Coca-Cola Internship Report Final Biruk Solomon Bade

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
School of mechanical and industrial engineering

Thermal stream
Internship Report by
Biruk Solomon Bade------------ATR/7460/09
Submitted to: Mr. Nathenael Bekele

Submission date: March 5, 2021
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost I would like to thank Almighty GOD for the help while doing this
internship program. Second I would like to give special gratitude for Addis Ababa institute
technology, department of mechanical engineering for providing this internship program.
Third my deep gratitude goes to EABSC for providing full working suits during internship
program and towards the employees who helped me in all aspects from start to end of the
program. Finally, I would like to thank Mr. Hawltu Afework, the technical trainer of
EABSC for assigning us to the technical trainers and his brotherly advice, all the company
electricians, engineers, machine operators, GITS (Graduates in train) and technicians of
EABSC for their incredible supports and assistance in understanding the plant machineries
and for their friendly approaches.
Executive summary
This paper is the final report of an internship program that was scheduled from November
02 to January 04 2020 academic year. Internship is an important program in which
students get useful experience in the real world work in addition to theoretical knowledge.
So in order to get this experience I have been working in EABSC, Addis Ababa for two
months with different department in the company.
This report covers five major parts. This includes background of the company, overall
internship experience, and detail description of the plant, the benefits gained from the
program and the conclusion and recommendation to the company.
Chapter one ............................................................................................................................................. 1
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background of the Company ................................................................................................ 1
1.1.1. Brief History of the Company ....................................................................................... 1
1.2. Vision, Mission and Objective of the company ..................................................................... 1
1.2.1. Vision of the company .................................................................................................. 1
1.2.2. Mission of the company ..................................................................................................... 2
1.2.3. Objective of the company ............................................................................................. 2
1.3. Products and services of the company ................................................................................... 2
1.4. Organizational structure ....................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................................... 3
2. OVERALL INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES .................................................................................... 3
2.1 Objective of the internship .................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1. General objective ............................................................................................................... 3
2.1.2. Specific objectives.............................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Working section of the company .......................................................................................... 3
2.3 Day to day and Weekly work performed ............................................................................. 4
Chapter 3............................................................................................................................................... 12
3. Detail description of the plant ................................................................................................ 12
3.1 Material Handling .............................................................................................................. 12
3.1.1 Conveyors/Transportation ................................................................................................. 12
3.2 Manufacturing ................................................................................................................. 14
3.2.1 RGB lines ......................................................................................................................... 14
3.2.1 PET lines .......................................................................................................................... 32
3.3 Cleaning ............................................................................................................................. 53
3.4 Service and utility .............................................................................................................. 54
3.4.1 Generator .......................................................................................................................... 54
3.4.2 Boiler ................................................................................................................................ 55
3.4.3 Compressors...................................................................................................................... 56
3.4.4 Chiller ............................................................................................................................... 59
CHAPTER 4 ......................................................................................................................................... 61
THE OVERALL BENEFIT GAINED FROM THE INTERNSHIP .................................................... 61
4.1. Upgrading Theoretical Knowledge ..................................................................................... 61
4.2. Practical Skill .................................................................................................................... 61
4.3. Improving Team playing skills ........................................................................................... 61
4.4. Leadership skills................................................................................................................ 61
4.5. In terms of understanding work ethics, industrial psychology and related issues ................. 62
4.6. In Terms of Improving Entrepreneurship Skills .................................................................. 62
CHAPTER 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 63
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION........................................................................... 63
5.1. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 63
5.2. Recommendation for the company...................................................................................... 63
List of figures
Figure 1 country organizational structure ................................................................................................ 2

Figure 2 Sub-organizational work structure ............................................................................................. 3
Figure 3 conveyor (left) and moisturizing nozzles (right) ........................................................................ 12
Figure 4 Induction Motor with its driver (left) and spiral chute (right) .................................................... 13
Figure 5 general process of RGB bottling line ......................................................................................... 14
Figure 6 Main components of an unpacking machine ............................................................................ 15
Figure 7 lubrication for; left packer and right unpacker.......................................................................... 17
Figure 8 bottle washer (Left) and Section of the washer (right). ............................................................. 17
Figure 9 In-feed and in-feed finger mechanism ...................................................................................... 18
Figure 10 inside view of washer ............................................................................................................. 18
Figure 11 Filters of the washer; automatic (left) and manual (right) ....................................................... 19
Figure 12 Working of EBI ....................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 13 Drive Belt ............................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 14 Height sensing (left) and fallen bottle sensing (right) .............................................................. 22
Figure 15 Pumps used on the Paramix (left) and chiller (right) ............................................................... 23
Figure 16 Flow diagram for the blender ................................................................................................. 24
Figure 17 Drive system (left) and nozzle and sensor (right) .................................................................... 27
Figure 18 Doors and safety guards ......................................................................................................... 27
Figure 19 The crowner machine............................................................................................................. 27
Figure 20 Twist tube (left) and bottom crown stopper (right) ................................................................ 28
Figure 21 Checkmat ............................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 22 Date Coder ............................................................................................................................. 30
Figure 23 Flow diagram of the general process in PET line ..................................................................... 32
Figure 24 Machine overview .................................................................................................................. 32
Figure 25 Rollers (left), kicker (middle) and rejection unit (right) ........................................................... 34
Figure 26 Transfer wheel (left) and Gripper (right) ................................................................................. 36
Figure 27 Main components of heater ................................................................................................... 36
Figure 28 Blowing station and moulds ................................................................................................... 39
Figure 29 Machine overview .................................................................................................................. 44
Figure 30 Vacuum cylinder .................................................................................................................... 46
Figure 31 Guide rails, vibrator and clamping adjustments, respectively. ................................................ 48
Figure 32 Flappers and a P.E sensor ....................................................................................................... 49
Figure 33 Container spacers (left) and Film splicing unit(right) ............................................................... 49
Figure 34 GENESIS ROBOPAC ................................................................................................................. 51
Figure 35 schematic diagram of Fire tube boiler .................................................................................... 55
Figure 36 Basic components of the HP compressor ................................................................................ 56
Figure 37 screw element ....................................................................................................................... 58
Figure 38 basic of a chiller ..................................................................................................................... 60
List of abbreviates
AC Alternating Current PET Poly Ethylene Terephthalate
CPU Central Processing Unit PLC Programmable Logic Control
DC Direct Current PTC Positive Temperature

Coefficient
EABSC East Africa Bottling Share
Company PWM Pulse Width Modulation
EBI Empty Bottle Inspection RAC Refrigeration and Air

Conditioning
FBI Full Bottle Inspection
RGB Returnable Bottle Glass
IC Internal Combustion
RMS Root Mean Square
ISO International Standard
Organization RO Reverse Osmosis
NTC Negative Temperature SABCO South Africa Bottling

Coefficient Company
PE Photoelectric UV Ultraviolet
Chapter one
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Company
East Africa Bottling Share Company (EABSC) is one of the carbonated soft drink beverage
companies in Ethiopia which bottles the Coca-Cola company products: Coca-Cola, coca- light
(sugar free), Fanta orange, Fanta Pineapple, sprite and so on.
1.1.1. Brief History of the Company

The first Coca-Cola bottler in Ethiopia was established in 1959 by five Ethiopians in Addis
Ababa. The first factory had a capital of 750,000 Birr. As the business grew a branch was
established in Dire-Dawa in 1965 again with the capital of 750,000 Birr. In February 1975
the two factories were nationalized, re-named as Addis Ababa Soft Drinks and Dire-Dawa
Soft Drinks and operated under separate management. In March 22, 1996 the two plants
became privatized again by five young local entrepreneurs with a registered capital of Birr
67 million and formed Ethiopian Bottling Share Company. In May 1999, a joint venture
agreement was signed between Ethiopian Bottling Share Company & Coca-Cola SABCO
(CCS) to bring the professionalism, knowledge and experience that was lacking in the
operation. The name of the company was then changed to East Africa Bottling Share
Company (EABSC).
Coca- Cola SABCO (South Africa Bottling Share Company) is the franchise bottler of
Coca- Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Krest, Stony, Tab, Sparletta and other brands of Coca-Cola
Company and bottles these products on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company, which is
situated in Atlanta, USA. In this respect they act as The Coca- Cola Company’s Bottling
arm. Coca- Cola Sabco has the task of selling Soft Drinks to dealers, who in turn sell them
to their customers.
In September 2007, a third production line was installed in the Addis Ababa Plant,
increasing the capacity by 75% and after a west water treatment plant was built a new PET
line was started to be built in 2011 and started production in late 2013. East Africa Bottling
Share Company is committed to developing and maintaining an integrated Occupational
Health & Safety, Environment and Quality Management System based on ISO 9001:2000,
ISO14001:2004 and ISO 2008.
1.2. Vision, Mission and Objective of the company
1.2.1. Vision of the company

 We will be the best Coca-Cola bottler in the world.
 The Best: In sales volume growth; and in return on capital employed.
 Coca-Cola Bottler: A consumer driven, customer orientated, manufacturer, sales &
Distribution Company that markets the products and brands of the Coca-Cola
Company.
1
1.2.2. Mission of the company
 “Continually increasing profitable, sustainable unit case sales of our products by
satisfying new and existing consumers: Through excellent service to and with our
customers at an increasing return.”
 To produce internationally recognized quality products and to satisfy and exceed
customer requirement
 Protecting the environment to contribute our share of the growth of our country.
1.2.3. Objective of the company

The objective of the company is to fulfill the need of carbonated soft drink in Africa
and to get maximum Customers pleasure.
1.3. Products and services of the company
The company produces some of the Coca-Cola company products such as:-
 Coca-Cola  Fanta orange
 Coca-Cola light (sugar free)  Fanta pineapple
 Sprite  Schweppes
Customer or end user of the company
 Major Distribution center  Supermarkets
(MDC)  Institutions
 Hotels  Agents all over Ethiopia
 Restaurants
1.4. Organizational structure

Organizational structure
Since the company has production plant on different country in Ethiopian, this structure contains
all country management this section shows only the Addis plant structure.
Figure 1 country organizational structure
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CHAPTER TWO
2. OVERALL INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES
2.1 Objective of the internship
2.1.1. General objective

The general objective of the internship is to develop practical skill of the interns. This
means it enhances the understanding of academic materials by applying it in the work
setting. Internships will provide students the opportunity to test their interest in a particular
career before permanent commitments are made.
2.1.2. Specific objectives

