Single Flow Controller for Simultaneous Container Filling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for filling large-volume containers, such as kegs, require separate filling-material flow controllers for each container, leading to inefficiencies and increased complexity, as they cannot achieve precise simultaneous filling of multiple containers.
Innovation Solution
A method using a single filling-material volumetric flow-rate controller with independent flow-meters for each container, allowing for simultaneous filling by adjusting the filling-material volume flow based on a target filling-curve, with correction mechanisms to ensure equal filling volumes across containers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a separate filling-material flow controller is used for each container, then filling precision for each container is maintained, but device complexity and equipment quantity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple filling-material flow controllers into a single shared controller that serves multiple containers simultaneously. This merging approach reduces the total number of controllers needed while maintaining filling precision through centralized control and coordination of filling operations across all containers.
Solution Approach 2:
The single filling-material flow controller is designed to perform multiple functions by serving several containers at once. It can dynamically adjust and distribute filling material to different containers based on their individual requirements, making one controller universal for multiple filling tasks rather than requiring dedicated controllers for each container.
2Device complexity
If multiple containers are filled simultaneously with a single flow controller, then device complexity is reduced, but filling precision may deteriorate due to varying filling conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor the actual filling conditions of each container and compare them against target values. Based on this feedback, the single flow controller dynamically adjusts filling parameters for each container in real-time, compensating for variations in filling conditions and maintaining precision even while serving multiple containers simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling controller operates dynamically by continuously adapting filling rates and parameters based on real-time conditions of each container. Rather than using fixed predetermined rates, the system adjusts flow distribution dynamically to account for variations in container characteristics, filling material properties, and operational conditions, thereby maintaining precision across multiple simultaneous filling operations.
3Ease of operation
If filling conditions are standardized across all containers, then control is simplified, but filling precision deteriorates when containers have different requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by allowing each container to receive customized filling parameters tailored to its specific requirements, even though all containers are served by a single controller. The controller can assign different filling rates, pressures, and timing sequences to individual containers based on their unique characteristics, ensuring optimal filling precision for each while maintaining overall system simplicity through centralized management.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for filling containers simultaneously with the filling-material sealing the containers against filling heads at the filling positions, and using a filling-material volumetric-flow-rate controller common to all of the filling positions to control flow of filling-material as a function of a target filling-curve by executing a filling phase with intervals that have different flow rates and controlling transition times between these intervals to ensure that each container finishes the filling phase with the correct amount of filling-material.