Posted to News on 5th Mar 2013, 00:00
Bottle drying system enables increased cider production
ACI has supplied a blower-powered bottle drying system at the Woodchuck Cidery's state of the art cider production facility in Proctorsville, Vermont. The drying system was based on ACI's JetPlate system, and was installed to help keep up with growing demand and to satisfy today's labelling and ink jet coding requirements.
>ACI's JetPlate system comprises facing air-delivery plenums that can be positioned close to the travelling bottles ensuring maximum drying efficiency whilst simultaneously acting as guide rails to prevent bottles from falling over and causing line hold-ups. The JetPlates are complemented by pairs of airknives and adjustable air delivery nozzles to provide detail cap and neck drying to prevent moisture retention under the crown tops and ensure secure adhesion of neck labels. Air for these systems is provided by an ACI 'EL' semi-enclosed blower unit. This is leg mounted so can be installed alongside bottle/can lines or even straddle them.
>The ability of the ACI system to handle the Woodchuck Cidery's increased throughput of 600 bottles/min is illustrated by reduced instances of coding illegibility from 30% down to 3% and more accurate label placing, with no defects jumping from 50% up to 99.9%. In addition, the JetPlates require minimal adjustment for different bottle sizes permitting rapid line change overs from one product to another. They can handle bottles ranging in size up to 3 litres. At the Woodchuck Cidery the bottle sizes are standard 12oz and 22oz bottles varying in colour from green, brown and clear bottles.
>"We needed a new bottle drying system that could cope with our increased production," said Russ Beatty, Quality Manager. "As well as coping with our higher production levels, the ACI system is more effective than our previous systems because coding and labelling standards have improved significantly."
