AQS610-EU/SF (V2 H/W)
DOC 584 Issue A TECHNICAL GUIDE Page 9
3.4 Leak Detector Set-up
The regulators described in this section are labelled for ease of identification.
The start photoswitch position can be set at any point upstream from the leaktest screw, the height should be
such that it detects bottles at ‘body’ height, the start photoswitch works off a timer, when a bottle is detected as
stationary in front of the photoswitch for a set time the screw-in sequence begins.
The best bottle stability will be achieved if the screw is only started when a decent queue of bottles have built
up, to operate in this way the start photoswitch should be positioned approx. 10 bottle widths upstream from the
start of the screw. The downside of this method is that at the end of a production run bottles will be left queuing
upstream of the start photoswitch and the test sequence will not be started, the test sequenced can be started
manually by triggering the start photoswitch by hand, or automatically by using the ‘Purge’ function,
refer to 2.2 Purge Function.
If it is preferred to have the leaktester run even if there is only 1 bottle present, then the start photoswitch should
be positioned immediately upstream from the start of the screw.
With the unit powered down, rotate the screw by hand until the metal insert in the screw is exactly in-line with
the home position sensor.
Place a bottle in each of the 6 screw testing positions, noting that screw position 1 ( the bottle nearest the
outfeed end of the screw ) is actually the reject position, test position 1 is actually screw position 2,
move the test heads such that they are aligned with the centre of the necks of the bottles, the height should be
set such that there is a gap of approx. 10mm between the top of the bottle and the bottom of the test head
‘nozzle’.
It is crucial to achieving correct set-up that the test head cross member is level and exactly parallel with
the bottle conveyor.
Using the Forcing function, refer to 5.2.1 I/O Forcing, force the Clamp ( OP 1 ) on, adjust the Clamp Pressure
regulator to obtain the correct force on the test head cylinders, as a rough guide, the pressure should be such
that the test heads should be able to be lifted off the bottle necks by hand, using a moderate amount of force
( such as that required to lift a bag of sugar with one hand ). Force the Clamp OP back to NORMal.
Feed bottles through the system, adjusting the bottle handling as required. Check that the system as a whole
can handle a queue of bottles correctly. At this stage of the setting up, all bottles will fail the leaktest but not be
rejected as the reject blower is currently restricted off, if mechanical set-up is correct then the ‘Head Delay’
setting should be able to be reduced to 0.0s at this stage and bottles should still be handled correctly.
When the bottle handling is correct, start to turn up the Fill Pressure. The Fill Pressure is regulated by the FILL
RATE regulator ( common to all fill valves ) and an individual restrictor fitted to each fill valve, Initially set a FILL
RATE value of 2 Bar and fully close off each of the Fill Valve restrictors.
Each channel should be set in turn following this procedure, feeding bottles through the system, gradually adjust
the restrictor on fill valve 1 so as to obtain pressurisation to the required Test Pressure. The easiest way to do
this is to observe the “Pressure 1” reading on the Parameters display page whilst adjusting the restrictor, with a
Test Pressure of 30 mB ( 0.5 psi ) selected, the pressure displayed at the beginning of the test (after the Fill
valve has switched off ) should be equal to or slightly higher than the required Test Pressure i.e. 30 - 35 mB (
0.50 - 0.53 psi ) ( not above this, more than a 20 % overshoot may cause the bottle to be rejected as an
OVERfill ).
If at this stage bottles are being rejected as OVER, reduce the Fill restrictor.
If at this stage bottles are being rejected as UNDER, increase the Fill restrictor.
At this stage it is important to be sure that the correct fill regulator is being adjusted, for the appropriate leaktest
channel.
Pressure 1, Bargraph 1, Final pressure 1 and Fill regulator 1 all relate to bottle No. 1 ( the first one into the test
station) etc.
When Channel 1 fill has been correctly set, the procedure should be repeated for channels 2 – 6.
When correct pressurisation has been achieved for all channels the ‘Fill Time’ setting should be reduced to that
required to achieve the desired throughput ( in this case 0.35 seconds ).
