Multi pump for dosing thermoforming and packaging machine

Most dosing and thermoforming equipment of us are normally equipped with only one type of pump and can package a particular type of material. However, some customer they will need to dose and fill more than one products with different viscosity . There is one point abouthow to choose pump for the dosing forming and packaging machine. Generally they are divided in this way:

1. Peristaltic pump-- it is for liquid with good flow-ability similar to water, for example the essential water, olive oil etc.

2. Piston pump--- it is for semi liquid but not that much sticky, such as honey , jam , butter, cheese etc, some product  will need to be heated in the hopper to obtain a better flow-ability.

3.  Rotary valve pump---it is for some product with high viscosity , some pump even need to be special designed.

This is general speaking, we will often request customer to show their product in video , then we can check the viscosity precisely.

There is a real case for blister packing machines purchased by a Greece customer equipped with both peristaltic pump and piston pump as the buyer required. With peristaltic pumps, the machine can package olive oil which is not viscous. The piston pumps are reserved in case of any new products whose viscosity is beyond the bearing capacity of the peristaltic pumps.

We once had a customer from Italy who required to install 3 types of pump on the plastic vial forming filling sealing machine, including peristaltic pump, piston and rotary pump.

What is piston pump?

Piston pumps have been a tradition liquid-filling technology for many manufacturers from pharmaceutical industry, food industry, cosmetic industry and so on. But now stricter requirements on product hygiene push manufacturers to seek another liquid-filling technology which can do better than piston pump in aseptic liquid processing. It’s found that peristaltic pump can be a good option.

As a traditional filling technology, piston pump filling system is well known for its reliability and accuracy. It cycles through its suction phase and pressure phase to move liquid. Its internal parts including gaskets, seals, valves and internal surfaces are all in direct contact with the fluid. Therefore, it requires regular maintenance, disassembly, cleaning and sterilizing. On the other hand, peristaltic pump applies external pressure to move fluid and its tubing is the only part contacting the product. Therefore, the risk of cross contamination and cleaning frequency can be greatly reduced.

Piston pump also have its exclusive advantage compared with peristaltic pump. In practical production, peristaltic pump applies only about 1.3 bar of pressure while piston pump generate greater pressure. As a result, the peristaltic pump will have lower accuracy when it is used to handle products which is viscous than 100cP. But the piston pump can handle products with viscosity of larger than 100cP easily. For these reason we always recommend liquid filling and sealing machines or blister packing machines with peristaltic pumps as the filling system for customers who buy machines to package olive oil, probiotics fluid, pesticide, or COVID-19 diagnosis buffering fluid and so on. These products, as you know, are all of good fluidity. It also shows a trend that applications of peristaltic pump is spreading to various industries.

What is peristaltic pump?

As technologies advances, peristaltic pumps can offer filling speed and accuracy that are comparable to those of piston pumps. But just like the machine to Greece, liquid packaging machines can be equipped with two sets of filling systems so that users can process fluid product with peristaltic pumps and viscous product with piston pump on the same machine. Cost on site, labor, machine maintenance, etc. can be greatly reduced, as well.