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Filling of small containers with integrated weighing device

AZO has been supplying automatic systems for mixer feeding for decades. There is al-ready a plethora of solutions for this.

The goal of developments in the field of filling and packaging was to offer a flexible system for producers of speciality products in small to medium batch sizes. Especially at a time when batches of products are becoming ever smaller, fast and straightforward retooling from one receptacle to another is called for in plants. The modular station exhibited at Powtech by AZO allows gravimetric filling of products in small to medium-size batches. The focus here is on easy cleaning, a high level of versatility and fast retooling to accommodate different small containers like tubs, drums, boxes with inliners, bags and sacks.
The base station can be supplemented with a DA-type cyclone screener, which may be used simultaneously for dosing, and/or with metal detectors for final inspection of the product. Various modules for sealing sacks, for example bonding and sack sewing ma-chines, are also available. The filling heads for docking the most diverse receptacles with-out generating dust range from inflatable rings to inflatable collars and foam ring seals. AZO’s filling station enables our customers to switch over receptacles within two minutes.

The integrated weighing device can be calibrated, it has a weighing range of 50kg and has a division of 10g increments. Actual dosing accuracy depends on the size of the dos-ing unit and the flow properties of the bulk material in use. Typical values here are +/- 10 g to +/- 50 g. Capacity of the filling station: depending on the form and size of the recepta-cle as well as on the number of operators, it is possible to fill and close the receptacle in 1-2 minutes. A standard throughput rate for the system is 1 receptacle per min. The roller conveyor serves as a support surface and for horizontal transport of the receptacles to the filling point, and from there onto the next module – on our exhibition stand, this is a module for bonding sacks. It is also possible to implement partial automation of filling.

In introducing this system, we are responding to trends for ever smaller batches of prod-ucts, applications that can be calibrated, rapid changeover from one product to another as well as from one type of receptacle to another.

If there is a requirement for contaminant-free solutions, the ingredients can also be me-tered straight into a container on a mobile scales. The floor scales move fully automati-cally to the specified dosing points. There is an additional option of adding micro quanti-ties with maximum accuracy by using AZODOS® negative weighing systems. Transfer of raw materials takes place without contact and there is little generation of dust thanks to a special gasket with aspiration in accordance with the raw material. As soon as the entire batch is complete, a batch report is generated and the container is transferred to the dis-charge point for further processing. The system works according to the accumulation method. It is more economical to carry out consecutive weighing processes than to weigh in parallel.