Extensive Catalog of Advantages
Innovative KHS InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler monoblock sets new market standards
Frank Haesendonckx* Heinz Hillmann** Top quality, maximum efficiency, a view to the aspect of sustainability, minimized costs, ease of operation, and maximum flexibility: this is what the market demands of innovative technical systems today. And this is precisely what the new KHS InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler monoblock can offer the beverage industry. The many advantages of the new monoblock concept lie in the fact that here the new generation of KHS Corpoplast InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow molders is being implemented. Another plus pertains to the new modular monoblock concept. Added to this are the many positive aspects provided by monoblocked systems themselves. One of these is the ability to eliminate the need for an air conveyor segment between the stretch blow molder and filling system, no longer required in the monoblock. Besides specifically saving on the cost of an air conveyor, plus the fact that less space is required, the lack of this particular machine section means that the handling of PET bottles is much gentler. Output of up to 72,000 PET bottles per hour The new InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler monoblock is capable of processing a wide range of plastic bottle sizes and shapes, with PET bottles holding anything from 120 ml to 3 liters. The monoblock setup is able to process up to 72,000 PET bottles per hour. Compared to a stretch blow molder/filler monoblock equipped with an InnoPET Blomax Series III system, this means an increase in capacity of up to 28,800 PET bottles per hour. * Product Manager, InnoPET Blomax Stretch Blow Molders, KHS Corpoplast GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg * Product Manager, Filling Technology, KHS AG, Bad Kreuznach Filling system of choice Like the machines of the previous generation, InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow molders can be easily monoblocked with all kinds of KHS PET filler systems. A free-flow filling system for non-carbonated beverages and a pressure filling system for the bottling of carbonated beverages in a concept that does not require a front table, developed in compliance with hygienic guidelines, are available for the hot and cold filling of product in PET bottles. Furthermore, a long-tube filling system also based on the principle of volumetric filling can be monoblocked with the blow molder for the low-oxygen bottling of beer or mixed beer beverages in large PET bottles. Modular monoblock concept for even more simplicity The monoblock system used in the new InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler setup is deliberately modular. This has the advantage of even greater simplicity and, as a result, the monoblock system can be set up at the beverage company much more quickly. Three in one The first point of optimization within the new monoblock system is directly downstream of the stretch blow molding process. The standard practice to date was to use one transfer wheel to remove PET bottles from the blow molder, a second to turn the PET bottles, and a third to space the PET bottles. These three have become one; removing bottles from the blow station and adjusting the distance of finished PET bottles to one another according to the configuration of the filling system is now handled by just one modular transfer wheel. All PET bottles leave the stretch blow molder spaced approx. 350 millimeters apart. When processing PET bottles of up to 2 liters in size, the filling system requires a standard bottle distance of 125 millimeters. A difference of 225 millimeters must thus be accounted for. Airlock module for consistent separation of wet and dry areas An airlock identically designed in all cases is used as the second monoblock module. This ensures that the wet area of the filler is kept consistently separate from the dry area of the blow molder, thereby eliminating the risk of corrosion in the blow molder. A flow of filtered ambient air pumped into the system from above ensures that there is a constant slight positive pressure in the airlock segment. Depending on which products are to be filled, it is also possible to supply the airlock unit with sterile air using special filter systems. Modular cooling segment for bottling of carbonated beverages If only non-carbonated beverages are to be bottled, the PET bottles are sent straight to the infeed star of the filling system after passing through the airlock. If carbonated beverages are scheduled for filling, a third cooling segment module is integrated in the monoblock concept between the airlock and infeed star. Two alternative modules are available here. The first has three transfer wheels and is designed to handle an output of up to 30,000 PET bottles per hour; the second has five transfer wheels and can be deployed on high-performance lines. The cooling segment module cools down the bases of the PET bottles from around 75°C to approximately 55°C. The reason for this is that if the necessary pressure is applied to overheated PET bottles being filled with carbonated beverages, bottle bases could bulge, bottles could burst during filling, or stress cracks could form. Cooling uses minimum quantities of water The cooling process uses a minimum amount of water, making it highly efficient and economical. A system of nozzles constantly sprays a mixture of water and air onto the bottle bases, covering them with fine drops of mist. The consumption is more or less negligible. A system with five transfer wheels uses a maximum of nine nozzles, for example, with each nozzle spraying just one liter of water an hour. Despite the low consumption, even large and heavy bottle bases are perfectly cooled. It goes without saying that with such low amounts of water being used, doing without a water treatment has more pros than cons with regard to costs and also sustainability. Targeted savings in PET materials It's also obvious that thanks to the extremely gentle transfer of finished PET bottles within the monoblock concept, lighter PET bottles can be used than would be the case if they were transported by air conveyor. Taking the 0.5-liter bottle as an example, the reduction in weight is about 2 grams. At an annual production of 100 million 0.5-liter PET bottles, around €110,000 can be saved simply in the reduction of materials. The latter also reduces the amount of compressed air and heating energy used in the stretch blow molder. Optimized Bottles & Shapes™ program Just how high the savings potential for lightweight PET bottles can be in each individual case is calculated by KHS Corpoplast on request with each investment in the InnoPET BloFill system. In all instances, KHS Corpoplast provides a full consultancy service within the scope of its Bottles & Shapes™ program. Customers thus profit from a Complete Carefree Package that covers all aspects of the process beginning with the bottle design to selection of materials, preform design, bottle engineering, mold design up to and including testing and mold trials. All stages of consultancy take into consideration both the filling technology used and the demands production, retail trade, and also end