Some of the specific objectives of the internship program are:
 To develop practical  To improve interaction with co-workers
knowledge  To share knowledge and skill with other
 To develop leadership skill students
2.2 Working section of the company
There are three main sections in this company, and we have been working in all of them
during our internship time in EABSC.
1. Quality
2. Manufacturing
3. Service and utility
We were working in the manufacturing and service and utility section. The overview of them
management is shown below:
Figure 2 Sub-organizational work structure
3
2.3 Day to day and Weekly work performed
This section describes the day to day work performed by interns and summaries for each week.
Week 1-Nov 02 to Nov 06
Day 1 General introduction to the company and its working. Our first day at Coca
Cola we were given an orientation on our position and the rules we had to
follow. After the orientation was complete we were given safety suit, safety
shoe, eye-goggles and hair nets.
Day 2 On this day all the interns were separated into three groups and assigned
different departments we would rotate on. The group I was assigned to was
placed at line-5 RGB line. At line-5 we were introduced to the work flow, the
different positions, shifts and our positions at this line.
Day3 On this day we were working on the unpacker machine. We were tasked with
detailing how the machine works and its components. The components we
were tasked to detail and learn were separated to suit each of the intern’s
academic background. For us the mechanical engineering students we were
detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some electronic
components.
Day 4 On this day we were working on the packer machine. Same as Day 3 we were
detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some electronic
components.
Day 5 On this day since it was the end of the week there was a weekly maintenance
and cleaning being performed on the line. Since we were familiar with the
unpacker and packer machine we were assigned to help out in their
maintenance.
Week 1 summary
The first week of our internship involved getting aquatinted with the company and how to
fit in the work flow as an intern. Within the week we were given briefing on the areas we
would be working and how the separate groups of interns will be rotating on the different
lines and departments. The first line my group was assigned to was RGB line 5. The first
two machines we worked on were the unpacker and packer machine. Throughout the week
we started learning the mechanical mechanisms, sensors and motors that are used in the
machines. We also got to learn how the controls of the machine work and when they are
used. We got to train on the manual controls which are activated anytime there is a problem
that stops the machine. Finally, the week ended with a weekly maintenance and cleaning
of the machine. On this day we participated in the cleaning of the machines and also
changed some spare parts and oiled some joints and bearings.
4
Day 6 On this day we were working on the washer machine. There are two washer
machines one for the bottles and one for the crates. Same as the other days we were
detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms, some electronic components
and chemicals used on the machine.
Day 7 On this day we were working on the filler machine. Same as the other days we were
tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical components.
Day 8 On this day we were working on the paramix machine. Same as the other days I was
detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms, some electronic components
and chemicals used on the machine.
Day 9 On this day we were working on the additional machine on the line that make the
work of the other machines efficient and possible. Some of the machines are EBI,
Checkmate, Date-coder and conveyors. Same as the other days we were tasked with
detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical components.
Day 10 On this day since it was the end of the week there was a weekly maintenance and
cleaning being performed on the line. Since I was familiar with the filler and washer
machine I was assigned to help out in their maintenance.
Week 2 summary
On week two we got to work on more machines that are on the line. The machine we
worked on this week were washer, filler, paramix and other additional machines. The main
machines we worked on were the washer, filler and paramix. Throughout the week we
started learning the mechanical mechanism, sensors, motors and chemicals that are used
on the machine. Similar to the previous week we got to train on the manual controls of
these machines. With the main machines done we went on the additional machines that
were used on the line and start detailing their mechanical mechanisms, sensors and other
components. Finally, the week ended with a weekly maintenance and cleaning of the
machines. Same as the previous week we participated in the cleaning of the machines and
also changed some spare parts and oiled some joints and bearings.
5
Day 11 On this day we submitted reports and presented what we learned on the lines and
we were also given help to improve our communication and presentation skills.
Day 12 On this day we changed our rotational position from line-5 to line-3.At the new
line we first began the day by getting to know the employees stationed at the
different position. Then we were assigned to different machines to work on.
Because this two lines were very similar we were told to keep an eye on key
differences and compare their working.
Day 13 On this day we were working on the unpacker machine of line-3. Same as the other
days we were tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical
components and in addition to this we compared and contrast this machine with
the unpacker machine present at line-5.
Day 14 On this day we were working on the packer machine of line-3. Same as the other
days we were tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical
components and in addition to this we compared and contrast this machine with
the packer machine present at line-5.
cleaning being performed on the line. Since we were familiar with the unpacker
and packer machine I was assigned to help out in their maintenance.
Week 3 summary
On the third week of the internship we changed our rotation from the line-5 to the line-3.
On the second day of the week we were introduce to the line and the employees that work
on the different station at the line. Throughout the week we started working on the different
machines on the line detailing the mechanical mechanisms, some electrical components
and chemicals used.in addition we got to train on the manual controls for the machines.
The main machines we worked on were the packer and unpacker machine. Finally, the
week ended with a weekly maintenance and cleaning of the machines. Same as the previous
week we participated in the cleaning of the machines and also changed some spare parts
and oiled some joints and bearings.
6
Day 16 On this day we were working on the washer machine. There are two washer
machines same as line-5. Same as the other days we were detailing and working on
the mechanical mechanisms, some electronic components and chemicals used on the
machine. In addition to this we compared and contrasted this machine with its
respective machine present at line-5.
Day 17 On this day we were working on the filler machine. Same as the other days we were
tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical components. In
addition to this we compared and contrasted this machine with its respective machine
present at line-5.
Day 18 On this day we were working on the paramix machine. Same as the other days we
were tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism, some electrical components
and chemicals used on the machine. In addition to this we compared and contrasted
this machine with its respective machine present at line-5.
Day 19 On this day we were working on the additional machine on the line that make the
work of the other machines efficient and possible. Some of the machines are EBI,
Checkmate, Date-coder and conveyors. Same as the other days we were tasked with
detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical components. In addition to
this we compared and contrast this machine with its respective machine present at
line-5.
cleaning being performed on the line. Since we were familiar with the filler and
washer machine we were assigned to help out in their maintenance.
Week 4 summary
On week four we got to work on more machines that are on the line. The machine we
worked on this week were washer, filler, paramix and other additional machines. The main
machines we worked on were the washer, filler and paramix. Throughout the week we
started learning the mechanical mechanism, sensors, motors and chemicals that are used
on the machine. Similar to the previous week we got to train on the manual controls of
these machines. With the main machines done we went on the additional machines that
were used on the line and start detailing their mechanical mechanisms, sensors and other
components. Finally, the week ended with a weekly maintenance and cleaning of the
machines. Same as the previous week we participated in the cleaning of the machines and
also changed some spare parts and oiled some joints and bearings.
7
Week 5-Nov 30 to Dec 04
Day 22 On this day we changed our rotational position from RGB lines to PET line. Since
this line was very different from the previous lines we first began the week by
getting to know the flow of the line, the employees stationed at the different
position and any new additional safety features we needed to follow. Then we were
assigned to different machines to work on. The first machine on this line was also
covered on this day .The preform in-feed system was the first machine we were
tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism and some electrical components
of this machine
Day 23 On this day we were working on the blow moulder machine. This machine had
two stations one was the heating module and the other was the moulding station.
Since this machine was very large compared to the other it was given two days for
the two stations. We detailed the mechanical and electrical working of the heating
module station.
Day 24 Continuing from the previous day we detailed the mechanical and electrical
working of the blowing station.
cleaning being performed on the line. Since we were familiar with the preform
feed system and blow moulder machine we were assigned to help out in their
maintenance.
Week 5 summary
On this week we changed our rotation from the RGB lines to the PET line. On the second
day of the week we were introduce to the line and the employees that work on the different
station at the line. Throughout the week we started working on the different machines on
the line detailing the mechanical mechanisms, some electrical components and chemicals
used. The main machines we were working on were the preform in-feed system and the
blow moulder machine. In addition we got to train on the manual controls for the machines.
Finally, the week ended with a weekly maintenance and cleaning of the machines. Same
as the previous week we participated in the cleaning of the machines and also changed
some spare parts and oiled some joints and bearings.
8
Week 6-Dec 07 to Dec 11
Day On this day we were working on the filler machine. Same as the other days we were
26 tasked with detailing the mechanical mechanism, some electrical components and
chemicals used on the machine.
Day On this day we were working on the paramix machine. Same as the other days we
27 were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms, some electronic
components and chemicals used on the machine.
Day On this day we were working on the labeler machine. Same as the other days we
28 were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms, some electronic
components and chemicals used on the machine.
Day On this we were working on the Vario-pack machine. Same as the other days we
29 were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some electronic
components.
Day On this day since it was the end of the week there was a weekly maintenance and
30 cleaning being performed on the line. Since we were familiar with the filler and
washer machine we were assigned to help out in their maintenance.
Week 6 summary
On this week we got to work on more machines that are on the line. The machine we
worked on this week were filler, paramix, labeler, Vario-pack and other additional
machines. Throughout the week we started learning the mechanical mechanism, sensors,
motors and chemicals that are used on the machine. Similar to the previous week we got to
train on the manual controls of these machines. With the main machines done we went on
the additional machines that were used on the line. Finally, the week ended with a weekly
maintenance and cleaning of the machines. Same as the previous week we participated in
the cleaning of the machines and also changed some spare parts and oiled some joints and
bearings.
9
Day 32 On this day we were given a general introduction to services and utilities. This
introduction included the utility components, their workflow and the employees
working at their respective station. The first component was the compressor. Since
there were two compressors which were very different they were given two days
to complete. The first type was the high pressure compressor and the second was
the low pressure compressor
Day 33 Continuing from the previous day we detailed the compressors mechanical and
electronic components. In addition we compared and contrasted this two types of
compressors.
Day 34 On this day we were working on the chiller machine. Same as the other days we
were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some electronic
components.
Day 35 On this day we were working on the Generator machine. Same as the other days
we were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some
electronic components.
Week 7 summary
On this week we changed our rotation from the production lines to the services and utility
department. On the second day of the week we were introduce to the department and the
employees that work on the different station. Throughout the week we started working on
the different machines in the department detailing the mechanical mechanisms, some
electrical components and chemicals used. The components we worked on were
compressors, chiller and generator. Finally, the week ended with a weekly maintenance
and cleaning of the machines. Same as the previous week we participated in the cleaning
of the machines and also changed some spare parts and oiled some joints and bearings.
10
Day 36 On this day we were working on the Boiler machine. Same as the other days we
were detailing and working on the mechanical mechanisms and some electronic
components.
Day 37 On this day we were working in the workshop. The workshop had many machines
that we were familiar with such as milling machine and lathe. We were briefed on
what was done in the workshop and how to use this machines.
Day 38 On this day we were given a general introduction to SHEQ. This introduction
included the SHEQ components, their workflow and the employees working at
their respective station. The components include safety, health, environment and
quality. We were briefed on safety and health in the company
Day 39 Continuing from the previous day we were then briefed on Environment and quality
components
Day 40 The last day of our internship involved presentations and a farewell ceremony.
Week 8 summary
The final week of our internship involved finish learning the service and utility components
and additionally changing our rotation to the SHEQ department. Same as the previous week
we detailed the remaining components which are the Boiler machine and the workshop.
After this was completed we were briefed on the safety, health, environment and quality
department of the company. Finally the week ended with presentations and a farewell
ceremony.
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Chapter 3
3. Detail description of the plant
As interns at EABSC we were worked on three departments. The three departments being
manufacturing, service and utilities and SHEQ. During our stay we rotated on this departments for
two months. The manufacturing department was given one month and a half while the other two
combined were completed in two weeks.
3.1 Material Handling
3.1.1 Conveyors/Transportation
When dealing with beverage production, adequate transportation system is of a paramount
significance. The level of adequacy of the transportation system in lines plays a huge role
in determining the speed and in general, the success of the beverage company. A conveyor
system is a fast and efficient mechanical handling apparatus for automatically transporting
heavy or bulky loads within an area. It minimizes human error, cuts out labor cost, lowers
workplace risks, ensures beverage safety and saves time among other benefits.
A conveyor system may use a belt, wheels, rollers, or a chain. The type of conveyor that is
used everywhere in the Lines are a flat top chain conveyors. Flat top chain conveyors are
ideally suited for feeding and interlinking bottles, cans or small boxes in food and beverage
industries because they have smooth and continuous motion.
These conveyors are consistently lubricated by nozzles that are located on every end-point
of a conveyor. The lubricating system makes use of a soap and water mixture. This
moisturizing action helps reduce friction between the conveyor surface, the support guides
and the bottles/crates being transported.
Figure 3 conveyor (left) and moisturizing nozzles (right)
The conveyors along the line could use either straight or curved chains, based on their path.
As the names indicate, straight chains are used for straight line paths, whereas, curved
chains for curved paths.
These conveyors are driven by motors. The motors on the lines are all induction motors.
12
Figure 4 Induction Motor with its driver (left) and spiral chute (right)
These induction motors, mounted along the path of the conveyors, may or may not have
drivers alongside them. The function of the driver is to control the speed of the motors by
using variations in the frequency of the electric power. The drivers are also called field
frequency converter.
 Motors that are located on the first half of the line, i.e. before the bottle washer, do
not come with a driver because controlling their speed is not as important.
 However, every conveyor motor located on the second half of the line, i.e. next to
the bottle washer, has a driver adjacent to it. The drivers are required here because
the bottles have to come at a certain speed controlled by the PLC. If there is a
scarcity of bottle it will make the motors run faster and if there is an abundance of
bottle it will make the motors run slower
This driver's make use of sensors that are placed all around the conveying line to maintain
appropriate bottle feed to every machine. The sensors signal will be processed by the PLC
and the PLC will send out an actuating signal to the drivers.
Sensors are mounted everywhere along the path to make sure bottles and crates maintain
the appropriate space between them. The sensors that are used are mainly light sensors.
The light sensors make use of an LED, a photocell and a reflective surface to perform their
action. Whenever a bottle or a crate passes through the light form the reflective surface will
be interrupted and this will be interpreted as the presence of a bottle/crate.
N:B The main difference between the PET and RGB line conveyors is that for the PET lines
the conveyor is made up of plastic while for the RGB lines they are made of metals.
N:B the other difference between the lines is that in PET line there is a conveyor that
transports products from one level to another level of a building. The conveyor is called
the spiral chute conveyor.
N:B In the lines, we have observed that some conveyor chains in a single system move at
different speeds side-by-side. This is mainly to align crowded incoming bottles into a single
line.
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3.2 Manufacturing
The manufacturing of the bottled product is carried out in bottling lines. A bottling line is a production
line where a RGB (Reusable glass bottle) bottle or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is filled with
production on a large scale. The RGB production line where the beverage is bottled in Returnable glass
bottle while the PET line uses a non-returnable plastic bottle.
3.2.1 RGB lines

In EABSC there are three RGB (returnable glass bottle) lines. From this line we had the time to
train on two of them Line 5 and Line 3. In an RGB bottling line there are many machines that work
together to make the production. The general machines present on this lines are Unpacker,
Washer, Filler and Packer. There are optional machines that can make the process even more
efficient such as EBI (empty bottle inspector) and Checkmat. Out of the whole machines present
in the line the filler is the slowest machine. Thus the speed of the whole line is governed by the
speed of the filler.
There are additional machines that are need to give the line the required air pressure, steam and
Water. This materials are provided from their respective central source.
Figure 5 general process of RGB bottling line

I. Unpacker/Uncaser
Unpacker machine's main function is to separate bottles from their crates. It basically
removes the empty bottles from their crates and puts them onto the conveyor which carries
them to the bottle washer. This machine unpacks 6 crates or 144 bottles at a time.
The KHS Smartpac components,
• Gripper • Crate stopper
• Belt • Motors
• Arm/swivel drive mechanism • Frame
• Carriage • Weight balancer
14
Figure 6 Main components of an unpacking machine
Operation
The depalletizer (empty bottle, full crate) conveyor conveys the crates to the in-feed of the
unpacker. Two sensors located inside the unpacker machine adjacent to the conveyors detect the
first crate that enters the machine. The sensors are placed at a position close to the length of 6
crates from the in-feed point. As soon as this sensor detects the first crate, it sends signal to the
PLC which activate the crate stoppers, these crate stoppers lock the extra crates from entering the
machine and the crates to be unpacked not to leave the unpacker. These crate stoppers are located
both on the entrance and the exit of the crates. This stopping of crates ensures that total of only 6
crates enter the unpacking zone, although there might be times when less than six crates enter the
zone due to errors. But this situation occurs rarely; only about 1% of the times.
To further decrease this error the machine uses frames to firmly hold the crates in place. The frame
is driven by a motor connected through rack and pinion. The motor has an encoder to accurately
know where the frame is.
Then, the unpacker makes a forward motion to vertically align the grippers to the bottle necks.
This forward motion is performed by the arm driven by two induction motors that rotate at same
speed. This same speed is achieved by a coupling shaft connection that links those two motors
together. After completing this motion, the carriage that carries all the grippers makes a downward
motion. This is accomplished by two induction motors rotating at the same speed
Using a coupling shaft connection. Motion from these two motors is transferred into the carriage
through belt connections.
Afterwards, the gripper head swallows the bottle neck, i.e. the bottle neck enters inside grippers.
The grippers then grip the bottles tight, using pressure (pneumatic). This operation is achieved as
follows. As soon as the bottle neck enters inside the grippers, a pressure of about 4-5 bars is
released through pipe, by solenoids located on top of the machine. This pressure enters the inside
part of the gripper. This will actuate a diaphragm that grippes the bottle. The gripping action is
performed when the volume between the bottle and diaphragm decreases. The unpacker then
makes an upward motion to lift using the same belt drive. During this whole process the carriage
is stabilized and continuously made to be horizontal with the help of a parallel link to the arm.
The space between the grippers is adjusted when they grip the bottle from the crate and when they
release the bottle on the exit conveyor. The reason for this alteration is mainly for the grippers to
fit properly into the crates. After the grippers lift the bottles up, this space is equally retracted to
place the bottles on the conveyor in a compact fashion. This action is completed by a pneumatic
cylinder activated by a solenoid valve. This cylinder expands and contracts the space between the
grippers when necessary.
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Note: A weight balancer, or simply a balancer, enables the motor to lift heavy loads without
putting much stress on it. This balancer is located inside the arm, and is connected to the
motor by the belt connection. A single balancer weighs 100kg (total of 200kg on both sides).
Finally, the carriage makes a downward motion to place the bottles on the conveyor behind the
machine. To release the bottles, the grippers must release the pressure inside the grippers. This
pressure is released directly into the environment/atmosphere through silencers (absorbers).
Silencers have many tiny holes (pores) around their surface to let air out slowly. Finally, the crate
stoppers unlock and release the crates to the crate washer.
Safety
Numerous sensors of different types are mounted on the machine, to ensure a safe working
condition for the machine and the operator. Sensors mounted on the carriage of the machine, detect
any miss-position of the carriages. This sensor is a reflective light sensor.
Inductive sensors installed on top of the door/gate of the machine detect the opening of the doors
and stop the unpacker.
Light sensors on the back of the unpacker detect any interference of human, and stop the machine
instantly.
II. Packer/Caser
KRONES Smartpac is used to carry out the packing process. The packer machine's main
function is to place full bottles into crates. It basically inserts bottles from filler to their crates
and puts them onto the conveyor which carries them to pelletizing station. The process of
packing is similar to the unpacking except here the process will be reversed.
The packer has different components, some of which are listed below:
 Gripper  Crate stopper
 Belt  Frame
 Arm/swivel rive mechanism  Motor drives
 Carriage  Weight balancer
 Sensors
The main difference between the unpacker and packer machine is in the drive system. The
packer uses teethed belt to transfer power from the motors to the carriage while the unpacker
uses chain drive.
Notes: There are many key differences between the packer and unpacker some are listed below.
 Lubrication is done manually every week for the KHS unpacker. However, lubrication is
automatic for the KRONES Smartpac (packer).
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Figure 7 lubrication for; left packer and right unpacker
 KRONES Smartpac has a pressure reservoir at the top, which is used to hold extra
pressure, so that, if incase electricity interruption occurs, the machine doesn't drop the
bottles. The KHS Unpacker, however, does not have such reservoir. Thus, if electricity
interruption occurs, it will throw-off every single bottle it held.
 The packer also has a reciprocating mechanism driven by an internal cam mechanism to
properly order the bottles coming from the in-feed conveyor.
 The in-feed of the packer has flappers for every bottle path so that when the number of
bottle in the packer reaches the required amount it sends a signal to the PLC. The PLC
then interprets and actuates the motors to lower the carriage. The flappers perform this
action with the help of a light sensor.
 The packer also has a frame to properly place the crates in an aligned position to the
gripper heads.
III. Washer
In the line KRONES automatic bottle washer is used. The purpose of bottle washer is to remove
any dirty thing from the bottle before filling. It can clean any dirt except higher polymer such as
candle. In line five there are 600 bottle carriers there are 40 in one line but only 480 carriers
carry the bottles to the washer and the remaining move back to start the other cycle. The machine
washes 480*40 = 19200 bottles in 30 minute. The rest of the carriers are sent back to collect new
bottles to be washed.
Figure 8 bottle washer (Left) and Section of the washer (right).

