The present invention relates to molds for making containers, and more particularly, to molds used in hot fill applications having shell inserts carried by mold carriers where the shells have recessed outer wall slots that buffer heat transfer out from the shell inserts to the mold carriers.
Mold assemblies comprising two side mold parts and a base mold part are commonly used in the formation of plastic containers such as, for example, biaxially-oriented PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles. The side mold parts may comprise a unitary half-part, multiple half-parts or a unitary shell half insert.
In hot fill, applications, such as, for example, formation of juice containers that are subsequently filled with hot juices, it is important to maintain elevated temperature levels at the forming surface where the mold face contacts the plastic of the container to form a plastic container capable of withstanding hot filling temperatures of liquids subsequently filled in the container. This is typically accomplished by having heating passages contained in the mold through which hot fluid passes to keep the mold face at the elevated predetermined temperature. The problem with present molds is that heat dissipates away from the mold face to the outer walls of the mold requiring greater heat energy to maintain the elevated predetermined temperature. This heat dissipation also occurs in interchangeable mold shell inserts that are supported in direct contact with standardized mold carriers as the heat is dissipated by conduction directly from the shell insert and out through the mold carrier.
It is desired to provide a hot fill mold assembly having shell inserts and mold carriers that are better suited for hot fill applications.
It is also desired to provide a hot fill mold assembly having shell inserts and mold carriers with reduced heat transfer properties.
In the present invention the hot fill mold assembly has two mold half shells that each have an outer wall and an inner wall that defines the shape of at least a portion of the container to be formed. The mold half shells have a plurality of channels extending therethrough that are adapted for receiving a liquid to heat the mold half shells. The assembly has two mold half carriers each having a carrier inner wall overlaying in contacting thermal conducting relation a corresponding outer wall of the mold half shells for supporting the mold half shells in the hot fill mold assembly. In the present invention, at least one of the outer wall of each of the mold half shells and the inner wall of each of the mold half carriers has a pattern of grooves formed therein to reduce contact surface area between the outer wall and inner wall whereby the pattern of grooves buffer thermal conduction between the inner wall and the outer wall. These grooves act to improve hot fill container formation.
The grooves act to minimize the contact area between the outer walls of the mold half shells and the inner walls of the mold half carrier. It should be understood that grooves may be left as open air pockets or alternatively may be filled with a thermal insulating materials such as, for example, rubber or pastes.
Preferably, the pattern of grooves comprises a series of spaced apart elongated grooves that extend axially around the mold assembly and are longitudinally spaced along the length of the mold assembly. Alternatively, the pattern of grooves may comprise a pattern of intersecting grooves such as a series of intersecting lines forming a rectangular patterns.
It is also envisaged that the mold half shells include a plurality of exhaust passageways extending from the inner wall of the mold half shells into at least one of the grooves whereby air is exhausted through the exhaust passageways, the at least one groove, and between the outer wall of the mold half shell and inner wall of the mold half carrier to ambient. It should be understood that the air from the cavity formed from the mold half shells has to escape and not be trapped inside the cavity to permit container expansion during container formation. Such passageways provide one means of allowing the air to escape.
It should be understood that the pattern of grooves may be formed in either of the mold half carriers or the mold half shells. However because mold carriers are standardized in the field and shell inserts are fitted to the mold carriers for the formation of different container shapes, it is more likely that the shell inserts are modified for the inclusion grooves. Preferably a plurality of grooves extend in half rings about the outer wall of each of the mold half shells and are axially spaced from each other.
In accordance with a preferred aspect there is provided a hot fill mold assembly for forming a container. The assembly comprises two mold half shells each comprising an inner wall that defines the shape of at least a portion of the container to be formed. Each mold half shell has outer wall surface portions and a plurality of spaced apart slotted grooves extending between the outer wall surface portions that are recessed from the outer wall portions. The assembly further comprises two mold half carriers for supporting the two mold half shells. Each mold half carrier has a carrier inner wall overlaying in contacting and thermal conducting relation the outer wall surface portions of a corresponding one of the mold half shells and overlaying the spaced apart slotted grooves to create thermal buffering pockets between the mold half shell and the mold half carrier.
For a better understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention reference may be had to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:
a is a partial enlarged side sectional view of the modular mold half shells of FIG. 2.
Referring to the drawings the preferred embodiments of the present invention is described. While the mold apparatus described herein is adapted for making a hot fill PET bottle it should be understood that the mold apparatus shown can be used for other types of containers where the mold face is changed, such as for example, soft drinks, cleansers and detergent type containers to name a few.
