Liquid Filling Systems

FILLING PRINCIPLES 

 

The filling principle used on the liquid filling system designed for your product will be determined mostly by the product itself as well as the product container.  A thin, free-flowing liquid will use a different filling principle than a thicker, more viscous product. 

 

For thin products, an overflow filling machine will often work well.  The overflow filling machine, for example, allows for a cosmetic fill.  In other words, each bottle filled using the overflow principle will be consistently filled to the same level.  This filling principle works well for thin to medium viscosity products, product that foam and products, like salad dressing, that have particulates.  In addition, when a product is being filled in a container where the interior volume may vary slightly, like glass ketchup bottles and many other glass containers, the overflow filler will still allow for the cosmetic fill on all of the container. 

 

For thicker products, pump filling machines offer many different filling options.  Pumps can use a time based filling principle to fill product for the same amount of time each cycle.   In the alternative, a pump can fill using a pulse based filling principle, each \"pulse\" being a movement or rotation within the pump.  For example, a gear pump may move one rotation for each \"pulse\".  The pump filling machines will normally require a separate pump for each fill head, but allow the pumps to be matched to the product and time or pulse based fill to achieve the desired results on the liquid filling system. 

 

Of course, there are other filling principles, including volume filling with a piston filler and time-based gravity filling.  Packaging Specialists at LPS are always available to assist in choosing the correct filling principle for your specific liquid filling system based on your product and container. 

 

 

Once the correct filling principle has been identified, you must ask yourself how quickly you need to fill your containers.  Liquid filling systems can be manufactured as automatic filling machines, semi-automatic tabletop filling machines and even unique uniframe filling systems.

 

Automatic filling machines will normally use a belt conveyor system to index containers into and out of the filling area.  Automatic fillers almost always come standard with an automatic indexing system, PLC with touch screen operator interface, power height adjustment and the ability to upgrade to the maximum number of fill heads.  Most automatic fillers are available with anywhere from two to sixteen fill heads to meet a wide range of production needs.  These liquid fillers are ideal for facilities that are bottling large quantities of product on a daily basis. 

 

Semi-automatic tabletop fillers are ideal for those facilities that have low to medium production needs.  Tabletop fillers can be manufactured with a number of options, including simple PLC controls, footswitch activation, multiple fill heads and easy height adjustment to name a few.  Most tabletop filling machines can be manufactured with anywhere from one to six fill heads and most are easily upgradeable to the maximum number of fill heads to allow the filler to grow with the production of the company. 

 

Uniframe filling systems are a unique packaging machine bundle.  A uniframe filling system will include a liquid filler on the same frame as other packaging equipment, such as a capping machine, labeler or rinsing machine.  These filling systems allow a number of packaging tasks to be completed in a small area by one or more operators.  For example, one operator may be filling containers and sliding them to another operator who uses a capping machine to seal the bottles.  In the alternative, one operator may fill and cap containers.  The advantage of the uniframe filling system is that it allows you to choose the packaging equipment to include with the liquid filler.  Again, Packaging Specialists at Liquid Packaging Solutions are always available to discuss your liquid filling application and assist in choosing the ideal filling system for your unique project.  If you would like to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of LPS, call toll free today at 1-888-393-3693.