1. Pre cleaning section
This is the in-feed section, where there is an in-feed finger that moves forwards and backwards
to guide the bottle to the in-feed line. This process prevents the bottles from getting stuck. The
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in-feed finger is driven by a shaft which has rollers fixed to it and off-center holes, to achieve a
combined rotation and reciprocating motion.
Figure 9 In-feed and in-feed finger mechanism

The in-feed section uses warm water coming from the warm water tank to clean any dust, using
pressurized water jet. The reason the water is warm is because the caustic used for cleaning is
hot, and if bottles from the line are directly fed into it, the bottles will crack due to thermal stress.
2. Main cleaning cycle

Here, the process uses different chemicals to clean the bottle. Some of the chemicals used are
caustic, ferisol, stavilon and horolis.
- Ferisol is used to avoid scale in - Stavilon is used to remove date
the bottle. code.
- Horolis is used to maintain PH of fresh water.
This cleaning section has two caustic sections; caustic-one and caustic-two. The difference
between them is the temperature in those sections to avoid/minimize thermal stress.
3. Post treatment
This area is removes the cleaning chemicals from the bottle with the help of water at successive
section. The water at different sections has different temperature to minimize/avoid the thermal
stress. These sections are post caustic, warm water one, warm water two, and final rinse with
respectively decreasing temperature.
Operation
As the bottles reach the washer, electrically operated pneumatic valves open when current is
supplied to them. These valves permit warm water at a temperature of 35 – 40°C in to the drum.
The controlled bottle transfer helps in the gentle treatment of the bottles. The S-shaped in-feed
lane stops any bottle that falls on the conveyor to pass to the in-feed.
Figure 10 inside view of washer
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The whole washer is driven by a synchronous motor connected by chain connection. The motors
have encoders to maintain the predetermined rotation of the motors, which helps in maintaining
the proper belt tension, and if they fell, the chain might be prone to damage.
After pre-cleaning, the microprocessor switches the motor on; to rotate the pocket for the time
determined by the microprocessor. Then the pocket holding the bottle, which has a plastic insert,
called bottle cell will enter the caustic-one section. Caustic is used, because, it has the capability
to kill pathogens; the concentration of the caustic at this section is 2%, and the rest (98%) is water.
The level and the concentration of caustic is measured using conductivity measure, and the
temperature is around 60-70°C.
The microprocessor gives signal to switch the current in order to open the valve which allows the
caustic into the drum. The sensor also helps to shut down the caustic flow as it reaches the required
level and temperature sensor stops the steam when the caustic temperature reaches the optimal
level. The temperature of the washer is achieved by the heat exchanger unit and the heat exchanger
get steam from boiler through the pipe. The second caustic section is similar to caustic one except
the difference in temperature and concentration which is >2% and the bottle gets extra clarification.
After it is cleaned by the chemical it should be removed from the bottle because it is poisonous.
The bottle is showered with pure water by jetting and goes to warm water one and then to warm
water two both have different temperature and they are sprayed with jet. The warm water comes
from the boiler but also heat carried by the bottle from the caustic is also a factor. Through the
process the temperature will decrease then is cold water jet this compartment is desired to have
PH of 7 and uses soft water also have two jets. Then the discharging section is which takes the
bottle out of the carrier and place them on the carrier which move to the filler.
Sensor
 Pressure and temperature sensor: used to control the temperature and pressure.
 Proximity sensor: used to determine the presence of bottle.
 Photoelectric sensor: used for safety at the discharge section. If someone inserts his/her
hands, this sensor will give message to the microprocessor and stop the machine
 Conductivity sensor: used to determine the level of the caustic
Filters
The KORNES washer has an automatic filter that removes dirt, labels and other wastes from the
cleaning water. But, the filter for the caustic is manual. This filter for the water is driven by a motor
attached to a filtering chain while for the caustic it is manually removed and cleaned.
Figure 11 Filters of the washer; automatic (left) and manual (right)
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Pumps
Each tank has its own pump, and uses centrifugal pumps to convert mechanical energy into
hydraulic energy. The centrifugal pump has an impeller, driven by shaft connected to a motor, to
provide the required speed for pumping.
Motors
The machine uses a synchronous motor. There are 8 of them and each has an encoder used to
control the speed.
IV. Crate washer

Crate washer is a machine used to clean the bottle cases. After the bottles are separated from the
crates, the crates go through a different conveyor line. This line takes them through the crate
washer, and finally to the packer. The process goes like; the bottle cases holding the bottles are
first rinsed at the crate rinsing machine with water to remove the dust. After that the bottle and the
bottle case are separated from each other at the unpacker station .when the bottles head to the bottle
washer the cases will also move to the crate washer both by different conveyor lines.
The crate washer makes the use of water jets coming from differently pointed nozzles. The water
that is used for final rinsing at the bottle washer is recycled back to the crate washer.
V. EBI (Empty Bottle Inspector)

Empty bottle inspector is a machine that runs different types of inspections on the bottles after they
leave the washer. The inspection mainly focuses on the structural integrity of the bottles, and to
some extent, it detects liquids left in the bottles. This machine is important, since, for an efficient
and smooth working of the filler, the bottle being fed into it must be without any flaw, crack or
residual liquid.
The main functions of the EBI can be divided into five;
 Lateral neck finish inspection,  Sidewall inspection, and
 Base/inner wall inspection,  Residual caustic inspection.
 Residual liquid inspection,
Operation
1. Lateral Neck Finish Inspection
The lateral neck finish of the bottle is illuminated by a ring shaped array of LEDs. The LEDs are
turned on by the PLC at the precise moment when the bottle is underneath the center. The light
from the LEDs will be reflected from the bottle finish and goes to the CCD (charged coupled
device) camera. The CCD camera, then, sends the image data to the controller where it will be
compared to a standard flawless bottle. Then, if the controller detects the presence of a significant
difference between the bottle and the standard, it will record it as a faulty bottle.
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2. Base Inspection/Inner Wall Inspection
The base of the bottle is illuminated using LEDs placed below the bottle. The light from the LEDs
then pass through the bottle and are captured by the CCD cameras. Just as the previous one, the
image data is sent to the controller and compared with a standard. If again a significant difference
is seen, it will record the bottle as faulty.
3. Sidewall Inspection
The sidewalls of the bottle are illuminated using LEDs, and the light from these LEDs goes to the
CCD camera. Again, the image data is sent to the controller and compared with a standard. If a
significant difference is seen, it will record the bottle as faulty.
4. Residual Caustic Inspection

This section is different in that, it is used to detect any caustic that may have been left in the bottle
during washing. Since the caustic left in the bottle, which is dissolved in water, is a conductor, it
interferes with the high frequency function applied to it. This interference will be recorded as the
presence of residual caustic.
5. Residual Liquid Inspection

The residual liquid inspection uses infrared lamp and an infrared sensor to detect the presence of
any liquid, such as water and oil. The infrared lamp is placed below the bottle, while the sensor is
at the top. Any significant disturbance on the infrared wave is recorded as a residual liquid, and
the bottle will then be rejected.
Figure 12 Working of EBI

Motors and drives
The proper feeding and transport of bottles to the EBI is of great importance. The bottles moving
into the EBI must maintain a predetermined gap between them. This can be achieved by the use of
guide belts and synchronous motor.
- The guide belt holds the bottles in the correct position throughout the process.
- The synchronous motor, equipped with an encoder, lets the EBI controller know exactly
where the bottles are.
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Figure 13 Drive Belt
Sensors
The EBI machine uses an array of sensors to make the inspection process possible, all of which
are reflective light sensors. Many sensors are mounted at different position and height.
 Height sensing; uses two sensors placed at different heights. Based on the signal from
each sensor, we can determine if the bottle is the right height.
A is correct height, B is broken, C is over height and D is under height.
 Fallen bottle sensing; also uses two sensors placed at different heights. This process is
carried out at the in-feed of the EBI. When a bottle falls, the lower sensor will be the only
one sensing the bottle and this will be interpreted by the controller as a fallen bottle.
Figure 14 Height sensing (left) and fallen bottle sensing (right)

Pusher
Pusher is a machine that takes out faulty bottles just after they leave the EBI. It is actuated
pneumatically when the controller sends a signal, telling it there is a faulty bottle. The pusher uses
reflective light sensors and an encoder to know the position of the bottle.
Paramix (Blender)
Paramix is a simple machine used to make the beverage by mixing the final syrup, treated water a
nd CO2.
The blender consists of six pumps;

1. De-aeration/Vacuum pump 4. Water/Circulation pump
2. Syrup pump 5. Carbonization pump
3. Mixer pump 6. Production/Buffer pump.
The blender also has three storage tanks;

 Water tank,  Syrup tank.
 Production/Buffer tank, and
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The storage tanks have two level sensors; high and low level sensors. Every sensor has a floating
ball that actuates a metal rod when the water level reaches it. This will be detected by an inductiv
e sensor, and a signal will be sent to the PLC.
The water tank has two partitions; treated water enters the bottom partition through a pipe from th
e water treatment room. The water from the treatment room has air molecules that tend to react w
ith CO2 molecules and agitate the production to form foam. So, the water goes through de-aeratio
n process, which is the removal of air molecules from the water. The de-aerated water is then circ
ulated between the top and bottom partition of the water tank, with the addition of CO 2 to the top
partition only. The CO2 acts as a preservative. This action is performed by water/ circulation pum
p. The bottom partition has two sensors that senses the level of water to avoid under and overfill o
f the water tank.
The deaerated water then goes to the mixing pump to be mixed with the syrup. The syrup comes f
rom syrup room and is stored in the syrup tank to be used in mixing process. The syrup is pumpe
d to the mixing pump by the use of syrup pump. The flow rate of the syrup is measured by flow m
eter and controlled by IP valve.
The mixing pump then pumps the mixture of water and syrup to a heat exchanger/ chiller to be c
ooled. The heat exchanger makes use of chilled/ ice water from chiller room. The type of heat ex
changer used is a counter flow with pipe system to remove the exchanged heat, the chiller makes
use of fins to improve the heat transfer. The cooled mixture is then transported to a carbonization
pump where the CO2 is metered by a flow meter and controlled by an IP valve. The metered CO 2
is mixed just before the carbonization pump. The CO2 is used to preserve the beverage for a long
er life time. The carbonization pump then transfers the beverage to the production tank. The prod
uction tank has two level sensors to measure the level of the beverage. Finally the production is p
umped to the filler using a production pump.
Figure 15 Pumps used on the Paramix (left) and chiller (right)

