EP3378828A1 - Machine de remplissage de récipient ayant une meilleure capacité de stockage et de communication de données - Google Patents

Machine de remplissage de récipient ayant une meilleure capacité de stockage et de communication de données Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3378828A1
EP3378828A1 EP17305338.0A EP17305338A EP3378828A1 EP 3378828 A1 EP3378828 A1 EP 3378828A1 EP 17305338 A EP17305338 A EP 17305338A EP 3378828 A1 EP3378828 A1 EP 3378828A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
filling
control unit
units
data
central control
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Application number
EP17305338.0A
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German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Andrea Cortesi
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Sidel Participations SAS
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Sidel Participations SAS
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Publication date
Application filed by Sidel Participations SAS filed Critical Sidel Participations SAS
Priority to EP17305338.0A priority Critical patent/EP3378828A1/fr
Publication of EP3378828A1 publication Critical patent/EP3378828A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
    • B67C—CLEANING, FILLING WITH LIQUIDS OR SEMILIQUIDS, OR EMPTYING, OF BOTTLES, JARS, CANS, CASKS, BARRELS, OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FUNNELS
    • B67C3/00—Bottling liquids or semiliquids; Filling jars or cans with liquids or semiliquids using bottling or like apparatus; Filling casks or barrels with liquids or semiliquids
    • B67C3/007—Applications of control, warning or safety devices in filling machinery

