Advantage - Air Rinser - Reduce Waste and Clean Up

The most popular of the container cleaning machines in the inverting bottle rinser. This automatic rinser is used to remove dust and debris from any number of containers prior to the introduction of product in to the bottle. Debris may develop from the manufacture of the bottles themselves, from transportation of the containers or even from the simple storage of the containers as they wait to hit the production floor. Regardless of the reason, many packagers, for various reasons, may want to ensure that their containers are clean before the filling process, especially when products will be ingested or consumed by the end user.

Automatic inverting rinsing machines typically align with other packaging equipment along a power conveyor system. As bottles move down the conveyor system, the will move in to the container cleaning machine where a set number of bottles will be clamped while on the conveyor. Once secured in the clamp, the bottles are raised and inverted over a rinse basin, where several different rinsing media can be used to clean the containers, including water, air or other liquid cleaning solution. Once rinsed, bottles are returned to the conveyor where they will normally move on to the filling machine to receive product.

The choice to use water, actual product, other liquid or air often comes down to one of simple choice or convenience. While almost any rinse medium will successfully clean the containers for purposes of removing debris, there has been a trend toward using air rinsing machines over a number of industries. The main reasons for this trend are twofold. First, while both air and wet rinsers will produce some waste from the contaminants that are removed from the bottles, packagers will not need to handle or dispose of the used air. Wet rinsers, on the other hand, will require removal of not only the debris removed, but the rinse media, whether water or other liquid. Second, some packagers either want or need their products to remain pure. Rinsing with water or some other cleaning solution can leave some residue behind in the bottle once product is introduced. This issue can be overcome by rinsing with actual product, or again, by choosing to rinse with air over liquid.

While an air rinse does have distinct advantages over a wet rinse, some scenarios do exist where liquid may be a better option. If, for example, the manufacturing process or storage of bottles results in a film on the inside of the container, a wet rinse may be a better option, if only for aesthetic purposes. While the trend leans toward utilizing air rinsing machines on a packaging line as a container cleaning option, the best solution will, as always, depend on a number of different factors that will often be unique to the project at hand.