We've all heard the jokes about how many electricians/economists/actors/blondes etc. it takes to change a light bulb, but changing a centrifuge filter cloth is no laughing matter for most production or maintenance engineers. The average time taken to perform this task is generally around an hour.
But in a recent timed trial, performed for a customer, it took just two and a half minutes to change the filter cloth on a Krauss Maffei Process Technology pharmaceutical design horizontal centrifuge (HZPh). The trial was overseen by a leading Italian manufacturer of pharmaceutical ingredients and the change was carried out without the use of tricks or sleight of hand.
Indeed, just seven basic steps were required: unlock the housing, open it, remove the filter cloth, remove new filter cloth from package, install new filter cloth, close housing and lock it. All of which offers a considerable reduction in machine downtime and engineer deployment, Krauss Maffei says.