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a filling machine, designed for filling containers with a product.
  • the present disclosure relates to a filling unit with improved data communication and storing capability for improved monitoring and analysis with respect to the filling operations being performed.
  • a system comprising a feed line for feeding a succession of empty containers to a processing machine, comprising a rotating part, or wheel (so called “carousel”), carrying a number of functional units or stations, arranged on the periphery of the rotating wheel.
  • a feed line for feeding a succession of empty containers to a processing machine, comprising a rotating part, or wheel (so called “carousel”), carrying a number of functional units or stations, arranged on the periphery of the rotating wheel.
  • the functional units in particular filling units, are configured to perform, during the rotation, a desired processing sequence including processing steps, such as: engaging the empty containers; feeding pressurized gas into the containers, if required; filling the containers with the product; decompressing the filled containers, again if required; and then feeding the containers to a capping machine, which is connected to the filling machine by at least one transfer wheel and closes the containers with respective caps.
  • Each filling unit includes one or more actuators and feedback sensors.
  • Actuators include e.g. motors, fluidic conduits and flow regulators, including valves that are designed to selectively couple the container to one or more feed devices, or product tanks of the filling machine.
  • Feedback sensors include e.g. pressure sensors, temperature sensors, flowmeters or similar, configured to detect operating values relating to operation of the filling unit.
  • filling machines are known, wherein filling units are provided with decentralized control units (decentralized controllers) designed to receive control signals from a central control unit to control actuation of the corresponding actuators, and to provide feedback signals to the same central control unit.
  • decentralized control units decentralized controllers
  • Central control unit in general a PLC, Programmable Logic Controller, or another suitable digital processing unit, is designed to control general operation of the filling machine according to a desired processing recipe, e.g. providing suitable control signals to the decentralized controllers to cause execution of the desired processing sequence.
  • Data communication between the central control unit and the decentralized controllers of the filling units is usually performed through cable wiring.
  • a drawback of this solution lies in that the heavy wiring required to connect the plurality of sensors/actuators increases the constructional complexity of the filling machine and decreases the hygiene thereof.
  • a digital data communication bus e.g. a fieldbus
  • a fieldbus for data communication between the central control unit and the decentralized controllers.
  • a low performance bus using a serial communication protocol (e.g. RS485 at 115,2 bps) is generally implemented.
  • This low performance bus does not allow to collect a sufficient amount of data from the feedback sensors allocated on the various filling units, during the processing operations.
  • the aim of the present invention is consequently to solve, at least in part, the problem previously highlighted, and in general to provide an improved solution for a filling machine, particularly with respect to control and monitoring of its operation.
  • Figure 1 schematically shows a processing machine, in particular a filling machine, denoted as a whole with 1, for filling containers 2, for example bottles, with a liquid, such as a food product.
  • a processing machine in particular a filling machine, denoted as a whole with 1, for filling containers 2, for example bottles, with a liquid, such as a food product.
  • filling machine 1 is part of a processing plant (including several machines, e.g. a container blowing machine, the same filling machine 1, a labelling machine, a capping machine and so on, all cooperating in processing of containers), which is provided with a supervising unit (e.g. a PLC or another suitable digital computing apparatus) that supervise and manages operation of the same processing plant.
  • a supervising unit e.g. a PLC or another suitable digital computing apparatus
  • Filling machine 1 comprises a conveying device, including a carousel 4, which is mounted to rotate continuously (for example, anticlockwise in Figure 1 ) about a substantially vertical longitudinal axis A.
  • the carousel 4 receives a succession of empty containers 2 from an input wheel 5, which is coupled to carousel 4 at a first transfer station 6 and is mounted to rotate continuously about a respective vertical longitudinal axis B, parallel to axis A.
  • the carousel 4 releases a succession of filled containers 2 to an output wheel 8, which is coupled to carousel 4 at a second transfer station 9 and is mounted to rotate continuously about a respective vertical longitudinal axis C, parallel to axes A and B.
  • Filling machine 1 comprises a number N of filling stations or units 10, which are equally spaced about axis A, are mounted along a peripheral edge of carousel 4, and are moved by the same carousel 4 along a path P extending about axis A and through transfer stations 6 and 9.
  • Each filling unit 10 is designed to receive at least one container 2 to be filled, and to perform, during its rotation along path P, a number of filling operations according to a filling "recipe", in order to fill the container 2 with a fluid (e.g. a carbonated liquid).
  • a fluid e.g. a carbonated liquid
  • the filling unit 10 is configured to engage the container 2, at an opening of a neck 2' thereof, and includes one or more fluidic conduits, actuators and valves, which are designed to selectively couple the container 2 to one or more feeding devices.
  • each filling unit 10 of filling machine 1 is provided with electronic intelligence, having a respective decentralized control unit (or controller) 12, controlling filling operation performed by the same filling unit 10.
  • the decentralized control unit 12 including a microcontroller or any other suitable digital computing unit, is configured to acquire electrical feedback detection signals from sensor elements 14, e.g. pressure sensors, temperature sensors, flowmeters, or others; the detection signals are related to the processing operations being performed.
  • sensor elements 14 e.g. pressure sensors, temperature sensors, flowmeters, or others; the detection signals are related to the processing operations being performed.
  • the decentralized control unit 12 is moreover configured to provide electrical control signals to electromechanical actuator elements 15, such as valves, electric motors, pumps or others, in order to control the processing operations being performed.
  • each decentralized control unit 12 is communicatively coupled to a data communication bus 16, in particular a real-time bus.
  • Data communication bus 16 may be an Ethernet-based real-time communication bus, such as the Powerlink bus, Ethercat, Ethernet Realtime, or Profinet, or any other bus capable to offer real-time communication capability (e.g. an optical-fiber based bus).
  • real time data communication denotes the possibility to obtain very fast data refresh values, e.g. lower than five milliseconds.
  • data communication bus 16 is coupled to a central control unit 20 of filling machine 1, which, as in the shown embodiment, may be located externally to the carousel 4.
  • a slip-ring connection element 18 is provided, in order to couple the central control unit 20 to the data communication bus 16.
  • the central control unit 20 includes an industrial programmable controller (PLC), or any other suitable digital processing unit, for example a computer running a PLC software application, and represents the central automation core of the filling machine 1, controlling execution of the processing operations by the various filling units 10, according to the desired filling recipe.
  • PLC industrial programmable controller
  • the central control unit 20 may be coupled to a main supervising unit 25, e.g. located remotely with respect to the filling machine 1, via a cabled or remote wireless link 26; main supervising unit 25 may supervise and manage operation of various processing machines in the processing plant, in addition to filling machine 1 (e.g. a container blowing machine, a labelling machine, a capping machine and so on, all cooperating in processing of containers).
  • main supervising unit 25 may supervise and manage operation of various processing machines in the processing plant, in addition to filling machine 1 (e.g. a container blowing machine, a labelling machine, a capping machine and so on, all cooperating in processing of containers).
