JP5955160B2 - Container manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to preform production equipment of the container you producing containers by blow molding.

Patent Document 1 discloses that a lubricant is attached to the surface of a container body by bringing the outer peripheral surface of the body of the container into contact with a lubricant-containing body and transporting the container.
By transporting an empty container or a container filled with contents by attaching a lubricant to the surface of the container body, it improves the slipperiness between the bottles and the guide that guides the transport. It is disclosed to prevent clogging of containers.
On the other hand, it is known to produce a container by blow-molding a preform (container precursor).

Japanese Patent No. 491652

However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since the outer peripheral surface of the container body is brought into contact with the lubricant-containing body, when the outer peripheral surface of the container body is uneven, the lubricant is attached to the recess. There was a problem that could not be done.
In particular, when the container is guided and transferred by the guide member in an upright state, the guide member is guided in contact with the concave portion of the container body, and the lubricant is not attached to the concave portion with respect to the guide member. There was a disadvantage that the slipperiness could not be improved.
In addition, when the cross-sectional shape of the container body is not a circle such as a substantially square or hexagon, the lubricant cannot be attached to the entire outer peripheral surface of the container body even if the container is rotated and brought into contact with the lubricant-containing body. There was a problem.

The present invention, with or without the shape and irregularities of the container body, and an object thereof is to provide a manufacturing equipment of container that can impregnated with lubricant to the outer peripheral surface of the container.

The invention described in claim 1 includes a preform conveying unit that aligns and conveys the preform, a heating unit that heats the preform that is aligned and conveyed, a bottle molding unit that blow-molds the preform, In a container manufacturing apparatus including a bottle transport unit that transports a formed bottle, a lubricant adhering portion is provided along the preform transport path at the inlet of the heating unit, and the outer peripheral surface of the preform is provided in the lubricant adhering portion. The container manufacturing apparatus is characterized in that it abuts and attaches a lubricant.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the heating unit includes a heater mandrel attached to the mouth of the preform, and the outer surface of the preform is lubricated by rotating the heater mandrel. After contacting the agent adhering portion, the preform is rotated while being heated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the lubricant adhering portion includes a lubricant-containing body provided across the preform conveyance path, and the lubricant-containing body as a preform conveyance path. And a biasing member that presses toward the outer surface, and the preform moves along the conveying path while rotating, thereby contacting the lubricant-containing body and attaching the lubricant to the outer peripheral surface.

The invention described in claim 4 is the invention according to claim 3 , wherein a plurality of lubricant-containing bodies are provided along the transport direction, and each lubricant-containing body has a plane portion along the transport path on the side surface of the transport path. And an inclined portion inclined so that the lubricant-containing bodies facing each other toward the upstream side in the conveying direction are separated from each other.

The invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 4 , the lubricant is a fluorine compound.

According to the first aspect of the present invention , the lubricant can be attached to the outer peripheral surface of the container regardless of the shape of the container after blow molding and the presence or absence of irregularities.
Moreover, the lubricant can be easily attached to the outer peripheral surface of the container by attaching the lubricant to the outer peripheral surface of the preform.
Since the preform melts when the preform is blow-molded, the lubricant particles adhere to the outer peripheral surface of the molded container, so that the lubricant is difficult to peel off. For example, the slipperiness on the outer peripheral surface of the container can be maintained even after the container is cleaned.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be achieved , and a lubricant can be easily attached to the entire outer peripheral surface of the preform.
Since the preform is thicker and harder than the container, when the preform is brought into contact with the lubricant-containing body, it can be strongly pressed and the lubricant can be easily attached.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the second aspect of the invention can be achieved, and the lubricant can be attached to the entire outer peripheral surface of the preform with a simple configuration.
Since the lubricant-containing body is pressed against the preform conveyance path side by the biasing member, it can be supplied even if the lubricant outer play body is worn down.

