PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2011

BOTTLING / FILLING 42 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 09/11 www.petpla.net www.petnology.com With PET ahead: versatile, sustainable and flexible Conference Organiser PETnology/tecPET GmbH P.O. Box 120 429 D-93026 Regensburg, Germany Phone: +49 941 870 23 74 Fax: +49 941 870 23 73 conference2011@petnology.com November 7-8, 2011 Nuremberg Congress Center Nuremberg (CCN East) Prior to Brau Beviale XIV. Strategy and Technology Conference for the PET Packaging Industry How the system works At present machine operators ready the shrink packs for the four conveying segments in the line manually. The conveying segments can be filled with different items as required. For example, shrink packs of non-refillable PET bottles containing mineral water can be used on segment one, Teeträume shrink packs on segment two, soda pop shrink packs on segment three, and Landträume shrink packs on segment four. Alternatively, should a customer require only two differ- ent shrink packs to be packed, two or three conveying seg- ments can be loaded with identical shrink packs. The layer formations required for palletising are made by a group of inline robots. It is the robots that grasp, turn, and move the side-clamped shrink packs with millimeter accuracy, taking up only a minimum amount of space. The pushing motion used for the precision positioning of the individual containers is adapted to the speed of the plastic chain mat conveyor. Once a layer formation is complete, a centering device aligns its position. … and from there onto the pallet. An integral part of the concept is a handling robot which takes the pallet liners and pallets from designated magazines.