- Application equipment: Conveyor line equipment for glass bottles and cans
- Applicable materials: Glass bottles, cans, slat chain conveyors
- System equipment: Electric system, water pressure system, control system, supporting pumps, valves, connectors, instruments, pipeline fittings and spray nozzles
The overall lubrication condition of the conveyor was continuously monitored with adjustable operational parameters. The bottle falling rate was adopted as the core evaluation indicator. The test results show that at a dilution ratio of 1:200 to 1:250, the lubrication performance is stable with appropriate foam volume, fully meeting production standards.
Bottle falling monitoring results: No bottle falling occurred during the whole production process of 275ml products on Line B. For 500ml products on Line A, no bottle falling was observed during stable operation from the labelling machine outlet to the uphill chain of the case packer; minor bottle falling only occurred during equipment start and stop.
Excessive foam overflowing the water tray was found on the chain section from the depalletizer to the filler inlet on the can production Line C. Inspection confirmed that the issue was caused by an excessively high lubricant concentration with a dilution ratio of 1:100. After adjusting the ratio to the standard 1:200, the foam condition returned to normal and complied with production requirements.
The application effect at the bottle inspector station was continuously tracked with excellent overall lubrication performance. No foam residue remained on the conveyor belt, and only a small amount of foam accumulated in the liquid tray without overflow or foam buildup, ensuring good equipment cleanliness.
The bottom rejection rate of the bottle inspector was significantly optimized. During the test, Line A adopted new bottles, and the bottom rejection rate dropped to 0.1% after using the foam-free lubricant, compared with approximately 0.7% under the same working condition without the foam-free lubricant. Line B used all new bottles with conventional lubricant; after adjusting the bottom detection accuracy to 20%, the bottom rejection rate was 0.13%. The comparison data verifies that the foam-free lubricant can effectively reduce the bottom rejection rate and greatly improve the product qualification rate.
Both the conventional lubricant and foam-free lubricant tested are well applicable to the working conditions of glass bottle and can conveyor production lines with stable and reliable lubrication performance. When diluted at 1:200–1:250, the conventional lubricant provides uniform and controllable lubrication and effectively avoids bottle falling during continuous production, with only minor defects during equipment start-stop. The foam-free lubricant presents more prominent comprehensive advantages. It achieves residue-free lubrication, eliminates foam accumulation and overflow, and maintains high equipment cleanliness. Meanwhile, it significantly reduces the bottle bottom rejection rate and improves production qualification rate and operational stability. With better overall performance than conventional lubricants, the foam-free lubricant is highly suitable for high-speed and high-standard mass production of bottled and canned products, and fully meets the requirements for standardized and long-term continuous production.
