Air knife dries up bottling plant

When Purity Soft Drinks needed a device to ensure labels and date stamps were correctly applied to bottles at its West Midlands plant, it turned to drying specialist Secomak for help. After the bottles are rinsed and filled they are usually wet, and this was causing pre-glued labels to slip when applied. The ink from an ink jet printer - showing best before date or date of manufacture - was also not applying properly.

The solution from Secomak was to recommend a Powerstrip V air knife drying system.

It was installed on the bottling line and instantly dries the bottles, ensuring correct labelling and printing.

The Powerstrip V is easy to adjust, allowing different sizes of bottles to be dried, and the entire system is enclosed within a Perspex cabinet, which contains the spray produced by the air knives.

Installation is very easy, with no special tools or contractors required.

"We are very satisfied with the Powerstrip V air knife system", commented Production Director Mike Cox.

"It is easy to operate and maintain and has dramatically reduced the number of rejects".

Modular in design, Secomak's Powerstrip air knife systems are custom-built for each specific application and can be used on bottling lines with speeds ranging from 200 to 1800 bottles per minute.

Configurations range from simple air knife kits to fully engineered systems incorporating stainless steel cabinets, drip trays, sound attenuation and adjustable guides.

Secomak estimates that air knives can reduce drying costs by up to 90% when compared with thermal drying.

Expensive maintenance contracts are not required and all spares are backed by the company's 30 year reputation.