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EP-4741137-A1 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING PLASTIC CONTAINERS WITH ALLOCATION OF PRODUCTION CAVITIES

EP4741137A1EP 4741137 A1EP4741137 A1EP 4741137A1EP-4741137-A1

Abstract

Device (1) for manufacturing plastic containers, comprising a manufacturing unit (2) for manufacturing plastic preforms (10), wherein this manufacturing unit (2) has a plurality of manufacturing cavities (22), and a forming unit (6) which is suitable and intended for forming the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2) into plastic containers (20), a transport unit (8) which transports the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2) to the forming unit (6) along a predetermined transport path, and a heating unit (4) which heats the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2), characterized in that the device (1) has at least one first inspection unit (11-19) which is suitable and intended for detecting at least one physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2), and the device (1) further has a first The system includes an allocation device (32) which is suitable and intended to allocate to an inspected plastic preform (10) the manufacturing cavity (22) which produced that plastic preform (10).

Inventors

  • GELTINGER, FLORIAN

Assignees

  • Krones AG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251030

Claims (15)

  1. Device (1) for manufacturing plastic containers, comprising a manufacturing unit (2) for manufacturing plastic preforms (10), wherein this manufacturing unit (2) has a plurality of manufacturing cavities (22), each of which is suitable and intended for forming individual plastic preforms (10), and a forming unit (6), which is suitable and intended for forming the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2) into plastic containers, wherein this forming unit (6) has a plurality of forming stations (62), each of which is suitable and intended for forming plastic preforms (10) into the plastic containers, a transport device (8) which transports the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2) to the forming unit (6) along a predetermined transport path, and a heating device (4) which heats the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing unit (2), wherein this heating device (4) is arranged between the manufacturing device (2) and the forming device (6), characterized in that the device (1) comprises at least one first inspection device (11-19) which is suitable and intended to detect at least one physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) and to output at least one first value which is characteristic of this physical property and the device (1) further comprises a first assignment device (32) which is suitable and intended to assign to an inspected plastic preform (10) the manufacturing cavity (22) which produced this plastic preform (10).
  2. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that the manufacturing apparatus (2) includes a control device which is suitable and intended to control and, in particular, regulate the manufacturing apparatus (2) taking into account this first value.
  3. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the production of the plastic preforms in the individual production cavities (22) is individually controllable and/or at least one parameter characteristic for the production of the plastic preforms (10) in the production cavities is individually controllable for each production cavity.
  4. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the first inspection device is located in the area of the heating device (4).
  5. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the first inspection device is arranged at a predetermined position along the transport path of the plastic preforms, wherein this position is advantageously selected from a group of positions which includes a feeding device which feeds the plastic preforms to the heating device, a deflecting wheel of the transport device which reverses a transport direction of the plastic preforms, or a feeding device which feeds the plastic preforms to the forming device.
  6. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the device (1) has a further inspection device (25) for inspecting the plastic preforms, wherein this further inspection device is preferably arranged at an outlet of the manufacturing device (2).
  7. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the device (1) has a second inspection device (12, 14, 16) which is suitable and intended to detect at least one physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) and to output at least one first value which is characteristic of this physical property and in particular the first inspection device and the second inspection device are arranged at different positions of the transport path.
  8. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the at least one physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) is selected from a group of properties which includes a property of a side wall of the plastic preform such as, in particular but not exclusively, a thickness or transparency, a property of an opening of the plastic preform such as, in particular, a property of a thread of the plastic preform or a property of a support ring of the plastic preform, a color of the plastic preform, an infrared absorption coefficient of the plastic preform, a temperature of the plastic preform, a property of a preform gate of the plastic preform and the like.
  9. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the device has a second assignment device which assigns to an inspected plastic preform (10) the forming station which forms this plastic preform into a plastic container.
  10. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that at least two different inspection devices are provided, which are suitable and intended for inspecting at least two areas of the plastic preforms that differ, particularly in the longitudinal direction, wherein these different areas are preferably selected from a group of areas which comprise an opening area of the plastic preforms, contains a base body of the plastic preforms and a bottom area of the plastic preforms.
  11. Device (1) according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the device has at least one rejection device which is suitable for rejecting plastic preforms inspected by at least one inspection device from a transport path and in particular a transport path between the manufacturing device and the forming device (6).
  12. A method for manufacturing plastic containers, wherein a manufacturing device (2) produces plastic preforms (10), wherein this manufacturing device (2) has a plurality of manufacturing cavities (22) which each form individual plastic preforms (10), and wherein a forming device (6) forms the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) into plastic containers (20), wherein this forming device (6) has a plurality of forming stations (62) which each form the plastic preforms (10) into the plastic containers, and wherein a transport device (8) transports the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) to the forming device (6) along a predetermined transport path, and a heating device (4) heats the plastic preforms (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2), wherein this heating device (4) is located between the manufacturing device (2) and the forming device (6). is arranged characterized by the fact that the device (1) comprises at least one first inspection device (12, 14, 16) which detects at least one physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) and outputs at least one first value that is characteristic of this physical property and the device (1) further comprises an assignment device which assigns to an inspected plastic preform (10) the manufacturing cavity (22) which produced this plastic preform (10).
  13. Procedure according to the preceding claim, characterized by the fact that the manufacturing facility (2) is controlled at least temporarily using the first value.
  14. Methods according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the forming device (6) is controlled at least temporarily using the first value.
  15. Methods according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that the device (1) has at least one second inspection device (12, 14, 16) which detects at least one second physical property of a plastic preform (10) produced by the manufacturing device (2) and outputs at least one second value that is characteristic of this physical property, wherein preferably the first value is assigned to the second value.

