Executive summary A pillow flow wrapper turns a reel of flat film into a tube around each product, seals it along the bottom and closes it at both ends. Our automatic pillow flow wrapper does this in one continuous run on a belt conveyor, so each long product leaves in its own sealed, see-through pack. The film width follows from the product’s width and height, and the bag length from its length. Both are set per project to your product.
Table of Contents
- What the machine does
- How the pillow wrapper works
- Working out film width
- Working out bag length
- Controls and safety
- Selection checklist for a pillow flow wrapper
- Engineering FAQ
- Next step
- Related reading
- Sources
What the machine does
An automatic pillow flow wrapping machine packages elongated rigid or semi-rigid items—extruded sections, pipes, bars, conduit or bundled rods—inside a continuous protective envelope. The cycle runs inline and uninterrupted:
- Continuous infeed. Products travel horizontally along the infeed conveyor, holding a fixed centreline and orientation.
- Tubular film forming. A continuous web of roll-fed film is drawn over a forming collar and wraps around the perimeter of the moving product.
- Continuous sealing. Heated fin wheels make a longitudinal seal underneath the product, while rotary sealing jaws close and cut the tube between products.
- Discharge. Each workpiece leaves fully enclosed in its own sealed, transparent, dust- and moisture-resistant film wrap, ready for stacking or dispatch.
Because the conveyor, film feed rollers and sealing carriage run in synchronism, the product passes through the wrapping station without stopping. Each pack is formed, sealed and cut around the moving product in one pass.
How the pillow wrapper works
The conversion from flat film reel to finished pack takes place across five stations:
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Infeed | The product is placed on the infeed and carried in on the belt |
| Forming | The flat film is folded into a tube around the product |
| Long seal | The two film edges are sealed together under the product |
| End seal and cut | Sealing jaws close the tube between products and cut it |
| Discharge | The sealed pack leaves on the outfeed |
The long seal runs the full length of the pack and the end seals close it at both ends, so each pack is sealed on three sides from a single reel of film. No pre-made bags are involved: the machine folds, seals and cuts each pack directly from rollstock, which removes manual bagging labour and the cost of ready-made bags.
Working out film width
The reel width follows from the outer perimeter of the product section plus an allowance for the longitudinal seal. Illustrative example for a product 60 mm wide and 60 mm high, with 30 mm allowed for the long seal:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Product width | 60 mm |
| Product height | 60 mm |
| Section perimeter, 2 × (60 + 60) | 240 mm |
| Long seal allowance (illustrative) | 30 mm |
| Film width, 240 + 30 | 270 mm |
A loose pack needs a little more film round the section, and a tight pack less; soft or compressible products can run tighter web geometry than rigid, sharp-edged bars. Printed film also needs a print mark on each pack length, so the sealing jaws cut between prints and the graphics stay centred on each part. Film slip and heat-seal behaviour differ between clear, laminated and barrier films, so run a trial on your product before you order film in quantity.
Working out bag length
Each pack is the product length plus room for the two end seals. Illustrative example for a 700 mm product with 40 mm left at each end:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Product length | 700 mm |
| End allowance, 2 × 40 mm | 80 mm |
| Pack length | 780 mm |
| Film per pack, 780 mm × 270 mm wide | 0.21 m² |
The end allowance keeps the sealing jaws clear of the part ends when they weld and separate the film. Square, deburred ends run safely at tighter margins; products with uneven end-cuts, burrs or flex need longer allowances so the jaws do not catch them. The pack length is set per product in the program.
Controls and safety
The machine runs from a PLC with an operator panel that carries the run lights, temperature zones and settings. The drive rollers and sealing jaws present pinch and hot-surface hazards, so the sealing section sits behind a fixed guard with viewing panels, and hands stay out of the jaw area while the machine runs.
The standards that apply depend on the destination market. For CE markets, ISO 12100 sets the risk-assessment method and EN 415-10 sets general requirements for packaging machines.
Selection checklist for a pillow flow wrapper
- Product length, width and height, smallest to largest.
- Products per minute.
- Clear or printed film.
- Single products or small bundles per pack.
- How the products reach the infeed: by hand or by conveyor.
- Whether a shrink tunnel is needed after sealing.
Engineering FAQ
Q: What products suit a pillow flow wrapper? A: Products that can lie on a belt and travel through the machine one after another. Long rods, bars and profiles work when the forming collar and pack length are set to suit the product.
Q: How wide does the film need to be? A: About twice the product width plus twice its height, plus the long seal allowance. Our 60 × 60 mm example needs 270 mm film.
Q: How long is each pack? A: The product length plus both end allowances. Our 700 mm example makes a 780 mm pack.
Q: Does it need pre-made bags? A: No. It forms each pack from a single reel of flat film.
Q: Can it add a shrink tunnel? A: A shrink tunnel can be added after sealing for a tighter pack. Tell us if you need it.
Next step
We plan your pillow flow wrapper in three steps:
- Submit your layout drawing with product sizes and output to info@fhopepack.com.
- Receive a proposal within 48 hours, with the film width and pack plan.
- Book a site survey to check the infeed and floor space.
Related reading
- Flow wrapping and shrinking machine
- E300 horizontal stretch wrapper
- Video: automatic bagging machine for tube and pipe
Sources
- Machine content: FHOPE engineering team, 2026-10-04
- Film and pack examples: our worked examples, illustrative values
- Machine in action: the machine running on YouTube
- Standards scope: ISO 12100:2010, EN 415-10:2014
Last reviewed: 2026-10-29
