Lubricant qualified for contact with a composition suitable for human consumption including a food, a conveyor lubrication method and an apparatus using droplets or a spray of liquid lubricant

摘要

The interface between a moving conveyor belt and a work piece can be lubricated using an air driven stream of finely divided droplets of a lubricant composition. Droplets of a preferred size are directed by the air stream onto the conveyor with little waste of lubricant off the conveyor. The lubricant provides a very low coefficient of friction and little or no stress cracking in the containers. Using a low pressure and low flow rate air stream in conjunction with a low flow rate liquid lubricant attains the useful particle size in the lubricant add on spray. The liquid lubricant is sheared by the effect of the air flow creating the desirable droplet size and pattern of lubricant on the conveyor. A food container conveyor device having improved lubricant properties can be lubricated using a lubricant composition that can become ingested by a user from a food or a container for the food, can come into incidental contact or direct content with a food composition, can be incorporated at measurable concentrations into the food, or can be used generally on food conveyor surfaces wherein the food is exposed to the lubricant.