Revolutionising Beer Filling

Fills and crowns in a single unit and in 5 seconds

Christian Stoiber

Krones AG

VGS BABU

Head Sales-Krones India Pvt Ltd

Beverage bottlers’ requirements are proverbially exacting: achieving progressively higher outputs while consuming less CO₂ and nonetheless upgrading the filling quality – and all this in a sturdy system that’s ideally designed for cleaning. For beer filling, these are precisely the criteria KRONES has satisfied with the new Dynafill.

And this product has some persuasively attractive pluses that compel respect: the machine halves the time required, saves distance, and replaces what used to be two machine units with a single one. How is this accomplished? The Dynafill performs filling and crowning in a single functional unit – and needs only five seconds for it. It can safely be claimed that the Dynafill concept is revolutionising beer bottling.

The filling process in detail

Evacuation and filling
The filling valve moves into the pressure chamber; the glass bottle is pressed against it. The container is flushed with CO₂. The filling process itself then takes only around half a second, and ends when the bowl pressure has been reached inside the bottle.

Crowning and snifting

The closure is inserted and the chamber sealed while the flushing operation is still ongoing. In parallel to the filling operation, the pressure chamber is then evacuated, and pressurised with CO₂. Once the filling valve has completed its task, it moves back and makes way for the crowner head, which places a crown on the bottle. The bottle descends, and leaves the filling and crowning unit.

Thanks to the Dynafill*

• the time required for filling and crowning is reduced by 50% to five seconds.
• the CO₂ consumption for flushing is cut by 20%.
• the footprint is downsized by 50%.
• the number of filling valves is reduced from 100 to 66, and this while retaining a rating of 36,000 containers per hour. In warm fill applications (up to 30°c) 66 valves.

** are likewise used instead of 120 – the number can thus even be downsized by almost half.

* In comparison to conventional systems

All advantages at a glance

• Reduced footprint
  Thanks to the 2-in-1 principle, the Dynafill needs significantly less space than a comparable filler-crowner combination. Moreover, since the filler does not have to be emptied in the event of a malfunction in the bottling line, the buffering section to the labeller can be downsized. In addition, the labeller itself can be directly block-synchronised with the filler.
• Higher outputs
  In the future, the Dynafill will enable higher overall line outputs to be achieved than with conventional systems.
• Enhanced filling quality
  The enclosed hygienic filling and crowning zone ensures optimal product purity, since no return gas has to be sent back to the product bowl. Moreover, no fobber is required, and no product is lost during filling.
• Reduced CO₂ consumption
  The CO₂ consumption is 20% lower than with conventional systems.
• Stability in the filling process
  The Dynafill can handle beverages in both coldfill and warmfill (temperature up to 30°c) modes – the process duration is likewise less than five seconds. The filling process here always remains stable.
• Ideal interior cleaning
  The Dynafill is a closed system. The filling valve and the crowning unit are integrated into the CIP circuit.

Easier accessibility

The individual components involved, like the filling valve, the media piping and the drive of the crowning head can be individually removed. “The Dynafill offers major inherent advantages in terms of quality, since the system enables filling to be performed in a closed, defined atmosphere. The absence of a return gas during filling prevents the ring bowl from being pressurised with oxygen. Moreover, there is no fobber, and no open transport after filling. Since crowning takes place in a sealed chamber, the oxygen pick-up via the bottle’s head space can be minimised.”

Florian Habersetzer,
Process Technologies
Krones AG