Because of the forethought and its construction, a labelling machine can be considered a work of art.
One machine can look very similar to another yet it is the thinking of the Engineers who developed the machine and the progression of the machine’s development which identify the “character” of the machine.
In the following paragraphs we analyze one of the more vital and complex characteristics of the label applicator in which the machine need to pre-orientate the products prior to labelling.
Ultimately, the only thing that begins a label feed is a product sensing unit. There’s a programmed delay prior to a label being fed to meet the surface of the product, from the point of the product detecting to label application. With just a little distinction with the angle or with the smallest tilt, two similar bottles can end up having very different label positionings as they enter into and move through the machine.
Flat Bottle Labelling
Flat sided bottles are normally the least difficult to initially align. What help produce very similar position for the flat label sided bottle are the flat guide rails on each side. The self adhesive label should be wiped on with a brush to be able to label the flat sided bottle. Empty bottles or bottles that weigh considerably less can be knocked down by this wiping action. If two labels, front and back, are being placed on a flat sided bottle, just about any disruption towards the delicate and continuous flow of the bottle past The two labelling heads may lead to considerable label placement variation as well as possible label creasing. To make sure continuous supply of products through a label applicator, the flat sided bottle is often straightened with guide rails and then held to the main conveyor with an overhead conveyor for the complete length of the labelling process. There can be machines that, at a glance, may seem like they are undertaking the identical job with a main conveyor, guide rails and an overhead conveyor, but there are machines just like the LabelOn™ which is aware of precisely how variations in the product height can take place and what has to be crafted into the labelling machine to allow for these kind of variations. Normal label placement accuracy for Flat Sided bottles should fall within +/- 1.0 mm.
Oval Bottle Labelling
Oval bottles call for more than guide rails to position them for a constant passage past labelling heads. Able to rotate to either side, an oval bottle only has one point of contact on the radius of both sides that could fall into a main label placement variant and label creasing through wipe down. A few options are available to position such oval cross section bottles and these may incorporate:
- Dual Scrolls
- Reciprocating Clamps
- Aligning Chains
- Aligning Wheels
- Conveyor Pucks
Without resorting to change parts, Aligning Chains Module is the approach most typical for a variety of oval products as this delivers great deal of alignment. Regular label placement accuracy for Oval Sided bottles should fall within +/- 2.0 mm.
Round Bottle Labelling
While it may appear less crucial how a round bottle is orientated before its labelling, most of the time a round bottle will likely need to enter into a place where it is spun while a label wraps around its outside. The round bottle has to start its spin efficiently and predictably from bottle to bottle. Guide rails are important but same with the coordinating speed of the conveyor involved. If you spin a round bottle twice the pace of the conveyor it sits upon, the bottle will continue to move at the exact speed as the conveyor as this is the geometry of a round bottle.
If you think about buying a labelling machine a critical area of the machine design to take into account is how it is intended for straight forward intuitive adjustments for extremely steady product movement through the label applicator