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Technology that can save you close to $100,000 per year
Moba egg graders are packed with technology. Some designs are worth further investigation as they represent serious customer value. In the upcoming months, we will publish a series of articles, zooming in on these "hidden gems". First up, common speed loading.
Summary
Loading the eggs is a critical phase in the process of any off-line egg grading and packing station. Moba high-capacity egg loaders have a unique design that reduces the generation of micro cracks and even leaking eggs enormously in comparison to other brands during the very critical process of bringing eggs to the rollers of an egg grader. The two main characteristics that prevent up to 0.5% of the eggs being wasted are:
- A release to the rollers that happens while the suction head moves along with the rollers
The eggs saved by this technology will contribute to a higher Grade A number (more Grade A eggs and fewer off-grades). If 0.5% of eggs don't turn into off-grades, high-volume packing stations can see up to $100,000 in extra profit.
Offline Situations
In the various technical articles highlighting Moba technology, we have explored the secrets of the egg grader itself several times. However, this time we are focusing on loading the eggs onto the grader using a loader — so we are talking offline situations.
In these offline situations, eggs are transported on trays/pallets to a packing station, not necessarily at the same location as the farm. The stacks of trays are depalletized, either automatically via the MR50 or by hand, and put onto the loader. The loader destacks the trays individually, removes the eggs from the trays and places them on the infeed rollers of the grader in order to transport them to downstream further detection and handling.
Polynomial Movements
As long as the eggs are protected by the trays, no harm is done in any well-designed loader — but the most critical phase is when the individual eggs are lifted from the trays and put onto the rollers. In all loaders, flexible cups use a pump-generated vacuum to grip and lift the eggs. The machine then moves a group of 30 eggs in a circle and onto the rollers. During this circular movement, the eggs can move around as the rubber, silicone or plastic cup is flexible. When this movement is linear and without proper acceleration and deceleration trajectories, the eggs will collide and create cracks before they even land on the rollers. This movement is of extreme importance. When processing lower capacities this is often not so critical — but on high capacity loaders, an inferior loader trajectory can cause disasters. Often when technologies from other industries are used, such as egg processing, the generation of micro cracks is not so critical and no attention is paid to this phenomenon. Not with the Moba FL and ML loaders. A polynomial movement is designed specifically for this task. The technology seems very simple at face value, but the curves that create the movements are calculated and computer simulated first. Then the movements are fine-tuned in a laboratory using the latest trajectory calculations in a real live environment before being captured in simple metal discs, designed to have a long service life in heavy-duty environments. Combined with the unique Moba concept of wide rollers, the touchdown movement creates spaces between the rows of eggs that avoids egg-to-egg collisions, another egg-saving property of this technology.
The Result: Zero Speed Difference When Handing Over Eggs
Compare it to jumping into an open door on a moving train. If you tried it from the platform at the station, you would risk your life. Jumping just a little too early or too late would lead to you smashing into the fast-moving train. But if you could step in from another moving train traveling at exactly the same speed on a track next to the one you are jumping into, it would be a piece of cake since you have all the time of the world to make the jump.
This is exactly the same for your precious eggs. While the suction head reverses its vacuum and the eggs are slowly moving down, the suction head moves alongside the rollers at exactly the same speed. The polynomial approach that we just discussed also makes sure that the eggs do not swing and crash into each other. Thanks to this relatively long timeframe, the eggs land safely on the rollers.
When It Comes To Eggs, It's All About The Big Numbers!
If an offline packing station grades a million eggs per year, saving 5 eggs out of every 1,000 can lead to a saving of up to $100,000 — depending on the egg prices, of course. But there is more. With fewer eggs breaking, the number of cracks that start to leak is also limited. This in turn results in a higher level of food safety, since less egg liquid in the machine results in a lower risk of cross contamination. Last but not least, wasting costly food is in these modern times is worth avoiding.