PET bottle excellence

December 2008 System Integration & Control Systems Design

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is an extremely popular packaging material.

PET has become a widely used material in the food, chemical and perfume industries. Not only does it have excellent physical characteristics, but it is attractively priced as well.

PET was first synthesised in 1941 as a synthetic fibre. Until the mid 1960s PET was used for textile fibre production; then it became popular for packing tape production. In the beginning of the ’70s, the first PET bottle had appeared on the market. The creators of the first industrial bottle blowing machines were the companies Sidel (France) and Krupp Corporation (Germany).

Ukrainian manufacturer uses B&R technology

The company, Polymash, is an example of successful business development in the Ukraine packaging industry. Relatively young (it was founded in 1999), it quickly developed. Effective engineering, hi-tech manufacturing, well-developed service and aggressive marketing are the basis for its success. Today, Polymash is a team of 156 employees who have produced 700 machines.

The newest machine generation for manufacturing PET bottles is fully automated. The pre-forms are taken from a machine bunker. This ensures automated production. A special mechanism aligns the pre-forms and infrared lamps warm them. During warming, the screw section of the pre-form is water-cooled to prevent deformation during the blow process.

The process

After warming, the pre-forms are put into blowing press moulds where, after they are fully closed and sealed, special (coupling) rods stretch the pre-form along the press mould. Condensed air is initially pumped under relatively low pressure, then at a pressure of 38-40 bar while the final phase of bottles’ blowing and forming is going on. The technology is based on the fact that the PET molecules’ orientation during blowing influences the barrier characteristics of the future bottle. If PET crystallisation is occurring at increased pressure, its heat resistance and gas impenetrability improve. After a short pause, the (coupling) rod is removed from the bottle, the pressure is reduced, it is cooled, deployed and the press form is opened. As a rule, the finished PET bottles go on a pneumatic transport that grasps them under the supporting ring on their necks and carries them to the bottling and packaging line.

The use of two mobile half-moulds speeds up the process and increases machine throughput. Alexander Suvorov, general director at Polimash: “B&R offers an excellent price/performance ratio. The flexibility of the B&R hardware and automation software helps to optimise the productivity of our machines and increase the quality of the final product. The integrated diagnostics and analysis functions further supplement the B&R offer.”

For more information contact Rob Snowball, Klare Technologies, +27 (0)41 503 9900, [email protected], www.klaretech.com

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