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Technical aspects of enclosures
Pure hygiene – that is the claim made by OSI Food Solutions Germany, and it is backed up with the very latest technology. The OSI plant in Günzburg uses the world’s most advanced hamburger production line to manufacture 5.5 million patties a day, primarily for the huge network of McDonald’s restaurants in Germany. OSI is always searching for innovative solutions that will help it optimize the hygiene of its production operations.
“To meet our duty of care in all areas, we work intensively to ensure all the machinery and plants in our production systems are designed and built to the highest hygiene standards.”
Wolfgang von Vegesack, Engineering Support Officer Europe, OSI
Hygienic Design (HD) enclosures from Rittal have been an essential requirement at OSI Food Solutions Germany for years. Throughout the entire production system, the reliable compact enclosures and terminal boxes from Rittal’s HD range protect sensitive control technology from water and cleaning agents – and provide effective protection against micro-organisms and dangerous cross-contamination.
For years, OSI has been safeguarding the hygienic design of its production operations by using protective enclosures from the Hygienic Design (HD) range that Rittal launched in 2007, and which has been designed from A to Z to meet the needs of the food industry. The hygiene-centric HD enclosures score particularly highly in relation to open processes, i.e. applications where sensitive foodstuffs such as fresh meat, fish and dairy products are processed in an unpacked and unsealed state.
The trademark of the HD is its blue external silicone seal, which delivers gap-free sealing that protects the electronics installed in the enclosure against humidity and creeping moisture. The seal is a single piece and can be replaced in a matter of moments. The HD modular system is rounded off with special accessories that have been optimized for hygienic applications. These range from a locking system with rounded surfaces to special leveling feet and cable glands with all threads being deliberately located on the inside.
“Even the first HD compact enclosures that we saw at Hannover Messe 2007 got us curious – and inspired us to start some practical tests,” recalls OSI technology boss, Thomas Schnitzler. HD enclosures were installed right in the heart of the process field, where they demonstrated impressive leak-tightness and excellent cleaning properties – with the result that they were quickly written into OSI specifications. “Whenever we’re planning new machines and plants, we automatically specify that compact enclosures and/or terminal boxes from the Hygienic Design system must be used,” adds Schnitzler.