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US 9,188,385 B2Granted
Container coating system and process
AssigneeS.I.P.A. Societa' Industrializzazione Progettazione E Automazione S.P.A.
InventorsAlberto Armellin, Andrea Saran, Matteo Zoppas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A coating system (1) for blown containers (9) made of plastic material, with high production rate and flexibility so as to allow an efficient coupling with the most advanced one-stage or blowing machines. Such coating system (1), despite its high production rate, envisages a compact global structure with low implementation costs and contained energy consumption. Along with the system, a corresponding coating process is described, which consists in the effective and rapid application of several paint layers on plastic containers (9).
Claims15
A coating system for applying at least two paint layers on plastic material containers, comprising:
- a loading station for loading the containers onto a transfer chain system;
- an unloading station for unloading the containers from said transfer chain system once the coating process of said containers is completed;
- said transfer chain system being adapted to run along a closed course within said coating system so as to pass through;
- at least one paint application station adapted to apply at least one paint layer on said containers;
- and
- first and second ovens adapted to treat a first paint layer and a second paint layer, respectively, so as to dry and polymerize the first paint layer and the second paint layer, applied to the containers in said at least one paint application station,
- each of said first and second ovens comprising:
- one or more thermal treatment tunnels, each of the one or more tunnels formed by walls and having a longitudinal axis and a vertical axis, said longitudinal axis being longer than the vertical axis, wherein each of the one or more tunnels is subdivided into at least four sectors in cross section with respect to said longitudinal axis, at least two sectors of the at least four sectors being disposed above at least two other sectors of the at least four sectors, and the transfer chain system passes separately through each of the at least four sectors for conveying said containers through said at least four sectors in a sequence,
- at least one opening in a wall of each of the first and second ovens for entrance of a primary flow of air into the tunnels of the first and second ovens;
- and
- a forced ventilator arranged in a central area of each of the first and second ovens and adapted to produce secondary flows of air by dividing the primary flow of air into the secondary flows of air within the at least four sectors,
- wherein said first and second ovens comprise a first thermal radiation emission portion and a first air conditioning portion, and a second air conditioning portion and a second thermal radiation emission portion, where the first thermal radiation emission portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are provided by a thermal radiation emitter arranged in a least one of said at least four sectors;
- wherein, in the first oven, the first thermal radiation emission portion and the first air conditioning portion are adapted to dry the first paint layer, and the second air conditioning portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are adapted to complete polymerisation of the first paint layer;
- wherein, in the second oven, the first thermal radiation emission portion and the first air conditioning portion are adapted to dry the second paint layer, and the second air conditioning portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are adapted to complete polymerisation of the second paint layer;
- wherein the second oven is adapted to dry and polymerize the second paint layer applied onto the containers in the at least one paint application station used to apply the first paint layer, or in a different one of the at least one paint application station;
- and
- wherein for each of the first and second ovens there is at least one exhaust air discharge conduit.
14 more elements
A coating process for plastic materials containers by means of a coating system, said coating system comprising:
- a loading station;
- a unloading station;
- a transfer chain system being adapted to run along a closed course within said coating system so as to pass through:
- at least one paint application station,
- first and second ovens comprising:
- one or more thermal treatment tunnels, each of the one or more tunnels formed by walls and having a longitudinal axis and a vertical axis, said longitudinal axis being longer than the vertical axis, wherein each of the one or more tunnels is subdivided into at least four sectors in cross section with respect to said longitudinal axis, at least two sectors of the at least four sectors being disposed above at least two other sectors of the at least four sectors, and the transfer chain system passes separately through each of the at least four sectors for conveying said containers through said at least four sectors in a sequence, and
- at least one opening in a wall of each of the first and second ovens for entrance of a primary flow of air into the tunnels of the first and second ovens;
- and
- a forced ventilator means arranged in a central area of each of the first and second ovens and adapted to produce secondary flows of air by dividing the primary flow of air into the secondary flows of air within the at least four sectors;
- wherein said first and second ovens comprise a first thermal radiation emission portion and a first air conditioning portion, and a second air conditioning portion and a second thermal radiation emission portion where the first thermal radiation emission portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are provided by a thermal radiation emitter arranged in at least one of said at least four sectors;
- wherein, in the first oven, the first thermal radiation emission portion and the first air conditioning portion are adapted to dry a first paint layer, and the second air conditioning portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are adapted to complete polymerisation of the first paint layer;
- wherein, in the second oven, the first thermal radiation emission portion and the first air conditioning portion are adapted to dry a second paint layer, and the second air conditioning portion and the second thermal radiation emission portion are adapted to complete polymerisation of the second paint layer;
- and
- wherein for each of the first and second ovens there is at least one exhaust air discharge conduit;
- the coating process comprising:
- loading the containers into the loading station onto the transfer chain adapted to run on the closed course within said system,
- applying the first paint layer on the containers in said at least one paint application station,
- drying and polymerizing said first paint layer in the first oven,
- applying the second paint layer on the containers in the at least one paint application station used to apply the first paint layer, or in a different one of the at least one paint application station,
- drying and polymerizing said second paint layer in the second oven, and
- unloading the containers from said transfer chain.
18 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.