KHS launches adjustable and space-saving keg washing and filling system
29 Aug 2022 --- KHS is introducing Innokeg AF-C Transversal, a setup that washes and racks up to 500 kegs an hour. The system is compact and accessible and can automatically adjust to different formats.
Summarizing the system’s principle, keg product manager Roger Daum explains: “We combine two modules with two respective processing stations in a single block frame. Due to its compact design, the block fits into a standard overseas container.”
Within this frame, all kinds of cycles are feasible. “A machine can be configured with up to four blocks with two modules each. This is equivalent to 16 treatment heads that can function as a pre-, main or combined washer or filler, respectively,” he adds.
AF-C Transversal’s advantages
Daum explains that compared to standard market systems, the Innokeg AF-C Transversal kegging machine scores on not one but several counts.
“The biggest and most obvious difference lies in its innovative conveying system. The conventional transversal conveyor setup used to date has separate belts for infeed and discharge upstream and downstream of the actual machine,” he says.
“The KHS design is consciously different and transports the kegs through the middle of the paired opposite processing stations on a single conveyor belt. On this, they are pushed in and out of the line to the side.”
KHS asserts that the advantage of this concept is that on the Innokeg AF-C Transversal, there are no conveyors separating the operator from the machine. The filling and packaging company asserts that the advantage of this concept is that on the Innokeg AF-C Transversal, there are no conveyors separating the operator from the machine. The stations are thus freely and much more easily accessible for maintenance and repair.
The space-saving system also has a smaller footprint in the production shop. Also, with its inverse ratio of conveying to processing stations (compared to standard machinery), the KHS system is more powerful and can process up to 500 kegs per hour.
Detecting returnability
The system also recognizes whether the incoming kegs are returnable or one-way containers. The latter then travel straight to the filler through the deactivated washing machines without any conversion or treatment.
“With the Innokeg AC-F Transversal, when it comes to efficiency and flexibility, KHS scores on the washing and racking of kegs right down the line,” asserts Daum.
Before the kegs on the line reach the Transversal modules, they are lifted from the pallet by the KHS Innopal RK palletizer with its six-axis articulated robot and placed on the conveyor.
The kegs are again separated and centered before exterior washing. In the washing machine, a height control unit ensures that slim kegs aren’t affected by the high water pressure of the cleaning nozzles.
The counterflow and pulsed cleaning processes yield optimum results at the pre-and main washing phases. Between these two steps, the kegs are filled with caustic and left to soak, with the length of the conveyor determining the duration of the soaking time.
Regulation-compliant
Moreover, the filling is precise and regulation-compliant due to the KHS Direct Flow Control filing system and gross/tare weighing complying with the European Measuring Instruments Directive. “Bad” kegs or incorrectly filled containers are emptied and removed from the line.
The kegs are then checked for leakage before they are sealed with a cap – if intact – and labeled by inkjet. Faulty kegs are discharged where necessary. Finally, the kegs are set down on pallets by a second KHS palletizing robot. This robot is equipped with double keg grippers whose heads can also be changed over fully automatically.
Edited
By Natalie Schwertheim
