Air conveyed cigarette packs

Air Control Industries has supplied the ACI 4MS11/020 Multi Stage Centrifugal unit to Colin Mear Engineering (CME).

CME is based on Combe St Nicholas near Chard and provides a secondary manufacturing service to the tobacco industry, as well as designing and manufacturing products for cigarette making and packaging.

Over many years of working with tobacco companies, CME has accumulated substantial expertise and experience, which is regularly put to use.

One such application is the design and supply of spiral, gravity conveyors that are used to safeguard cigarette pack quality during product transfer.

This is achieved by delivering a controllable constant flow of air through a continuous series of holes located in the base of the down chute to provide a protective cushion of air, which helps to ensure the smooth and safe passage of the product.

“Initially we considered side channel blowers but when we trialled ACI's blower unit we found it gave us far more flexibility and control,” says Steve Hallet, one of CME's design engineers.

“I was also very impressed with the Multi Stage unit's small size for the output it provided. All in all ACI understood my initial requirements and the solution has met all of our needs.”

The ACI 4MS11/020 Multi Stage Centrifugal is a direct driven blower, which is said to offer quiet running and maintenance free solutions for many higher pressure applications. They are available in single or three phase, DC or 400Hz, and ATEX versions.