Heat and Control's "Rev Gate"
Predictive Mathematical Model for Heat and Control’s “Rev Gate”
Summary:
· Formulated predictive mathematical models to improve efficiency of food-processing equipment
· Developed novel calculation method by which empirical and labor-intensive data tables could be generated more accurately and substantially more quickly
Background:
Heat and Control is a world-leading equipment manufacturer serving an ever-growing list of food and non-food industries. One of its most innovative products is called the Revolution Proportional Gate, or “Rev Gate” for short. This motor-driven, dual-cylinder gate enables food processors to divert any desired proportion of their products to specific conveyor lines at any time, simply by rotating the Rev Gate’s slotted pan. However, this innovative product was severely underutilized and was extremely inconvenient to operate, due to the unintuitive data look-up tables that were employed to set the angle of the Rev Gate’s rotation and, therefore, the proportion of product that was diverted to the conveyor line beneath the Rev Gate’s slot. In addition, these extensive data look-up tables were calculated through experimental product runs and subsequent linear interpolation between collected data points. These assumptions had resulted in wide variability in in-field product proportion splits and costly trips to the sites for Heat and Control employees to troubleshoot the systems.
Design Considerations:
1. The predictive formula required the inclusion of an angle of repose, the angle at which a given product lies when transferred into the Heat and Control pan.
- This angle of repose varies dramatically among products, such as potato chips, frozen vegetables, frozen chicken, and even balloons.
2. In order for the data look-up tables to be populated automatically, the predictive formula had to be rearranged to isolate the proportion of product to send through the slotted pan, as that was the variable that operators knew when positioning the Rev Gate.
3. The predictive formula had to apply for the entire range of the Rev Gate’s rotation.
3. The predictive formula had to apply for the entire range of the Rev Gate’s rotation.
- The formula had various forms, depending on several conditional checks.
