Decentralised automation of valves in hygienic areas

In terms of process control in hygienic applications, the tried-and-tested solutions are often preferred, thanks to their proven performance and guarantees they provide. ENILBIO, the National School of the Dairy Industry and Biotechnology in France, has chosen the universal control head Type 8681 from Bürkert to ensure the homogenisation of the control on one of its sites. Harmonisation of the 330 control heads led to simplified commissioning and maintenance, maintaining the long-term relationship between ENILBIO and Bürkert.

ENILBIO has the mission of training professionals and students from the agri-food industry with a major focus on the dairy sector and assuring the production of certain products such as cheese and beer. As such, the equipment employed in the company’s site is essential to the quality of its training and process verification.

As part of the renewal of its fleet of control heads, ENILBIO wanted to ensure the decentralised automation of hygienic valves and improve management of the automated processes by moving from wired communication to ASI (AS-Interface) communications, to better control its production activity.

The tender process was concluded with Bürkert delivering the solution to homogenise control of the entire site, thanks to a single product, the Type 8681 universal head, which offered all the benefits expected by ENILBIO. These include improved automation of hygienic valves with a solution that integrates into the existing system, automatic configuration, instant visual diagnostics and even good cleanability of the product through a hygienic kit that can be adapted to the pneumatic actuator.

Bürkert’s products offer protection class 3 in accordance with DIN EN 61140, an ASI protocol, a robust inductive rod made entirely of stainless steel for longer service life, a visual indicator of the valve status that can be seen from 100 metres and even personalised training for the technical team, as well as for trainees.