Weighing of Aerosol Cans In-Line

AVL Coster, the biggest valve production and aerosol filling factory in Turkey, was established in 1976. From the day it was founded until today, the emphasis Coster has put on quality has resulted in the harmonization of the company with ISO-9002 standards in a very short time frame and resulted in becoming the 113th company in the ISO-9002 Documentation (July 1994). AVL Coster is also member of the Turkey ASAD (Aerosol Sanayicileri Dernegi / Aerosol Industrialists' Association) which is affiliated to the FEA (Federation European Aerosol).

In-Line Weight Monitoring

Among their references AVL Coster counts international companies as well as well-established manufacturers from Turkey.
Having been the first company to obtain the ISO 9002 document in its sector in Turkey, all clients are provided with the fastest and safest service possible when it comes to aerosol and liquid filling for all cosmetic, cleaning and insecticide products.

For the contract filling activities of AVL Coster, the filled products are: Insecticide, Air freshener, Hair sprays, Styling mousse, Shaving foam, Deodorant, Technical sprays, Veterinary and agricultural sprays.

The equipment AVL Coster is using for its production has to respect the high quality standards of their customers and requires high flexibility in terms of can formats, filling quantities and throughput rates at the same time. Therefore AVL Coster decided to use 100% in-line weight monitoring provided by OCS checkweighers for all of their filling lines in order to guarantee high stability for all their products.

There are a number of reasons why 100% weight inspection is important in the aerosol and other industries:

Overfilled products can be ejected and thus there is less risk that products might explode and lead to a safety problem.
Assuring quality control by sampling is a time consuming work. A person has to go to the individual production lines to pick samples and to weigh them manually, the reports have to be stored and transcription errors occur.
100% product inspection leads to fewer complaints from end customers.
The statistical instruments of a checkweigher allow for a better control of the filling process and thus economise the production.

OCS HC-IS Checkweigher

System set up and dedicated product advantages

The OCS HC-IS checkweigher is the only star wheel type machine which can reach up to 100ppm throughput rate as a single index and up to 180ppm as a double index machine.

Due to its design, it can be easily integrated into existing production lines without cutting the slat conveyors. Thus it saves money for the installation and provides high flexibility. The format size change over can be executed within less than five minutes, which is especially important for contract packers, which sometimes have to change the formats a few times during the day. The double level star consists of two halves which fit on provided alignment pins. In addition, the star wheel transport is the optimal solution for tall, instable products.

There is no risk of products tipping over, even during line stops. Also the cleaning of the system is very easy, the drive of the star is positioned overhead and cannot
be reached by sticky or aggressive products. By removing the star wheel all surfaces are easy to access.

At AVL Coster the OCS checkweighers are positioned very close to the filling machines. This position allows the fast feedback within a short transport distance. The touch screen terminal has a graphic function where the operator monitors the mean value curve and can than manually raise or lower the filling. In case of a filler head failure the checkweigher can stop the production line by means of the serial error recognition.
The checkweighers are equipped with internal thermal printers. A production report will be generated after each shift or product change over. The print outs will be obtained for the quality documentation.

The installed machines have the following technical data:

HC-IS
    Max. throughput rate 100ppm, line throughput 80ppm
    Weighing range 12 – 1500g
    Product sizes: Ø 35, 45, 53, 65 with various heights
    (star wheel with double levels)
    Precision: 1s = 100mg (+/- 300mg on 3s); e = 0,2g

HC-ISD

    Max. throughput rate 160ppm, actual throughput 130ppm
    Weighing range 6 – 750g
    Product sizes: Ø 35, 45, 53, 65 with various heights
    (star wheel with double levels)
    Precision: 1s = 100mg (+/- 300mg on 3s); e = 0,1g

The OCS checkweigher HC-IS series has proven to be extremely reliable, due to its robust servo drive and the maintenance free electromagnetic force restoration weighcell. AVL Coster is successfully using 4 HC-IS and 2 HC-IS-D checkweighers.

M. Cevdit Ercil chairman of AVL Coster has chosen OCS checkweighers because of the quality of the machines, the appealing design and the fact, that the company is familiar with the requirements of the aerosol industry.

Having once lost his entire installation by a catastrophic fire, he ordered again from OCS as the checkweigher partner of his choice.