With its proven NIR heating technology and market-established Double Gate concept, KHS provides stable processes and effective energy consumption in PET bottle production. Further savings potential is generated by Airback 7 PRO: the latest generation of the KHS compressed air recovery system cuts the high-pressure air requirement during stretch blow molding by up to 60% over systems without Airback. The potential this interplay of various factors holds for lightweighting is illustrated by KHS UltraLite: the new 1.5-liter PET bottle for still water weighs just 15.5 grams.
“Our customers are extremely keen to lower their operating costs along the entire line and produce reliably over the long term. As their strategic partner, we support them from planning through operation to continuous optimization,” says Arne Andersen, stretch blow molding product manager at KHS. With its lifetime solutions, KHS provides holistic services to this end throughout a machine’s full life cycle. Further technological developments enable existing lines to be tailored to new requirements.
For PET bottle production, KHS extensively coordinates the stretch blow molding process, machine technology and bottle design with one another. Here, targeted savings in energy and material consumption are given the same weight as bottle quality, line availability and productivity. “Only when we consider these factors as well can we unlock additional potential across the entire system,” Andersen explains.
Double Gate for lower energy and space requirements
The Double Gate heating concept (DoGa) gives customers an option designed to reduce their energy and space requirements. It’s used on the InnoPET Blomax Series V stretch blow molder and is thus also included in combined KHS block systems. Based on proven near-infrared radiation or NIR heating technology, the preforms are transported through the heater in two parallel lanes for effective heating.
Here, KHS’ compact Double Gate heating concept permits energy consumption to be reduced by up to 40% compared to similar single-lane stretch blow molders. “Our technology has established itself as a benchmark in our customers’ daily production operations. International users thereof include Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) and Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage, for instance,” states Andersen.
Latest Airback generation provides additional savings potential
With Airback 7 PRO, the latest generation of the KHS compressed air recovery system, the Dortmund engineering company generates additional savings potential in the stretch blow molding process. Before the bottle is demolded, the highpressure air is recovered and reused to stretch subsequent preforms. Additional compressed air only has to be supplied by the compressor for the final blow molding process. As opposed to the previous model, the new generation has an extra recovery stage, thus increasing the possible reduction in compressed air consumption from 40% maximum to up to 60%.
