This order involved the construction of an automatic filling and capping line for a company that manufactures cosmetic products packaged in glass bottles with mushroom caps or plastic undercaps.
The system was designed to handle the dosing of liquid products that are slightly foaming, with a range varying from a minimum of 100 ml to a maximum of 500 ml.
Photo of the completed installation
It consists of a single-piece stainless steel structure on which two volumetric dosing pumps (range 20 ml – 680 ml) are installed, made entirely of steel with EPDM gaskets and a Ø 15 dispensing valve with radial holes to facilitate the dispensing of a slightly foaming product.
The pumps are positioned vertically on the left side of the monoblock (photo 1) and have a withdrawal hole located 60 mm from the ground, connected by a stainless steel manifold. A tube can be quickly and easily connected to a product withdrawal tank by means of a clamp connection.
Photo 1 – Vertical volumetric dosing unit with manifold
The interior of the monoblock (photo 2) consists of a dosing station with two dispensing nozzles, a cap positioning pick&place system and a pneumatic screwing head with digitally adjustable pressure.
The cap feed channel in the pick&place station has been specially designed with side support lanes to allow the mushroom cap to be transported in a vertical position, thus avoiding the risk of it falling.
The dispensing nozzles are equipped with a specially designed drip-stop valve to prevent dripping at the end of the bottle filling phase, while the capping station has an easily removable spindle suitable for applying the appropriate screwing pressure to the various cap diameters.
Photo 2 – Detail of dosing and capping stations
Format change operations take an average of 10 minutes, while the washing cycle can be activated directly from the machine’s PLC: all components of the dosing unit (pumps, nozzles and pipes) can also be quickly removed using clamp connections for more thorough and accurate cleaning.
Finally, the line can be connected to container loading or accumulation tables, an automatic cap loading system, an end-of-line labelling machine and any other desired components that complete the packaging cycle.
The project, completed in approximately 3 months from receipt of the samples, guarantees continuous productivity of approximately 1,600 pieces/hour on the 100 ml format.
