MXPA99008065A - Plastic containers with an external gas barrier coating - Google Patents

Abstract

A coated plastic container provides for low permeability to gases and vapors. A method and system for coating plastic containers includes applying a thin inorganic oxide layer to the external surface of the containers with plasma-assisted vacuum vapor deposition. For example, the coating can include silica which is bonded to the external surface of the container. This coating is flexible and be can be applied regardless of the container's internal pressure or lack thereof. The coating firmly adheres to the container and possess an enhanced gas barrier effect after pressurization even when the coating is scratched, fractured, flexed and/or stretched. Moreover, this gas barrier enhancement will be substantially unaffected by filling of the container. A method of recycling coated plastic containers and a method and system for packaging a beverage using the coated containers are also disclosed.

Description

PLASTIC CONTAINERS WITH EXTERNAL COATING OF BARRIER TO GASES CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS This application is a continuation in part of the application of US patent serial number 08 / 818,342 filed on March 14, 1997, the presentation of which is expressly incorporated here by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to plastic containers under pressure that have improved barrier performance and methods for providing such containers and also refers to coatings. The improved barrier performance is obtained by the application of inorganic coatings on the external surface of the container. The coatings have an increased adhesion compared to the coatings of the prior art. Furthermore, this invention also relates to the recycling of coated plastic containers and the packaging of beverages in said container. - BACKGROUND OF - INVENTION Plastic containers now form an important and growing segment of the beverage food industry. Plastic containers offer several advantages compared to traditional metal and glass containers. They are lightweight, economical, 3 non-breakable, transparent and easily manufactured and handled. However, plastic containers have at least one major drawback that has limited their universal acceptance, especially in the case of the most demanding food applications. This drawback is that all plastic containers are more or less permeable to water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases and vapors. In many applications, the permeation rates in the plastics are large enough to significantly limit the shelf life of the contained food or the contained beverage, or to prevent the use of plastic containers. It has been recognized for some time that a container structure that combines the best characteristics of plastic containers and more traditional containers can be obtained by applying a glass or metal type layer on a plastic container, and plastic containers metalizable For example, metallic bags for potatoes have been marketed for some time. However, in many applications, the clarity of the packaging is of remarkable importance, and for these applications, the metallic coatings are not acceptable. Obtaining durable glass-like coating in plastic containers without changing the appearance of the container is much more difficult.

Numerous processes have been developed for the purpose of applying glass-like coatings on plastic films, when the films are subsequently formed into flexible plastic containers. However, relatively few procedures have been developed that allow the application of a glass-like coating on a relatively rigid preformed plastic container such as PET bottles commonly used in the United States of America for soft drinks, and therefore not no process has been developed that allows the application of a glass-like coating on the external surface of a plastic container, which is sufficiently durable to withstand the effect of increasing the pressure of the container, retaining an enhanced barrier to gases and vapors after said increase in pressure, and that does not affect the recycling capacity of the containers. Containers for drink under pressure are currently a very large market in the international arena, and the plastics that can be counted currently have sufficiently high permeation rates to limit the use of plastic containers in several of the markets served. Said containers under pressure include plastic bottles, both soft and non-carbonated drinks. Plastic bottles were created from various polymers, predominantly polyethylene terephthalate (PET), particularly in the case of soft drinks, but all these polymers have presented several degrees of permeability to gases and vapors that have limited the shelf life of beverages placed inside said containers . For example, soft drink bottles have a shelf life limited by the loss of C02. (shelf life is typically defined as the time required for the loss of 17% of the initial carbonation of a beverage). Due to the effect of the surface to volume ratio, the rate of loss becomes greater as the size of the bottle is reduced. Small containers are required for many commercial applications, and this severely limits the use of plastic bottles in these cases. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a container with improved carbonation retention properties. In the case of non-carbonated beverages, similar limitations apply, again with increasing importance as the size of the bottle is reduced, due to the diffusion of oxygen and / or water vapor. It should be noted that diffusion refers to both the income and the output (diffusion and infusion) to the bottle or container and from the bottle or container. The degree of impermeability (described here as "gas barrier") for the diffusion of CO2 and the diffusion of oxygen, water vapor and other gases, grows in importance under conditions of high ambient temperature. An internal coating with a high gas barrier can improve the quality of beverages packaged in plastic bottles and increase the shelf life of such bottles, making small bottles a more feasible alternative and this in turn has many advantages in regarding reduced distribution costs and a more flexible marketing mix. Some polymers, for example PET, are also susceptible to stress cracking when they come into contact with bottle conveyor lubricants used in bottle filling plants or detergents, solvents and other materials. These cracks are often described as "environmental stress cracks" and can limit the life of the bottle causing leaks, which can cause damage to the surrounding property. An impermeable outer surface for plastic bottles whose surface resists chemicals that induce stress cracking, prevents damage to adjacent property and will extend the shelf life of plastic bottles in some markets, as widely desired. Another limitation of the shelf life and the quality of the beverage is the frequent UV radiation that can affect the taste, color and other properties of the beverage. This is particularly important in conditions of prolonged stay in sunlight. An external coating with UV light absorbing properties can improve the quality of these beverages and make the plastic bottles more usable under such conditions. It is also desirable that plastic containers, such as PET bottles, be recyclable. Improved coatings of the prior art, however, are often organic and relatively thick and can therefore contaminate the recycled plastic product. The organic coating materials incorporated in recycled plastic make the containers unsuitable for beverage or food since the food or drink may be in contact with the organic coating material and become contaminated. In addition, relatively thick coatings form relatively large ones during the recycling of the plastic material and can damage the appearance and properties of the resulting recycled plastic product. In particular, relatively large coating particles in recycled plastic can cause an otherwise clear plastic to become cloudy. A cloudy plastic is often undesirable in the case of containers such as beverage and food containers. Finally, the cost of applying a coating on the outside of a bottle, which has a gas barrier which significantly increases the shelf life of the beverage container in this bottle, and / or significantly reduces the waste of container product of beverage in this bottle, and / or that significantly reduces product waste due to UV light radiation, and / or that virtually eliminates environmental stress cracks and / or that provides a specific color, should not significantly increase the cost of the basic packaging. This is a criterion that eliminates many processes for coatings of high barrier to gases, because the mass produced article, the plastic bottles are themselves a very low cost. The applicable character implies in practice that the cost of the coating adds a minimum or nothing to the cost of the overall packaging and in fact the cost may be lower. A coating on the outside of plastic bottles should be able to be flexed. When bottles are used for containers under pressure, the coating should par excellence be stretched diaxially when the plastic substrate is stretched. In addition, it is preferable that the coating be continuous on most of the surface of the container. Adhesion is particularly important in the case of soft drinks since the C02 inside the bottle exerts a certain pressure on the coating or all the pressure on the coating. This pressure can rise to above 6 bar, exerting considerable forces on the coating / plastic interface. The coating must also withstand normal handling, weather (rain, sun, etc.) and the coating must maintain its gas barrier characteristic throughout the life of the bottle. There are several processes increased by plasma that apply an external coating, inorganic on a gamma of articles, which, in some cases, include bottles. Many of the methods focus on providing coating properties that are quite different, and much less expensive than high-barrier gas bottle coatings. Such processes focus, for example, on abrasion resistance, where the continuity of coating is not a major factor, since the coating can protect the microscopic interstices. Other processes focus on cosmetic or light reflection properties and some processes have a purely protective function. Frequently the substrate is not flexed or stretched and the article itself is of a higher price than plastic bottles in such a way that the cost is not a benefit for the design. In some cases, the substrate allows coating temperatures much higher than the temperatures allowed by PET, the most common plastic bottle making material. Such processes, in general, do not provide the continuity of coating, adhesion, flexibility that are required for high gas barrier coatings, nor do they provide the solution to the other problems in relation to high gas barrier coatings, described above. The prior art also exists in the case of gas barrier process for bottles, but the lack of commercially available coated bottles for application under pressure is due to the fact that these processes do not have the desirable attributes described above and do not provide a coating with a adequate adhesion, continuity and / or flexibility under pressure in the high bottle or a coating that avoids recycling problems, or the low cost necessary to make the covering accessible from an economic perspective. U.S. Patent No. 5,565,248 to Plester and Erich discloses a method for internally coating containers. However, external coatings require a much greater adhesion than internal coatings because the pressure in the bottle acts against external coatings, and the internal coatings are not subjected to the same handling and / or abrasion during use. For these reasons, and for other reasons, the external coating of bottles differs from the internal coatings and the present invention is therefore substantially different. For plastic containers such as PET to be economically feasible containers for commercial products such as beverages and food, bottles must be manufactured relatively cheaply at high speed and high volume. Accordingly, a process and system for coating plastic containers must be economical and capable of operating at high speed and high volume. Many prior art systems for coating objects with a gas barrier coating are batch processes or otherwise slow and inefficient processes. Accordingly, there is a need for plastic containers coated with an effective gas barrier coating that can be efficiently recycled and economically produced for use as containers for mass-produced items such as beverages and food . The following publications relate to processes for coating plastic articles and relate to the background of this invention: European Patent Application 0535810 (Williams), which presents a blood collection tube comprising a plastic body coated with a film based in silicon oxide as a gas barrier. The blood collection tube is described as made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and the silicon oxide coating is applied using a deposit of chemical vapor enhanced by plasma (PECVD). US Patent No. 4,552,791 to Hahn presents an RF plasma coating process for coating plastic containers with oxides such as, for example, SiO. This reference presents vapor deposit on PET containers with SiO vaporizing directly SiO in a vacuum chamber and depositing the SiO ions on the surface of the container. The SiO vapor is ionized by RF energy and then polarized by DC polarization. United Kingdom Patent Application GB2138647 (Stern) presents a magnetron-assisted sputtering process for coating plastic containers with a metal oxide coating. In that process, an RF discharge ionizes an inert gas such as argon and the inert gas ions are attracted by the magnetitron against a solid coating material such as a conductive metal. The inert gas ions erode the surface surface of the metal coating and the eroded metal reacts with the oxygen and forms a metal oxide that is deposited on the surface of the container. European Patent Application 0460796 (Deak) presents a process for coating structures such as, for example, PET containers with silicon dioxide, and a metal doping agent using vacuum deposition techniques. This reference presents the non-reactive evaporation or the sputtering of a coating material such as, for example, silicon dioxide and the recondensing of the coating material on the plastic container in vacuum. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an external coating or a layer for a container such as, for example, a heat-sensitive plastic bottle, and particularly for non-refillable bottles used for soft drinks. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a coating and a system and method for coating that can provide an outer glass type coating that is flexible, durable and having sufficient adhesion to withstand the effects of pressure such as bending and Stretching the container, and resisting the dent of a container without a significant loss of improved barrier properties. A further object of the present invention is to provide an externally coated container that avoids environmental stress cracks as when the container comes in contact with transport lubricants during filling and detergents, cleaners or solvents or substantially similar during their life cycle. Such lubricants may include 409 ®, Mean Green ® or other cleaners or lubricants available commercially, etc. Another object of the present invention is to offer a lighter vessel and a system and method for making the vessel where an amount of plastic used to make the vessel compared to a conventional vessel can be reduced without adversely affecting or improving the barrier effectiveness to the gases in the container. It is another object of the present invention to provide a coating comprising an inorganic oxide layer on the outer surface of a plastic container, the inorganic oxide layer being further distinguished by comprising 50% or more than 50% and up to less than 100% of SiOx (x = 1.7 to 2.0). Another object is to provide a coating having sufficient adhesion on the outer surface of the plastic container such that the barrier improvement provided by the inorganic oxide layer is not substantially reduced by increasing the pressure of the container at a pressure between 1 ( 0.069 bar) and 100 psig (6.9 bar). A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for applying an inorganic layer in accordance with that described above, the method results in an inorganic layer of robust oxide which provides an effective level of barrier improvement to the plastic container and does not result in significant physical distortion of the container. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system for manufacturing a container wherein the aesthetic attraction of the container will be improved by the application of a color inorganic layer which also contains species that absorb visible light. Another object of the present invention is to provide a coating for a container with UV light absorbing capabilities. Another object of the present invention is to provide a container with a clear or colored coating that can be easily recycled without significant or abnormal complications to existing recycling systems. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for economically manufacturing an externally coated container at high speed and high volume. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method in which the thickness of the coating composition applied in a container can be quickly and easily determined and where a process control and the safety of improved barrier performance can be obtained. A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the condition of the surface of a plastic container at least as to its suitability for the application of glass type coatings. Another object of the present invention is to provide a high barrier to gases that considerably increases the shelf life of the containers such as plastic bottles and to provide the containers with a good transparency in order not to affect the appearance of a bottle of clear plastic. Another object of the present invention is to provide a container with adequate durability and adhesion during the working life, when the external surface of the container is subjected to environmental conditions such as for example rough weather, rubbing, surface wear or abrasions (for example during transport). Likewise, another object of the present invention includes the ability to allow coating on heat-sensitive plastic containers with coating materials which can only be vaporized at very high temperatures without an acceptable increase in the temperature of the plastic and which must remain in place. many cases below 60 ° C. The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are met by offering a coated plastic container comprising a plastic container body having an outer surface and a coating on the outer surface of a container body comprising an inorganic oxide and an additive. metal forming glass, where the coated plastic container, when containing a fluid under pressure sealed in the interior space of the container body at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar), has a gas barrier of at least 1.25x the gas barrier of the container without the coating, when the container without the coating contains a fluid under pressure sealed in the internal space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar). This invention also encompasses a method and system for making a coated plastic container having a gas barrier, a method for recycling coated plastic containers, and a method and system for packaging sealed beverages in plastic containers including a coating. barrier to gases. More particularly, the coated plastic container of this invention is made by depositing the coating on the external surface of the container body using vacuum vapor deposition, desirably vacuum vapor deposition increased by plasma. The resulting coating is desirably substantially homogeneous and amorphous and either chemically or physically bound, or both, on the outer surface of the container. As used herein, the term "homogeneous" refers to the fact that no substantial variation in the atomic composition is observed through the coating and the term "amorphous" means that there is no substantial crystallinity in the coating as measured by diffraction techniques. of standard x-rays. In addition, the inorganic oxide and the glass-forming metal additive are preferably present in the coating at concentrations that are substantially constant throughout the thickness of the coating. The resulting coating is therefore very durable. Due to the high level of adhesion of the inorganic coating on the surface of the plastic container of the present invention, a continuous coating is not essential. In other words, even though the coating of the present invention may be non-continuous due to scratches or fractures such as for example the coating will still accept an effective adhesion on the substrate such as an underlying plastic bottle. The present invention can therefore provide an effective barrier to gases even if the surface is highly fractured. A high gas barrier of 1.25x greater than the uncoated container can be