CandyWorx, a Spec Engineering Brand, sponsored a team of design students from Northern Illinois University (NIU) for their senior design project. Chris Schmidt, CAD Drafter at Spec Engineering, led the initiative for his team, with Kevin Laud, VP of Engineering at CandyWorx, mentoring the group. Tim Cullinan and Robert Ciavarella rounded out the team with Dr. Bobby Sinko serving as the faculty advisor.

The senior design group developed a prototype of an automated belt cleaner for the REVOLV Belt Coater. The REVOLV Belt Coater is used to uniformly coat a variety of applications including nuts, raisins, dried fruit, coffee beans, and pretzel chunks in either milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or yogurt.

Currently the coater is cleaned manually by operators. The prototype evaluated how to sanitize and remove accumulated product from the machine, taking into consideration the allergens that might be used in the machine.

The Spec Engineering and CandyWorx team were able to watch the presentation and cheer on the team. We are thankful to the team for their hard work and dedication on this project! 

Learn more about the REVOLV Belt Coater here.