The Krones Smart Line - The future of bottling lines starts here

The Smart Line premiered by Krones at drinktec 2005, with its dynamic mechanical BLOC-synchronisation of blow-moulder and labeller by the Acculink, marks the beginning of an evolution designed to revolutionise bottling as such.

Beverage bottling lines of the future will have little in common structurally with the lines we know today. The decades-old vision of constructing a bottling line as a complete BLOC-synchronised whole, has come one step closer, and quite a significant one at that. Anyone looking at the Smart Line Krones AG, Neutraubling, has now developed will immediately realise that this marks the beginning of a revolutionary new concept for bottling and packaging. The crucial innovation, the “smart” thing about it, is the mechanical synchronisation of individual machines, like the blow-moulder and the labeller, or the filler and the packer, by means of a dynamic buffer.

This is made possible by a completely consistent, positive bottle handling, with the spacing being maintained throughout, thus providing the user with all the advantages of a BLOC, such as simple operator control. At the same time, the dynamic buffer eliminates the disadvantages entailed by mutual negative feedback between individual machines inside a BLOC. A bottling line thus becomes a system fitted with dynamic storage modules, able to compensate for malfunctions at individual machines.

Positive bottle handling in the dynamic buffer

Positive bottle handling extends first from the linear oven of the blow-moulding machine via the labeller to the filler. The technical efficiency of this BLOC-synchronisation is optimised by a dynamic, mechanical buffering system, the Acculink. Perfect positioning and dimensioning of the buffer zones, plus an additional line speed control, mean the distances involved can be downsized. At the same time, air conveyors can be eliminated from the line The Acculink operates entirely independently of the bottle’s contour and size, and even of the preform’s quality, which air conveyors have to take into account.

Acculink keeps containers spaced

The Acculink functions as follows: an endless chain is provided inside a channel between the discharge of one machine (the blow-moulder, for example) and the infeed of another downstream machine (the labeller, for instance). This chain winds in a spiral configuration around a vertical axis. A shuttle system end-turns the chain as needed, thus defining the length of the storage zone.

This Acculink storage unit is constructed so as to ensure that it requires only a small footprint in the line. The containers are conveyed by their neck rings. This means the bottles remain separated by the same distance with which they were collected from the blow-moulding machine by Acculink via a transfer starwheel. And they are fed into the labeller with the same spacing by another transfer starwheel. There is no contact between bottle and bottle, just as there is no contact between bottles and guides in a conventional air conveyor. Scuffing is entirely avoided by this gentle form of bottle handling.

10 m² of footprint for two minutes’ bufffering time

The Acculink also scores in terms of low energy consumption. The chain is driven by only two motors, one in the discharge of the blow-moulding machine, and one in the infeed of the labeller. The chain is at least 140 m long, operates on the basis of rolling friction, and manages with just two servodrives. By comparison: an air conveyor needs about 15 to 20 drives for accommodating a similar storage volume. The buffer’s chain is absolutely maintenance-free, and cippable as well. Another major advantage is that on a footprint of only 10 m² a buffering time of two minutes can be achieved.

This enormous reduction in buffering areas enables a Smart Line’s space requirement to total around 45 % less than for a conventional line. In the example of a 60,000-bph line for 0.5-l non-returnable PET bottles, the Smart Line needs about 960 m² instead of around 1,750 m².

Visit FillingAndPackaging.com for more articles about food packaging, beverage filling and bottling.

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