New Era of Filling Technology Dawns
Innovative KHS Innofill Glass filling system offers extensive range of benefits
With the newly developed platform system Innofill Glass, international manufacturer of filling and packaging equipment for the beverage, food, and nonfood sectors KHS is launching a new era of filling machines for glass bottles. The new platform provides a technical basis for various electronic KHS filling systems that can be tailored to suit the individual criteria of specific filling methods. The first KHS filling system established on the market that is compatible with the innovative platform system Innofill Glass is the Innofill DRS-ZMS pressure filling system, predestined for the bottling of beer. More KHS fillers for beer, soft drinks, wine, sparkling wine, and spirits are soon to be included in the Innofill Glass concept. The chief feature of the new Innofill Glass system is the consistent implementation of the Hygienic Design concept. The optimization thereof results in a range of additional benefits, such as consumer protection thanks to increased product safety, and cost reductions through simpler cleaning and maintenance. Innofill Glass has an open design with no corners and edges but with curves and slopes, enabling a rapid runoff of liquids. In place of the conventional filler front table a bottle transfer frame connects the stars and capper modules using open pipes with no flanges. Low-wear, energy-efficient torque motors, direct drives with an especially high torque and a relatively low speed, are used to drive the transfer stars and the capper. Drives with torque motors have an efficiency of 96%; conventional drive systems are just 85% efficient. At the same time the cost required for maintenance is minimized thanks to an extremely low susceptibility to wear. There are no electrical elements, pilot valves, and control hoses in the filling valve hygiene area. Encased in stainless steel housings the electronics and solenoid valves are separated from the actual filling area – an important prerequisite for automatic exterior cleaning. The constructional optimization of the new Innofill Glass platform has also lead to a considerable reduction in the number of parts in the filler carousel section. Using finite element calculation a reduction in weight has been achieved while increasing the stability of the machinery. The new system has a compact valve manifold which, compared to the valve manifold previously incorporated, requires 50% less space for installation. Another major new feature is that the filler and capper system can be expanded in modules to include additional cappers. The Innofill Glass platform is controlled by the new KHS operator panel with an integrated RFID system which has won several awards, among them the red dot award and iF award. The panel excellently combines ergonomics, navigation, and design. The result is user-friendly operator prompting that makes use of buttons, colored graphics, easy-to-remember icons, and interactive handling instructions – all of which have been kept deliberately simple and are self-explanatory. The system is subdivided into several levels, thus providing access to varying degrees of viewing detail and different operating levels as the specific application requires. All told, the innovative Innofill Glass platform system offers an entire package of remarkable benefits. For instance, the hygienic design has been optimized in every conceivable way to enhance the filling quality and line availability while reducing the cost of maintenance, power, water, and cleaning agents.
