EN 15180:2025

1.1 General This document is applicable to food depositors as listed in 1.2 and the equipment typically integrated with them, i.e. product pumps, product elevators, conveyors and indexing mechanisms, when they are used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer (see Annex B). This document deals with the significant hazards, hazardous situations and events during transport, assembly and installation, commissioning, use, decommissioning, disabling, dismantling and scrapping. NOTE 1 According to the clause which is referred to, "use" includes "setting, teaching/programming or process changeover, operation, cleaning, fault finding and maintenance". NOTE 2 Although this document is intended to apply to depositors used in the food industry, many of its requirements can also be used for the same or similar machines used in other industries. This document does not apply to the following machines: - auger depositors or auger fillers and gravimetric filling machines; safety requirements for these machines are contained in EN 415-3; - automatic dough dividers, safety requirements for these machines are contained in EN 12042; - filling machines for sausages, safety requirements for these machines are contained in EN 12463; - mincing machines, safety requirements for these machines are contained in EN 12331; - food depositors that are powered exclusively by manual effort; - roller depositors intended for use in craft bakeries. Safety requirements for these machines are in EN 17677. This document does not deal with the following hazards: - hazards related to the use of food depositors in a potentially explosive atmosphere; - hazards that can arise from using a food depositor to deposit a non-food product. This document is not applicable to food depositors that were manufactured before the date of its publication as a European Standard. 1.2 Types of food depositors 1.2.1 General This document deals with five different types of food depositor. The component parts of each of the different types of depositor are labelled in the figures shown in Clause 4 of this document. 1.2.2 Piston depositor A piston depositor typically comprises a hopper, a rotary valve, a product measuring chamber in the form of a piston and a product dispensing valve. Some piston depositors incorporate several product measuring chambers and dispensing valves. Some designs dispense the product directly from the rotary valve without the use of a separate product dispensing valve. The volume of product dispensed is varied by altering the stroke of the product measuring chamber piston. Piston depositors are used to fill liquids, liquids containing solids in suspension and pastes. The product dispensing valve can be attached rigidly to the depositor or using a flexible pipe and in some cases is held by the operator. Figure 1 shows the typical cross section of a piston depositor. Figure 1 - Piston depositor 1.2.3 Chamber depositor A chamber depositor comprises a hopper feeding one or more product measuring chambers that are filled under gravity from the top. When the chamber has been filled with product the flow of product is stopped either by moving the chamber or using a product cutting device. The product is then discharged through the bottom of the chamber either by moving the chamber or by moving a plate in the base of the chamber. The volume of product dispensed is varied by altering the volume of the chamber. Chamber depositors are typically used to deposit free-flowing products like cooked rice or pasta. Figure 2 shows the typical cross section of a chamber depositor. Figure 2 - Chamber depositor 1.2.4 Roller depositor A roller depositor typically comprises a hopper that feeds product to two or more fluted contra-rotating rollers. These rollers force the product through one or more dies that shape the product. ...