DE102022118938A1 - contraption - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for producing container products (26) from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, with a forming device to which a forming tube of plasticized plastic material can be fed by means of an extrusion head (20) and which has movable forming surfaces which simulate a specifiable container geometry , to which the molded hose can be placed for a shaping, filling and/or closing process, with a guiding and holding device being provided which has movable guiding and holding parts which can be controlled in such a way that in at least one of possible functional positions outside of the Forming area of the forming device, these act on the respective plastic material, which at least partially surrounds the finished container products (26), characterized in that the plastic material, which is designed as a card (115), produces a material connection (102) between a finished he provided container product (26) which has already left the molding device, and an at least partially finished container product which is still in the molding device, can be severed by means of a separating device (108).

Description

The invention relates to a device for manufacturing container products from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, having the features of the preamble of patent claim 1.

• - Bewegen eines Halters und Halten eines Schlauches nach Austritt aus dem Schlauchkopf einer Extrusionseinrichtung;
• - Abtrennen des gehaltenen, offenen Schlauches des Vorformlings vor dem Füllen und/oder Versiegeln der Behälter;
• - Bewegen einer ersten Sektion einer Form in eine erste geschlossene Position um einen ersten Abschnitt des offenen Vorformlings;
• - Formen einer Vielzahl von mindestens einem Abschnitt von ersten Behältern mit dem ersten Abschnitt des Vorformlings in der ersten Sektion;
• - Füllen oder Versiegeln der ersten Behälter;
• - Bewegen einer zweiten Sektion der Form in eine zweite geschlossene Position um einen zweiten Abschnitt des offenen Vorformlings; und
• - Formen einer Vielzahl von mindestens einem Abschnitt von zweiten Behältern, gestaffelt in Bezug auf die ersten Behälter, mit dem zweiten Abschnitt des Vorformlings in der zweiten Sektion, wobei die zweite Sektion der Form in der ersten Sektion der Form integriert ist.

Through EP 2 595 789 B1 discloses a method of forming a plurality of containers from a preform, the method including the following steps:

• - Moving a holder and holding a tube after exiting the tube head of an extrusion device;
• - severing the held, open tube of the preform before filling and/or sealing the containers;
• - moving a first section of a mold to a first closed position around a first portion of the open parison;
• - molding a plurality of at least one portion of first containers with the first portion of the preform in the first section;
• - Filling or sealing of the first containers;
• - moving a second section of the mold to a second closed position around a second portion of the open parison; and
• - molding a plurality of at least one section of second containers, staggered with respect to the first containers, with the second section of the parison in the second section, the second section of the mold being integrated in the first section of the mold.

In the known solution, the tube-like preform is cut immediately before it is formed and filled, the tube being cut directly above the preform, which is open at the top and has a relatively large, widened filling opening in cross section. Smoke, gases, vapors and particles (hereinafter also referred to as contaminants for short) can easily arise or be released when the hose is cut, which can lead to direct contamination of the interior of the preform via the opening of the preform mentioned and thus the container opening and the container contents. This risk is increased by the long cutting path, which essentially corresponds to the outer diameter of the hose, which can result in a relatively long cutting time. Due to the easy deformability of the preform, which is still warm when it is soft, rapid cutting is not possible, since the preform has to be kept open for the insertion of the filling tubes. A similar solution is given in WO 2007/010373 A1 described.

The risk of contamination from particles or gaseous substances described at the outset can be avoided by not producing individual containers, but rather a wide container chain track that is spatially widely separated in the cold state by a separating device that acts on the exited container chain outside of the forming device, usually by punching to be separated. The production of such container chain conveyors by vacuum forming is in the generic WO 2014/060101 A1 as in DE 10 2008 006 073 A1 and described in a subsequently published DE 10 2020 004564.2 of the property right holder.

In these prior art documents mentioned above, the continuous production of container chains of small-volume containers - i.e. up to 20 ml filling volume - is described. In this context, “continuously” is to be understood to mean that the discharge rate of the plastic tube from the extrusion unit essentially remains the same without interruption during the entire manufacturing process. It goes without saying that continuous production is interrupted for maintenance purposes, mold conversions and cleaning purposes, etc.

By the aforesaid DE 10 2008 006 073 A1 Furthermore, a device is known for producing vacuum-formed container products from plastic material by means of individual mold parts running along a production line, which in pairs can be moved towards and away from one another in order to close or open a production mold in which the container products are formed, which according to exit the demolding process as a container chain that is moved along the production line, with a demolding device which acts on the exited container chain outside the production mold being provided to support the demolding process. This known device is aimed at increasing the production speed, since instead of a type of piece process, the production of a wide-area container chain track from a large number of connected containers is made possible, with the container chain moving away from the forming device along the production line and supporting shaking movements in the exit area of the container chain track.

In this way, an extremely high level of productivity is achieved; However, the necessary high number of pairs of molds and the necessary complex path movements also necessitate a high investment outlay with a low mold mat flexibility. Within the short cycle time of approx. 2 to 5 seconds, the containers can only be formed by vacuum forming, but not by blow molding. The possible container geometries that can be produced in this way are therefore limited to small-volume containers such as ampoules, and the production of bottles with comparatively larger filling volumes of, for example, 50 ml and more is not easily possible. In addition, there are always numerous pairs of molds and additionally numerous filled containers on the common vertical production line, which for this alone requires an overall height for the production device of at least 15 times the container height.

