Patent ID: 12258255

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The apparatus according to the disclosure comprises various machines for producing, labeling and, in the illustrated example, for filling and capping plastic bottles. In detail, the illustrated apparatus comprises—in the sequence of the individual treatment stages—a preform supply60, a heater50, the blow molding machine10, the labeler20and the filler/capper combination30,40as well as a downstream controlled distribution starwheel46that transfers the bottles arriving at the discharge belt45in a single row to the multi-track discharger53. The discharger53may already be part of a subsequent packer54, which is e.g. designed for the groupwise packing of bottle packs in shrink film and/or a carton blank. The packer may e.g. be designed in conformity with DE 42 07 725 A1 and/or DE 44 41 700 A1, i.e. preferably with neck guides for the at least sectionwise suspended transportation of bottles. However, conventional packing machines with bottom-supported bottle transportation via conveyor belts are also useable.

As can be seen in the figure, the individual machines are closely interconnected or bloc-synchronized at short distances and are only separated from one another by interposed transfer starwheels. In detail, the preforms/bottles pass through the stations described hereinafter in the following way:

First of all, the preforms are separated in the preform separator60and supplied via an infeed path61to the heating module50. At said place they pass along the heating or conditioning path with heating devices51and are thereby heated to the temperature needed for blow molding. The heating device is directly bloc-synchronized with the blow molding machine10and transfers the preforms via the infeed starwheel11into the blow molding carousel13. The plastic containers then blown into bottles pass from there via the outfeed starwheel12to the two transfer starwheels21and22interposed between blow molding machine10and labeler20.

In these transfer starwheels the bottles can optionally be given a pitch possibly different in the labeler and can optionally already be inspected and/or circumferentially aligned according to a specific feature for labeling to as to detect and/or sort out defective bottles. The transfer starwheels have their own drives (not shown in more detail) and can thus interrupt the bottle stream between the blow molding machine10and the labeler20.

The illustrated labeler comprises the infeed starwheel23, the labeling carousel24and the outfeed starwheel26. A labeling unit25adjoins the carousel24. In this area the bottles passing therethrough are labeled and/or printed (possibly also the labels themselves). The labels can be removed from a container in a precut form or made from a label strip by separation. However, it is also possible to process self-adhesive labels or sleeves, and the sleeves may here be stretch or shrink sleeves. In the case of conventional labels it is also possible to process shrinkable film material which after conventional winding onto a bottle, e.g. in combination with an initial and final gluing process, can be fitted by heat treatment to the bottle contour. Combined equipment variants are also feasible. In the labeling carousel a bottom support can preferably be implemented by way of a contour-matched bottom piece so as to avoid any bulging of the bottle bottom, which is still in a soft state and is loaded by internal pressurization during labeling; advantageously, the bottom is cooled and solidified at the same time.

The outfeed starwheel26of the labeler will then again hand over the bottles to two transfer starwheels31and32, on which an inspection and/or pitch change can be carried out again. Preferably, it is checked in the area of these transfer starwheels whether the labels are correctly positioned and are free from damage, and a new pitch, as is needed for the downstream filler, is effected if necessary.

The transfer starwheel32then transfers the bottles to the infeed starwheel33of the filler30, in which the bottles are filled. The bottles will then pass via the outfeed starwheel34into the capper40from where they are further transported to the discharger path50. The bottles arriving there at the distance of the pitch of the capper40can then be removed from the discharger belt45, e.g. by a controlled gripping starwheel46, and handed over to a multi-track discharger53. Said dischargers may e.g. be chains or belts with grippers (not shown in more detail) for the suspended and possibly completely bottom-free transportation of the bottles.

Since the blow molding machine is bloc-synchronized with the labeler and the filler/capper combination30,40just via a few transfer starwheels, a very compact design is accomplished on the whole together with enhanced flexibility because at the functional separation points formed by the transfer starwheels21,22and31,32, respectively, a decoupling between the machines is possible both during operation and for maintenance purposes.

In the variant shown inFIG.2, the basic components and the fundamental structure are the same as in the variant shown inFIG.1. That is why the same reference signs are also used. What is here not shown is the preform supply60. The heating module50is of a slightly different construction without any functional differences ensuing from this.

The labeler20is configured as a modular machine in the case of which separate units27and28that are freely standing on the periphery of the carousel24are docked in specific positions. These units27and28can be changed or easily exchanged and replaced by other units, so that very different labeling tasks can be performed without difficulty. The units may have assigned thereto supply stations (not shown in more detail) possibly with fully automatic splicing and with a plurality of label supply rolls so as to ensure a labeling operation that is as uninterrupted as possible.

As another difference with respect to the variant shown inFIG.1, four further transfer starwheels36to39are arranged between the two transfer starwheels31and32. In the area of said transfer starwheels, particularly the bottoms of the bottles, which are normally still hot and have left the blow molding machine just shortly before, are actively cooled, which ensures that the bottles are adequately cooled prior to their infeed into the filler and are thus stable. This is particularly important in cases where CO2-containing beverages are filled under pressure in the filler. In the case of hot bottle bottoms the bottom area might then get damaged and the bottoms might detach during biasing if the bottles were still too hot and instable.

As a further difference with respect to the variant shown inFIG.1, a protective housing70is arranged around the whole system, the housing enclosing the system components such that possibly even different pressure and atmosphere ranges and sometimes even different cleanroom classes can be generated in the area of the blow molding machine, labeling unit and/or filler if e.g. a sterile processing/environment should be required. Especially in the area of the transfer starwheels31and32, a kind of air separation preferably takes place through arrangement of a corresponding cover75, so that possibly glue-containing ambient air from the area of the labeler cannot diffuse in the direction towards the filler and wet air can also not escape out of the area of the filler into the other direction. This airlock helps to keep the filler area clean by preventing external contamination.

The protective sheath70can be configured on the whole such that a real housing is created that surrounds the whole apparatus over the whole circumference and then gives access to the individual machines and assemblies via doors and openings (not shown in more detail).

Very compact, closed and operative compact systems are created with the assembly according to the disclosure, said systems being highly flexibly while requiring little space and providing modular construction options.

Of course, in the variant shown inFIG.2, a bloc-synchronized controlled distributor starwheel may also be arranged on the outfeed of the filler, the distributor starwheel transferring the bottles exiting in a row to a multi-track discharger/packer.

FIG.3shows a further development of the variant shown inFIG.1with a blow molding machine in a single-stage operating mode, i.e. directly upstream manufacture of the preforms for plastic bottles. The individual components of the apparatus V are of modular construction and arranged close to one another and comprise an injection rotor100, which is preferably combined with an extruder200co-rotating at least in part and cooperates with an adjoining conditioning path30, here configured as a conditioning circle, which has several cooling and/or heating stations430assigned thereto. The conditioning path300cooperates with a transfer starwheel11, which in turn cooperates with the blow molding rotor for stretch blow molding the bottles. Many injection molds100′ are arranged on the injection rotor100for instance in the peripheral area. In the conditioning path300transfer spread mandrels400′ are provided as transfer elements on movable arms of a pitch changing starwheel400. The transfer starwheel11also comprises transportation or transfer elements that hand over preforms issuing from the injection rotor100to the blow molds of the blow molding rotor13. Further details of a suitable single-stage machine can be gathered from the document WO 2009/049848 A2, which is here explicitly included.