Category: Induction and Heat Sealing Machines

Following frequent inquiries from smaller businesses, some start up companies, and testing labs looking for a reasonably priced induction machine, we have decided to make available a safe and affordable induction sealing unit.

Smaller businesses have low budgets in mind, but it doesn’t mean that they are ready to compromise machine safety and the integrity of their products.  Regrettably, there are not too many good options available in the market.  The majority of low cost induction sealing units do not present CE safety certification for LV and EMF.

Induction Machine CE Safety Certification for LV and EMF

The CE mark should be applied in order to legitimately market electrical and electronic products in the European Union (EU), but only after you have proven compliance with all applicable directives.  Compliance is established by testing the applicable harmonized standards for the safety of electrical and electronic products in relation to the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and EMC on the functional safety of equipment. CE marking requirements now include compliance with electromagnetic field and electromagnetic compatibility standards. Manufacturers must ensure that products already on the market comply. This is precisely the reason why almost all other low cost induction sealing units do not have this CE safety certification.

Safe Induction Machine Option

The conception of SealerOn100™ was brought about by this need to supply the market with a machine that is certified safe and efficient. Induction machines generate high current and high electromagnetic field to accomplish their tasks. The birth of SealerOn™-100 has filled a gap in the SealerOn™ range that has provided a dependable solution to higher throughput equipment our clients are familiar with and put their trust in.

Immediately after its initial launch, we were flooded by a large number of inquiries. The unit is fully serviceable and it is fashioned to have its main electronics replaced in under 5 minutes!  Watch our video:
 

 

How Induction Sealing Takes Place

Induction sealing is a straightforward and simple process but an efficient way to seal bottles. The filling machines fill the bottles and are capped at some point.  The plastic cap has an aluminium foil liner inside.  Once the capped bottle passes under the induction sealing machine, which transmits electromagnetic energy to the foil liner, the liner becomes hot and welds itself to the neck of the container which remains in place even when the cap is removed.  The aluminium foil provides a tight seal that helps  prevent leakage, provides tamper evidence and can improve the shelf life of the product.

For small production run of sealing a few hundred units a day, SealerOn™-100 is a good solution.  Highly recommended for:

• smaller or start-ups businesses looking to introduce a new product in the market
• ideal for laboratory testing and applications
• a low cost backup measure for higher end induction equipment

When you have time to properly align the sealing head visually, the SealerOn™-100 can be supplied with just a sealing head or wand. To insure a steady and even sealing, it is essential that the sealing head is level and well centered. The option of a stand to hold the sealing head and a locating bracket that aligns the product under the sealing head is made available to eliminate alignment errors.

We are proud of our SealerOn™ range of induction sealing equipment that performs reliably, safely and are easily serviced. We are delighted to be able to present a realistic and safe alternative for those in need of low budget, bench top or hand held induction sealing machine.

On cases where the foil sits further than 4mm from the cap’s top surface, tunnel induction sealing head will allow you to seal it. Usually, this is the scenario with twist top spouts, flip top lids, sports drink caps, sipper caps or shaker caps.

When a coil shaped elongated coil generates high, rotating magnetic field, induction sealing occurs. The coil that carries a magnetic field is generated as well as, shift course several thousand times a second.

This magnetic field can pass through plastic or air. If it comes across metal, then it will work on producing current in the metal parallel to the coils that made the magnetic field.

A magnetic field produced from a “point” dissipates with the cube of its distance from that point. Generally, the magnetic field of an induction sealing machine ought to be within 5mm or ¼ inch from the sealing foil to have significant production speeds.

A number of cap variety do not match the standard flat top profile which presents a challenge to bring the magnetic field of the heat sealing equipment to within 5mm or ¼ inch from the sealing foil.

These types of specialty caps require an adaption from your standard flat coil sealing head to a tunnel sealing head. The Coils are designed to pass within the tunnel. The tunnel permits the protruding feature of the specialty caps to pass through the machine without moving the plane of the magnetic field farther away from the sealing foil within the bottle cap.

On the SealerOn webpage there is a youtube icon that will link you to videos showing SealerOn™ heat sealing or more accurately induction heat sealing using a tunnel sealing head.

Relying on the combination of cap and foil, the SealerOn™500 with a sealing tunnel installation has a speed capable of up to 10 meters per minute or 30 feet per minute.

The MeRo adjustable tunnel sealing machines are designed for faster induction sealing. These machines have the added and unique feature of having an adjustable width sealing head. This feature allows for higher concentrating and focussing of the induction field for increased sealing speed. A MeRo 2Kw unit is capable of sealing at sealing speed up to 30 Meters per Minute or 90 feet per minute depending on the cap and foil combination.

Less time required beneath the sealing head defines efficient cap sealing, which lead to higher production speed.

Flat profile sealing head allow an increased variety of cap sizes and permits the sealing head to be positioned at an angle over the product’s route to receive a sealing of cap diameters which are even wider than the coil winding pattern within the sealing head. Potentially a flat profile sealing head can seal caps from 30mm to 110mm wide. Not being able to seal specialty caps and lower speed throughput are the trade-offs for the flexibility of this profile.