Description

The present invention relates to a device and a method for manufacturing plastic containers. Such devices and methods have long been known in the art. For example, it is known that so-called plastic preforms are heated and, in this heated state, formed into plastic bottles and, in particular, (stretch) blow-molded. Devices and methods for manufacturing such plastic preforms are also known from the prior art, in particular in the form of so-called injection molding machines. More recently, efforts have been made to combine such machines into complete systems. This involves first producing plastic preforms, for example using an injection molding machine, and then forming these into containers, and in particular plastic bottles. It is also known that such devices inspect certain properties of the plastic preforms. Using the data obtained during this inspection, it is possible, for example, to control and/or regulate the downstream forming machine, such as a blow molding machine. For example, online inspections of injection molding machines or blow molding machines are known. However, such procedures are complex and cannot close all loopholes. From the EP 1 674 234 B1 A method and a device for handling ejected injection-molded parts are known. This method determines from which mold cavity a component under investigation was ejected. The EP 0 793 569 B1 describes a bottle inspection during transport where the bottle is formed. From the WO 2018/036857 A1 An optical inspection system for preforms is known. It is proposed that the preforms are in a relative position unchanged compared to an injection molding process. The DE 10 2016 118 670 A1 This describes a method and a device for inspecting preforms. Thermal images of the preforms are captured using a thermal imaging camera during the transfer of the preforms. From the DE 10 2009 011 269 B3 A method and a device for sorting out retained samples are known. This sorting is intended to take place remotely from a production machine. The WO 2018/051227 A1 describes an inspection device for plastic preforms. DE 600 28 756 T2 This describes a method and a device for handling ejected injection-molded parts. The components to be ejected are held in a selected order. The DE 10 2018 102 299 A1 This describes a method and arrangement for controlling at least one process parameter of an injection molding machine. Image data of each injection-molded part conveyed to a testing system is acquired. The present invention is therefore based on the objective of improving such overall control of such machines. This is achieved according to the invention by the elements The independent patent claims have been achieved. Advantageous embodiments and further developments are the subject of the dependent claims. An apparatus according to the invention for manufacturing plastic containers and in particular plastic bottles comprises a manufacturing device for manufacturing plastic preforms, wherein this manufacturing device has a plurality of manufacturing cavities, each of which is suitable and intended for forming individual plastic preforms. Furthermore, the device has a forming unit which is suitable and intended to form the plastic preforms produced by the manufacturing unit into plastic containers, wherein this forming unit has a plurality of forming stations, each of which is suitable and intended to form plastic preforms into the plastic containers. Furthermore, the device has a transport device which transports the plastic preforms produced by the manufacturing device to the forming device along a predetermined transport route. Preferably, this transport device has several transport units, and in particular, transport units that are connected to one another. Preferably, the transport device is suitable and designed to transport the plastic preforms in such a way that the order of the transported plastic preforms does not change. Furthermore, a heating device is preferably provided which heats the plastic preforms produced by the manufacturing device, wherein this heating device is preferably arranged between the manufacturing device and the forming device. The applicant reserves the right to claim protection for a device that does not have such a heating device. According to the invention, the device has at least one first inspection device which is suitable and intended to detect at least one physical property of a plastic preform produced by the manufacturing device and at least to output a first value that is characteristic of this physical property. In addition, the device comprises at least one first assignment device which is suitable and intended for assigning an inspected plastic preform to the manufacturing cavity that produced that plastic preform. Preferably, this assignment device is suitable and intended for performing this assignment based on a marking on the plastic preform. Preferably, this allocation device is suitable and designed to assign to several inspected