A collection guide is installed around the Krones Sensometic VPGW weighing filling machine to meet the hygienic standard for milk filling.

Weighing filling technology is the preferred filling technology for milk and dairy products. Krones AG of Neutraubling, Germany, supplied a milk producer with a weighing filling machine with an output of 5,000 bottles per hour and combined it with a bottle washer.

The combined unit is housed in a clean room that meets strict hygiene standards and is suitable for filling ESL milk and dairy products with a 30-day shelf life. The entire equipment was exhibited at the drinktec fair.

Flexible filling of PET and HDPE bottles

The SensometicVPGW 16-digit filling machine has a diameter of only 1440 mm and is the smallest of the Krones electronic weighing filling machines. According to the volume of 1 liter per bottle, the filling machine can reach 5,000 bottles per hour when processing dairy products.

This filling machine can process neck-capable PET bottles in general bottle conveyors. With such a flexible solution, the user can fulfill his desire to use the machine to fill HDPE bottles that are not suitable for necking.

Combined with the filling machine is a Variojet three-channel bottle washer that processes the bottles in a flushing process. The scouring machine on display at the fair also has additional optimized equipment for sanitary design, such as drains, splash-proof devices and their fixtures. In order to meet the high hygiene requirements of the dairy industry, the flushing and filling assembly unit is also equipped with a clean room roof. Through the installed Hepa filter, the quality-controlled air is sent to the filling and rinsing unit in a laminar flow. To simplify CIP cleaning, this unit is fitted with a CIP wash cup that can be automatically pushed in. This will reduce non-production time and the staff does not need to do manual operations.

"dry ground" design

The dairy industry strongly advocates the design of “dry ground”. The purpose of this design is to prevent the residue of the processed material or the mixture of milk from flowing from the inside of the filling machine to the ground. To achieve this, Krones uses a variety of different special components. One of them is the inclined filling machine platen. The platen is designed in an eaves style to allow residual liquid to flow away on its own. In order to prevent these liquids from flowing to the ground, a collection guide is installed around the entire filling machine and the rinsing machine, including the front desk. The liquid flows from the collection channel to the collection cylinder. The collection tank is connected to a central waste disposal station.

In order to avoid loss of waste when emptying the filling machine and replacing the processed items, the remaining dairy products left in the filling machine can be discharged into a storage tank and returned to the machine when needed. This storage tank has an automatic seating function to choose from.

The filling machine itself is equipped with a metal bellows valve, which is specially adapted for filling pulped and fiber-containing materials. The pressure storage device in the ring cylinder is suitable for filling processed materials with high viscosity, such as yoghurt drinks and dairy drinks with various fruit diced.

The weighing platform has an open design with a sloping surface. The mechanical components of the height adjustment system and the weighing trough are housed in a closed protective box. The protective case is fitted with a transparent cover that meets hygienic standards.