obtained with the present invention and this barrier can be 1.5x or preferably 2x higher than the uncoated container even when the coated container contains a fluid under pressure as per example a gaseous drink. In addition, the coated container of the present invention has improved crack resistance by environmental pressure even when the container contains a fluid under pressure. Furthermore, the coated container of the present invention can be made in such a way that it has an equivalent gas barrier and a reduced weight compared to a plastic container of similar surface area and similar volume and without said outer inorganic coating. The system of the present invention for making the coated plastic container comprises a vacuum cell, a container feeder, a transport device and at least one source placed in the vacuum cell to supply a coating vapor. The vacuum cell is capable of maintaining a vacuum within the cell under vacuum and the container feeder supplies plastic container bodies and removes the plastic coated containers from the cell under vacuum. The plastic container bodies each have an external surface and an internal surface that defines an internal space. The transport device brings the plastic container bodies through the cell under vacuum and the at least one coating vapor source supplies a coating vapor on the external surface of the container bodies as the container bodies are displaced to the container body. through the vacuum cell. The at least one coating vapor source and the transport device are structured and arranged inside the vacuum cell in such a way that the coating vapor from the at least one source is deposited as a thin coating on the outer surface of the cells. containers, the thin coating comprises an inorganic oxide and a glass-forming metal additive and is bonded onto the outer surface of the container bodies and the resulting coated plastic containers, when they contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the inner space to a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar), have a gas barrier of at least 1.25X the gas barrier of the containers without the coating, when the containers without the coating contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the internal space to a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar). The invention also encompasses the corresponding method for making coated plastic containers. Desirably, the system and method for making coated plastic containers of this invention are continuous and can operate at high speed and at high volume to economically mass produce the coated containers. More particularly, in the system and method for making a coated plastic container of this invention, while the vacuum cell maintains a vacuum inside the vacuum cell, the container feeder continuously feeds the container bodies from outside the cell to the cell. vacuum in the vacuum cell through the transport device, the transport device continuously transports the container bodies through the vacuum cell passing the at least one source, and the container feeder continuously feeds the coated containers from the conveyors and remove the coated containers from the cell under vacuum. Preferably, the system and the method are automatic. The container feeder in the system and method of this invention is preferably a rotary feeder system capable of continuously and automatically feeding container bodies to the cell under vacuum and out of the cell at high speed and high volume vacuum while the vacuum cell maintains its vacuum. This high speed process allows the system and method of coating plastic containers to be placed in a high speed mass production process such as a beverage packaging line. The coating vapor produced in the vacuum cell is desirably in the form of plasma. A suitable device for producing the plasma is a cold cathode also known as an electronic cannon. The plasma can optionally be excited with one or more antennas placed in the cell under vacuum using RF (radio frequency) or HF (high frequency) energy to form a high energy plasma. While various vaporizable materials may be employed to form the inorganic oxide coating according to this invention, as explained in more detail below, the inorganic oxide coating desirably comprises silica and glass-forming metal additives as per example zinc, copper or magnesium. The method and coating system of this invention also allows the coating of heat-sensitive containers without a significant temperature rise, and maintaining a bottle temperature all the time well below 60 ° C. In addition, the method and coating system of this invention allows mixtures and layers of substances to be applied which can be chosen for their color, or their UV light absorption properties or additional properties to the gases. In addition, the method and system of this invention allows the application of coatings, for example silica which are completely transparent and clear, and which therefore do not affect the appearance of a otherwise clear bottle. The coating materials are inert and remain solid when the plastic bottle is melted for recycling purposes. Additional functionality can be incorporated into the inorganic coating of this invention by incorporating species of visible light absorption, which makes the plastic container more attractive from a cosmetic perspective. The method of this invention for the production of recycled plastic comprises the steps of providing a batch plastic, at least a portion of the batch plastic comprises coated plastic containers, and the conversion of the plastic batch into a form suitable for melt extrusion. . Each coated plastic container comprises a container body having an external surface and a coating on the external surface comprising an inorganic oxide. Coated plastic containers can be made by the method described above and preferably have a very thin inorganic oxide coating. The coating preferably has a thickness of about 1 to about 100 nm. Suitable methods for converting the plastic batch into a suitable form for melt extrusion include grinding the plastic in batch to produce flakes and melting the flakes to form a recycled plastic that can be melt extruded. Alternatively, the plastic batch can be depolymerized and repolymerized to form a recycled plastic that can be melt extruded. The recycled plastic can be melt extruded into plastic items such as, for example, recycled plastic containers. Due to the inert nature and thin character of the coatings of the present invention, the coated containers can be processed in any conventional recycling system without modification to the process. In addition, the cloudy character in the resulting recycled articles is avoided in the present invention because the coating forms relatively small particles during the recycling process. In addition, the coating particles in the recycled plastic are acceptable for contact with food and therefore do not adversely affect the recycling effort when ground or depolymerized in the recycling process. The recycling method of the present invention offers a method for recycling coated plastic that has results that had not been achieved to date. In particular, the separation of coated and uncoated plastics is unnecessary so that no modifications are required to existing recycling systems or additional processing steps can be avoided (separation of coated bottles from uncoated bottles). In addition, it is possible to produce a transparent plastic from a coated plastic while avoiding the previously observed problem of clouding in the final recycled product. While the present invention can be used to recycle many types of plastic, it is contemplated that this invention can be used with plastic articles, such as containers or bottles, and more particularly with plastic bottles for beverages. Recycling from bottle to bottle remains unaffected by the present invention. The coating of the present invention does not interfere with current-to-low injection molding or blow molding of recycled plastic. The method of packaging a beverage according to this invention comprises the steps of supplying a coated plastic container, and filling the plastic container with the beverage and sealing the plastic container after the filling step. The coated plastic container comprises a plastic container body having an external surface and a coating on the external surface comprising an inorganic oxide. This coating provides a barrier to gases and desirably is the coating described above. The gas barrier coating inhibits gas flow to the inside of the container and out of the container. For example, the gas barrier container can protect the beverage against the flow of oxygen in the container from the outside or it can inhibit the flow of carbon dioxide out of the container where the beverage is located. The packaging system method of a beverage according to the present invention is especially useful for the production of soft drinks. Said method further comprises the steps of introducing gas into the beverage before the filling step and after sealing the beverage under pressure in the coated container. The resulting gaseous beverage has a longer shelf life since the liner of the container better conserves the carbon dioxide inside the container. The packaging system method of a beverage according to this invention is desirably a high-speed, high-volume process where the coated plastic containers are supplied in a continuous manner, the various plastic containers are continuously filled with the beverage, and the filled containers are sealed continuously. Accordingly, the method and packaging system of a beverage can form a single continuous processing line including the production of plastic container bodies, the process for coating the plastic container, and the steps of filling the plastic containers with a beverage and sealing the plastic container after the filling step, even though said single line of continuous processing is not necessary. A greater scope of application of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description. However, it will be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are provided only by way of illustration, since various changes and modifications within the e-spirit and scope of the invention will be apparent to the experts in the field from this detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and therefore do not limit the present invention, and where: Figure 1 is a schematic illustration part of a system for coating plastic containers according to a first embodiment of the invention where a polarizing energy is employed; Figure 1 (A) is a partial schematic illustration showing the receptacle 3 and an additional receptacle positioned on a support 19 useful in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1; Figure 1 (B) is a partial schematic illustration of a coating system similar to Figure 1, but showing a modified form of the coating chamber according to another embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 (A) is an elevational view of a bottle antenna and a bottle-plug arrangement prior to insertion of the antenna; Figure 2 (B) is a cross-sectional view of a bottle antenna and a bottle-plug arrangement of Figure 2 (A) after insertion of the antenna; Figure 2 (C) is a cross-sectional view showing a modified form of a bottle antenna prior to insertion; Figure 2 (D) is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 2 (C) after the insertion of the antenna in the bottle; Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of a coating system according to another embodiment of the present invention employing polarization energy; Figure 4 is a schematic illustration of the handling of bottles, fasteners, caps, antennas, air displacement collars of the present invention; Figure 5 (A) is a partial elevation view of a system for transporting bottles first vertically then horizontally while the bottles are rotated continuously; Figure 5 (B) is a cross-sectional view of the bottle bar along line V-V of Figure 5 (A); Figure 6 (A) is a schematic illustration of bottles moving beyond a plasma processing device and coating sources; Figure 6 (B) is a side sectional view along line VI-VI of Figure 6 (A); Figure 7 is a graph showing improvements in the barrier factor to gases with an increasing content of Zn or Cu; Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B) are a partial plan view of a high volume, high volume plastic container liner system according to another embodiment of this invention with the internal part of the container feeder and exposed vacuum cell; Figures 9 (A) and 9 (B) are a partial side elevation view of the coating system illustrated in Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B) with the evaporators and the internal part of the container body feeder exposed. The conveyor is not illustrated in Figure 9 (A) or in Figure 9 (B); Figure 10 is a partial end elevational view showing the internal part of the cell in vacuum; Figure 11 is a partial plan view of the vacuum cell housing and feed wheel of the coating system illustrated in Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B); Figure 12 is a partial transverse elevation view of the housing port of the vacuum cell and feed wheel illustrated in Figure 11; Figure 13 is a partial transverse elevation view of a container body feeder forming part of the coating system illustrated in Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B); Fig. 14 is a partial plan view of the container body feeder illustrated in Fig. 13; Figure 15 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of physical recycling; Figure 16 is a flow diagram illustrating chemical recycling steps. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Coatings with good adhesion on a surface of a container, good barriers to gases, and which provide the necessary stretch capacity and flexibility can be produced by the methods and systems of the present invention. In the present specification, a bottle or container will be described. An uncoated container is referred to as a container body. While this container body will generally be described with reference to a plastic bottle, any suitable container can be treated by the method and system of the present invention. Therefore, soft drink bottles of various sizes, other food containers or any other suitable container can be treated using the method and system presented. COATING SYSTEMS EMPLOYING POLARIZING ENERGY Coating system Figure 1 shows a source 1 used as a typical evaporation and plasma formation system of the present invention. An electronic cannon 2 or cold cathode cooled with water is conventionally used to provide energy for a conventional receptacle 3 containing the coating material 4. This receptacle 3 is constructed of a material suitable for melting and evaporating the particular coating material. chosen, and must be inert and resistant to the temperature necessary to generate the required quantities of steam. For example, for the evaporation of silicon, it has been found that carbon was a suitable material. The receptacle 3 is supported from the receptacle holder 5, which is either cooled by water or cooled by other methods. A potential is connected through the cold cathode 2 and receptacle 3, with the cold cathode being in the negative pole (cathodic) and the receptacle being in the positive pole (anodic), so that the energy in the form of a current of electrons can flow between the cold cathode and the receptacle. By using these conventional components (i.e., cold cathode or electronic cannon 2 and receptacle 3), and varying the position of the cold cathode 2 relative to the horizontal cathode reaction surface 3, it can be adjusted to the proportion of energy available for plasma formation and evaporation. For example, in position A, a large portion of the energy is available for plasma formation, while in position B, almost all the energy is used for evaporation and hardly any plasma is formed. The degree of energy towards the source 1 is adjusted by the voltage V to provide the particular rate of deposit on the external surface of bottle 6 which allows the deposit and the complete (ie, stoichiometric) reaction of the coating material 4, after of evaporation, with the gaseous substance 7 (or mixture of substance) introduced into the coating chamber 8, thus ensuring that no significant amount of unreacted gas can be enclosed within the coating 9. For example, in one of the embodiments With silicon as the coating solid 4 and oxygen as the gaseous substance 7, the deposition rates at the coating surface of 1 to 50 nm / sec can provide fully transparent coating with virtually x = 2 in SiOx, while avoiding excess oxygen (or air) and a high vacuum is maintained in the coating cell (in the region of 10 ~ 5 mbar to 10 ~ 2 mbar). For the production of good gas barrier results, it is beneficial to ensure that a reaction is carried out on the surface between the coating material 4 and the gaseous substance 7 after depositing the coating material 4, and after the formation of a solid lattice, since the gaseous substance 7 then densifies the coating 9 by reacting in the solid lattice. The distance H between a surface 6 of a container room 10 and the receptacle 3 is important to prevent the coating material 4 from reacting with the gaseous substance 7 before the coating material 4 is deposited on the container surface 4. In the same way, the condition of the coating material 4 is important to ensure a maximum reaction on the surface. A distance H is selected in such a way as to provide optimum use of the source 1 (thus allowing the coating of the largest possible number of bottles 10). The distance H depends on the vacuum and the deposition speed, but it is generally between 0.20 m and 2 m. Likewise, by increasing the distance H within the indicated indications, the creation of high energy plasmas in the source 1 is allowed without thermal damage to the container body 10. The plasma generated in the vacuum cell can be a plasma high energy, determined by the position of the cold cathode 2, voltage D, the distance between the cold cathode and the receptacle 3, and the coating angle A which is desirably within a range of 0 to 70 °. Optionally, a polarization energy, provided by locating an antenna 11 inside the bottle or container body 10 and its connection to an RF or HF source, can be used to excite the plasma. According to the material of the bottle 10, polarization energies of up to 2000 V can be used. An excessive bias voltage can be negative due to overheating and damage to the surface of the bottle 6. The rotation of the bottle 10 allows the bottle 10 can be coated on its entire surface at a high rate of deposition of coating material 4 while allowing time for reaction with the gaseous substance or gaseous substances 7. When a coating is applied on the side wall, the speed of deposit of the coating material 4 on the part of the surface of the bottle 10, which is directly opposite the source 1 and which is the only surface receiving a significant deposit of the coating material 4, can be adjusted by rotating the bottle 10 at an adequate speed in such a way that this deposit covers only a few molecular layers. These molecular layers can react easily with the gaseous substance 7 or the gaseous substances, thus achieving the desired reaction criterion on the surface with a solidified deposit, since this helps provide the required dense continuous coating that provides a good gas barrier. Also, since part of the surface of the bottle 10, which is not opposite the source 1, can continue to react while receiving no deposit of coating material 4, this procedure takes the entire circumference of 380 ° of the bottle 10. in the deposit / reaction cycle and reduces the coating time. Accordingly, a correct adjustment of the rotation speed (R) helps to ensure a complete reaction under optimum coating speed conditions. Small additions or traces of certain metals in silicon dioxide and other coatings can increase the gas barrier. Such metals can be described as glass-forming metal additives because they are known as additives for use in the manufacture of glass. Suitable glass-forming metal additives include Ag, al, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Sn, Ti, and Zn. These metals are added to form a coating ratio in the metal 9 from 0.1 to 50%. For example, such additions to the coating 9 composed mainly of SiO2 the gas barrier by a factor of 2 or more. Such metals are added either to the receptacle 3, or are provided by the sacrificial erosion of the plate emitting electrons 12 from the cold cathode 2, being constructed of desired metal or metal mixture. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 1 (A), a separate receptacle 16 may be provided to contain J- a metal source 16 '. The receptacles 13 and 16 can be supported on the floor of the coating chamber 8 as shown in Figure 1 or on a support 19 as shown in Figure 1 (A) or at any suitable location. The cold cathode 2 can act on the materials 3 ', 16' in both respective receptacles 3, 16 or two separate cold cathodes can be provided. Also, the space between the receptacles 3, 16 may be relatively narrow as shown in Figure 1 (A) or may be wider, or the space may vary.

