Filling Equipment

Distinct Filler Assemblies

• Carton Infeed Station

  The cartons are pushed into the conveyor section by means of line pressure on the continuous conveyor. A backlog eye stops carton from feeding. A gate opens upon a signal from the filler. A carton is released into the filler conveyor section.

• Indexing Conveyor

  The filler indexing conveyor is a single lane lugged chain conveyor, which indexes the pouches through the various stations of the filler unit. A servo motor or gearbox drives the filler conveyor. The main AC motor drives the forming ram, filler, flaring fingers, and fin seal.

• Insert Station

  In the insert section a forming ram inserts the pouch (made by the auto-poucher) into the carton. To make sure the pouch is inserted properly the forming ram block flares out with use of air cylinders as it is inserted. The forming ram retracts and releases the pouch formed in the carton. The pouched carton then passes through a reject station. In this station, if a pouch is not detected, the carton is blown off by means of an air blast.

• Pouch Flaring Station

  The flarer unit is a vertically reciprocating unit with flare fingers or rods that extend downward toward the pouch interior.

• Filing Station

  After flaring, the flared, pouched carton is indexed through to the fill station. A servo motor will lower the filler head into the pouch for filling. If the viscosity of the cheese changes, the speed of the lowering action can be changed. The filler is a mechanically powered single piston that measures product by volume. The filler has four basic functions in its operation:

  • First there is the fill piston reciprocation, which is accomplished by a shaft-mounted cam. The linkage contains a screw adjustment, which can increase or decrease the amount of fill piston travel, thus changing the product volume as required. The adjustment is done by a push button from the console. The button activates a stepper motor and turns the adjustment screw. Optionally, it can be tied to a checkweigher and adjusted automatically from the weighed packages.
  • The second function is a rotary spool valve located in the hopper base. It permits product flow from the hopper into the piston-cylinder on the suction stroke, then upon actuation, allows the product to be pumped down through the nozzle. A photo-eye mounted before the filling station, looks for a carton. It will engage the no-fill lockout feature if the photo-eye fails to see a carton.
  • The third function utilizes a double acting air cylinder to activate the rotary valve on the nozzle. Once the valve opens, cheese is filled into the pouch. The rotary valve is used with process cheese. For cream cheese application, a tapered nozzle would be used.
  • A fourth function is an optional product agitator inside the hopper. The standard hopper is single walled and comes with a one-piece cover. The customer can purchase a two-wall hopper where warm water can be run between the walls to prevent the cheese from cooling or setting. A two-piece hopper cover can be added for simplicity in setting the level of cheese in the hopper especially during start-up.
• Fin Sealing Station

  Once filled, the carton goes on to the fin-sealing unit. At the fin sealing station, spreader fingers rotate downward and pull the ends of the pouch outward. This motion is caused by a lever and control rod system actuated by a vertical rod connected to a cam-operated level arm. After the spreader fingers pull out the pouch ends, two heated seal bars pivot down and effect a heated fin seal on the pouch.

• Tamping Station

  The package is then indexed to a tamper assembly. The function of this unit is to plow down the fin seal and expel trapped air from the headspace of the package. The tamper is actuated by means of an air cylinder.

• Ear Seal Station

  The package then goes to the ear sealing section. This section flattens the pouch ears out and turns them through an upper and lower anvil. Once the ear is between the anvils, an air cylinder brings the heated upper anvil down to seal the ear.

• Discharge

  The package is then indexed to a carton conveyor. The filled packages will be discharged to a lidding operation or in the case of a one-piece carton, the package will be discharged to a carton sealer. The carton sealer will plow over the carton flaps, apply glue to a specified area, and then close the flaps upon themselves.