Brewer's drying solution
January 1st 2006

With its compressed air systems stretched to their limits, Lion Nathan - Swan Brewery Company, in Western Australia, needed faster drying methods for its bottling and canning lines.

After reviewing a number of powered air drying systems, it opted for a system proposed by Air Control Industries which used their blower-powered high speed JetPlate bottle drying system and two of the company's high speed can drying tunnels.

The JetPlate system, installed immediately before the labeller, dries up to 70 000 bottles per hour.

Air is delivered via a series of stepped slots in the face of the system's plenums, allowing the drier to accommodate bottle heights from 193 to 264mm without alteration. As there is no height adjustment, there is no possibility of variations in drying efficiency.

Complementing the JetPlate, a crown seal drier ensures moisture is removed from recesses under the bottle crown seals, as well as any other contamination, preventing corrosion of the seals.

Bottle and can drying lines share a single blower (ACI's EP10). A Y-shaped diverter valve enables air flow to be switched between the lines according to production runs.

Swan also uses ACI's airknives to remove water from cans.

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