KHS now offers technology for the manufacture of large PET containers with integral handles
At this year’s K-Show KHS is presenting technology which can produce PET containers with a clip-on grip. The process can be easily integrated into the new InnoPET Blomax Series V. Through its holistic Bottles & Shapes consultancy program KHS also helps its customers to develop customised, sustainable containers.
“Until very recently, for manufacturing reasons it wasn’t possible to produce containers with an integral handle on PET lines,” says Christian Rommel, head of Packaging Design at KHS Corpoplast. “By developing what are known as active moulds we’ve now managed to produce large PET containers with a clip-on grip holding up to 2.5 liters.” These big containers are chiefly used to bottle juice, oil, milk and home and personal care products.
KHS’ active moulds differ from conventional blow moulds in that they are equipped with two additional moving mould elements. These can be activated pneumatically to form mounting points for a stable grip on the container during the stretch blow moulding process. The handle grip is clipped onto these two points later on in the process. Precise timing of the extension of the mould elements is essential if containers of perfect quality are to be manufactured. If the former are extended too soon or too late, the grip cannot be properly affixed further down the line, with high rejection rates then likely. “Thanks to the precise synchronisation of the mould elements with the stretching system and valve control on our InnoPET Blomax V stretch blow moulder we’re able to supply an extremely reliable system,” explains Rommel.
Users operating a Series IV Blomax can also make use of the latest KHS technology as it can be easily retrofitted.
