Patent ID: 8714209

Claim:
An apparatus comprising a filling element for pressure filling a container with a liquid product, said filling element extending along a filling element axis and comprising a liquid channel formed in a filling element housing, said liquid channel comprising an inlet for feeding said liquid product into said liquid channel along a radially inward direction relative to said filling element axis, and a discharge opening for discharging said liquid product into said container, a liquid valve arranged in said liquid channel, said liquid valve comprising a valve body and being arranged in said liquid channel for controlling discharge of said liquid product into said container, and a gas tube radially symmetric about said filling element axis, said gas tube being surrounded by said valve body and configured to act as a valve plunger, said gas tube being movable in a controlled manner along said filling-element axis to open and close said liquid valve, wherein said gas tube comprises during a filling process and having a partial length extending through said liquid channel, wherein said gas tube comprises, adjacent to said valve body and over at least half of said partial length, a first gas tube portion having an enlarged external cross-section, said enlarged external cross-section being substantially equal to an external cross-section of one of said valve body and a wall portion that delimits, in a radially inward direction relative to said filling element axis, a flow path surrounding said valve body, said first gas tube portion extending between a second gas tube portion and a third gas tube portion, said second and third gas tube portions having an external cross section that is smaller than said enlarged external cross section, wherein said liquid channel forms, at least over said partial length extending in said direction of said filling element axis, a first liquid channel portion that surrounds said first gas tube portion to form an annular channel that has a substantially constant flow cross-section, wherein said first liquid channel portion extends over at least 50% of one of said partial length and total length of said liquid channel.