The freestanding Model NERO Rotary Orienter accepts incoming containers directly from an existing customer pass through conveyor by means of a feed screw and infeed starwheel. The starwheel smoothly transfers the containers to platforms on the multi-station orienting turret. Each container is transferred into its individual orienting station that descends and captures the container at the neck finish to give the container full axial stability.

With the container fully captured in an orienting station on the rotary turret, sensors detect discriminating features for orientation. The type of sensing mechanisms employed will depend on customer application and may consist of photoelectric sensors, proximity sensors, UPC scanners or vision systems. If the sensors detect the container is correctly oriented, the container continues through the turret without further action. If the sensors determine the container to be incorrectly oriented, the lower mechanism gently rotates the container 90, 180 or 270 degrees based on the number of sidesurfaces and required discharge orientation.

Once the containers have passed the sensing and orienting points within the turret, a discharge starwheel transfers the containers back to the conveyor on which the containers entered the system. The orienter speed matches the conveyor speed and is dependent on the desired throughput speed. The NERO Orienting System may include as many as 30 orienting stations within a single turret, allowing the system to orient as many as 600 containers per minute.