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The situation on the world’s energy markets remains tense, with high costs a financial burden for both consumers and industry. There is an increasing demand for alternative solutions to secure an economical supply of energy in the long term.
Concerned customers have contacted Bernd Pauls, KHS service sales support manager. “The big rise in energy prices is making the beverage industry very nervous. Our customers – and especially those in Europe – are really worried about the continuing secure supply of natural gas and electricity. They’re now looking for economical ways of ensuring the energy supply for their machine parks in the long term.”
To this end, KHS has put together an extensive tool kit of conversion variants. Taking the shrink tunnel as an example, Pauls outlines the flexible options available. “Our customers can opt for conversion from one source of energy to another – from natural gas to electricity or liquid gas, for instance. They also have the option of switching the system between two types of gas or flexibly converting it to electricity. Conversion back to a gas supply can then be performed by the customer as required.” This significantly reduces dependence on a single source of energy and increases the security of supply.
The conversion variants greatly differ in their nature and complexity. They are available for practically all existing shrink tunnels and are installed by KHS specialists specifically trained for the job. There is usually no change in machine control for the operating personnel. With the reversible option the setup is changed by the customer either digitally in a matter of minutes using a selector switch on the HMI or by changing a module over (this takes just a few hours). “The customer’s engineers are of course thoroughly trained in module changeovers by our expert colleagues,” says Pauls.
In addition to providing technical support on site, KHS also delivers extensive advice regarding energy optimization of installed systems. This includes a number of energy-saving packages. On the shrink tunnel one of these is a standby option where on a production stop the temperature can be manually or automatically lowered by about 50°C.
