Graduation Internship: High Speed Stacker

A graduation assignment for 4 students; 2x Mechanical Engineering and 2x Industrial Automation

Lan Handling Technologies builds customer-specific production lines from various standard modules.

One of these modules is a stacker.

A production line involves picking up products, placing the products on temporary product carriers (trays), stacking temporary product carriers with products (stacks) and placing the stacks in the autoclave. In this autoclave, the products are sterilized. After the sterilization process, the stacks are unstacked so that the products can be picked up. The stacking and unstacking of these stacks in the process is realized by a (De)Stacker module.

The (De)Stacker currently requires too much installation space at the bottom of the module. As a result, the module cannot be used in lines with a transport height lower than 800 millimeters, which is also one of the new (CTO) requirements. Furthermore, with the current construction, trays smaller than 850 millimeters cannot be stacked or unstacked. Additionally, the (De)Stacker must be able to stack at least 10 trays/min in accordance with the new requirements. The current (De)Stacker currently stacks at a maximum of 7.5 trays/min, which is at its mechanical limit, because the (De)Stacker regularly suffers from defective parts. With the current 7.5 trays/min, the service life is therefore mediocre. A new module has been developed that meets the above requirements; however, this results in tray damage. The low contact surface of the tray causes extra wear/deformation of trays.

In summary, this gives the following reasons for LAN to start this project:

- New, stricter "CTO" requirements

- Current module is reaching its capacity in terms of construction.

- Processing capacity.

- Current module damages trays due to limited contact surface,

- Current module has a complicated commissioning method involving adjustments of stacking heads/clamping bushes.

The choice was made to separate the stacker/destacker to see if it is possible to simplify the stacking/unstacking function. A wish is, of course, that stacking and unstacking can be done with the same/similar components.

The graduation project will be realized by achieving the following objectives:

1. Problem Analysis:
   Research current function
2. types, properties, dimensions etc...
3. transport medium, speed, etc...
4. Working conditions; temperature, cleaning protocol, etc...
5. Application Analysis:
   What is this module used for?
6. Technical Solution:
   Developing the functional and technical solution, and testing one of these solutions:
7. Full engineering: CAD / EPLAN and software block for control
8. Full scale Test:
9. Performing the tests and evaluating the results.
10. Documentation:
11. Preparing a complete documentation set, including the Functional Design Specification (FDS), module specifications, interface documents and layout, according to the Lan methodology.

Why are we looking for another solution?

- Our current stacker no longer meets our current expectations:

o DFA (Designed for Assembly)

o DFM (Designed for manufacturing)

o Production capacity

o Low TCO

o 100% reliable

Conducting preliminary research, drafting a set of requirements, concept definition and concept choice, design and realization including testing of a prototype. Your graduation project group consists of the disciplines Mechanical Engineering & Industrial Automation, supported by our technology team and OPS team.

To ensure that after 5 months (in addition to the Avans graduation documents) you have realized a working scale prototype, we approach the graduation assignment as a standard Lan project. What does this mean? You will receive support from a project team consisting of a project manager and a technology team.

· Rockwell Studio5000, for the PLC;

· Rockwell Factorytalk, for HMI interface;

· SolidWorks (/PDM), for 3D CAD models and 2D drawings;

· Eplan for hardware drawing

An entirely new supermarket experience. Huh, what?! Really. As soon as you walk into Lan Handling for your internship, you will never be able to do normal grocery shopping again. From that moment on, you will be turning cans, jars, and meal bags around everywhere. Just to check: yes, we also handle this product with our machines! But, of course, that is not all:

• € 500,- gross per month internship allowance based on 5 days per week
• Travel allowance of € 0.23 per km home-work
• Lots of freedom and room for own initiative
• Gaining valuable work experience

We specialize in the design, construction, assembly, and installation of handling and end-of-line (robot) solutions. We do this for large international customers (Mars, Nestlé, Bonduelle, Del Monte and more) in the food industry. We have installed more than 500 systems worldwide. Customers can come to us for specific solutions based on standardized technology.

Good to know:

• We are part of the publicly listed Hydratec Industries, with a focus on the Agri & Food, Automotive, and Health Tech markets.
• We have two locations in the Netherlands: Berkel-Enschot and Halfweg. In Berkel-Enschot, we create technical solutions for sterilized product handling.
• In total, about 130 people work for us, spread across the two locations.

And.. what did other students think?
Check their stories + videos on our website!

Applying? Want to know more?
Send your questions or CV + motivation to Megan Holleman via hr@lanhandling.com.