In FIG. 1 (D), an alternative embodiment of the coating chamber 8 is used. Instead of using antennas in bottles 11 or coating cell antennas 12 or in addition to these antennas 11,14, an antenna is used external polarization 28. This antenna 28 is for polarization during coating. Obviously, it is separated from the antennas 14 out of bottle already known for pretreatment. While not indicated in Figure 1 (B), appropriate means are provided for maintaining and / or transporting the container bodies 10. While discussing a continuous or semi-continuous process for the treatment of the bottles or container bodies 10, it is evident that the present invention also applies to batch processing. While not illustrated in Figures 1, 1 (A) or 1 (B), an automatic source for supplying the material to the receptacle 3 and / or to the receptacle 16 can be provided. These materials can be supplied in the form of a rod or other solid structure or in any other way. It is contemplated that the material in the receptacle 3 will be provided to the receptacle 3 in solid form and will particularly be in the form of a piece and not a powder. By minimizing the surface area of this material, the negative effects of oxidation can be avoided. The material in the receptacle 13 (and 16, if present) will be a source of steam in the coating chamber when it receives the action of the cold cathode 2. This vapor will be deposited in the bottles or container bodies 10, as will be described continuation. It will be noted that the wiring 17 is indicated in Figure 1 (A) fixed on the receptacle 16. This wiring 17 can be used to supply power to the receptacle 3 and / or 16 as described in U.S. Patent No. 5,565,248, if is desired Obviously, said wiring can be omitted. When the protector of the plate 12 is used as the source the degree of erosion can be controlled approximately by adjusting the distance D between the receptacle 3 and the cold cathode 2, and by the degree of cooling applied to the plate or the protection 12. through the cooling medium 15. This cooling medium 15 can cool one or both of the following: cold cathode and plate or shield 12. Cooling with water or any other suitable cooling can be provided by this cooling medium 15. The other The main variable that affects the erosion of plate 12 is the voltage D stirred to the cold cathode 2, but this is normally adjusted independently in accordance with the requirements of plasma generation and evaporation rate. Coating materials The choice of a coating material 4 and gaseous substance 7 depends on the process criteria (cost, coating color, degree of gas barrier, necessary bottle size and particularly the type of plastic used in the bottle) . Good barriers to gases are obtained by processes described above by means of the reaction on the surface of silicon with oxygen, providing SiO x, where x is normally greater than 1.7 and normally and a little less than 2, and consequently transparent coatings of type glass. It is contemplated that the coating contains from 0.01 to 50% of 1 or more of the selected glass-forming metal additives within the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cr, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti , Al, Mn, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Sn, Ge and In. The use of metals and other gaseous substances also allows colored coatings, or coatings that absorb UV light (by appropriate choice of reagents). More than a layer, each layer comprising a different composition can also be beneficial, particularly when it comes to the production of colored coatings, since the combination of colored and transparent layers allows a good gas barrier with a minimum coating thickness color, thus increasing the recycling capacity. When more than one type of substance is used as coating solid 4, it is often necessary to provide more than one source 1, since differences in vapor pressure between substances can result in fractionation and uncontrolled proportions of each substance in the coating 9. Furthermore, it is possible, using the systems and methods described herein, to coat plastic container bodies with metals that are not oxides, but are elemental metals. For example, plastic container bodies can be coated with elemental aluminum or elemental silicon eliminating the use of reactive gas from the cell under vacuum. Container Pretreatment For certain plastic surfaces, a surface pretreatment is useful to lightly activate the bottle surface 6 by the formation of free radicals on the surface. Said pretreatment is possible by employing a gaseous pretreatment substance 13 which can often be the same as the gaseous substance 7, under the same cell pressure conditions. For some plastic substrates, it may be useful to degas the surface of the bottle 6 to remove the absorbed moisture and materials of low molecular weights. This is achieved by keeping the bottle 10 empty during a period of 5 to 180 s. Bottles with container bodies 10 blown immediately after blow molding can be degassed relatively quickly, and the location of a coating process next to a blow molding device is desirable. Said pretreatments can be carried out either by using the antenna in bottle 11 with RF or HF energy to create a gas-plasma on the surface of the bottle 6, or by connecting a coating cell antenna 14 on a source of DC either HF or RF, and by creating a plasma within the entire cell. For certain coating compositions 9, it is desirable to apply the coating on a bottle 10, which during the coating process has an internal pressure significantly greater than the pressure of the cell. This provides a better gas barrier allowing the liner 9 to relax / contract when the bottle 10 is not under pressure while the liner 9 is also allowed to register the crack formation caused by the stretching when the bottle 10 is located. under pressure in normal use. Some plastic surfaces, particularly PET which is a polymer commonly used in plastic bottles, deteriorate after blow molding due to the migration to the surface of low molecular weight components. It is important to determine the quality on the surface of bottle 6 before coating. Under scanning with an electron microscope, these migration components can be observed in a bottle surface 6, and an important quality control can be applied in this way. For quality control, it has also been demonstrated that Retherfor-Back-Scatter (RBS) can determine the thickness of very thin coatings (for example, 50 nm) and also its composition, this last being important when applying a coating with more than a solid component. An X-ray fluorescence can also be used to measure the thickness of the coating, and, since it is a relatively simple process, X-ray fluorescence can be applied as an on-line quality control system after a coating machine. Finally, observing the surface of the coated bottles 10 under a scanning electron microscope after having subjected these bottles 10 to gas pressure, a first indicator of coating performance is obtained, since the coatings 9, with barrier performance to the Limited gases have a tendency to crack / peel. Antenna arrangement and bottle cap Figure 2 shows an antenna arrangement and bottle cap, in an exemplary manner. Other similar arrangements that achieve the same result are possible. A cap 20 incorporates a seal ring 21, a threaded portion 22, a pressure seal, a quick release connector 23 and a contact ring 24 for the bias voltage that can be applied either by RF (radio frequency) or good HF (high frequency). The contact ring 24 has an electrical connection 25 that has a sliding contact with the base of the antenna 26. The base of the antenna 26 is mounted on a support 27, which is in turn mounted inside the cover 20 , and that can rotate inside the lid. The antenna 30 has the antenna base 26, articulated arms 31 (a), 31 (b), light antenna segments 32 (a), 32 (b) and heavy antenna segments 33. The articulated arm 31 (b) acts also as antenna-- for the base of bottle 10 when extended. At the base of the antenna 26 is a ball bearing 34, which can rotate freely, and is pressed downwards by a spring 35 and a bolt 36. When the antenna 30 is outside the bottle 10, the segments of antenna 32, 33 are bent against the base of antenna 26, due to the action of spring 35, as shown in figure 2 (A). The bolt 36 has a base catch 37 and a pivot joint 38 to which the articulated arm 31 (b) and the antenna segment 32 (b) are connected as the bolt 36 moves up / down, the articulated arm 31 (b) and the antenna segment 32 (b) extend outwardly or are bent against the antenna base 36 when the antenna 30 is inserted into the bottle 10, the ball bearing 34 is forced to compress the spring 35. , and this extends the articulated arm 31 (b) outwards from the base of the antenna 36, which erects the antenna 30 in such a way that all its segments 32 (a), 32 (b) and 33 come close to the walls of the bottle 10. A gap between the walls of the bottle 10 and the antenna 30 is maintained which is as close as possible to the walls of the bottle 10, but without touching said walls, and in practice is of 3 to approximately 15 minutes. The cap 20 is screwed into the threaded end (mouth) of the bottle 10 and the gaseous content of the bottle 20 is sealed in this way by a sealing ring 21. A range (not shown), penetrates the connector 23 in the cap 20 and provides the action of screw driver for rotating the cap 20 and screwing it onto the bottle 10. The same tool holds the bottle 10 (until it is released by the connector 23) and makes contact with the polarization voltage RF / HF in the contact ring 24. Obviously, a quick-release snap-on connector or other known connections for the cap 20 instead of a screw connection can also be used. When the bottle 10 is held and rotated horizontally, the heavy antenna segment 33 ensures that the antenna 30 which has no contact with the walls of the bottle 10, can maintain a position facing vertically downwards and consequently acts as a means for orienting the antenna so that it generally faces the at least one source during the coating. When the antenna 30 is oriented while the bottle 10 rotates in a vertical position, the use of a magnetic material in the antenna segment 33 and an appropriately positioned external magnet allow the antenna 30 to face in the correct direction. Accordingly, this magnet will act as a magnetic orientation means to orient the antenna when the longitudinal axis of the container is oriented generally vertically. The principle demonstrated by Figures 2 (A) and 2 (B) can also be applied to a multi-segment design. In a multi-segment design of this type, where a plurality of antenna segments 32 (a), 32 (b), 33 and articulated arms 31 (a), 31 (b) allow a bending arrangement that can pass to through the end of a bottle 10 and can be placed in an upright position inside the bottle 10 providing an antenna coverage of 360 ° C of its walls. In a case of this type, the need for antenna orientation is eliminated and a larger portion of the bottle is subjected to polarization energy, allowing shorter coating times in certain applications. In addition, apart from the use of the antenna 11 or 30, a backup plate 18 can be provided in the vacuum cell as indicated in Figure 1. The bottles or container bodies 10 are positioned between this backing plate 18 and the source 1. When used, this backup plate may result in the unnecessary insertion of an antenna 11 or 30 into the bottle 10. This can accelerate the overall process, reduce the need to have an antenna inventory and can provide other benefits . Alternatively, part or all of the vacuum cell 50 or coating chamber 8 can be used as an antenna. For example, the back plate 18 can be omitted and the ceiling alone or the ceiling and some of the walls or the entire camera 8 can be used as the antenna. Other arrangements can also be used. Another potential for avoiding the antennas 11 or 30 comprises supplying a magnetic source within the vacuum cell 50 as generally indicated at number 58 in Figure 3. The number of magnetic sources 58 and their location within a cell at 50 vacuum can vary easily. This magnetic source 58 acts as a means to generate a magnetic field within the vacuum cell 50 whereby the field directs the coating vapor. This magnetic source can alternatively be used to selectively direct the coating vapor moving towards the surface of the bottle, thus avoiding part or all of the need to mechanically rotate or mechanically displace the bottles. This magnetic source will therefore act as a means to generate a field to direct the coating vapor. While still using an antenna in the bottle, Figures 2 (C) and 2 (D) show another possible type of antenna 69. This antenna 69 is straight and therefore can be more easily inserted into the bottle with container body 10. and can be removed more easily from the bottle or the container body 10. This antenna 69 simply moves as a straight "tip" from the lid to a few millimeters from the base of the bottle or container body 10. This antenna 69 also simplifies the operation because pivot, orientation, bent to fit the walls of the bottle or container body 10, etc. are not required. While the antenna 69 is generally shown coextensively with the longitudinal axis of the respective bottle or container body 10, the possibility of an inclined orientation is contemplated. In other words, the antenna 69 would have an angle in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bottle or container body 10. In an angle position of this type, the antenna 69 may or may not intersect the longitudinal axis of the bottle or container body 10. Alternatively, a corkscrew antenna could also be used. This antenna would be screwed into the bottle or container body 10, it would be closer to the side walls than the straight antenna 69 without touching these side walls. Obviously other antennas are also possible. It is usually desired to avoid coating the threaded end of the beverage bottle, because this can affect the performance of closure and because this may be in contact with the beverage and perhaps the mouth of the consumer. Although all the coatings employed in this invention are safe in contact with food it is nevertheless desirable to limit the contact of the beverages with the main material of the bottle. The cap 20 covers the end portion of the bottle 10 and prevents the coating from extending thereto. Coating system and operation Figure 3 shows one embodiment of a coating machine according to this invention which allows a continuous coating, economic of the bottles. Taking into account the fact that bottles are inexpensive, mass-produced, and often single-use, it is important to obtain a mode that provides a very low-cost compact operation (because the preferred location is next to a molding device). blown bottles) and is suitable for mass production (ie, preferably continuous processing and not batch processing). In Figure 3 the operation sequence of the present invention is illustrated. Bottles or container bodies 10 will travel through the various stages A to H. Initially, the bottles are supplied via a conveyor 39 to a loading / unloading station 40. The bottles or container bodies 10 can be fed directly. from a forming machine 29 to the coating system. This forming machine includes a blow molding machine, injection molding machine, extrusion molding machine or any other known machine for forming container bodies or bottles 10. As will be described below with reference to FIGS. 7 (A ) -7 (C), the surface of a PET bottle, for example, deteriorates with the passage of time. If the container bodies or bottles 10 are quickly coated after forming, then potential obstacles to improving adhesion on the surface of the bottles or container bodies 10 are not encountered.

