Bottling and sealing line

The Perfect Flow

When it gets really hot in the summer, mineral water is highly demanded, and bottling facilities are supposed to work trouble-free and at full capacity. During cooler times of the year, average or even below-average capacity is sufficient. Providing such flexibility is the central requirement a control concept has to meet.

A bottling and sealing facility is a perfect application for exploiting the full potential of a servo driven system. The central hub is the virtual vertical shaft, which is a virtual master onto which all drives are synchronized. By this it is possible to manipulate the speed and performance of the entire facility at any time and to determine whether the two dispensers run alternately or simultaneously.

To be able to provide for trouble-free operation, many parts of the system must work together smoothly, just like cogwheels. The conveyor belts are controlled by a simple speed regulation. The turntables, however, are operated by a motion control, which automatically compensates rounding errors that may result from an inexact gear ratio. The fine adjustment of the dispenser can be done during operation over an additional control unit. 

After the bottles have been filled, they must be sealed properly. This task is done by a speed and torque regulation at the sealing unit. Over bus communication, the main control is informed about the position and the torque effective.

This system has been developed as a so-called multi-axis system on the basis of our NOVODRIVE ND42 converter in 19" design. Individual stations are either equipped with the NOVODRIVE PLC add-on extension or they communicate with the main control over bus. A perfect match for this application are our low-inertia NHR servo motors, which allow precise transformation of the motion profiles.