Hollow Glass Machine Male Mechanism Alignment System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hollow glass forming machines face challenges in achieving precise alignment and verticality of the male mechanism with blank molds, leading to defects in glass containers and premature wear due to inaccurate positioning and maintenance complexities.
Innovation Solution
A system where all guide and height adjustment elements for the male mechanism are fixed to the upper plate of the housing, with a divided guide flange and a height adjustment group suspended to the upper plate, ensuring perfect parallelism and alignment, and allowing for easier maintenance by removing only the internal flange for access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the height adjustment system is fixed to the lower plate of the housing, then the male mechanism can be positioned and adjusted, but the alignment accuracy with blank molds deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional mounting approach by fixing the height adjustment system to the upper plate instead of the lower plate. This inversion allows the system to leverage the upper plate's precise positioning relative to the blank molds, thereby improving alignment accuracy while maintaining operational capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a copying principle where the position of the upper plate (which is already precisely aligned with blank molds) is replicated to the height adjustment system through rigid fixation. This ensures that the adjustment system inherits the precise positioning of the upper plate without requiring separate alignment procedures.
2Reliability
If the guide flange is fixed to both upper and lower plates, then the male mechanism can be guided, but maintenance complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the guide flange into two independent parts: one fixed to the upper plate and another fixed to the male mechanism. This segmentation allows the lower plate connection to be eliminated, enabling easy removal and maintenance of the guide flange by simply detaching it from the upper plate without requiring disassembly of the entire housing structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the guiding function from the lower plate connection, removing the constraint that required the guide flange to be fixed to both upper and lower plates. This extraction maintains the necessary guiding reliability while significantly improving maintenance accessibility by allowing the guide flange to be removed from only one location.
3Adaptability or versatility
If separate components are used for height adjustment and guiding, then flexibility is improved, but alignment precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the height adjustment system and the guiding system into a single integrated assembly that is fixed to the upper plate. This combination ensures that both functions share a common reference frame, guaranteeing perfect verticality and alignment precision while maintaining the flexibility needed for adjusting hollow glass articles of different shapes and dimensions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a system for aligning and positioning a male mechanism - pneumatic or servo-electric - to be used at the blank station side of a section of a hollow glass forming machine. The system comprises a mechanism, comprising at least one plunger or a driving unit driven by a servomotor, a guide flange composed of an internal flange for retaining the mechanism in position, and an external flange . This latter comprises a resting face intended to stand at least partially on the upper plate of a housing of the section, and fixing and centering means for fixing the flange to the upper plane. The system further comprises a base plate for supporting the mechanism. The plate is slidingly mounted on at least one guide bar, rigidly fixed to the resting face of the external flange and intended to allow the base plate to slide along a sliding direction substantially orthogonal to the plane wherein the external flange lies. The base plate rests on a height adjustment group , suspended to said upper plane and intended to move the plate along the guide.