What is a Horizontal flow wrap machine? They are highly efficient packaging machines that seal products horizontally with clear or printed PET/PE, or BOPP-based film, making them ideal for packing large quantities of individual products.
Our flow wrap machines are suitable for many applications and can be customised according to your production needs.
Applications
Flow wrap machines are purpose-built machines that can use punnets and trays for the flow wrapping of goods in many industries. Products like fresh produce, pastries, bakery goods, confectionery, consumer goods like scratch cards, stationery, and magazines, and household goods like napkins and disposable cutlery can be flow-wrapped to protect against damage. Additional gas flushing can replace oxygen with nitrogen inside the packaging to preserve goods’ shelf life.
A flow wrapping machine, also known as a horizontal flow wrapper, is a packaging machine designed to wrap products in a continuous flow of material. This type of machine is widely used in various industries, including food, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods, to package items quickly and efficiently. Here’s how it works and its main components:
How It Works:
- Product Feeding: Products are fed into the machine either manually or through an automated system.
- Film Feeding: A roll of packaging film, usually heat-sealable, is unwound and guided into the machine.
- Forming: The film is shaped into a tube around the product by a forming collar or tube.
- Sealing and Cutting: The machine seals the film longitudinally along the length of the product and then cuts and seals the ends to create individual packages.
Main Components:
- Infeed Conveyor: Transports the product into the wrapping area.
- Film Unwinding System: Feeds the packaging film into the machine.
- Forming Box/Tube: Shapes the film into a tube around the product.
- Sealing Jaws: Create longitudinal and end seals to enclose the product.
- Cutting Mechanism: Separates the wrapped products into individual units.
- Control Panel: Allows operators to set and adjust machine parameters.
Benefits:
- High Speed: Capable of packaging a large number of products per minute.
- Versatility: Can handle a wide range of product sizes and shapes.
- Efficiency: Minimizes material waste and labor costs.
- Protection: Provides a protective barrier against contamination, moisture, and damage.
Advantages
- Superior packing quality reduces movement and prevents damage during transport.
- High packaging speeds of 65 – 70 packs, or up to 400 pieces per minute, depending on size.
- Optimal preservation is possible with added nitrogen gas flushing to extend shelf life.
- Simplified operation with bilingual, touch screen programmable logic controller (PLC) control and automatic fault detection system.
- Specialised rotary sealer with frequency conversion and temperature-independent proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control for optimal sealing.
- Minimal carbon footprint and reduced noise due to servo motor use.
- Modern, easy-to-clean stainless steel design that can withstand humid, corrosive environments.
How it works
Flow wrap machines seal products inside a neat pillow-shaped film or foil package to improve shelf life and guard against contamination. Typically, an infeed conveyor belt transports goods into a forming box that forms a continuous film tube around products. Next, a rotary heat sealer and cutter will separate and crimp seal goods to form individually packaged products that are primarily rectangular or square-shaped with a horizontal back seal and top and bottom vertical seals.
