Customer / field / Equipment Manufacturer

Coca Cola Poland / soft drink production / Krones – filling and packaging lines

Application description

Rotating filling machines are used to fill glass bottles with drink which is poured through a thin metal nozzle into the bottle. After filling, bottles are moved on a conveyor to the packaging station.

Customer problem

During the filling process, the filling nozzle can get loose or break and fall into the bottle. This impurity must be definitely detected so that the bottle involved is sorted out and removed from the process. Light barriers cannot work properly as glass and liquid in the bottle interfere with detection. Standard inductive proximity switches are not sensitive enough for reliable detection of this small part. A metal detector is too expensive.

Previous solution / Competitor product

Light barriers or common inductive sensors, as for example from Sick or P+F. Metal detectors for the food industry are also in use, for example from Sesotec, Austus, Mesutronic.

Proxitron solution

An inductive proximity switch of the IP series with extended sensing range. Compared to traditional inductive proximity switches, this sensor is considerably better suited for the detection of small metal parts.

Advantages compared to previous solution or competition

Working on inductive principle, Proxitron IP sensor does not react to the glass body or to the liquid inside. It is not affected by dirt and can be easily cleaned.

Investing in a sophisticated metal detector would turn uneconomic as such systems have been developed for the detection or very thin parts. The filling nozzle instead is much larger. A suitable Proxitron sensor costs approx. 1/50 as much as metal detectors.