Beverage Cans Production
Centralized Air-Cooled Vacuum System for the Production of Aluminium Cans
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The manufacturing process of aluminium cans for the beverage industry is strongly dependent on vacuum. Aluminium is a non-magnetic material and vacuum assists the Pick and Place and shaping processes by holding the cans tightly during different stages. The UV solution provided by Pneumofore for a major manufacturer, REXAM, successfully optimized production and energy savings. Further benefits include higher reliability and noise reduction on the production site. |
Previous installations at REXAM were either based on other technologies, such as screw pumps, or they were simply smaller and required several more pumps. The lack of active sealing in screw air ends appeared stronger as a deficit over time. These run at high speeds, driven by a gear box, which includes ten bearings minimum. Minimal performance changes lead to obvious consequences in time. Beyond increasing power consumption, the customer also highlighted the excessive cost of new air ends.
While the evacuated air is quite pure, this application requires a capacity above 10.000 m3/h and 24/7, year-long operation. This fact makes reliability and durability crucial in the face of enormous losses should a pump break down. REXAM became a Pneumofore customer when the manufacturer realized the advantages of a UV solution rather than other existing technologies. The main evaluation criteria were the cooling trouble on certain screw pumps as well as their decreasing efficiency after only a few years.
Initially, REXAM replaced their pumps with Pneumofore’s top of the line UV30 units, at the time, the largest air-cooled rotary vane vacuum pumps in the world. Pneumofore vacuum pumps operate for decades with very low maintenance rates and with a five year warranty. After 40.000 hours of operation, our customer concluded that, because of their low rotation speed and correspondingly low operating temperature, the UV machines largely outlived the screw pumps by far regarding cost of operation and spare parts. Soon thereafter, however, REXAM plants required higher capacity and as a result, Pneumofore was commissioned to develop the UV50 specifically for this purpose.
The customer benefited of the reduced environmental impact and other technical issues that were resolved through Pneumofore’s ability to research, engineer, and design this tailored solution.
REXAM owns five of Europe’s largest cans manufacturing plants. Pneumofore satisfies all their after-market needs in Spain, Italy, and the UK.
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Pneumofore UV vacuum pumps replace older screw pumps. |
February 2006