There are slight differences between KHS and KRONES paramixes. The KRONES model has a d
isplay which is used to control the overall system. Any signal or fault detected by sensors, and pu
lse signals counted by encoders are displayed on the screen as a message, which makes the KRO
NES model more sophisticated and easy to understand and operate.
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Figure 16 Flow diagram for the blender
VI. Filler
Filler is a machine used to fill the beverage into the bottles but keep in mind that this is not the
only function. The filler also checks for faulty bottles. The lines have KRONES filler. The filler
machine compared with the other machines in the line is slower and thus determines the whole
speed of the line.
The production from the paramix or blender, the required CO2 and connection for additional media
is fed to the filler and stored in the ring bowl. The ring bowl is found at the bottom of the filler
machine. The production from the paramix is slowly fed from the bottom up of the ring bowl. This
type of filling prevents the foaming of the beverage.
The different electrical connection and pneumatic air required to run the filler are connected at the
top.to avoid the twisting of the wires when the carousel rotates a slip ring mechanism is applied.
This transmitter is also used for the transmissions of pressurized air from the air manifold.
The filler machine start at the in-feed where empty and cleaned bottles from the washer are
conveyed at the in-feed of the machine. At this entrance there is a pneumatically controlled bottle
stop that smoothly decelerates and stops the incoming bottles when the bottle to the filler is not
required.
After the bottle stopper the next component to interact with the bottle is the in-feed worm. This is
used to evenly space the bottles and feed them to the in-feed star wheel. The in-feed star wheel
then transfer the bottle from the in-feed worm to the ring ball (carousel) keep in mind that the
rotation of the ring ball and the in-feed star wheel is opposite. This opposite rotation with
calculated speed makes the transfer of bottles smooth and possible.
The in-feed star wheel transfers the bottles to the lifting cylinder (fig).which is attached to the
carousel. The lifting cylinder is actuated pneumatically to raise at a predetermined position
following the process and lowers using a return positioner. The return positioner is needed in order
to push the lift cylinder downwards during cleaning.
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The working fluid inside this cylinder is an oil and air mixture. Even if the working fluid is a
mixture the driving action is only performed by the pressurized air. The purpose of the mixture is
to give stability to the cylinder which Carrie's the load of the bottle.
After the successful transfer of bottle to the lifting cylinder, the centering bell centers the empty
bottle at its correct position below the filling valve. This component also has the function of sealing
the bottle so that the different stages of the process can be carried out without the need for extra
components.
At the top of the centering bell there is a roller with a predetermined path to produce the lifting
and lowering action of the whole centering bell without the need for extra pneumatic drivers.
With the successful completion of the sealing the main process begins. The filling process can be
sub divided into 7 steps with some being optional steps.
1. Initial evacuation
The first step is the removal of around 90 % of the air inside the bottle. This is archived by opening
the valve connecting the bottle to the vacuum chamber. The difference in the pressure between
this two compartments forces the air in ti the vacuum chamber. The valve opening the connection
is a solenoidal valve actuated by signal it receive from the PLC controller.
2. CO2 flushing
At this stage of the process carbon dioxide without pressure will be sucked into the bottle. The
pressure difference between the bottles vacuum and the carbon dioxide in the ring bowl forces in
the CO2.When the bottle is fully filled it will attain atmospheric pressure.
3. Second evacuation
This is a secondary evacuation stage which follows the CO2 flushing. The only difference from
the initial evacuation is that this removes around 99% of the gases inside the bottle.
4. Pressurization
The pressurization process starts when the control cylinder valve is switched on. This opens the
gas needle to open and starts to let in the CO2 inside the bottle. The filling of the bottle by CO2
starts raising he pressure inside the bottle and when complete the pressure inside the bottle and the
ring bowl will be equal. Whenever there is a faulty bottle that can't handle the pressure it tends to
burst.
5. Filling phase
When the pressure in the ring bowl and bottle are equal the product valve opens. The valve opens
because the pressure inside the bottle will press against the wall of the valve and compresses the
spring keeping the valve shut. The product then flows into the bottle along the vent tube. A small
spreader mounted on the tube guides the liquid to flow on the inner wall of the bottle and starts
filling from bottom up. This filling process prevents the formation of foam in the bottle. The CO 2
used for pressurizing will be forced out and gets back into the ring bowl.
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When the product level reaches the bottom of the vent tube the return of CO 2 will be interrupted
ending the filling process. The filling phase ends automatically when the gas lock (siphon) prevents
the further liquid flow.
6. Settling
The step will allow the product inside the bottle to settle. Then the needle valve is closed
mechanically.
7. Snifting
During this step the valve connecting the bottle and the snifting channel will be opened and allows
the pressure inside the bottle to pass through. After the snifting process is done the lifting cylinder
is lowered and the bottle is transferred to the discharge star wheel.
The filling process makes use of many components to start, stop and also have information on
the different stages of the process.
i. Valves
The KRONES makes use of pneumatically actuated valves that receive signal from the PLC and
close and open at predetermined time following the process.
ii. Sensors
 Bottle presence sensor: detects the presence of bottles. This sensor makes use of a rod sticking
out of the centering bell. Whenever there isn’t a bottle the centering bell lowers and the rod is
not detected by this sensor. This causes the sensor not to send a signal that shows the presence
of a bottle to the PLC. The PLC will then locate the absent bottle and stop the filling process
for that bottle location only.
 Bottle burst sensor: some bottle might burst during the pressurizing process. When this
happens the centering bell will lower with it lowering the rod to be sensed. Then the sensor
can detect that the rod has been lowered and a bottle has bursted. Then the lack of signal from
the sensor will be interpreted as a busted bottle by the PLC .This will stop the remaining
process of filling for that bottle and also stops crowning two bottles before and two bottle after
the bursted bottle. This will be implemented for three cycle of the filler, this the filler not crown
15 bottles for one bursted bottle. The bottle burst position will also be showered with a jet of
water through a nozzle to remove any bottle fragments.
 Encoder (position sensors): is a special type of sensor that captures position information’s of
the motor and relays the data to the PLC which will determine where all the moving parts are.
iii. Motors and drives
The filler makes use of only one induction motor located under the filler. The different components
that rotate get power from this motor. All of the rotating components are connected through a
gearbox apart from the crowner which is connected through a universal jointed shaft.
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Figure 17 Drive system (left) and nozzle and sensor (right)
iv. Safety
There are many safety measure taken to make the working environment as safe as possible.
Doors, guards and the like protect the personnel working on the machine from bottle bursts and
other hazardous situations.
Figure 18 Doors and safety guards

VII. Crowner
Crowner is a part of filler machine used to crown filled bottles. It receives bottles that come from
the transfer star wheel and caps twelve filled bottles in one rotation. The crowned bottles are then
sent to the discharge star wheel.
Figure 19 The crowner machine

The process behind the crowner unit is as follows;
First, crowns are transported to the crown tank found on top of the crowner. The feeding system
to the crown tank is a magnetic belt conveyor. The conveyor is driven by an induction motor. The
in-feed to the conveyor has a vibrating tank to provide the conveyor with steady crowner flow.
In the crowner the caps flow through the opening in the hopper’s cover. In the hopper, blades and
agitator hooks uniformly distribute the caps on the disk. The disk then rotates, transporting the
caps towards the outside to the feed ring. Only single caps fit between the disk and the feed ring.
These single caps are transported through the cap chute to the twist tube. Inside the twist tube, the
caps are made so that the cap’s bottom faces out. The twist tube makes use of the geometry of the
cap to produce the turning effect. After this, the filled bottles are transported to the bottles transfer
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plate. At the transfer plate, one cap is transferred to each capping head. This is enabled by the
bottom crown stopper which enables single crown to pass at a certain time synchronized with the
bottle present signal and the plunger present signal.
Figure 20 Twist tube (left) and bottom crown stopper (right)

Once the crown has been fed to the crown chute into the transfer line, a magnet is used to carry
the crown for the rest of the way. A pushing cam is used to position the crown on the plunger of
the crowning head. The sealing head is lowered until the crown in the crown throat is placed onto
the bottle. The bottle then holds it in place. Afterwards, only the crowning throat is further lowered.
Before capping heads are put on the bottles, a height adjustment system is used to adjust the top
part of the capper to suit the respective height of the bottles. Then, the bottles are held in place in
the center star wheel and the neck star wheel holds the neck of the container in place during the
capping process. The neck star wheel helps the bottle to with stand the force of the crowning.
At the time of the capping process, the capping heads press the caps onto the bottles with a plunger.
The capping throat is lowered, thereby applying the cap to the neck finish of the bottle. The bottle
is finally closed. Using the lifting cam, the crowning head is raised again and the retention spring
pushes the ejection plunger back to its initial position. The capping process is done in two stages.
The first stage is to position the crown between the plunger and the bottle. The second stage is
where the bottle is further subjected to an increased pressure to crown the bottle .finally the
crowner lifts up and leaves the bottle.
Whenever there occurs a bottle burst, five bottles are not capped for three rounds for the sake of
safety. If a bottle is not capped, the cap will remain in the capping in the capping throat, and the
cap will then be removed at the transfer plate.
After a bottle is capped, it is transported through the discharge star wheel. The discharge star wheel
then sets the bottles onto the discharge conveyors.
The crowner consists of different parts, but mainly the hopper agitator, agitator, twist tube, closure
chute and plunger are mentioned mostly.
 Hopper agitator: is the first receiver of the crowns that come by the conveyor through an
opening in the hopper’s cover. In this part, the crowns are vibrated to the actual agitator.
 Agitator: shakes the crowns to send them to the sorter, where the crowns are arranged
consecutively.
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 Crown turner: is where the crowns are reversed and become ready to cap the bottles, and
it is also a part of the sorter.
 Closure chute: feeds the closures from the sorter to the plunger.
Sensors
During the process of the crowner machine, a sensor is used for different purpose to make the
procedure easier.
1. Proximity inductive sensor: can detect metal targets approaching the sensor, without
physical contact with the target. These kind of sensors are found:
a. For controlling the flow of crowns to the agitator hopper. If there are too many
crowns in the hopper, the sensor shuts off the flow.
b. For detecting if a cap is put on a bottle.
2. Plunger present sensor: can detect when a plunger is present to help synchronize the
motion of the plunger with the caps. The type of sensor used is a diffuse reflective type of
light sensor.
VIII. Checkmat
Checkmat or FBI (Full Bottle Inspection) is a machine that checks whether a filled bottle from the
filler is under filled, overfilled or uncrowned by using different sensors. The sensors used in this
machine are proximity sensor (inductive type) which detects metallic materials, photocell sensor
and other sensors that use radioactive element (gamma rays).
Figure 21 Checkmat
Operation
There is a message flow between the sensors to the PlC. The first step is that a bottle present sensor
which is a photocell sensor on the conveyer before the FBI machine detects a bottle. A message
from this sensor will be sent to PLC telling it a Bottle has arrived. The PLC then commands the
under/over fill sensor to activate. Then the sensor detects the bottle and if it is under/over filled
sends a message to the PLC which sends signal to the reject sensor attached on the conveyer at the
exit of the FBI.
At the in-feed there is an inductive sensor to check whether the bottle is crowned or not. If it’s
crowned the over/under fill sensor receives message and gets ready to detect, but if the bottle is
uncrowned a message to the reject is directly sent through the PLC. Then the over/under fill sensor
uses radioactive element emitting gamma ray to detects whether the crowned bottle is overfilled
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or not. If it detects an overfilled bottle, a message to the reject is sent so that the bottle will be
rejected. The main purpose of the reject (Pusher) is to move a bottle that is under or overfilled to
pass through a different conveyer as soon as it gets out from the FBI. The pusher is pneumatically
actuated when it gets a signal from the PLC.
There is a pulse encoder connected to the motor driving the conveyor which controls the speed of
the conveyer and determines the exact position of the bottles to be detected by each sensors.
IX. Date Coder

Date code or with its other familiar name continuous ink jet (CJ) is used to provide accurate and
consistent product marking (printing) of expiry date and production
Operation
In order to run the machine we need two basic materials which are make- up and ink. Make- up is
used to attain the appropriate concentration of the ink which is suitable for printing process.
Just before the date code there is a blower. This blows warm air on the bottle to remove any
moisture that might interact with the ink.
There is a supply pump inside the date code which sucks the make-up ink and mixes with the main
ink. This mixture then flows through the nozzles. After this process takes place the ink is diluted
to ensure that print operations are always correct by maintaining the right consistency of the ink.
The diluted ink changed in to small ink droplets and each individual droplets will be charged
through a magnetic field generated inside the print head, then the droplets pass through a deflecting
electrode. Where they are deflected depending on their charge. Droplet without a charge do not
get deflected and fed back in to the ink circuit in order to avoid waste while the droplets now
charged, pass through an electrostatic filed between deflector plate, a combination of speed and
charge determines the correct position of droplet on the bottle. This is all done without contact to
the bottle.
Figure 22 Date Coder

In order to make over all printing process possible there are a must collaborators which are sensors
and air dryer. Right after the filling is done, bottles start to come to the date coder through
conveyor. While bottles are on their way for the date code, there are sensors which helps the
printing process to be more accurate.
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The conveyor just before the date coder is driven by an induction motor which has an encoder; the
encoder helps the system know the position of the bottles on the conveyor. The gap between each
bottle is sensed by a light sensor.
Challenges, problems and their solutions

During our stay in line three we have observed some problems and inefficient way of doing things.
Some of this are listed below. Most of the problems with their solution is very similar to those that
were present in line five.
1. The first problem we noticed during our stay in line three is that the filter for the caustic in the
washer is manual.
Solution: We propose an automatic filter for this section.
2. The second problem we noticed in line three just as in line five was the lack of Gasket cutter.
The gaskets used for sealing the steam pipes don’t have long lifetime and the manual cutting
of the gaskets using scissors makes their lifetime even shorter. When manually cut the circular
geometry is hard to achieve this makes some part of the gasket take on more thermal stress and
consequently fail.
Solution: We propose an automatic gasket cutter as a solution. The gasket cutter will have an
adjustable diameter to provide with wide range of gasket sizes.
3. The third problem we noticed was whenever there is a change in the production, i.e. change in
flavor the crowner position on the filler is manually adjusted to fit the new bottle type. The
operator uses trial and error to achieve this correct height. Until the right height is achieved the
crowner breaks many bottles and sometimes even disturbs the flow of the line.as stated earlier
the speed of the filler is the determining factor of the speed of the whole line.
Solution: We propose a cost effective automatic height adjustment. We will also record the
correct height of the crowner for each bottle and make the height adjustment as fast as possible
for the future. This can be achieved by using position sensors and a controller.
4. The fourth problem we noticed is that whenever a single machine at the line is stopped for
different reasons the conveyors are not stopped. For example, when the unpacker in-feed
conveyor was faulty and had to be fixed the rest of the lines conveyors were continuing to run
even though there were no bottle and crates to be moved. The fixing process almost took 45
minutes and in all this time even if the rest of the machines were stopped the conveyors leading
up to them were running.
Solution: We propose that whenever the machines are stopped for on the spot maintenance
there should be a system which accounts for this and stops the conveyors that aren’t being
used.
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3.2.1 PET lines
In EABSC there is only one PET bottling line. Line – 4 is a PET bottling line, where there are
many machines that work together to make the production. The general machines present in
this line are Contiform, Filler, Date Coder, Labeler, Variopac and Robopac. There are optional
machines that can make the process even more efficient such as Checkmat and Blowers. Out
of the whole machines present in the line the filler is the slowest machine. Thus the speed of
the whole line is governed by the speed of the filler.
Figure 23 Flow diagram of the general process in PET line
I. Blow Molder
The KRONES Contiform standard blow molder is a machine, in the PET line, which transforms
the preforms into non-returnable PET containers. The molding process is where heated plastic
preform is blown with pressurized air to create a hollow container of a desired shape. The blow
molder makes use of many components and machines to perform this function.
Components of Contiform
1. Preform feed system 3. Blowing module
2. Heating module
Figure 24 Machine overview
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a) Preform feed system
The preform feed system supplies the required preforms to the blow molder. The system also has the
function of adjusting the preforms into their correct orientation and cleans the preforms to remove any
dust particles.
Components of preform feed system
 Hopper  Roller orientor
 Elevator  Feed rail
 Intermediate conveyor
1. Hopper
Hopper is the component where the preforms are stored for intermediate use in the blow moulder.
The amount of preform in the hopper is monitored by a photoelectric (P.E) sensor. P.E sensors are
placed at a predetermined position where one is at the maximum while the other is at the minimum
point.
Whenever the minimum level sensor is activated by lack of sufficient preform the tipper beside,
the hopper is activated and starts filling the hopper. The tipper is then switched when the maximum
level sensor is activated and filling of the hopper stops.
During change over the preform inside the hopper have to be removed and replaced by new ones.
The hopper has a flap at its discharge point that is opened manually to remove the preforms.
A discharge conveyor at the base of the hopper transfers the preforms from the hopper to the
elevator. The direction of the discharge conveyor can be reversed to empty the machine.
2. Elevator
The elevator transports the preforms from the hopper to the roller orientor. The elevator makes
use of pocket belt driven by a motor.
3. Intermediate conveyor
The intermediate conveyor is found at the exit of the elevator. It is used to close the gap between
the elevator and the roller orientor.
4. Dump chute
This dump chute is used to transfer the preforms from the intermediate conveyor to the roller
orientor.
5. Roller orientor
The roller orientor adjusts the preforms to give it the correct orientation. This orientor makes use
of many components.
1. Orientation rollers 4. Return conveyor
2. Preform rejection unit 5. Curved discharge rail
3. Kicker wheel
３３
a. Orientation rollers
The orientation rollers are two counter rotating parallel cylinders that perform the actual
orientation of the preform. The gap between the rollers is made so that it is wider than the
preform body and narrower than the preform neck-ring. The preform are then hung upright
between the two rollers. Because the rollers are inclined the preforms slide down by their own
weight. Along the orientation rollers there are sensors that monitor the gap between the
preforms. The sensors also detect any miss-oriented preform.
b. Preform rejection unit
The preform rejection unit makes use of pressurized air to blow away a miss-oriented preform.
The pressurized air is fed through a nozzle aligned with the rollers. The rejected preforms are
blown to the return conveyor.
c. Kicker wheel
The kicker wheel rejects any miss-oriented preform that might have passed the preform
rejection unit. The kicker wheel is located just above the preform neck finish and rotates
continuously in the opposite direction of preform flow. Flexible paddles are used to reject
incorrectly positioned preforms. The rejected preforms fall through the rejection chute onto the
return conveyor and are reintegrated in the production process.
Figure 25 Rollers (left), kicker (middle) and rejection unit (right)

