Pneumofore installs vacuum system at Siam Glass

Italian company Pneumofore has installed a vacuum system at Siam Glass’s Rojana plant in Thailand.

The vacuum system, used in glass forming, has helped reduce the weight of bottles from 145 grams to 140 grams and means Siam Glass can produce 21,600 more bottles each day.

Siam Glass runs three plants in Thailand, producing energy drink containers of varying size.

The challenge for Pneumofore was to reduce the container thickness and decrease the rejection rate of 150ml bottles by the use of vacuum. Only one of the three IS lines was modified and configured as a ‘test bench’ for vacuum.

The monitoring of pneumatic energies and the search of the best balance between vacuum degree and forming air gave unexpected results. The weight of glass containers with an initial weight of 145 gr was reduced to 140 gr.

The speed of the IS section after the vacuum-air setting-up was accelerated by almost +1% cycle/min.

These successful results convinced the management to extend the use of vacuum onto Lines 1 and 3 and it will also become standard at its other two plants.

Three UV50 rotary vane vacuum pumps are constantly in operation at the Rojana plant. They ensure the exact vacuum level required on the moulding machines by means of variable speed drives and deliver a higher performance with minor power consumption.

Pneumofore said the results show the strength of its equipment, which is able to grant stable and durable performance even where air-cooling is specified for tropical temperatures up to 45°C, as in Thailand.