If you think high speed and energy-economy are mutually exclusive, then Krones will convince you they aren’t. Because under the motto of “producing more, consuming less” the existing stretch blow-moulding machine concept has been revamped. The new Contiform 3 Speed extends the product portfolio – and fully lives up to its name.
Whereas with conventional stretch blow-moulding machines a pressure pad in the mould carrier holds the two mould halves together during the stretch blow-moulding process, the Contiform 3 Speed has been designed so as to ensure that both halves are held together simply by means of the upgraded mould carrier locking mechanism. This elimination triggers a chain reaction – with beneficial effects for the machine’s owner. In the previous small-cavity mould carriers so far only bottles up to a maximum size of 0.7 litres could be produced. Thanks to the absence of the pressure pad, however, moulds can now be installed with which bottles up to a volume of 2.0 litres can be blow-moulded – and all this on the size of a previous small-cavity blow module, which is on average 22 per cent smaller than the comparable blow module of the Contiform 3 Pro.
But the elimination of the pressure pad creates pluses not only in terms of the system’s layout, but also in the media and energy consumption. This creates additional serious savings, of up to 15 per cent high-pressure compressed air in comparison to all other stretch blow-moulding machines currently available on the market.
In terms of output, too, there is another beneficial side-effect with a substantial impact: Krones has combined the advantages of a smaller blowing wheel and the machine’s reduced size with some further kinematic optimisations – and has thus achieved a significant rise in output, namely from 2,500 with the Contiform 3 Pro to 2,750 containers per cavity/hour with the new system. Given the maximum number of 30 cavities, it can thus produce up to 82,500 PET bottles per hour. In all, the Contiform 3 Speed covers machine sizes from eight to 30 cavities.
Another new feature is the modularised mould construction, which now guarantees maximised freedom in terms of the client’s particular needs for format change-overs. Because with its three possible configurations – classically manual mould change-overs, no-tools-needed quick-change system, and the fully automatic variant MouldXpress Robot – the moulds can be individually matched to the client’s wishes, even as a retrofit job.
With the introduction of the Contiform 3 Speed, Krones has also revamped its existing Contifeed preform roller sorter. The latest generation scores highly in terms of simpler adjustment and change-overs, thus enabling enhanced overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) to be achieved.
