EP-4735231-A1 - METHOD FOR OPERATING A BLOW-MOULDING MACHINE

Abstract

A method for operating a blow-moulding machine, wherein the following are successively carried out in an initialization process: a gripper of the changing robot is in each case guided into a storage position of a multiplicity of blow moulds and in each case the positional coordinates of the storage positions are saved in a control device and wherein subsequently, in a changing process, the changing robot moves the gripper into at least one storage position on the basis of the positional coordinates.

Inventors

• GERKENS, André

Assignees

• KHS GmbH

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240517

Claims (17)

1. 1. Method for position comparison between a gripper (3) of a changing robot of a container treatment plant, in particular a blow molding machine, and a treatment part to be gripped, wherein in an initialization process the gripper (3) of the changing robot (2) is guided one after the other into a storage position of a plurality of treatment parts (1) and the position coordinates of the storage positions are stored in a control device (8) and wherein subsequently in a changing process the changing robot (2) moves the gripper (3) into at least one storage position on the basis of the position coordinates.
2. 2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the treatment parts in the storage position are arranged in a common storage facility outside the container treatment plant.
3. 3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein in the initialization process the gripper (3) is successively guided into a molding position of a plurality of treatment parts in the blow molding machine and the position coordinates of the molding position are stored in a control device (8) and wherein subsequently in the changing process the changing robot (2) moves the gripper (3) into at least one molding position on the basis of the position coordinates.
4. 4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the changing robot (2) initially moves the gripper (3) into a pre-position during the initialization process, from which the gripper (3) is then moved by a substantially rectilinear movement along a guide direction into the storage position or into the forming position.
5. 5. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the changing robot (2) has a force measuring device (7), wherein the position coordinates of the storage position and/or the mold position are stored as soon as the force measuring device (7) detects no force transverse to the guide direction.
6. 6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein in the initialization process a second gripper (3) of the changing robot (2) is successively guided into a storage position of a plurality of treatment parts and the position coordinates of the storage positions are stored in the control device (8) and wherein subsequently in the changing process the changing robot (2) moves the second gripper (3) into at least one storage position on the basis of the position coordinates.
7. 7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein in the initialization process the second gripper (3) is successively guided into a molding position of a plurality of treatment parts in the container treatment system and the position coordinates of the molding position are stored in the control device (8) and wherein subsequently in a changeover process the changeover robot (2) moves the second gripper (3) into at least one molding position on the basis of the position coordinates.
8. 8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the grippers (3) are each guided into the storage positions and/or the forming positions via guide pins (5) arranged parallel to the guide direction on the treatment parts.
9. 9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the container treatment plant is a blow molding machine and a plurality of Circumferentially arranged on a rotatably drivable blowing wheel, magazine locations for receiving treatment parts designed at least partially as blow molds (1), and wherein all magazine locations are occupied by a blow mold (1) for determining the position coordinates of the mold positions in the initialization process.
10. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein after determining the position coordinates of a mold position in the initialization process, the blowing wheel is rotated by an angular position.
11. 11. Method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein in the changeover process the gripper (3) grips a blow mold (1) in the storage position and places it in the molding position in the corresponding magazine location of the blowing wheel or grips a blow mold (1) in the molding position in the corresponding magazine location of the blowing wheel and places it in the storage position.
12. 12. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein in the changeover process the second gripper (3) grips a treatment part designed as a base mold in the storage position and places it in the molding position in the corresponding magazine location of the blowing wheel or grips a base mold in the molding position in the corresponding magazine location of the blowing wheel and places it in the storage position.
13. 13. Container treatment system for treating containers, in particular beverage containers, and an associated changing robot (2), wherein the changing robot (2) is associated with a control device (8) which is designed to carry out the method according to one of the preceding claims.
14. 14. Container treatment plant according to claim 13, wherein the changing robot has a force measuring device (7) at least for detecting forces transverse to the guide direction, wherein the force measuring device can be connected to the control device via a signal connection.
15. 15. Container treatment plant according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the treatment plant is a blow molding machine which has a rotatably driven blowing wheel with a plurality of magazine positions arranged in the circumferential direction.
16. 16. Container treatment plant according to one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the blow molding machine and the changing robot (2) have a common control device (8).
17. 17. Container treatment arrangement with a container treatment system according to one of claims 13 to 16, wherein a treatment part is arranged on the gripper (3).