  • central control unit 20 is operatively coupled to a HMI (Human Machine Interface) unit 28, via a communication link, e.g. including an Ethernet connection.
  • HMI Human Machine Interface
  • HMI unit 28 includes a display device, in order to display data, plots and other information relating to the processing operations being performed, for visualization by a user; HMI unit 28 also includes suitable input devices (not shown), to allow the user to input data and perform actions in the interface.
  • central control unit 20 is provided with a buffer memory 30, for example of the RAM type; as in the shown embodiment, buffer memory 30 is located internally in the central control unit 20.
  • a storage database 32 is coupled to the central control unit 20, and may be data-populated by the same central control unit 20 during the filling operations.
  • the storage database 32 may be located internally of, or externally of the control unit 20; e.g. a flash memory, or hard disk, or other data storage means may be provided.
  • Storage database 32 may also be accessed by a post-processing computing unit 34, configured to perform post processing operations on the stored data; as shown in the example, post-processing computing unit 34 may access the storage database 32 via an internet connection to cloud storage 35.
  • post-processing computing unit 34 may access the storage database 32 via an internet connection to cloud storage 35.
  • digital data are continuously transferred in real-time between the central control unit 20 and the decentralized control units 12 via the data communication bus 16, in order to perform the filling operations according to the desired recipe.
  • detection data related to the detection signals acquired by the sensor elements 14 of the respective filling units 10 are communicated by the decentralized control units 12 to the central control unit 20, over the fast data communication bus 16, in real time during the processing operations.
  • the central control unit 20 is configured to receive in real time the detection data over the data communication bus 16 and to temporarily store the same detection data in the buffer memory 30; in particular, for each filling unit 10, data relating to a current detection time interval T (for example of 14,4 s) are acquired and stored in the buffer memory 30, each time replacing the data stored for a previous detection time interval.
  • a current detection time interval T for example of 14,4 s
  • detection data relating to a number n (e.g. equal to 21) of operating parameters relating to the operation of each filling unit 10 are received by the central control unit 20, in real time over the data communication bus 16; the detection data are sampled at a sampling time (e.g. equal to 2,4 ms) and are stored in the buffer memory 30, at each current detection time interval replacing those that had been stored in a previous detection time interval (the most updated sample readings, in the example in a number m equal to 6000, are continuously stored in the buffer memory 30).
  • a sampling time e.g. equal to 2,4 ms
  • Detection data stored in the buffer memory 30 therefore represent a depiction of the operating state of the filling units 10, in a most recent detection time interval.
  • Figure 3 shows a schematic representation of the buffer memory 30, including a data buffer 31 for each filling unit 10, wherein each data buffer 31 stores the detection data relating to the n operating parameters of the respective filling unit 10, acquired during the detection time interval (m samples being acquired during this detection time interval).
  • the parameters may be a valve filling pressure for the particular filling unit 10, and the detection data may be the pressure values acquired at each sampling time.
  • data stored in the buffer memory 30 may be transferred into the storage database 32 by the central control unit 20, thus populating the storage database 32.
  • one or more data buffers associated to one or more of the filling units 10 may be transferred into storage database 32.
  • Transfer of the stored data may occur, for example, in response to a user command, or a command received from the supervising unit 25, or following generation of an alarm (or occurrence of any other suitable triggering event) in the filling machine 1 (or, generally, in the processing plant), the alarm being indicative of an anomaly or a fault that has been detected (in a per se known manner, here not discussed in detail).
  • the one or more data buffers transferred into the storage database 32 may be associated to the filling unit 10 (or filling units 10) involved in the generation of the alarm (or triggering event).
  • Post processing of the data stored in the storage database 32 may advantageously include data comparison between stored detection data relating to operation of different filling units 10, e.g. in order to perform comparative and statistical analysis (in particular, comparison of the detection data relating to a same detection time interval may be performed). For example, the average performance of the filling units 10 may be computed and a deviation from the computed average may be evaluated. Any suitable data analysis or data mining algorithm may also be used.
  • the real time data collection allows any suitable diagnostic (descriptive, analytics or predictive) and also auto-tuning of the filling machine 1.
  • the HMI unit 28 may be controlled by the central control unit 20 to implement a digital oscilloscope on the display device, i.e. to generate a graphical plot of the detection data stored in the buffer(s) of the one or more filling units 10.
  • these detection data represent the "history" of the filling operations in the detection time interval, spanning up-to and after the alarm or triggering event; this feature thus facilitates trouble shooting and elimination of the cause that generated the alarm.
  • Figure 4 shows exemplary plots generated by the above discussed digital oscilloscope implemented by the HMI unit 28, relating to one of the filling units 10 and to exemplary operating parameters, namely the valve flow rate, valve sensor pressure, and the pressure in the product tank acquired during the related detection time interval.
  • a further embodiment of the present solution may envisage the presence of a dedicated control unit 40, operating in parallel to the central control unit 20, coupled to the same data communication bus 16 and configured to acquire and store the detection data.
  • Dedicated control unit 40 may include a PLC or any suitable computing unit (for example a computer running a soft PLC application stored in an associated data storage, e.g. in the form of a Hard Disk), may in this case be configured to store at each filling cycle all data buffers 31 of all filling units 10, to enable full traceability, for each filling unit 10 and each operating parameter.
  • the whole "film" of the filling operations may thus be stored in storage database 32, for later processing and analysis.
  • Dedicated control unit 40 may advantageously be solely dedicated to acquisition and storing of the detection data transferred over the data communication bus 16; the dedicated control unit 40 may also be configured to perform analysis of the acquired detection data.
  • storage database 32 may be populated by the dedicated control unit 40, in addition to, or as an alternative to, the central control unit 20. Moreover, the storage database 32 may be located internally of, or externally of the dedicated control unit 40.
  • the solution enables, for each filling unit 10, capture and buffering of a data history spanning a time up to and beyond an alarm (or triggering event), facilitating troubleshooting, thereby reducing downtime and improving efficiency of the filling machine 1.
  • a buffer memory 30 storing detection data relating to all the filling units 10 allows to perform combined and comparative analysis, thus further increasing the amount of information that may be used for diagnostic, monitoring and/or predictive analysis.
  • every operating parameters of all filling units 10 may be monitored and stored, to provide complete traceability of each filling cycle thus enabling complete process monitoring and "certification" for the customer of the operations performed.
  • Historical trends may be easily generated, in order to further improve quality assessment.
  • the discussed solution may advantageously be used also for different kind of containers to be filled, e.g. PET containers, cans, glass bottles and/or different kind of filling fluids, e.g. different from food products.
  • an interface device may be present between the filling units 10 and the data communication bus 16, for example to provide a communication interface between a respective number of the same filling units 10 towards the same data communication bus 16.