From the transport device 39, an operator can move manually or other suitable equipment can automatically move the bottles or container bodies 10 towards the loading / unloading station 40. The transport device 39 can feed the bottles from a molding machine or any other process upstream. In the loading / unloading station 40, the bottles or container bodies 10 are placed in a holder 41 or removed from a holder 41. This holder may have an internal part open or may have segmented sections for receiving individual bottles 10. The fastener arrangement 41 will be discussed in more detail below. The fastener 41 employs figure 3 has four bottles in two rows which gives a total of 8 bottles. Obviously, this configuration could be modified in order to meet the needs of the system. The holder 41 with the bottles or container bodies 10 loaded can be moved manually or automatically from the loading / unloading station 40 in stage A to the tool station 42 in stage B as noted above. The operation of this tool station 42 will be explained in more detail below with reference to Figure 4. In this tool station 42, an antenna 30, cover 20 and air displacement collar 60 can be inserted into the bottles or bodies of container 10 or removed from bottles or container bodies 10. Cover 20, antenna 30 and collar 60 will be collectively referred to as "tool". The tools as well as the fastener 41 must be made of a material from which no gases are evolved (low level of absorbency) whose surface can not damage the surface of the bottles or container bodies 10 coated or uncoated. Starting from the tool station 42 in step D, the holder 41 with the bottles or container bodies 40 can be moved manually or automatically into the evaporation cell 43 in stage C. A door, air lock or other features to allow the formation of a passageway inside the evacuation cell 43. As will be explained in more detail below, the displacement collar 60 that had been previously applied on the bottles or container bodies 10 can be removed or applied again in the evacuation cell 43. Likewise, a vacuum is created or released in this evacuation cell 43, as will be described below. From the evacuation cell 43, the fastener 41 and the bottles or container bodies move on the loading / unloading table 44 in stage D. The loading of the bottles from the fastener 41 to the bars carrying the bottles 51 are carried out on this table 44. Also, the bottles or container bodies 10 are unloaded from the bars carrying the bottles 51 back to the holder 41 as will be described in more detail below. When the bottles or container bodies 10 are mounted on the bars carrying the bottles 51 in stage D they then pass to the gas removal and pretreatment 45 and stage E sections. The antenna 30 which is inside the internal part of the bottles or container bodies 10 will be oriented by a magnet 46 in the degassing and pretreatment sections 45. The bottles or container bodies 10 have their axes generally vertically aligned when they are in the degassing and pretreatment sections 45 of stage E From the degassing and pretreatment sections 45, the bottles or container bodies 10 on the bars carrying the bottles 51 will be moved to the base coating section 47 in Step F. After the bottles or container bodies 10 will displace the lateral wall clad section 48 in stage G. It will be noted that the bottles or container bodies 10 move from a generally vertical orientation in step F to a generally horizontal orientation in stage G. This arrangement will be described in greater detail below. From stage G the bottles return to the loading / unloading table 44. The bottles or container bodies 10 are removed from the bars carrying the bottles 51 and inserted back into the fasteners 41. The fasteners 41 are then moved through evaporation cell 43 in stage C to an intermediate holding position 49 in stage H. Now after this general description, a more detailed description of the arrangement of Figure 3 will be provided. First, the bottles or container body 10 are loaded in a fastener 41 in stage A as indicated above. An operator can manually insert the tools, cap 20, antenna 30 and collar 60 into the bottles or container bodies 10 or this step can be automatically carried out with appropriate equipment. This operation is carried out in the tool station 42 in the step B. When the fasteners 41 and bottles or container bodies 10 are displaced in the evacuation cell 43 in the step C, a vacuum is created in this cell 43. The collar 60 previously applied to the tool station 42 during step B will be used to evacuate the internal part of the bottles or container bodies 10 prior to the evacuation of the pressure from the cell 43. The purpose of the collar 60 is to reduce the amount of air introduced into the evacuation cell 43. Together with the fastener 41 in which the bottles or container bodies 10 are hermetically adjusted, the pre-evacuation of the containers or bottles 20 reduces the amount of air that must be evacuated from the cell 43. In other words, the bottles or container bodies 10 are tightly fitted in the holder 41. This holder 41 fits tightly within the walls of the evacuation cell. 43 in order to minimize the amount of external air from the containers or bottles 10. -Before or during the insertion of the fastener 41 with the bottles or container bodies 10 in the evacuation cell 43, the collar 60 is used to remove air of the bottles or container bodies 10. Accordingly, the vacuum system for evacuating the cells 43 requires only the evacuation of a small amount of air that exists in the cells externally of the containers or bottles 10. Therefore, It can reduce the capacity of the vacuum system. This is an important economic consideration taking into account the low operating pressure of the vacuum cell 50. This also helps to prolong the life of the vacuum system and helps to minimize the amount of energy consumed with the system of the present invention. From the evacuation cell 43 in stage C the holder 41 with bottles or bottle bodies 10 is moved towards the charge / discharge mixture 44 in step D. This charge / discharge mixture 44 is inside the cell under vacuum 50. Vacuum cell 50 and evacuated cell 43 are both connected to a conventional vacuum system (not shown). When the evacuation cell 43 reaches the proper pressure, several steps are undertaken, including the door opening 55, to allow entry of the fastener 41 with the bottles or container bodies 10. Within the vacuum cell 50, the bottles or container bodies 10 are degassed and pretreated in section 45 in stage E. This degassing in step E may require up to 60 seconds, for example, it will be noted that degassing of containers or bottles 10 actually starts in the cell of evacuation 43 in stage C. The degassing ends during pretreatment in section 45 of stage E. The bottles or container bodies 10 are moved out of the holder 41 in the loading / unloading table 44 and in transport bars bottles 51 which will be described in more detail below. The bottles are moved from the loading / unloading table 44 in stage D to the subsequent stages within the vacuum cell 10 by the movement of the bars carrying the bottles 51. While a transportation arrangement will be described below to displace these bars carrying bottles 51, it will be noted that many different arrangements can be employed for the purpose of transporting the bottles or container bodies 10 through the vacuum cell 50. In the degassing and pretreatment sections 45, orientation magnets 46 may be used to orient antennas 11 or 30 as desired, if present. The antennas could be stationary in relation to a certain point in the container bodies or bottles 10 or they can be movable relative to the bottles or container bodies 10. In the degassing and pretreatment section 45 in stage E as well as in the base coating section 47 running below the stage F, the bottles or container bodies 10 have their longitudinal axes oriented vertically. In the pretreatment area of the loading / unloading table 44 in stage D or in the degassing and pretreatment section 45 of stage E, heating of the bottles and bodies can be carried out, if appropriate. container 10, In these stages D or E or in the vacuum cell 50, radiant or infrared heaters (not illustrated) can be installed in such a way that the bottles or container bodies 10 reach an appropriate temperature. For example, this temperature could be located within a range that varies from the ambient temperature to 60 ° C. Apart from the bottles or container bodies 10 which are at an appropriate temperature to facilitate degassing, the antennas 11 or 30 with the container bodies can be used to accelerate the degassing as previously observed. In particular, either an RF energy or an HR energy is applied to the internal antenna 11 or 30. Alternatively, as seen in relation to FIG. 1, a coating cell antenna 14 can be provided. A DC / RF / HR energy can be applied to the coating cell antenna 14 or from an infrared source located near the surface of the bottle 6. All these characteristics can accelerate degassing. The coating process is carried out in two parts. First, the section 47 of base coating previously indicated in step F was observed. Then the sidewall coating section 48 in stage G completes the coating of the bottles or container bodies 10. In this section of base coating 47, a coating is applied on the bottom or base of the bottles or container bodies 10. Then, as will be described in more detail below, the longitudinal axes of the bottles are changed from the vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation. This is achieved by increasing the space between the bottle bars 51. As will be described below with reference to a fast moving chain 53 and a slow moving chain 52, this orientation of the bottles or container body 10 can be carried out. Through their vertical and horizontal orientations, the bottles or container bodies 10 are close together to provide a better use of the evaporators or source 1, but they do not touch. The bottles in the horizontal orientation are then displaced through a section 48 of sidewall cladding in step G. As the bottles move through the section, they can rotate about their longitudinal axis. The bottles or container bodies 10 may be coated through movement in the side wall covering section 48 or only in a part thereof. The distance of the coating section 48 in which the bottles are coated can be influenced by the amount of coating that is desired to be applied to the bottles. For example, multiple sources 1 can be provided in the vacuum cell 50 to supply the coating vapor to the bottles or container bodies 10. If a thicker outer coating is desired, then a larger number of the sources could activate 1 unlike when a thinner coating is desired. Obviously, other criteria can be modified in order to influence the thickness of the coating on the outside of the bottles or container bodies 10.

Similar to the pressure in the degassing and pretreatment section 45 of step E, the pressure in both the base coat section 47 and the sidewall cladding section 48 of steps F and G can be 2xl0 ~ 4 mbar and can be found within the range of 1 to 5 x 10 ~ 4 mbar. It is contemplated that the base coat in stage F will last from 1 to 15 seconds but may be within the range of up to 30 seconds. The side wall covering in step G may have a duration of less than 30 seconds. But it can be within the range of 2 to 120 seconds. The bottles can be rotated within a range of 1 to 300 revolutions per minute, but the upper limit depends only on practical mechanical characteristics. Typically, the bottles can rotate within a range of 1 to 100 revolutions per minute. Within the coating cell 50, an evaporator system is provided. This evaporator system was described with reference to Figure 1 and will also be described in greater detail with reference to Figures 6 (A) and 6 (B). Particularly, source evaporators 1 are provided in order to offer the coating to be deposited on the outside of the bottles or container bodies 10. The evaporators can be arranged in rows in such a way that the flows of the evaporators are connected in their trajectories, providing a regular longitudinal R deposition speed. This speed can be 3 nm / s and can be within a range of 1 to 50 nm / s. The contact angle to which it was previously commented is therefore applied only to the ends of the rows and to the cross sections of the rows where there is no splice. This contact angle a is indicated in figures 6 (A) and 6 (B) and can be 30 ° or at least within the range of 30 to 60 °, for example. However, as previously observed, this angle should not normally be greater than 70 °. It is desirable that the arrangement of the evaporators results in the minimum number of evaporators or sources 1 with the most effective use thereof. In other words, the loss of material must be minimized. The presentation of rows of bottles to the evaporator or source 1 may be 4 in a row in accordance with that indicated in figure 3, but this number may vary as desired. It is simply desired to optimize the use of the evaporator or source 1. As will be described below for Figure 6 (A) and 6 (B), dust screens or shields 93 may be offered. These protectors or dust screens must be removable and easily cleaned. They will trap the particles of the evaporator or source 1 that no longer adhere to the surface of the bottle.