According to the invention described in claim 4 , the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 can be obtained, and by providing a plurality of lubricant-containing bodies, the lubricant can be reliably applied to the outer peripheral surface of the preform. At the upstream side in the conveying direction, the movement of the preform can be smoothly guided by the inclined portion of the lubricating inclusion.

According to the invention described in claim 5 , the same effect as the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 4 can be obtained , and the fluorine compound is versatile and inexpensive, Sliding property can be imparted to the container at low cost.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a state in which a lubricant is attached to a preform in the container manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a lubricant adhering portion in the container manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows roughly the whole manufacturing apparatus of the container concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the lubricant adhesion area | region concerning embodiment of this invention, (a) is a front view of preform, (b) is a front view of a container. It is a front view of the container used in slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is the schematic of the jig | tool used by the slipperiness evaluation test 1, (a) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, (b) is a front view. It is the schematic of the jig | tool used by the slipperiness evaluation test 2, (a) is a top view, (b) is a front view. It is a graph which shows the result of an X-ray elemental analysis about the preform of the Example goods used by slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is a graph which shows the result of an X-ray elemental analysis about the preform of the comparative example goods used by slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is a graph which shows the result of an X-ray elemental analysis about the container of the Example goods used by the slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is a graph which shows the result of an X-ray elemental analysis about the container of the comparative example goods used by slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is an electron micrograph of the preform surface of the Example goods used in the slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is an electron micrograph of the preform surface of the comparative example product used in the slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is an electron micrograph of the container surface of the Example goods used in the slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2. It is an electron micrograph of the container surface of the comparative example product used in the slipperiness evaluation tests 1 and 2.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, the container manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the container manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a preform conveying unit 5 that aligns and conveys the preform 3, a heating unit 7 that heats the preform 3 that is aligned and conveyed, and a preform 3. Are provided with a bottle forming section 9 for blow-molding and a bottle transport section 11 for transporting the molded container 2.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the preform 3 includes a mouth portion 13, a flange portion 15, and a body portion 17. The body portion 17 has a cylindrical main body portion 17a and a curved shape protruding downward. The bottom part 17b of this is formed.
The preform 3 is made of a polyester resin and is made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the heating unit 7, a heater mandrel 19 is inserted into the mouth portion 13 of the preform 3 that is aligned and conveyed from the preform conveyance unit 5, and the preform 3 is suspended and held. As shown in FIG. 3, the heating unit 7 is provided with a heater 21, and the preform 3 held by the heater mandrel 19 moves around the heater 21 and is heated. During the transfer of the preform, the heater mandrel 19 rotates to rotate the preform 3 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, a lubricant adhering portion 23 is provided in the conveyance path of the preform 3 at the inlet of the heating portion 7. The lubricant attaching portion 23 is provided with three attaching devices 25 provided side by side along the transport direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, each attachment device 25 includes a pair of lubricant-containing bodies 27 provided across the conveyance path S of the preform 3 and an urging force that presses each lubricant-containing body 27 toward the conveyance path. A member 29 and a support 31 that supports each lubricant-containing body 27 are provided.
The lubricant-containing body 27 includes a flat surface portion 27a on the conveyance path S side, and an inclined portion 27b that is inclined so that the lubricant-containing bodies 27 and 27 that face each other toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction are separated from each other. The distance between 27b and 27b is made wider than between the flat portions 27a and 27a, and the distance on the upstream side in the transport direction of the preform 3 is gradually increased.

  The lubricant-containing body 27 is preferably a fluorine compound, specifically, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), tetrafluoroethylene / hexafluoropropyne copolymer (FEP), tetrafluoroethylene / perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether. Copolymer (PFA), tetrafluoroethylene / ethylene copolymer (FTFE), polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), chlorotrifluoroethylene / ethylene copolymer (ECTFE), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinyl Fluoride (PVF) or the like is used.

