Pathbreaking bottle design for hot-filling with Krones NitroHotfill
With the aim of rendering hot-filling more cost-efficient and energy-economical, in 2009 Krones developed the NitroHotfill process. This technology enables bottles to be produced with a minimised weight without featuring the typical vacuum panels. The process requires significantly less energy and is more cost-efficient overall. And the same designs can be ideally handled on both aseptic and hotfill lines.
Following four years of practical field experience and intensive development work, Krones has once again significantly improved this process. Today, for instance, filling temperatures of up to 90 degrees Celsius are possible, a particularly relevant criterion for Asian countries. At the Contiform 3 stretch blow-moulding machine, station outputs of up to 2,250 bottles per cavity are achieved, a new high-speed record.
In particular, the bottles’ base design has also been substantially improved: in addition to the bases already successfully in use, which permit extremely light container weights of just 15.5 grams for 500-millilitre bottles, for example, there are now flatter, design-optimised bases available, which significantly improve the visual appearance of the bottles concerned.
The Krones NitroHotfill process is thus the most sophisticated hotfill system on the market. It requires up to 40 per cent less energy compared to conventional hotfill processes, offers a very high potential for lightweighting, and enhanced scope for creative design, with panel-free sidewalls and new, flatter bases. Krones NitroHotfill ensures effective, affordable production operations meeting the toughest quality stipulations for both the product and the packaging.
Photo Krones AG:
The design-enhanced Krones NitroHotfill process offers not only a very high potential for lightweighting, but also enhanced scope for creative design, with panel-free sidewalls and new, flatter bases.
