When a spoonful of ketchup slowly flows out of a glass bottle, its smoothness depends on the delicate balance between the ambient temperature and the rheological properties of the sauce. In industrial packaging scenarios, this balance is magnified into a severe challenge - the viscosity fluctuation caused by the temperature difference may cause the equipment that fills 300 bags per minute to suddenly jam, or cause stubborn sauce stains to condense at the bottle mouth.
In the metal cavity of the ply-pack high-speed ketchup packaging machine, the three-helix metering device is quietly playing a temperature game. This set of precision components with a diameter of only 12cm integrates 32 sets of micro heating units and infrared sensors. When the material enters the pre-filling area, the temperature sensing algorithm will complete the viscosity value conversion within 0.8 seconds based on the real-time infrared spectrum data of the sauce, and trigger the corresponding temperature control strategy: if the tomato sauce is detected to have a tendency to crystallize due to low temperature, the adjacent spiral slices will instantly heat up to 45°C and maintain dynamic balance; when the ambient temperature is too high and the sauce is thin, the device will start the cooling cycle to ensure that the filling amount error of each bag is ≤1.2g.
"Traditional hot melt temperature control will destroy the flavor substances of tomato sauce, and our solution is closer to 'precision acupuncture'." The R&D engineer pointed to the three-dimensional thermal map on the control screen and explained. The unique advantage of the triple helix structure lies in the ability to control temperature in different zones - the central axis maintains the basic temperature to ensure fluidity, and the edge area is fine-tuned by ±3°C according to the real-time flow rate. This gradient temperature control mode allows the high-speed tomato sauce packaging machine to avoid the softening and breaking of fruit fibers due to overheating when processing sauces containing fruit pulp particles, and prevent the discharge port from being blocked due to low temperature.
In the workshop of an export-oriented tomato sauce company in Guangdong, this system is facing extreme tests. The temperature in the factory often reaches 38℃ in summer, while overseas customers require that the filling temperature must be stable at 22±2℃. The dual-circulation cooling system of the high-speed ketchup packaging machine shows its strength here: the main spiral channel continuously delivers 4℃ cooling water, and the secondary channel absorbs the heat generated by the operation of the equipment through phase change materials. The workshop director pointed the temperature gun at the mouth of the bottle that had just been discharged and showed: "24.7℃-this data can allow European customers to withdraw the quality complaints of the past three years." The breakthrough in temperature control has essentially reconstructed the technical paradigm of viscous material packaging. When the three-spiral metering device is combined with the AI learning module, the equipment can even remember the difference in pectin content of tomatoes from different origins. Some companies use this function to establish a raw material database, so that Xinjiang high-latitude tomatoes and Southeast Asian tropical tomatoes can be seamlessly switched on the same sauce production line. This flexible production capacity is expanding the standard of "clean filling" from zero pollution at the physical level to zero damage to chemical properties. Just like Michelin chefs use copper pots to control the temperature and lock in the flavor of the sauce, modern packaging engineers use metal spirals to compose industrial aesthetics. When the discharge port of the high-speed ketchup packaging machine draws a perfect arc, what is condensed in it is not only the bright red color of the tomato, but also an industry's uncompromising technical belief in quality and efficiency.
