Sterile Blow-Moulding Lock Chamber for Defective Container Ejection
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing apparatus for forming plastic preforms into containers faces production shutdowns due to the limited volume of ejected defective containers, which requires opening the sterile clean room, disrupting sterility and halting production.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with a movable carrier and a lock chamber that uses a sterilization medium to eject defective containers without contaminating the clean room, allowing for continuous production by utilizing a sterilization device and a receiver device that can be resterilized independently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a limited volume clean room is used for ejection, then the sterile environment is maintained, but production shutdowns occur when ejected containers exceed the available space
Solution Approach 1:
The clean room is segmented into two functional zones: a primary forming area for container production and a secondary ejection area (lock chamber) for defective containers. This segmentation allows the ejection function to be isolated from the main sterile forming environment, enabling continuous production without compromising sterility when containers need to be ejected.
Solution Approach 2:
A lock chamber serves as an intermediary space between the clean room and the external environment. This intermediate zone can receive ejected containers while maintaining sterile conditions, acting as a buffer that prevents direct contamination of the clean room and allows for continuous operation.
2Volume of moving object
If the clean room is opened to remove ejected containers, then space for ejected containers is made available, but sterility is disrupted and production terminates
Solution Approach 1:
The ejection function is segmented from the main clean room by introducing a lock chamber. This separate ejection zone can be accessed and managed independently, allowing removal of ejected containers without opening or contaminating the main sterile forming environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The ejection function is extracted from the main clean room process. By removing the ejection operation into a separate lock chamber, the system can handle defective containers without disrupting the sterile forming process, thus maintaining continuous production capability.
3Productivity
If a large volume clean room is used to accommodate ejected containers, then production continuity is maintained, but the sterile environment becomes more difficult to maintain and control
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than expanding the entire clean room, the system segments the ejection function into a separate lock chamber. This approach maintains production continuity by providing dedicated ejection space while avoiding the increased complexity of maintaining a larger sterile environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The ejection function is extracted from the main clean room, allowing the sterile environment to remain compact and easily controllable. The lock chamber handles the volume management for ejected containers, keeping the main sterile zone small and simple to manage.
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 the ejection of defective containers during ongoing production without compromising the sterile environment, reducing production shutdowns and increasing process reliability by maintaining sterility within the clean room.
Implementation Method 1
a sterilisation device for sterilising the plastic preforms and/or plastic containers, which device acts upon the plastic preforms and/or plastic containers to be sterilised with a flowable sterilisation medium for their sterilisation
Implementation Method 2
this lock chamber is acted upon with an atmosphere containing a sterilisation medium and/or with an in particular gaseous medium containing a sterilisation medium
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for forming plastic preforms into plastic containers, with a movable carrier on which at least one forming station is arranged for forming the plastic preforms, wherein the forming station is transported along a predefined transport path, and wherein the apparatus has a clean room inside which the plastic preforms are formed, wherein this clean room is isolated from a non-sterile environment by at least one wall, with a sterilisation device for sterilising the plastic preforms and/or plastic containers, which device acts upon the plastic preforms and/or plastic containers to be sterilised with a flowable sterilisation medium for their sterilisation. According to the invention, the apparatus comprises an ejection device for ejecting containers from the clean room, and this ejection device has a lock chamber from which the ejected containers can be removed, wherein this lock chamber can be acted upon with an atmosphere containing a sterilisation medium.