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Award for KHS

And KHS’ new filling system is indeed something very special.  With the Innofill DNRV, KHS has launched a filling system to the market that is absolutely predestined for aseptic cold filling of non-alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles, and which simultaneously represents a world first.  The filling output of the Innofill DNRV is up to 60,000 plastic bottles/hr.  The bottle spectrum to be filled may range from 0.1-liter to 5-liter plastic bottles and include a widest variety of plastic bottle shapes.

In aseptic operation, the Innofill DNRV using the ACF process of dry sterilization is just as suitable as a filling system as when using the ACF process of wet sterilization.  Among those who can profit from the new development are those beverage operations that bottle products in an ultra-clean area or conventionally.

The Innofill DNRV now implements a variety of functions fully automatically that required additional manual work in traditional filling systems – and that’s the crucial feature and simultaneously the world innovation.  These fully automatic functions include conversion from normal pressure to counterpressure filling, the changeover of bottle mouth sizes in plastic bottles, and CIP sanitizing.  This automation eliminates the all necessity of intervention in the isolator area.  The increased line availability is equally a given as the ensured hygienically perfectly aseptic operation.

Normal pressure filling in the Innofill DNRV is based on the filling principle of the KHS Innofill NV filler, using the open-jet principle.  Because the bottle mouths are not pressed and sealed against the filling valves, the fast fill phase take place first in the usually cylindrical area of the bottle, and then the low-foam slow phase in the narrower bottle neck.  A gas lock at the product outlet ensures no-drip filling.

Counter-pressure filling is based on the principle of the Innofill DRV.  Triple-chamber counter-pressure filling is used for aseptic operation.  As in normal pressure filling, counter-pressure filling also passes the bottle into the neck ring holder under the filling valve.  In contrast to normal pressure filling, the bottle is now pneumatically lifted followed by pressing the bottle mouth gas-tight against the filling valve.  The valve seat of open-jet filling remains permanently closed during the process of counter-pressure filling.  The same path used in normal pressure filling for the product is used in counter-pressure filling as a pressurization or return gas path.  After the pressurization of the bottle with sterile gas, the special valve seat integrated within the filling element for counter-pressure filling opens.  Product passes over a swirler at a high rate of flow and flows down the walls of the bottle as a film of liquid.  Return gas can escape during the filling process through the centrally located gas pipe and two opened gas cylinders into the return gas channel and from there out into the atmosphere.  Once the fill level reaches the area of the bottle neck, one of the two gas cylinders closes thereby reducing the flow of return gas and thus the filling speed.  After filling is complete, the return gas path of the gas cylinder remains open.  In the bottle neck there is a slight overpressure, which primarily provides a gentle snifting.  This special snifting procedure prevents excessive foam formation, making it possible to fill even beverages with a high level of carbon dioxide at room temperature.

Another innovation integrated into the Innofill DNRV is a switching mechanism installed centrally under the filling valve, which can fully automatically be pivoted into three different positions as needed.  When processing PET bottles with 28-mm and 38-mm bottle mouths, the first of the three positions is the neck ring holder for PET bottles with 28-mm mouths, the second is the neck ring holder for PET bottles with 38-mm mouths, and the third position is reserved for the CIP plate.  In all, the new KHS Innofill DNRV is a versatile filling system, which is unlike any other filling system on the market in that it is capable of carrying out all the changeover processes needed for product, bottle, and bottle mouth changing and for CIP cleaning and sterilization without any manual intervention at all.  And that means that the Innofill DNRV is a world innovation that also boasts plenty promise for the non-alcoholic beverage industry.

Photo: With the Innofill DNRV, KHS has brought a new filling system to the market which is predestined for aseptic cold filling of non-alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles, and which simultaneously represents a world innovation thanks to its numerous fully automatic functions.