![]() "The rotary union is a highly complex, high-precision component that houses critical utilities for the machine, such as low-pressure air, high-pressure air, mold-cooling water, electrical controls, recovery air and hot oil, and the blow wheel requires energy to spin," says Batten.Ī rotary wheel becomes less efficient and more expensive at lower production levels because the rotary union has to rotate farther to get the next mold into the molding station, says Batten. The primary mechanical component in a wheel machine is the rotary union or blow wheel, which supports and indexes the blow molds around its circumference, says Batten. However, at or below production rates of about 15,000 BPH using eight cavities, wheel designs can be a tougher sell. ![]() "The rotary wheel is an efficient design because preform-to-bottle operation occurs in a gentle and continuous motion from one position to the next," says Batten. Rotary wheel stretch blow molding machines can be fitted with up to 34 mold cavities to produce PET bottles at rates of 68,000 BPH or more. TARGETING LOW CAVITATION WITH HIGH OUTPUT Four units are operating at molding firms in Germany producing tight-tolerance technical blow molded bottles, says 1Blow President and Managing Director Benoit Sanchez. The company has sold 30 machines globally since beginning operations in 2011, with three installed in North America last year, and a fourth recently sold. Key developers and owners of the 1Blow technology have 180 years of combined stretch blow molding experience. The open architecture of the molding machine allows all of the technology kits to be factory installed or retrofitted in the field. ![]() In addition, 1Blow's near rotary blow molding units are offered with six different technology kits that expand the bottle design and functional possibilities, from offsetting the neck for trigger-spray bottles to a diaphragm base that allows heat-set bottles for hot-fill projects that don't want to use vacuum panels, says David Batten, the Duluth, Ga.-based sales manager for 1Blow in the U.S. The patented design streamlines mechanical functions for greater efficiency while offering the flexibility to use blow molds from competing manufacturers, including KHS Corpoplast, Krones AG, Sidel and Sipa SpA. Production rates are from 500 to 8,000 BPH. In a rethinking of design, 1Blow has developed a series of compact, all-electric stretch blow molding machines that use both linear and rotary functions to produce PET bottles from 200 milliliters to 20 liters (5.3 gallons) with neck finishes from 20mm to 70mm. The two common types of PET reheat stretch blow molding machines - rotary and linear - are cost- and/or performance-prohibitive at production rates of about 4,000 to 8,000 bottles per hour (BPH), according to 1Blow, Boissy-l'Aillerie, France, a 5-year-old manufacturer of blow molding machines (NPE Booth S34091). PET reheat stretch blow molding machine design is taking a new turn with models that combine rotary wheel and linear functions for process flexibility and high production.
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