Container Plant Air Recycling Circuit Reduces Consumption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current container manufacturing installations face high air consumption and quality control issues due to the uncontrolled renewal of ambient air, leading to degradation in container quality and increased maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
A recycling circuit that extracts filtered air from the oven and recycles it for use in the transformation and filling units, maintaining a controlled and clean air environment within the industrial premises.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If ambient air is drawn from industrial premises and filtered for cooling preforms, then air cleanliness is improved, but air consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent recovers filtered air that would otherwise be exhausted to the atmosphere and redirects it to other units (transformation unit and filling unit) within the installation. This recovery approach maintains air cleanliness while significantly reducing the need to draw new ambient air, thereby lowering overall air consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The filtered air extracted from the oven serves multiple functions: it cools preforms in the thermal conditioning unit, and is then reused to provide clean air to the transformation unit and filling unit. This multi-functional use of the same air stream improves efficiency and reduces total air consumption across the installation.
2Reliability
If filtered air is exhausted to atmosphere to remove heat and sterilizing agent residues, then thermal conditioning and decontamination are effective, but air consumption and filtration system workload increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of discarding filtered air to the atmosphere, the system recovers it and redirects to units where clean air is needed. This maintains the effectiveness of thermal conditioning while reducing overall air consumption and filtration system workload.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potentially harmful hot air containing sterilizing agent residues into a beneficial resource by redirecting it to units requiring clean air. The air is reused before being partially exhausted, thereby reducing total air consumption while maintaining effectiveness.
3Stress or pressure
If atmospheric air replaces evacuated air in industrial premises, then air pressure is maintained, but air quality control is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system recovers and redistributes filtered air within the installation to units that require controlled air quality. This internal recycling maintains both air pressure balance and air quality control, preventing the infiltration of uncontrolled atmospheric air.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a closed-loop air management approach where filtered air is continuously monitored and redistributed to where it is needed. This feedback mechanism ensures both pressure maintenance and quality control by adjusting air distribution based on actual needs of different units.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces air consumption, enhances air cleanliness, and extends the lifespan of filtration systems, resulting in improved container quality and reduced operational costs.
Implementation Method 1
Air cooling promotes radiant heating by mitigating the effects of thermal conduction through the mass of air contained within the furnace
Implementation Method 2
Control of the thermal conditioning stage results from the combined application of cooling air and infrared radiation emitted by the heating elements to the body over a specific period of time
Implementation Method 3
Such means of air filtration are intended to remove impurities (dust, microorganisms, etc.) from the air so that the cooling air delivered to the preforms is filtered air with the highest possible degree of cleanliness
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a recycling method and to a plant (10) for manufacturing containers (12) from thermoplastic preforms (14), characterized in that the plant (10) includes a circuit (60) for recycling the cooling air from the oven (26) comprising: extraction means (56), which are capable of extracting the filtered air injected into the interior of the oven (26) by an air-cooling device (34); and at least one duct (62, 74) capable of bringing all or part of said filtered air extracted from the oven (26) as far as at least one unit (38, 48) of the plant into which said air is injected.