The interval W between the pair of opposing lubricant-containing bodies 27, 27 is narrower than the outer diameter of the body portion 17 of the preform 3 in a free state before the preform 3 passes, and the preform 3 passes. The flat portion 27 a is pressed against the preform 3.
As shown in FIG. 1, the height H of the flat surface portion 27 a of the lubricant containing body 27 is set to a height at which the body portion 17 of the preform 3 hits.
In each attaching device 25, the preform 3 is rotated one or more times, and the preform 3 is rotated three or more times in contact with the lubricant containing bodies 27 and 27 in the entire lubricant attaching portion 23.

Next, the manufacturing method, operation, and effect of the container 2 by the container manufacturing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the preform 3 that has been conveyed in a single row from the preform conveying unit 5 enters the heating unit 5, and then enters the mouth 13 of the preform 3 as shown in FIG. 1. The heater mandrel 19 is mounted and transferred to the lubricant adhering portion 23 in a suspended state.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the lubricant adhering portion 23, the heater mandrel 19 conveys the preform 3 while rotating and moves between the pair of adhering agent-containing bodies 27 and 27. Here, the preform 3 rotates while pressing the outer peripheral surface of the body portion 17 against the flat portion 27 a of the additive-containing body 27, thereby attaching the additive particles.
In the lubricant adhering portion 23, the adhering agent is reliably adhered to the outer peripheral surface sequentially by the three adhering devices 25. Each attachment device 25 passes between a pair of opposing lubricant-containing bodies 27, 27, but between the lubricant-containing bodies 27, 27, the upstream side in the transport direction is widened by the inclined portions 27b, 27b. Therefore, it can be smoothly inserted between the lubricant-containing bodies 27 and 27.
As a result, the lubricant particles adhere to the region A indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the preform 3 suspended by the heater mandrel 19 is moved around the heater 21 and heated, and then conveyed to the bottle molding unit 9 and blow molding is performed as shown in FIG. ) Is formed, and the container 2 is then transported from the bottle transport unit to the next process.
As shown in FIG. 4B, in the molded container 2, a region B indicated by a two-dot chain line is a lubricant particle attachment region corresponding to the lubricant particle attachment region in the preform 3.

According to the present embodiment, as is apparent from FIG. 4B, the lubricant can be attached to the outer peripheral surface of the container regardless of the shape of the container 2 after blow molding and the presence or absence of irregularities.
In particular, since the lubricant can be attached to the concave portion 2a of the container 2, slipping with respect to the guide member can be imparted even when the container 2 is conveyed in an upright state by placing the guide member against the concave portion 2a. Can be transported smoothly.
Since the preform 3 is harder than the container 2, the lubricant can be easily attached and the lubricant-containing body 27 can be firmly pressed to securely attach the lubricant.
By blow-molding the preform 3 to which the lubricant is added, the preform is melted, so that the lubricant (lubricant particles) adheres to the outer peripheral surface of the molded container, so that the attached lubricant is difficult to peel off. . Therefore, the slipperiness on the outer peripheral surface of the container can be maintained even after the container is washed, and the slipperiness can be maintained for a long time.

Since the lubricant is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the preform 3 that is smaller than the container 2, the attaching device 25 can be made smaller than when the lubricant is attached to the container 2.
In the container manufacturing apparatus 1, since the lubricant is attached to the preform 3 at the inlet of the heating unit 7 of the preform 3 and then heated, the lubricant can be attached without waste during the container manufacturing process.
Since the heating part 7 attaches the additive to the preform 3, the heater mandrel 19 used in the heating part 7 can be used as it is, and the configuration of the lubricant attaching part 23 can be simplified.
In the preform 3, since the lubricant is attached only to the body portion 17, the lubricant is attached only to the portion that becomes the body portion of the container 2 after molding, and the lubricant can be attached without waste.

