Method for controlling a beverage filling system

A method comprising controlling a beverage-filling system that comprises a filling machine that fills bottles with a beverage, wherein said filling machine comprises a ring bowl and a plurality of filling elements, each of which feeds a corresponding one of said bottles, wherein each filling element comprises a valve and a flow meter, wherein each valve controls flow of said beverage into a bottle, wherein said ring bowl feeds beverage to each filling element in said plurality of filling elements, wherein controlling said filling machine comprises deriving a flow signal, said flow signal being a current-volume flow signal, using said flow signal to derive a regulating signal for regulating an inflow of beverage into said ring bowl, and based at least in part on said regulating signal, regulating inflow of beverage into said ring bowl to maintain a target level of beverage in said ring bowl, wherein deriving said flow signal comprises one of deriving said flow signal based at least in part on a sum of signals from all flow meters, said sum defining an aggregate quantity of beverage being filled into said plurality of bottles and deriving said flow signal based on a calculation that relies on a measured speed of said filling machine, the number of filling elements in said filling machine, and the volumes of said bottles to be filled.

The method of claim 1, further comprising filling a bottle with beverage by measuring a volume of beverage that is being filled into a bottle.

An apparatus comprising a beverage-filling system and a controller for controlling said beverage-filling system, said beverage filling-system comprising a filling machine wherein said filling machine comprises a ring bowl and filling elements, wherein said beverage-filling system further comprises beverage-inflow unit that comprises a delivery pump and a regulating valve, wherein each filling element comprises a filling-element flow meter, wherein said controller comprises a beverage-regulating module that comprises an adder that is configured to combine signals from said filling-element flow meters to form a flow signal, wherein said beverage-regulating module is configured to control flow of beverage to said ring bowl using a regulating signal that is based on said flow signal, and wherein said flow signal is a current-volume flow signal.