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EP17305338.0A 2017-03-24 2017-03-24 Machine de remplissage de récipient ayant une meilleure capacité de stockage et de communication de données Withdrawn EP3378828A1 (fr)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP17305338.0A EP3378828A1 (fr) 2017-03-24 2017-03-24 Machine de remplissage de récipient ayant une meilleure capacité de stockage et de communication de données

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EP17305338.0A EP3378828A1 (fr) 2017-03-24 2017-03-24 Machine de remplissage de récipient ayant une meilleure capacité de stockage et de communication de données

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Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20220396463A1 (en) * 2021-06-14 2022-12-15 Krones Ag Method and system for controlling a container handling plant
US11952253B2 (en) * 2021-12-21 2024-04-09 Krohne Messtechnik Gmbh Method for operating a filling system and filling system

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2002068266A1 (fr) * 2001-02-28 2002-09-06 Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.M.A. S.P.A. Machine de remplissage de recipients
US20070107801A1 (en) * 2005-11-14 2007-05-17 Sidel And Pressco Technology Inc. Bottle filling machine with sensor and method thereof
EP2803623A1 (fr) * 2013-05-15 2014-11-19 Sidel S.p.a. Con Socio Unico Unité de remplissage d'une machine de remplissage de récipients, dotée d'une capacité de stockage améliorée
EP2808291A1 (fr) * 2013-05-31 2014-12-03 Sidel S.p.a. Con Socio Unico Système et procédé de maintenance prédictif pour une machine de remplissage

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2002068266A1 (fr) * 2001-02-28 2002-09-06 Azionaria Costruzioni Macchine Automatiche A.C.M.A. S.P.A. Machine de remplissage de recipients
US20070107801A1 (en) * 2005-11-14 2007-05-17 Sidel And Pressco Technology Inc. Bottle filling machine with sensor and method thereof
EP2803623A1 (fr) * 2013-05-15 2014-11-19 Sidel S.p.a. Con Socio Unico Unité de remplissage d'une machine de remplissage de récipients, dotée d'une capacité de stockage améliorée
EP2808291A1 (fr) * 2013-05-31 2014-12-03 Sidel S.p.a. Con Socio Unico Système et procédé de maintenance prédictif pour une machine de remplissage

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20220396463A1 (en) * 2021-06-14 2022-12-15 Krones Ag Method and system for controlling a container handling plant
CN115477268A (zh) * 2021-06-14 2022-12-16 克罗内斯股份公司 用于控制容器处理设施的方法和系统
EP4105163A1 (fr) * 2021-06-14 2022-12-21 Krones Ag Procédé et système de commande d'une installation de traitement des récipients
US11952253B2 (en) * 2021-12-21 2024-04-09 Krohne Messtechnik Gmbh Method for operating a filling system and filling system

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