What is Filling Machine?
Filling machine is a type of
packaging machinery, used for filling containers with contents using mechanical principles or pressurized methods. It can be classified into semi-automatic filling machines and fully automatic filling production lines based on the level of automation applied in production, and also into liquid filling machines, paste filling machines, powder filling machines, and granule filling machines based on the materials being filled. Its main function is to accurately fill the products into containers to ensure precision and consistency. Filling machines are widely used in industries such as food, medicine, chemical, and daily necessity industries for bottling, bagging, and bucket filling, etc.
With the advancement of manufacturing technology, functions of the filling machine are becoming more and more integrated. It has achieved a form of integration of rinsing, sterilization, filling, and sealing. Moreover, the filling speed has also been greatly improved.
Types of containers
With the development of filling containers, there are many kinds of them. Currently, the most commonly used containers include bottles, aluminum or steel cans, paper-plastic composite packaging containers, plastic PET bottles, plastic bags, plastic drums, etc.
Filling quality criteria
The objective of the filling operation is to transfer the product to a single container in a hygienic manner possible. So it is expected to meet the following criterias:
-The right product should be filled into the container.
-The correct volume of product should be filled in each container.
-There should be no contamination from micro-organisms.
-There should be no flavour spoilage from foreign material.
-There should be no particles or haze out the ingredient list in the product.
Application of beer bottle filling machine in the beer production process
To identify the correct beer bottle filling machine, it is necessary to consider the right process.
1.The filler outputs are decided according to the plant production volume( and efficiency), which is based on the consuming markets volumes.
2.The beer filling condition also need to taken in consideration such as the filling temperature. Filling machine may vary when the filling tempeture is different.
3.The beer pasteurization decided how the filler layout, for example, the pasteurization applied after the bottle is closed, the filler usually layout before the tunnel pasteurization machine. But when beer is flash pasteurized, the filling machine is layout after the flash pasteurization machine.
4.Considering the bottle is recyclable of one-way bottle, the filler will be considered to be combied with the rinser or not. Normally filler-crowner block for the recyclable bottle with a single bottle washer machine is installed on the line. When it is one-way bottle, the rinser-filler-cronwer block is enough.
Types of beer bottle filling machine
There are various types of beer bottle filling machines available depending on the type of product to be filled and the type of container being used. According to the pressure, the filling machine can be gravity fillers or pressurized filler. Gravitity filler normally under atmospheric pressure and the liquid flow into container by gravity. It is applied for the still product, milk, juice etc. pressurized filler works under some kind of pressure, it is ususlly applied on the carbonated product. Beer, sparkling water, etc.
The filling machine can be also volumetric filler, level filler or weight filler.
(1)Volumetric filler, the volume of the product is always controlled by senser(flow meter).
(2)Level filler, the volume of the product is controlled by some kind of mechanism level control device.
(3)Weight filler, the volume of product is controlled by a load cell to caculate the weight of the product.
Beer bottle filling machine parameters
Filler valve number: from 28 to 192
Speed: from 6000 bph and 80,000 bph
Bottles range: from 200 ml up to 1 L.
Efficiency: >98%
Beer bottle filling process
1.Configuration
Beer bottle filling machine can be configured with or without rinser, the differences between these 2 kinds are based on the container used.
Stand-alone
Filler + Crowner
Block version
Rinser + Filler + Crowner
Different types of Enclosures, including Slim enclosure and Wide enclosure, could be adapted to several configurations according to the level of environmental control required.
Slim enclosure
The slim enclosure equipped with roof and air filtration unit, sometimes the filtration unit placed on top or next to filling area to keep the overpressure in the filling area. This can reduce the risk of contamination.
Wide enclosure
The wide enclosure have the same function as the slim enclosure, except that it has more space which could make it easier to access the filler to do maintenance and cleaning.
2.Structure
Frame
It is a self-draining basement, made of full stainless steel structure with sloped front base for less bio-film build-up. Hygienic design makes good cleanability possible.
Driving system
2 driving systems, mechanical or servo driving, are available for the beer bottle filling machine.
Standard drive system
There is a main AC motor controlled by frequency converter installed on the filler carousel.
Servo drive system
Unlike the standard drive system, servo drive system works as the main modules including carousels and transfer starwheel are driven by independent servomotors, which guarantees less maintenance and easier control.
3.Transferring
A bottle-stop starwheel is used to avoid bottle jamming. Bottles are directly feeded on infeedscrew.
4.Rinsing
Rinsing is a pre-process before filling to flush the bottle with water(or with sterilization), it is ususlly applied for one way bottle. Glass gripper facilitates fixing the bottles in position, and high pressure spray nozzle provides thoroughly bottle internal washing. Rinsing process obeys “No bottle, no spray” principle which optimizes the whole treatment.
5.Filling
There are 9 stages of the beer bottle filling operation.
