KHS’ new Innoket 360 Duo has two roll-fed labelling stations and a capacity of up to 60,000 non-returnable PET bottles an hour. It becomes the top of KHS' range of roll-fed labellers that has been completely optimised.
The Innoket 360 range’s new developments include a servomotor-driven reel stand and an intelligent sensor which controls label cutting, reacts very quickly to new requirements and can also do without cutting marks (as an option).
The Innoket 360, in particular, is now even more flexible due to the option of integrating an extra self-adhesive labelling station and/or a tamper-evident sleever.
The roll-fed labellers operate with a double reel stand. Film is unraveled from one reel while the other is idle. When the reel comes to an end, the speed drops momentarily and the autosplicer attaches the end of the active reel to the beginning of the waiting reel, so operation continues without interruption. A sensor-driven web edge control ensures that the labelling material always keeps to its allocated track.
In the past, when the film web was unreeled, a mechanical control unit was responsible for yielding the tension that provided precise cutting on the labelling station. A servodrive is now used here. It reduces the amount of force exerted on the film web by about 80%. In turn, this boosts machine tolerance to fluctuating grades of label material. So the Innoket 360 series is even more robust and more reliable. Thinner film materials than those previously used can also be processed.
The new cutting mark sensor makes it unnecessary to have the new label length taut in every format changeover. It reacts when the operator touches the product to be processed on screen. As a result, changeovers are faster with fewer sources of error.
Optional is a sensor that no longer needs a cutting mark. It can detect precisely where a cut is to be made by studying the label's pixel array. Label ends no longer have to be glued over unattractive cutting marks. Up to 10 mm of label can be saved per labelled bottle.
