Compressed Air In Glass Bottle Manufacturing
Air Compressors are widely used by glass manufacturers worldwide. They help create intricately shaped containers, bottles, and antique glassware with the help of the press and blow process.
Whether to preserve the purity of your beverage, or to ensure safety and integrity of a car windshield, glass is recognized as a unique material with superior properties.
Glass containers are the purest and safest way to package food and beverages because they preserve the taste, smell, and texture. But when compressed air is blown into parisons to form a glass bottle or jar, only certified oil-free compressed air from a Class 0 compressor is certain to prevent contamination of your products.
Oil-free rotary air screw compressors and low-pressure blowers are the preferred solution for glass industry application. The rotary screw element has two rotors to trap air in between and compressor it to higher pressures by principle of positive displacement.
Glass-making process: How does it work?
The first step involves collecting raw materials, depending on the type of glass. Next, the appropriate amounts of glassmaking materials: sand, limestone, soda ash are inserted into the furnace. Depending on the desired quality, shape, and size of the glass, the balance of ingredients may vary. The furnace heats the mixture (used glass and primary raw materials).
The melting process for a single batch can stay up to, a day, during which time the mixture is treated at high temperatures with heat signatures exceeding an average volcano. The molten glass is in flux and requires instant transfer to a mould to get the desired shape without cracking. Here the compressed air pushes the glass around the contours giving the glass its destined shape. Having quality air without dust, moisture and oil impurities is critical.
Once the shaping process is complete, the bottles are sent to a cooling process stage to bring down the heat of the glass, making their shape firm and eliminating defects.
Glass bottle manufacturing process
The molten glass is cut in proportionate gobs of equal weight before sending to the forming process. It ensures that the product weight and accuracy are maintained for each glass container produced. Further, the moulded glass is sent to a forming machine, where it permanently takes the shape of a container. There are two ways on how this process goes down.
Press and blow process
This is the most widely used method in industries. The molten gob is cut down to the correct size to fit the container. Once the right-sized gob is let into the machine, a metal plunger pushes it with pressure, forcing it to take shape and turning it into a parison. The parison is then shifted to a blow mold and reheated to ease the shaping process. After heat treating the parison, it softens, and air is gushed into the container, blowing the glass to shape. The press and blow method is typically used for wide-mouth bottles.
Blow and blow process
It is used to create containers with a narrow opening shape, where gravity does the major work after the gob is fed into the mold. An IS machine is used for better finishing, and different sizes can be produced in synchronized effect. The parison is created to give the bottle a primary neck and bottle shape by using oil-free compressed air. The same parison is given a 180-degree turn around and heated all over before finally blowing it into its final form inside the container.
No matter the bottle type, finishing, or application, compressed air is always used. Atlas Copco has dedicated products for compressed air application in the glass industry – oil-free rotary screw low pressure blowers (up to 4 barg) and medium pressure compressors (6-13 barg) dedicate to cater each system independently with different piping distributions.
Compressed air products developed by us are designed on trusted technology, reducing the environmental impact, and conserving natural resources in the long run. Our Z compressors and low-pressure blowers come with state-of-the-art advance technology in water and air cooled options, compact footprint requiring minimal maintenance, ensuring that your industry will have the power to operate on full potential at a stretch while keeping energy utilization costs down with the help of smart integrated VSD+ models continuously adapting to your plant’s fluctuating air demands.
Air compressors and vacuum pumps at Atlas Copco have the power to drive and run the processes in a loop to support mass volume requirements. Compressed air moves the manufacturing sector, especially in the manufacturing process of glass bottles. Air power is crucial to increase the productivity of this critical and in-demand production process.
Over the years, compressed air has made advancements that can be implemented in industries for fast production. Atlas Copco is a leading equipment supplier for the glass bottle industry supporting with range of technologies and downstream ancillaries for air treatment and remote monitoring and controls like SMARTLINK.
To know more about our products and systems, contact us today.