d. Return conveyor
Those preforms which are rejected from the roller orientor are returned to the discharge
conveyor of the hopper. This conveyor has the same working principle as the elevator.
e. Curved discharge rail
The preforms are fed to the feed rail via the curved discharge rail.
6. Feed rail
The feed rail transports the correctly oriented preforms to the in-feed of the heating module. The
feed rail makes use of different components to perform its action.
1. Neck-ring guides 3. Preform Interior Blower
2. Preform guide 4. Preform rejection unit
a. Neck-ring guides
The preforms slide to the in-feed of the heating module on the neck-ring guides. The preforms
neck ring must be the correct size in order to ensure proper transport.
b. Preform guide
３４
The preform guide carries and stabilizes the preforms during transport. If the type is changed,
the width of the lane can be pneumatically adjusted.
c. Preform Interior Blower
This machine cleans the preforms with ionized (positively charged) air before they are heated
in the Heating module. The positively charged air helps attract any dust or debris from the
preform. The dust and debris along with the air is then sucked using a vacuum pump and sent
to the collecting bin. The dirty air is then passed through a filter to separate the air from the
dust. The filtered air is then directly released to the atmosphere. This method of dust removal
is called ionization (ionizer). This machine uses a voltage booster circuit to generate up to 1-2
KV of electricity. This high voltage is directed to a small metal pin where the highly excited
particles are emitted into the air which in turn attracts dust particles.
d. Preform Rejection Unit
If the machine must be emptied, the neck-ring guides can be opened in the area of the preform
rejection unit with a lever. The next preforms will not be transported any further and fall out
at this point.
7. Sensors
Throughout the system, there are photoelectric sensors to correctly know the position of the
preforms.
b) Heating module
The heating module is a machine that heats up the preforms before they are fed to the blower. The
heating of the preforms is required to make the preform malleable. The malleability of the preform is
required for it to keep the shape of the mold during blowing. The heating module makes use of infrared
lamp for the heat source. The reason IR lamp were chosen was because they provide us with a uniform
and better heat transfer.
The heating module makes use of many components;
1. In-feed handling 5. Surface cooling
2. Drive unit 6. Heaters
3. Spindle rotating device 7. Equilibration zone
4. Preform gripper 8. Monitoring devices
1. In-feed handling
This system achieves the appropriate feeding of preform to the gripper. This system is
comprised of two components.
A. In-feed stop: is a pneumatic cylinder, located directly ahead of the in-feed handling parts
of the heating, which controls the inflow of preform. The stop is.
B. In-feed transferring wheel
The in-feed handling parts pick up the in-feed preforms. The star wheel disk spaces the
Preforms so that each preform gripper of the heating module can accommodate one
Preform. The heating mandrel chain of the heating module and the in-feed star-wheel of
the in-feed handling parts must operate synchronously
３５
Figure 26 Transfer wheel (left) and Gripper (right)
2. Drive unit: on the heating module head and the end-turning unit on the end section of the
heating module move the heating mandrel chain.
3. Spindle rotating device: is used to drive the rotation of the gripper so that there will be
uniform heat distribution. Separately driven toothed belt on each side of the heating module
turns the spindles of the preform grippers around their own axes.
4. Preform gripper: on the heating mandrel pick up the preform and transport them through the
heating module. As was stated earlier, to improve the heat distribution in the preform, the
gripper rotates the preform around its own axis. During the heating process, only the preform
body is required to be heated, so the neck and thread are protected using a protective plate.
5. Surface cooling
The preform surface cooling and neck finish cooling system is located along the entire heating
and equilibration zones of the heating module. The thread of the preforms must be cooled
during heating, using cooled air from a heat exchanger, to prevent deformation. The preform
surface is cooled with ambient air to prevent its surface overheating.
6. Heaters
The heater uses infrared lamp for the heat source and ceramic reflectors to concentrate the heat.
Each heater has three main components.
Figure 27 Main components of heater

 Infrared radiators  Exhaust air duct, cooling
 Electrical connections,
infrared radiators
The heaters, located along the entire heating zone heat the performs passing through, using
infrared radiation. They can be turned ON/OFF individually, and their heating capacity can be
regulated. The electrical connections of the infrared radiators are cooled with air to prevent
overheating.
The IR lamps are arranged in arrays, and based on the requirement; each of the lamps is
activated with a predetermined heat level. This switching of only some lamps helps heat the
required part of the preform with the required amount of heat.
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The differential heating is required to give the final bottle the required strength at the right
position. There are 16 heating boxes located along the entire heating; each with 9 vertical arrays
of IR lamps.
7. Equilibration zone
In the equilibration zone of the heating module, the heat is evenly distributed in the preform.
8. Monitoring devices
There are several monitoring devices located in the entire heating module.
 P.E. sensors at the preform feed unit and heating module in-feed:
- Monitors the preform feed to the heating module.
 Pyrometer at the transfer point from the heating mandrel chain to the in-feed star-
wheel of the blowing module.
- …monitors the temperature on the surface of the preform and in the thread
area.
- …regulates the heating output of the heating radiators whenever the
temperature remains too high or too low.
Preform pick-up monitoring device: monitors whether the preform are picked
up correctly by the preform gripper. If the preforms cannot be picked up correctly
by the preform gripper an EMERGENCY STOP is tripped, stopping the machine.
c) Blow module
The blow module performs the actual shaping process where the preform is blown with pressurized
air. The volume of the final blow molded varies from 0.5 to 1.5 litters in the blowing station. The
blow molder uses pressurized air from 7 to 40 bars to blow the preforms into the surface shape of
molder. Blowing pressure depends on the preform size, thickness and material property. The blow
molder can produce a maximum of 36,000 bottles/ hour with the help of 18 blowing stations.
Process
The heated preforms from the heating module are transported to the open blowing station using an
in-feed star-wheel. The in-feed star-wheel has spring loaded preform grabbers that hold the
preform. After the preform is transferred to the blowing station the blowing block lowers and seals
the opening of the preform. After the preform is perfectly sealed a stretching rod lowers and
stretches the heated preform. The blowing is divided into pre-blowing and final-blowing.
 Pre-blowing: The pre-blowing’s main function is to have a proper material distribution
through the bottle. It requires a pressure of 7 to 11 bars. Pre-blowing takes place when
the stretching rod touches the bottom of the preform and stops when final-blowing starts.
 Final- blowing:-the main function the final blowing is to keep the required shape of the
bottles. It requires a pressure of 28 – 38 bars. Final bowing starts when the stretching rod
touches the bottom of the molder.
After the final-blowing is complete, the stretching rod withdraws from the blowing station. The
remaining pressure inside the bottle is recovered using a vent valve on the blowing block. The
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unrecoverable air pressure is then released to the atmosphere through a silencer. The recovered air
is then used in the pre-blowing stage. After the preform is finally transformed into a bottle, the
blowing station opens and the discharge star-wheel takes the container to the exit. The discharge
star-wheel also has a spring loaded grabber to hold the container.
There are many components used to achieve this process, including;
 In-feed star-wheel  Rejection cylinder
 Mechanical sequence control cam  Monitoring devices
 Blowing station  Cooling system
 Discharge star-wheel
A. In-feed Star-wheel
The in-feed star-wheel takes the heated preforms and transfers them to the open blowing
station on the blowing wheel. For pick-up and transfer, the in-feed star-wheel, heating
mandrel chain and blowing wheel of the blowing module must operate synchronously.
 Cam-1 to synchronize the heating module, the grabbers and the blowing station.
 Cam-2 to open and close the grabbers at a specific position.
B. Mechanical sequence control cam
The cams of the blowing wheel control the timing and duration of the individual steps of the
blowing process.
 The stretching cam in the top part of the blowing module controls the lowering of the
stretching/flushing rod.
 The blowing cam in the top part of the blowing module raises and lowers the blowing
slide.
 The base mold cam in the bottom part of the blowing module controls the movement of
the base mold.
 The main cam in the bottom part of the blowing module opens and closes the molds.
 The locking and releasing cams in the bottom part of the blowing module control the
locking and releasing of the molds.
C. Blowing station
The blowing stations are located on the blowing wheel. Depending on how the machine has been
equipped, it may have between 8 and 40 blowing stations (cavities).The preforms are blow-molded
into containers in the blowing module.
A blowing station comprises:
 Stretching module and stretching  Base mould mount and base mould
cylinder  Media hoses for air and water
 Mould hanger, mould hanger mount
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Figure 28 Blowing station and moulds
D. Discharge Star-wheel: takes the finished, blow-molded containers from the blowing wheel
and transfers them to the machine. In order for pick-up and transfer to take place, the discharge
star-wheel and blowing wheel must operate synchronously.
E. Rejection cylinder: are found at the in-feed and discharge star-wheel. These cylinders are
activated whenever there is a flaw in the preform or the finished container.
F. Monitoring Devices
1. P.E. sensors at different locations in the blowing module;
 …monitor the preform feed to the blowing module.
 …monitor container transfer to the discharge.
2. Pyrometer at blowing module discharge (optional additional equipment).
 …monitors the temperature of finished, blow-molded containers.
3. Pressure sensors: are used to monitor the applied pressure in each blowing stations during
blowing process.
4. Absolute encoder: The synchronization of the heating module, blowing module and the
filler is done by an absolute encoder.
 …to control the blowing process (pre-blowing angle, final blowing angle,
depressurizing angle, stretching rod starting and returning angle…),
 …to know the position of the blowing module component, e.g. first blowing station,
and
 …to communicate with the filler machine and base cooling unit drive.
G. Cooling system in the blow molder

