Knowledge centre · Application
Filling high-viscosity products with particles
Chilli sauce, bean paste, fruit fillings and prepared-dish sauces are the products where filling equipment is most often blamed for a problem that is really a pump-principle problem.
Why piston machines struggle here
- A narrow valve seat: solids bridge across it, so the fill is short — then a purge passes a slug.
- Piston compression: large particles are crushed, changing both the product and the dose.
- Dead corners: product accumulates and later releases in clumps.
- Cleaning: disassembly to remove trapped solids adds downtime to every product change.
How rotor pump filling differs
A rotor pump moves product through a cavity that opens and closes as the rotor turns. There is no valve seat to bridge across and no piston to compress against. Displaced volume per revolution stays known, so the dose is controlled by rotation count — with a servo providing the correction.
| Product | Viscosity | Configuration notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bean paste / red bean filling | up to ≈300,000 cSt | Sauce cut-off valve; agitated hopper |
| Chilli sauce with pieces | 20,000–120,000 cSt | Sauce cut-off valve; low-shear transfer |
| Fruit jam with seeds | 10,000–60,000 cSt | Gentle handling to preserve particle integrity |
| Prepared-dish sauce | 5,000–50,000 cSt | Heated hopper where the product sets when cool |
Practical notes from application work
- Set the hopper diameter and agitation to keep solids uniformly suspended — stratification is the most common cause of dose variation.
- Use a cut-off valve rather than relying on nozzle geometry to stop the flow string.
- Keep transfer distances short and avoid pumps that shear the product before filling.
- Validate accuracy with check-weighing on the actual product, not on water.
Tell us your product and target dose: [email protected]