Pneumatic Scale Angelus (PSA), a Barry-Wehmiller Packaging Systems company, showcased its CB50C counter-pressure integrated canning line at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, designed to help craft beverage producers meet the growing demand for hard seltzers, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails, sparkling wines, and higher-carbonation beers.
Employing six individual filling heads and a single-head seamer, the CB50C uses isobarometric counter-pressure technology—for equal pressure between can and product, maintaining carbonation solubility throughout the filling process—coupled with proprietary magnetic flowmeters, to deliver a system capable of one-milliliter filling precision. With the fill tank positioned above the fill heads, the product is gravity-fed to decrease the likelihood of agitation causing unwanted reductions in carbonation levels. The line is rated for continuous operation at speeds up to 50 cans per minute using counter-pressure technology.
“One of the advantages with our counter-pressure machine is that it accommodates many different can sizes—standard, sleek, slims—and changeover is very easy,” says Mike Davis, product line leader, can filling, PSA. “Our fill heads do not need to be adjusted, they stay in the same position. The only changeover required between can body changes are the plastic parts in color, which are color coordinated with the type of can.”
The CB50C has many of the same features as PSA’s CB50F and CB100F open-air canning systems, including:
- Product is dispensed with magnetic flowmeter technology for better fill levels and little waste
- An under-cover gas flush system to keep dissolved oxygen levels low
- An integrated system optimized for sleek and standard can bodies
- A quick-change adjustment design with easy change overs for various can heights and body diameters, with no valve change required
- A compact footprint and an intuitive HMI that allows for individual fill head volume adjustments
