KHS filling technology once again sets new market standards
New Innofill Can DVD series of can fillers meets industry expectations
With the new Innofill Can DVD series of can fillers KHS is once again demonstrating the company's pioneering role in the field of filling technology. The volumetric, electronically controlled filling system is based on proven technology and has been further optimized wherever possible. The Innofill Can DVD is designed for the filling of many different types of beverage in cans; whether beer, wine, sparkling wine, soft drinks, water, or even fruit beverages are on the filling agenda, they're all doable. As an option the system can also hot fill, which is so essential for the canning of juices, teas, and coffee beverages. If required, the filler can be equipped with a pressure-controlled pre-snifter for very foamy beverages. The Innofill Can DVD has a maximum output of 120,000 cans per hour and processes containers holding from 0.1 to 1 liter.The new generation of filling machines has been consistently hygienically designed, with access from all sides thanks to the lack of a front table. The conveyor and feed screw, transfer starwheel, filler, and seamer are driven by separate servo motors which are encased in stainless steel in the hygiene area or located in protective star columns outside the hygiene area. This is where the linear drives that adjust the height of the outer cam race are also situated. The star columns and filler carousel are connected by cross pipes with no flanges and secured with hygienic sealing systems on the exterior. Cables and lines have been laid in the connecting pipes. The can infeed and discharge conveyors are open and easily accessible for cleaning and disinfection. Filling valves can be easily fitted to or removed from the valve support; during this process all pneumatic connections and the connections for the beverage and process gases are automatically made or released. This means that there is no hosing or cabling in the hygiene area. Media is fed in through hygienically designed pantograph joints. The rotary leadthrough operates completely free of grease in the beverage area and process gas leadthrough.
One major new feature of the Innofill Can DVD is the hygienic centering bell guide with an expansion joint. For the first time can mouths are now sealed by a moving bell which is fully integrated into the cleaning and sterilization process and doesn't require water lubrication. The force with which the bell seal is pressed against the can mouth can be individually adjusted to suit the type of can being processed.
The newly developed CAN+ low-pressure purging process is yet another advantage of the Innofill Can DVD which enables the gas feed to be reduced by a restrictor unit integrated into the valve seat. This can be automatically controlled by the motion of the liquid valve without the need for an additional switching function. To prevent a back pressure from building up the filling valve has large cross-sections which control the discharge of CO2 during purging. Two gas valves are used here to remove the above through a separate purge gas channel. Where the new CAN+ purging process is applied to the 0.5-liter can, for example, the CO2 consumption can be cut by up to 20% and the residual oxygen content in the pressurized can reduced by up to 50%.
During filling PTFE materials in seals and membranes ensure that there is no flavor carryover when the product is changed over following a system clean. The filler can therefore be switched from coke to mineral water or from wine to fruit juice without any risk to the product flavor. Maximum filling accuracy is provided by the use of electromagnetic, inductive flowmetering. The machinery can be changed over to new products for filling or varying can heights and/or different can diameters at the press of a button at the operator panel (can mouths from 200 to 206 mm can be processed without the bell having to be changed). The operating system included in the new series of fillers is the extremely operator-friendly KHS Human Machine Interface.
The new canner also has twin filling valve control, where two filling stations are combined to form one technical unit, thus considerably reducing the control complexity of the machine. All told, with the Innofill Can DVD series of fillers KHS is not only giving beverage plants and breweries best filling quality but also a high line availability as a result of shorter cleaning cycles and longer maintenance intervals, among other things. The system also profits from minimized water, energy, and sanitizing costs. And, last but not least, the machine's lower level of complexity makes installation and commissioning a much shorter process. KHS Microsite - drinktec
