Empty PET/HDPE Handling
Empty PET/HDPE Handling
One of our most successful empty bottle handling offerings and patented products, the Neck Ring Air Conveyor leads the field. Our Bulk Depalletizer, high-speed Pressureless Single-Filers, Bulk Accumulation Hoppers and Ionized Air Rinsers also offer unrivalled empty bottle transportation. Whether you need blow-to-fill or more conventional bulk receiving of empty bottles, we can help with your empty bottle handling system.
Select a Product:
Bulk Depalletizer
The Descon Bulk Depalletizer is designed to outlast, outrun and outperform. Reaching speeds of up to seven layers per minute, it’s suited to support the most demanding of bottling and canning lines.
Benefits
- Fully automatic, no operator required.
- Servo motor control.
- 360° pallet containment.
- Gentle layer compression.
- Automatic tier sheet with top frame removal and separation.
- Integrated light curtain with Category 3 safety.
- Easy to navigate graphical operator interface with diagnostic capabilities.
Outlast
- Heavy gauge formed channel and welded tubular construction.
- Formed sheet metal panels.
- Professional powder coated painted finish.
- Fully guided main hoist with four-point #80 chain transmission.
- Linear guided sweep carriage with timing belt drive assembly.
Outrun
- Optimized throughput via integrated controls and intelligent software.
- Servo motor control provides high-speed hoist and sweep functionality, with finite position control.
- Position monitoring allows for simultaneous action of multiple devices.
- Intelligent software ensures repeatable performance.
Outperform
- Automatic strap removal.
- Automatic pallet and dunnage handling.
- Modular belt main bed with integrated dynamic transfer.
- Fully integrated empty container conveyance system.
Accumulation Hopper
Accumulation is critical to a successful empty PET/HDPE bottle line.
Descon Bulk Accumulation Hoppers work with unscramblers, providing a relatively small amount of accumulation to help manage short stoppages between equipment. If accumulation is sized appropriately, the relative speeds of equipment are managed to operate within a small speed range allowing for consistent and smooth operation of the entire system.
Whether offline or indirect transfer operation, our storage silos improve line efficiency and maintain product integrity.
Basic Operation
The Bulk Accumulation Hopper consists of three stages of control working together to provide efficient accumulation without scuffing or denting of containers.
- Bi-directional accumulation zone: consists of a wide modular belt conveyor section that travels in a reverse direction when filling and a forward direction when emptying. The length of the zone configurations allow for varying degrees of accumulation.
- Metering: a relatively short zone, it meters product from the accumulation zone to the discharge end of the silo, ensuring pressure is minimized and bottle integrity maintained.
- Incline: a flighted incline conveyor accepts containers from the metering section and delivers to the downstream unscrambler at the desired elevation.
Features
- Stand alone independent control system.
- Four standard models (400, 600, 800 and 1000 cu ft).
- Powder coat painted mild steel base structure with stainless steel side walls.
- Small footprint and easily configured into layouts.
Loose Container Conveyor
Empty and Full Containers
The Loose Container Conveyor serves as the link between individual machine centers, it’s the backbone to performance. The width of the conveyor, number of transfers, guide rail design and amount of accumulation are critical to how your equipment runs.
Function and Fit
- Layout design is the most important step.
- Start-up is quick, setting up your long-term system success.
- Ensuring accumulation levels provide sufficient reaction time between machine centers.
- Accessibility for material flow.
Clean Design
Descon Loose Container Conveyors feature clean design for easy cleaning and simple maintenance.
- Platform style or open construction.
- Clean-out access holes for washing.
- Tapered spacers behind legs and brackets.
- Tubular welded sanitary support structures.
- Minimization of flat surfaces that can collect dust.
- Integrated conveyor cleaning headers.
- Peaked, formed dust covers to minimize can exposure to foreign material.
Available Options
Descon provides many Loose Container Conveyor options to enhance efficiency, productivity, and ensuring safety.
- Programmable automatic container guides using DC linear actuators.
- Stainless steel or powder coated carbon steel.
- Auto lubrication and Run-Dry systems.
- Integrated internal cleaning manifolds.
- Pre-mounted motor isolation switches.
- Integrated electrical wireways.
- Drip pans and dust covers.
- Duck unders for safe passage.
Loose Container Conveyor Features
Transport
Descon takes advantage of the latest developments in conveyor chain technology so that you see the benefits. These include low friction factors, flatness and wear characteristics.
Features
- Suitable for cans, glass, and PET, PVC, HDPE bottles, round and non-round.
- Available in single chain or mass conveying.
- Parallel, Dynamic DTS or S-Box type transfers.
- Varying chain types including plastic modular belting and stainless steel slat chains.
- Universal splice plates and integrated stainless-steel leg supports.
- Integrated electrical wireways.
Accumulation
Accumulation is vital to the success of any well-running line. By absorbing product during downstream stoppages, more critical machine centers can continue producing, therefore improving your bottom line.
Benefits
- Production continues during downstream stoppages.
- Suitable for cans, glass and plastic bottles, round and non-round.
- Provides significant accumulation with minimum floor space.
- Simple synchronization between critical machine centers.
- FIFO (first-in, first-out) accumulation or FILO (first-in, last-out) accumulation.