By the generic WO 2014/060101 A1 a device is known for producing container products from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, with a forming device to which a forming tube of plasticized plastic material can be fed and which has movable forming surfaces which imitate a definable container geometry and to which the forming tube for a shaping, filling and closing process can be applied, with a guiding and holding device being provided which has movable guiding and holding parts which can be controlled in such a way that in at least one of possible functional positions outside the shaping area of the shaping device the latter can be attached to the respective plastic material attack, which at least partially surrounds the finished container products. It is true that the expenditure on the device is minimized for the production of container chain conveyors with this known device; only the production of filled containers with a higher volume of 50 ml and more is no longer easily possible, since such a container chain conveyor, which is extremely difficult to handle, stretches the plasticized plastic hose very much or even elongates it due to its high weight and the increased filling volume can tear, which in turn is unacceptable for reasons of sterility required for medical purposes (e.g. rinsing solutions, infusion solutions).

The production of container chain conveyors of the type mentioned is generally associated with a further disadvantage. Since individual containers are only accessible for inspection or for after-treatment purposes a long time after they have been manufactured, an early quality-assuring inspection or after-treatment, for example rapid cooling of the container and its contents, is only possible with a delay, which means that rapid reactions to irregularities in production or a makes early thermal stabilization of heat-sensitive filling goods (e.g. for protein-containing solutions) impossible.

Proceeding from this state of the art, the invention therefore sets itself the task of creating an improved device and an improved method compared to the prior art, which enable low-contamination or contamination-free production of filled and sealed containers, and also open up the possibility of to produce -ßere containers- such as infusion bottles- with an increased filling volume compared to the usual ampoule products. A device with the features of patent claim 1 solves this problem.

The fact that, according to the characterizing part of patent claim 1, the plastic material, which is designed as a card, creates a material connection between the container product that is finished in the mold device and a container product that leaves the mold device via the guiding and holding device, can be severed by means of a separating device it is possible to completely dispense with the known production of a preform that is wide open at the top and with the production of a container chain conveyor, in that individual, optionally also blow-molded, filled and closed containers are separated directly from the at least partially collapsed mold tube after it has passed through the molding device. In this way, the possibilities of contamination are reduced, since any contaminants that may arise when the material connection is separated cannot get into the interior of the container. In addition, the still warm material connection can be separated with low actuating forces.

In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, it is provided that the separating device can be actuated independently of the forming device and that a handling device, preferably in the form of a robotic arm, moves to a removal position for this card in such a way that a clocked production sequence of individual container products can be produced while non-clocked , ie continuous discharge of the molded tube from the extrusion head is made possible. In this way, relatively high output rates of finished container products can be achieved. It is also ensured in this way that the severed card, which comprises a number of container products, cannot fall out of the device and in this respect safe handling of the card within the device is achieved.

Provision can preferably also be made for the material connection to have at least one further finished container product and for two container products which are adjacent to one another to be able to be separated from one another by means of the separating device. Usually made from a thin The material connection formed by walled plastic strips between the finished and at least partially finished container product can accordingly also contain at least one other, preferably finished, container product that comes from the separating device, so that the shaping device can also separate two adjacent containers in the production sequence from one another.

Because the forming and filling of a container unit of product occurs prior to severing, the severing process cannot inadvertently introduce contamination into the container contents. Since the production and discharge relates to individual containers or container blocks with individual containers running transversely to the vertical production line, there is no need to handle a container chain conveyor as shown in the prior art and the device according to the invention can be used universally for a large number of possible container types for medical purposes, from small volumes Ampoules, for example for eye drops or inhalable solutions, up to large-volume bottles for enteral or parenteral applications as the respective container product.

With the device according to the invention, high productivity is possible with a minimum number of molds, which helps to save costs, and the possibility of quick exchange of the individual molds results in high format flexibility. In addition, the device is small in the vertical and therefore upright production or processing direction and can therefore be implemented in a space-saving manner.

Furthermore, there is a simple after-treatment for the container products produced and separated in this way and the contents inside, such as inspection for particulate contamination, treatment steps to reduce the number of germs or the attachment of a required label for the container product, including cooling the same.

If, according to the invention, a separating device is mentioned, it can be hot, cold or ultrasonic knives as well as a laser or other separating devices including water cutting devices and the like. The separation or separation by the respective separating or cutting unit in the case of an already partially collapsed but still warm hose section preferably takes place spatially below the mold device which is closed to this extent and above a filled and sealed container product unit which has already left the mold device as a finished container product. However, there is also the possibility of separating two adjacent, finished container products. The separating device can be arranged stationary within the device; however, there is also the possibility of providing a movable separating device which can be moved together with the guiding and holding device during production, which will be explained in more detail below. For the latter configuration, it is provided, preferably in a device according to the invention, that the movable guide and holding parts can be brought into a functional position at the end of a respective shaping, filling and closing process for the container product, in which they can be attached to the molded hose in the The section adjoining the entrance of the shaping device bears against mutually opposite sides of the tube for a holding process, and that the guiding and holding parts have the separating device which, in a separating position, carries out the separation of the material connection from the holding process.

In a further preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, it is provided that the separating device has one or preferably two optionally heatable cutting knives, of which each cutting knife is assigned to a guide and holding part, which have a definable distance from one another during the holding process, which is suitable for the separating cut , preferably to zero. As a result, the guiding and holding part has the function, on the one hand, of guiding the container product in a transfer position and, on the other hand, of performing a separating cut after it has passed through the shaping device.

