Compressors play an important role in the world of PET bottle production. With every squeeze in cycle time crucial and every gram of material saved providing a competitive advantage, the performance, reliability and efficiency of these compressors play a decisive role. That’s why making the right choice when selecting a compressor can eliminate many PET blowing problems.
This is especially critical since PET blowing places such a high demand on air compressors and relies so heavily on them to provide quality air.
Let’s take a look at some PET blowing problems related to compressed air equipment and how to overcome them.
PET Air Compressor Failure
When your compressor is down, your production comes to a standstill. No output means no profit. The ideal way to prevent this is with a reliable, high-quality PET compressor that is built to last and is specifically built to handle your PET blowing needs.
It’s also important to take care of your equipment. Does that mean keeping a close eye on the airflow to your air compressor, preventing it from getting hot, or eliminating air compressor vibrations? A regular maintenance schedule is a good start.
Additionally, specialized monitoring and control technology can identify problems before they affect your production. Of course, you need the right compressed air partner.
As a PET bottle production expert, you want a partner who can help you choose the right compressed air equipment, install it correctly, and be there when you need it, whether it's providing fast maintenance and spare parts or providing you with a rental compressor in an emergency to keep production going.
Oil Carryover in PET Air Compressor Installations
Getting oil out of your compressed air system and PET bottles is a top priority and an important way to avoid PET blow molding defects.
If such contamination does occur, you may have to shut down production until the problem is resolved, and then you have to clean up the contamination. All of this makes oil contamination a very dangerous and expensive problem. Minimizing oil contamination will help ensure your equipment lasts longer, safeguard your production process, and protect your end product.
How do you do this? It all starts with using oil-free compressors instead of oil-injected or oil-lubricated compressors. Oil-free compressors eliminate a significant source of oil contamination from the start. Choose an oil-free compressor that is certified to produce Class 0 air and is free of oil.
PET Air Compressors Get Hot
Any interruption to your production process, such as that caused by compressor overheating, is costly. That’s why investing in suboptimal equipment to reduce costs is always counterproductive. In the end, you’ll always end up paying more.
One of the most common PET air compressor issues is overheating.
You need a compressor designed to handle the stringent demands of a PET bottling plant environment. Choose a PET bottle booster with 4-stage compression, which allows for more gentle compression at lower compression ratios during low loads.
Combined with a variable frequency low-pressure compressor, this means the system can reliably handle lower air demands. On the other hand, 3-stage air compressor boosters tend to overheat, especially at lower flows, because the compression ratio is increased too much for the interconnected pistons to handle. Only 4-stage compression technology can ensure 24/7 operation without performance and reliability issues.
Ensure Sufficient Air Flow from Your PET Air Compressor
To produce PET bottles in seconds, you need a steady supply of quality air. Because the demands on your compressed air system are so demanding, only high-quality components can be used, and this includes not only the compressor itself, but also your piping. First, your compressor must be properly sized. An undersized compressor will not provide the required flow.
However, compressor engineering also plays an important role in avoiding PET bottle blowing problems. Many 3-stage piston compressors experience flow loss over time. A 4-stage PET system ensures consistent and reliable compressed air flow.
For piping, you want to prevent leaks as much as possible and have a device to detect leaks instantly. Even better than preventing leaks is eliminating the possibility of leaks. By choosing the smallest possible high-pressure piping system, you can naturally reduce the associated flow problems. This can be achieved by using a low-noise, low-vibration air compressor/booster combination, supplemented by a booster installed at the point of use.
PET Air Compressor Vibration
Compressor vibrations pose a serious threat to PET bottle production. For example, excessive vibrations can lead to pipe ruptures and production interruptions. To prevent this from happening, it is important to ensure proper stability. You can choose to use booster compressors that come with specially developed frames with concrete bases, which means they do not vibrate. They do not need to be bolted down or have heavy foundations.
Continuous production of PET bottles around the clock
Your production plant can only produce a large number of PET bottles if it runs as long as possible. However, 3-stage high-pressure air compressors usually need cooling time, especially when running at 50% load. If you want to run non-stop around the clock, then you need to invest in a 4-stage variable frequency unit, which can run continuously without stopping for cooling.
High decibel noise from PET compressors
Compressor noise can be a serious problem in a production environment. If the compressor is too noisy, it must be installed in a compressor room or utility room away from the point of use to meet hearing protection standards. However, this will add more installation costs and cause pressure drops, which will make the compressor consume more energy. In addition, you must understand how to reduce the temperature of the air compressor room.
However, by investing in quiet-running compressors and boosters (such as those with soundproofing, racks and cylinders to minimize vibration), you can solve all of these challenges at once.
PET compressor room full of noise and heat
The right equipment, soundproofing and proper ventilation are key to protecting your compressor room from excessive noise and heat, but they are not always necessary.
Important: Compressed air generates a lot of heat. Rather than just venting it (so that the compressor room doesn’t overheat), you should consider recovering the heat to reduce energy consumption and protect the environment. If done right, you can recover up to 90% of the waste heat and use it elsewhere.