consumers make on the PET bottles. Many other advantages realized in the monoblock system by the new InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders In addition to the large number of positive aspects attributable to the modular system of the new InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler monoblock, other advantages are created by using the new KHS Corpoplast InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders. New heating technology cuts preform loss in emergency stop situations … InnoPET Blomax Series IV machines are equipped with a new heater based on a heating technology that nearly halves the time required to heat preforms versus the InnoPET Blomax Series III system. The preforms are now heated using near infrared radiation or NIR. Shorter heating times also mean that the space required for the heater segment only has to be half as large as for the previous heater. In addition – and this is the crux of the matter – only half as many preforms are inside the heater element, which means that only half as many preforms need to be channeled out of the system if an emergency stop is triggered within the monoblock. … and minimizes buffer segments ahead of the labeler Another advantage brought about by the reduced size of the heater segment is that the buffer area between the monoblock and a downstream labeler can also be shortened. The following example illustrates how this is possible. A label type change is scheduled. The InnoPET BloFill needs to be stopped in order to do so. The usual procedure is to halt the preform infeed. To avoid loss, all preforms still in the heating element are blow-molded, filled, and buffered in front of the labeler. Because only half as many preforms are now in the heating element compared to the InnoPET Blomax Series III system, it thus follows that the buffer area required upstream of the labeler can be much smaller. Significantly shorter startup Another logical plus point of this new heating technology is the increased availability of the monoblock setup compared to previous systems. Faster preheating of preforms after each stop results in much shorter startup times for the new InnoPET BloFill. Where previously two minutes elapsed before the first preheated preform entered the blow mold, now only 15 seconds are required. Servo-motor-controlled stretching process for maximum flexibility Another innovation in the InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders which has a direct impact on the monoblock system is that the stretching process in the blow stations is now controlled by servo motor. Until now, using a mechanical cam-controlled stretching process was standard procedure. In this type of stretching process it was possible to cut stretch blow molder capacity down to a maximum of 70% without affecting PET bottle quality – and without the need for a complicated change of stretch cam that could take several hours. If, in a monoblock system, 1-liter PET bottles were produced and filled in addition to 0.5-liter PET bottles, the problem arose that a 70% reduction in stretch blow molder output was not sufficient for a filling system configured for the 0.5-liter PET bottle. (To elaborate here: a stretch blow mold system can make different sizes of PET bottle within an almost identical time span. The filling system, however, needs more time to fill larger PET bottles.) To assist beverage companies who fill both small bottles (such as the 0.5-liter PET) and occasionally also larger sizes (such as the 1.0-liter PET) on one monoblock system, KHS Corpoplast developed the half-load option. Although this option did not involve replacing the stretch cam, it did call for other conversions, such as changing over cam disks and grippers, for instance. The half-load system also did not function particularly well with PET bottle sizes that greatly differed from one another. Changing over from the 0.5-liter to the 2.0-liter PET bottle, for example, still required changing of the stretch cam due to the considerably longer filling process required for the larger bottle. All of the aforementioned problems have now been eliminated thanks to the servo-motor-controlled stretch process implemented in the InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders. Here, the speed of the blow molder can be perfectly adapted to suit the settings of the filling system. Thus 2.0-liter PET containers can now be produced immediately following 0.5-liter PET bottles – with the speed of the blow molder reduced by 75% if necessary. Conversions are no longer a necessity. And maximum flexibility is a given fact. Regardless of the stretching speed, an optimum distribution of material within the produced PET bottles is achieved. This means that in a stretch process driven by servo motor, preforms can be used that have been optimized down to the last tenth of a gram of PET material. This was also not possible in the previous setup. If the speed was reduced, more materials were needed to maintain the desired level of PET bottle quality. Yet more advantages of the InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders As opposed to the previous system, there are many other advantages to the InnoPET Blomax Series IV generation of stretch blow molders in addition to the aforementioned that have a direct impact on the monoblock system and benefit the customer as a whole. For example, new, extremely compact blow stations are now being used that are able to produce 2,200 PET bottles per hour and blow station versus the usual 1,800 PET bph. As far as the consumption of compressed air is concerned, this, too, has been improved compared to the previous Series III. Depending on the bottle size, 5% to 15% less compressed air consumption is possible. Equally important is the fact that blow stations can be changed over in about half the time needed to date. What's more, maintenance procedures have also again been considerably simplified. Efficiency of at least 96% Both the InnoPET Blomax Series IV and KHS filling systems offer a high level of efficiency. Considered individually, each machine has an availability of around 98%. The efficiency of the monoblock system as a whole is at least 96%. High ease of operation In addition to the high level of efficiency and the comprehensive set of advantages the new InnoPET BloFill monoblock system has to offer, it is also easy to operate. Thanks to the fact that they are monoblocked as the central machine on a bottling line, one operator can now keep an eye on both machines while at the same time keeping tabs on the labeler. Rapid access is provided when service is required. Complete Carefree Package Initial response to the system indicates that the market fully recognizes the obvious advantages the new InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler setup has. Comments include talk of "a system that with its controlled quality, great efficiency, considerably reduced cost structures, maximum flexibility, and simplicity generates clear competitive advantages". And these competitive advantages can be further intensified by taking advantage of the Bottles & Shapes™ program. All in all, the new InnoPET BloFill stretch blow molder/filler monoblock concept is a complete carefree package that is totally convincing whichever way you look at it.