In a further preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, it is provided that the mold device has jaws forming individual mold surfaces, which can be moved by means of a closing unit in the direction of movement perpendicular to the vertical direction of movement of the mold hose between a mold-closed position and a mold-opening position, and that a displacement unit is provided, by means of which the closing unit can be moved vertically downwards from a starting position during the shaping, filling and closing process together with the movement of the molded tube and after completion of the shaping, filling and closing process into the starting position upwards. This type of vertical movement enables a continuous production process to be implemented along a production line with little outlay on equipment, because only one pair of jaws with the mold surfaces is required for each molding process. In this way, starting from the extrusion device, there is also a production process running from top to bottom with a cutting process in one plane, transverse to the production line or vertical production level or production line.

In a further preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, provision is made for a handling device to be present which uses a gripper to grasp the finished container product at least during the separating process and remove it in a removal position after separation from the guiding and holding device. It is preferably also provided that in the removal position the gripper engages part of the material connection which, after separation, consists of that plastic material which leaves the opened mold device. Provision is particularly preferably made for the handling device to be a component part of a robot arm that can be moved along multiple axes. Due to the handling device, the finished separated container products can be discharged safely from the device and the handling device allows easy adaptation of the removal process for the most varied of container products with different container volumes.

In a further preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention it is provided that the guiding and holding device can be moved by means of a second displacement unit between an upper position, which corresponds to the active position of the guiding and holding parts, and lowered positions. In this way, the guide and holding parts can be easily moved into their intended functional position.

In a further particularly preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, it is provided that the guide and holding parts are provided in the form of support strips which, in the pivoting position corresponding to the active position, extend over the entire length of the mold parting plane of the molding device and for pivoting movements running in a horizontal plane Pivot shafts of the associated operating unit are mounted, which extend vertically and parallel to one another next to the mold parting plane. Due to the elongated strips, the support for a correspondingly large-volume row of containers can be implemented in a simple manner and, moreover, the separating forces of the separating device for a separating process can be reliably achieved.

The invention further relates to a method for the continuous production of container products from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, in particular using a device as described above, with container products produced in succession by means of a forming device in a manufacturing sequence via a web-like material connection - preferably formed by the at least partially collapsed molded tube - are connected to one another and the material connection is severed by means of a separating device after leaving the molding device. The average thickness of the web-like material connection in the separation area should preferably be less than 3 cm. In that regard, a further development and improvement of the known solution after WO 2014/060101 A1 and the subsequently published application DE 10 2020 004 564.2.

• 1 eine schematisch vereinfachte perspektivische Schrägansicht auf wesentliche Komponenten der Vorrichtung;
• 2 in perspektivischer Schrägansicht lediglich einen Teilbereich der Vorrichtung nach der 1, wobei die Form-Schließeinheit und die Führungs- und Halteeinrichtung sowie die Trenneinrichtung mit jeweils zugehörigen Funktionselementen gezeigt sind;
• 3 wiederum in perspektivischer Schrägansicht lediglich einen Teilbereich der Darstellung nach der 2;
• 4 eine perspektivische Teildarstellung fertigerstellter Behältererzeugnisse, die in Blickrichtung auf die 4 gesehen im Bereich der oberen Materialanbindung mittels der Trennvorrichtung von der darüberliegenden, nicht gezeigten Materialanbindung separiert und im unteren Bereich einer vergleichbaren Materialanbindung von einem Greifer einer Handhabungseinrichtung gehalten sind;
• 5 teilweise in Ansicht, teilweise im Längsschnitt die Führungs- und Halteeinrichtung mit Stützleisten und darunterliegenden Schneidmessern der Trenneinrichtung;
• 6 einen Teilausschnitt auf die Vorrichtung nach der 2 mit mehrachsigem Roboterarm als Teil der Handhabungseinrichtung, der gemäß der Darstellung nach der 4 mittels eines Greifers die fertigerstellten Behältererzeugnisse in einer Entnahmeposition hält; und
• 7 eine Teildarstellung einer weiteren Ausführungsform unter Verwendung eines vertikal bewegbaren Extrusionskopfes.

The device according to the invention and the associated manufacturing method are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing. Here, in principle and not to scale representation show the

• 1 a schematically simplified perspective oblique view of essential components of the device;
• 2 in a perspective oblique view only a portion of the device after 1 , wherein the mold-closing unit and the guiding and holding device as well as the separating device are shown with respectively associated functional elements;
• 3 again in a perspective oblique view only a portion of the representation according to 2 ;
• 4 a partial perspective view of finished container products, looking in the direction of the 4 viewed in the region of the upper material connection, separated by means of the separating device from the overlying material connection (not shown) and held in the lower region of a comparable material connection by a gripper of a handling device;
• 5 partially in elevation, partially in longitudinal section, the guiding and holding device with support strips and underlying cutting blades of the separating device;
• 6 a partial section on the device after the 2 with multi-axis robot arm as part of the handling device, which according to the representation after the 4 holding the finished container products in a removal position by means of a gripper; and
• 7 a partial view of another embodiment using a vertically movable extrusion head.

Essential components of the device and the associated manufacturing process are already in the WO 2014/060101 A1 and the subsequently published DE 10 2020 004 564.2, so that reference is made to the content of these documents and only the essential components of the device are described below, insofar as this is necessary for understanding the solution according to the invention.

