Choosing the Right Control System for a Chamber Vacuum Sealer

Alright you have chosen a chamber style vacuum sealer for vacuuming, and perhaps gas flushing, your product. At this point you need to consider how that machine will be configured to do the very best job of handing your specific application. One of the most important parts of that configuration will be the type of control system installed on your machine. Most manufactures offer at least two choices in control systems, a basic system that allows an operator to adjust the parameters for vacuum time, gas flush time (if the machine has that option), seal time and dwell or cooling time. You will notice that all parameters are a function of time only. The second choice of control system is usually a microprocessor-based system that allows other control functions such as memory, vacuum controlled by percentage instead of just time and perhaps other features like multi-stage vacuum / gas flush and soft venting, among others. Some manufactures offer a third type of control system usually based on PLC/HMI hardware that is full customizable and can meet the requirements of medical / pharmaceutical packaging, military spec packaging as well as other packaging that requires a fully validatable control system with or without datalogging capabilities. Below you will find a brief explanation of all three types of control systems.

The PD-01

The basic control system is one that may be based on a simple digital platform or in some cases and older style analog platform. While some operators seem to prefer the older style knobs that usually only allow the parameters being set to only be reference points rather than an exact amount of time for each parameter the newer style digital control panels are more accurate while still being very easy and straight forward to operate. These digital control panels allow time setting to on tenth of a second for seal time and usually to an accuracy of one second for vacuum time, gas flush time and dwell or cooling time. If your application falls in the realm of basic vacuum packaging or basic MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) then a basic control system will meet your needs.

All the Gramatech vacuum chamber sealers in both our table-top line and our free-standing single chamber line come standard with our basic digital control system the PD-01 basic digital control system. This system allows all three (or four if your machine has gas flush) of the operating parameters to be set with a simple up/down button and displays those setting in an easy to read digital format.

The PNC-01

Most upgraded micro-processor control systems allow the operator to set up the desired control parameters as separate recipes so they cam call up the recipe that is best suited for the product being vacuum packaged at that time. This becomes a big time saver when multiple products that require different control settings are being packaged on the same machine and it also increases the accuracy of the parameters used for each product as they have already been pre-set avoiding operator error that may occur if those parameters need to be reset manually each time a different product is packaged. These control systems usually also allow the vacuum to be set as a function of vacuum pressure (how deep of a vacuum is being drawn on the package) instead of just by time. This allows for greater conformity between packages done at different times as well as more accuracy in the vacuum level achieved at different altitudes. Other added control feature often includes the ability to perform multiple vacuum and gas flush stages commonly known as multi-stage gas flush as well as operations such as soft air venting, pulse vacuum operation and many more. However, take note that most all the microprocessor-based systems do not allow for a temperature-based seal or fully validatable operation these functions are most always available only on the most sophisticated of the PLC/HMI based control systems.

In the Gramatech line any table-top machines and any free-standing single chamber can be upgraded to the PNC-01 microprocessor-based control system and this system comes standard on most of the CHDC models (except CHDC530FB). The PNC-01 control system is housed in a sealed housing and is rated IP-56 water resistant. This control system allows for all the upgrades mention in the above paragraph as well as many others.

The iS² - Intelligent Sealing System

The most advanced and capable of the control systems offered are those based on PLC/HMI hardware and programing. Although not all manufactures of chamber vacuum sealers offer this type of control system you will find that those manufactures that are familiar with the specific needs for medical, pharmaceutical and military applications all offer some form of this type of control system and most offer variants of this type of control system that are fully validatable. To be validatable a control system must be able to control certain seal and vacuum parameters by methods other than time based. The seal must be controlled via temperature withing plus/minus a few degrees for both heating up and cooling down and the pressure the seal is made under must be controlled as well within set or in some cases adjustable parameters. The system must also be able to control the vacuum pressure that the package is subject too and in most cases all these parameters must be available in a report through datalogging. The above are only some of the basics these PLC/HMI systems work with. These systems can also allow precise mixtures of different gas products to be flushed into the package at tightly controlled pressures. The systems can also operate a multitude of external options, such as flying knife cut off systems, bag tensioner systems and many others. The bottom line is that these PLC/HMI based control systems are the best systems to handle almost all very custom machine applications.

Almost any chamber vacuum sealer in the Gramatech line can be upgraded to our Is2 HMI/PLC based control system that can offer all of the custom options listed above and relies on state of the are Siemens hardware and custom programing supplied by our own in house PLC engineering team. Contact us today to learn how IMPAK can help you meet your vacuum sealing needs.