There is molder cooling process during molding. Two parts of the molder are allowed to cool by
exchanging of heat with chilled water. These are;
 Jacket cooling: is the cooling of the body of the molding block using chilled water.
 Base cooling: is the cooling of the bottom part of the molding block using chilled water.
 Container Base Cooling System: There are four star-wheels to drive the container base
cooling system all of the wheels are driven by a servo drive and gear system. The cooling
process is needed in order to maintain the shape of the bottle. The shaped bottles are cooled
by spraying chilled water on to them. The main function of cooling is to make the shaped
bottle harder. This is because, when the high temperature of the plastic material cools
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suddenly, the material becomes harder. Finally the cooled bottles are transferred to the
filler to be filled.
H.Media distributor
Air: is required during the blowing process for pre-blowing and final blowing, as well as
for all pneumatic machine components. The machine's air supply comprises:
Pneumatic panel: supplies the machine with air, which is fed to the pneumatic
panel and then delivered to the air manifold via valves and lines.
Control cabinet and rotary air manifold
 Rotary air manifold in the top part of the blowing module distributes the
supplied air to the individual sections of the control cabinet.
 Control cabinet in the top part of the blowing module regulates the air
supplied by the rotary air distributor to the individual blowing stations.
Stretching module: The blowing unit regulates the air supply for pre-blowing and final
blowing via the air nozzles to the preform.
Blowing air recovery system: recovers the air used by each blowing station and feeds it
back into the system.
Water: is used to cool the base moulds and mould halves of the blowing stations, as well
as to cool the heating module. The water circuit comprises:
Air conditioner: provides the cooling water for various machine assemblies. Antifreeze is
added to the cooling water to prevent deposits and freezing.
Water panel: The water from the air conditioner is fed to the water panel and flows from
there to the rotary manifold and heating module.
Heating module heat exchanger: Each heat exchanger is equipped with cooling water
pre-run and returns lines. The air for cooling the thread of the preforms is cooled in the
heat exchanger.
Rotary manifold: The rotary water manifold distributes the water to the individual
blowing stations.
II. Filler
The main function of the filler machine is to fill the beverage into the plastic bottles. The final
product (beverage) coming from the blender and also other additional requirements like co 2 are
slowly fed into the ring bowl of the filler machine. The feeding process takes place from the bottom
of the ring bowl in order to prevent foaming. The electrical system required to run the machine are
connected at the top of the machine so as to avoid the risk of twisting, there is a slip ring and a
brush to convert the linear motion into a rotary motion. The containers’ gripper works by the
supply of air that comes from the air compartment which has an inlet and outlet hose to enter and
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reject air respectively. The air from the inlet hose gets into a channel which consists of four holes
and proper amount of air will be provided to the containers’ gripper as the carrousel starts rotating
by a high speed. The beverage from the product pipe line will get into the ring bowl from the
bottom side and it will be distributed to each filling station as the carrousel starts rotating at a high
speed. The machine has one large bearing which is driven by gear box connected with servo motor.
In this line there are 120 filling stations, 120 bottles will be filled in one rotation.
The process of the filler machine begins by receiving bottles heading out of the base cooling
section from the in-feed star-wheel and as the bottles start getting in; there is a bottle presence
sensor to activate the process at hat station there is a curved guide with lowering cam to lower the
position of the lifting unit by means of roller to make it compatible with the height of the star-
wheel at the mean time the container clamper holds the bottle neck to center it below the valve the
filling process keeps the timing by the angle which means a phase takes place at a specified angle.
Process
1. Pressurization
The first step is pressurizing the bottle with distilled air or CO 2 through the gas needle. This will
continue until the pressure inside the bottle and the product tank is equalized.
2. Filling
The filling process starts when the pressure inside the bottle and the product tank is equalized the
product valve opens and the beverage starts to flow on the inner wall of the bottle from bottom to
up by the help of a spreader. There is a flow meter mounted in this filling machine which controls
the flow of the liquid so that only the specified amount of liquid will be filled. Under filling might
occur if there is a problem in the pressurizing phase.
3. Settling
In this phase the product inside the bottle will be allowed to content.
4. Snifting
In the snifting process valves connecting the bottle and the snifting chamber will be opened and
some pressure is allowed to snift out. After this the bottle is transferred to the discharge star-wheel
which is an in-feed star-wheel for the capper.
As the bottle is being transferred to the capper there are four water spraying nozzles at the bottle
neck which helps to clean sprinkled syrup on the neck of the bottle to avoid favorable conditions
for the growth of microorganisms and just before that there is an empty bottle sensor to detect
empty or under filled bottle which so they can be rejected before entering the capping station.
Components
There are different components used in this filler machine in order to make the process go
fluently;
 Valves
There are different kinds of valves to control various specifications depending on their type like
product control valve, flap valve (it could me manual and automatic)
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 Sensors
- Bottle presence sensors at the in-feed and discharge: detects of bottle presence at the in-
feed to activate the system
- Gap detection sensor at air conveyor: detects the gap between the containers it sends a
message to make corrective actions.
- Empty container P.E sensor: detects an under filled bottle and it sends a message to the
PLC system then the under filled bottle will be dropped.
- Encoder: the encoder captures frequency and time of the motor and sends the data to the
PLC system to determine the specific position of the problem.
- Container flow sensor
 Pressure and level regulators: both regulate pressure and level by the use of different
components like pressure sensor, current to pressure converter, pressure control valves and
level probe, I/P converter, product control valve respectively.
 Operator panel: a PLC system to operate the machine
 Control cabinet: contains electrical components of the machine.
 Safety: doors, guards and the like protect the personnel working in the machine from
hazardous situations.
III. Capper
The in-feed station of the capper is located one floor above from the line there is a hopper where
the purchased caps are fed into; from the hopper the caps are transported to another smaller hopper
which is connected to a ladder conveyor which carries caps moves and there is a P.E sensor which
detects the amount of caps left in the small hopper and send message to the main hopper for more
caps. As the ladder conveys it holds caps and move upwards and by the help of negative air the
caps are going to stay attached to the wall of the ladder, the air gets in through small holes located
in the wall in this case caps which are not placed in the provided place or turned caps will be
returned back to the small hopper there is a slated object to perform this action. There is a turbo
twister that twists turned caps then the caps are transferred to the copper machine. The caps get to
the copper machine through a slanted path.
The bottle presence sensor at the infeed will activate the capper sensor to start sending caps as it
detects a bottle. The capper sensor will trigger the motion of a star shaped component which leads
the caps to the capping station.
Then the bottles are sealed with a capper machine, which puts a cap on the bottle and a ring seal
that insures that only the end customer opens the cap. Then after the capping process has been
finished the bottles are pushed out of the Contifill module through the discharge conveyor.
IV. Date Code
Printing/marking process is used to mark the production and expiry date of the product. In the PET
(Polyethylene Terephthalate) line, the company uses video jet laser marker. VIDEOJET Laser
Marker is used to create a permanent code by applying an intense beam on the product.
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The laser marking application can act in accordance with automation on high speed lines and can
mark on a variety of materials (including steel, copper, plastic…) and a wide variety of codes (such
as serial numbers, expiry dates, and bar codes and so on).
Working Principle
Laser working machine works using an intense beam to mark the surface of the material. This
beam reacts by burning the surface of the product, by targeting only a specific area. Laser markers
create high quality, high contrast codes that can be read & scanned on, virtually, any surface. In
case of PET line, it is used to print production and expiry date of the soft drinks on the plastic
bottles.
This feature makes it ideal solution for laser marking applications, where reliability and durability
are critical.
Operation
Right after the filling is completed, plastic bottles proceed to the laser date coder through the
discharge conveyor. On the way, there are sensors and encoders which help the printing process
to be more accurate and control the gap between each bottle. Just before VIDEOJET laser
machine, there is a blower that removes any moisture that might interrupt the printing process.
Benefits of laser marking over than ink date coders;
 Maximum efficiency with minimum downtime
 Eliminates costly problems such as poor quality codes and forgery
 No consumptive material
 No pollution
V. Checkmat
Checkmat or FBI (Full Bottle Inspection) is a machine that checks whether the filled bottle from
the filler is under-filled, overfilled or uncapped by using different sensors.
Operation
There is a message flow between the sensors to the PlC. The first step is that a bottle present sensor
which is a photocell sensor on the conveyer before the FBI machine detects a bottle. A message
from this sensor will be sent to PLC telling it a Bottle has arrived. The PLC then commands the
under/over fill sensor to activate. Then, the sensor detects the bottle and if it is under/over filled
sends a message to the PLC which sends signal to the reject sensor attached on the conveyer at the
exit of the FBI.
The over/under fill sensor uses radioactive element emitting gamma ray to detects whether the
capped bottle is overfilled or not. If it detects an overfilled bottle, a message to the reject is sent so
that the bottle will be rejected. The main purpose of the reject (Pusher) is to move a bottle that is
under or overfilled to pass through a different conveyer as soon as it gets out from the FBI. The
pusher is pneumatically actuated when it gets a signal from the PLC.
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There is a pulse encoder connected to the motor driving the conveyor which controls the speed of
the conveyer and determines the exact position of the bottles to be detected by each sensors.
VI. Dryer
The dryer in PET line (i.e. KRONES Linadry) is another machine that the bottles pass through
before going to the labeler. Its main function is to get rid of any moisture on the surface of the
bottle, so that the labelling material can effectively stick to the bottles. Electrical coils that heat up
the air inside the Linadry when power is applied are the main sources of heat used to evaporate
any moisture from the surface of the bottles. Although the air is heated by the coils, it still needs
to be blown directly on to the bottles using a blower fan designed to force hot air on to the surface
of the bottles. The hot air is blown through nozzles, whose height and angle can be adjusted based
on the bottle type.
VII. Labeling Machine
After the blower, the bottles move on to the labeler to be labeled. Labeling machine pastes labels
on the finished products, containers, vials, ampoules, bottles and other packaging material.
This machine has two areas which are the main station area and labeling area.
A. The main station contain
 Bottle dryer  In feed star wheel
 In feed monitoring sensor  Bottle present sensor
 Bottle stopper  Carousel
 In feed worm  Discharge star wheel
B. The labeling area
 Reel holder  Cutting unit
 Splicing unit  Feed roller
 Label carrier film buffer  Gluing unit
 Label film guide  Vacuum unit
 Register mark sensor
Figure 29 Machine overview
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Components, Main Station
Bottle dryer: as written above before the bottles are labeled they are dried using hot air so as
remove the moisture at the surface of the bottle.
In feed monitoring sensor: checks the container flow at the in feed of the machine. It monitors
whether the container enters the machine in an upright position or whether they have fallen.
Bottle stopper: this work by pneumatic system to stop the incoming bottles when the labeling
machine stops.
In feed worm: this is driven by a shaft and gear connection. The in-feed worm is used to properly
space the incoming bottles.
Container present sensor: detects if containers are supplied to the machine and provide signal
to the control system. Until this sensor senses a container the label will be stopped.
In feed star wheel: transfers the bottles to the carousel.
Carousel This caries the bottles throughout the labeling. The bottles are clamped firmly from
above by means of centering bells.
Components, Labeling Station
Reel holder: is used to hold labeling film. The label film is unwounded using a servo motor. The
machine controller determines how much label film is required.
Splicing unit: is used for the transfer of the new label reel to the empty reel. The leading end of
the label film is threaded manually on the device held with vacuum and tapped down with double
sided adhesive tape.
Label carrier film buffer: the label film is threaded through the rollers according to the marks or
numbers and arrows. The buffer continuously tension the label film to prevent it from falling down
it also ensures a sufficient supply of label film during splicing. A sensor at the bottom side monitors
the current position.
Label film guider: it is provided to maintain the label carrier film in the required horizontal
position. An ultrasonic sensor monitors the required label height.
Register mark sensor: record the register marks provided. These signals are processed by the
controller and the label length is readjusted.
Feed and pinch rollers: the calculated label length is achieved by means of the servo motor on
the feed roller. The pinch rollers press the label film against the feed roller. Because of mechanical
distance there is always a constant pressure between both rollers.
Cutting unit: the label film is cut to the required length by the cutting unit. The label is cut when
the cutter meets the cutter strip.
４５
Gluing unit: it comprises a glue bowl, a glue roller and two glue scrapers. The gluing unit can be
moved back and forth by pneumatical cylinder. Heating element and temperature sesor have been
installed in the gluing unit.
Vacuum cylinder: this takes the label from the cutter drum. Through the contact with the glue
unit a strip of glue is applied to the leading and trailing edge of the label.
Figure 30 Vacuum cylinder

Process
As the bottles come from the dryer, the in-feed worm spaces the bottles to the machine’s pitch.
Then, the bottle present sensor detects the presence of the bottle and gives signal to the PLC, so
that label is supplied. If the sensor doesn’t detect the presence of the bottle, no label will be
provided. After the in-feed worm gives space to the bottle they are then moved to the in-feed star-
wheel, which then transfers them to the carrousel. At the carousel there is a bottle plate which
rotates to ensure that the container picks up the label correctly and also a centering bell to clap the
bottles firmly from above. The centering bell is lowered and lifted by the use of cam mechanism.
There is a sensor to check whether there is a bottle in the carrousel or not. When the bottle is
detected, label is provided by the reel holder. This label from the reel holder, which is guided by
the label film guider, moves to the feed roller. The feed roller pulls the label with the help of a
pinch roller (to provide pressure on the label.). Just after the feed roller a register mark sensor
records the register marks to accurately cut and feed the labels at the right label length. The label
length is achieved by means of a servo motor on the feed roller and is cut to the required unit by
means of the cutting unit. The label is transferred to the cutting drum by negative vacuum pressure
and a cutting knife cuts the label at the correct label length.
The cut label is then transferred to the vacuum cylinder. At the transfer point, the cutting drum
has zero pressure but the cylinder has negative pressure. The vacuum cylinder then takes the label
to the gluing unit. At the gluing unit, a glue roller applies a strip of glue at the leading and trailing
edge of the label.
Then, the vacuum cylinder transfers the label to the bottle. At the transfer point, the vacuum
cylinder will have positive pressure to push the label on to the label. The label is then attached to
the bottle because of the glue and brush to firmly attach it. The glue used is solid glue, but the
gluing unit has its own heat supply so heat the solid glue and change it into a fluid.
Sensor
 PE(photoelectric sensor)
 Used to check whether the bottle is in and also to check bottle drop.
 Used to record register marks provided.
４６
 Used at the vacuum cylinder; one shows label must be present and the other senses
label must not be provided because as it rotate the label must stick to the bottle.
 Used to monitor the amount of label present on the label reel.
 Temperature sensor: is installed in the gluing unit which senses the temperature of the
glue unit, glue rollers and glue scrapers.
 Proximity sensor
 ...at the centering bell to check the presence of bottle.
 Safety at the door if any door is open labeling machine won’t run.
 Pressure sensor: is used at the vacuum cylinder and cutting unit because negative pressure
is used at those units.
Drives
The drives on the labeler machine are servomotors. There are six servomotors in the labeling
machine; each motors driving a specific component.
 Glue roller  Feed roller
 Vacuum cylinder  Reel holder 1
 Cutting unit  Reel holder 2
The base plate supporting the bottle on the carousel is rotated using a belt connection, where one
belt drives all the plate at a certain time. The base plate also has a friction material so that during
rotation, the bottle doesn’t lose contact with the plate. The belt has its own servomotor to drive it.
VIII. Packer (Variopac)
For PET bottles, there’s no crate to pack the bottles in. Instead, a total of 24 bottles are wrapped
together with a wrap film. Film is a material of polymer plastic film that shrinks tightly over the
sets of the bottles it is covering, when heat is applied.
Shrink wrapping is a procedure where an item is wrapped in an envelope of loose polyolefin shrink film,
and heat shrinks the wrap firmly around the product. The result is a tight, crystal clear wrap around your
item.
Shrink wrapping is typically stronger than alternative wrapping solutions like overwraps or stretch wraps.
They also conform more tightly to the product shape.
Shrink wrapping can either be done by a heat gun or through dedicated shrink wrapping machinery.
EABSC went with shrink wrap machine in the PET line for wrapping purpose, since a shrink wrap
machine is vital to efficiently and quickly wrap as many products in short amount of time as possible.
The factors for choosing a suitable machine include; motivation behind the wrap, how quick is the
generation procedure, what range of sizes is required and how fast a changeover is required. Putting all
this factors into consideration, EABSC purchased and installed KRONES Variopac Pro for its PET line.
The fully-automatic Variopac Pro packer easily adapts to all packaging trends. These machines
manage to pack at a staggering rate, beginning at around 25 packs per minute and top speeds reaching around 100
packs per minute.
４７
Many of us didn’t really think about how a shrink wrap machine works or how the plastic ends up
wrapped tightly around the product. However, during our stay in the line, we’ve learned that it is about
controlling and manipulating polymer particles found in plastic, where they are generally twisted and
arbitrary, and therefore unsuitable to act as a wrap. When they are made into a plastic film for shrink
wrapping, the molecules are extended straight into a thin layer, perfect for wrapping around another
product.
This film is then positioned around the bottles to be wrapped. Once the warmth is connected to the film,
it shrinks, because the heat makes the polymers come back to their regular tangled state. How much a
polymer shrinks depends on what kind of polymer it is.
Components
1. Frame: made of cold formed, welded, square steel tubes.
2. Guide rails: are plates located on both sides of the infeed conveyor, used to direct the
incoming bottles appropriately into divided lanes.
A. Starter tips: The rails have movable starter tips at one end to divide the incoming
unorganized bottle crowds into multiple lanes. This enables the conveyance of multiple
lanes on a single lane conveyor, with same speed.
B. Rollers: The guiding plates have plenty of rollers attached to their walls to prevent
the scratching of the bottles when they come into contact with the plate walls.
C. Vibration system: Vibration motors are installed on the infeed to set the guide
railing under a slight vibration to facilitate the entry of the containers.
D. Clamping lever: are used to indefinitely adjust the guide rails to the desired
position.
Figure 31 Guide rails, vibrator and clamping adjustments, respectively.

