Drying to improve bottle appearance
March 2006
Pneumatics & Hydraulics
A bottling plant had numerous complaints from its customers regarding unsightly water marks and crooked labels on its glass mineral bottles. The problem was two-fold. The bottles were not completely dry before the label was applied and the recycled plastic crates that had been disinfected were still wet when the bottles were inserted. The bottles were moving down the bottling line too fast to dry them using air nozzles. Attempts to dry the crates using air nozzles offered little improvement since the airflow hit only certain parts of each crate.
The bottler installed three 460 mm Super Air Knives to dry the empty crates as they exited the washer. They positioned one vertically on each side with a slight tilt to direct the water down to the floor for maximum effectiveness. The third was placed directly over the crates to blow straight down to direct any remaining moisture through the open grid at the bottom. Two additional Super Air knives were installed to dry the bottles just prior to labelling. The bottles were clean and dry. Customer complaints ceased.
Blowers were not an option due to the limited space and the bottler's concern for its workers who would be exposed to high noise levels. The quiet yet powerful, uniform airflow of the Super Air Knives was suitable for this application. The laminar sheet of air was able to hit all surfaces of each crate and bottle to ensure they were dry.
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