Bottle dryer is quieter and more efficient

A bottling line at GlaxoSmithKline's Coleford factory has been upgraded recently with a new enclosed bottle dryer that has proven to be more efficient and quieter than its predecessor.

The new bottle drying system is installed on an aseptic line handling 330 and 500ml PET bottles of Ribena, Hydro Active and Lucozade Sport at line speeds ranging from 300-600 bottles/min. It replaces a configuration of simple airknives that had proven to be unsuitable for this application.

Principle reasons for the airknives' failure were a difficulty in ensuring correct setup for different bottle types initially and following cleaning/maintenance, plus noise and containment of moisture.

To operate effectively, airknives must be set at a specific pitch to ensure correct air delivery, and the angle will vary according to bottle types/shapes and sizes. With frequent cleaning requirements and product changes, drying performance is not always maximised.

Delivery of air in an appropriate volume and velocity sufficient to dry bottles on a fast-flowing line will always result in high noise levels. So, for the previous drying system, which was an open one, noise was a problem.

Furthermore, the moisture blown off the bottles was dispersed into the atmosphere inside the factory.

Problems blown away

The new system, which resolves all these problems, was supplied by Air Control Industries (ACI) and is based upon the company's JetPlate technology.

Unlike airknives, ACI's JetPlate requires no adjustment after installation, as it is based upon two facing plenums that serve both to deliver air and act as guide rails. Both plenums have facing plates with stepped air delivery slots. This configuration ensures the air delivery pattern effectively pushes liquid down and off the product as it is conveyed between the plenums. The close proximity of the plenums also ensures there is no risk of bottles falling over.

In addition, the air flow is designed to ensure water and spray are driven downwards to prevent possible product recontamination.

If plenums should require adjustment because of the introduction of new bottle designs, then this is simple to achieve and there would be no risk of incorrect positioning and consequent inefficient drying.

Finally, the JetPlate system is housed in a compact enclosure (1500 x 950mm footprint), which serves to reduce noise levels and help contain airborne moisture.

According to Andrew Markey, Product Stream Support Engineer, the ACI JetPlate bottle drying system has improved the bottle drying significantly, providing consistent results that benefit the down-line operations of label application and product coding.