Patent Application
20250235917
The disclosure relates to a device and a method for producing resin-coated cans, and particularly to a device and a method for cooling resin-coated cans after being molded using a press machine.
In the production of resin-coated cans using a press machine in the related art, after the drawing and/or drawing-and-ironing of the resin-coated cans, edge portions of openings of the resin-coated cans are trimmed by a trimmer. (Refer to JP 2007-296565 A (
When a resin-coated can is subject to drawing and/or drawing-and-ironing using a press machine, temperature of the resin-coated can rises to about 100° C. due to the molding heat. This temperature rise affects resin coating of the resin-coated can, causing the resin coating to soften.
For example, when the resin coating is formed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin, since the PET has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of about 70° C., if the resin-coated can that rises in temperature to 100° C. is trimmed by a trimmer before the temperature decreases to below 70° C., a phenomenon occurs in which the resin coating is extended at an edge portion of an opening of the resin-coated can when the softened resin coating at this glass transition temperature or higher is cut along with the metal can using the trimmer, resulting in an uneven edge portion of the cut resin coating.
An object of the disclosure is to provide a device and a method for producing resin-coated cans that make it possible to uniformly cut resin coating when the resin-coated cans are trimmed after being pressed.
In order to solve such problems, a device for producing resin-coated cans according to the disclosure has the following configuration.
A device for producing resin-coated cans includes a press machine, a trimmer, a chute connecting the trimmer to the press machine, and a cooling device configured to cool at least, of resin-coated cans passing through the chute, portions to be trimmed by the trimmer.
Further, a method for producing resin-coated cans according to the disclosure has the following configuration.
A method for producing resin-coated cans, in which the resin-coated cans are conveyed to a trimmer by a chute after being processed by a press machine, includes cooling at least, of the resin-coated cans passing through the chute, a portion to be trimmed by the trimmer.
According to the disclosure, by cooling resin-coated cans after the drawing and/or drawing-and-ironing by a press machine, it is possible to cut a resin coating uniformly and reduce the number of defective cans.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference symbols in different drawings denote elements having the same function, and redundant descriptions with regard to each drawing will be omitted as appropriate.
Hereinafter, resin-coated cans produced by drawing and/or drawing-and-ironing using a press machine in the present embodiment are, for example, a type of cans mainly used for beverage cans, and are formed into cans by drawing and ironing intermediate products formed into cup shapes using a body maker as a press machine.
The production device 1 includes a body maker 2, a chute 3, and a trimmer 4.
The body maker 2 performs drawing-and-ironing on intermediate products formed into cup shapes by a punch and a plurality of dies and finally processes the shapes of can bottom portions to form can bodies 5. The processing in the body maker 2 may be drawing or a combination of drawing and drawing-and-ironing.
The formed can bodies 5 are conveyed to the trimmer 4 by the chute 3.
The trimmer 4 performs the trimming by cutting an edge portion 511 of an opening 51 of the can bodies 5 formed by the body maker 2 with a knife. Chute
The can bodies 5 formed by the body maker 2 are transported from the body maker 2 by an unloader 21 of the body maker 2. In the unloader 21, the formed can bodies 5 are transferred upward by an unloader pocket 211.
The chute 3 conveys the can bodies 5 transported from the unloader 21 of the body maker 2 to the trimmer 4 and has, as a conveyance path, a flow path 32 having a substantially S shape in a side view and connecting an inflow port 33 at an upper portion and an outflow port 34 at a lower portion inside a chute box 31 as a housing.
The flow path 32 is constituted by a plurality of rails 321 formed in the substantially S shape in a side view. From an unloader discharge port 212 of the body maker 2, the can bodies 5 enter the inflow port 33. The can bodies 5 then move downward while rolling between the plurality of rails 321 and are conveyed from the outflow port 34 to a trimmer loading port 41.
Note that the rails 321 are preferably formed of a metal having high thermal conductivity. Furthermore, a heat radiating unit, such as a fin, for radiating heat conducted from the can bodies 5 to the rails 321 may be provided.
The chute 3 is provided with cooling devices 6 that cool the can bodies 5 in the chute box 31.
As one of the cooling devices 6, an air duct 61 that supplies cooling air into the chute box 31 is disposed.
A blower 62 is connected to one end portion 611 of the air duct 61, the other end portion 612 is connected to an air introduction port 35 in the upper portion of the chute box 31, and air is blown into the chute box 31 from the air introduction port 35. Note that the other end portion 612 of the air duct 61 need not be connected to the upper portion of the chute box 31, and may be connected to any desired location such as the lower portion of the chute box 31. A filter is installed at an intake port of the blower 62, preventing foreign matter from entering the chute box 31.
Further, the chute box 31 is provided with an exhaust port (not illustrated) that exhausts air from the chute box 31 so that the air introduced from the air duct 61 flows smoothly in the chute box 31. Furthermore, the exhaust port may be provided with a forced exhaust device such as an exhaust fan.
Furthermore, in the chute box 31, a rectifying plate or the like that controls the flow of air may be provided so that the air introduced from the air duct 61 can efficiently cool the can bodies 5.
