Methods and systems for producing pressware
AssigneeBrown LLC
InventorsVictor L. Chun, Steffen Brown, Philip Eichbauer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for forming a pressware product from a web of a roll of material comprises a positive mold, a negative mold, a heating element, an actuator, a force sensor, and a control system. The positive mold forms a top surface of the pressware product. The negative mold forms a bottom surface of the pressware product. The heating element is coupled to the positive mold or the negative mold. The actuator shifts the positive mold or the negative mold to cut and form the pressware product in a single stroke. The force sensor detects the forming force applied by the actuator, and the control system directs the actuator to adjust the forming force.
Claims15
A system for forming a pressware product from a web of a roll of material, the system comprising:
- a positive mold assembly including a positive mold with a bottom surface for forming a top surface of the pressware product and a positive punch shiftable relative to the positive mold with an edge configured to cut the web to separate the pressware product from the web;
- a negative mold assembly including a negative mold with a top surface for forming a bottom surface of the pressware product and a trim die plate with an edge configured to cut the web in cooperation with the edge of the positive punch, the positive mold assembly and the negative mold assembly being shiftable relative to one another;
- a heating element coupled to at least one of the positive mold or the negative mold;
- a forming station actuator configured to shift at least one of the positive mold assembly or the negative mold assembly;
- a force sensor configured to sense a forming force applied by the forming station actuator and generate sensor data representative of the forming force;
- and
- a control system in communication with the force sensor and the forming station actuator, the control system being configured to—
- receive a signal representative of the sensor data, and
- direct the forming station actuator to adjust the forming force based at least in part on the sensor data.
A system for forming a pressware product from a web of a roll of material, the system comprising:
- a positive mold assembly including a positive mold with a bottom surface for forming a top surface of the pressware product and a positive punch shiftable relative to the positive mold with an edge configured to cut the web to separate the pressware product from the web;
- a negative mold assembly including a negative mold with a top surface for forming a bottom surface of the pressware product and a trim die plate for cutting the web, the positive mold assembly and the negative mold assembly being shiftable relative to one another;
- a heating element coupled to at least one of the positive mold or the negative mold;
- a forming station actuator configured to actuate at least one of the positive mold assembly or the negative mold assembly;
- a force sensor configured to sense a forming force applied by the forming station actuator and generate sensor data representative of the forming force;
- a height adjust assembly configured to shift at least one of the positive mold assembly or the negative mold assembly to adjust a forming depth of the positive mold within the negative mold;
- and
- a control system in communication with the forming station actuator and configured to—
- receive a signal representative of the sensor data,
- direct the forming station actuator to adjust the forming force based at least in part on the sensor data,
- receive a signal representative of a desired forming depth of the positive mold,
- direct the forming station actuator to shift at least one of the positive mold assembly of the negative mold assembly so that the positive mold achieves the desired forming depth, and
- direct the forming station actuator to actuate at least one of the positive mold assembly or the negative mold assembly to form the pressware product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.