Alternative Automatic Bottling Machine for Alcoholic Beverages

Abstract

A bottling machine for liquids was designed, tailored for a small manufacturing plant whose main product is bottled Pox (a traditional Mexican alcoholic beverage). The objectives of this research study were to develop an automatic filling machine with low-cost technology, based on the operating principles of an overflow filling machine but with very simple dispensing nozzles to discharge the liquid into the bottles. An experimental study was conducted to define an alternative dosage method. It was developed an electrical sensor composed of two aluminum electrodes, to dose the liquid volume by detecting the free surface that rises inside the bottles. The automatic bottling machine is composed of four modules to fulfill the continuous supply of six bottles of 750 mL per minute, the liquid dosage and delivery of the filled bottles for posterior capping and labeling. To command the complete control system and perform the automatic functions of the machine an Arduino UNO programable board was adopted. The movements of the machine are driven by stepper motors. The special dispensing nozzles contain the level sensors and remain stationary, while the bottles are raised and receive the aluminum electrodes into the neck. The nozzles do not need to press a seal on the mouth of the bottles, as is the case with the overflow filling machines. The result of the work generated a versatile, light and fast machine with a robust control system, able to dosage 250 to 4’000 ml volumes, not only for alcoholic beverages but for any liquid with viscosity and electrical conductivity similar to water, with an error not bigger than 15 ml.