In
Referring to
The two modular mold half shells 22 each have an upper body mold section 42 and a lower body mold section 54 releasably secured to the upper body mold section 42. The upper body mold section 42 has upper inner walls 44 defining an upper cavity 24a whose dome shape corresponds to at least an upper portion of the container to be formed. The upper body mold section 42 has a first outer wall 36 that buts against inner wall 37 of one of the carriers 20. The lower body mold section 54 has body inner walls 56 defining a lower cavity 24b that corresponds to at least a portion of the body of the container to be formed. The lower body mold section 54 has a second outer wall 39 also butting against the inner wall 37 of one of the carriers 20. As best seen in
In addition to the modular parts of each mold half shell 22 described above each mold half shell 22 comprises top cavity inserts 40 which define an aperture or opening 41 through which the preform 30 may be inserted. The top cavity insert 40 forms a composite part of the upper body mold section 42. The top cavity inserts 40 have third outer walls 43 which are also surrounded by the inner walls 37 of the carriers. As best seen in FIG. 2a, the top cavity inserts 40 have a seating surface 45. In this embodiment, the seating face 45 is recessed in the top cavity inserts 40 and surrounds the aperture 41. The seating face 45 may alternatively be elevated or comprise several faces positioned on the same plane. The seating face 45 is adapted to receive the neck 26 of the preform 30 and positively locate the neck 26 against the seating face 45.
The upper body mold section 42 is further adapted to receive cavity insert 48 which has a convex shaped groove 52 that is formed in the container and is best shown in FIG. 3.
The upper body mold section 42 has a continuous axially extending groove 100 that extends around the periphery of the first outer wall 36. The mold carriers 20 each include a ring shaped flange member 102 (see
It should be understood that the position C of the mold carriers 20 is maintained in a fixed position relative to the molding machine (not shown). Further due to the vertical registry between the upper mold sections 42 and the mold carriers 20 provided by the carrier interconnecting or flange member 102, location A of the carriers 20 remains fixed vertically relative to location B of the top cavity inserts 40. Hence, the location of the top cavity inserts 40 at location B is fixed vertically relative to the mold machine so as to provide for the proper insertion of the tubular portion 27 of the preform 30 into cavity 42 and the proper positioning of the preform neck 26 at it's flange 26a against the seating surface 45 of the modular mold shells 22.
The present invention provides for the lower body mold sections 54 to be releasably secured with the upper body mold sections 42. This permits for the lower body mold sections 54 to be held in indirect vertical registry with the mold carriers 20. Consequently the length of the lower body mold sections 54 may be altered to accommodate containers of various body lengths and shapes without effecting the relative fixed locations A and B between the mold machine and top surface portions 29 of the upper body mold sections 42.
The parting faces between the mold carriers 20 and the carrier shells 22 are shown in
Referring to
Located below the upper body mold section 42 and forming part of the mold half shell 22 is the main lower body mold section 54. The lower body mold section 54 has a lower surface 55 against which buts a shim mold section 58. The purpose of the shim mold section 58 is to provide for a vertical length adjustment in the container body. It should be understood that while the embodiments of
Positioned below the shim mold section 58 is a bottom cavity insert 60. The bottom cavity insert 60 cooperates with the push up base 68 to define the bottom shape or contour of the container to be formed. Located immediately below the ring 60 is a lower cavity insert 62 which is also mounted in buffing relation on top of a wear ring 64.
The modular mold shell assembly 22 is held together by a first series of four axially spaced apart fasteners 66 (see
Second fasteners 67 comprising a series of four fasteners 67 positioned axially in spaced relation about the mold half shell 22 are received within recessed slots in the wear ring plate 64 and pass through the bottom ring 62, the bottom cavity insert 60 and subsequently the shim 58 into the main body section 54. The main body section 54 has threaded female apertures (not shown) for receiving the threaded ends of the second fasteners 67.
By having two separate sets of fasteners 66 and 67 it is possible to disassemble only an upper or lower portion of the modular mold half shells 22. For instance, if one wishes to remove the lower shim 58 to reduce the overall length of the container, all one has to do is remove the second fasteners 67. Further, if one wishes to insert an additional shim between the main body portion 54 and the upper body mold sections 42, then only the upper or first fasteners 66 need to be removed. By providing modular half shells 22, the present invention allows for a quick change shell insert that may be modified to accommodate for varying lengths in the length of the container to be formed without requiring the necessity to buy a complete mold shell for each variation of container to be formed.
In the present application, the mold assembly 10 is utilized as a hot fill mold and comprises passageways or channels 78 provided at both the bottom and top of the shells 22 for supplying liquid, such as for example, oil, into the shells 22 to regulate the temperature of the mold half shells 22. The passageways 78 at the bottom shells 22 pass into the body ring 62 and up through the mold half shells 22 and out through the upper passageways 78 mounted into the top cavity insert 40. O-rings 81 (see
Referring to
In the alternative embodiment of
Also shown in
In
It should be understood at alternative embodiments of the present invention may be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art in view of the above description for the preferred embodiments of this invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the teachings of the preferred embodiments and should be limited to the scope of the claims that follow.
The present application is related to Applicant's commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/411,339 filed concurrently herewith and entitled Mold Assembly with Modular Mold Shells.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040202745 A1 | Oct 2004 | US |