Double-step production line for tank leak-proof agent

Wichita, Kansas, USA BG Products Co., Ltd. specializes in the production of tank leak-proof agents, natural gas and crude oil additives and other products. In October 2002, the company decided to add a new packaging line, which is mainly used for the production of water tank leak-proofing agents. It can also be used to produce other products. Water tank leakproofing agent is a mixture of fine wood powder and aqueous solution, which can plug any hole after being poured into the car tank.

The tank anti-leakage agent production line first used two double screw fillers to fill the bottle with fine wood flour, and then used a 12-port servo-driven volumetric filling device to inject the aqueous solution into the bottle. The packing device has a special gear pump for each packing tube to ensure excellent accuracy.

Two materials are filled separately

The previous packaging line needed to mix wood chips and water solution in advance, and then poured the mixture into the container. BG decided to separate these two components separately on the new production line. “Wood powder is very fine and soft, and it is difficult to handle. Therefore, the wood powder filler is the most critical part of the production equipment,” said Terry Emond, head of production. “We studied several related products and found that Per-Fil's borehole fillers may be the most suitable, so some wood flour and bottles are sent to them for testing. We already have some equipment manufactured by InLine Filling Systems and we are very satisfied Therefore, in the case of aqueous fillers, we chose a volumetric filler manufactured by InLine."

The new production line was installed in July 2003 and includes two Per-Fil double screw fillers and an InLine servo-driven volumetric filler with 12 nozzles, which can reach a filling rate of 100 bottles per minute. Per-Fil first sent the borehole filler to InLine, which was assembled by InLine and commissioned before acceptance.

Step one: Fill wood flour

The starting point of this production line is the bottle automatic cans produced by the New England Machinery Plant. This is the only part that is used by the original leak-proof agent production line. Bottles are sent to Per-Fil packers through a push station. Two twin-spindle servo-driven screw fillers are lined up at regular intervals along the conveyor belt, producing up to 100 bottles per minute. A large amount of wood flour is fed to the injection silo from the storage silo on the ground through two screw feeders.

Whenever there are 4 bottles delivered to the wood powder filler, the production line is suspended until the powder is filled into the bottle. The conical bunker on the screw filler is responsible for providing compacted wood flour to fill the bottle along the screw filler. Each filler is equipped with a special set of agitation and auger tooling to handle the soft wood dust powder, which is transferred to the packing bin and sent to the screw filler to speed up the filling. In addition, a dust terminator is also prepared to ensure the cleaning of the packing process.

“A lot of static electricity will affect the entire filling process,” Emond said. “For this reason, Per-Fil has set up a probe that can vacuum out dust from the wood flour and then blow out air after each fill cycle to blow off the dust. The filler point sensor allows rapid container identification while the air index system protects the entire bottling process from dust.

The double screw filler is equipped with a separate servo driver to adjust the weight of the filler. At present, this work is done by manpower, as long as BG company later installs a checker, then the machine can be automatically completed.

This mode of equipment can be applied flexibly, and it can also be used to fill various powders, coatings and other granular products as long as BG needs it. The system includes a pre-programmed menu for quick program setup. At the same time, there is a data input panel. Users can input data by simply touching the screen with their hands. Through the programmable logic controller of the device, the feeder, container loading system and other equipment can be easily combined into one production unit. "Per-Fil is a good working partner. It produces fillers with only 1 gram of error, which is exactly what we expected," Emond said.

Step two: fill the aqueous solution

After the wood filler is completed, the bottle is delivered to the 12- mouth InLine servo-driven volumetric filler. Similarly, the bottle is accurately metered in place under the fill port, and the conveyor belt is temporarily stopped. Fill the tube into the bottle to begin filling the aqueous solution, then slowly retract after filling.
Each stuffing tube has a dedicated servo-controlled gear pump for delivering aqueous solutions. The filler tube's programmable logic controller can track the rotation of each gear to accurately determine the injection volume of the aqueous solution. At the same time, it can automatically adjust the rotation of the gear in one-time increments to maintain accurate injection volume. This line can operate 10 different bottles. The operator clicks on the bottles to be mounted on the color touch screen and fills the water solution into the corresponding bottles through the programmed process.

The bottle is then sent to the InLine capper. The capping machine is mounted on the casters and can be moved to the conveyor for preparation. The caps are dispensed directly from the storage caps. The storage bin is equipped with a cap sorter, which is responsible for placing the caps upside down, and then sending the caps to the capping trough, and transporting the caps to the desired position along the capping trough. The bottle cap is placed at the bottom of the cover tank so that when the bottle is conveyed by the conveyor belt under the cover tank, the bottle cap can be smoothly covered.

When the lid is closed, the two parallel bands on both sides of the bottle ensure that the bottle is stationary, while the other set of parallel bands is responsible for tightening the bottle cap. There is a knob on the edge of the sealing machine that can adjust the fixing position of the entire bottle cap within a few seconds. In this way, the entire cover process is quick and easy.

The well-covered bottle was sent to a 45-inch diameter rotary table, also produced by InLine, and then manually packed there. “We had other equipment from InLine in the workshop and they all performed very well, so we quickly decided to use the fillers they produced,” said Emond. “The volume filler they produce is a really efficient machine. Similarly, we are very satisfied with their capping machines."