The laser-powered solution ‘raises the bar in efficiency, quality, ease and sustainability’, and comes at a time when producers are under mounting pressure to reduce costs, enhance sustainability and increase agility in their operations.
From halogen lamps to laser-focus
Sidel launched the first commercial blower to produce PET bottles for the beverage industry back in 1980. The SBO blower (Soufflage Bi-Orienté, or Bi-oriented blowing).
That technology has dominated the industry since then: building up improvements and productivity of lines over the years.
For example, the SBO blower of the 1980s ran at 3,600 bottles per hour. In 2020, a Sidel EvoBLOW line produced 90,000 bottles per hour: on the world’s fastest production line for water. That’s almost 25 times as fast as the 1980s version.
Meanwhile, lines have adapted to new demands such as smaller pack sizes and bottles made from rPET.
There are now more than 7,000 SBO blowers running worldwide.
The fundamentals of the current commercial technology is based around halogen heating solutions.
But now, Sidel says its laser-powered technology is set to revolutionize production: setting new standards for line efficiency and opening up lightweighting opportunities.
Unveiling the EvoBLOW laser at drinktec in Munich, the launch was heralded in by an army of Stormtroopers and Star Wars themed-fun to highlight the next-gen laser credentials of the technology.
But this tech isn’t far, far away: it’s already being used in a commercial setting in Europe and Sidel believes it signifies the start of a new era.
“On this machine, we are shifting from the tech that has been used for more than 40 years now - halogen lamps - to the laser,” explained Lionel Lichnewsky of Sidel.
“The laser heats the preform in a way that halogen cannot do.”
One key advantage of laser-based tech is its precision. In halogen solutions, preforms are heated in broad zones. The laser tech, however, can be much more precise.
This allows a new level of control over the material’s thickness at all points of the container. That’s important for lightweighting: thanks to the creation of invisible ‘power rings’ (rings of thicker material invisible to the consumer) which provide structural geometrical ribs, while allowing lighweighting throughout the rest of the bottle.
The innovation also supports increased use of rPET, since it is less sensitive to material variations.
Meanwhile, halogen solutions are sensitive to environmental conditions and necessitate frequent and complex adjustments. The laser-technology, conversely, is unaffected by its surroundings. Most importantly – while halogen solutions require time to heat up or cool down – laser-powered ovens are already ready. That means there is no downtime at every stop and start; nor any ‘stand-by’ mode required to keep the oven warm.
Line efficiency is also improved thanks to live speed modulation (the blower automatically adjusts speeds in real time to meet changing conditions on the line).