3. Container transport: is used to carry/transport containers all the way through the packing
machine (KRONES Variopac). Here, conveyors (either plastic chains, wire-mesh, bar chain or
else) are used to convey bottles.
 Knife-edge conveyor: is used for a reliable and gentle transfer of the packs to the
downstream pack conveyor.
4. Drive systems: are motors used to drive the conveyors. In the Variopac, synchronous
servomotors, called MOVIGEAR drives – equipped with frequency inverters – are used to drive
the conveyors of the Variopac. The speed of the motors is controlled through the frequency
inverters.
5. Flappers: along with P.E sensors, are used to detect and ensure that the bottles enter the
infeed section in a properly crowded manner, in such a form that no gap exists in-between the
bottles. If there’s excess gap between bottles, the flappers will fall, and the light sensor will be
blocked. The sensor sends this signal to the PLC, and the machine automatically stops.
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Figure 32 Flappers and a P.E sensor
6. Container spacers: are finger-like structures driven by servomotors, and are used to
separate a single pack of bottles (i.e. 24 bottles) from the rest, at a time. Spacers perform this action
by holding back the rest (bottle crowd) from moving, letting go the 24 divided bottles. The spacers
are connected to the drivers by a chain connection.
Figure 33 Container spacers (left) and Film splicing unit(right)

7. Pusher chain: are horizontal solid bars that transport/push the grouped containers to the
film wrapping unit. This ensures stable container transport. These pusher bars can be detached
easily for change over.
8. Film modules: include film magazine, welding station, film tensioner, film spreading and
film cutting units.
Film splicing unit by a heated blade: joins the edge of the film reel about to end with the
beginning of the new reel while the machine is running, with no need to stop production.
The machine slows down and the film is automatically joined.
9. Shrink tunnel: is a unit used to shrink the film to the desired size and shape, using heated air.
 Shaft walls and base chamber: are used to heat the sides and base of the film pack. The
shaft walls are adjustable.
 Heating assembly: is for heating the process air.
 Bottom chamber: supply hot air to the pack from below.
 Heating cover: is the structure that covers the shrinking tunnel, with curtains at the entry
and exit of the tunnel. This cover is insulated to prevent heat from leaking out.
 Sensors: are mounted on different positions inside the tunnel, to detect any malfunctions
and abnormalities and to ensure safe & stable operation. Some include; over-temperature
sensor, controller sensor and chain temperature sensor.
 Radial blowers: for re-circulating and distributing the hot air in the heating section.
 Flue: used to draw air from the entrance and exit of the tunnel.
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10. Cooling fan unit: is equipped with two axial-flow blowers to cool the packs after the
shrinking process. They also chill the wire-mesh conveyors.
11. Pneumatic system: Compressed air must be supplied separately from that of the upstream
packer. The required minimum pressure is 5 bars.
12. Sensors: detect quantifiable physical, chemical or biological properties or changes, convert
them into readable signal and send the signal to the computer processor, i.e. PLC.
Wide varieties of sensors are used on the packing machine – i.e. the Variopac – including P.E
(light) sensors, inductive/magnetic sensors, temperature sensors (thermocouples) and proximity
sensors. These sensors detect distance, proximity, temperature, motion, conductivity, pressure…
13. Control cabinet: consists of main electrical connection, control components, communications
with packer and electrical protection of the machine.
Operation
In-feed
Successfully labeled containers/bottles from the labeler (KRONES Contirol HS) are conveyed
to the infeed of the packing machine (KRONES Variopiac) on plastic chain conveyors driven
by synchronous servomotors. At the machine in-feed, a group of guides smoothly lines up the
loose containers carried by a conveyor belt featuring low friction chains made of thermoplastic
material. These bottles enter the in-feed section in a single lane, crowded. Then, the guide rails
divide this lane into two lanes using their starter tips. Vibrators, mounted on top of the plates,
vibrate the rails to facilitate for untroubled entry of bottles to the guides. These two lanes are
further split into four lanes by other guide plates – each lane only letting a single bottle pass at
a time. The width between the guide rails is easily adjustable to the desired bottle diameter
using chain mechanism. Flaps mounted on the top of each lane ensure that the bottles are
crowded enough. If not, the flappers will fall due to gravity, and a light sensor on the side will
detect this blockage as a fault.
In the pack formation section, the containers are clustered in the required format through
electronically synchronized dividing fingers, operating in continuous motion. Four light
sensors on the top count 24 bottles passing to the packing section. Then, the container spacers,
driven by servomotors, separate a single pack of bottles (i.e. 24 bottles) and hold back the rest
(bottle crowd) from moving, letting go the 24 bottles. These 24 bottles then slide through the
conveyor by the pusher bars; as a result, they enter the packing/wrapping unit.
Film module
The unwinding of the film reels, placed in the lower part of the machine, is controlled by a
brushless motor, which ensures the film constant tensioning. The machine is equipped with
two reels: one is operating, the other one keeps stopped. When the first reel ends, a manual
sealing bar joins the films of the two reels. Before the pack enters the shrinking tunnel, the film
is cut by a knife equipped with motorized blade and then wrapped/revolved around the group
of (24) containers and overlapped on the bottom of the pack.
Shrink tunnel
The film-wrapped packs (from the packer) are transferred to the conveyor of the shrinking
tunnel. On the conveyor, which is operated at a constant speed, the packs are then advanced
into the shrink chamber.
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In the shrink chamber, air is sucked through a blower. The air is heated through a heater
assembly and is then blown onto the film through nozzles at the bottom and adjustable lateral
air outlets. When heat is applied through the controlled stream of hot air, the film shrinks tight
to the products.
After the pack has been discharged from the heating zone, the film, that is still soft at the
beginning, cools down. As the film cools down, it contracts around the loose products, forming
a tight pack. Cooling down is supported and accelerated by cooling fans in the discharge
section. The number of cooling fans is dependent on the ambient conditions, and so, there are
two cooling fans on the Variopac installed in PET line.
IX. Stretch Wrapping or Robo-pack
The GENESIS ROBOPAC is an automatic wring wrapper that tightly wraps pallets of bottle packs
with plastic film. This machine is found in the floor under the PET line (ground floor).
In pallet unitizing, stretch wrap can have several functions:
 Improved stability of products or packages, forming a unit load
 More efficient handling and storage of unit loads
 Some degree of dust and moisture protection
 Some degree of sun protection (UV stretch wraps)
Figure 34 GENESIS ROBOPAC

Components
This machine is equipped with top dispensing machine, sensor, power pre-stretching device,
automatic clipping and cutting device, border safety protection device, control box, PLC and
human-machine interface.
Operation
Before the stretch wrapping process can begin a load must first be assembled on a pallet. The
bottles from the Variopac are palletized manually by laborers. Once the load is on the pallet, the
whole ensemble (pallet and load) is stretch wrapped together.
Assembling the load on the pallet is an important step. The load should not overhang the sides
of the pallet.
GENESIS ROBOPAC installed in the PET line is a rotary ring wrapper. In rotary ring
wrappers, the film is housed in a carriage on an horizontal ring in which the load remains static
while the horizontal ring is rotating around the load and moves up and down vertically relative to
the load, similar to a rotary arm stretch wrapper. The rotary ring technology is really a more
balanced system with less wear and maintenance than the other available wrapping technologies.
These wrappers are capable to reach the highest production capacities, up to 160 pallets/hour.
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The ROBOPAC rotary ring style wrapper is able to start at the bottom of a load and finish at the
top.
The machine allows operators to stretch and pack various bottle shapes and sizes with the rotating
film roll. It is an effective way of packing, which provides excellent protection for pallet
transportation. This machine is programmable with PLC and man-machine interface. The
revolving ring stretches fully meet the needs of high speed packaging. The speed of the ring and
roller can be adjusted to adapt to the material with different thickness.
PET Laboratory
In the PET lab, there are different instruments to validate the solution made and to check if the
container made is according to the standards. These instruments include;
1. Density and sound velocity meter (DSA): is used to measure mainly carbon dioxide
content, sugar fresh concentration, sugar concentration ( obrix).
The container with the final product is manually put in the piercing unit machine which is
a part of the DSA. The piercer then pierces the bottle crown, and the syrup flows to the
DSA through tubes. The parameters are measured automatically. Then, the parameters are
displayed on the screen accordingly. After it finishes running the sample, the bottle is
removed, and the tubes and the machine is calibrated using distilled water, or the syrup is
washed away by distilled water.
2. Pressure gauge: is used to measure the pressure content of the syrup meaning the carbon
dioxide in the syrup.
The bottle is first pierced manually, and the content is shacked to dispose the head space
gas (CO2). This specific process enables us to measure the pressure of the gas contained
only in the syrup.
3. Shaker: is used to accurately shake the content of the container since manually shaking
the content is ambiguous.
4. Temperature gauge: is used to measure the temperature of the soft drink contained in the
bottle.
5. Weight balance: is used to measure the weight of the final syrup contained in the
container.
First, the weight of the bottle with the soft drink is measured and then the empty bottle and
crowner weight is measured. The soft drink mass is calculated mathematically.
Weight of the Soft Drink = Net Measurement – Empty Bottle Measurement
6. Bottle burst checker: is used to measure the part of the bottle that bursts when it is
subjected to a high pressure.
First, the bottle is put in the bottle burst machine and then gas and water is continuously
supplied to the machine through pipes. The bottle is continually subjected to pressure of
the gas and the water until it burst. Finally, the part of the bottle (the upper, middle or
bottom) that burst is checked; i.e. the part of the bottle with less thickness is known.
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7. Torque detector: is used to check whether the crown is properly closed or not. The final
product of the line is taken randomly, and a bottle is put inside the torque detector. The
instrument screw opens the container and detects how much force is needed to open it. The
result is displayed on the screen. The torque needed to open a bottle should be between 8
and 21 Nm.
8. Bottle thickness: is used to measure the thickness of the bottle. The instrument is first
calibrated using already-known thickness of the sample materials. Usually, two samples
are used. The bottle thickness is measured starting from the bottom and then the middle,
and finally, the upper part of the PET container.
Challenges, problems and their solutions

a. Too often, bottles exiting the Flowliner were all falling. This was because if bottles don’t come
to the Flowliner crowded enough, when the Flowliner belts hit the bottles, they will fall because
there won’t be any bottle to support them.
Recommendation: We propose mounting P.E sensors on the conveyors (for bottle-gap
detection) and installing a stopper before the entry of the Flowliner. The sensors will inspect
the gap between each bottle. If they are not crowded enough, the stopper will get activated and
block/stop the passage of the bottles until further bottles come from behind. Then, when the
sensor detects & ensures that the proper bottle gap has been attained, the stopper releases the
bottles to the Flowliner. So, no bottle exiting the Flowliner will fall.
b. The capper completely stopped capping bottles due to lack of cappers, i.e. the cap tank was
empty. So, the bottles exiting the capper were uncapped, and were thrown away. This was due
to fault in proper coordination of logistics.
Solution: This only stayed for approximately two minutes (approx. 30 bottles), and it was
immediately fixed afterwards.
c. Many bottles were often falling off the conveyors in the filler and around the Linadry. These
bottles were spilled to the ground whenever they reach conveyor portions with only one
sidewall. This was due to the deformed structure of the base of the containers. The bottles
couldn’t maintain their balance, because the shape of their bases had some irregularities. This
fault was made in the blow molding machine, i.e. the material distribution across the bottles
was not uniform/even.
3.3 Cleaning
CIP
CIP is the abbreviation for cleaning in place which is a method of cleaning the interior surfaces of
pipes, vessels, and equipment’s, fillers and associated fittings without major disassembly. The
advantage of using CIP is that the cleaning is faster, less labor intensive and more repeatable, and
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possess less of a chemical exposure risk. CIP process can be classified into two depending on the
number of steps these are; three-step and five-step CIP.
- Three-step CIP: uses a three main steps for the cleaning process. This process can be
performed in two ways the first one is by using only water and the second on is by using
water and caustic soda. The former one is performed by using cold water first and then uses
warm water whose temperature is 65-80˚c then finally rinse it with cold water this process
is usually performed when there is a flavor change from less flavor to a high flavor. The
later process uses treated water first and then a hot caustic with a temperature up to 85˚c
and a concentration less than 1.5% usually 1.2% this is done to prevent caustic carry over.
The final step is done by using treated water to rinse. The whole process takes almost one
hour to complete.
- Five-step CIP: uses five steps to clean. It is implemented on the filler machine after every
48 working hours. The first step is using cold water, second a hot caustic with a temperature
ranging from 65 to 75˚c at most for 15 minutes. Third step uses cold water and the fourth
step is using a hot water with a temperature above 75˚c for 15 minutes. The final and fifth
step is rinsing with cold water. The whole process takes one hour and thirty minutes.
3.4 Service and utility

This department is where pressurized air, hot water, cold water and electrical energy needed for
manufacturing is produced. There are four major machines in this department:
 Generator  Compressor
 Boiler  Chiller
3.4.1 Generator
An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy obtained from an external source
into electrical energy as the output.
It is important to understand that a generator does not actually ‘create’ electrical energy. Instead,
it uses the mechanical energy supplied to it to force the movement of electric charges present in
the wire of its windings through an external electric circuit. This flow of electric charges constitutes
the output electric current supplied by the generator.
Main components of a generator
The main components of an electric generator can be broadly classified as follows:
 Engine  Alternator
The generators at EABSC used an IC engine to turn an alternator that in turn produces AC electric
current.
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3.4.2 Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. A boiler or steam generator
is used wherever a source of steam is required. Combustion boilers are designed to use the
chemical energy in fuel to raise the energy content of water so that it can be used for heating and
power applications. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or
heating applications.
Based on the way the water and combustion gases are designed to pass through the unit boilers
can be classified as:
1. Water tube- is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire.
Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-generating tubes.
2. Fire Tube: is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or (many) more
tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the
walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating the water and ultimately creating steam.
The boiler present at EABSC is a fire tube type.
Figure 35 schematic diagram of Fire tube boiler

Components
Burner: is a welded plate steal house. Under the burner house there’s an air valve section,
this controls the air supply in to the burner. A servomotor drives the valves. Load controller
or burner controller controls the servomotor.
Fan: The fan sucks in air from the environment and pushes it towards the burner.
Pump: this pumps the fuel from a reservoir into the burner.
Igniter thus provides the spark needed to start the combustion.
Application Area of the Boiler at EABSC
1. Cleaning bottles: On this machine steam is used at the caustic compartment of the
washer to increase the temperature of the solution. This increases the conductivity of the
mixture. More over adding steam also kills any micro-organisms that might be present on
the bottle surface.
2. Cleaning in place (CIP) operation: Steam is used during this operation to kill any
micro-organisms that might be present on the pipes and to increase the temperature of the
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pipe so that the syrup that might be stack on the pipe due to its sticky nature can be flushed
easily with cold water.
3. Syrup preparation: using steam is important to prepare the syrup since hot water melts
the sugar easily and enhances the mixing process of the mixture.
3.4.3 Compressors
A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume,
using external energy. It is widely used in industries, including in EABSC, and has various
applications. Compressors serve in refrigeration, engines, chemical processes, gas transmission,
manufacturing and in just about every place where there is a need to move or compress gas. In the
EABSC, two main compressors are installed for different applications. These two are widely
recognized as high pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP) compressors.
EABSC employs positive displacement compressors on both high and low pressure compressors.
However, there’s a difference in the types of positive displacement compressors used in the LP
and HP compressor rooms. The HP compressor is a reciprocating piston-type compressor; whereas
the LP compressor is a rotary screw-type compressor.
I. HP compressor
The primary components of the piston-type reciprocating compressor system found in the HP room
can be seen in the figure below. The compression cylinders (also known as stages) of which a
particular design may have from one to six or more, provide confinement for the process gas during
compression. A piston is driven in a reciprocating action to compress the gas.
Figure 36 Basic components of the HP compressor