In the 1 , which shows an overall view of the device according to the invention in a simplified representation, a device frame is denoted by 10, which has a rectangular box shape with a front side 12 running in a vertical plane. On the upper side of the box shape of the frame 10 is arranged an extruder device, designated as a whole with 14, which is designed according to the relevant state of the art and has a feed hopper 16 for plastic granules and a motor-driven extruder screw unit 18 to feed plasticized plastic mass into a hose or Extrusion head 20 to supply. This extrudes the heated, plasticized plastic material in the form of a tube which extends over the entire width of a mold device 22, measured along the mold parting plane. As a result, depending on the design of the molding device 22, in one molding step from a single extruded molded tube, which is 6 denoted by 24, form a plurality of container products 26 corresponding to the number of mold surfaces 28 juxtaposed in a row.

Of these are in the 1 and 2 , which show the molding device 22 in the open state, the molding surfaces 28 of the left-hand part of the molding device 22 are visible. In the 3 the pertinent mold surfaces 28 are omitted for the sake of simplicity. Along the upper side of the device frame 10 is a blowing/filling device 30 for the optional blow molding as well as a metered supply of release or filling quantities during a filling process of the container products 26 formed in the molding device 22. The blowing/filling device 30 has a number of blowing/filling mandrels corresponding to the number of container products 26 to be formed WO 2014/060101 A1 correspond to the structure described. In any case, the plastic compound is extruded through the extrusion head 20 (also referred to as the parison head) in such a way that the formed parison 24 surrounds the row of blowing/filling mandrels, which can thereby be lowered into a blowing/filling position within the parison 24, in which they between the mold surfaces 28 formed container 26 blow mold and fill. For the shaping of those container parts that take up the filling quantity, an expansion process is provided before filling, in which a vacuum is applied to the container wall inside the container mold in order to place the corresponding wall parts against the mold (negative pressure gradient). Contrary to that in the WO 2014/060101 A1 In addition or as an alternative to the structure described, this expansion process can also be carried out by blowing in blown air, preferably via the blowing/filling mandrels, which in this respect then also serve as blowing mandrels (positive pressure gradient).

The 2 shows a separate representation of the closing unit 32 of the shaping device 22 and the guiding and holding device 34. Both the closing unit 32 and the guiding and holding device 34 optionally each have a carrier plate 36 or 38 extending in a vertical plane. As the 1 and 2 further show, the device frame 10 has a vertical guide 40 on the front side 12 on both sides on the outside, formed from guide rails which, together with guide rails 42 on the carrier plate 36 and corresponding guide rails 44 on the further carrier plate 38, form a type of recirculating ball track, so that the clamping unit 32 and the guiding and holding device 34 are guided in a movable manner on the vertical guides 40 in the vertical direction. For the corresponding vertical movements, spindle drives (not shown) that can be actuated by a machine control are provided with associated ball screws.

The closing unit 32 of the mold device 22 has a carriage as a carrier for each mold half of the overall mold, of which the one in FIG 2 carriage on the left-hand side is designated 46 and the carriage on the right-hand side is designated 48. The two carriages 46, 48 are guided on guide rails 50 of the carrier plate 36 so that they can be moved horizontally. A left-hand main jaw 54 is attached to a holding body 52 attached to the carriage 46 and a right-hand main jaw 58 to a holding body 56 attached to the opposite right-hand carriage 48.

The main jaws 54, 58 in the closed closed position (not shown) form the main part 60 of the container products 26 which receives the respective container contents (see Fig 4 ). On the upper side of the holding body 52 of the left-hand main jaw 54, which forms a flat plate, a holding body 62, which forms a kind of slide plate, is mounted so that it can be displaced horizontally and to which a left-hand head jaw 64 is attached. In a corresponding manner, a further holding body 66 is arranged on the upper side of the holding body 56 of the right-hand main jaw 58 in a horizontally displaceable manner, which forms the carrier for a right-hand head jaw 68 . This makes them each other opposing head jaws 64, 68 are movable to the closed position independently of the main mold jaws 54, 58 to enclose the head portion 70 (see Fig 4 ) of the container products 26 to form and to close the filled container to that extent.

For the horizontal movements between mold closed position and mold open position as shown in 2 is shown, a separate actuator is provided for the main jaws 54, 58 and for the head jaws 64, 68, of which the actuator provided for the main jaws 54, 58 is coupled to the carrier plates 46 and 48 in order to attach them along rails 50 of the carrier plate 36 to move. The actuator associated with the head jaws 64, 68 is coupled to the holding bodies 62, 66 of the head jaws 64 and 68, respectively. Both actuators each have a lever mechanism 72, which are arranged one above the other, so that in the 2 from the underlying lever mechanism 72 essential parts are not visible. However, this has the same functional scope as the visible lever mechanism 72 arranged above it as a drive for the head jaws 64, 68. Each of the lever mechanisms 72 has a spindle drive 74 or 76 with an associated electric drive motor 78 as a drive. The spindle drives 74, 76 are connected via struts 80 to a cross member on the back of the support plate 36, so that the unit formed from the lever drives 72 and the spindle drives 74, 76 together with the support plate 36 on the vertical guide 40 according to the activity of the ball screw (Not shown) can move. With the upper spindle drive 74 coupled link 82 hold the two opposite head jaws 64, 68 in their open position in the position shown. Corresponding link drives underneath serve to control the pairs of main jaws 54, 58. By means of a central displacement unit 85 ( 1 ) the clamping unit 32 can be moved vertically downwards from its starting position during the shaping, filling and closing process together with the movement of the mold tube 24 and after the end of the shaping, filling and closing process it can be moved back up to the starting position. More details can be found in the WO 2014/060101 A1 .

