A rinsing carousel grips bottles from the star-wheel and inverts them through 180º and a rinsing media (supplied by the customer) is sprayed into the bottles. The rinsing nozzles are specially designed to eliminate any dead corners inside the bottles during rinsing. After leaving the rinsing section, the bottles continue to move upside down for a while to drain excess water before reverting back into the upright position.
After rinsing, the clean bottles are transferred to the filling carousal via a transfer star-wheel. Bottles are pre-pressurized by the CO2 from inside the ring bowl where after the filling valve is opened and the product will flow into the bottle. The filling level is determined by the length of gas-return pipe. Different lengths of gas-return pipes can be used to achieve different filling levels. A Sensor is used to detect that bottles are present and incorporates a no bottle no fill principle.
Bottles are transferred from filling section to the capping section via a transfer star-wheel. Caps are orientated in a Cap Unscrambler installed on the top of the Capping machine and fed down a Cap Chute to a Cap Feeding Plate. A Pick and Place system is being used and the capping chuck collects the caps from the capping plate and screws them onto the bottles. The capping system also incorporates a no bottle no cap facility. Adjustable magnetic torque heads are utilized to apply constant and precise torque to the screw caps. These torque heads are maintenance free. A Cap Feeder feeds the Unscrambler with caps when required and is controlled by the machine’s PLC.
The machine is controlled by a PLC with touch screen. A variable speed drive controls the speed of the filling machine and is adjustable to suit requirements. All material that has direct contact with the product is made of food grade ANSI 304 Stainless Steel.
