Cobra Fillers - Crown

Cobra Fillers
Synonym for Quality
The COBRA series is a range of highgrade filling machines developed for
bottling all kinds of carbonated drinks
like beer, mineral water and soft drinks.
“Hot-fill” and “Still-drinks”are also possible if these products are bottled under
pressure. The machines can handle glas
and/or PET bottles.
Depending specific product requirements,
the filler may be designed without or with
single or double vacuümsequence.
Machine type selection is made according
to the individual requirements of each
bottling line and may vary between 40 and
120 filling heads, allowing nominal capacities of up to 60.000 x 25 cl bottles/hour.
High-grade Filling Machines
The COBRA filling valve is a universal type,
that means beer and soft drinks can be
filled through the same valve.
Depending on the bottle diameter and the
possible use of explosion shields between
the bottles, various machine pitches are
available: standard 90 mm, 112,5 mm or
135 mm.
The COBRA fillers can be equipped with
one or more bottle closing stations.
Many years of experience, the extensive
research on filling valves and the neat and
simple design make the COBRA fillers into
reliable and productive machines. They
are without doubt the ideal investment for
filling lines where performance and quality
come first.
Universal Cobra Filling Valve
A Solid Construction
Solid Frame with Stainless Steel Tabletop Plate
The machine housing is composed of
a robust welded tubular frame and a
massive table plate in stainless steel.
The carrousel, in cast iron with stainless steel ring or entirely in stainless
steel, is supported on a large diameter
ball bearing.
The bottle lift cylinders are made of
stainless steel.The double radial and
tangential guiding, the so called type
2x2 ,is ensured by a bronze wearfree
piece gliding between two rods. The
guiding is cleverly placed and very easy
to install individually. This is very
handy for maintenance and replacement activities.
The classic guiding system, using two
concentric cylinders, was not applied.
In stead the cylinders ar guided individually.The design uses a floating inner
cylinder, thus excluding any mechanical
friction.
The cylinders are deliberately mounted
downwards in order to ensure optimum
glass debris evacuation.
Easy and Individual Mounting
Solid Mechanics
The round, stainless steel bottle
platforms are thick enough in order to
be retooled several times ,thus
extending their lifetime.
Solid Components
Main drive with continuously variable
speed by means of a frequency
converter.
The bevelled gearwheels in highgrade
cast iron provide vibrationfree and
quiet operation.
On the smaller fillers the carrousel is
driven by gears. The bigger fillers are
equipped with to gearboxes:one for
driving the starwheels and closing
unit(s), the second to drive the
carrousel. Both boxes are connected
through a cardan shaft.
Except for the closing unit, all
starwheel hubs are attached to the
tabletop plate. This leaves more space
in the front housing, enabling easy
removal of the gearwheels.
All components on top of the table are
in stainless steel.
Long Lifetime
High Grade Gearwheels
Troublefree Bottle Handling
The COBRA fillers allow for very high
operation speeds. The higher the speed the
higher the requirements will be for bottle
handling. The COBRA fillers perfectly meet
these requirements.
•The bottle guides are fixed on a stainless
plate which is centered with respect to the
starwheel hubs. The perfect concentricity
between the starwheels and the lateral
guides,guarentees excellent bottle
handling,even at high filling speeds.
•The profile and height of the format parts are
fully adapted to the bottle shape. The parts
are split up in pieces so that their weights are
reduced to a ninimum.
•The starwheels are self-centering and fixed
with one central bolt.
Cobra Fillers can meet High Operation Speeds
•The guides may be fitted with easily
replacable wearing strips, avoiding the
complete renewal of the guides in case of
wearing.
•The stainless steel bottle support segments
are highly wear-resistant due to duffision
hardning and thermal treatment. The are
mounted on synthetic strips which ensure a
vibration-free and almost silent operation.
•Mobile centering bells, fitted with three guide
points, are positively operated by a cam and
roller system. They intercept the bottles in the
infeed star and release them again in the
outfeed star. This way the bottles are nicely
kept positioned during their travel through the
machine.
•The centering bells are mounted
independently from the filling valves, enabling
a rapid and easy intervention if necessary.
The bell itself can be replaced in a very
simple way, without using any tools.
•Toothed belts allow a noisefree drive of the
infeed screw and bottle conveyor.
Perfect Bottle Handling
Functionally Built-in
Mechanisms
All functions of the COBRA fillers are PLC
controlled, offering a wide range of possibilities in automation. This guarantees optimum
productivity and flawleess operation of the
filler, even at high speeds.
•Protection of the product against oxydation
through lots of filling possibilities.
•Counter-pressure gas control in the U-tank
to avoid overconsumption and keep a high
concentration.
•Gradual increase or decrease of filler speed
depending on the circumstances.
•Automatic bottle stop operation as a function
of bottle in- and outfeed guarantees a perfect
operation of the filler.
•Operation of the crown or screw-cap distributor, depending bottle presence.
•Different possibilities in height regulation:
manual, with air motor or fully automatic
together with trip support ring.
