Fluid packaging machines

An advanced motion control system is at the heart of an innovative continuous fluid packaging machine developed by Fluid Packaging Solutions. The inline-filling machine utilizes detachable pump carts and programmable motion to achieve batch changeovers of just a few minutes. In order to eliminate any production delay caused by clean- or wash-in-place procedures, the Universal Flow Positive Displacement Filler is based on a precision servo motor system.

Four servo motor axes are employed to drive a flighted conveyor, to load bottle/container pucks onto it using a phasing conveyor driven by a feed screw, and to control the X and Y motion of the filling head. The filling head synchronizes with the containers, and then inserts and withdraws nozzles that fill from the bottom up, before returning to the starting position.

Fluid containers are filled four at a time, from pump carts that attach onto the conveyor. Each of the cart's four nozzles is controlled by a further servo axis for precise fluid dispensing. The pump carts contain all the wetted parts of the system, and a typical machine is supplied with two carts, so that one may be wheeled away for pressure cleaning and priming for the next application without disrupting the filling process. Using this technique, Fluid Packaging Solutions' machine achieves typical filling speeds of approximately 100 containers per minute, with changeovers taking a new standard-setting time of under five minutes.
All major axes on the main conveyor and pump carts are controlled by intelligent drives, which combine a single-axis drive with built-in positioning capability. They are linked by a CAN network running the CANopen protocol. The main conveyor is the master node on the network; all the other drives are slaved to this axis. Because of this master-slave configuration, network traffic is minimal and the CAN network offers the speed necessary to coordinate system operation in real-time, with the master axis controlling the speed of dispensing.

The distributed and multi-tasking hardware/software architecture allowed designing flexibility into the system, including the ability to take one or more pump nozzles offline if required for maintenance or repair. The system will automatically recalculate filling speeds and adjust all the axes to a new speed.