In the present embodiment, since a fluorine compound that is versatile and inexpensive is used as the lubricant, slipperiness can be imparted to the container at low cost.
In the lubricant adhering portion 23, the lubricant containing body 27 is pressed against the preform transport path S side by the urging member 29, so that the lubricant can be attached even if the lubricant containing body 27 is worn down.

Below, since the comparative test was done, the test and result are demonstrated.
The container 2 was manufactured from the preform 3 using the container manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment described above.
The preform 3 has the shape shown in FIG. 4A, and the container 2 has the shape shown in FIG. A preform having a height of 90 mm, an inner diameter of 22 mm, and a weight of 24 g was used, and the container 2 was molded so that the barrel portion had a substantially cylindrical barrel diameter of 70 mm, a height of 210 mm, and an average bottle thickness of 0.3 mm.
A product obtained by attaching a fluororesin to the outer peripheral surface of the body portion 17 of the preform 3 was used as an example product, and a product obtained by attaching no fluororesin was used as a comparative product (blank). As the comparative example product, a preform and a container having the same shape manufactured by the same method as the example product except that there was no lubricant addition treatment were used.

For the example products, the fluororesin was attached to the preform 3 under the following conditions and method.
A fluororesin plate was used as the lubricant containing body 27. The lubricant-containing body 27 was installed such that four Teflon (registered trademark) plates each having a length of 90 mm and a thickness of 10 mm were stacked in the vertical direction, and the height was 35 mm below the top surface of the preform 3. As shown in FIG. 2, three units were installed continuously in the horizontal direction.
The pressing pressure (spring pressure) of the preform 3 against the lubricant-containing body 27 was 16 N (Newton), and the distance between the opposing lubricant-containing bodies 27 and 27 was 15 mm.
The rotation speed of the preform 3 between the lubricant-containing bodies 27 and 27 was 3 rotations / 3 units, and the preform conveyance speed was 500 mm / sec.

Regarding the example product and the comparative product, confirmation of adhesion of the lubricant particles (fluororesin) to the preform 3 was observed with a scanning electron microscope and X-ray elemental analysis was performed. The results are shown in FIGS. The magnification of the scanning electron microscope was 1000 times.
An electron micrograph of the surface of the preform 3 of the example product is shown in FIG. 12, and an electron micrograph of the surface of the container 2 of the example product is shown in FIG. As apparent from FIGS. 12 and 14, in the preform 3 of the example product and the container 2 of the example product, a whitish deposit could be confirmed on the surface.
On the other hand, FIG. 13 shows an electron micrograph of the surface of a comparative preform that has not been subjected to the adhesion treatment of lubricant particles, and FIG. 15 shows an electron micrograph of the surface of the container of the comparative example. As apparent from FIGS. 13 and 15, no deposits could be confirmed on the preform of the comparative product and the surface of the container.

Next, since X-ray elemental analysis of each preform and container was performed on the example product and the comparative product, the results will be described.
8 to 11 each show a peak of a detection element, O is oxygen, C is carbon, and F is fluorine. The preform 3 of the example product detects fluorine as shown in FIG. 8, and the container 2 of the example product detects fluorine as shown in FIG. It was confirmed that it was a fluororesin (lubricant particle).
On the other hand, the preform of the comparative example product did not detect fluorine as shown in FIG. 9, and the container of the comparative example product did not detect fluorine as shown in FIG.

Next, since two evaluation tests of slipperiness were performed on the container 2 of the example product and the container of the comparative example product, the results will be described.
Sliding property evaluation test 1 (Slip measurement between containers)
The slipperiness between the containers 2 and 2 was evaluated. In order to reproduce the condition that the container 2 was filled with the contents, 500 ml of carbon dioxide-containing water was filled, and as shown in FIG. 6, the three containers were laid down vertically on the jig 35, and the middle container The bottom portion 2b of No. 2 was extruded at a constant speed, and the load when it started to move was recorded.
This test was performed five times for each of the example product and the comparative product. The results are shown in Table 1.

