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EP-4740158-A1 - METHOD FOR THE TRACEABILITY OF CONTAINERS COMPRISING FIBERS AND PRODUCTION SYSTEM FOR PRODUCING AND TRACING CONTAINERS COMPRISING FIBERS

EP4740158A1EP 4740158 A1EP4740158 A1EP 4740158A1EP-4740158-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the traceability of containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers, said containers being produced in production stations (15, 16, 17) of a production system. The production stations are located along a linear conveyor in order to transfer the containers comprising fibers to the linear conveyor by means of transfer devices (18, 19, 20) associated with the respective production stations, the containers comprising fibers being traceable to the production station in which they were produced. The method comprises detecting movement of the linear conveyor, producing a container comprising fibers in one of the production stations, transferring the produced container comprising fibers to a position region (21, 22, 23) on the linear conveyor by means of a transfer device (18, 19, 20) associated with the production station and associating the position region with the container comprising fibers, storing information regarding the production station in which the container comprising fibers was produced, transporting the container comprising fibers to an inspection device by means of the linear conveyor, inspecting the container comprising fibers by means of the inspection device in order to obtain an inspection result, storing information regarding the inspection result, and changing operation of the production station on the basis of the stored information regarding the production station and the stored information regarding the inspection result. The invention also relates to a production system for producing and tracing containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers.

Inventors

  • LINDNER, PETER

Assignees

  • Krones AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240527

Claims (16)

  1. 1. Method for the traceability of containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers which are manufactured in production stations (15, 16, 17) of a production plant, wherein the production stations (15, 16, 17) are arranged along a linear conveyor (1) of the production plant in order to transfer the containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers to the linear conveyor (1) by means of transfer devices (18, 19, 20) respectively assigned to the production stations (15, 16, 17), wherein the traceability of the containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers is provided to the production station (15, 16, 17) in which they were manufactured, wherein the method comprises: - detecting a movement of the linear conveyor (1), - producing a container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres in one of the production stations (15, 16, 17), - transferring the container (3, 4, 5) containing the produced fibres to a position area (21, 22, 23) on the linear conveyor (1) using a transfer device (18, 19, 20) associated with the production station (15, 16, 17) and assigning the position area (21, 22, 23) to the container (3, 4, 5) containing the fibres, - storing information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) in which the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres was manufactured, - transporting the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres by means of the linear conveyor (1) to an inspection device (7), - inspecting the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibers by means of the inspection device (7) to obtain an inspection result, - Storing information about the inspection result, - changing an operation of the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) based on the stored information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) and the stored information on the inspection result.
  2. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein changing the operation of the production station (15, 16, 17) comprises regulating the transfer device (18, 19, 20), for example regulating a speed of the transfer device (18, 19, 20), so that after the container (3, 4, 5) comprising produced fibers has been transferred to the position area (21, 22, 23), only the container (3, 4, 5) comprising said fibers is located in said position area (21, 22, 23).
  3. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising: - storing information on a pressing pressure during production in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a temperature in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a batch of pulp comprising the fibres and used for producing the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and/or on a water content of the pulp and/or on the fibres in the pulp.
  4. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: - storing information about a label to be applied to the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers, and/or about a product to be filled into the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers, and/or into which package the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers is to be incorporated, for example after filling, closing and labeling, and/or for which customer the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibers is intended.
  5. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: - arranging a two-dimensional code on the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and - Storing information about the two-dimensional code.
  6. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: - arranging a transponder on the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and - Storing information about the transponder.
  7. 7. The method according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein detecting a movement of the linear conveyor (1) comprises receiving and decoding register signals of a rotary encoder (2) of the linear conveyor (1).
  8. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the position range (21, 22, 23) of the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibers on the conveyor (1) comprises a plurality of registers of the rotary encoder (2).
  9. 9. The method according to one of claims 1 to 8, wherein changing an operation of the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) based on the stored information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) and the stored information on the inspection result comprises controlling the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) based on the stored information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) and the stored information on the inspection result.
  10. 10. The method according to one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising assigning a virtual container to the container comprising fibers (3, 4, 5), for example according to the decoded register signal of the rotary encoder (2), wherein - the information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) in which the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres was manufactured, and/or - the information on the inspection result and/or - information on a pressing pressure during production in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a temperature in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a batch of pulp comprising the fibres and used for producing the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and/or on a water content of the pulp and/or on the fibres in the pulp and/or - the information on a label to be applied to the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres and/or on a product to be filled into the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres and/or into which package the container containing fibres is to be incorporated, for example after filling, closing and labelling, and/or for which customer the container containing fibres (3, 4, 5) is intended and/or - the information about the two-dimensional code and/or - the information about the transponder is stored in the virtual container.
  11. 11. Manufacturing plant for producing and tracing containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres, the manufacturing plant comprising: - a linear conveyor (1), - a plurality of production stations (15, 16, 17) for containers (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres, which are arranged along the linear conveyor (1), wherein each production station (15, 16, 17) is associated with a transfer device (18, 19, 20) for transferring a container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres to a position area (21, 22, 23) on the linear conveyor (1), - a device for detecting a movement of the linear conveyor (1), - an inspection device for inspecting containers (3, 4, 5) containing fibres to obtain an inspection result, - a storage device for storing information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) in which the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres was manufactured and for storing information on the inspection result, - a device for changing an operation of the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) based on the stored information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) and the stored information on the inspection result.
  12. 12. The manufacturing plant according to claim 11, wherein the device for changing an operation of the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) based on the stored information on the manufacturing station (15, 16, 17) and the stored information on the inspection result is further designed to control the transfer device (18, 19, 20), for example to control a speed of the transfer device (18, 19, 20), so that after a container (3, 4, 5) comprising manufactured fibers has been transferred to a position area (21, 22, 23), only the container (3, 4, 5) comprising this fiber is located in this position area (21, 22, 23).
  13. 13. The manufacturing plant according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising: - a device for arranging a two-dimensional code on a container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and/or - a device for arranging a transponder on a container comprising fibres (3, 4, 5).
  14. 14. The manufacturing plant according to one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the storage device is further configured to store: - information on a pressing pressure during production in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a temperature in the production station (15, 16, 17) and/or on a batch of pulp comprising the fibres and used for producing the container (3, 4, 5) comprising fibres and/or on a water content of the pulp and/or on the fibres in the pulp and/or - information on a label to be applied to the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres and/or on a product to be filled into the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres and/or into which package the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres is to be incorporated, for example after filling, closing and labelling, and/or for which customer the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres is intended and/or - information on a two-dimensional code arranged on the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres and/or - Information about the transponder arranged on the container (3, 4, 5) containing fibres.
  15. 15. The manufacturing plant according to one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the linear conveyor (1) comprises a rotary encoder (2).
  16. 16. The manufacturing plant according to claim 15, wherein the device for detecting a movement of the linear conveyor (1) is further designed to receive and decode register signals of the rotary encoder (2) of the linear conveyor (1).

