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Food Filling Machines, various filling technologies, part-1
Food Filling Machines
The type of Food or beverage filling machines to be used is usually determined by the type of product to be filled, speed requirements, quality and shelf life expectations, resources availability, technology feasibility and many other variables.
Type of food products may range from solid to semi-solids, from liquids to frozen, from hot to cold, from free flowing to highly viscous products etc. This wide range of product characteristics also suggests that filling machines with great flexibility and versatility are the most valuable.
There are various filling technologies for liquid and dry products and product filling machines can be rotary or inline, intermittent or continuous motion, semi-automatic or fully automatic with various filling technologies to cater for the huge range of product variables and user requirements, each offering unique advantages.
Auger Fillers:
"Auger filler use an auger or screw to dispense the product. Product is fed to the vertical hopper with the level control and the machine works on the principle of positive displacement of the auger /screw. The volume of the product to be discharged is controlled by counting & controlling the number of revolutions of the auger. Rotation of the auger / screw is controlled by the photoelectric sensor or encoder which in turn controls the product output from the discharging funnel. Depending upon the product, a discharge valve OR a mechanical stopper may be used to stop excess product from discharging between the filling cycles.
Weight & volumetric filler techniques are sometimes combined by putting the load cell directly underneath the auger filler and filling the last 5 to 10% of the product by taking the signal from load cell and using that as the reference to achieve the target. The other option can be of using the checkweigher to measure the weight after filling and sending the signal to Auger servo controller after every cycle. That information helps the servo controller to alter the auger speed/revolutions for the subsequent filling cycles. This helps in ensuring that the product weight deviations are within a particular range."
Aerosol Filling Machine:
"Aerosol Fillers can be majorly of 2 different types UTC (Under the cup) Filling OR TTV (through the valve filling), there are other volumetric methods (time-gravity filling, BOV filling etc.) for filling aerosols as well. Product formulation and selection of valves, propellant type and process requirements play a very important part in Aerosols filling machine selection.
Propellant is usually filled via volumetric pistons designed specifically to fill propellant gas into an aerosol can or canister. Fillers of this type are suitable for accurate filling at both low and medium speeds."
Bags, Sacks, Bulk Bins-Filling Machines:
"Most of the bulk bag, bulk bin and Sack Fillers are Volumetric Fillers, although weight fillers OR combination of volumetric and weight fillers can also be used for the same purpose.Volumetric Fillers measure the volume of the product rather than the weight. So, in case of volumetric fillers the product density and constant product head are very critical for getting the consistent and reliable output.Check weighers can be utilized after the volumetric filler & close loop filling control can be easily implemented for better reliability. Weight based filling, multi head weighers, linear weighers etc. can also be used for filling bags &sacks"
Blow, Fill, Cap Filling Machines:
Blow, Fill, Cap system is an integrated system consisting of blow moulding, filling and capping. On these machines, bottles are blown from small preforms, filled with product on the same machine and then capped. By eliminating conveying, empty bottle handling, accumulation and storage, Combination system optimize the line layout to great extent. By using this system, there are a lot of savings in terms of reduction of operational steps, reduction in PET bottle weight, material savings, manpower usage and better control & enhanced productivity of the complete line. As the technology advances, this is a natural progression from the previous industry model of separate material converters & food /beverage manufacturers. This integration can be of great help to all involved but one must go through it very cautiously with a carefully chosen strategy as it involves drastic changes to the previous industry model.
Combination Weighers-Filling Machines:
"Combination Weighers / Multi head weighers have got many filling heads (8 to 24 OR more) and an independent load cell is attached to each weight hopper (filling head). The product is usually transferred to the pool hoppers by vibration OR with the help of screws. The pool hoppers hold the product before transferring the product to the weight hoppers, so the pool hoppers act as buffer for the product. The microcomputer checks the weight in each and every weight hopper and looks at the combination of weights for many hoppers at a time and checks the combination weight which is closest to the target weight. Once the set of hoppers having the closest weight to the target weight are determined, the computer sends the signal across to the weight hoppers and those hoppers are opened & the product is dumped into the container.The rating of the weight hoppers and the control of vibration of the product feeders can be done automatically. All of the above work happens in milliseconds and very high accuracy & great speeds are achieved."
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