For an estate wine bottling line with a rinser, filler, corker, capper and labeller, a 4-in-1 screw compressor of 1.1 m³/min such as the K 75 is often enough. A faster line, with a case packer and a palletiser, calls for a K 110 or a K 150 instead. The calculation is done machine by machine, and the air that touches the bottle goes through fine filters.
Bottling is only one of the air uses in a winery: our page on the compressor for wineries covers the whole picture, from presses to cleaning.
Machine by machine
- Rinser or air blower: a jet of air drives water or dust out of the empty bottle. This is the air that touches the inside of the packaging.
- Filler: pneumatic valves and cylinders. Flushing the bottle with inert gas, or pulling a vacuum, when the filler does it, uses a gas or a vacuum pump, not the compressor.
- Corker: the jaws that squeeze the cork and the plunger that drives it in work on every bottle.
- Capper or capsule head: pneumatic screwing or crimping heads.
- Labeller: cylinders and positioning blowers.
- End of line: case packer, case sealer, palletiser.
The calculation, step by step
Step 1. Read the air consumption and working pressure on each data sheet, often around 6 bar. If the sheet gives litres per cycle, multiply by the throughput in bottles per minute.
Step 2. Add up all the machines on the line: they run together. The cleaning blow gun is counted at 50%.
Step 3. Add a 25% margin, as our configurator does.
Example of an estate line (figures for guidance only, replace them with those from your data sheets):
- rinser: 150 l/min
- filler: 100 l/min
- corker: 200 l/min
- capper: 150 l/min
- labeller: 100 l/min
- blow gun: 150 l/min counted at 50% = 75 l/min
- total: 775 l/min, or about 970 l/min with the margin
The K 75, 1.1 m³/min at 8 bar with a 420 L tank, covers this line. Our flow and pressure converter turns m³/min into l/min if a data sheet uses another unit.
Which model for your line?
| Line | Recommended model |
|---|---|
| Estate line, as in the example | K 75, 1.1 m³/min at 8 bar |
| Faster line, with a case packer | K 110, 1.7 m³/min at 8 bar |
| Complete line with a palletiser | K 150, 2.2 m³/min at 8 bar |
The press and the line: add up or alternate?
In many wineries, bottling does not take place during harvest. If that is your case, the same compressor serves the press in the autumn and the line the rest of the year: size it on the larger of the two needs, not on their sum. If both run at the same time, add them up. If you use a mobile bottling contractor, ask whether they bring their own compressor before you size yours.
Air that touches the bottle
The air that drives valves and cylinders touches nothing: the dried, filtered air of the K series suits it. The rinser air, on the other hand, goes into the bottle. Our compressors are lubricated: add fine filters as close as possible to the rinser. The air class under ISO 8573-1 is set with our technicians, the line supplier and your quality manager. Our article on brewery compressed air and ISO 8573-1 explains how to read these classes for air that touches packaging.
Pitfalls specific to bottling
- Pressure dropping at the labeller. A labeller at the end of the line, on a long hose, can run short of air when the corker is working. Set the compressor to 8 bar and bring the air through a fixed pipe of the right diameter.
- A cool, damp cellar. Install the compressor outside the cellar, in a dry, ventilated room. Our article on the compressor room sets out the rules.
- Condensate. It contains oil: do not send it out with the washing water. An automatic condensate drain and a collector deal with it.
- Clogged filters. A clogged fine filter loses pressure and no longer protects. Change the elements when the manufacturer says.
Enter your machines in the configurator, then send us the data sheets of your line with a quote request.
For your trade: Compressor for wineries.