The guiding and holding device 34, its carrier plate 38, as well as the carrier plate 36 of the closing unit 32 can be moved on the vertical guide 40 of the frame 10 and has horizontal guide rails 84 in a similar way to the carrier plate 36, on which a left-hand actuating unit 86 and a right-side operating unit 88 are guided horizontally. Actuating units 86, 88 form the actuator for associated guiding and holding parts, with actuating unit 86 actuating a first left-hand guiding and holding part and a second left-hand guiding and holding part, while second actuating unit 88 actuates a first right-hand guiding and holding part and a second right-hand guide and holding part actuated. The first guiding and holding part on the left-hand side and the first guiding and holding part on the right-hand side are each formed by pivotable support strips 90 and 92, which are of identical design and, in a pivot position corresponding to their active position, move in the direction of a mold parting plane 94 (see 6 ) extend in parallel direction. To adjust the pivot position, each support strip 90, 92 is attached to an associated pivot shaft 96 or 98, which extends out of the housing of the associated actuating unit 86 or 88, parallel to one another next to the mold parting plane 94 in the vertical direction. In the housing of the two actuating units 86, 88 there is a pivoting drive for each of the pivoting shafts 86, 88, which can be actuated by a corresponding machine control.

Like those in particular 6 shows, the two support strips 90, 92 by means of the assignable pivot shaft 96, 98 from their in the 2 shown holding position can be swiveled forwards and then moved upwards and again brought over the molding device 22, whereby after swiveling back into the holding position the molded tube 24 can be gripped in order to turn it around with the mold device 22 open according to the illustration according to FIG 2 take the molded hose 24 into a lower holding position, in which the separation process according to the invention takes place, which will be described in more detail below. The guiding and holding device 34 as a whole can be moved by means of a further, second displacement unit 99 ( 1 ) movable between an upper and a lower functional position. Further details on this and in particular the interaction with the first displacement unit 85 are the subject of FIG WO 2014/060101 A1 , the disclosure content of which is also the subject of the present property right.

Like those in particular 5 shows, the two support strips 90, 92 in the closed state shown have a holding or clamping gap 100, in which a material connection 102 is fixed between the finished container product 26, which has already left the forming device 22 via the guiding and holding device 34, and the container product, not shown, still in the mold assembly 22. Contrary to the representation according to the 2 the two strips 90, 92 are preferably provided on their opposite end faces with vertically extending contact surfaces, in the direction of view of the 5 seen the right support strip 92 has a variable contact surface 104, which is against an energy store in the form of at least one compression spring 106. In this way, the variable contact surface 104 is pressed against the material connection 102 with a predeterminable contact pressure via the compression spring 106, which enables a certain tolerance compensation and securely holds the material connection 102 in place.

Below the two support strips 90, 92 there is a separating device 108 with two cutting blades 110, 112 which converge to a point, the first cutting blade 110 being attached to the underside of the supporting strip 90 and the second cutting blade 112 to the underside of the second supporting strip 92. The cutting edges of the two Cutting blades 110, 112 are as shown in FIG 5 in a starting position are arranged at such a distance from one another that, by actuating the two pivot shafts 96, 98, the holding or clamping gap 100 must first be overcome by compressing the compression spring 106 before the separating cut through the material connection is made by the infeed movement of the two cutting knives 110, 112 towards one another 102 done. In this respect, too, the actual separating cut is cushioned by the spring property of the respective compression spring 106, so that a soft separating process can be carried out. Optionally, the knives 110, 112 can be designed as vibration knives. For an improved cutting process, the cutting blades 110, 112, which are preferably made of a metal material, can also be heated. In this case, it is expedient to provide a plate-shaped thermal insulator 114 between the knives 110, 112 and the respectively associated support strip 90 or 92. It is understood that several of the 5 Compression springs 106 shown can be distributed over the entire length of the support strip 92 with the variable contact surface 104. Furthermore, the knives 110, 112 preferably extend over the entire length of the respective support strip 90, 92, the length in any case having to be selected in such a way that the entire existing material connection 102 made of plastic material is severed. Since the separating device 108 is part of the guiding and holding device, it also follows the movement of the support strips 90, 92 with its two cutting blades.

Like those in particular 4 shows, the respective ampoule-like container product 26 is recorded in a kind of card 115 with material connection areas 116 as part of the material connection 102 above and below the finished container products 26. In order to illustrate the possible cutting intervention, 4 only half of the holding and separating device 108 is shown. As can be seen in particular from the 3 results, for the sake of simplicity, when the molding device 22 is open, the container products 26 produced with it and the associated parts of the molded tube 24 have been omitted or 112 in a pivoting movement so to each other that first in the direction of the 3 seen, the separation process takes place in a rear area, which then continues up to a front area of the material connection 102 . This improves the introduction of cutting forces and leads to an improved separation of the adjacent material connection regions 116 in the production sequence, with the variable contact surface 104 securing the material connection 102 in its position until it is completely severed. By pivoting the support strips 90, 92 with their cutting blades 110, 112 away from one another, the separating process is ended and the card 115 with the container products 26 is also released as a whole.

