Ionized air can rinser

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Success case: Installation of a model SG-20 ionized air rinser in a can production line.

Completion time: 4 months.

A manufacturer of stainless-steel cans for the solid food packaging sector, supplier to top global brands of powdered milk for child nutrition, needed to clean and eliminate all possible foreign bodies from their round metal containers of different capacities, to ensure proper and effective cleaning of the inside of the containers.

The dimensions of the metal containers were:

• 127 x 165 mm
• 153 x 178 mm
• 153 x 211 mm
• 153 x 248 mm

Among the client’s specifications for cleaning the containers were:

• Total elimination of foreign bodies measuring more than 1 mm from the inside of the metal containers.
• A maximum of 3 foreign bodies per sample tested.

SG-20 Rinser with blowing and suction of ionized air

In this project, Traktech provides an SG-20 Rinser, which incorporates an Ionrinse^TM ionized air system, which consists in blowing and sucking the inside of the containers with ionized air simultaneously.

The charge of ions supplied allows the circulation of air inside the empty containers, thus expelling all the foreign particles or dirt.

Moreover, prior to the blowing and sucking of ionized air, it incorporates a 6-bar pre-blowing system that creates a movement of air inside the cans to help detach any possible foreign bodies, cardboard, plastic or glass particles, as well as metallic particles adhered to the sides of the can.

This is a rinsing machine composed of an entry conveyor and an exit conveyor. The entry conveyor delivers the containers directly to the Side Grip, so a change of format consists in just adjusting the width of the Side Grip, as well as the height of the suction and blowing head.

This is a compact, economic, and easy to maintain rinser, useful for any format of the container, for production of up to  30,000 BPH.

 “Tap tester” Quality control

To comply with cleanliness standards for containers, the client designed a quality control system with a “Tap Tester”, that consists in tapping the cans, which are upside down over a white base to detect foreign bodies.

Although Traktech has about 30 rinsers installed in the market, 6 of which were supplied to can manufacturing plants, the challenge of this project was for the containers to undergo this “Tap Test” and offer the quality requirements mentioned above.

This IonRinse^TM system is very effective in rinsing containers such as plastic bottles, as the ionized air helps to detach foreign bodies on the walls of the containers, which are absorbed by the suction system incorporated into the IonRinse^TM. These particles are filtered to ensure a good flow of ionized air.

In the case of metal containers, it is not easy to remove all foreign particles, as the particles with metal content adhere to the sides of the can by magnetic attraction effect, making the work  of the ionized air more difficult.

The client carries out “tap tester” tests with a frequency of 12 consecutive cans in line A ( “consumer” line) and 8 consecutive cans in line B (“catering” line), for each series of moldings, with satisfactory results.

 Optimizing the solution

Productivity

The efficiency of the cleaning system installed is an advantage for the operation of the line, as there are less stoppages caused by rejects of batches of containers that do not pass the “Tap tester” quality test.

Saving energy and resources

Installing a pre-blowing system has made it unnecessary to have a more powerful ionized air system, with the resulting energy savings.

With the IonRinse^TM system, present in all Traktech rinser models, the high costs of resources traditionally used for washing the inside with water and then drying the containers are eliminated.

Less space occupied

For the same reason, not needing a more powerful and consequently larger ionizing system, has meant that a standard dimension machine can be built, and not a larger machine, thus saving space in the plant.

Flexibility

Our rinsers, with a turning system with 2 “Side Grip” sidebands, enables operations with containers of highly different diameters, from 50 mm to 250 mm. (See photo)

If you wish to know more about  this project or have a special need in your production process,  Please write to us! We also invite you to visit our page in LinkedIn.