Wet-end monobloc– the beverage filling concept of the future

With the new ErgoBloc L wet- end monobloc, comprising a blow-moulding machine, a labeller and a filler for producing and filling PET containers, all the tasks involved in beverage filling – stretch blow-moulding, labelling, filling in a single unit – are directly interlinked.
The ErgoBloc L consists of a Contiform S16 blow-moulding machine, which is directly BLOC-synchronised with a Multimodul labeller with two Contiroll stations for prelabelling the freshly blow-moulded containers. The labeller in its turn is BLOC-synchronised with a Volumetic VODM-PET filler, featuring an upstream base-cooling unit. The entire system has been designed for an output of 28,800 containers an hour, and can be used for both still and carbonated beverages.
Thanks to innovatively ingenious drive technology and an intelligent control system concept in the monobloc, the fundamental difficulty inherent in integrating variable-speed controllability of the blow-moulder in a monobloc configuration was efficaciously solved. The containers are for this purpose transported by neck-handling throughout, between the machines using Monotec starwheel columns, and passed from machine to machine always at pitch spacing. This system also enables the machines to be decoupled from each other.
The SJC – Servo Joint Control  - enables the preform loss rate to be reduced and the efficiency to be increased by up to three per cent. The drive concept features an asynchronous motor at the Contiform as the reference machine, with all other drives being servomotors. This means automatically separable operation is possible for each individual machine, e.g. for running-empty or cleaning functions, or for decoupling the individual modules involved. In the integrated modularised labeller, gap handling has been assured up to a speed for 36,000 containers an hour.

The goals pursued in developing the new wet-end monobloc Ergobloc L, as compared to a conventional line, were these:

• lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for beverage filling, 
• a high level of efficiency together with optimised material flow,
• an improved operator control concept, and 
• smaller footprint.