This discussion below is an excerpt of a client discussion we have prior to supplying equipment. We don’t have to do this; we could be like the ebay or Alibaba or “one stop every machine under the sun supplier” but we are not as we like to think of ourselves as a supplier invited to […]

This discussion below is an excerpt of a client discussion we have prior to supplying equipment.

We don’t have to do this; we could be like the ebay or Alibaba or “one stop every machine under the sun supplier” but we are not as we like to think of ourselves as a supplier invited to be a part of your team going forward.

The discussion:

“Hi Team,

I can see there is significant concern over the advice  you are receiving about the cap lining material.

The cap lining material specification you sent is the correct “type” of lining material in that it has the correct sealing layer.

We can test seal all the Jars and produce excellent sealing; the sample size is only a dozen or so – this could lead you into a false sense of security if we did not forewarn you the combination of material should have softness in it.

Our knowledge on the matter is significant; beyond most suppliers of induction equipment as we have significant experience in supplying cap lining material to cap manufacturers and even the high ticket equipment that inserts the cap lining material for the cap manufacturers.  See our website: http://www.capliningmaterial.com/

I have personally been involved in the selection of induction sealing materials for projects by multibillion dollar companies including Nestle and I have dealt personally with the world’s top 5  cap lining material manufacturers.

The  advice below stands:

Hand Torque is part of the equation. Though a poorly applied cap ; even when it has soft lining material or a foam backing can result in unsealed products.

The part I am focussing on is cap and bottle tolerances. I am not sure the cap manufacturer will give a cap tolerance for the flatness of their caps to within +/- 0.2mm.

Similarly the bottle/jar manufacturer may not give a height/flatness tolerance to within +/- 0.2mm with respect to the plain of the top lip of the container. From quality manufacturers, most of the caps/jars may fall within this tolerance though there will be a statistical amount that are outside of this; when tolerances add you can get a case where a 0.25mm thick hard liner will not have enough give to make up for the mismatch of the top plane of the jar neck with the underside plane of the cap.  In this case there will be sections of the liner that are not in contact with the jar during the sealing process.

Standard practice is to have some softness behind the liners or very tight control on the capping process and the allowable tolerances on the caps and bottles provided.

For your operations – especially as you are growing it is highly recommended you have either:

a) Softness in one of the layers of the induction lining material

Or

b) A separate foam liner behind the induction liner

Note: for higher volume hand operations we recommend  a cap tightener due to the inevitable human error factor

 “The purchasing decision to focus on here is the caps and the lining material.

1. If I was an owner in your business I would suggest the following path.

If time is against you – for your initial launch etc- ; go with what you have and perform a 100% test on what you seal before you send it out.  If we are talking about only hundreds of units at a time it is a cumbersome, but, worthwhile task.

First impressions are everything at that stage and a leaking jar of product can be a “game over” at this stage.
Here’s a video of a suggested test that can help you be confident you have a sealed Jar: https://goo.gl/VVFCRK

2.  Going down the track insure you have some softness in your cap/liner combination.”

If your cap supplier can’t do it (maybe because your volumes are too small) you should purchase the caps without liners and source liners from a liner supplier for separate insertion prior to sealing; you will need to source about 10,000 at about 12 cents each (my guess) – We can put you in touch with the supplier to the liners for the  SealerOn gallery I showed you for the Nuts.

We want you to move forward with a sound understanding of how you can reduce the statistical probability of sending out products that could leak.

Process Validation for Induction Sealing

It is an all time recommendation to have process validation for induction sealing to safeguard the sealing performance due to many variables that could easily change the performance of an induction machine.

A slight change in the induction machine sealing power setting, product conveyor speed, guide rail settings, sealing head angle or sealing head height can all have significant influence on the amount of energy the induction seal will receive; resulting in failed seals.

Visual Inspections: Induction Sealing Process Validation

Even the most competent and capable operators on your production shifts have to rely on opening product to make visual inspections and perhaps a very good memory of how warm the cap should feel immediately after passing through the sealing head.

Manual validation is more anecdotal than value based “validation” of your induction sealing process and machine set-up.  The LinePatrolman™ range provides you with that numerical and repeatable process validation measures.  The measure is a calibrated reading to record the energy that would be transferred to products passing through the machine.

Some Things to Look for in a Good Seal:

1. Correct Settings – An experienced operator would know to look for a concentric heat pattern in the foil; by holding the foil to a light source at the correct angle he would see a smaller circle where material has not been affected by heat.  This means the seal has heated from the outside inwards in an even pattern; hence an even seal.
2. Overheating – there are a number of factors to show if there has been overheating including – visual discolouration of one or more layers of the induction foil, bubbling or creasing, a flattening of the bottle neck, melting of a backing resealing foam (when present).
3. Uneven heat sealing –The foil can look well sealed but an uneven heat seal can result in areas of the seal being too firmly “welded” or very lightly welded making the seal likely to fail with a little pressure on the side walls of the bottle/container.

How to Improve Your Induction Sealing Process with the Patrolman™ range

If you have doubts that you will always operators trained or experienced enough to cover what is required for a reliable visual process of validation for induction sealing, then there is the simple option of a LineMaster™ which has no more controls than a reset button.

This unit needs no programming and simply provides an integrated count of the energy seen by the testing cell passing down the same path as the products.

A reason that many need an induction sealing measurement is because the energy transferred by an induction sealing machine to the foil of an induction seal within a cap is a time and position dependent process. The LinePatrolman™ range are unique process validation tools that will pick up variations in energy transfer in what may look like an identical set-up to the last time an induction machine was run.  This tool takes way the guess work on what energy is being transferred and provided operator confidence that the machine is set to the best it can be set.

We believe there is no better value medium priced “High End” Induction Sealing Equipment. There are unique features to allow process validation and adjustable width sealing head tunnels are available.

MeRo Induction Systems feature:

1. An Air cooled system (Absolutely no need to water cool the induction head).
2. Compact construction for easy integration into the filling line.
3. High power efficiency thanks to the configuration of the power circuits and the use of IGBT modules.
4. Sinusoidal output waveform (Not Square or chopped).
5. Constant and Precise Output power due to the configuration of the regulation circuits.
6. Easy to use controls that display operating parameters and alarm signals.
7. Remote control Start-Stop interface.
8. Power variation monitor which can be set by the user to activate an alarm.
9. Manufactured in accordance with EN-60204-1 standards, Electromagnetic (EMC) compatibility in accordance with EN-5511 and EN50082-2 standards.
10. Motorized height adjustment
11. Set-Up Validation providing an Energy absorbed reading- A key advantage over Nearly Every other make

Depending on the range of product and cap/lid/closure shapes, different sealing heads can be supplied.

Options include:

1. Missing Foil Detection with Bottle Eject Mechanism or Signal
2. Bottle Accumulation Detection to avoid the situation where bottles are stalled under the active sealing head.
3. Pressurized Cabinet version to work in dangerous areas.
4. Fieldbus connection to the production process ASI/PROFIBUS/CAM OPEN/DEVICE NET
5. Integration of power regulation proportional to the speed of the conveyor via feedback from your existing conveyor’s speed controller. This is another key advantage that MeRo are able to offer over nearly other make.

We believe there is no better value Basic Induction Sealing Equipment on the market today.