Tank → Pump → Filling Machine

2)Equipment Connection Method: Pipeline connection, with peanut butter transferred to different equipment via pumps.

3)Pipeline Valve Design: Pneumatic valve design for convenient centralized control.

4)Liquid Level Detection: Each large retardant mixing tank is equipped with a level sensor. If the feed exceeds the alarm line, a signal is sent to the pump, automatically stopping the feed. A level sensor is also added above the filling machine's feed hopper, automatically sensing when to start and stop the feed.

2.2 Integrated Electrical Control

Except for the equipment on the filling line, which is controlled individually on a separate PLC touchscreen, all the control units for the preceding equipment are located in a large electrical control cabinet. This is because the start-up and shutdown of the equipment in the preceding processes are relatively simple. Therefore, it was designed as a button, which is very simple to operate and easy for workshop workers to learn.

III. Conclusion

This is an example of a simple integration design of peanut butter production line equipment, mainly by the connection through a buffer tank and a conveying pump. This integrated design can be customized according to production conditions and customer needs. In this case, the customer requires simple production line integration, so this design can fully meet the customer's needs.  

If you need help with equipment integration or production line design, please feel free to contact us. Of course, we can also provide a single nut butter grinder to match your current production line.