So that the card 115 cut off in this way, which comprises a plurality of container products 26, does not fall out between the two actuating units 86, 88, which are at least partially kept at a distance from one another, a handling device designated as a whole with 118 is provided. The handling device 118 has a gripper 120, like the 4 shows, has two pairs of clamps 122, the pairs of gripper tongues by means of a linkage gear 124 towards each other and away from each other. For this purpose, a linear cylinder 126, which is preferably designed as a pneumatic actuator, acts on the linkage mechanism 124. If the linear cylinder 126 in the direction of the 4 seen, retracted downwards, the two longitudinal rods of the linkage mechanism 124 are moved towards one another by means of the guide part 128 and the clamping pairs 122 are released with their gripper tongues via corresponding pivot axes. The linear cylinder 126 extends in the opposite direction, the maximum possible opening gap of the pairs of clamps 122 decreases and the card 115 is held in place by means of the gripper 120 via its lower material connection area 116 .

Like those in particular 6 shows, the linear cylinder 126 is held by a front arm part 130 of a multi-axis commercially available robot arm 132, which, when the left and right actuation units 86 and 88 are in the correspondingly open release position, controls the in 4 illustrated separated card 115 can be removed from the production device downwards.

The robot arm 132 as part of the handling device 118 then permits a large number of operations with appropriate machine control treatment steps for the card 115 with the finished container products 26, for example the introduction of the card 115 into a correspondingly suitable temperature control device, in particular a cooling device (not shown). A further after-treatment can consist of a quality assurance inspection, the attachment of a label, the isolation of the germ count-reducing treatment using heat and/or high-energy radiation, the leak test, etc. It goes without saying that as part of the manufacturing sequence, the robot arm 132 is returned to its in the 6 removal position shown for the card 115 moves as soon as such a card 115 has been separated from the pack arrangement via the separating device 108 . In this way, a clocked production sequence of individual container products 26 is possible with simultaneously non-clocked, i.e. continuous, exit of a molded tube 24 from the extrusion head 20 with relatively high output rates of finished container products 26.

For the sake of simplicity is in the 1 and 2 the handling device 118 together with the associated robot arm 132 is not shown. Furthermore, the high degree of modularity of the handling device 118 using the robot arm 132 allows, if necessary, the realization of a different type of gripper 120 for removing the finished container products 26 from the device.

As can also be seen from the 3 results, instead of the separating device 108 with the two cutting blades 110, 112, another separating device can also be used, for example a laser cutting device can be arranged in this area below the shaping device 22, the laser beam of which occurs transversely to the vertical production line with the respective material connections 102.

7 shows a different type of embodiment with an extrusion unit that can be moved in the vertical direction, as explained in detail in the subsequently published application DE 10 2020 004 564.2.

Disclosed herein is a device for producing plastic container chains by means of a form-fill-seal process, at least consisting of a forming device 22 with individual jaw-like forming tools 54, 58; 64, 68, which can be repeatedly moved towards one another from an open receiving position into a shaping closed position, and from an extrusion unit with an extrusion head 20 by means of which at least one extruded plastic tube can be moved into the open receiving position of the molds 54, 58; 64, 68 can be introduced, the extrusion unit being movable in opposite directions with each extruded plastic tube 24 by means of a traversing device in relation to the shaping device 22, which is arranged stationary in every position of the shaping tools. A carrier device, which has a horizontally oriented carrier plate with two carrier plate parts 134 which are arranged spaced apart from one another symmetrically to a vertically running shaping plane or production line, is used to hold the shaping device 22 . In the central region of each support plate part 134, two cuboid guide parts are provided as guide blocks 136, which are stacked one on top of the other and are aligned in the direction of movement of the block-like molds 54, 58 and 64, 68. each of these guide blocks 136 is used to guide two guide rods 138 for guiding the respective mold. In addition, each guide block 136 is used to guide two actuator rods, not shown in detail, which extend between the guide rods 138 in the direction of movement of the molds 54, 58; 64, 68 extend therethrough. The respective actuator rod can be moved electromagnetically by means of a linear drive 140 .

In this embodiment, the in 5 The separating device 108 shown is advantageously attached in a stationary manner below the stationary forming device 22, preferably below the vertically movable clamping strips 142, which act as a guiding and holding device, of a clamping device (not shown here). As described above, the container products 26 separated in the material connection 102 are removed with the aid of the gripper 120 described above using the handling device 118 with the robot arm 132 (the latter in 7 Not shown). Thus, the production of plastic container chains can also be avoided in this embodiment in an advantageous manner. In this embodiment shown, the containers 26 are also separated while they are on the main axis or mold parting plane, which corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the exiting hose 24 . In the configuration in question, the material connection 102 has at least one further, finished container product 26 after leaving the molding device 22, so that according to the illustration according to FIG 7 By means of the separating device 108, two already finished container products 26 can be separated from one another in the manufacturing sequence, with a container product that is still to be finished being located in the shaping device 22.