To avoid the need to shut down the evaporators or sources 1 during short breaks of the cycle, mobile covers or similar covers can be supplied to collect the coating vapors during periods of non-coating of the cycle. This will reduce the powder coating of the inner lining cell. You can also install automatic function controls and automatic detection of evaporators or sources 1 that work erratically. It is estimated that the specified parameters will result in a coating thickness of approximately 50 nm. On this basis, the evaporation rate is estimated as follows. With the weight of the 30 gram bottle and with the PET thickness of 0.35 mm, the coating thickness can be 50 nm. Therefore, the ratio between coating and PET (V / V) is equal to 0.00014. The Si ratio of Si02 (weight / weight) is equal to 0.467. The density of Si02 will be 2.5 with a PET density of 1.3. Accordingly, the coating Si weight will be 0.004 g / bottle. At a rate of approximately 3000 bottles per hour, the evaporated Si for bottle coating will be only (not including losses) of approximately 11.5 g with approximately 30 g / h including the total losses. As described with reference to figure 1, the distance between the evaporator or source 1 and the bottle surface (H) can be 0.5 and be within the range of 0.1 to 2m. It is also possible to remove sources 1 from the vacuum cell 15 for inspection and / or maintenance without releasing the coating or vacuum. A Tandem evaporator system that operates through vacuum closing is a possibility. Taking this into account, no automatic feeding of material to the evaporators is required. Obviously, if desired, an automatic feeding of material of this type can be used. The evaporation function must be monitored by instruments and may be visible from the outside of the vacuum cell 50 by means of windows, for example. After moving through the sidewall cladding section 48 in step G, the bottles 10 again penetrate the clamp 49 in the loading / unloading table 44. This arrangement will be described in greater detail in relation to the figure 4. From the loading / unloading table 44 in stage D the fasteners 41 with the bottles with container bodies 10 reinserted will return to the evacuation cell 43 in stage C. Before passing to this evaporation cell 43, collars 60 will be placed in the containers in stage D. When the fastener 41 and the bottles or container bodies 10 are reintroduced into the evacuation cell 43, it can be released under vacuum. Then, the fastener 41 containing the coated bottles or the coated container bodies 40 will come out of the evacuation cell 43. The fastener 41 with the bottles 10 can then slide towards the intermediate fastening position 49. In this position, the entry in the evacuation cell 33 will be free in such a way that another loaded fastener 41 with uncoated bottles or container bodies 10 can be quickly inserted into the evacuation cell 43. This helps to maintain the continuous operation of the coating system. After recharging the evacuation cell 43, the fastener 41 can return to stage B where the tools are removed automatically or manually. In other words, the lid 20, antenna 30 and collar 60 will be removed from the bottles or container bodies 10. Then, in the loading / unloading station 40 in stage A, the coated bottles or container bodies 10 can be removed of the fastener 41 and returned to the conveyor 39 for subsequent processing. New bottles or uncoated container bodies 10 can be placed in the empty holder 41 allowing repetition of the described operation cycle. When bottles 10 and fastener 41 are observed separately, bottles 10 first pass through stages A to G and then return through stages C to H to A. There are two fasteners 41, and these pass first. through stages A through G and return through stages C through H through A. There are a sufficient number of tool sets to cover all bottles in stages B through H. The tools are applied in stage B and they return to stage B after having passed through all stages B to H. Steps D, E, F, G are housed in a vacuum cell 50. Bottles 10 are held by means of bottle bars 51 and the bottles are processed through the vacuum cell 50 by conveyor chains, a slow moving chain 52 and a fast moving chain 53. The slow moving chain 52 pushes the bottle bars 51 in a tightly packed arrangement, during the cycle of operations when the bottles 10 are kept upright (for degassing and pretreatment in stage E and base coating in step F) and fast-moving chain 53 pushes bottle bars 51 with bar spacing to larger bar when bottles 20 are in a horizontal position (for lateral wall covering in stage G). The bottle bars 51 move on carrier rails 54 which locate firmly and carry the bottle bars 51 as will be described in greater detail with reference to Figure 5 (A). The evacuation cells 53 is equipped with conventional mechanical doors 55 that open / close to allow entry / exit of the fastener 41. A roof door 55 (a) in FIG. 5 allows the collar 60 to be removed and / or reapplied by conventional means prior to displacement of the fastener 41 in the main cell section to the vacuum 50. The compartment above the evacuation cell 53, where the collar 60 is retained after the removal, is part of the vacuum cell 50, and both this compartment as the main part of the vacuum cell 50 is permanently under vacuum. The evacuation cell 43 is evacuated to allow the fastener 41 to penetrate the vacuum cell 50 and return to normal pressure to allow the fasteners 41 to exit the coating system. The bottles 10 are transported conventionally along the conveyor 39 to the coating machine (preferably directly from the blow molding device), and to the system for positioning the bottles on pallets after coating. Figure 4 shows the handling of bottles 10 and tools. The bottles 10 penetrate a fastener 41 in stage A. The bottles 10 fit closely into cavities within the fastener 41 to reduce air gaps as much as possible, which in turn reduces the work of the vacuum pump . In step B, a collar 60 is applied to reduce the air spaces around the necks of the bottles 10 and the antenna 30 and the cap 20 are fitted to the bottle 10. The caps 20 are screwed into the bottles 10 by means of of a series of screwdrivers that are part of a tool applicator 71. In step C, the fastener 41 penetrates the evacuation cell through a door 55. A top door 55 (a) opens to allow the collar 60 is removed and stored in a storage compartment 62, inside the vacuum cell 50. In step D, the fastener 41 is lifted in relation to the bottle bars 51 that collect the bottles 10 by means of a closure connector a pressure 23 in the caps 20. The bottle bars 51 now move through the coating steps D to G. After coating, the fastener 41 is raised in the D stage to the bottle bars 51, and the bottles 10 are released in the bra 41. The suj step 51 returns to the evacuation cells 43 where the collar 60 is applied again, and the vacuum is released. The fastener 41 comes out in stage B, where the tool applicator 61 goes down, grabs the caps 20 by means of the snap connector 23, unscrews the caps 20 and lifts the caps 20, antennas 30 and collar 60 as a single unit , the collar 60 is raised by the caps 20, which are locked on its underside. The tool applicator 61 and the quick release screwdriving devices correspond to conventional technology and will not be described in more detail here. Figure 5 (A) shows details of the bottle bars, bottle revolution and bottle transport. The bottle rods 51 hold a plurality of bottles 10 in a row. In Figure 5 (A), 4 bottles 10 are shown, only by way of example. A bottle bulk axis 70 in which helical gears 71 are installed, travels within the bottle bars 51, and is suspended by support 72 at each end of the bottle bar 51. The cap 20 acts as a means for gripping the bottle. neck of the bottle with container body 10 to hold it on the bottle bars 51. As can be seen in figure 5 (B), this cap 20 also covers the neck and / or the threads of the container body or bottle 10 where the coating of this area of the container body should be avoided. The bottle drive shaft 70, also illustrated in Figure 5 (B), is driven by bevel gears 13, and rotates by rotation of the snap-in connectors 23 equipped with a screw-in end piece (not shown) to act in this way as a means for rotating the container bodies or bottles 10 during transport through the vacuum cell 50. The bottle bar 51 is equipped at each end with carrier bars 74 where it is free to oscillate, due to bushing supports 65. The carrier rods 74 are equipped with carrier wheels 76 which travel on a pair of transport rails 54. The bottle rods 51 are transported by means of a drive chain 77, to which they are fixed a finger 78 which in turn comes into contact with an extension arm 79 on carrier rods 74. The drive quality 77 is supported on a main shaft 80 driven by a transport motor 81. A rotary motor of bottles 82 drives a rotational gear sprocket d bottles 83 which is free to slide up or down the main shaft 80 by means of support bushings 84. The bottle rotational gear 3 drives the bottle rotation chain 85 which in turn drives the bevel gears 73. The bottle rods 51 are attached to a guide wheel 90 which moves on a guide rail 91. The guide rail 91 can rotate the bottle bar 51 from a position of holding the bottle 10 vertically (as shown) towards a bottle holding position horizontally guiding the guide wheel up a ramp 92 in an appropriate part of the transport cycle. This change from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation occurs between steps S and G. When the bottles or container bodies 10 are oriented horizontally, the bottles or container bodies 10 continue to rotate without interruption by means of bevel gears 73 while the The bottle rotational gear 83 moves up the main shaft 80 to accommodate the new position of the bevel gears 73. Pre-mentioned dust screens 93 protect the main parts of the drive system. Figure 6 (A) is a view of the movement of a bottle beyond the source 1, both for coating the base and for coating the side walls. The bottles 10 and the caps 20 are held vertically in the base covering section 47 by means of the bottle rods 51 which continuously rotate both the bottles 10 and the covers 20. After the base coating, the bottles are rotated. bottles 10 to a horizontal position for the side wall coverings as quickly as possible (ie, with a minimum interval between the base cover section 47 and the side wall cover section 48). The bottles rotate continuously throughout the transport cycle. The bottle bars 51 are designed in a compact manner to minimize the space between the rows of bottles in a horizontal position. The sources 1 are positioned in such a way as to minimize the number of sources 1 required and in accordance with the criteria discussed in relation to Figure 1, but with a certain splice as shown in Figure 6 (B) to ensure coverage of full coating. 93 dust screens, which are easily removable for cleaning, protect the machine parts from deposits coming from source 1 that come in contact with the bottle 10. Tape brushes with dust screens are used to separate, when it is possible, the main vacuum cell coating cell 50 of the chains, motors, etc., used for the transport of the bottle rods 51. Figure 9 is a graph showing an improved barrier effect presenting the importance of the coating composition for the gas barrier. A small change in the composition of Zn, Cu, or Mg can have an important effect on the improvement of the barrier. High-speed, high-volume system for coating plastic container bodies General Figures 8 (A) -16 illustrate a high-volume, high-speed system 200 for coating plastic container bodies with an inorganic barrier coating of oxide. This high-speed, high-volume system 200 does not incorporate a polarization energy source such as an RF or HF source in the previously described modes, nor does it use an antenna in the bottles. This high speed and high volume system 200 however is useful for applying the same coatings with the same materials on the same types of plastic containers as in the case of the system previously described and illustrated in figure 1. In addition, the system 200 High speed and high volume operates under substantially the same parameters as the previously described system with the exception of the use of polarization energy in this system. Described in general, the high-volume, high-volume coating system 200 comprises a continuous and automatic container feeder 203 for supplying bodies 204 of plastic containers, such as PET bottles, to a vacuum cell 206 that houses a conveyor Continuous and automatic 209 and a vapor source 212 of coating 215. A source 212 of coating vapor is also known as an evaporator system. These basic components are described in more detail below. Container Feeder Vacuum cell 206 includes a frame 218 that can maintain a vacuum there and the container feeder 203 is at least partly rotatably engaged in a port 221 at one end of the vacuum cell housing. The container feeder 203 is a rotating system that continuously and automatically supplies uncoated plastic container bodies from a source 224 of plastic container bodies through the port 221 in the vacuum cell housing 218 toward the container. conveyor 209 within the vacuum cell 206 while the vacuum cell maintains a vacuum within the cell housing under vacuum. The container feeder 203 supplies the plastic container bodies 204 to the vacuum cell 206 at high speed and high volume. The container feeder 203 supplies and the coating system 200 can coat bodies of plastic containers at a rate of up to 60,000 containers per hour, but usually applies coatings at a rate indicated by a link to the bottle manufacturing system, currently within from a range of 20,000 to 40,000 bottles per hour. In addition, the container feeder 203 automatically and continuously recovers coated plastic container bodies 204 from the conveyor 209 within the vacuum cell 206 and transports the coated plastic container bodies to a location outside the vacuum cell as for example a beverage packaging line 227. A first helical screw conveyor 230 continuously and automatically conveys the uncoated plastic container bodies 204 from the container body source 224 to the container feeder 203 and a second screw conveyor. Helical 233 automatically and continuously conveys the resulting coated plastic bodies from the container feeder to the beverage packaging line 227. This is best illustrated in Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B). The container feeder 203 includes a feed wheel 236 mounted rotatably on the body 221 of the vacuum cell to automatically and continuously feed the uncoated plastic container bodies 204 into the vacuum cell 202 and to transport automatically and continuously the plastic container bodies coated outside the cell in vacuum. further, the container feeder 203 includes a first external rotary feeder 239 for automatically and continuously feeding the bodies of uncoated plastic containers 204 from the first screw conveyor 230 to the feed wheel 236 and a first internal rotary feeder 242 for feeding automatically and continuously the uncoated plastic container bodies from the feed wheel to the conveyor 209. Similarly, the container feeder 203 also includes a second internal rotary feeder 245 for automatically and continuously feeding the coated plastic container bodies 204 from the conveyor 209 to the feed wheel 236 and a second external rotary feeder 248 for automatically and continuously feeding the coated plastic container bodies from the feed wheel to the second helical screw conveyor. As best illustrated in Figures 8 (A), 8 (B), 9 (A) and 9 (B), the container feeder 203 is mounted on a feeder table 250 comprising a large supported support plate 252. by four legs 254 fixed on a hard surface 256 such as concrete. The support plate 252 of the feeder table 250 forms the bottom of a feed wheel frame 260 which forms part of the vacuum cell port 221. The feed wheel frame 260 also includes a circular upper plate 262 and a cylindrical side wall 2q64 extending between the feeder frame support plate 252 and the top plate. The feed wheel 236 is rotatably and stamped into the frame of the feed wheel 260. As best shown in Figures 11 and 12, the feed wheel 236 includes a central hub 268 mounted on an axle 271 with bolts 273. The shaft 271 extends vertically through a lower guide frame 274 below the feeder frame 250 and through a first bearing 276 in the feeder frame plate 252 towards a second bearing 277 in the upper plate 262 of the power wheel frame 260. An electric motor, not shown, drives the feed wheel shaft 271 and rotates the feed wheel 236 clockwise as illustrated in figure 11. The axis of the Feed wheel 271 rotates in the first bearing and in the second bearing 276 and 277.

