Liquid Packaging Products: Container Cleaning Equipment
Containers may collect dust or debris from the manufacturing process of the bottle, during shipping or even during storage as they wait to be used on a packaging line. For a number of different industries, ensuring that containers are clean before the introduction of product can be a very important step. Food and beverage companies and other industries that produce edible or consumable products, for example, would not want their products to become contaminated during the packaging process. Other industries may have their own reasons for cleaning containers prior to the filling process. Liquid Packaging Solutions provides a number of bottle rinsing and washing machines that can clean bottles and also assist in keeping the entire packaging process sanitary.
Probably the most popular container cleaning machine is the automatic inverting air rinsing machine. The descriptive name tells you almost everything you need to know about this piece of equipment. Using a conveyor and indexing system, the auto air rinser moves containers into position under the rinse nozzles. Once in place, the containers will be clamped and inverted over a rinse basin. The nozzles blast the inside of the containers with clean air, loosening debris and allowing it to be released to the rinse basin. Rinsed containers are then returned to the conveyor, unclamped and sent to the filling machine!
Automatic rinsing machines can also be manufactured to use water or other liquid to clean containers, or even to use a combination of air and water. The key benefit to the air rinser is the lack of waste product when water, packager product or other liquid is used to clean bottles. Of course, some containers are tough or even impossible to invert. In this case, packagers can use a vacuum type bottle rinser which seals over containers and uses an air rinse in combination with a vacuum to remove debris. The vacuum rinse leaves the containers on the conveyor throughout the process and removes the need to clamp and invert over the rinse basin.
In some cases, such as where a packager is reusing bottles and other containers, the packaging line may require some type of exterior rinse or wash. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways depending on the size of the bottle, the extent of the rinse and the speed necessary, among other factors. Rinsing or washing the exterior of a container may be for aesthetic purposes or it may be done to remove splashes, drips or other debris from the outside of the container.
Like almost all of the packaging machinery manufactured by LPS, rinsing machines can be built for production processes both large and small. While the automatic machinery described above would be used for higher speed facilities, semi-automatic equipment can help create a reliable and repeatable process for cleaning containers while also increasing output. Semi-automatic machines will require, and depend on, an operator of the equipment. Operators would place bottles on the rinse nozzles each cycle and activate the rinse cycle via foot switch or finger switch. Unlike automatic machinery, the semi-automatic options would require operator interaction with each cycle that is run, though multiple bottles can still be cleaned each cycle.
As always, sometimes unique bottles or processes will require unique packaging equipment. LPS also designs and manufactures custom rinsing machinery for one-of-a-kind packages and processes. To learn more about container cleaning, browse the LPS website or contact LPS to speak with a Packaging Specialist today.