Energy is one of the biggest costs for a blow molding operation. When your Sidel SBO 40 stretch blow molding machines are cranking out 40,000 bottles an hour 24/7, and demand 192kW per hour each, the dollars spent producing infrared heat are astronomical. Every company wants to shave this cost wherever possible.
Blow molding ovens produce infrared heat instantaneously to soften plastic PET preforms prior to being introduced to the mold for blowing and shaping into a container. In a perfect and efficient world, the ovens would only produce as much heat as needed for this operation. But in the real world, a great deal of this infrared heat is wasted, lost to the surfaces in the oven and not fully directed at the preform. In fact, it’s not unusual for an oven to consume 230kw to get the job done. However, if that excess infrared heat can be redirected at the preform, significant energy cost savings and infrared heat lamp maintenance savings will follow.
Naturally, blow molding machine manufacturers have long considered this fact about ovens. Reflectors in each oven attempt to make use of as much lost infrared heat as possible by redirecting it back at the preform. But as blow molding ovens age and energy efficiency decreases, there is a solution, i.e. better oven bank designs and materials developed to make full use of infrared heating and eliminate energy waste. Unfortunately, many blow molding operations aren’t even aware of the fact that their ovens are grossly inefficient as compared to the potential energy savings now available from new technology such as that offered by the Technoplan TOEO system.
Call Connell Industries at (877) 926-6635 or email us HERE.
