METHOD AND FILLING SYSTEM FOR FILLING CONTAINERS IN A VOLUME AND/OR QUANTITY CONTROLLED MANNER

• US 20130220481A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 08/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KHS GmbH (Salzgitter AG)
• Original Assignee: KHS GmbH (Salzgitter AG)
• Inventors: Hartel, Manfred, Lorenz, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,150,398 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 141/9
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 3/326 for dosing several products to be mixed
• CPC Class Codes: B67C 3/045 Apparatus specially adapted for filling bottles with hot liquids
• CPC Class Codes: B67C 3/20 with provision for metering the liquids to be introduced, e.g. when adding syrups measuring volume, or volume flow, in general G01F
• CPC Class Codes: B67C 3/208 specially adapted for adding small amounts of additional liquids, e.g. syrup

Abstract

A filling element includes a channel that forms a delivery opening for delivering filling into a container, a valve arranged in the channel for opening and closing the filling element, the valve being connected by a control valve device to sources for a main and additional component of the filling, and a filling-material section common to the components and forming a space. The element also includes flow meters for measuring volumetric flow of the filling and generating corresponding electrical measurement signals.

Claims

1-13. -13. (canceled)

14. A method for quantity-controlled filling of a container with a filling material having a main component and an additional component, said method comprising during a filling process, controlling introduction of said main component and said additional component into said container through a common filling-material section and a filling element by using a flow-metering device associated with said filling element so as to end said filling process when said main component and said additional component have been introduced according to a required fill volume, wherein controlling introduction of said main component and said additional component comprises providing at least two magnetically inductive flow meters for use as a flow-metering device, said magnetically inductive flow meters being spaced apart from one another relative to a direction of flow of said filling material, at the beginning of a filling process, filling said filling-material section and a liquid space of said filling element with only said main component, said liquid space of said filling element being permanently connected to said filling-material section, during said filling process, in at least one preceding process section, introducing said additional component into a space formed by said filling-material section, said space being selected from the group consisting of a storage space and a proportioning space, using at least one of said flow meters through which only said main component flows, indirectly determining a volume of said additional component flowing into said space by measuring a volume of said main component displaced by said additional component from one of said filling-material section and said space, ending introduction of said additional component into said space when a volume of first component displaced by said second component from one of said filling-material section and said space, as measured with at least one flow meter, has reached a particular value, in a subsequent process step, introducing said main component into said filling-material section, through said filling element, and into said container, while concurrently entraining said additional component from said space, and measuring a volume of said main component flowing to said container using at least one flow meter through which only said main component flows.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in said preceding process section, measuring a volume of said main component using at least one of said flow meters downstream of said space in a direction of flow of said filling material.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in a subsequent process section, measuring a volume of said main component using at least one of said flow meters upstream of said space in a direction of flow of said filling material.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a process sequence consisting of a preceding process step and said subsequent process step is carried out at most once during said filling process.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein a process sequence consisting of a preceding process step and said subsequent process step is carried out at most twice during said filling process.

19. The method of claim 18, said method further comprising, during said preceding process step, causing said main component to be displaced from said space by introducing said additional component into said container to be filled.

20. The method of claim 18, said method further comprising, during said preceding process step, detecting that said filling element is closed, and causing said main component to be displaced from said space into an additional channel from which said main component is returned to a tank for said main component.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising feeding said main component into said filling-material section by controlled opening and closing of a first control valve, and feeding said additional component into said filling-material section by controlled opening and closing of a second control valve, and using a flow meter through which said main component flows downstream of said first control valve, measuring a volume of said main component in said subsequent process step.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising feeding said main component into said filling-material section by controlled opening and closing of a first control valve, and feeding said additional component into said filling-material section by controlled opening and closing of a second control valve, and using a flow meter through which said main component flows upstream of said first control valve, measuring a volume of said main component in said subsequent process step.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in a preceding process step, measuring a volume of said main component displaced from said filling-material section using a flow meter provided in said filling-material section downstream of said space in a direction of flow of said filling material.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in a preceding process step, measuring a volume of said main component displaced from said filling-material section using a flow meter provided in a liquid connection connecting a liquid channel of said filling element to said additional channel.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising closing said liquid connection during said subsequent process step.

26. The method of claim 14, further comprising selecting said additional component to comprise a flowable base of solid constituents, and selecting said main component to be a liquid free of solid constituents.

27. An apparatus for filling containers, said apparatus comprising a filling system for quantity-controlled filling of containers with a filling material comprising a main component and an additional component, said filling system comprising a filling element comprising a liquid channel that forms a delivery opening for delivering said filling material into a container arranged at said filling element, a liquid valve arranged in said liquid channel for controlled opening and closing of said filling element, said liquid valve being connected by a control valve device, which comprises at least two control valves, to a source for said main component and to a source for said additional component, a filling-material section common to said main component and to said additional component and forming a space, said space being selected from the group consisting of a storage space and a proportioning space for proportioning of said additional component, a first flow meter configured for measuring volumetric flow of said filling material and generating a corresponding electrical measurement signal, said first flow meter being arranged in one of said filling-material section downstream of said space in a direction of flow of said filling material and in a controlled connection connecting said liquid channel of said filling element to a channel selected from the group consisting of an auxiliary channel and an additional channel, said controlled connection comprising a further control valve, and a second flow meter configured for measuring volumetric flow of said filling material and generating a corresponding electrical measurement signal, said second flow meter being arranged in one of said filling-material section downstream of said control valve device in said direction of flow of said filling material and in a connection carrying only said additional component upstream of said control valve array in a direction of flow of said main component.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said first and second flow meters comprise magnetically inductive flow meters.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said controlled connection extends between said liquid channel and an auxiliary channel when said first flow meter is arranged in said filling-material section.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said controlled connection between said liquid channel and said auxiliary channel comprises a part of a hot circulation system for said main component.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said filling-material section is formed by a line selected from the group consisting of a product line and a pipeline between said control valve device and a location selected from the group consisting of said the filling element and a filling material connector of said filling element.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said line comprises a product line having at least one region in which said product line extends vertically.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said product line is coil-shaped and forms said space.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising a rotary filling machine, said rotary filling machine comprising a rotor that rotates about a vertical machine axis, and a plurality of filling elements, wherein said filling system is part of said rotary filling machine, wherein said filling-material section, said control valve arrangement connecting said filling-material section in a controlled manner to said source of said main component and to said source of said additional component, said first and second flow meter, and said additional, controllable connection are provided discretely for each filling element.