The feed wheel 236 also includes a peripheral cylindrical structure 282 connected to the central hub 268 with spokes 285. The feed wheel 236 has a plurality of ports 288 spaced around the periphery 282 and opening transversely outwardly from the wheel feeding. Each of the ports 288 in the peripheral structure 282 of the feed wheel 236 extends from an upper annular edge 290 of the peripheral structure to a lower annular edge 289 of the peripheral structure. The feed wheel 236, rotatably mounted in the feed wheel frame, forms a seal between the peripheral structure 282 of the feed wheel and the inner part of the cylindrical side wall 264 of the feed wheel frame. 260. This seal prevents air from entering the vacuum cell 206 even when the feed wheel 236 is rotating and feeding plastic container bodies 204 toward the vacuum cell and outside the vacuum cell. This seal is formed by means of an endless joint 294 extending outwardly slightly radially from a channel running along the upper annular edge of the peripheral structure 282, an endless joint 296 extending radially towards the exterior from a channel running along the lower edge 291 of the peripheral structure, and a plurality of joints 298 extending from the upper endless joint to the lower endless joint between each port 288 in the peripheral structure . The vertical joints 298 extend radially outwardly from the vertical channels in the peripheral structure 288 of the feed wheel 236 between the ports 288 of the feed wheel. Each of the gaskets 294, 296 and 298 comprises strips of rubber-type packing material that fit tightly against the inside of the cylindrical side wall 254 of the feed wheel frame 260. A suitable packing material is a material Wear resistant with low frictional characteristics, for example an adequate degree of polytetrafluoroethylene. The ports 288 of the feed wheel 236 receive uncoated plastic container bodies 204 from the first outer rotating feeder 239 and feed the coated plastic container bodies to the second outer rotating feeder 248 through an outer opening 300 in the Feeding wheel frame 260 as shown in Figure 9 (B). The ports 288 of the feed wheel 236 feed uncoated plastic container bodies 204 to the first interior rotary feeder 242 within the vacuum cell 203 and receive the coated plastic container bodies from the second interior rotary feeder 245 through from another opening 303 in the frame of the feed wheel 260 facing the inside of the vacuum cell 206. This is better illustrated in Figure 12. Fasteners 305 are placed in each of the feed wheel ports 288 for gripping the necks of the container bodies 204 while the container bodies are transported by the feed wheel 236. The vacuum ports 308 are connected to the cylindrical side wall 264 of the supply wheel frame 260 through the openings 300 and 303 in the frame of the feed wheel 260 and are connected to the vacuum pumps 310 that evacuate the air to starting from the feed wheel bodies 288 as the feed wheel brings uncoated plastic containers 204 from the first outer rotating feeder 239 to the vacuum cell 206. Accordingly, when the bodies of the feed wheel 288 are exposed to the vacuum inside the vacuum cell 206, the bodies of the feed wheel are substantially evacuated. The air feed bodies 311 are connected to the feed wheel beater 270 between the second inner rotary feeder 245 and the second outer rotating feeder 248 to supply air to the bodies 288 and the feed wheel 236 to increase the pressure in the bodies and containers coated with air according to the coated container bodies are transported from the second inner rotary feeder to the second external rotary feeder. The uncoated plastic container bodies 204 are capped and sealed with the caps 312 by means of a lid application device (not shown) and then partially evacuated as the feed wheel 236 transports the other non-coated container bodies from the first outer rotary feeder 239 in the vacuum cell 206. The caps 312 have a structure similar to those described in relation to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 and function to seal the threaded end of the container body 204 in relation to the coating vapors, to provide a method for fixing the container bodies on the conveyor 209, and for controlling the pressure inside the container body. The caps 312 fit snugly over the threaded opening of the plastic container bodies 204 and contain a ferrous metal element in such a way that the plastic container bodies can be magnetically transported by the conveyor 209. Desirably, the bodies of plastic container 204 contain sufficient air while moving through the cell to vacuum 206 such that the container bodies are under pressure as compared to the surrounding environment within the vacuum cell. The first outer rotating feeder 239 is rotatably mounted on the feeder board 250 outside the vacuum cell 206 between the first helical screw conveyor 230 and the feed wheel 236 as best illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, the first outer rotary feeder 239 comprises a rotating hub 350 mounted on a shaft 353 driven by a motor synchronously with the feed wheel 236. The first outer rotary feeder 239 also includes a stationary bearing 356 on which the hub 350 rotates. The shaft 353 connected to the hub 350 extends to the stationary bearing 356 through the lower frame guide 274 and support plate 252 of the feeder frame 250, through a cylinder 356 that mounts the stationary bearing on the support plate 252 of the feeder table. A bolt 362 fills a flange on the upper end of the shaft 353 and a cover 365 is fixed on the flange above the stationary bearing 356. The stationary bearing 356 is mounted on the cylinder assembly 359 with bolts 368. The stationary bearing 356 includes a bottom plate 271 mounted on the support cylinder 359 and a top plate 374 spaced from the bottom plate and mounted on the feed wheel housing 260. This is best shown in Figures 9 (B) and 13. The hub 350 rotates between the lower plate 371 and the upper plate 374 of the stationary bearing 356 and has an annular channel facing radially 377. Several pivot pins 380 are mounted vertically in the annular channel 377 which are spaced around the circumference of the hub 350. for handling container body 383 of pivotally mounted on pivot pins 380 and extending radially outwardly from hub 350. Each of The container body handling arms 383 includes a handle 386 mounted pivotally on the pivot pins 380 and a reciprocating extension 389 slidably engaged with the handle 380 such that the reciprocating extension can extend radially. towards the outside and alternatively inwards as the hub 1350 rotates. Each of the arms 383 also includes a fastener 392 mounted on the distal end of the swinging extension 389 with a bolt 393. The fasteners 392 are useful for gripping the neck of the container bodies and holding the container bodies while the arms carry the container bodies. Each reciprocating extension 389 includes guide pins 396 mounted on the extension and engaging slots or tracks 403 extending upwardly on the underside of the upper plate 374 of the stationary bearing 356. The tracks 403 through the guide pins 396 , cause the extensions 389 of the arms 383 to reciprocate and move laterally. The tracks 403 are designed to direct the arms 383 as the feeder hub 350 rotates such that the arms reach and grip the plastic container bodies 204 from the first screw conveyor 230 and then insert the container bodies into the containers. power wheel ports 288. The fasteners 305 which extend from the feed wheel 236 hold the necks of the container bodies 204 more firmly than the fasteners 392 of the first outer feeder 239 and move the container bodies away from the first outer feeder as the arms of the first outer feeder rotate past the feed wheel. The extensions 389 of the first extension feeder arms 389 reciprocally move inwardly and laterally as necessary to avoid undesired collisions. The first interior rotary feeder 242, the second inner rotating feeder 245, and the second outer rotary feeder 248 have the same structure and function as the first outer rotary feeder 239. The second outer rotary feeder 248 is also mounted on the feeder frame 250 and the wheel frame of supply 260 and is positioned between the feed wheel 236 and the second screw conveyor 236. The first inner rotary feeder 242 is mounted on the feeder board 250 in a portion 406 of the vacuum cell frame 218, known as the internal feeder frame, which extends between the feed wheel frame 260 and the conveyor 209. The first inner rotary feeder 242 is also mounted on the feed wheel frame 260. The first inner rotary feeder 242 is positioned on such that the arms 383 of the first rotary feeder interior grips the container bodies 204 from the bodies 288 and feed wheel 236 as the container bodies penetrate the interior feeder frame 406. The arms of the first interior feeder 242 transport the uncoated container bodies 204 towards the conveyor 209. The second inner rotating feeder 245 is positioned adjacent the first inner rotating feeder 242 in the inner feeder frame 406 and is mounted on the feeder box 250 and the feed wheel frame 260. The arms 383 of the second frame inner rotating 245 grasps the coated container bodies 204 from the conveyor 209 and inserts the coated container bodies into the ports 288 of the supply wheel 236.

Vacuum cell Vacuum cell 206 includes the vacuum cell frame 218 and can maintain a very high vacuum in the vacuum cell frame 218. Desirably, the coating process is carried out within the cell frame at vacuum 218 at a pressure that is within a range of about I x 10 -4 mbar to about 50 x 10"4 mbar, and more preferably from about 2 x 10 ~ 4 mbar to about 10 x 10" "mbar. 218 includes the feed wheel frame 260 and the inner feeder frame 406, both form the vacuum cell port 221, and also includes a lining frame 409 that forms the remainder of the vacuum cell frame. Vacuum 218 is made of a material such as stainless steel that can withstand the high voids produced within the frame.The coating beater 409 includes an elongate cylinder 410 which it extends between a front end plate 412 and a rear end plate 415. Each one of the components of the vacuum cell frame 218 are joined with an air tight seal that can withstand the high vacuum within the frame. The inner feeder frame 406 is removably affixed on the front end plate 412 of the liner frame 409. The liner frame 409 is mounted on a frame 418 positioned below the liner frame. The cladding frame box 418, in turn, is mounted on wheels 421 on a track 424 fixed on a hard surface 256. The cladding frame 409 can therefore be separated from the port 221 by disconnecting the port from the cladding frame and sliding the liner frame along the track 424. This provides access to the equipment within the vacuum cell 206 for maintenance and repair. A motor 425 displaces the lining frame 409 along the track 424. A frame 427 contains an apparatus for removing the internal equipment from the lining frame 409 and is fixed on the back end plate 412 of the lining frame. A pair of diffusion pumps 430 connected to the coating frame 409 are connected in series with a vacuum pump 433 to maintain the vacuum inside the vacuum cell 206. A cryogenic cooler 436 positioned outside the vacuum cell 206 cools a condenser 437, illustrated in Figure 10 within vacuum cell 206. Condenser 437 condenses and freezes water within vacuum cell 206 to reduce the amount of water that has to be removed by vacuum pumps. Conveyor The conveyor 209, illustrated in FIG. 10, includes a generally A-shaped frame 439 slidably mounted along rails 442 extending longitudinally along opposite internal sides of the lining frame cylinder 410. The conveyor frame 439 is mounted on top of the coating steam source 212 in such a way that the conveyor 209 carries the plastic container bodies 204 above the coating steam source. The transport frame 439 forms an endless double loop track 445 that resembles a configuration of clothes pegs. The endless double loop track 445 of the conveyor includes a lower loop 448 external and an upper loop 451 internal. An endless rail 454 runs along the lower and upper loops 448 and 451. The container holders 457 move along the endless rail 454 to carry the container bodies over the coating steam source 212 four times , twice with the sides of the container bodies facing the coating steam source and twice with the bottoms of the container bodies facing the coating steam source. The sides of the container bodies 204 face the coating steam source as they travel along an outer bottom loop 438 and the bottoms of the container bodies face the coating steam source when the container bodies are transported along the internal upper loop 451. Figures 8 (A) and 8 (B) do not show all container fasteners 457 for purposes of illustration. The container fasteners 457 desirably extend completely around the double-loop endless track 445. Figures 9 (A) and 9 (B) do not show the container fasteners 457 or the container bodies 204. The conveyor frame 439, illused in Figure 10, includes an upper plate 460, which extends substantially along the coating frame 409, and opposite side walls 463 extending downward from the opposite longitudinal edges of the upper plate and then outwardly to the distal bottom edges 466. The rail 454 runs along the bottom edge 466 of the side walls 463 to form the outer loop 448. Along the outer loop 448, the rail 454 has an upward angle and inwards to orient the container bodies up slightly and inwardly such that the sides of the container bodies face the coating steam source 212. A pair of supports 469 extend horizontally and inwardly toward each other. the other, from opposite side walls 463 of the conveyor frame 439 near the top plate 460 of the conveyor frame. The conveyor rail 454 els along these horizontal supports 469 to form the inner loop 451 of the endless double loop k 445. Along the inner loop 451, the rail 454 is oriented vertically in such a way that the container bodies 204 are oriented substantially vertically with the bottoms of the container bodies facing the coating steam source 212. A pair of plates 472 extends substantially horizontally between the upper plate 460 and the supports 469 and have longitudinal slots 479 for providing stability to the container fasteners 457 as the fasteners el along the inner loop 451. A dust guard 478 is mounted on the conveyor frame 439 and extends from the conveyor frame along the side walls 463 of the conveyor frame, towards low and outward in relation to the side walls of the cylinder of b coating shredder 410. This protection 478 therefore separates the container frame 409 into an upper compartment 482 and a lower compartment 483, the coating vapor 215 coming from the coating steam source 212 is substantially limited to the lower compartment. The container fasteners 457 pass through a slot in the guard as the container clips move along the conveyor 209. Each container holder 457 comprises an arm 484, a projection 487 extending from one end of the container. arm, a pair of spaced wheels 490 mounted on the arm adjacent to the projection, and a magnetic container holder and container rotation mechanism 493 at an opposite end of the arm. The projection 487 els through the slots 475 in the horizontal support plates 472 of the conveyor frame 439. The spaced wheels 490 engage the endless rail 454 of the conveyor k 445. The magnetic container conveyor 493 includes a magnet which atts and stops the caps 312 placed on the threaded ends of the plastic container bodies 204. This magnetic force secures the container bodies 204 on the container fasteners 457 throughout the coating process. The fastener 457 rotates the container bodies 204 constantly while sporting the container bodies through the container frame 409. The total conveyor 209 can slide outward from the coating frame 409 by sliding the conveyor frame 439 as far as possible. along the rails 442 mounted on the casing frame after retion of the casing frame along the casing frame support k 424. Evaporator system for producing casing vapor The casing steam source 212 comprises 4 510 evaporators, in series along the coating frame 