Disclosed, is a dosing apparatus [1] which is configured to provide a predetermined amount of material from one vessel to another vessel. The dosing apparatus [1] may comprise a dosing head having a dosing tube [9] and a dosing rod [12] which is movable within said dosing tube [9]. The dosing rod [12] may comprise a dosing chamber [10] which may be filled with a predetermined amount of material. Also described, is a method of dosing which utilizes the dosing apparatus [1] disclosed. In some embodiments, the method may comprise providing a dosing apparatus [1], extending the dosing rod [12] with respect to the dosing tube [9], loading the dosing chamber [10] with a predetermined amount of material, and, retracting the dosing rod [12] with respect to the dosing tube [9] to close the dosing chamber [10]. One or more air and/or liquid cleaning steps may be employed, wherein a cleaning unit [17, 117] may be utilized to clean the dosing rod [12] and/or a funnel [4].

A method of filling containers that can be used to fill containers during successive filling cycles with the same or different fluid compositions at high rates of speed, with little to no machinery changeover, and/or with little to no fluid waste.

A method to sterilize a packaging machine provided with a feed circuit (100), includes a first feed line configured to feed a first flow of product, a second feed line configured to feed a second flow of sterilizing solution, and a third feed line configured to feed a third flow of gaseous fluid, as well as a forming and filling station equipped with a delivery member fluidically connected to the feed lines and around which it is provided to form a tubular wrapping of heat-sealable film.

An apparatus for dispensing and packaging dosed quantities of solid drug portions is provided. The apparatus includes multiple dosing stations, each dosing station having an output opening for dispensing solid drug portions, a collector for collecting dosed quantities of solid drug portions dispensed by the dosing stations and forwarding the dosed quantities of solid drug portions to a packager, and multiple fall ducts configured to guide the solid drug portions from the output openings to the collector, each fall duct having an outlet and a number of inlet openings, the output openings of the dosing stations being aligned with the inlet openings of the fall ducts when a fall duct is positioned adjacent to a column of dosing stations. Each fall duct includes a first part and a second part detachably connected together.

A container filling assembly that can be used with container filling systems to fill containers during successive filling cycles with the same or different fluid compositions at high rates of speed, with little to no machinery changeover, and/or with little to no fluid waste.

The invention relates to a filling machine (1, 1′) for filling packages (2) with fluid products with a continuously circulating transport device (14) for transporting the packages (2) through the filling machine (1, 1′), comprising a plurality of cells (15) for receiving the packages (2), wherein a supply device (13) for supplying packages (2) to be filled is assigned to a supply region (16) of the transport device (14), and an output device (27) for outputting the packages (2) is assigned to an output region (28) of the transport device (14), wherein a filling region (17) is provided between the supply region (16) and the output region (28) in the transport direction (14) of the transport device (14), and a return region (29) of the respective transport device (14) is provided between the output region (28) and the supply region (16), and wherein at least one nozzle (38, 38′) for spraying the cells (15) with a cleaning fluid (40) is associated with the return region (29) of the transport device (14). According to the invention, so that the accumulation of impurities and the contamination of the filled product with microorganisms can be better prevented, a spray wall (39) is arranged on the side of the transport device (14) facing away from the at least one nozzle (38, 38′) and opposite the nozzle (38, 38′) in order to catch and discharge cleaning fluid (40) sprayed from the nozzle (38, 38′) and passing the cells (15).

The disclosure relates to a metering apparatus for free-flowing material and to a method for operating such a metering apparatus. The metering apparatus has a metering duct having a closed cross section and further has a rotary drive (M). The metering duct is wound in the form of a screw with a vertical longitudinal axis. The free-flowing material is fed to the metering duct. The metering duct is set via the rotary drive (M) in an oscillating rotary motion about its longitudinal axis with individual rotary strokes, wherein, with each rotary stroke, a partial quantity of the free-flowing material falls out of a lower discharge opening of the metering duct.

Disclosed is a method for filling cups in which: a cup is brought and held vertically with and opposite a distribution nozzle; next, the blocking rod is brought into the open position and the cup is filled with a product flowing through the distribution nozzle; when a preferred quantity of product is present in a cup, the blocking rod is brought into the closed position and a product flow is stopped; the blocking rod is brought into a contact position in which the blocking rod extends out of the distribution nozzle through the distribution opening such that a lower end of the blocking rod comes in the contact with the product upper-surface.

An apparatus for dispensing and packaging dosed quantities of solid drug portions is provided. The apparatus includes multiple dosing stations, each dosing station having an output opening for dispensing solid drug portions, a collector for collecting dosed quantities of solid drug portions dispensed by the dosing stations and forwarding the dosed quantities of solid drug portions to a packager, and multiple fall ducts configured to guide the solid drug portions from the output openings to the collector, each fall duct having an outlet and a number of inlet openings, the output openings of the dosing stations being aligned with the inlet openings of the fall ducts when a fall duct is positioned adjacent to a column of dosing stations. Each fall duct includes a first part and a second part detachably connected together.

The invention relates to a combination metering assembly for filling liquid products into containers. The invention is characterised by a base unit (1) and pump components (3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14) of at least two different pump types for a metering operation, wherein the pump components of each pump type can be combined with the base unit in order to form a pump system of the corresponding pump type, and the base unit has connection means (19, 23) for this purpose which are compatible with the connections of the pump components. The combination metering assembly can be adapted to different metering situations with little complexity and has a comparably small space requirement.