Plasma Coated PET Bottle Interior for Aggressive Cleaning Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Plastic containers, especially PET containers, face limited reuse due to the damaging effects of aggressive cleaning media like lye and acid in industrial cleaning machines, which lead to pore formation and surface roughening, requiring increased wall thickness and restricting their reuse frequency.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a cleaning machine with lye and water treatment sections, followed by a plasma coating device using PCVD process with multiple layers to enhance the container material's resistance to cleaning media, allowing for repeated reuse by creating a gas barrier against oxygen and carbon dioxide ingress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plastic containers are cleaned with aggressive media like lye and acid in industrial cleaning machines, then the containers are sufficiently cleaned for refilling, but the container material suffers pore formation and surface roughening, limiting reuse frequency
Solution Approach 1:
A coating layer is applied to the container as an intermediary between the aggressive cleaning media and the container material. This coating serves as a protective barrier that allows effective cleaning to occur while preventing direct contact between the cleaning agents and the plastic substrate, thus avoiding pore formation and surface roughening.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating is applied in advance before the cleaning process. This preliminary protective layer is established on the container surface prior to exposure to aggressive cleaning media, enabling the container to withstand repeated cleaning cycles without material degradation.
2Duration of action of stationary object
If plastic containers are made with thicker walls to resist cleaning media damage, then the containers can be reused more frequently, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly thickening the entire container wall, the solution applies a localized coating layer only on the surface areas exposed to cleaning media. This provides the necessary protection for enhanced reuse frequency while maintaining the original lightweight and simple container structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The container system becomes a composite structure combining the original plastic container material with an additional protective coating layer. This composite approach provides enhanced durability and reuse capability without requiring changes to the base container design or material composition.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If coating is applied to increase resistance to cleaning media, then the containers can be reused more times, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The coating application process replaces mechanical reinforcement (thickening walls) with a chemical/physical deposition process. This allows for precise, thin-film coating application that provides protective functionality without the material and structural complexity of thicker walls.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution changes the protective approach from modifying bulk material parameters (wall thickness) to modifying surface parameters (coating layer properties). This enables protection with minimal material addition and simplified manufacturing, as the coating can be applied as a thin film through deposition processes.
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
The system significantly increases the throughput frequency of plastic bottles in deposit and return systems by protecting the container material from aggressive cleaning media, enabling more frequent reuse without structural changes, and maintaining container integrity.
Implementation Method 1
the containers are coated using the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process with at least two coating layers
Implementation Method 2
coated using the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition process
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an installation and a method for treating containers made from plastic, in particular from PET, PE, PP or POC, comprising a cleaning machine which has a plurality of treatment sections, in which the container interior can be flushed with liquid media, and wherein at least one of the treatment sections involves detergent-solution treatment, which has a heating device and/or is connected to such a device, and one treatment step involves water treatment, wherein a coating apparatus is provided downstream of the cleaning machine, wherein the cleaning machine is connected to the coating apparatus via means for transporting the containers.