Because there are unseen factors that can significantly affect the sealing performance of an induction it is always recommended to have induction sealing process validation.

The sealing machine may be bumped on a small angle, a slight height adjustment might have been made, large bottle height variations, and conveyor speed variations can all significantly impact on the induction sealing results.

Visual Inspections Process Validation for Induction Sealing

Actually, this method can be the best method of all; especially when you have well-trained operators experienced in what induction foils look like when they have received the correct conditions for a good seal.

Some things to look for include:

1. A Concentric heat pattern in the foil; if you hold the foil to a light source at the correct angle you should see a smaller circle where material has not been heat affected.  This means the seal has heated from the outside inwards in an even pattern; hence an even seal
2. Overheating – there are a number of factors to show if there has been overheating including – visual discolouration of one or more layers of the induction foil, bubbling or creasing, a flattening of the bottle neck, melting of a backing resealing foam (if present)
3. Uneven heat sealing; linked in some ways to a) above a foil can look well sealed but an uneven heat seal can result in areas of the seal being too firmly “welded” or very lightly welded an likely to “pop loose with a little pressure on the side walls of the bottle/container

Provided you have operators in each shift that are well trained in the above areas to look for then the “subjectivity” of a visual process validation is reduced and the validation will hold more merit.

2.0 Simple version – Linepatrolman™ Process Validation for Induction Sealing

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

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

The Benefel web site has a good animation of the Linepatrolman™

In this animation the count gets up to “50”.  If that reading worked for the last batch and was confirmed to be a good reading by a very thorough visual inspection (and some leak testing), operators would look to obtain similar readings in subsequent production runs of the same product.

A reason that many need an induction sealing measurement is because the energy transferred by an induction sealing machine to the foil of an induction seal within a cap is a time and position dependent process.  If for any reason the product passes through the induction machine at a different speed, the induction sealing result will be different.  To an operator a 10% change in the speed of a product conveyor may not be noticed.  To an operator a 1mm height adjustment of the sealing head may not be noticed or a 5 degree angle change in guide rails may be missed.  The induction sealing setting on the induction sealing machine may not have changed at all, yet the sealing results could have changed significantly!

The Line Patrolman™ is a unique process validation tool that will pick up variations in energy transfer in what may look like an identical set-up to the last time an induction machine was run.  This tool takes way the guess work on what energy is being transferred and provided operator confidence that the machine is set to the best it can be set.

 

 

To be able to understand what shape sealing head is the most suitable on an induction machine, we should learn first, precisely how induction sealing occurs.

The sealing head is the portion of the machine that is put over the path of the product cap or lid. Inside the sealing head is typically long oval shaped coils of thick wire that deliver high current that alters direction many thousands of times a second. The coil that contains a magnetic field is generated and in addition, adjust course several thousand times a second. The magnetic field will get weaker as it progresses away from the coil that made it to begin with nonetheless it is able to travel through air and plastic. Coming across metal, it will act to produce current.

Heat sealing machines function a little different. It is waiting for a product with metal laminated foil in its cap. The magnetic field from the sealing head acts to generate current in the laminated foil and the laminated foil gets hot. There is a layer that is laminated to the foil that turns wet with the heat or melts. When the product has completely passed from under the sealing machine, the foil will begin to cool and the layer that became “wet” will set to bond the laminated foil across the opening of the product.

It can be understood from the above principle that bottle or product sealing with the utilization of induction machines will rely on the time the product is under the magnetic field and how close it becomes to the origins of the magnetic field.

There are two distinct shapes of sealing heads for cap sealers being Flat profile and Tunnel profile sealing heads.

The Flat profile sealing head is suitable for “Standard Flat Caps”. A “Flat Cap”, typically speaking, means a cap where the plane of the induction liner is at 4.0 mm of the plane of the Cap’s top surface.

Tunnel Profile sealing head is best for “Specialty Caps“. Typically, the Tunnel Induction Sealing Head permits cap sealing in which the foil is located far than 4mm from the top surface of the cap; this is regular with twist top spouts, flip top lids, sports drink caps, sipper caps or shaker caps.

The magnetic field concentrates to a place inside the tunnel profile because of the tunnel sealing head thus delivers stronger magnetic fields over a generally smaller width route for the products moving below. A Tunnel sealing head also makes it possible for the coils inside the sealing head to have a route lower than the top of the product caps. This end in delivering the foil inside specialty caps closer to the magnetic field. The disadvantages of employing tunnel profile sealing head is the constrained array of cap dimensions it can efficiently seal and that it is not effective with big caps. MeRo™ brand induction sealer, nonetheless, is the exclusion to this concept. MeRo™ can, typically, cater for a range of specialty caps with an adjustment of 30mm and can seal cap diameter between 30mm to 60mm.

Better production speed is achievable where there is efficient cap sealing – less time beneath the sealing head.

Flat profile sealing head permit a larger selection of cap sizes and permits the sealing head to be positioned at an angle over the product’s route to obtain a sealing of cap diameters which are even greater than the coil winding pattern within the sealing head. Possibly a flat profile sealing head can seal caps from 30mm to 110mm wide. Decreased speed throughput along with the inabiility to seal specialty caps are the cons of this profile sealing head on a heat sealing head.