-Bottle positioning
-Bottle centering
-First preevacuation
-Flushing
-Seconc preevacuation
-Pressurization
-Filling
-Closure
-Decompression
Step1: Bottle positioning
The bottle is transferred to the right position under the filling valve.
Step2: Bottle centering
The bottle is centered by the centering bell.
Step3: First preevacuation
The air is extracted from the bottle, through a dedicated vacuum chamber.
Step4: Flushing
The bottle is flushed with CO2.
Step5: Second preevacuation
The gas is extracted from the bottle the second time, through a dedicated vacuum chamber.
Step6: Pressurization
In order to have the same pressure both inside the bottle and in the tank, the bottle is filled with CO2.
Step7: Filling
When the pressure becomes the same, the product is filled into the bottle. The gas from the bottle returns into the CO2 chamber.
Step8: filling valve close
When the product level gets to the right level, the filling valve closes.
Step9: Decompression
The gas in the headspace is snifted out by another chamber.
As to the double preevacuation beer bottle filling process, it has certain advantages, such as low oxygen pick-up, hygienic design, high flexibility and optimized CO2 consumption.
6.Crowning
There are 7 stages of the crowning operation.
-Crown pick-up
-Crown centering
-Bottle positioning under crowning head
-Piston lowering
-Crown crimping
-Piston rising and bottle discharge
-Faulty crowns rejection system
Step1: Crown pick-up
The caps are picked up from the cap feeding chute.
Step2: Crown centering
The cap is centered by the crowning head.
Step3: Bottle positioning under crowning head
The bottle is centered under the crowning head.
Step4: Piston lowering
The piston is lowered by means of downward moving activated by mechanical methods or servo control.
Step5: Crown crimping
The cap is crimped by the force of the piston to make sure the bottle is fully sealed.
Step6: Piston rising and bottle discharge
The piston rises by means of upward moving activated by mechanical methods or servo control.
Step7: Faulty crowns rejection system
The faulty crowned bottles are rejected from the filler at the outfeed.
The whole crowning process is of high performance and optimum efficiency.
7.Format change-over
Format change-over happens in bottle height, starwheels and guides change-over. The manual operations involved in the change-overs are very user-friendly with minimal changing time required and high precision in adjustment.
8.Cleaning
Thorough cleaning and sterilisation of the filler is key to ensuring that the product remains free of microbiological contamination. A complete cleaning process includes CIP(which stands for Cleaning In Place) and COP(which stands for Cleaning Out Place).
CIP
Cleaning in place means that the beer bottle filling machine is not dismantled or opened up for cleaning all the parts inside which are in contact with the product with acid or lye solution. CIP is done with the filler remaining as a full unit.
COP
Cleaning out place refers to the cleaning of the outer surfaces, including the parts like filling valves, nozzles, crowning heads, starwheels, infeed screw and the guides, etc.
9.Filling control system and HMI
Filling control system
Operating parameters of the beer bottle filling machine are set by the characteristics of each product. Each valve is controlled by field bus data transmission. The control system allows the tuning of filling parameters of each filling valve, and it is possible to disable a certain valve without interrupting the whole production in case of any malfunctioning.
HMI
HMI stands for human machine interface.
Touch screen makes manual operations simple and convenient. Visualisation of the valves/motors makes it possible to carry out necessary manual interventions.
Beer bottle filling machine main technical features
Flexible format change-overs
Easy and fast change-over makes the beer bottle filling machine suitable to handle various bottle formats.
Reliability&Accuracy
The beer bottle filling machine conducts filling with high precision and accurate filling level. High automatic level reduces manual interventions, leading to a higher production efficiency. Precise bottle positioning technique helps to realize perfect bottle sealing, thus resulting in less spillage, therefore less loss of product.
Simplicity
As a whole, the beer bottle filling machine has a simple design with less wear&tear, ending up with reduced maintenance costs.
Sustainability
All the operations on the beer bottle filling machine, no matter whether it is the filling itself or the cleaning process, the whole design of this machine stand by the principle of environmental protection to ensure sustainable development for the generations to come.
Beer bottle filling line set-up
Beer bottle filling line set-up is related to the expected production capacity of the factory, and the production capacity is determined by the factory's production needs and efficiency. Production needs depend on the product’s market share and sales radius, which is usually referred to as the "consumption volume of the terminal consumer market."
For example, according to the market research data in China, the effective transportation radius for beer is 200-300 kilometers. Therefore, if beer companies want to occupy a higher market share nationwide, they must adopt a comprehensive layout strategy. Therefore, when arranging the filling line, the factory should consider a corresponding filling speed and production capacity based on the market sales data within this range to meet market consumption demand and maximize the production output.
Below is an example of the beer bottle filling line set-up for recyclable bottle.
Machine list
How to order beer bottle filling machine?
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