New Approaches to Food Handling and Processing - February 2005

The Food Processing Faraday asked Assystem to bring some fresh ideas to the food processing industry in the areas of hygienic handling of products and low shear force mixing of fluids. Assystem presented a whole raft of concepts to the client, some of which are illustrated below. The concepts were reviewed with the client and three were selected for further development into prototype demonstrators. These included a novel gripper for hygienic handling of "sticky" product and the "Tumble Tube". The principle behind this device was to impart a folding motion to fluids such as premium grade yoghurt, thus providing a gentle but intimate mixing action. In operation fluid is fed into its upper end and mixed during its transit by a combination of tube rotation and interaction with the surface featuring before exiting at the lower end. The demonstrator device showed that this simple device was highly effective and a patent application has been filed.

The team presented its work at the prestigious 'Excellence in Food Manufacturing' conference. The company's presentation was entitled 'From Aerospace to Food Processing' and described the creation process used in the development of our devices and illustrated the devices in action. The event was well attended by the world's top food processing companies and our presentation was particularly well received.