Information
The Marel Hopper Icedoser is an innovative machine for dispensing the exact quantity of ice into fresh-fish boxes, ensuring that coverage is uniform and excess weight kept to an absolute minimum. This precision greatly reduces transportation costs, particularly when air freight is involved.
Workflow
Boxes with product are labeled with box weight and shipping information prior to ice dosing.
An optical scanner reads ice dosing information on each box as it enters the Hopper Icedoser, which prepares the correct dosing according to the information on the label.
As the box approaches the machine, the ice feeding conveyor transmits ice into a dividing buffer which guides the ice into one of two weighing bins at varying flow rates: fast, until the correct dose is roughly attained, medium, until it is close to the correct parameters, then slow to reach an accuracy of ± 100g. The ice conveyor then begins feeding ice into the other weighing bin for the next dose. When the box is under the Icedoser, the weighing bin releases the correct dose into the box.
The quantity of ice in the container is monitored by a sensor which automatically transmits a request for more ice when the supply has dropped below a predetermined level. This ensures that a ready supply is always available, keeping the system's capacity at a rapid 10 doses per minute.
- Accurate automatic ice dosing
- Uniform coverage at 10 doses a minute
- Reduced ice usage lowers transportation costs
- Scanner reads ice dosing requirements on each box
- Works with multiple box types simultaneously