• a- Kontinuierliche Extrusion eines Formschlauches 24 durch einen Schlauch- oder Extrusionskopf 20,
• b- Schließen einer Formeinrichtung 22 mit Anlegen der Formflächen 28 um den Formschlauch 24, in einer Anlegeposition unterhalb des Extrusionskopfes 20,
• c- Ausformen des jeweiligen Behältererzeugnisses 26 durch einen Druckgradienten (Blasen und/oder Vakuum) innerhalb der Hauptbacken 54, 58, optional Durchführen eines Spülvorganges mit Inertgas o.ä., anschließendem Befüllen, optional Spülen des Kopfraums oberhalb des Füllspiegels des befüllten Behälters 26 mit Inertgas o.ä.,
• d- Verschließen der befüllten Behältererzeugnisse 26 durch die beiden Kopfbacken 64 und 68 als Teil der Formeinrichtung 22,
• e- Greifen und Kollabieren des Formschlauches 24 oberhalb der Kopfbacken 64, 68 durch einen Schlauchgreifer, in Form der Abstützleisten 90, 92 der Führungs- und Halteeinrichtung 34 sowie Anlegen des Greifers 120 als Austragmittel an der Unterseite der befüllten und verschlossenen Behältereinheit in Form einer Behälter-Karte 115,
• f- Öffnen der Formeinrichtung 22 und Bewegen nach oben zur vorgesehenen Anlage- oder Ausgangsposition,
• g- Abschneiden der Karte 115 mit den Behältererzeugnissen 26 durch die Trenneinrichtung 108 am Schlauchgreifer in Form der Abstützleisten 90, 92, Öffnen der Führungs- und Halteeinrichtung 34 durch Wegschwenken der beiden Stützleisten 90, 92 und Austragen der Karte 115 mit den Behältererzeugnissen 26 durch den Greifer 120 unter Einsatz der Handhabungseinrichtung 118 mit dem Roboterarm 132 mit anschließendem Verfahren der Führungs- und Halteeinrichtung 34 nach oben in eine Position oberhalb der Formeinrichtung 22.

With the device according to the invention, the following, repetitive process steps can be carried out sequentially or partially simultaneously as part of a production process:

• a- Continuous extrusion of a molded tube 24 through a tube or extrusion head 20,
• b- Closing a molding device 22 with application of the molding surfaces 28 to the molding tube 24, in an application position below the extrusion head 20,
• c- Shaping of the respective container product 26 by means of a pressure gradient (bubbles and/or vacuum) within the main jaws 54, 58, optionally carrying out a rinsing process with inert gas or the like, subsequent filling, optionally rinsing the headspace above the filling level of the filled container 26 with inert gas or similar,
• d- closing the filled container products 26 by the two head jaws 64 and 68 as part of the forming device 22,
• e- Gripping and collapsing of the molded tube 24 above the head jaws 64, 68 by a tube gripper in the form of the support strips 90, 92 of the guiding and holding device 34 and applying the gripper 120 as a discharge means on the underside of the filled and closed container unit in the form of a container -Card 115,
• f- opening the mold assembly 22 and moving it up to the intended abutment or home position,
• g- cutting off the card 115 with the container products 26 by the severing device 108 on the hose gripper in the form of the support strips 90, 92, opening the guiding and holding device 34 by pivoting away the two support strips 90, 92 and removing the card 115 with the container products 26 through the Gripper 120 using the handling device 118 with the robot arm 132 with subsequent movement of the guiding and holding device 34 upwards into a position above the forming device 22.

Optionally, step g (separation of the card 115) can occur before or at the same time as step f (opening of the mold device 22).

• h- Öffnen der Formeinrichtung 22 und Greifen des befüllten Behältererzeugnisses 26 in der geöffneten Form mit Hilfe eines Klemmleistenpaares 142 und Bewegen nach unten sowie Anlegen des Greifers 120 als Austragmittel an dem vorher hergestellten Behältererzeugnis 26 unterhalb des Klemmleistenpaares 142 und Abschneiden der Karte 115 mit dem jeweiligen Behältererzeugnis 26 durch die Trenneinrichtung 108 nebst Austragen der Karte 115 mit dem jeweiligen Behältererzeugnis 26 durch den Greifer 120 unter Einsatz der Handhabungseinrichtung 118 mit dem Roboterarm 132, und
• i- Wiederholen der Abfolge a- bis g- oder alternativ der Abfolge a- bis d- und h-.

As an alternative to steps e- to g- when using a stationary molding device 22, according to the subsequently published application DE 10 2020 004 564.2,

• h- Opening the mold device 22 and gripping the filled container product 26 in the opened form with the aid of a pair of clamping strips 142 and moving downwards and applying the gripper 120 as a discharge means to the previously manufactured container product 26 below the pair of clamping strips 142 and cutting off the card 115 with the respective Container product 26 by the separating device 108 together with discharge of the card 115 with the respective container product 26 by the gripper 120 using the handling device 118 with the robot arm 132, and
• i- repeating the sequence a- to g- or alternatively the sequence a- to d- and h-.

Optionally, in step h, the card 115 can also be cut off before or at the same time as the step of opening the shaping device 22 .

During steps a to g, mold 22 and tube grippers 34, 90, 92 are moved downwards along the vertical production line in the extrusion direction in a uniform movement analogous to the exit speed of the mold tube 24 at a constant low speed, for example at approx. 80 mm/s. In method step f (opening of the mold device 22), the mold is opened perpendicularly to this main production axis and is moved upwards along the main axis at increased speed, in order then to return to the application position (step b-) below the extrusion head 20.