409 under the conveyor 209. The evaporators 510 are mounted on an elongated hollow support beam 513. The support beam 513 is in turn mounted on rollers 516 on a track 519 running along the bottom of the lining frame 409 The evaporators 510 can therefore be removed from the coating frame 409 on the rollers when the coating frame is separated from the vacuum cell port 221. This makes the evaporators 510 accessible for repair and maintenance. The evaporators 510 are similar to the evaporator 1 used in the previously described mode and illustrated in FIG. 1. The evaporators 510 in the high-speed, high-volume system 200 operates under substantially the same parameters as the evaporator 1 in the previously described modes. Each evaporator 510 includes a receptacle 524 that contains a vaporizable materialsaid receptacle is constructed of a suitable material, such as carbon when silicon evaporates. The proper character of the material for the receptacle 524 is determined primarily by its ability to withstand the temperature required to melt and evaporate the coating material and by its inertness in relation to the coating material. Each evaporator 510 includes a cold cathode 521 and the receptacle is electrically connected to an anode. The cathode 521 desirably comprises bronze or magnesium, but may also be comprised of other components, preferably metals that are useful as metal additives for the formation of glass that vaporize and form part of the inorganic oxide coating in the bodies of container 204. Suitable additives are described above. The receptacle 524 is heated separately by appropriate means, such as induction heating or resistance. Figure 10 illustrates a power supply line 530 to the anode. The power supply line to the cathode 521 is not shown. Each evaporator 510 includes a frame 533 which contains the anode 524 and the receptacle 527 of vaporizable solids. In addition, the frame 533 contains a heater for heating the receptacle 527 at very high temperatures, from 1200 ° C to 1800 ° C. A suitable heater is a carbon felt resistance heater. The silicon, for example, is heated in a receptacle at a temperature of about 1500 ° C. The electronic cold cathode 521 is positioned to further heat the vaporizable material in the receptacle 527 and create a plasma vapor that is emitted through an opening 538 in the frame. The resistor heater 536 is electrically activated via power supply lines 541 which extend through the support beam 513. A pivotably mounted dust guard 544 is selectively positioned above the evaporators 510 to protect the evaporators of the coating particles that do not adhere to the container bodies 204, and can alternatively be positioned in a lower position in which the evaporators are exposed. The coating angle of the plasma vapor emitted by the evaporators 510 is preferably 30 to 60 °, in accordance with that described in the above embodiment. The distance between the evaporators 510 and the container bodies 204 is desirably 0.5 to 2 meters as in the case of the previously described mode. Operation of the high-speed, high-volume coating system In general terms, the bodies of plastic containers 204 are coated with an inorganic oxide coating such as silica by feeding the container bodies automatically and continuously to the vacuum cell 206 with the container feeder 203, transporting the container bodies through the vacuum cell with the conveyor 209 over the coating vapor source 212 and removing the coated container bodies from the vacuum cell with the container feeder. More particularly, prior to coating the plastic container bodies 204 with the high volume, high speed system 200, the evaporator receptacles 527 are charged with a vaporizable material such as silicon and the vacuum cell air 206 is evacuated at a pressure of approximately 2x 10 ~ 4 mbar. Oxygen is fed into the vacuum cell 206 through appropriate gas inlets. The uncoated plastic container bodies 204 are supplied to the container feeder 203 from a source 224 of container bodies such as, for example, a blow molding line for plastic containers. The uncoated container bodies 204 are transported by the first helical screw conveyor 230 to the first feeder outer rotating 239 which transports the uncoated container bodies into individual bodies 288 in the feed wheel 236 through the outer opening 203 in the vacuum cell port 221. The ports 288 are evacuated according to the uncoated container bodies 204 are conveyed by the feed wheel 236 to the first inner rotary feeder 242. The first inner rotary feeder 242 grips the uncoated container bodies 204 and transports them to the conveyor 209. The uncoated containers are capped with magnetic ventilation caps 312. with the lid application device 314. The caps 312 allow the container bodies to remain under light pressure in the vacuum environment of the vacuum cell 206. The container fasteners 457 carried by the conveyor 209 are magnetically fixed on the container body caps 312 and carry container bodies to forward and backward four times through the coating frame 409 on the evaporators 510. The container fasteners 457 are oriented vertically when they initially collect the container bodies. The container fasteners 457 and the connected container bodies 204 are reoriented as the container fasteners 457 move along the endless conveyor rail 454. The silicon in the evaporator receptacles 527 is heated by the resistance heaters 536 and evaporators 510 and associated cold cathodes 521. This creates a plasma vapor comprising evaporated silicon and small amounts of evaporated metal additives such as zinc, copper or magnesium, which are evaporated from the cold cathodes 521 themselves. As the container bodies 204 pass over the evaporators 510, the material in the plasma vapor is deposited on the external surface of the container bodies and reacts with the oxygen in the coating frame 409 to form a durable inorganic oxide coating, thin on the external surface of the container bodies. The caps 312 on the threaded openings of the container bodies leave the threaded openings without coating. The conveyor rail 454 first carries the container bodies 204 in a first passage over the evaporators 510 with the sides of the container bodies facing the evaporators. The container fasteners 457 constantly rotate the container bodies 204 throughout the transport and coating process. Then the liner clips 457 carry the container bodies 204 along one side of the inner loop 451 on the conveyor rail 454 in a second passage over the evaporators 510. In the second passage, the container holders 457 and bodies of vessel 204 are oriented vertically with the bottom of the container bodies facing the evaporators 510 to coat the bottom of the container bodies. Then, the container clips 457 follow the conveyor rail 454 along the other side of the inner loop 451 in a third passage over the evaporators 510. Like the second passage, the container holders 457 and container body 204 are vertically oriented with the bottoms of container bodies facing the evaporators 510. In the fourth and last passage on the evaporators 510, the container fasteners 457 follow the conveyor rail 454 along the other side of the outer loop 448. In this fourth passage , the conveyor rail 454 reorients the container clips 457 and the container bodies 204 in such a way that the sides of the container bodies face the evaporators 510. The coated container bodies 204 are then returned to the vertical position and gripped by the arms 383 of the second inner rotary feeder 245. The second inner rotary feeder 245 carries the bodies coated container bodies 204 toward ports 288 on rotary feed wheel 236. Feed wheel 236 transports coated container bodies 204 to second outer container feeder 248 while air supply ports 311 increase pressure the feed wheel ports 288. The second outer rotating feeder 248 seizes the coated container bodies from the ports 288 of the feed wheel 236 through the outer opening 300 and transports the coated container bodies 204 to the second feed conveyor. helical screw 233 carrying the coated container bodies to the beverage packaging line 227. The beverage packaging line 227 may be a conventional beverage filling and sealing process. The coated container bodies are first filled with a beverage and then sealed. The containers may be filled with various beverages including alcoholic beverages such as beer and non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks, water, juices, sports drinks, and the like. The drinks can be sealed under pressure in a container. Soft drinks, for example, are sealed under pressure. The containers made in accordance with this invention offer a barrier to carbon dioxide and consequently retain the carbon dioxide inside the soda container. Recycling The coated containers of this invention described above are especially suitable for recycling. This invention therefore encompasses a method for producing recycled content plastic comprising the steps of supplying a plastic in batch, at least a part of the batch plastic comprising coated plastic containers, and the conversion of the batch plastic to a form suitable for melt extrusion. Plastic containers lined for recycling comprise a plastic container body having an external surface and a coating on the external surface comprising an inorganic oxide. Two suitable recycling processes are described in greater detail below. Figure 15 is a flow diagram illustrating a physical recycling process. During recycling, either physical recycling or chemical recycling for plastic containers are already carried out. In the case of physical recycling, a plastic batch is provided in accordance with that indicated in step 100. While this plastic may include a unique type of elements, it is contemplated that both coated and uncoated plastics will be provided. In a conventional process indicated in step 102, these coated and uncoated plastics must be separated. This may require a step that includes a lot of labor and this results in increased costs for recycling. With the present invention, this separate step 102 can be avoided. Particularly, step 104 indicates the mixture of coated and uncoated containers. While this step can certainly be carried out at the recycling station, it is contemplated that the actual mixing will take place before the arrival of the plastic at the recycling station. For example, when the plastic is collected by a garbage collection vehicle and taken to the recycling center, such mixing may occur. An advantage of the present invention is that when a plastic to be recycled is mixed with a plastic coated with uncoated plastic, separation of the plastics is not necessary. In practice it is impossible. Therefore, when coated containers are introduced into the recycling stream, the recycling process is not affected. As in a conventional process, the mixed plastics are crushed into flakes in step 106. An optional step of washing flakes 108 can be carried out. In fact, a washing step should occur many other times during the process. After the washing step 108, or after the crushing step 106, the crushed flakes are melt extruded in step 110. A forming step 112 occurs after simply indicating that it is being made with the extrusion. For example, pellets, flakes and other shaped plastics could be melt extruded and then blow molded or injection molded. Many other uses of recycled plastics are possible. The blow molded or injection molded plastic can be reused for containers, and particularly, it can be used for beverage containers. In fact, the batch plastic initially provided in the method in step 100 may be plastic beverage containers so recycling from bottle to bottle is possible.

Obviously, the type of plastic handling and the performance of the recycling process is not limited. Apart from the physical recycling steps, the present invention also applies to a chemical recycling process as shown in Figure 16. Again, plastics are provided in a step 114. Conventionally, a separation step 116 was necessary. The present invention avoids said separation step 116. In a manner similar to the physical recycling described above, a mixing step 118 is indicated for coated and uncoated plastic. This mixture can be carried out in the recycling station or before the arrival of the plastic to said recycling station. In the case of chemical recycling, the plastic is depolymerized by conventional processes as indicated in step 120. To indicate the flexibility of the present invention, it is contemplated that separate plastics and uncoated plastics could be supplied in step 114. These separate plastics could be separately depolymerized in step 120, but would be mixed together in step 122. This additional mixing step 122 is simply to indicate the flexibility of the present invention. After depolymerization of the plastic, said plastic is repolymerized in step 124. This plastic can then be formed into a desired article such as by blow molding or extrusion molding as indicated in step 126. Similarly To the physical recycling process, the chemical recycling process can handle and produce many types of plastics. For example, recycling from bottle to bottle is possible. Another benefit of the recycling process of the present invention is that clouding in the final recycled product is avoided. Since relatively small particles are used in the coating, a clouding of the finally produced recycled product can be avoided. In addition, the coating is acceptable for contact with food and therefore will not adversely affect recycling efforts when crushed or depolymerized in recycling processes. The plastic produced in any of the recycling processes can be injection molded or blow molded as indicated above. Even if the coated plastic is initially introduced in the recycling process, the coating of the present invention will not interfere with the processes of injection molding or low-current blow molding. While it has been particularly discussed physical recycling and chemical recycling, it will be noted that the present invention can also be applied to other types of recycling processes. Having described the invention in this way, it is evident that said invention can be varied in many ways. Such variations are not considered outside the spirit or scope of the invention, and all modifications that a person skilled in the art will find in an evident manner are included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (71)

1. CLAIMS A system for producing a coated plastic container that has a gas barrier, the system comprises: a vacuum cell capable of maintaining a vacuum inside the cell under vacuum; a container feeder for supplying plastic container bodies to the cell under vacuum and for removing plastic containers coated from the cell under vacuum, the plastic container bodies each having an outer surface and an internal surface defining a interior space; a conveyor inside the vacuum cell for transporting the plastic container bodies through the cell under vacuum; and at least one source placed in the vacuum cell to supply a coating vapor to the external surface of the container bodies as they are transported through the cell under vacuum, the at least one coating vapor source includes an evaporator for heating and evaporating an inorganic coating material to form the coating vapor; a gas feed to supply at least one reactive gas to the inner part of the cell under vacuum; the at least one coating vapor source and the conveyor are structured and arranged inside the vacuum cell in such a manner that (a) the coating vapor from the at least one source reacts with the reactant gas and deposits a thin coating on the external surface of the containers, (b) the thin coating comprises an inorganic compound and is bonded on the external surface of the container bodies, and (c) the resulting coated plastic containers, when they contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the container. the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar), have a gas barrier of at least 1.25x the gas barrier of the containers without the coating, when the containers without the coating contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar).
2. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens.
3. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is an inorganic oxide.
4. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, wherein, while the vacuum cell maintains a vacuum inside the cell under vacuum, the container feeder continuously feeds the container bodies from the outside of the cell vacuum in the vacuum cell to the conveyor, the conveyor continuously transports the container bodies through the cell to the vacuum beyond the at least one source, and the container feeder continuously recovers the coated containers from the conveyor and removes the vacuum-coated cell containers.
5. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, further comprising a device for rotating the container bodies while the container bodies are transported through the cell to vacuum.
6. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 4, wherein the container bodies each have a bottom, and sides and the conveyor can orient the bodies of plastic containers relative to the at least one source of steam of coating to coat both the bottom and the sides of the container with the coating vapor.
7. The system for manufacturing a coated plastic container according to claim 1, further comprising a lid application device for sealing each container body with a lid before the container body is fed to the conveyor, wherein the conveyor comprises a plurality of arms for engaging the lids while the lids are in the container bodies and for transporting the container bodies while the conveyor transports the container bodies through the cell to the vacuum.
8. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, further including a device for forming the coating vapor in high energy plasma.
9. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, wherein the at least one coating vapor source comprises a receptacle electrically connected to an anode to contain at least a part of the coating material and a cathode directed to the portion of the coating material in the receptacle for at least partial vaporization of the coating material and the formation of the coating vapor in plasma.
10. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 9, wherein the cathode is vaporizable to form a portion of the coating vapor.
11. 11. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 10, wherein the cathode comprises bronze.
12. 12. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 10, wherein the cathode comprises magnesium.
13. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor and the at least one coating vapor source are structured and arranged in such a way that the coating vapor reacts on the external surfaces of the coatings. container bodies with the reactive gas supplied by the gas supply to form the coating.
14. The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 3, wherein the thin coating further comprises a glass-forming metal additive.
15. 15. A method for making a coated plastic container having a gas barrier, the method comprising the steps of: feeding plastic container bodies in a vacuum cell while the vacuum cell maintains a vacuum in the vacuum cell , the plastic container bodies each have an external surface and an internal surface that defines an interior space; transport the plastic container bodies through the cell under vacuum; feed a reactive gas in the cell to vacuum; heating and evaporating an inorganic coating material with an evaporator placed in the vacuum cell to form a coating vapor; and removing the coated plastic containers from the cell under vacuum; the steps of transporting the container bodies and forming the coating vapor are carried out in such a way that, in accordance with the container bodies are transported through the cell under vacuum, the coating vapor reacts with the reactive gas and deposits a thin coating on the external surface of the containers, (b) the thin coating comprises an inorganic compound and is bonded on the external surface of the container bodies, and (c) the resulting coated plastic containers, when it contains a fluid under pressure sealed in the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar) have a gas barrier of at least 1.25x the gas barrier of the containers without the coating, when the containers without the coating contain a fluid under sealed pressure in the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar).
16. 16. The method for making a coated plastic container according to claim 15, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogen.
17. 17. The method for making a coated plastic container according to claim 15, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is inorganic oxide.
18. The method according to claim 15, wherein, while the vacuum cell maintains a vacuum within the vacuum cell, the feeding step includes continuously feeding the container bodies from outside the cell to the vacuum in the Vacuum cell to the conveyor, the transport step includes the continuous transport of the container bodies through the vacuum cell beyond the at least one source, and the feeding step further includes the continuous recovery of the coated containers of the conveyor and the removal of the coated cell containers under vacuum.
19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of transporting comprises the rotation of the container bodies while the container bodies are transported through the cell to vacuum.
20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the feeding step comprises automatic and continuous feeding of the container bodies with a rotary feeder in the vacuum cell to the conveyor from a source of container bodies outside of the container. the vacuum cell and the automatic and continuous recovery of the coated containers from the conveyor and the transport of the coated containers to a location outside the cell under vacuum.
21. 21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the rotating container feeder includes a feed wheel rotatably mounted in a vacuum cell port.
22. 22. The method according to claim 21 wherein the fasteners are positioned in each of the feed wheel ports to grip the necks of the container bodies while the container bodies are transported by the feed wheel.
23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the rotating container feeder includes a first external rotating feeder for automatically and continuously feeding the uncoated plastic container bodies to the feed wheel and a first internal rotary feeder for automatic feeding and continuously the uncoated plastic container bodies from the feed wheel to the conveyor, a second inner rotating feeder for automatically and continuously feeding the coated plastic container bodies from the conveyor to the feed wheel and a second outer rotating feeder for automatically and continuously taking the coated plastic container bodies from the feed wheel.
24. The method according to claim 23 wherein the fasteners for gripping the neck of the container bodies are placed in the inner and outer rotary feeders.
25. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of forming the coating vapor in a high energy plasma.
26. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of sealing the container bodies in such a way that the container bodies are sealed when they are in the cell under vacuum thus preventing the air from escaping from the interior space of the containers. container bodies.
27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the container bodies are sealed with pressure in the interior space of the containers greater than the pressure in the vacuum cell.
28. 28. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of supplying coating vapor further comprises at least one chemical and physical bonding of the inorganic compound on the external surface of the container bodies.
29. 29. The method according to claim 15, wherein the evaporator comprises a receptacle electrically connected to an anode to contain at least a portion of the coating material and a cathode, and the step of forming the coating vapor comprises the direction of the cathode. in the portion of the coating material in the receptacle to at least partially vaporize the coating material and to form the coating vapor in plasma.
30. 30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the steaming step includes vaporizing at least a portion of the cathode to form a coating vapor portion.
31. 31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the cathode comprises bronze.
32. 32. The method according to claim 30, wherein the cathode comprises magnesium.
33. 33. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of delivering includes vaporizing a component that provides color to the coating in the container.
34. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of supplying the coating vapor is carried out in such a way that the inorganic oxide is SiOx and x is within the range of 1.7 to 2.0.
35. The method according to claim 17, wherein the thin coating further comprises a glass-forming metal additive.
36. The method according to claim 35, wherein the glass-forming metal additive comprises Mg.
37. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of supplying the coating vapor is carried out in such a manner that the glass forming metal additive is present in the coating in an amount of 0.01 to 50% by weight in base in Si and is selected within the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cr, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti, Al, Mn, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Sn, Ge and In.
38. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of supplying the coating vapor is carried out in such a way that the glass forming metal additive is present in the coating in an amount of 0.01 to 15% by weight in base in Si.
39. The method according to claim 35, wherein the step of supplying the coating vapor is carried out in such a way that the coating is deposited on the outer surface of the container body using a vacuum steam tank, the coating is substantially homogeneous , the coating is amorphous, the coating has a thickness and the inorganic oxide and the glass-forming metal additive are present in the coating at substantially constant concentrations throughout the coating thickness, the inorganic oxide is SiOx, and x is within from a range of 1.7 to 2.0.
40. 40. A coated plastic container made in accordance with the method of claim 15.
41. 41. The plastic container according to claim 40, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens. .
42. 42. The plastic container according to claim 40, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is an inorganic oxide.
43. 43. The plastic container according to claim 40, wherein the coating is substantially homogeneous.
44. 44. The plastic container according to claim 40, wherein the coating is amorphous.
45. 45. The plastic container according to claim 42, wherein the coating further comprises a glass-forming metal additive.
46. 46. The plastic container according to claim 45, wherein the coating has a thickness and the inorganic oxide and the glass-forming metal additive are present in the coating in substantially constant concentrations throughout the thickness of the coating.
47. 47. The plastic container according to claim 45, where the inorganic oxide is SiOx and x is found within the range of 1.7 to 2.0.
48. 48. The plastic container according to claim 45, wherein the glass-forming metal additive comprises Mg.
49. 49. The plastic container according to claim 47, wherein the glass-forming metal additive is present in the coating in an amount of 0.01 to 50% by weight based on Si and is selected from the group consisting of of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cr, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ti, Al, Mn, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Sn, Ge and In.
50. 50. The plastic container according to claim 47, wherein the glass-forming metal additive is present in the coating in an amount of 0.01 to 15% by weight, based on Si.
51. 51. The plastic container according to claim 47, wherein the coating is substantially homogeneous, the coating is amorphous, the coating has a thickness and the inorganic oxide and the glass-forming metal additive are present in the coating at concentrations that are substantially constant throughout the thickness of the coating, the inorganic oxide is SiOx, and x is within the range of 1.7 to 2.0.
52. 52. The plastic container according to claim 51, wherein the coating thickness is from 10 to 100 nm.
53. 53. The plastic container according to claim 40, wherein the inorganic coating further includes a pigment for coloring the outer surface of the container.
54. 54. A method for producing a recycled content plastic, comprising the steps of: providing a batch plastic, at least a portion of the batch plastic consists of coated plastic containers made in accordance with the method of claim 15, each The coated plastic container comprises a plastic container body having an internal surface defining an interior space and an external surface and a coating on the external surface comprising an inorganic compound; convert a batch plastic into a suitable form for melt extrusion.
55. 55. The method according to claim 54, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens.
56. 56. The method according to claim 54, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is an inorganic oxide.
57. 57. The method according to claim 54, wherein the conversion step comprises grinding the batch plastic in order to produce flakes and melt the flakes to form a recycled plastic that can be melt extruded.
58. 58. The method according to claim 54 wherein the conversion step comprises the depolymerization of the batch plastic and the repolymerization of said depolymerized batch plastic in order to form a recycled plastic that can be melt extruded.
59. 59. The method according to claim 56, wherein the inorganic oxide is silica.
60. 60. The method according to claim 56, wherein the inorganic oxide is SiOx and x is within the range of 1.7 to 2.0.
61. 61. The method according to claim 54, wherein the coating thickness is 10-100 nm.
62. 62. A method for packaging a beverage, comprising the steps of: providing a coated plastic container made in accordance with the method of claim 15, the coated plastic container comprises a plastic container body having an internal surface that defines an internal space and an external surface and a coating on the external surface comprising an inorganic compound, the coating provides a barrier to gases; fill the plastic container with a drink; and sealing the plastic container after the filling step.
63. 63. The method according to claim 62, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens.
64. 64. The method according to claim 62, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is an inorganic oxide.
65. 65. The method according to claim 62, wherein the step of supplying comprises the continuous supply of a plurality of coated plastic containers, the filling step comprising the continuous filling of the plurality of plastic containers coated with the beverage, and he Step of carrying comprises the continuous seal of the beverage in the plurality of containers after the filling step.
66. 66. The method according to claim 62 wherein the sealing step comprises sealing the beverage under pressure in the coated container.
67. 67. The method according to claim 66 further comprising the step of introducing gas into the measurement before the filling step. -
68. 68 A system for packaging a beverage comprising: a system for producing coated plastic containers according to claim 1; a filler to fill the plastic containers with a drink; and a sealant for filling the plastic containers after the filling step.
69. 69. The system according to claim 68, wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and halogens.
70. 70. The system according to claim 68, wherein the reactive gas is oxygen and the inorganic compound is an inorganic oxide.
71. 71. The system for packaging a beverage according to claim 68, wherein the step of sealing includes sealing the beverage under pressure in the coated container. The system for packaging a beverage according to claim 71 further comprising a gas introducer for introducing gases into the beverage before the filling step. A system for making a coated plastic container having a gas barrier, the system comprises: a vacuum cell capable of maintaining a vacuum inside the cell under vacuum; a container feeder for supplying bodies of plastic containers to the cell under vacuum and for removing plastic containers coated from the cell under vacuum, the plastic container bodies each having an external surface and an internal surface defining an internal space; a conveyor inside the cell in vacuum to transport the plastic container bodies through the cell under vacuum; and at least one source placed in the vacuum cell to supply a coating vapor to the external surface of the container bodies as the container bodies are transported through the vacuum cell, the at least one coating vapor source including an evaporator for heating and evaporating a metal coating material to form the coating vapor; the at least one coating vapor source and the conveyor are structured and arranged within the vacuum cell in such a way that the coating vapor from the at least one source is deposited in the form of a thin coating on the outer surface of the container. the containers, the thin coating comprises a metal and is bonded on the outer surface of the container bodies, and the resulting coated plastic containers, when they contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bar ), have a gas barrier of at least 1.25x the gas barrier of the containers without the coating, when the containers without the coating contain a fluid under pressure sealed in the interior space at a pressure of 60 psig (4.1 bars). The system for making a coated plastic container according to claim 73, wherein the at least one coating vapor source comprises a receptacle electrically connected to an anode for containing at least a portion of the metal coating material and a directed cathode. to the portion of the metal coating material in the receptacle to at least partially vaporize the metal coating material and to form the coating vapor in plasma.