Blow molder control systems and methods
AssigneeAGR International, Inc.
InventorsGeorg V. Wolfe, Jeff Schneider, William E. Schmidt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods control the operation of a blow molder. An indication of a crystallinity of at least one container produced by the blow molder may be received along with a material distribution of the at least one container. A model may be executed, where the model relates a plurality of blow molder input parameters to the indication of crystallinity and the material distribution and where a result of the model comprises changes to at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters to move the material distribution towards a baseline material distribution and the crystallinity towards a baseline crystallinity. The changes to the at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters may be implemented.
Claims31
A blow molder system comprising:
- a blow molder that forms, with pressurized fluid, blow-molded containers from preforms, wherein the blow molder comprises:
- heating elements for heating the preforms;
- a stretching rod;
- a plurality of molds;
- and
- one or more blow-molder temperature sensors for sensing temperatures from the blow molder in forming the blow-molded containers, and
- wherein the blow molder is configured to form the blow-molder containers utilizing, for each preform, a pre-blow of the preform and stretching by the stretching rod, followed by a high-pressure blow of the preform to push walls of the preform against a mold of the plurality of molds;
- a container inspection system that senses one or more characteristics of blow-molded containers following formation of the blow-molded containers by the blow molder;
- and
- a control system that is in communication with the one or more blow-molder temperature sensors and in communication with the container inspection system, wherein the control system is configured to:
- determine, using a model, updated operating parameters for the blow molder based on, at least in part, the one or more characteristics of the blow-molded containers sensed by the container inspection system;
- and
- output the updated operating parameters to the blow molder,
- wherein:
- the blow molder is configured to implement the updated operating parameters;
- and
- the updated operating parameters comprise:
- a temperature set point for the preforms;
- a pre-blow pressure level for the pre-blow of the preforms;
- a high-pressure blow pressure level for the high-pressure blow of the preforms;
- and
- a blow timing for the preforms.
A method of manufacturing containers, the method comprising:
- forming, with pressurized fluid, blow-molded containers, with a blow molder, from preforms, wherein the blow molder comprises:
- heating elements for heating the preforms;
- a stretching rod;
- a plurality of molds;
- and
- one or more blow-molder temperature sensors for sensing temperatures from the blow molder in forming the blow-molded containers, and
- wherein forming the blow-molded containers comprises utilizing, for each preform, a pre-blow of the preform and stretching by the stretching rod, followed by a high-pressure blow of the preform to push walls of the preform against a mold of the plurality of molds;
- sensing, by a container inspection system, one or more characteristics of blow-molded containers formed by the blow molder;
- determining, by a control system that is in communication with the one or more blow-molder temperature sensors and in communication with the container inspection system, using a model, updated operating parameters for the blow molder based on, at least in part, the one or more characteristics of the blow-molded containers sensed by the container inspection system;
- and
- outputting, by the control system, the updated operating parameters to the blow molder,
- wherein:
- forming the blow-molded containers comprises implementing, by the blow molder, the updated operating parameters;
- and
- the updated operating parameters comprise:
- a temperature set point for the preforms;
- a pre-blow pressure level for the pre-blow of the preforms;
- a high-pressure blow pressure level for the high-pressure blow of the preforms;
- and
- a blow timing for the preforms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.