Function follows form

The customer´s satisfaction has top priority for every drink producer. Apart from a high-grade quality control a precise fill level measurement is needed to achieve this. The bottle must contain exactly what is indicated on the label. This turns out to be difficult when a product is filled in two different types of bottles at the same time.

Even small differences which are hardly perceptible to the human eye can affect the fill level. Special attention must be paid to differing fill levels when filling such bottles. HEUFT has developed a bottle type detection for this purpose which switches between fill level limits depending on the bottle type. Here is an example: Bottle type A has a filling quantity of 1 l at a fill level of 270 mm. Bottle type B contains the same filling quantity already at a fill level of 267 mm. This makes it necessary to switch between fill levels in order to avoid underfills in case of type A and overfills in case of type B.

First each bottle is classified according to its type by means of a suitable shape detection. This information (type A or B) is entered into the electronic data sheet belonging to the respective bottle.

Then the fill height is measured using a fill level detection module (for instance a HF measuring bridge). The information in the data sheet serves for determining the required fill height for each bottle, and the software will change the corresponding parameters. The special thing about it is that each bottle is checked in real time.

So the sorting of bottles by shape is carried out virtually at the same time as the fill level detection. As a result this bottle type detection saves the costly sorting, collection and separation of bottles in front of the filler and ensures a correct filling process (without underfills or overfills).