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18/07/2011
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London-based Wine Innovations, the inventor of The Tulip pre-filled wine goblet, says that changing to peristaltic filling machines has massively improved cleanliness on its filling lines.
 James Nash, director of Wine Innovations, who pioneered the concept of pre-filled and sealed, shatter-proof plastic wine goblets for outdoor events, explains that its UK filling line runs at a partner company based in Middlesbrough. However, following TV exposure on Dragons' Den, he needed to expand globally by building additional machines and licensing the concept to third parties.
And that meant dealing with some design issues. "The UK machine features volumetric filling," he explains. "While this technology is accurate and quick, the equipment has a lot of complex parts – such as stainless steel pipes, pistons, three-way valves and air diaphragms – and these cause certain issues when it comes to cleaning. They create opportunities for yeast, bacteria and mould to harvest."
For this reason, Wine Innovations has a strict cleaning regime that includes regular cold water, hot water and steam clean operations. However, if changing product, from white wine to rosé, for example, a flush-through and steam clean heats many of the volumetric filler's parts, causing residue wine to bake onto components, making it difficult to remove. Further, the parts can take three to four hours to cool down before filling can recommence.
Hence the move to peristaltic technology, from Flexicon Liquid Filling, part of the Watson-Marlow Pumps Group, on the firm's latest filling lines.
"I'd seen Watson-Marlow at a packaging exhibition in Birmingham a couple of years ago," says Nash. "Faced with building a second machine, and possibly many more, I thought Flexicon machines could provide a better solution than volumetric filling – albeit with the benefit of hindsight."
Wine Innovations went for Flexicon PD22I industrial peristaltic machines in combination with Flexicon MC12P OEM control units. The PD22I is a tabletop unit that requires no cleaning validation. It also facilitates easy and rapid product change-over – less than 60 seconds.
"The first thing I noticed was its ease of installation," says Nash. "The control unit … simply integrates into our HMI area. Then there is the nice new PD22I units with flexible tubing – it couldn't be more straightforward."
Nash also cites the equipment's accuracy (±0.5%) and speed, and likes the adjustable acceleration and deceleration capability, as well as being able to vary other parameters, with just a couple of button pushes.
"We are also achieving a much better dissolved oxygen result than before," comments Nash. "Oxygen is the enemy of wine and volumetric fillers can occasionally churn the product, creating bubbles, which in turn leads to rejects."
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Author
Brian Tinham
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