The fact that a broken bottle, also known as a "bottle burst", can sometimes happen in the filling line cannot be prevented - but an immediate reaction should be taken if a bottle breaks. Flying pieces of glass could get into bottle containers and cause a potential hazard.
Of course our new swing stopper closing machines have a function for detecting broken bottles including immediate alarm message (optical and if desired also acoustical) and an immediate machine stop. Furthermore each customer can decide indvidually how many bottles in the machine before AND after are getting pushed out of the machine in case of a broken bottle.
Why does a bottle burst?
Many
different
factors have an impact of a bottle burst. Any previous damage to the glass bottle, bottle dimensions are out
of tolerances,
heavy wear on the bottles or incorrect adjustment work at the machine. Occasionally, a broken (deformed) swing
stopper
can cause also some problems (losing the swing stopper) during various mechanical processes in the machine.
How do we detect a broken bottle in our closing machine?
In our PLC we use a combination of several sensors (placed in the machine infeed,
end of tunnel
and machine outfeed) and a special software program. The PLC follows the bottle (in the bottle mouth
area) over
several stations. As soon as a bottle is no longer detected, the closing machine stops immediately to prevent
consequential damage.
In addition, an alarm message is displayed on the control panel.
What should be done in our machine after a "bottle burst"?
Because every
bottle
is tracked precisely, the PLC knows how many bottles are in the machine. Primarily the broken bottles and
glass shards
should be removed from the machine manually. After the subsequent inspection of the situation in the area
where the
bottle broke, the bottles (which are still inside the machine) should be rejected. The number of rejected
bottles is
specified by the customer. Finally, the empty machine should be cleaned manually to wash any glass shards off
the
surfaces. After the final confirmation of the alarm message on the control panel, our swing stopper closing
machine
is ready for the production.
This detection is available for which machine size?
Until today, this feature is available for all new swing stopper closing machines starting from a machine size BVM8 with a rated speed of 4.000 Bph.
Fotos
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