Not every packaging line will require a bottle rinser, but for some packagers cleaning bottles prior to introducing products is a personal choice, even where not a necessity. The choice to use a bottle rinser may stem from many different reasons. In some cases, it may simply be for aesthetic purposes, while in others too much dust and debris from storage, transport or any other reason could damage the product. For those that don't need a rinser, they may not choose to add a machine when the line is initially purchased.
VKPAK offers the following types of bottle rinsers, our bottle rinsers can only be used to rinse the inside of bottles.
In most cases, packagers are looking to ensure the inside of a bottle is free of contaminants before the product is introduced. This is especially true of foods, beverages and other edibles or consumables. While some packagers may choose to rinse bottles before filling the same, others do so out of necessity. Rinsing machines for the interior of the bottle can take many different forms as well, depending in large part on the type of bottles used for the project and the speed with which they need to be rinsed. For most projects involving an automated packaging line, an inverting rinsing machine will be used to clean the interior of the bottles.
The automatic inverting rinser will use a clamp to secure a line of bottles before lifting them off the power conveyor and inverting them over a rinse basin. Once inverted, air, water, product or other cleaning solutions will be used to remove debris from inside the container. Once the rinse is completed, the bottles are returned to the conveyor and continue down the line.
Some containers, however, are simply not conducive to the lifting and inverting. These may include large or heavy containers as well as oddly shaped bottles. In these cases, a bottle vacuum will replace the inverting rinser to clean containers prior to the fill. These rinsing machines use a special nozzle that creates a seal over the bottle opening, blasts the opening with air to loosen debris, then vacuums the debris into an easily cleanable waste reservoir. Like the inverting rinser, the bottle vacuum can be used on an automated packaging line.
Benefits of Bottle Rinsers
Whether we’re speaking of the food and beverage industry, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical, chemicals, or any industry in between, it’s critical to ensure that the product packaging process is as streamlined and precise as possible.
They’re one of the essential machines in any packaging process as they free the containers from any hazardous contaminants and prepare them for filling. Examine the benefits that automatic bottle rinsers bring.
Versatile to suit an array of container shapes
Just like bottle filling machines, VKPAK’s automatic bottle rinsers can be customized to suit bottles and containers of any shape or size. With minor adjustments to the equipment and clamps, the rinsers can handle frequent container changeovers with ease. Their versatility also allows them to handle metal, glass, and plastic bottles.
Improves speed and efficiency
Automating processes like rinsing and filling can help improve the speed and efficiency of any factory, which, in turn, reflects on your bottom line.
VKPAK’s bottle rinsers can fit into any factory setting and handle as many bottles at once as needed, making them ideal for small startups and large international corporations alike.
User-friendly and easy to operate
Our automated air rinsers are equipped with top-of-the-line, user-friendly PLC controls that make operating our machinery a breeze. You can easily maintain and make adjustments to the equipment as needed.
Keeps the packaging sanitary
The most critical benefit of our automatic air bottle rinsers is that they keep your packaging completely sanitary. Various types of debris can quickly enter your containers before they’re sent out for filling and damage your products beyond repair. Therefore, properly rinsing and cleaning them with the right machinery is of the utmost importance.
Meets industry requirements
In most industries, ensuring that the final product is packaged in sanitary containers is essential. When you’re filling containers with food or beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other products that are meant for consumption or ingestion, you need to meet strict industry requirements. And the primary requirement is that your product is free of any contaminants.
How to Choose the Correct Bottle Cleaning Equipment
Bottle cleaning machines generally help to keep the entire packaging process more sanitary by minimizing the potential for certain types of product contamination. Before bottles are introduced to a packaging line, there exist several possibilities for dust, debris and other contaminants to become trapped inside those bottles. In searching for the right cleaning or rinsing machine for a specific project, the following items should be considered.
1. Rinse or Clean Type
Bottle cleaning equipment can use clean air, clean water or some other type of cleaning solution to complete the rinse or clean.
Air rinsing machines will often use ionized air or curtains to control static electricity and ensure that bottles and containers are thoroughly cleansed. Wet rinsing machines may add a drying tunnel or device between the container cleaning equipment and the liquid filler. The type of rinse or wash used for any specific project will depend on the individual needs of that project taking both the product and the bottle or container into account.
Wet rinsers pros and cons
Wet rinsers work by inverting the container upside down and blasting it with a liquid cleaning solution or water to remove any accumulated debris. At times, they can even be designed to first rinse the container with the product you’re using, then clean it with water – although this results in a massive waste of product.
Wet rinsers are suitable for debris that responds better to liquids. Still, they’re generally avoided since they leave the container moist, which is unsuitable for products that don’t respond well to water.
Air rinsers pros and cons
Air rinsers are often the preferred choice since they can do a better job of keeping the container completely sanitary. These machines use pressurized air to push the debris out, and they’re often equipped with vacuum nozzles that allow them to work with upright or inverted containers with ease.
Air rinsers don’t result in a waste of water or product, and once the rinse is complete, your container is left with nothing but the air inside it. So there’s no excess moisture and no risk of your product getting contaminated.
2. Bottles Handled
As we have discussed previously, most packagers will not limit themselves to a single bottle or container. Even if a packager has only one product, that product will be filled into sample sized containers, normal containers, family sized containers and more.
A packager will want to ensure that the container cleaning machine can handle the entire range of bottles or containers being used. Many rinsing machines will invert bottles over a rinse basin, allowing dirt, debris and other contaminants to wash out of the bottle and into the basin below. However, both tiny and extremely large bottles (as well as odd shaped bottles, tall bottles and some others) can present problems when grabbing and stabilizing bottles for the inverting process. Other options exist, such as the inline bottle vacuum, when such issues arise. A bottle vacuum removes the need to take the containers from the power conveyor in order to complete the rinse. Instead of inverting bottles, the vacuum machine uses dual action nozzles to first blast the container with clean air, then vacuum out the dust and debris into an easily cleanable waste reservoir. The range of packages used will help determine which cleaning machine is the best solution for any given packaging project.
3. Production Rates
Air rinsers, wet rinsers and bottle vacuums can all be manufactured with various levels of automation. Production demands will help a packager choose the correct container cleaning equipment for the specific project. From rinsing machines that require manual labor to place and remove bottles to fully automated container cleaning equipment, machines exist for virtually any level of production. But when choosing the correct machine for the production demands of a project, the packager must also keep the future in mind.
4. Machine Useful Life
Like liquid fillers and capping machines, bottle cleaning equipment can be manufactured in such a way that the machinery can be upgraded in the future. Semi-automatic rinsing machines can incorporate a PLC and indexing system to one day become fully automatic machinery. Fully automatic rinsers can be manufactured so that additional rinse heads can easily be added in the future. The ability to upgrade existing equipment extends the useful life of the machinery and stops a packager from having to buy completely new packaging machinery at the first sign of growth. The packager simply needs to communicate with the manufacturer of such machinery to know and understand the limits of the cleaning machines being offered.
5. Ability to Integrate
Finally, as with all packaging equipment, a packager must consider the ability of the equipment to integrate with current machinery or other equipment to be procured in the future. Most automatic rinsing machines will be manufactured on a frame that will roll up to virtually any power conveyor and be ready to run production. Again, communicating with the machine manufacturer and understanding the limits of the packaging equipment will help a packager choose the best solution for the project at hand.
Each project will be unique in its own way. Though the points laid out above will lead a packager in the right direction when choosing bottle rinsers and washers, other considerations will undoubtedly exist from packaging line to packaging line.
Feel free to contact VKPAK to determine which type of air rinser is better suited for your needs and learn more about how we can help you.