Pressureless Single-Filer
Our Pressureless Single Filers singulate containers from mass at high speeds, eliminating the possibility of a downstream shutdown.
Benefits
- Suitable for cans, glass and plastic bottles, round and non-round.
- 100% down bottle evacuation.
- High speeds:
- Cans up to 1,700 cpm
- Full PET and glass up to 1,400 bpm
- Empty PET up to 1,000 bpm
- Simple changeover between container formats
Machine Infeed Laning System
Developed in direct response to customers seeking a reliable laning alternative, Descon’s Machine Infeed Laning Systems provide critical function to any packaging machine.
Benefits
- Eliminate stoppages due to unbalanced lanes.
- Handle a variety of container sizes with simple no-tool changeover capability.
- Immediate start-up following format change – no additional commissioning.
- Hit the pace expected of today’s high-speed packaging machines.
Paperboard Carton Packaging
- High-speed laning up to eight lanes.
- Quick changeover with dial indicators, scales, and quick-change snap-in change parts.
- Suitable for flex can lines with a variety of can sizes and up to three unique can diameters.
- Suitable for PET lines with a variety of bottle diameters.
Tray-Film or Film-Only Packaging
- High-speed laning up to eight lanes.
- Quick changeover with dial indicators, scales, and quick-change snap-in change parts.
- Suitable for flex can lines with a variety of can sizes and up to three unique can diameters.
- Suitable for PET lines with a variety of bottle diameters.
Hi-Cone Packaging
- High-speed laning of two lanes
- Type 1: Dual discharge mechanical combiner.
- 100% down can removal and integrated catch pans.
- Type 2: Dual pressureless single-filer.
- 100% down container evacuation and integrated catch pans.
Neck Ring Air Conveyor
The Descon Neck Ring Air Conveyor handles some of the most sensitive containers on the planet. Built with the utmost precision, Neck Ring Air Conveyors lead the way in efficiency and handling. Our unique patented base structure and neck guide alignment offers benefits and performance unmatched by any other vendor.
Benefits
- Defined neck guide alignment ensures smooth bottle flow and stability.
- Improved neck guide wear life.
- Customize to container, shape and size.
- DC motor driven changeovers between formats.
- Highly efficient blowers and louver design lowers cost of operations.
Features
- Infinitely adjustable DC motor driven bottle guides (even in curves).
- Multi-positional neck guides.
- Variety of high-speed merge and divert gates.
- Automatic vertical transition units (VTU) for base justified products.
- Various degrees of filtration (Standard, HEPA, Aseptic).
- Integrated electrical wireway.
Performance
- Precise neck and bottle guide alignment reduces bottle swing.
- Air-stream focus and effective in reducing bottle swing.
- Precision changeovers ensure immediate start-up following a format change.
- Interface to single filers, rinser, labelers, and fillers.
- Control software ensures superior bottle control.
Ionized Air Rinser
Descon Side-Grip Ionized Air Rinsers offer an effective means for removing particulate materials from empty containers prior to filling. Our Ionized Air Rinser is designed to the most exacting standards. It is simple to operate and easily configured to handle a variety of bottles.
Benefits
- Easily adapts to multiple bottle formats without tools.
- Reliable infeed metering devices ensure bottle alignment.
- Three stage air filtration kit for sterile air rinse.
- Total containment of removed particles.
- Efficient and simple changeovers without tools.
Features
- All 304 stainless steel construction.
- Single point, changeover without tools for containers from 1.5” to 9” diameter and 13” height.
- Dial indicators on all changeover devices for simple repeatability.
- Single chain loop adjustment ensures parallel tracks and consistent pressure.
- Integrated bottle metering device ensures consistent placement of bottles.
Configurations
- Inline low level with offset infeed/discharge.
- Inline low level with centered infeed/discharge.
- Inline lowerator with centered infeed/discharge.
- Available with ionized air or water rinse media.
Side-Grip Elevators
Our Side Grip Elevator raises the bar in vertical transport. This device offers an effective means of elevating or lowering a variety of containers and products when space is at a premium. The product is gently, but firmly, gripped by the sides and carried through the change in elevation at speeds up to 300 fpm. Side grippers are a soft, pliable material, guaranteed not to damage your container.
Benefits
- No-tool simple, quick changeover.
- Very small footprint allows integration into existing line layouts.
- Handling a variety of containers without change parts.
- Container stability throughout elevation change.
- Easily integrated to existing upstream/downstream equipment.
- Frees up floor space for traffic aisles and access to equipment.
Features
- Single point, no-tool changeover for containers from 1.5” to 9” diameter and 13” height.
- Dial indicators on all changeover devices for simple repeatability.
- Single chain loop adjustment ensures parallel tracks and consistent pressure.
- Tapered infeed and discharge for sensitive containers.
- Integrated discharge jam switch.
Available Options
Every application is different, and our machines are configured to meet every application.
- Machined aluminum idler disks for high-speed applications.
- Integrated infeed and discharge conveyor stubs.
- Stainless steel or mild steel painted construction.
- Stand-alone NEMA 12/4X control system or integration to line control.
- Synchronized infeed metering from air conveyor.
- Electronic synchronization packages with peripheral equipment.
- Centralized automatic lubrication.
