GERMANY – Packaging and bottling machine manufacturer, Krones has unveiled what it describes as the world’s first wet-end block achieving an output of 100,000 0.5-liter water bottles per hour.
According to Krones, the innovation represents a quantum leap in blockchain technology and responds to the need for appropriate machine speeds to meet the rising demand for packaged water.
With the ErgoBloc L, the company also proves that a single larger line offers better performance in terms of both energy and media consumption per packaged unit than multiple medium-output lines.
Even though it processes up to 100,000 containers per hour, the ErgoBloc L comes with great benefits to the manufacturer.
For instance, it requires up to 70 percent less space than a line consisting of individual machines, saving hundreds of square metres of hall surface.
ErgoBloc L is also great in energy saving as it uses energy-efficient components such as servo motors, and electromagnetic stretching system.
Energy intensive sections such as conveyors and buffer sections and operations such as container rising and drying are also removed from the process, further enhancing energy saving profile of the machine.
The entire process from stretch blow moulding right through to the capping of the containers can be looked after by just one person, reducing processing time and cutting labor costs.
Krones notes that the basic production sequence of this 100,000-bph block is just the same as in a conventional ErgoBloc L which was released in 2018 with a rating of 2,750 containers per blowing station.
In order to cope with the very high output of the stretch blow-moulder, some additional, optimised components, functionalities and assemblies were incorporated in the Ergomodul, Krones revealed.
The two Contiroll stations and the Multireel magazines for label reels now feature a new buffer system which keeps the label tension at a constant maximum level, thus offering ideal preconditions for thin label films, a boon for sustainability.
Another of the machine’s key features is the “no bottle – no label” function which ensures no label or glue is wasted and any gaps in the container flow no longer affect the efficiency of the line.
Finally, the two modularised filling units and two modularised closing units were incorporated into the single machine to be able to achieve the 100,000 bottles an hour output while still maintaining a stable process.
According to the German Foundation for World Population, approximately 9.74 billion people will live on our planet by 2050. Making sure that all of them are reliably supplied with packaged water is just as important as furnishing them with enough food.
With greater speeds, Krones is confident that water companies can be better equipped to meet one of humankind’s biggest challenges at present: supplying the world’s population with enough food and drink.
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