Description

Method for the traceability of containers containing fibres and manufacturing plant for producing and tracing containers containing fibres The invention relates to a method for the traceability of containers comprising fibers and a manufacturing plant for producing and tracing containers comprising fibers according to the independent claims. State of the art EP 0 793 569 B1 discloses an inspection method for checking bias-molded containers after manufacture in a carousel molding device comprising a plurality of cavities for molding preforms into containers. The containers may comprise PET, PEN or similar materials. After molding, the containers are oriented to a transfer arm at a known angle of rotation and are in a known order. By means of the inspection method, it is possible to determine as a reason for quality defects of the manufactured containers not only a shape of the carousel molding device by which they were molded, but also other stages of the manufacturing process. For the manufacture of containers comprising fibres, for example made from a pulp comprising the fibres, it may not be possible to manufacture the containers comprising fibres using a carousel moulding device due to the longer manufacturing time compared to PET or PEN containers Task The object of the invention is to provide a method for the traceability of containers comprising fibers and a manufacturing plant for producing and tracing containers comprising fibers, which can enable adaptation of the operation of the manufacturing stations for producing containers comprising fibers. Solution The object is achieved by the method for the traceability of containers comprising fibers and the production plant for producing and tracing containers comprising fibers according to the independent claims. Further embodiments are disclosed in the subclaims. The method according to the invention for the traceability of containers comprising fibres which are produced in production stations of a production plant, wherein the production stations are arranged along a linear conveyor of the production plant in order to Transferring containers comprising fibers to the linear conveyor by means of transfer devices assigned to the production stations, wherein the traceability of the containers comprising fibers to the production station in which they were produced is provided, comprises detecting a movement of the linear conveyor, producing a container comprising fibers in one of the production stations, transferring the produced container comprising fibers to a position area on the linear conveyor using a transfer device assigned to the production station and assigning the position area to the container comprising fibers, storing information about the production station in which the container comprising fibers was produced, transporting the container comprising fibers to an inspection device by means of the linear conveyor, inspecting the container comprising fibers by means of the inspection device to obtain an inspection result, storing information about the inspection result and changing an operation of the production station based on the stored information about the production station and the stored information about the inspection result. For the manufacture of containers comprising fibres, for example using pulp, the provision of a rotary machine may be disadvantageous due to the time required to manufacture a container comprising fibres. Therefore, a linear conveyor is provided, with the manufacturing stations being arranged along the linear conveyor of the manufacturing plant. The manufacturing stations may be arranged on one side or on both sides of the linear conveyor. For example, the production stations can be arranged in such a way that a container comprising fibers that has been produced can be transferred from one of the production stations to a position area on the linear conveyor using a transfer device assigned to the production station, without it being arranged in the position area wholly or partially together with another container comprising fibers. The fibers can comprise lignin, banana leaves and/or quinine. The fibers can comprise, for example, cellulose fibers, fibers from conifers, deciduous trees and/or plane trees and/or from grasses, reeds and/or bamboo or the like. The fibers can comprise silk threads, spider threads, algae, natural fibers (such as Danube silphium fibers, hemp, corn, cotton), banana peels, orange peels, grass, straw, potato starch or processed cow dung. Cellulose fibers can also be provided that come from a process by which they were artificially grown. These alternative materials can completely or partially replace the basic material in the event of a shortage of wood as a basic material for a fluid mass with fibers. The fibers may comprise fiber blends of non-wood materials, such as cotton, hemp, and/or textile fibers. For example, the fibers may comprise viscose fibers. A viscose fiber is a man-made fib