Hot Filling

Hot Fill Fillstar HF

Filling machine for Hot fill technology by GEA has hygienic design, easy filling level set up and it is very easy to clean

The Fillstar HF RCP gravity filler has been specifically developed for hot filling. A key feature is its versatility that allows the filling head to be adapted, for brim-full filling or level filling, with a simple operation and without tools.

Fillstar HF RCP gravity filler technical features

The gravity filling valve HF RCP moves to make contact with the bottle during filling. The bottle itself opens the valve when it makes contact and there is no product recirculation.

Air flowing from the bottle is exhausted through a product recirculation pipe. When the filling level has been reached the product recirculation restarts, then a pneumatic valve closes the filling head and stops product recirculation. The maximum amount of product recirculation through the machine is guaranteed to be less than 10%. A time opening phase of the pneumatic valve, which controls the recirculation rate, allows a high filling temperature to be maintained in all parts of the machine.

This Advanced Recirculation Control of the product recirculation rate with an external actuator offers many advantages compared with traditional hot fill: for example dual speed filling allows the filling speed at the end to be reduced to limit turbulence and foaming and reduce the product recirculation rate. Moreover, product feeding can be closed in the final part of the filling carrousel with a reduced product recirculation rate and less product splash-out when filling square plastic bottles as the bottles are decompressed.

This specific filling valve does not need dummy bottles for CIP cleaning because there is a closed loop within the valve that allows cleaning to take place.

The shaping of the contact zone between fixed and mobile parts ensures a proper cleaning flow rate. The rest of the machine is very easy to clean: a spray ball needed only for cleaning the manifold and external tank.

Configurations

 Fillstar HF filler is also available in:

  • Proclean version with the laminar flow of sterile air and contamination control of the filling environment. This guarantees a high level of hygiene in the filling environment.
  • CC (Controlled Contamination) version with bottle and cap sterilization treatment and environment control using a full microbiological isolator. The CC version is ideal for the filling of Low Acid products.

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