Heat Shrink Tunnel for Bottles

Complete Guide to Purchasing Heat Shrink Tunnels for Bottles

For bottled product industries such as food and beverages, Flexshrink bottling heat shrink tunnels are key equipment for improving production efficiency and packaging quality. Their high-speed packaging and professional and beautiful performance make them popular with many companies.

Before you choose the right heat shrink tunnel for your bottled products, it is important to understand their types, working principles and advantages.

What is The Bottling Heat Shrink Tunnel?

Like all heat shrink tunnels, the bottle shrink tunnel is a device that achieves packaging by heating shrink film around bottled products. It typically accommodates both sleeve packaging and combination packaging, meeting diverse bottled product packaging requirements.

The Principle of Bottling Heat Shrink Tunnels for Bottles

When choosing a heat shrink tunnel, you can choose based on its working principle and structure. Different types of shrink tunnels have their own unique advantages and are suitable for different production needs. Although heat shrink tunnels are usually categorized by their working principle, Flexshrink also offers shrink tunnels for your canned products, categorized by structure.

Infrared Heating

Infrared heating is a common principle in heat shrink tunnels for bottles, enabling efficient heat shrinking. It directly transfers heat to the shrink film through electromagnetic waves without other heating sources or even blowers.

For bottle shrinking infrared machines, the wavelength of infrared heat used in bottle shrinking machines typically ranges from 0.7μm to 6μm. Higher wavelengths lead to an increase in the temperature and heating efficiency as well(adjustable).

Moreover, this principle(Method) is energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and can be powered by various energy sources. These advantages make it the most commonly used heating method in bottle shrinking, particularly for temperature-sensitive products.

Steam Heating

Steam is one of the most widely used heating methods in heat shrink tunnels (including shrink sleeve labeling machines). It heats the packaging material by generating steam through the evaporation of water. This ensures uniform heating and consistent shrinkage across the entire package, thus preventing any areas of the package from tightening or loosening. Our steam-heated shrink tunnels typically utilize stainless steel construction to prevent rust and minimize heat loss.

It should be noted that steam shrink machines typically occupy a large footprint, carry higher costs, and require specially designed high-pressure chambers to maintain stable production. Nevertheless, its exceptional packaging results and high efficiency continue to make it a preferred choice among premium beverage suppliers.

Structure of Bottle-Use Heat Shrink Tunnel

Like all shrink tunnels, the structure of a bottle shrink tunnel consists of a conveyor system and a heating chamber, designed to uniformly feed bottles into the chamber and complete the heating and shrinking process. For multi-bottle water packs, the packaging path remains consistent with other products, except that the entire bundle is covered with shrink film as it passes through the conveyor belt.

For single-bottle sleeve-style shrink equipment, it is typically integrated with a shrink sleeve label machine at the front end. The conveyor system can be selected based on bottle characteristics, including rail-type or other customized solutions.

The Types of Heat Shrink Tunnel For Bottles

When choosing a heat shrink tunnel, you can choose based on its working principle and structure. Different types of shrink tunnels have their own unique advantages and are suitable for different production needs. Although heat shrink tunnels are usually categorized by their working principle, Flexshrink also offers shrink tunnels for your canned products, categorized by structure.

Benchtop Heat Shrink Tunnel for Bottles

Benchtop or desktop shrink tunnels are typically used in small to medium-sized factories or scenarios requiring the processing of small-sized bottled products. For instance, consumer goods like milk bottles and olive oil bottles can achieve neat shrink packaging through this compact equipment.

Typical specifications for these tunnels include: supporting bottled products with widths under 11 inches and heights under 6 inches, achieving production efficiency of approximately 600 packages per hour, with conveyor belt speeds adjustable within the 0–30 fpm range.

Modular Heat Shrink Tunnel for Battles

Most of these shrink machines are fully automatic, equipped with an L-type or I-type sealer, and typically reach a capacity of approximately 3,600 bottles per hour. They are ideal for handling medium- to large-volume bottled products, such as drums of edible oil or the multi-format bottles commonly found in beverage plants.

Our modular shrink machines typically utilize a 304 stainless steel frame design. This ensures sufficient rigidity while providing a degree of flexibility, meeting the high hygiene standards and continuous operation requirements of the food and beverage industry.

Heat Shrink Tunnel for Bottle with Conveyor

This machine is primarily used for large-scale production or large-package bottled products, such as cases of bottled products or promotional packs. Its wide belt ensures stable and fast transport, but it also places high demands on the stability of the product itself.

The Advantages of Heat Shrink Tunnels For Bottles

Beautiful Packaging

Our shrink tunnels ensure that the shrink film adheres perfectly to the bottled product, creating a consistent, transparent packaging. This is particularly important in industries like food and pharmaceuticals, where packaging appearance and integrity are paramount.

Highly Efficient

Compared to manual or tape packaging, our shrink wrappers can continuously wrap hundreds of bottles in a short time. They can also be connected to production equipment, enabling a complete, integrated production process from raw material processing to finished product.

Safety

Heat shrink package not only protects bottled products from contamination caused by dust and moisture, but also reduces the impact of collisions and movement during transportation on product quality.

Long Term Cost-Effectiveness

Although the initial cost is high, heat shrink packaging allows for fully automated and efficient packaging of bottled products. The entire process requires no human intervention, significantly reducing labor costs and improving production efficiency.

How to Choose The Right Heat Shrink Tunnel for Bottles

If you’re looking for a heat shrink tunnel that’s perfectly tailored to your product, the first consideration is the shrinkage rate—how much the shrink film shrinks after wrapping. Typically, the initial shrinkage rate for bottled products is around 55%, meaning it shrinks by half. However, depending on the product’s needs, a shrinkage rate of 65% to 70% can be selected to ensure the film completely wraps the product and remains thick and durable.

In addition, the heating method should be selected based on the product’s characteristics. For example, for empty plastic bottles, infrared heating is more suitable than a steam-heated shrink machine, as heat and moisture can cause the plastic to deform.

Conclusion

For bottled products, shrink wrapping machines are an efficient and reliable packaging solution. They not only deliver lasting economic benefits but also create a neat and attractive packaging, making them an essential part in the production lines of manufacturers and suppliers in beverages, beverages, and other multi-purpose bottled products areas. 

Flexshrink offers fully customized shrink wrapping tunnels to ensure the optimal packaging appearance for your bottled products. Contact us now to order shrink wrapping tunnels for your bottles.