Reliable, robust and sustainable: at this year's K trade fair, KHS is presenting a technology for the production of PET containers with clipped-in handles. Fillers should benefit in particular from the high reliability of the established stretch blow-moulding machine.
The innovative KHS process can be easily integrated into the new InnoPET Blomax Series V. Thanks to its comprehensive Bottles & Shapes™ consulting service, KHS also enables its customers to develop customised and sustainable containers.
„Up to now, it has not been possible to produce containers with a grip through on PET lines for technical production reasons. However, with the development of so-called active moulds, we have succeeded, Large PET containers with clipped-in handle up to a filling volume of 2.5 litres.“
Christian Rommel, Head of Packaging Design at KHS Corpoplast
These large containers are mainly used for filling juices, oil, milk and household and personal care products.
KHS solves challenges for bottlers
The active forms from KHS differ from conventional blow moulds in that they are additionally equipped with two movable moulding elements. These can be activated pneumatically in order to form points for a stable handle on the container during the stretch blow moulding process. The handle is clipped onto these two points during the rest of the process.
„Thanks to the precise synchronisation of the forming elements with the stretching system and the valve control of our InnoPET Blomax V stretch blow-moulding machine, we can offer a very reliable solution,“ explains Rommel.
Customised and sustainable packaging solutions
For consumers, the KHS packaging solution also offers many advantages, such as Tanja Binnenbruck, Area Sales & Product Management East at KHS Corpoplast knows: „On the one hand, it enables perfect handling thanks to the comfortable grip, and on the other hand, the pouring behaviour is optimised for dosing the product.“
The choice of material also offers further advantages. „PET not only has Good barrier properties, which effectively protects the product, it is also characterised by a Higher strength at the same weight compared to competitor materials such as HDPE or PP. Through the use of Lightweight PET bottles our customers can save considerable amounts of material. This has a positive effect on material costs and CO2-footprint,“ says Binnenbruck.
Blomax V impresses with its low energy consumption
The new generation is characterised by very low energy consumption. Thanks to an optimised near-infra-red heating concept and the new double-aisle technology, the V Up to 40 per cent less energy.
In addition, the air management system for cooling the heating boxes has been optimised. The air flow can now be adjusted separately for the neck, reflector and lamps. In this way, the machine only cools each preform where it is really needed.
The InnoPET Blomax Series V also scores highly in terms of performance. Up to 2,500 containers per hour/blowing station. The stretch blow moulding machine is designed so that it can process preforms with up to 100 percent recycled material.
Not only owners of the current generation of stretch blow moulding machines benefit from these energy-saving developments. Users who work with a Series IV Blomax can also utilise KHS technology thanks to its easy retrofitting.
Source: KHS GmbH
