New valve for beverage filling

Festo's two components help Elopak's container loading system to be hygienic and easy to maintain. Last December, at a press conference held at Festo's German headquarters, Mr. Lauri Nurminen, Elopak's sales manager, introduced the benefits of Festo's CDVI Clean Design Valves and CDN Clean Design hydraulic cylinders.

Three Festo pneumatic valves are installed on the machine: one close to the machine for the shipment of goods; the other is installed near the loader for the shipment; and one is installed above the machine's container sorting mechanism. The valves control the different hydraulic cylinders of the machine, the container classification guides are pneumatically driven at the container feed, and the CIP valves are pneumatically controlled.

The system can complete a series of complex actions. First, a group of containers is pushed onto the work table of the container loader, and then a loading plate is pushed to the position where the goods are shipped; this group of containers is pushed by the pusher onto the container shelf, and the propeller is moved up and down through the pneumatic mechanism to control Lifting of cargo loaders, cargo shipping and output units are pneumatically locked, and the cargo feed and output safety doors are driven by hydraulic cylinders and moved to the next shelf to continue loading. Repeat this four times until the truck is full.

The entire machine is controlled by Mitsubishi's Q series PLC and is directly connected to the valve terminal. Elopak also uses Mitsubishi's connection network to facilitate communication between the machine and the line control system.

In terms of application, this kind of clean valve can be applied in the dairy industry or other beverage filling fields, and even if the environment is wet, it can work smoothly. Taking fresh milk as an example, the container can carry 160 liters of fresh milk, with a delivery capacity ranging from 5,000 to 13,000 units/hour. It can even work without a stainless steel protective cover and can be installed directly on the machine to save space.

In terms of maintenance, the hydraulic cylinder needs very little cleaning work. It is totally enclosed, it will not accumulate dust on the hydraulic cylinder, so it is easy to maintain; at the same time, because the hydraulic cylinder is enclosed in the aluminum shell, it also has strong anti-corrosion function.

Source: Modern Packaging