OSKALOOSA, IOWA ― Pet food manufacturers can maintain product quality and enhance processing by utilizing gentle tubular cable conveyors to transfer products throughout a processing plant. According to Cablevey Conveyors, tubular cable conveying helps maintain product integrity and minimizes fines, which reduces waste and helps keep the processing environment clean. Additionally, tubular conveying uses smaller motors and less energy.

“In the pet food industry, a wide range of fragile, high dollar value food products can be prone to excess breakage when conveyed at high velocity by air-power, such as in pneumatic and aeromechanical systems,” said Karl Seidel, marketing director. “A more profitable alternative to protect sensitive, high-value pet food products is to utilize tubular cable conveyors, which move product through a sealed tube using a coated, flexible stainless-steel drag cable pulled through on a loop.  Solid circular discs (flights) are attached to the cable, which push the product at low speed through the tube without the use of air, preserving product integrity and minimizing waste.”

According to the company, pet food industry manufacturers can decrease product damage down to 1-2% with a slower process such as a tubular cable system. Cablevey is a specialty material moving, mechanical conveyor company that has designed, engineered, and serviced enclosed cable and disc tube conveyors for almost 50 years, and is in more than 66 countries. 

Cablevey systems can convey up to 2000 cubic feet per hour (56.6 meters per hour) of product with numerous layouts using multiple inlets and outlets. These systems can also significantly reduce energy use and noise. Pneumatic systems convey product at high velocity that typically requires larger motors that control fans, blowers and rotary valves. Aero-mechanical systems, running at high speed, can generate considerable motor and disc noise.

The smaller motors utilized by tubular cable systems require less energy and are typically quieter overall. According to Cablevey, a tubular cable system utilizes about one-tenth the energy used by pneumatic systems. In terms of noise, a low-speed tubular cable system is quiet enough to easily have a conversation around it while it is running, the company reports. 

The enclosed tube conveyors help keep both materials and plant sanitary. Wet, dry and in-place cleaning options are available to reduce cleaning time, labor and required resources.

Find more articles related to pet food processing equipment on our Equipment page.