Trace the bottle status
Define whether a bottle interrupted during the rinse is reprocessed, rejected, quarantined or removed manually.
Controls guide
Bottle rinser controls, sensors and interlocks.
Define how the rinse stage detects bottles, protects operators, responds to faults and exchanges signals with the surrounding line.
Functional design
The control brief should describe production behaviour, not only the control panel.
A bottle rinser sits between bottle handling and filling, so its controls must manage more than a rinse valve. The project should define bottle-present detection, queue control, permissives from utilities, guarding, stop categories, alarm recovery, recipe or format settings and upstream/downstream handshakes. The required detail depends on whether the machine is operator-fed, indexed, rotary or continuously conveyor-fed.
Safety functions and guarding must be assessed for the actual installation by competent parties. The UK Health and Safety Executive explains that work equipment should be suitable, safely used by trained people, inspected and maintained. This guide is a project-planning aid and does not replace a machinery risk assessment or the supplier's safety documentation. See the HSE work equipment and machinery guidance.
Signal schedule
Agree the minimum operating states before FAT.
Function
Question for the user requirement
Acceptance check
Bottle detection
How is a correctly positioned bottle confirmed before rinsing?
Challenge missed, doubled and misaligned bottles
No-bottle-no-rinse logic
Should air or water be inhibited when no valid bottle is present?
Run controlled gaps and confirm the programmed response
Utility permissives
What happens if air pressure, water level, extraction or another service is unavailable?
Simulate each permissive and confirm alarm, stop and recovery behaviour
Line handshake
Which machine owns start, stop, blocked and starved states?
Test upstream and downstream accumulation and recovery
Fault recovery
What happens to bottles inside the machine after an interruption?
Document restart, manual removal and quarantine rules
Format settings
Which guides, timers, positions or recipes change between bottles?
Complete a recorded changeover and verify the selected format
FAT and SAT
Test abnormal states as well as a smooth production run.
A sustained run shows that the machine can operate, but fault tests show whether it can recover without sending unverified bottles forward. The FAT and SAT plan should include blocked discharge, starved infeed, sensor obstruction, utility loss, guard opening, emergency stop, power recovery and product changeover where relevant.
Separate alarm and stop causes
Make utility, sensor, guard and line-state messages clear enough for an operator to respond correctly.
Record safe recovery
Include restart instructions, authorised access and checks after intervention in training and handover records.
Bottle rinser FAT and SAT
Convert the signal schedule into observable, recorded test steps.
Post-rinse inspection
Plan how bottles that fail an inspection or rinse status are contained.
Line integration support
Review conveyors, accumulation, controls and filler handover as one system.
Include the control philosophy with the bottle and layout information.
Lancing can review the required line handshakes, utility permissives and acceptance tests alongside the mechanical rinse route.