applicators	tunnels	boilers

The greatest challenge to the wider adoption of shrinkable PVC/PET labels for packing all sorts of products is the difficulty in finding the right equipment to get high quality results. The labels have to fit as closely as possible to the surface of the container without an wrinkles, clips, bubbles, etc.

That is not to say that other methods of labeling and packing do not have their own challenges also. Shrinkable labels are a whole technology of their own. If you want to get the results right then you have to know what you are doing. It is not as easy as it might sound..
The process consists of a process of distinct steps. First the container is inserted into a label sleeve. Then heat is applied to make it shrink. It is a basic property of the label material that it shrinks when heat is applied. The amount of shrinkage is controlled so that it exactly fits the container however complex its geometrical shape.

They key issues in deciding what equipment to buy are; what label material are you using? What rate do you need to produce labels items? How critical is the positioning of the label? And finally, what is your budget? Lable can be placed onto the container manually, if the volume is small or you budget is tight, or automatically if you are prepared to spend more but need high productivity.

The average productivity of manually inserting labels is about 1 million labels per month (running 24 hrs/day).

Productivity of different machines varies widely from 4000-6000 shrinks per hour for simplest machines and ending with 40000 for the rotational multiitem applicators running several lines concurrently. The typical productivity of the most popular one-item applicators is up to 18000 shrinks per hour.

During last 5 years our company has been shipping two types of applicators to the Russian market with productivity up to 18000 shrinks per hour. These machines are well known for their reliability, efficiency and ease of operation.

Heating and shrinking onto a product is the most challenging part of the whole process.

There are two ways of doing this; either electric, or steam tunnels. Electric tunnels use fans to circulate the hot air at a temperature of up to 250°C. Steam tunnels use heated steam as a the heat-carrier; the steam temperature reaches 90-95°C.

Electric tunnels come in a range of lengths and capacities, types of heater, number of zones where the temperature is automatically controlled, and degree of control over the hot air flow.

Similarly, steam tunnels also come in different lengths, number of chambers, degree of control and steam regulation to accurately control the whole shrinking process.