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.
Claims20
A blow molder system comprising:
- a blow molder for performing a blow molding process, wherein the blow molder comprises:
- heating elements;
- a stretching rod;
- and
- a plurality of molds;
- and
- one or more blow molder temperature sensors for sensing temperatures of the blow molder;
- and
- wherein the blow molding process comprises a pre-blow, stretching by the stretching rod, and a high-pressure blow;
- an inspection system for sensing one or more characteristics of plastic objects involved in the blow molding process;
- and
- a control system that is in communication with the one or more blow molder temperature sensors and in communication with the inspection system, wherein the control system is configured to:
- tune the blow molder system to establish a baseline characteristic of the plastic objects involved in the blow molding process;
- generate a model based on initial operating parameters for the blow molder and the one or more characteristics of the plastic objects sensed by the inspection system;
- determine, using the model, updated operating parameters for the blow molder based on, at least in part, the one or more characteristics of the plastic objects sensed by the inspection system and the baseline characteristic to drive the one or more characteristics of the plastic object toward the baseline characteristic;
- 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:
- an updated pre-blow pressure level for the pre-blow;
- an updated high-pressure blow pressure level for the high-pressure blow;
- and
- a blow timing for the blow molding process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.