Package Shaker for TPO calculation

[Kyle S]

Looking to purchase or build a package shaking device that works for bottles and cans. Any recommendations are welcome. I have been agitating packages from the line by hand to measure shaken package oxygen before calculating TPO and would like a better solution. (more repeatable with less manual labor). Cheers!

[Inthelab]

If you find something I would be interested in hearing about it.

[gitchegumee]

Paint shaker?

If you could get one it seems ideal. Worked for Bart.

[BenBailey]

TPO Shaker

I can definitely recommend the shaker we are using. We bought an Eberbach shaker table. I found ours on Ebay for under $200, and they are fairly bullet-proof. You can get different size tables for them, ours fits 5 12-oz bottles, or at least 8 12-oz cans. They do still make them, but I am sure the new price is considerably higher. If you look for them on-line, the newer ones seem to be blue instead of grey. See pictures below.

[Inthelab]

I can definitely recommend the shaker we are using. We bought an Eberbach shaker table. I found ours on Ebay for under $200, and they are fairly bullet-proof. You can get different size tables for them, ours fits 5 12-oz bottles, or at least 8 12-oz cans. They do still make them, but I am sure the new price is considerably higher. If you look for them on-line, the newer ones seem to be blue instead of grey. See pictures below.

DO you find any issues pulling a number of packages from the line at once and measuring them over time? being shaken for 5 minutes(first package read) vs shaken for 10 minutes(Last package?)

[BenBailey]

DO you find any issues pulling a number of packages from the line at once and measuring them over time? being shaken for 5 minutes(first package read) vs shaken for 10 minutes(Last package?)

No. We want to pull an average of the packages anyway. The operators are supposed to stop the filler if our TPO's go over 200 ppb. We will try and pull packages from a particular filler valve occasionally, if we suspect a problem. We run 6 packages run without shaking to get our DOs. Then we shake six more for 5 minutes and then let them rest for 5 before testing them. The TPO's tend to average close-ish, but we are typically using the average to verify a packaging run is in spec, not test individual valves. After getting the "shaken DO's" we use the Uhlig method to calculate the TPO from those measurements. As a rule of thumb, if your TPO is lower than your DO, then you are probably not calculating TPO's correctly.

[Inthelab]

I really like your method. Looks like I'm updating my SOP today.

[TL Services]

A 3-5 minute, gentle shake should be adequate to ensure equilibrium between dissolved and headspace gases. IKA make excellent shakers that last for ages; they can be expensive but bargains can be found!

To add to the answer to Inthe lab's question - once equilibrium is reached, providing there are no temperature changes to the package, the levels will remain constant within the timeframe for analysis.

The shaken vs. unshaken regime is excellent for providing good data on the filling process.

One point about TPO and DO: TPO is the total mass of oxygen in a package (ie. expressed in mg or other units of mass) whereas DO is a concentration (ie.expressed in mg/l, ppb or other).

[Pacman]

Multi Wrist Shaker works great


Look at a lab supply store for a Multi Wrist Shaker. Work Great