Optical-Registered Creasing and Laser Cutting for Custom Cartons
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies for producing cardboard and corrugated cardboard packaging and displays face limitations in flexibility and customization due to the use of mechanical dies, leading to high setup times, logistic complications, and inefficient production processes, especially with the introduction of digital printers.
Innovation Solution
An 'all-in-one' apparatus for sequential creasing and cutting sheets, equipped with an optical station, creasing module, and laser cutting module, controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC) and processing unit, allowing for synchronized conveyor belt speeds to optimize productivity and precision.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional mechanical dies are used for cutting and creasing, then high production speeds are achieved, but flexibility and customization are limited due to die replacement requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical die systems with a laser-based processing system. The laser apparatus can perform both cutting and creasing operations without requiring physical die replacement, thereby maintaining high production speeds while enabling full customization flexibility through digital control of the laser parameters and movement paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The laser apparatus is designed to perform multiple functions (cutting and creasing) using a single device. By integrating both operations into one universal system controlled by a programmable logic controller, the patent eliminates the need for separate die sets for different operations, achieving both high productivity and adaptability.
2Manufacturing precision
If separate machines are used for creasing and laser cutting, then specialized processing is achieved, but continuous production is limited due to transportation and setup time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the creasing and laser cutting operations into a single integrated apparatus. Both functions are performed in one continuous process without intermediate transportation or setup, as the laser system can switch between creasing and cutting modes seamlessly under programmable control, thereby maintaining precision while enabling continuous production.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated laser apparatus enables continuous useful action by eliminating idle time between creasing and cutting operations. The programmable logic controller coordinates both operations to occur in sequence without interruption, ensuring the material continuously progresses through the processing stages without transportation delays or setup time.
3Adaptability or versatility
If die replacement is required for each job change, then customized production is limited, but machine stops and setup times increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical die replacement process with a digital laser system controlled by programmable logic. This substitution eliminates the time-consuming physical die changeover process entirely, allowing instant reconfiguration for different jobs by simply updating the digital control parameters, thereby achieving both high adaptability and minimal setup time.
Solution Approach 2:
The laser system is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable through programmable control. The apparatus can adapt its operation parameters, movement paths, and processing modes in real-time based on digital instructions, enabling rapid switching between different job specifications without physical reconfiguration or setup time.
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
Enables high-speed, flexible, and precise production of customized cardboard and corrugated cardboard products with reduced downtime, supporting 'on-demand' production and minimizing waste through synchronized creasing and cutting operations.
Implementation Method 1
a laser cutting module provided downstream of the creasing module for carrying out sequential laser cutting on the sheet exiting from the creasing module
Implementation Method 2
an optical register designed to acquire parameters of the received sheet such as thickness of the sheet, creasing pattern, laser cutting pattern, X/Y offset positions, rotation angle, print deformations
Data Source
AI summary
In an apparatus (1) and a method for creasing and cutting sheets of material for packaging or display, or corrugated carton structure material such as cardboard or corrugated cardboard, a sheet Sx to be processed is fed sequentially through an optical station (100), a creasing module (200) and a laser cutting module (300) for being sequentially creased and cut, and wherein the creasing and cutting status work profiles are input by a programming logic controller (PLC) by way of a Job Processor, and wherein the speeds of the conveyor belts that convey the sheets, are adjusted automatically by a processing unit based on parameters of the creasing and cutting operations.