Note that the flow path 32 is not limited to the substantially S shape in a side view, may meander in another shape, and need only be designed in consideration of a flow path length required for cooling, a size and a shape of the chute box 31, a flow of air in the chute box 31, and the like.
The air introduced into the chute box 31 may be air surrounding the production device 1 introduced as is. However, air having a temperature lowered by an air-conditioning device or the like may be introduced. Furthermore, the introduced air may contain ozone, ions, or the like for cleaning the can bodies 5, the rails 321, and the like. Further, instead of the air surrounding the production device 1, air from any location such as air outside the building in which the production device 1 is installed may be introduced.
Thus, by the air introduced into the chute box 31 by the air duct 61, the entire can bodies 5 including the portion cut by the trimmer 4 (portion trimmed: portion illustrated by a black band indicated by an arrow in
In the chute box 31, the air nozzle 63 is installed as one of the cooling devices 6.
The air nozzle 63 is disposed most downstream in the flow path 32. Note that the arrangement of the air nozzle 63 is not limited to being most downstream in the flow path 32, and need only be designed in consideration of the arrangement and the shape of the flow path in the chute box 31, the size and the shape of the chute box 31, the flow of air in the chute box 31, and the like.
The air nozzle 63 is a nozzle having a slit shape, and a longitudinal direction of the air nozzle 63 having a slit shape is disposed in alignment with the direction in which the can bodies 5 move while rolling (direction of the arrow in
The air nozzle 63 is installed at a position where air is blown in a slit shape to a portion cut by the trimmer 4 in the vicinity of the edge portion 511 of the opening 51 of the can bodies 5.
A length of the air nozzle 63 in the longitudinal direction is about the same as a circumferential length of each can barrel of the can bodies 5. This makes it possible to cool the vicinity of the edge portion 511 of the can bodies 5 moving while rolling between the plurality of rails 321 over the entire circumference. (As illustrated in
The air nozzle 63 can concentratedly and efficiently cool the portion cut by the trimmer 4 in the vicinity of the opening 51 of the can bodies 5.
As with the air duct 61, the air nozzle 63 is also supplied with air by a blower (not illustrated). For this air as well, air surrounding the production device 1 is introduced through a filter or the like, but air having a temperature lowered by an air-conditioning device or the like may be introduced. Furthermore, the introduced air may contain ozone, ions, or the like for cleaning the can bodies 5, the rails 321, and the like. Further, instead of the air surrounding the production device 1, air from any location such as air outside the building in which the production device 1 is installed may be introduced. High-pressure air compressed by a compressor may also be introduced.
The method for producing resin-coated cans includes cooling of the can bodies 5, at least the portions cut by the trimmer 4.
The can bodies 5 are cooled by the air introduced from the air duct 61 while moving downward in the chute 3, and finally the portions cut by the trimmer 4 are concentratedly cooled by the air nozzle 63 to a predetermined temperature, for example, 60° C. or less, more preferably 50° C. or less, when the resin coatings are formed of PET resin. The predetermined temperature is appropriately set in consideration of a glass transition temperature of the resin used.
Furthermore, the temperature of the can bodies 5, in particular, the temperature of the portion of the can bodies 5 cut by the trimmer 4, may be measured, and the cooling devices 6 may be controlled such that the measured value reaches the predetermined temperature. To optimize a cooling amount, the temperature of the can bodies 5 moving downward in the flow path 32 may be measured with an infrared thermometer or the like, and the operation of the blower 62 may be controlled to increase or decrease an amount of air introduced by the air duct 61, or the air blown by the air nozzle 63 may be increased or decreased such that the measured value reaches the predetermined temperature.
Note that, when air having a temperature lowered by an air-conditioning device or the like is used as the cooling air, the cooling amount can also be optimized by controlling the air-conditioning device to adjust the temperature of the air introduced by the air duct 61 and the temperature of the air blown by the air nozzle 63.
In the chute 3 of the present embodiment, the air duct 61 and the air nozzle 63 are each installed as the cooling device 6, but only one of them may be installed.
Further, although a cooling device that uses air has been described as an example in the present embodiment, the cooling device is not limited thereto.
For example, conceivably, a heat exchanger may be installed in the chute box 31 to cool the inside of the chute box 31 in its entirety like a refrigerator, or the rails 321 may be formed in a pipe shape, a refrigerant may be passed through the rails 321 to cool the rails 321, and the can bodies 5 may be brought into contact with the cooled rails 321 to cool the can bodies 5.
Furthermore, without using a cooling means such as air or a refrigerant, the flow path 32 may be lengthened so that at least the portion of the can bodies 5 to be cut by the trimmer 4 can be sufficiently cooled while passing through the flow path 32.
Although the embodiments according to the disclosure have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configurations are not limited to these embodiments, and design changes and the like without departing from the gist of the disclosure are also included in the disclosure.
The above-described embodiments can be combined with each other by applying techniques to each other as long as there is no particular contradiction or problem in the purpose, configuration, and the like.
While preferred embodiments of the disclosure have been described above, it is to be understood that variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure, therefore, is to be determined solely by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-164690 | Oct 2022 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2023/023038 | Jun 2023 | WO |
| Child | 19174253 | US |
