• Dukane Intelligent Assembly Solutions

Ultrasonic Food Cutting & Processing Equipment

Ultrasonic food Processing Equipment from Dukane uses high-frequency sound vibrations to process food products faster and eliminate most of the downtime caused by the continual cleaning of conventional cutting blades. Ultrasonic equipment provides a new way to cut, slice, divert, align or transfer a variety of food products that streamlines production, minimizes product waste and lowers maintenance costs.
Ultrasonic knives vibrating up and down 20,000 times per second slice the product as it comes out of an oven or down a conveyor, or slit the product into bar-shaped portions. This high-frequency vibration creates a nearly friction-free surface between the tool (e.g., knife, diverter fence or transfer bar) and the product, so problems with sticking and pinching simply disappear. With the greatly reduced friction, there is virtually no knife abrasion. Tools stay sharper longer, reducing annual maintenance costs.
Users have increased productivity by minimising the production time previously lost cleaning the machinery. These can totally eliminate procedures necessary with conventional cutting, such as pre-cooling or heating the product before the cutting operations, or realigning the product after cutting prior to the packaging operation.
Ultrasonic equipment can be installed easily. Retrofitting Dukane equipment can be as simple as removing the conventional knife and replacing it with a plate to which the ultrasonic knives are attached. Another option is replacing the existing cutting/slitting station with a gantry system that straddles the conveyor.
Slitting and cutting snack cakes, granola bars, sheet cakes, cheese wheels and blocks, candy bar ropes, breakfast bars, frozen fish, chewing gum cutting and crispy bar cutting.
The knives had been run approximately 3,000 hours and could have been used another 2,000 estimated hours with no ill effects. Since knives have two blade surfaces available, the knives were just turned 180 degrees to use the opposite surface. Slitting knives cutting through abrasive products like cake, cheese or candy (with or without nuts) is still running after three or four years with no signs of wear. Ultrasonic knife sharpness is not as critical as conventional knife sharpness; the high-frequency vibrations are critical.