German beer maker and contract bottler Pott’s Brewery has invested in a new Linatronic empty bottle inspector with ModulCheck rubber seal monitor from Krones, both of which have been integrated into its existing bottling line at its factory in western Germany.
The improved inspection unit will improve the brewery’s 24,000-bottle-per-hour filling line for swing-stopper bottles. The line is run in two-shift operation throughout, and is used both for filling the brewery’s own speciality beers and for contract-bottling.
The upstream ModulCheck verifies the presence and correct colour of the rubber seals on the swing-stopper bottles’ porcelain heads, Krones said; it can do this for all positions of the rubber seal. Moreover, the unit detects soiling, faded rubber seals, and any labels or residues. The new ModulCheck does not touch the bottles, and can also be relied upon to detect soiling in the area of the porcelain head. What’s more, it doesn’t consume any wear parts, and can easily be matched to a new variant at changeovers. In addition to the basic ModulCheck unit, further system components have been integrated: to start with, an infeed worm which leads the bottles through the machine in single-lane transport, followed by a container contour detector working with a camera, plus a pusher for rejecting non-conforming containers.
The latest model of the Linatronic 735, meanwhile, contains a variety of modules like base inspection, sealing-surface inspection, side-wall inspection or lateral-neck-finish inspection.
Pott’s Brewery managing director Jörg Pott said: “We’re happy that Krones has dealt with the topic of rubber seal inspection in-house. We’re anticipating impeccable inspection routines and enhanced quality levels for our filled swing-stopper bottles – and we’re definitely sure that we’ll achieve these aims as well.”
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