Sidel, a leader in innovative PET packaging solutions, is launching its latest quality control technology for PET bottles. IntelliADJUST is set to transform customers’ ability to produce PET bottles to a high and consistent standard. The smart bottle-blowing control system offers high-performance and easy-to-use technology that enables customers to achieve a consistently higher bottle quality and supports the production of bottles with recycled PET (rPET) content.

IntelliADJUST is a Sidel-patented solution that guarantees consistent quality and high efficiency. It works within a ‘closed loop’ system using interferometric sensor technology and ensures perfect material distribution, resulting in high production uniformity for PET bottles, including those made from recycled PET.

It also enables consistent bottle quality across various variable production conditions, such as preform storage, workshop temperature, and relative humidity. In-line, autonomous bottle control, and real-time digitized process adjustments result in perfect material distribution. The impact of changing production conditions and PET resin specificities on bottle quality is significantly reduced when using this expert-free solution.

The addition of Sidel’s Evo-ON software suite offers aggregation of equipment data and dynamic analytics features to deploy historical and 24/7 real-time analysis, creating a truly smart line system.

Stéphane Menard, product manager for blowing care at Sidel, explained that IntelliADJUST measures in-line bottle thickness, analyses and adjusts parameters to ensure consistent quality:

“This easy-to-use blowing solution maximizes the number of marketable bottles by ensuring quality control is consistently high. IntelliADJUST offsets any production line variations using algorithms to identify measured thickness deviations and automatically corrects the heating and blowing parameters to ensure consistent quality without interruptions.”

Moving towards low carbon footprint packaging

The blow molding process is becoming more critical as the drive for ultimate lightweight and increasing the amount of rPET content within the industry continues.

IntelliADJUST is 100% reliable across a wide range of PET preforms, including translucent, opaque, colored (non-TiO2), virgin, and up to 100% rPET. It is precious in helping customers who want to introduce rPET as there are multiple sources of supply and, therefore, more variability in material grades. Despite resin variability risks, the system can secure perfect material distribution on the bottle.

Sidel’s new technology offers its customers the opportunity to fully optimize the carbon footprint of their PET packaging, not only through enabling greater use of recycled material but by supporting weight reduction - all with stabilized quality across bottles.

A smart sensor technology for precise measurements and refined production process

IntelliADJUST regulates the main blowing and heating process parameters to avoid uneven distribution of material, while its advanced measurement functionality also ensures consistently high bottle quality.

Sidel applies years of PET packaging expertise to this production process, understanding the relevant control points on the bottle and which to measure to secure the best material distribution possible.

Working within a continuous closed loop process for control and adjustment, IntelliADJUST takes high-precision wall thickness measurements at the most representative points of each bottle, using four interferometric sensors based on reflected infrared light. Four sensors, located at the bottle transfer wheel, can be adjusted across three axes (X, Y, and Z).

It can operate at speeds of up to 90,000 bottles per hour, continuously comparing thickness measurements with the expected material distribution, and automatically adjust the process in case of deviation.

The ultimate in-line bottle quality control supporting easy-to-use and expert-free equipment

With advanced capabilities, IntelliADJUST is also easy to use and reliable. All IntelliADJUST parameters are directly integrated into the machine settings for each stock-keeping unit (SKU) recipe. So, this calibration-free system allows immediate start-up after changeovers by automatically adapting sensor positioning and processes according to each recipe. Its high accuracy reduces the need for additional manual laboratory controls.