Test Facility Upgraded

The recently refurbished test facility provides the company with a means of demonstrating to customers the efficiency of both its bottle and can drying units.
The 10m x 2m conveyor-based demonstration facility runs at speeds of up to 60,000 cans/hr and will accept all standard can sizes used in the soft and alcoholic drinks markets.

As well as offering visual evidence of drying, ACI also provides test facilities to verify drying standards achieved. For example, a code of Practice Code drawn-up jointly by the MPMA (Metal Packaging Manufacturers’ Association) and BLRA (Brewers’ and Licensed Retailers Association) relating to can drying is followed.

ACI’s CanDrying Tunnel system are employed currently on Stella Artois, Coca-Cola and Red Bull lines around the world – plus many others.

Based upon a tunnel configuration, the ACI can drying system features specially configured slots that direct air to remove water efficiently whilst driving it downwards and out of the enclosed area. Also, the enclosed environment ensures the water is contained and the drying air performs more effectively than with conventional ‘open’ alternatives. Noise attenuation is another benefit of the enclosed design.

Brewer demands dairy hygiene standards

A speciality of Bitburger Braugruppe is the brewing of non-pasteurised Pils beer and this calls for the highest hygiene standards.

One precaution the company takes to achieve these standards is to minimise the presence of crevices and projections on machinery that could serve as catchment zones and create possible contamination risks.

ACI has supplied a bottle drying system built specially to comply with these high standards.

The bottle dryer is low-noise, high through-put unit that has been adapted to meet these demanding hygiene requirements. All meeting surfaces have seamless welded joins in order to facilitate cleaning and eliminate bacteria build up.

In addition, the housing for the blower (ACI’s EP10) is mounted on top of the dryer. This is to permit easy cleaning under the dryer.

According to Dr Johannes Hankes, Department manager, the ACI bottle dryer is installed on a line that replaces two previous ones and handles a throughput of 50,000 bottles/hr. He also said that the dryer provided a cost-effective solution compared to other options.

Currently, the bottles passing through the dryer are standard 330ml ones, but it is expected other sizes will be used.

Airknives blow away labelling problems for microbrewery to boost output

Faced with increasing demand – from home and overseas - the award winning microbrewery, O’Hanlon’s Brewery of Devon needed to increase output. Production of the company’s beers, ales and stouts was not a problem but getting the product out of the door was.

The inhibiting factor was O’Hanlon’s bottling/labelling operation. For O’Hanlon’s condensation caused delays in the labelling because frequently filled bottles had to be left to dry before labels could be applied. This limited production to around 2700 bottles/day.

Another issue arising from condensation and exacerbating time delays was double handling. Bottles once filled were sometimes removed from the filling/labelling line and then reintroduced when dry to proceed through the labelling machine.

However, the problems caused by condensation are no longer an issue for O’Hanlon’s Brewery. They have been eliminated following the installation of a pair of ‘AirKnives’ supplied by Air Control Industries of Chard.

“ACI’s AirKnives do exactly what it says on the tin – they dry the bottles”! commented Liz O’Hanlon, Director. “They are easy to install, easy to operate and simple to maintain, which is important for a small brewery like ours with supermarkets and international outlets as customers.”