The compressor has three stages where the gas is pressurized gradually to reach the 40 bar requirement.
Gas pressure is sealed and wear of expensive components is minimized through the use of piston rings and
rider bands, respectively. In compressors, the areas of greatest concern are those parts with a finite life,
such as bearings, seals and valves, or parts that are highly stressed.
There are numerous parts with different roles to ensure that the compressor runs efficiently and effectively.
The HP air compressor is composed of different parts that have their respective functions. There are basic
parts like the motor, pump and tank.
Basic parts
The basic parts of the HP compressor are the ones important for the function of the equipment.
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1. Electric motor: Power is provided to the compressor pump through the electric motor. The
motor drives the pump pistons through a flywheel and crank shaft.
2. Compression cylinders - In the three-stage air compressor, there is a minimum of three
Compression cylinders that compress air three times.
3. Receiver: is the pressure vessel that receives and stores compressed air. A check valve,
found at the receiver inlet, will prevent compressed air form flowing back into the
Compression cylinders.
4. Pressure switch: is the part that will shut down the motor when the air pressure in the
receiver reaches the factory-set limit. The pressure switch will restart the motor when the
compressed air has been used up, and the pressure in the tank reaches the pre-set level.
5. Intercoolers: are heat exchangers that cool the high pressure, high temperature air between
each stage.
6. Air filters: placed in the air intake and in the compressed air piping as protection from dust
and dirt that might be sucked in.
7. Dryer/After cooler: is an important component that controls the amount of water vapor
that condenses into liquid form. Liquid water can cause a lot of damage to any equipment
that uses compressed air.
8. Valves: Allowing air in and out, draining water, and regulating air flow, valves are
essential components that require regular inspection during interval checks and regular
servicing.
 Safety valve: is one of the most vital accessories of the compressor. It regulates the
flow of substances from air compressor to ensure a safe function.
 Drain valves: remove condensate from the air system without losing excessive
compressed air and without shutting down the system. It is important to ensure that the
drain valves do not get overloaded; otherwise, the compressed air system can be
damaged.
 Shutoff valves: are efficient protections to the pneumatic system in case there is a
broken air hose or pipe. It also shuts off air supply if its volume exceeds the preset
level.
Actuators: create rotary or linear movement to output the compressed air to the tools or processes
that use pressurized air for power. Any leaks will result in a decrease of the air force coming out.
Small particles that have found their way into the air will cause blockages in the actuator.
Bearings: are machine elements that constrain relative motion to only the desired motion, and
reduce friction between moving parts.
Valve bumpers: surround the valves for added protection from accidental contact.
Bushings: create some space between moving parts; they offer protection from serious
breakdowns, minimizing side-to-side play.
Connecting Rods: are used to move the piston up and down in the crankcase.
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Gaskets & Seals: The compressor should be air tight with quality seals and gaskets; valve plate
to head gasket, crankcase gasket, intercooler gasket, and the shaft seal, to name a few.
Gauges: measure the pressure of the air in the tank to ensure our pressure is at the intended level.
Piston Rings and Rods: The HP compressor creates air pressure with the movement of the piston
and connecting rods. These parts are under great pressure when in motion and require a lubricant;
free of contaminates and of the highest quality.
Vibration dampers this are flexible material the machine is placed on which damp the vibration
and prevent it from reaching the ground.
Flexible piping - This pipes are located between the compressor and the pressure vessels and they
have the same function as a damper.
Operation
Reciprocating/piston compressors use a cylinder to force air into a chamber, where it is
compressed. The simplest compressor designs feature a single–cylinder/chamber arrangement.
While straightforward, this setup is limited in its efficiency and capacity for delivering high
volumes of pressurized air. That’s where multi-stage compressors come in. By increasing the
number of cylinder stages, these machines work more effectively and can handle more tools at
once. Multi-stage compressors feature two or more piston cylinders, each of a different diameter.
After the first compression stage, air passes through a heat exchanger, where it is cooled before
arriving at the second cylinder. Cooling the air reduces the work needed to compress it during the
second or third stages.
The high pressure (HP) compressor room is located on the floor below the PET line, and is merely
used to deliver highly pressurized air to the blow molder in the line. This compressor consistently
feeds the blow molder (KRONES Contiform Bloc) with a pressurized air of about 40 bars. This
pressurized air is used to blow performs into the desired bottle shapes.
II. LP compressor
The low pressure compressor is a simple screw type compressor. The element consists of two
rotors that look like helixes, each with a different shape and number of 'grooves'/'teeth' (usually
one with 4 and one with 6 teeth). To put it simply, atmospheric air is sucked into this screw element
and as the air progresses along the rotors, it gets compressed.
Figure 37 screw element
58
As the air progresses along the rotors the air is compressed as the volume space between the rotor
teeth decreases in the direction from the suction to the outlet. The compressor at EABSC is a
lubricated compressors with oil injection.
Components
 Screw element  Oil cooler
 Oil separator  Air filter
 Oil filter  Air cooler
The oil and air filter both use the surrounding air driven by a fan for cooling.
Operation
The Air circuit
Air is drawn through the filter and an open inlet valve, into the compressor element and gets
compressed. A mix of compressed air and oil flows into the air receiver/oil separator via a check
valve. The air is discharged through an outlet valve via a minimum pressure valve and the air
cooler. During loaded operation, a minimum pressure valve keeps the pressure in the separator
tank above a minimum value. An integrated check valve prevents the compressed air downstream
the valve from being vented into the atmosphere during unloaded operation. When the compressor
is stopped, the check valve and inlet valve close, preventing compressed air (and oil) to be vented
into the air filter.
The oil circuit

In the air receiver/oil separator, most of the oil is removed from the air/oil mixture by centrifugal
action. The remaining oil is removed by the oil separator. The oil is collected in the lower part of
air receiver/oil separator, which serves as an oil tank. The oil system is provided with a
thermostatic bypass valve. When the oil temperature is below its set point, the bypass valve shuts
off the supply to the oil cooler and the oil cooler is bypassed. Air pressure forces the oil from the
air receiver/oil separator through the oil filter and oil stop valve into the compressor element. The
bypass valve starts opening the supply from the cooler when the oil temperature has increased to
the set point. At approx. 15 ˚C (27 ˚F) above the set point, all the oil flows through the oil cooler.
An oil stop valve prevents the compressor element from flooding with oil when the compressor
stops.
3.4.4 Chiller
The chiller machine is a water cooled refrigerator that cools treated water. A chiller works on the
principle of vapor compression or vapor absorption. Chillers provide a continuous flow of coolant
to the cold side of a process water system at a desired temperature.
59
Components
Figure 38 basic of a chiller

 compressor  expansion valve
 evaporator  condenser
 cooling tower
Operation
A chiller uses a vapor compression mechanical refrigeration system that connects to the process
water system through a device called an evaporator. Refrigerant circulates through an evaporator,
compressor, condenser and expansion device of a chiller. A thermodynamic process occurs in each
of above components of a chiller. The evaporator functions as a heat exchanger such that heat
captured by the process coolant flow transfers to the refrigerant. As the heat-transfer takes place,
the refrigerant evaporates, changing from a low-pressure liquid into vapor, while the temperature
of the process coolant reduces.
The refrigerant then flows to a compressor, which performs multiple functions. First, it removes
refrigerant from the evaporator and ensures that the pressure in the evaporator remains low enough
to absorb heat at the correct rate. Second, it raises the pressure in outgoing refrigerant vapor to
ensure that its temperature remains high enough to release heat when it reaches the condenser. The
refrigerant returns to a liquid state at the condenser. The latent heat given up as the refrigerant
changes from vapor to liquid is carried away from the environment by a cooling medium.
Water-cooled chillers feature a water-cooled condenser connected with a cooling tower. They have
commonly been used for medium and large installations that have a sufficient water supply. Water-
cooled chillers can produce more constant performance for commercial and industrial air
conditioning because of the relative independence to fluctuations of the ambient temperature.
Water-cooled chillers feature a water-cooled condenser connected with a cooling tower. They have
commonly been used for medium and large installations that have a sufficient water supply. Water-
cooled chillers can produce more constant performance for commercial and industrial air
conditioning because of the relative independence to fluctuations of the ambient temperature.
60
CHAPTER 4
THE OVERALL BENEFIT GAINED FROM THE INTERNSHIP

4.1. Upgrading Theoretical Knowledge
The internship program enabled me to have a practical knowledge on a variety of theoretical
concepts I have learned. I had the opportunity to observe and understand different heat transfer,
thermodynamic, machine elements and material handling equipments.so Internship memorizes the
important conceptual theoretical parts that have learned. Among the important ones that the
internship upgrades our theoretical parts includes:-
 Understanding of working principle of mechanical devices like pumps, compressor,
blower, boiler, generator.
 Understanding how and when failure occurs on different mechanical components such as
bearings, conveyors, gears, sprockets
4.2. Practical Skill
During the internship program we also gained additional benefits in understanding how the
machines are operated, how maintenance is performed. During our time at EABSC we were able
to help the maintenance controllers and operators to change different mechanical and electrical
components.
4.3. Improving Team playing skills
Among the most important skills, that we have developed during the internship are our communication
and working together /team sprit/ skill. We have learned the following points on team work.
 Listening to the idea of others and be able to share information freely.
 Be flexible rather than rigid for new concepts and changes.
 Be responsible in analyzing and interpreting gathering of data.
 The ability to listen and understand others (co-workers).
 The ability to speak clearly and confidently.

4.4. Leadership skills
In our internship program we have developed the understanding of work ethics which is
employer’s value employers who understand and possess a willingness to work hard. In addition
to this we have learnt the way how the planers lead the respective teams, for men leads its co-
workers and the like at work place. Generally we have noticed the following important points from
the leaders.
 Ability to encourage and motivate workers to do their best.
 The ability to communicate with all workers without any force
 The ability to listen problems and focus on its solution.
 As leader to have clear and defined goals missions and vision.
 Be willing to admit and learn from failures and weaknesses.
61
4.5. In terms of understanding work ethics, industrial psychology and related issues
Work ethics is the basic behavior one should have in doing his job and fulfilling responsibility.
This involves attitude, behavior, respect, communication and interaction; how one gets along with
others. If one fails to respect the work ethics he will be punished according to the rule of the
company. The company has its own rule and ethics regulation.
In our two months stay in the company, we (the students) were expected to sign a attendance, so
we are expected to enter and leave at the specified time only. In addition to this we were supposed
to be transparent and accountable for the tasks we were given. For instance, when the team leader
Engineer gave us assignments, they expects our transparency and accountability for what we had
done.
4.6. In Terms of Improving Entrepreneurship Skills
During our stay at EABSC we were lectured on how to govern our future to be successful. Some
of the points we were taught were.
 Self-confidence and optimism
 Able to take calculated risks
 Positive response to challenges
 Flexibility and ability to adopt a new technologies
 Knowledge of market
 Independent minded
 Seeking for new information
62
CHAPTER 5
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1. Conclusion
From the two months internship program at EABSC, we have concluded that it gives real practical
skills and make students familiar to the outside industry world. Truly, it prepared us to pay special
attention in all practical activities that will be carried out in the company. Because little error or
mistake can lead to large failure in the production process if it is not carried in the correct
procedure. Also these programs allow us to make and develop professional contacts for our future
time and it helps us to know maintenance terms and working standards.
5.2. Recommendation for the company

 We propose an automatic gasket cutter as a solution. The gasket cutter will have an
adjustable diameter to provide with wide range of gasket sizes.
 Because the company can’t interact with the PLC programming we are limited in our
solution. But we can statistically determine the optimum timing in which the machine can
achieve synchronization. When we want to install a new machine we the can compare this
statistical data to the specification of the machine. Also this data can be given to the
employee of the seller company’s employee so that it will be easier to synchronize.
 We propose a cost effective automatic height adjustment. We will also record the correct
height of the crowner for each bottle and make the height adjustment as fast as possible for
the future. This can be achieved by using position sensors and a controller.
 We propose that whenever the machines are stopped for on the spot maintenance there
should be a system which accounts for this and stops the conveyors that aren’t being used.
63

Coca-Cola Internship Report Final Biruk Solomon Bade

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

School of mechanical and industrial engineering

Submitted to: Mr. Nathenael Bekele

Figure 1 country organizational structure ................................................................................................ 2

AC Alternating Current PET Poly Ethylene Terephthalate

CPU Central Processing Unit PLC Programmable Logic Control

DC Direct Current PTC Positive Temperature

EBI Empty Bottle Inspection RAC Refrigeration and Air

NTC Negative Temperature SABCO South Africa Bottling

1.1.1. Brief History of the Company

1.2.1. Vision of the company

1.2.3. Objective of the company

1.4. Organizational structure

Figure 1 country organizational structure

2.1.1. General objective

2.1.2. Specific objectives

Figure 2 Sub-organizational work structure

Figure 3 conveyor (left) and moisturizing nozzles (right)

3.2.1 RGB lines

Figure 5 general process of RGB bottling line

Figure 8 bottle washer (Left) and Section of the washer (right).

Figure 9 In-feed and in-feed finger mechanism

2. Main cleaning cycle

Figure 10 inside view of washer

Figure 11 Filters of the washer; automatic (left) and manual (right)

IV. Crate washer

V. EBI (Empty Bottle Inspector)

4. Residual Caustic Inspection

5. Residual Liquid Inspection

Figure 12 Working of EBI

Figure 14 Height sensing (left) and fallen bottle sensing (right)

The blender consists of six pumps;

The blender also has three storage tanks;

Figure 15 Pumps used on the Paramix (left) and chiller (right)

Figure 18 Doors and safety guards

Figure 19 The crowner machine

Figure 20 Twist tube (left) and bottom crown stopper (right)

IX. Date Coder

Figure 22 Date Coder

Challenges, problems and their solutions

Figure 23 Flow diagram of the general process in PET line

Figure 24 Machine overview

Figure 25 Rollers (left), kicker (middle) and rejection unit (right)

Figure 27 Main components of heater

G. Cooling system in the blow molder

Figure 29 Machine overview

Figure 30 Vacuum cylinder

VIII. Packer (Variopac)

Figure 31 Guide rails, vibrator and clamping adjustments, respectively.

Figure 33 Container spacers (left) and Film splicing unit(right)

IX. Stretch Wrapping or Robo-pack

Figure 34 GENESIS ROBOPAC

Challenges, problems and their solutions

3.4 Service and utility

Figure 35 schematic diagram of Fire tube boiler

Figure 36 Basic components of the HP compressor

Figure 37 screw element

The oil circuit

Figure 38 basic of a chiller

THE OVERALL BENEFIT GAINED FROM THE INTERNSHIP

 Listening to the idea of others and be able to share information freely.

 Be flexible rather than rigid for new concepts and changes.

 Be responsible in analyzing and interpreting gathering of data.