Liquid Filling Equipment
Liquid Filling Equipment needs are many and
diverse. Ranging from startup companies with needs for
semi-automatic liquid filling equipment to high speed packagers we
can fulfill the requirements for your situation.
But in addition to meeting speed requirements for
your production we need to match your needs with the right type of
liquid filling equipment. Just to wet your appetite, so to speak,
there are many types of liquid filling machines.
Types of Liquid Filling Equipment:
Siphon Filler (also
Syphon Filler): Among the simplest and most ancient of
all fillers, a
siphon filler has a tank with a float valve connected
to the supply tank. Tubes running sort of like an inverted J run
into the tank and over to the other side. Simply start a
siphon and adjust bottle fill height to the level of the tank and
voila, you are now running a syphon filler. They are not speedy, but
work quite well for free flowing liquids.
Vacuum Filler:
With the invention of the vacuum pump the vacuum filler followed
shortly after. Simply draw a vacuum on an overflow container and
attach hose to a filling head and from the head to the product.
Product self primes when the bottle neck is sealed off and product
fills to the level of the vacuum return to the overflow.
Basically the bottle becomes a trap for the liquid. Since the
invention of plastic bottles vacuum fillers are not common today.
However they are still very effective on glass bottles and are
particularly in common use for products like nail polish.
Gravity Fillers:
Gravity Fillers are still a commonly used type of liquid filling
machine. There is even a variation known as Gravity-Vac (vacuum)
that combines gravity with vacuum. Gravity fillers have an elevated
tank which holds the product, the fill tubes open when inserted into
the bottle and product flows into the bottle and overflow back into
a recirculation tank below the bottle height which is then pumped
back into the elevated tank. Vacuum was added to pull back drips.
Gravity fillers are very effective for foamy products and are
commonly used in big plants for filling non-carbonated beverages and
water.
Pressure Fillers:
Pressure filling machines have their tanks below the bottom of the
bottle. The tank flood feeds a pump (generally a centrifugal pump
but also positive displacement pumps for thicker liquids) which then
flows directly into the bottle until it reaches the fill level at
which point excess product flow directly back into the tank. When
filling plastic bottles the pump must be turned off (always for
positive displacement pumps) before removing the filling tubes to
allow the bottles to return to normal size (they swell under
pressure) and drain off excess liquid. The big advantage of pressure
fillers is that bottles fill more quickly so fewer heads (and space)
are required and higher viscosity products can be filled. The
disadvantage is that foamy products must be filled at slower pump
speeds than normal, and this will work only if the foam settles out
fairly quickly.
Counter Pressure Fillers:
These are liquid filling machines unique to the carbonated beverage industry which
includes beer, soda and any sparkling beverage or wine. Busch
Machinery does not sell counter pressure fillers, but we will still
explain this complicated type of filler. The heads for this
type of filling consist of 3 parts: Vent, CO2 pressurizer and fill
tube. The head seals and the Vent and CO2 pressure valves are
opened. The air in the bottle is forced out of the bottle and is
replaced with the heavier CO2. The vent is then stoppered down and
product from very specialized heads forces the chilled carbonated
liquid down the sides of the container in a sort of swirl pattern to
minimize foaming. Once the fill height is reached the vent
completely closes at the same time the product is cutoff. Many
people mistakenly think that the CO2 counter pressure is the
carbonating process, but carbonizing is a bit more complicated than
that. The purpose of the CO2 is to keep the already existing
carbonized beverage in solution and to minimize foaming.
Piston Filling Machines:
The concept of a piston filler is fairly simple: pull in product on
the back stroke and displace it into the container on the forward
stroke, just like positive displacement pumps. Shorten or lengthen
the stroke and you get different fill volumes. But there are
actually two different types of piston filling machine, check valve
types and rotary valve types.
Check Valve Piston
Fillers: Check valve piston fillers are basically liquid filling equipment
with one-way valves that open and close by the force of the liquid
(and maybe some light spring action). On the back stroke the outlet
valve is force shut while the inlet valve is forced open. On the
forward stroke (this fills the bottle) the opposite takes place. One
advantage of this type of filler is that it can be self priming on
low viscosity liquids. Piston filling is among the most accurate
types of filling available since it displaces the same volume every
stroke. The limitations of check valve piston filling are that they
only handle liquids to a light lotion consistency and will foul if
there are any particulates in the solution.
Rotary Valve Piston
Filler: Rotary valve piston fillers are among the
most accurate and versatile type of liquid filling equipment available. Salad
dressings, peanut butter, potato salad, oils and much more are
filled with this type of filling machine. Rotary valve piston
fillers have a hopper located above the rotary valve. The rotary
valve itself is a cylinder with a large nearly 90 degree section cut
out in the middle. On the back stroke the valve opens between the
hopper and the cylinder then, just before the forward stroke it
rotates 90 degrees to open between the cylinder and the discharge to
the container to be filled. Depending on the size of the rotary
valve, solids in suspension as large as a one inch cube can pass
through the valve.
Servo Driven Pump Fillers:
With the cost of servo drive controls coming way down over the last
20 years more and more uses for filling have come into play. Gear
pump fillers is one type of application that has become very
popular, although you must be sure that the pumps are sanitary pumps
if you do foods, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals. The advantage of the
gear pump is that you can fill almost any size product without need
for change parts (although this still has limitations). At Busch
Machinery we still think the jury is out on this, as piston fillers
can still fill with as good or better accuracy, although with not
quite as large a range..
Peristaltic Servo Driven
Pumps: A peristaltic pump works by placing tubing
into the pump which then has rotating rollers that alternately
squeeze and relax the tubing to force the liquid forward. This type
of system works well in pharmaceutical environments or anywhere that
you want absolutely no chance of cross contamination. Simply throw
away the tubing at the end of a run.
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