Germany-based brewery Arcobru Grfliches Brauhaus has installed a new filler from Krones along with a Checkmat bottle inspector and the requisite conveyors.
The Modulfill HES filler which comes without a vent tube is an energy-efficient, intelligent, probe-controlled filling system, featuring a tubular ring bowl with 96 filling valves and an 18-head crowner. It is utilised in the subsequent retrofitting of a capper.
The filler is said to have an output of 33,000 0.5-litre NRW bottles per hour. It has been designed to handle both top and bottom fermented beers as well as alcohol-free varieties. It also features double pre-evacuation with interpolated CO2 flushing which ensures minimised oxygen values.
The filler also makes it possible to carry out warm filling at temperatures greater than 15 degrees celsius without any reduction in output.
The filler's product-friendliness helps in increasing hygiene levels and filling stability. It also leads to the reduction of fobbing and ensures accurate fill quantities.
Two separate gas paths which prevent liquid passing from the filled bottle into the pressurisation channel are used to pressurise and vent bottles. This also reduces the chances of unwanted fobbing and hygiene risks.
The Checkmat FM-HF inspects the filled bottles to ensure there are no over and underfills with filling valve and crowner head assignments. It also incorporates a closure monitoring feature and logo detection for the crown.
A new Siemens S7 control system regulates all the bottle conveyors between the unpacker and the packer.
The electronic monobloc-synchronization of the empty-bottle inspector and the filler leads to the optimisation of the buffering times between the machines.
