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The case of the durable string
June 1, 2012
“Hi, KC–my nozzles aren’t dripping and it’s a problem”
My buddy Sam was on the line.
“We have a new product and filling it is driving me bats,” she confided. “It fills fine but then just hangs there in a string. When the bottles index, the string pulls away from the nozzle and falls over the neck and side of the bottle. What can I do?”
“I’m on my way”, I told her.
When I got to the plant I saw the problem. The product was a viscous syrup. The filler was piston. Changing the valve timing for piston suck-back didn’t help.
“I’m near the end of my string, KC. The only way we can produce is to slow the filler way down. The plant manager is screaming for product and that’s not an option.”
“Fiddlesticks on stringing,” I exclaimed. “The problem is the viscosity of the product. One solution might be to reduce the viscosity by filling at a slightly higher temperature.”
“I thought of that, KC; Quality said no.” Sam replied.
“So we need to work with what you have,” I mused. “There are two ways to break the string each cycle. One is to inject a puff of nitrogen into the nozzle. An easier way in this case would be to use positive shutoff nozzles with a valve in their tip. As the valve slams shut, it jars the string, breaking it.”
We went with the valved nozzles.
No more stringing. Case closed.
Posted by KC Boxbottom on June 1, 2012 |
Comments (3)
May 1, 2013
In response to:
The case of the durable stringJose commented:
Wow! Great to find a post with such a clear msesage!
June 13, 2012
In response to:
The case of the durable stringJohn Henry commented:
Thanks for the kind words, Autumn
May 1, 2013
In response to:
The case of the durable stringAutumn K commented:
You had lots of great idea’s KC, but the last idea you deemed as the easiest and it worked. When your first instinct is to change the viscosity of the product, which seems reasonable, and Quality says no way and the plant manager isn’t happy with slowing things down either (for obvious reasons), you feel like you’re at a loss. Great job solving the problem quickly KC!
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