•Automatic glass debris removal by water jets
in case of a bottle burst.
•Hot or cold high pressure injection sytem
operates automatically depanding filler speed
and bottle presence. This device reduces the
amount of air in the bottle neck to a minimum
in all circumstances
•The machine is equipped with an automatic
centralized oil and grease supply system,
servicing most of the lubrication points.
Safety First
The COBRA fillers comply with very strict
safety standards, for both the operator and the
machine.
•The carrousel is protected by a stainless steel
frame with hinged doors. The doors have a
mechanical lock as well as a safety switch to
stop the filler when the door is opened.
•The front table can be equipped with
tansparant doors or a motorized screen, both
fitted with the necessary safeties.
•All main functions and alarms are clearly
displayed on the operating panel, during the
production run as well as during the various
cleaning procedures.
•The main production parameters are
automatically entered after bottle and product
type have been selected.
•The operation panel clearly displays usefull
data such as speed, pressure, vacuüm, level
etc.
•A hand held control unit with extension cable
allows to rotate the filler at low speed for
adjustment and maintenance purposes.
•In order to protect the machine and its
operation, various safety features have been
built-in:
•Against mechanical overload.
•On the bottle infeed screw.
•Against bottle jam at the outfeed.
•Oil and grease level. Operation of the
lubrication system.
•Supply of air, counter-pressure gas,
water and product .
•Several safeties on the closing.
Perfectly Controlled Bottling
1. 1st Vacuüm sequence
The bottle is tightly sealed under the
filling valve. A cam opens the
vacuümplunjer and the air is sucked out
of the bottle.
1b. Partial counter-pressure
The counter-pressure valve is briefly
opened to bring the bottle at approx.
1 bar, using counter-pressure gas from
the tank.
1d.
2nd Vacuüm sequence
The bottle is sucked vacuüm for the
2nd time to reduce the amount of residual
air to a minimum.
2.
Counter-pressure sequence
The counter-pressure valve is opened
and the bottle is filled with counterpressure gas from the tank.
3.
Filling sequence
As soon as the pressures of the bottle
and the tank are equalized, the product
valve automatically opens. The product
flows in along the bottle wall while the
gas is returned from the bottle through
the vent tube into the tank.
4.
Protection against bottle burst
If a bottle is broken, the pressure in the
filler tank automatically shuts off the
product and gas valves. No product nor
gas is lost
5.
End of filling sequence
Product flow stops as soon as the liquid
reaches the hole in the vent tube.
The bottle is filled and remains in
pressure equilibrium with the tank.
The filling valve is closed.
6.
Snift sequence
The snift plunjer is pressed by a cam and
the bottle gradually returns to atmospheric pressure.
The entire filling cycle is completed and
the bottle may leave the filler and be
closed .
The 3-chamber EP-System.
The 3-chamber sytem is disigned to
control the filling conditions even better,
which has a positive impact on the degree
of product oxydation and the counterpressure gas consumption.
It is mainly intended for beer filling where
high requirements have to be met.
Advantages:
•The double vacuüm cycle can be
applied, even at the lowest speed.
•The counter-pressure gas that
released during the snift sequence is
evacuated through a separate
channel.
•“No bottle, no vacuüm ” and “no
bottle, no partial counter-pressure”
achieved via bottle operated sealing
plungers.
•The control of the centering bell is
located at the outside of the ringtank,
which facilitates its regulation and
operation.
Perfect Cleaning
1. External cleaning
The COBRA fillers are equipped with water jets to
remove glass debris. The system automatically
operates if a broken glass is detected. Periodic
cleaning is achieved by setting a time interval in the
PLC.
2. Internal cleaning
The COBRA fillers can be provided with a “short fill”
system. When a bottle burst is detected, the
affected and adjacent valves are prematurely shut
down. The bottled product removes possible glass
debris from internal of the valve. The partially filled
bottles will be ejected by the fill height control further
downstream the line.
3. Automatic sterilization
All parts of the COBRA fillers in contact with the
product or the counter-pressure gas can be sterilized
in cosed circuit, using false bottles. The standard CIP
procedures can be extended with programs typical
for the machine or in combination with other units
such as mixers.
4. Valve rinsing
Optonally the COBRA valve may be fitted with an
additional plunger and an extra chamber to allow for
valve rinsing during production, thus avoiding any
infection caused by the ambiant air. The system can
be automatically operated by the PLC after a time
delay is set. The rinsing sequence takes only a fex
minutes and can be combined with point 1.
Industriepark - Weverstraat 2
B-1840 Londerzeel Belgium
Maatschappelijke Zetel : CROWN-BAELE N.V.
Industriepark - Weverstraat 2
B-1840 Londerzeel
E-mail : [email protected]
Website:www.crown-baele.com
 +32/(0) 52/300971
Fax +32/(0) 52/303180
H.R.B.- R.C.B. 613247
B.T.W.- T.V.A. BE 460574806
Bank: KBC 432-4018031-46