With its compressed air systems stretched to their limits, Lion Nathan - Swan Brewery Company Pty, Canning Vale, Western Australia, needed to explore alternative and faster drying methods for its bottling and canning lines.Due to the increasing demand on the Swan Breweries compressed air system, capacity problems were becoming more frequent.
Equipment requiring stable air pressure or those fitted with air pressure sensing switches would occasionally shut down when the available system pressure dropped. If Swan could not find a means to reduce compressed air usage, a significant investment in additional air compressor capacity would be required
Before looking at options to increase compressed air capacity, Swan reviewed its current system to determine if there were means to reduce usage across the site. It was found that one of the most significant demands on the system was the air blowers used to dry bottles and cans before labelling and inkjet coding. The original blowers used plant compressed jetted through a variety nozzle arrangements to dry the bottles and cans.
This system would require adjustment to suit various bottle sizes and was not capable of totally removing all moisture from the containers.After reviewing a number of powered air drying systems it was decided to adopt a system proposed by Air Control Industries which utilised their blower powered high speed 'JetPlate' bottle drying system and two of the company's high speed can drying tunnels, supplied by ACI's Australian Agent Dynamic Engineering Australia of Perth.
The JetPlate system installed immediately before the labeller, has been shown to be capable of effectively drying bottles at rates of up to 70000 bottles per hour. The JetPlate system does not require height adjustments to handle different bottle sizes because air is delivered via a series of stepped slots in the face of the system's opposing plenums, allowing the drier to accommodate the Swans range of bottle heights from 193mm to 264mm without alteration.
As there is no height adjustment involved, there is no possibility of variations in drying efficiency that can arise with manually positioned air jets. Consequently, effective drying is assured.Complementing the JetPlate, is a crown seal drier. This ensures all moisture is removed from recesses under the bottle crown seals, as well as any other contamination, preventing the corrosion of the crown seals.
Together, these ACI systems ensure the product is dryer overall, which in turn reduces other related issues such moisture trapped under labels, inside shrink wrapped packs and wet cartons.The two ACI high speed can drying tunnels have innovative 'Y' shaped slots in the plenum chambers, developed for maximum drying efficiency, plus easy height adjustment that can be achieved within seconds.
Drying here again avoids condensation inside packaging whilst also eliminating the risk of corrosion of the aluminium cans.A novel feature of the Swan installation is the fact that the bottle and can drying lines share a single blower (ACI's EP10). By using a 'Y' shaped diverter valve, air flow can be switched easily between the bottle and can drying lines, according to production runs.In addition to these driers, Swan also uses ACI's conventional Airknives to remove water from cans as they exit the high-volume double deck pasteuriser and before they are channelled into single can feeds for ink jet coding.
Both the bottle and can drying lines are performing well , said Steve Allison, Packing Development Engineer, at the Swan Brewery, Canning Vale plant. Initially we had some reservations whether or not there would be enough air and heat to achieve effective drying. However, we have found that there is ample air flow and heat generated without the need to add a secondary heat source, saving us money.
Both the JetPlate and can tunnel drying systems are designed to achieve air entrainment patterns that both maximises drying efficiency in relation to the air delivered and drives moisture down and away from the bottles and cans.