Bottle Fillers for Viscous Products
Free-flowing liquids can be filled in a variety of ways, including a principle that simply uses gravity. However, as products become more viscous, or thick, they may need a little assistance to efficiently and consistently move from a holding tank to bottles or other containers. To handle high viscosity products, Liquid Packaging Solutions routinely manufactures, with some exceptions, two types of filling machines.
The first option for thick products is a pump filling machine. As the name suggests, these machines will use a pump to help move product through the pathway and in to bottles. The type of pump can be matched to the project based on the product itself to ensure an efficient fill. Pump fillers can be programmed to fill based on time or pulse. Time based fills will run the pump for a set amount of time each fill cycle. Pulse based fills will use something other than time to complete the fill. For example, if a filling machine uses a gear pump, each pulse may be a turn, or fraction of a turn, of the gear. The type of pump used may depend on more than just the viscosity of the product as well. Some products may contain particulates, such as salad dressings or jams and jellies, and a pump that allows those particulates to pass would be necessary.
The second common machine for higher viscosity products is the piston filler. Piston fillers, also as the name suggests, use a cylinder and piston to deliver products to waiting containers. These machines provide a highly accurate volumetric fill. As the piston retracts, product enters the cylinder. As the piston moves back in to the cylinder, the product is pushed through the nozzle and into the bottles or containers. Piston fillers work well with pastes and other nearly solid products while also being ideal for liquids like salsa that may have larger particulates like chunks of fruits or vegetables.
Both pump filling machines and piston fillers are available in a range of designs, including tabletop, semi-automatic and fully automatic models. As with any other filling machine, these two pieces of equipment can be built for small to large production needs. For each and every project, viscosity will be analyzed along with many other factors including production speed, space available, container sizes and shapes and more to find the ideal solution for each individual packager. To learn more about filling machines for higher viscosity products, contact a Packaging Specialist at Liquid Packaging Solutions today.