Simultaneously with the continuous extrusion, the container products 26 discharged by the gripper 120 by means of the handling device 118 can be inspected in further, unspecified steps or after-treated. In particular, for heat-sensitive filling goods, the filled container unit can be rapidly cooled as a card 115, for example by blowing a gas on it , immersion in a fluid cooling medium, introduction into a cooling tunnel, etc. take place.

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• EP 2595789 B1 [0002]
• WO 2007010373 A1 [0003]
• WO 2014060101 A1 [0004, 0008, 0023, 0025, 0027, 0031, 0033]
• DE 102008006073 A1 [0004, 0006]

Claims (21)

Device for producing container products (26) from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, with a forming device (22) to which a forming tube (24) of plasticized plastic material can be fed by means of an extrusion head (20) and which can be predetermined Movable mold surfaces (28) that mimic container geometry, against which the mold tube (24) can be placed for a shaping, filling and/or closing process, a guiding and holding device (34) being provided which has movable guiding and holding parts , which can be controlled in such a way that in at least one of possible functional positions outside the molding area of the molding device (22), these act on the respective plastic material which at least partially surrounds the finished container products (26), characterized in that the plastic material, which is used as a card formed (115) a material connection (102) ago between a finished container product (26) that has already left the molding device (22) and an at least partially finished container product that is still in the molding device (22), can be severed by means of a separating device (108). device after claim 1 , characterized in that the separating device (108) can be actuated independently of the shaping device (22), and that a handling device (118), preferably in the form of a robot arm (132), moves to a removal position for the card (115) in such a way that a clocked manufacturing sequence of individual container products (26) is made possible with simultaneously non-clocked, i.e. continuous, exit of the molded tube (24) from the extrusion head (20). device after claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the material connection (102) accommodates at least one further finished container product (26) and in that two container products (26) adjacent to one another can be separated from one another by means of the separating device (108). Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the material connection (102) consists of an at least partially collapsed molded tube with an average thickness of less than 3 cm, preferably less than 2 cm, particularly preferably less than 1 cm in the separation area. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the movable guiding and holding parts of a guiding and holding device (34) can be brought into a functional position at the end of a respective shaping, filling and closing process for the container product (26) in which they bear against the shaped hose (24) in the section adjoining the inlet of the shaping device (22) in a supporting manner on opposite sides of the hose for a holding process, and that the guiding and holding parts have the separating device (108) which, in a separating position, can be separated from the Holding process out the separation of the material connection (102) makes. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the separating device (108) has two cutting knives (110, 112), of which each cutting knife (110, 112) is associated with a guiding and holding part which maintains a predeterminable distance ( 100) to one another, which for the separating cut is reduced to less than 4 mm, preferably less than 2 mm, particularly preferably less than 1 mm, preferably to zero. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shaping device (22) has individual shaping surfaces (28) forming jaws (54, 58; 64, 68) which are closed by means of a closing unit (32) in the vertical direction of movement of the shaped tube (24). vertically running direction of movement between a mold-closing position and a mold-opening position and that a displacement unit (85) is provided, by means of which the closing unit (32) can be moved from a starting position during the shaping, filling and closing process together with the movement of the Form hose (24) is movable vertically downwards and after completion of the shaping, filling and closing process in the starting position upwards. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that there is a handling device (118) which, by means of a gripper (120), grips the finished container product (26) in a removal position. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the separating unit (108) is arranged to be stationary or movable in the vertical direction. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the handling device (118) is part of a multi-axis movable robot arm (132). Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the guiding and holding device (34) can be moved by means of a second displacement unit (99) between an upper position, which corresponds to the active position of the guiding and holding parts, and lowered positions. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the guide and holding parts are designed in the form of support strips (90, 92) which, in the pivoted position corresponding to the active position, extend over the entire length of the mold parting plane (94) of the mold device (22). and are mounted for pivotal movement in a horizontal plane on pivot shafts (96, 98) of the associated operating unit (86, 88) which extend vertically and parallel to one another adjacent the mold parting plane (94). Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the separating device (108) with at least one, preferably two, cutting knives (110, 112) is attached underneath an underside of the shaping device (22) and can optionally be moved together with it. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a blowing/filling mandrel is used to form the container products (26). Method for producing container products (26) from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a moulding, filling and closing method, in particular using a device according to one of the preceding claims, with container products (26) produced one after the other by means of a molding device (22) via a Web-like material connection (102) are connected to one another, characterized in that the material connection (102) is severed at a predeterminable point below the shaping device (22) by means of a severing device (108). procedure after claim 15 , characterized in that the material connection (102) is severed at an angle of 80 degrees to 110 degrees, preferably approximately 90 degrees, to the longitudinal axis of a molded hose (24) by means of a severing device (108). procedure after claim 15 or 16 , characterized in that the production of the molded hose (24) takes place with the aid of supporting gas, preferably with air. Procedure according to one of Claims 15 until 17 , characterized in that the container products (26) are filled by filling mandrels which are located at least partially inside the molded tube (24). Procedure according to one of Claims 15 until 18 , characterized in that container products (26) for medical purposes, in particular bottles with a volume of more than 30 ml, preferably more than 50 ml, or ampoules are produced with it. Procedure according to one of Claims 15 until 19 , characterized in that the shaping of the container products (26) takes place at least partially by a blow molding process. Method for producing container products (26) from plastic materials, in particular by carrying out a forming, filling and closing process, in particular using a device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the forming, filling, closing and separating of the filled container products ( 26) from the mold hose (24) along a main or shaping axis, preferably running vertically.

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