The capacities of Walterwerk Kiel GmbH & Co. KG's wafer baking systems are constantly increasing and, depending on the size of the machine, range from 3,000 to 19,000 standard wafers per hour.
The baking process of a standard wafer for industrial ice cream production is always the same: it is baked flat in the oven, fed to a wrapping station and rolled up while still warm. It is then transported to the cooling tower via a conveyor belt before the cone is wrapped in a paper cone in the packaging area. Only then is it filled with ice cream. Only one cone is guaranteed to be fed in, otherwise there will be problems with filling. With different paper cone sizes, the system has to be adjusted again and again.
And it is precisely in this section, the packing area for separating and feeding paper ice-cream bags, that linear bearings are used. They guarantee the format adjustment in the stripping station and have to fulfil high requirements: For example, operation in the system is sometimes characterised by high levels of humidity and exhaust fumes. In addition, there are sometimes temperatures of around 50°C in combination with the omnipresent, sticky wafer dust. Sugar and some of the salt used are extremely abrasive. And a sugar solution used in gluing equipment, which also sticks the cone and wafer together, must not affect the separation process despite the possibility of splashing. Under these conditions, all machine components must function smoothly in three-shift operation, seven days a week, in order to guarantee smooth downtimes and minimised service intervals for national and international customers.
Due to the high requirements of the trade show, a fully customised complete solution from a single source was a priority for Walterwerk Kiel.