Choosing your Filling Machine
Whatever your filling needs, the Adelphi Group of Companies can help you find the solution that best matches your production requirements. Below are 5 key areas that must be considered before making a purchase…
1. Product Viscosity
Viscosity is the measure of a substance’s resistance to flow. Products such as rose water have a much lower viscosity than, for example, a cream or a paste, and finding the filling machine best suited to your product is essential. At Adelphi we offer a comprehensive range of filling machines, which can handle liquids, oils, creams, pastes and solids in suspension. Adelphi Manufacturing’s Response Benchtop Filler can be configured to suit most of these product types; a wider diameter nozzle is used in conjunction with a hopper feed for thicker products, while a lower viscosity product would be filled using a slimmer nozzle and a non-return valve feed pipe. A product’s fracture/stickiness is also essential to consider.
2. Container Type
It stands to reason that a different machine will be suitable for filling tiny medical vials than would be used for filling what we might think of as ‘medium sized’ bottles of spirits, or ‘large’ IBC’s or drums. The size, style and material of the container you are filling is extremely important when looking for your perfect filling machine. Plastic or glass, cylindrical or square, long or short, small or large apertures, straight or tilted, stable or unstable bases and container volume are just a few of the factors that can impact the choice of your filler. Adelphi Manufacturing’s Response Monobloc Filler is capable of filling containers of anywhere between 3ml and 250ml volume, while Adelphi Masterfil’s Weigh Scale Boom Filler has been designed specifically for drums and IBC’s.
3. Accuracy
Dependent on your industry, you may have precise specification requirements for your filling accuracy. A good rate of filling accuracy also reduces costly product wasteage. Adelphi Manufacturing’s Response Benchtop Filler has an accuracy of +/- 0.25%, which is far superior to the industry average of +/- 1%. Adelphi Masterfil’s System F-600 filler has an exceptional fill accuracy of +/- 0.15%.
4. Fill Rate
There are many variables at play when considering the fill rate of a machine, including all of the first three points mentioned above. One such example is that a cream or paste will fill very differently than a liquid or an oil, as lower viscosity products can sometimes produce splashback or foam. Another example is that a larger container will, of course, take more time to fill than a smaller container. Adelphi’s Response Monobloc Filler has a fill rate in the region of up to 30 per minute, dependent on product and container volume.
5. Different Filling Systems
Volumetric/Piston Filling – Volumetric/Piston Fillers measure and dispense free flowing products, such as thin and/or moderately dense liquids, into a container. Each fill/release cycle consists of an intake stroke, where the product is withdrawn from the container or hopper and taken into the product cylinder. The down stroke commences as soon as the product cylinder has reached its predetermined fill level. The piston pushes the product out of the cylinder and into the container.
Weigh Scale Filling – Your container is placed on a set of scales at the base of your machine, and the scales are zeroed before product filling begins. You pre-set a desired weight of the product you want in your container when full, and the scales identify when this weight has been reached, causing the machine to stop filling.
Flowmeter Filling – This method measures the volume of product as it is travels along a tube, before it reaches the container, while Weigh Scale filling measures the volume once the product is in the container. Flowmeter machines calculate the volume of product which has been dispensed using the flow rate of the product and the internal dimensions of the tube, and stop once the pre-set volume of product has passed through the tube.
Peristaltic Filling – This type of filling also calculates the product volume as it is flowing. It squeezes product along a feeder tube, measuring the volume using internal tube diameter, and stopping filling once the ‘distance’ of the required fill volume has been measured using a rotor.