  As is clear from Table 1, the example product was able to extrude the container with a smaller load than the comparative example product at all times. That is, as shown in Table 1, there was a difference in slipperiness between the example product and the comparative product, and there was a significant difference at a statistical risk rate of 5%. Therefore, it was confirmed that the example product improved the slipperiness of the container as compared with the comparative product.

Sliding property evaluation test 2 (Measurement of sliding property against iron plate)
This slip evaluation test 2 is a measurement of slipperiness assuming that a vending machine is loaded.
As in the slipperiness evaluation test 1, for the example product and the comparative product, in order to reproduce the conditions in which the contents of the container 2 were filled, the test was conducted with 500 ml of carbon dioxide-containing water.
As shown in FIG. 7, the test method is as follows. One container 2 is placed on a V-shaped iron plate 37 made of SUS that looks like a passage iron plate of a vending machine, and the bottom 2 b of the container 2 is extruded at a constant speed. The load when moving started was recorded.
The results are shown in Table 2.

  As shown in Table 2, in the first to fourth rounds, the example product was able to extrude the container with a smaller load than the comparative example product. In the fifth round, the example product and the comparative example product had substantially the same load, but the example product could be extruded with a smaller load than the comparative product in the average values from the first to the fifth round. That is, there is a difference in slipperiness between the example product in which the preform was lubricated and the comparative example in which the preform was not lubricated, and the statistical risk factor was 5%. There was a significant difference. This slip evaluation test 2 confirmed that the slipperiness of the container was improved even when the vending machine was loaded.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, the container manufacturing apparatus 1 is provided with the lubricant adhering part 23, and the process of adhering the lubricant to the preform 3 and the process of blow-molding at the bottle forming part are continuously performed. Separately from the manufacturing apparatus 1, a lubricant may be attached to the preform 3, and the container 3 may be blow-molded by supplying the preform 3 with the lubricant attached to the container manufacturing apparatus 1 without the lubricant attaching portion 23. In this case, since the adhesiveness between the preforms 3 is reduced when the preforms 3 are supplied to the container manufacturing apparatus from a hopper, a container, or the like or aligned, the clogging of the preforms 3 can be prevented.
The shape of the lubricant-containing body 27 of the present invention is not limited as long as the lubricant can be attached to the preform. For example, a brush shape or a belt shape can be considered.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container manufacturing apparatus 3 Preform 7 Heating part 13 Mouth part 17 Body part 17a Main body part 19 Heater mandrel outflow part 23 Lubricant attaching part 25 Adhering apparatus 27 Adhesive containing body 27a Plane part 27b Inclined part 29 Energizing member

Claims (5)

  A preform conveying section that aligns and conveys the preform; a heating section that heats the preform that has been aligned and conveyed; a bottle forming section that blow-molds the preform; and a bottle conveying section that conveys the formed bottle In the container manufacturing apparatus, a heating part inlet is provided with a lubricant adhering part along the preform conveying path, and the outer peripheral surface of the preform abuts on the lubricant adhering part to attach the lubricant. A container manufacturing apparatus. The heating part is equipped with a heater mandrel to be attached to the mouth of the preform. By rotating the heater mandrel, the outer peripheral surface of the preform is brought into contact with the lubricant adhering part, and then the preform is rotated while being heated. The container manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 . The lubricant adhering portion has a lubricant-containing body provided across the preform conveyance path and a biasing member that presses the lubricant-containing body toward the preform conveyance path, and the preform is conveyed while rotating. The container manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the lubricant is adhered to the outer peripheral surface by moving along the path so as to contact the lubricant-containing body. A plurality of lubricant-containing bodies are provided along the conveyance direction, and each lubricant-containing body is inclined so that the side surfaces of the conveyance path are spaced apart from the planar portion along the conveyance path and the lubricant-containing bodies facing each other toward the upstream side in the conveyance direction. The container manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising an inclined portion. The container manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the lubricant is a fluorine compound.