Our client came to us with a request to find the most efficient combination of cycle time and consumption possible for their facility’s cage and rack washer. This led the BetterBuilt team to think of how we could borrow ideas from previous applications and incorporate these ideas into this project by creating a whole new feature – a cold water fill system for our cage and rack washer.
As compared to other cold water fill systems provided by our competitors, where they simply used a larger heat exchanger which consumes more steam to heat up supplied cold water, our cold water fill system utilizes energy recovery along with minimal steam consumption. Unlike our competitors, the BetterBuilt cold water fill system recovers energy with the use of a drain line heat exchanger as previously heated solutions going to drain transfers recovered energy to the in coming cold water used to fill the washer. Overall, this feature has been a game changer for multiple facilities around the world. It reduces steam consumption and eliminates the need for cold water drain line cool down, an external steam heat exchanger, and hot water altogether. All that’s required is cold water, a little bit of steam and our machines do the rest, meeting the temperature guaranteed requirements for the industry with a 15 minute cycle.
What results can you expect from using this cold water fill system on our R600 Series Cage and Rack Washers? Close to 20% reduction in steam consumption and a 45% reduction in steam demand compared to other systems. A 100% reduction in cold water used for drain cool down. A potential cost savings of 50-80% per cycle is possible with this feature (in energy, water and chemicals). Within two years, the energy savings will pay for itself, making it one of the smartest energy efficient solutions around for your facility.
Our Conveyorized Rack Washer was designed to work alongside our client’s automation unit in order to meet the load and capacity requirements the client was proposing for their new facility. Having a rack washer that would match and sync up with this continually processing automation unit, BetterBuilt developed a Conveyorized Rack Washer. Its main feature would be a continuously moving belt that would work alongside the facility’s proposed automated unit.
Through this conveyor belt, the rack washer would respond automatically to whatever was being loaded and fed through the system. Once loaded, the washer would run continuously and, powered by 15 horsepower pumps, racks or cages would go through each washing cycle and come out of the other side fully washed and clean. The washer would then be ready to begin another automatic cycle, with the whole process requiring minimal management from the facility’s staff.
In the end, the Conveyorized Rack Washer was a massive unit, tying everything together in the new space and helping this client reach their overall goals for the project and their new facility. Not only this, but the customization process for the Conveyorized Rack Washer represents yet another way our team of designers and engineers work together with our clients, ensuring they have the most relevant, strategic design to meet their workflow objectives and automation needs.
The Automated Conveying System was created in partnership with a client who required an automation system that would work with the facility’s particular workflow. Specifically, this facility was limited by the number of people who would operate the equipment and needed a system that would work with only one operator. After the initial consultation process, the BetterBuilt team engineered a system that would convey, stack, and cue all items washed and would work more or less autonomously, without staff intervention.
Our team then developed the Automated Conveying System, which was designed to work with a single operator who would stand on one side loading up dirty cages and equipment through the tunnel washer. As he remained stationary, loading cages on one end, on the other end of the tunnel washer, the non-cage items would be diverted to one side while the clean cages were diverted onto the other side. The clean cages would then be cued up to go through the facility’s bedding dispenser. Once the system had been filled to capacity and as many cages as possible were diverted into the bedding dispenser, the entire system would stop automatically. This would then alert the operator, who would move to the other side to process the clean cages, triggering the system to turn on again and process the dirty cages being fed into the washer.
Ultimately, creating the Automated Conveying System for this facility helped to establish the automated work flow this client was looking for, where next to no staff intervention was required to process and cue up all of their cages in one location. In the end, our team will always work alongside your team to engineer the innovative solutions that keep your facility running, whatever your workflow requirements may be.
The ActivAGS (Automated Glassware System) was initially designed for a client who needed several specialized glassware washers for a unique arrangement they had in mind for their facility. Reaching out to other vendors, they were told they would need to change the configuration of their facility and, not wanting to make those changes, the client reached out to BetterBuilt to see if we could help them achieve their vision for the project.
Initially, our team made a few different recommendations for the client, all of which worked with their original vision and not against it. After moving forward with one of our recommendations, we began thinking of ways we could take things even one step further for this client, helping them to reach their goals for the project by creating the ultimate solution that addressed and worked around their specific challenges.
In the end, we implemented a totally flexible solution that incorporated automated and manual systems, allowing the operators to manually override the automation as they saw fit. Once the glassware had been loaded into the conveyor system, the system would automatically know what type of object was in the machine, which rack it was on, and what appropriate washing cycle was required via the automation unit. We also put two single door washers within the same washer unit, so that one door was automated and one was manual, allowing the system to essentially take care of itself.
Given that other vendors were not even able conceptualize the hybrid solution we implemented (let alone design or engineer it), the ActivAGS is a customization project the BetterBuilt team is especially proud of, as it represents our commitment to thinking outside the box and finding the best solution for our clients and their facilities.
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