Description

Method for operating a blow molding machine Description: The present invention relates to a method for position adjustment between a gripper of a changing robot of a container treatment plant, in particular a blow molding machine, and a treatment part to be gripped. Such container treatment systems are basically known from the prior art, whereby the invention preferably refers to blow molding machines, in particular for the production of beverage containers. These beverage containers can be, for example, beverage bottles made of a thermoplastic, in particular polyethylene terephthalate (PET). For blow molding, so-called preforms are usually first prepared and heated in a heating device. The heating causes the material of the preforms to soften and the preforms can thus be more easily deformed when exposed to a fluid. The actual forming then takes place in the blow molding machine. The blow molding machine has at least one blow mold, which forms a blow cavity with a contour that corresponds to the shape of the container or beverage bottle to be manufactured. Accordingly, the blow mold determines both the size and the shape of the containers to be manufactured and a change is required if different types of containers are to be manufactured. The blow molds are usually changed by removing the blow molds of a first set arranged in the blow molding machine and placing them in a storage device. From this or another Blow molds from a second set can then be removed from the storage facility and placed in the blow molding machine. The change can generally be done manually. However, it is now also common practice to carry out the change automatically using changing robots. Such an embodiment is disclosed, for example, in DE 102017 120 774 A1 and EP 2 878 425 B1. Here, the changing robot uses a gripper to automatically approach the blow molds in the storage device or the blow molding machine and grips them in order to change the blow molds within the blow molding machine. For such an automated change, it is necessary for the change robot to know the individual position coordinates of storage positions, e.g. in the storage facility, so that it can easily grip the blow molds during the change process. In this context, the storage position means a position that the change robot must move to with the gripper in order to be able to grip the blow mold. In principle, the storage positions of the blow molds are predetermined and are determined, for example, by the design of the storage device. However, it has also been shown in practice that the individual storage positions can deviate slightly from their target position, so that the changing robot must be brought into line with the deviating position coordinates. In practice, this is usually done by adjusting the position coordinates in the control device until the exact storage position is reached. However, this process is complex and impractical, especially when there are a large number of blow molds. Although particular reference is made to blow molding machines as an example, this problem also arises in other container treatment plants, which are also equipped with other treatment parts instead of blow molds. The invention is based on the object of specifying a method which simplifies and optimizes the setup of a container treatment plant. The subject matter of the invention is a method according to claim 1. Accordingly, in an initialization process, a gripper, in particular a first gripper, of the changeover robot is guided one after the other into a storage position of a plurality of treatment parts and the position coordinates of the storage position are stored in a control device. Then, in a changeover process, the changeover robot moves the gripper based on the position coordinates into at least one of the storage positions. Accordingly, the invention provides that the actual change process, in which the treatment parts are exchanged, is preceded by an initialization process in which the storage positions of the treatment parts are determined. For this purpose, the gripper of the change robot is guided to the storage position. After reaching the storage position, the position coordinates are then recorded using a recording device and stored in the control device. Accordingly, the position coordinates of the individual storage positions can be determined one after the other. In this context, an embodiment is to be regarded as particularly preferred in which the treatment parts in the storage position are stored in a common storage facility outside the container treatment system. Such storage facilities are a type of storage magazine, in which the treatment parts can be stored together outside the container treatment system. The individual storage positions are then moved to with the gripper and the position coordinates are determined. During the recording of the storage positions, the individual treatment parts are preferably not gripped during the initialization p