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Voith wins international design award for InfibraFiner refiner

Voith’s InfibraFiner refiner has bagged the Focus Open 2022 Baden-Württemberg International Design Award in silver. The InfibraFiner is the latest generation of Voith refiners and is part of the company’s BlueLine product family.

The committee selected the refiner as it was convinced by its design, strength and future viability of the solutions.

In 2021, Voith introduced its design study “Papermaking Vision.” The concept takes into account all aspects of papermaking and aims to simplify maintenance and operation of the equipment, reduce interfaces through a higher degree of networking and further increase efficiency, safety and sustainability.

The award-winning InfibraFiner has an additional capacity of up to 28 percent, compared to traditional refiners. It is designed to be energy-saving. The refiner has clear structures and modern materials. The new design combines the modern appearance with technological advantages that enable a significant constant and energy-optimized refining process.

For optimum user guidance, Voith developed SmartLights that are mounted on the cover of the refiner. With the help of three-coloured illuminated segments, the SmartLight provides information at any time and at a glance about the machine status, performance and current maintenance status of the refiner. For this purpose, numerous parameters such as temperature, pressure and vibration profile are recorded and evaluated. All relevant information is also displayed in the control room by the system’s maintenance manager and on a monitor on-site. This enables the operating personnel to intervene quickly in the event of a malfunction.

Another focus of the development was a high level of occupational safety and user-friendly maintenance, achieved with a compact design. The smooth outer surfaces allow easy cleaning. All electronic components and cabling are protected and integrated into the machine in the control cabinet, which was specially designed for the InfibraFiner. The integrated gearbox reduces the space, allowing for easy maintenance.