A machine for the production of the Indian snack Murukku

• What was needed: dryspin® high helix lead screw and lead screw nut with high pitch
• Requirements: Long service life, self-lubricating, easy assembly, cost-effective, 100 % maintenance-free
• Industry: Food industry
• Success for the customer: By using the lubrication-free dryspin® lead screw technology, Opine was able to save up to €5,000 and up to 5 litres of lubricant. In addition, the high helix lead screw could be used as a replacement for the previously used metal ball screw.

The machine has an automated dough preparation area in the upper part of the machine. Here, the ingredients such as rice flour, chickpea flour, salt and water are automatically mixed in the required quantities and kneaded into a uniform dough. No external lubricants are allowed to come into contact with the food.

The dough is then fed through the machine, which can perform the special moulding of Murukku. Precise travel and adjustment is required here. The upper part of the machine only dispenses the dough, the mould is created by a plate that moves from below to the dough gland and creates the various shapes through different movements. The machine can therefore produce a wide variety of murukku moulds, depending on the manufacturer's requirements. Accordingly, it should be easy to convert.

The dryspin® lead screw is used in the X- and Y-axis of the Murukku machine for interpolation. By switching from metal ball screw nuts, which only run under external lubrication, to the 100% lubrication and maintenance-free lead screws and lead screw nut, it can be guaranteed that no inedible lubricants come into contact with the dough.

The use of high helix lead screw ensures easy adjustment of the positioning plate, which can produce different shapes of muruccus depending on travel. The larger distances between the individual threads increase the proportion (factor 1.3) of the tribologically optimised polymer content in the threads and ensure a service life that is up to a factor of 5 longer compared to conventional lead screws. What's more, the lead screws are easy to assemble, which significantly shortens the construction time of the machines.