Patent Application
20250163648
Environmental imperatives are causing pressware manufacturers to transition from synthetic plastics to more sustainable materials such as paper to manufacture plates, bowls, trays, and other pressware. Containers made of paper often need different types of dispersion barriers (hereinafter “coatings”) for particular purposes such as prevention of absorption of oil, grease, water, or other fluids. Such coatings often are an aqueous solution of water mixed with a chemical applied to the paper and may involve multiple layers of different solutions. Coatings are generally applied by the paper mill or the paper printer supplying the paper roll. Prior art methods for applying coatings include dipping the paper into the solution and scraping off excess solution via coating machines. Unfortunately, such coating machines are costly and time-consuming.
The present invention solves the above-described problems and other problems by providing a system and a method for applying coating to paperboard material as it is being unwound and advanced directly to pressware forming modules. This effects seamless in-line paperboard coating and pressware forming.
An embodiment of the invention is an in-line coating system for coating paperboard material, the in-line coating system broadly comprising a supply roll carrier configured to dispense paperboard material, a waterfall dispenser configured to deliver a coating onto the paperboard material, a roller configured to advance the paperboard material, and a control system configured to dictate an amount of the coating delivered onto the paperboard material. The in-line coating system is configured to be used with a pressware forming system broadly comprises a forming station including a forming tool configured to press the coated paperboard material into a desired shape.
Another embodiment is a method of forming paperboard products. The method broadly comprises steps of dispensing paperboard material from a supply roll carrier of a coating system and delivering a coating onto the paperboard material. The method further comprises steps of advancing the paperboard material to a forming station of a pressware forming system and pressing the coated paperboard material into a desired shape via a forming tool of the forming station.
Another embodiment is a system for forming paperboard products, the system broadly comprising a coating system and a pressware forming system in-line with the coating system. The coating system broadly comprises a supply roll carrier configured to dispense paperboard material, a powered tensioning pinch roller configured to advance the paperboard material, a waterfall dispenser configured to deliver a coating to the paperboard material, a supply tank configured to supply the coating to the waterfall dispenser, and a controlled precision metering pump configured to meter the coating from the supply tank to the waterfall dispenser. The coating system further comprises a number of air nozzles configured to deliver air to the coated paperboard material to dry the coating, a compressed air source configured to supply compressed air to the nozzles, an air pressure regulator configured to meter the compressed air to the nozzles, an electric heater configured to heat the compressed air upstream of the nozzles, a number of idler rollers configured to direct the coated paperboard material near the air nozzles, and a control system communicatively connected to the controlled precision metering pump and configured to dictate an amount of the coating delivered onto the paperboard material. The pressware forming system broadly comprises a scoring station including a scoring tool configured to score the coated paperboard material after the coated paperboard material has been advanced to the pressware forming system and a forming station including a forming tool configured to press the coated and scored paperboard material into a desired shape.
Coating paperboard material in-line with pressware forming is advantageous for optimizing the thickness of the coating. It is also advantageous for ease of applying different coatings for different purposes onto paperboard material spooled from the same roll. Another advantage is that the system and method described herein avoids the need to order and carry a large inventory of precoated paperboard material.
This summary is intended to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described in the detailed description below. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments and the accompanying drawing figures.
Embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The drawing figures do not limit the present invention to the specific embodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention.
Turning to
The coating system 100 may include a supply roll carrier 102, power tensioning pinch rollers 104, a plurality of idler rollers 106, a waterfall dispenser 108, a supply tank 110, a controlled precision metering pump 112, a compressed air source 114, a plurality of air nozzles 116, an air pressure regulator 118, an electric heater 120, a plurality of motors 122, and a control system 124. In some embodiments, some of these components may be duplicated and the methods described herein repeated when the coating 204 needs two or more layers.
The supply roll carrier 102 may provide a roll of paperboard material 202 or a spool onto which a roll of paperboard material 202 may be rotatably supported. To that end, the supply roll carrier 102 may include free rotating or powered unwinding rollers. The powered unwinding rollers may be driven by one of the motors 122. The roll of paperboard material 202 may be, for example, an uncoated roll or spool of paperboard material supported 202 by the unwinding rollers. Note that the paperboard material 202 described herein can be any continuous web of material rolled up on a spool or the like. Furthermore, while the paperboard material may be uncoated, it may alternatively be precoated, with the coating system herein used to add additional coating layers thereto.
The powered tensioning pinch rollers 104 may be configured to unwind the spool of paperboard material 202 at a constant linear rate and a constant tension. In some embodiments, the pinch rollers 104 may be replaced with other pull rollers or other mechanisms for unspooling the paperboard material 202 without departing from the scope of the invention. The unwinding rollers may push against the paperboard material 202 on the spool to spin and thereby feed the paperboard material 202 from the roll or spool to other rollers described herein. The powered tensioning pinch rollers 104 may be pressed toward each other or tensioned/biased against each other with the paper being unrolled from the spool fed therebetween, such that when the pinch rollers rotate in opposite directions, they feed the paper forward between the pinch rollers.
Ahead of the powered tensioning pinch rollers 104, the idler rollers 106 may cooperatively guide the paperboard material 202 being unrolled to various other items or stations described herein. For example, for the waterfall dispenser 108 to evenly distribute the coating 204 over the width of the paperboard material 202 may be located above the paperboard material 202 such that the coating 204 is dispensed onto a surface of the paperboard material 202 at one of the idler rollers 106 or between two of the idler rollers 106 as depicted in
The waterfall dispenser 108 may be configured to evenly dispense coating 204 across a width of the paperboard material 202 and may dictate a thickness of the coating 204 as the paperboard material 202 is advanced toward the pressware forming system 200. Specifically, the waterfall dispenser 108 may include a rigid base portion 132 and a top plate 134 cooperatively forming a pressure chamber 136 and a longitudinal narrow gap 138 that forces the coating 204 to flow evenly across the width of the paperboard material 202. The waterfall dispenser 108 may also include a seal 140, an inlet port 142 and end fenders 144.
The coating 204 may be a solution including, for example, approximately 95% water and approximately 5% coating chemicals. Any other suitable coating mixture, formula, or concentration may be used.
The seal 140 may provide a waterproof joint between the top surface of the rigid base portion 132 and the top plate 134 to prevent coating 204 from escaping therethrough. Alternatively, the top plate 134 and the rigid base portion 132 may be formed of a single unitary rigid piece of material, such that the seal 140 is unnecessary.
The inlet port 142 may be fluidly connected to the pressure chamber 136 and configured to allow coating 204 to flow into the pressure chamber 136 from the supply tank 110. In one embodiment, the inlet port 142 may be positioned on a side of the rigid base portion 132.
The end fenders 144 may be positioned at opposing sides of the longitudinal narrow gap 138 to define a width of the waterfall to be approximately equal to a width of the paperboard material 202. Specifically, the longitudinal narrow gap 138 restricts the outflow to build up pressure in the pressure chamber 136 and then force the coating 204 to flow out evenly through the longitudinal narrow gap's entire width, and thus the entire width of the paperboard material 202. A height of the longitudinal narrow gap 138 may be approximately between 0.002 inches to 0.005 inches. However, other gap heights and widths may be used without departing from the scope of the invention, as long as the size of the pressure chamber 136 relative to the longitudinal narrow gap's height is such that water pressure builds within the pressure chamber 136 and the coating 204 is dispensed evening along the width of the longitudinal narrow gap 138.
The waterfall dispenser 108 may additionally or alternatively include mounting fixtures or mounting elements configured for mounting the waterfall dispenser 108 to dispense coating 204 onto a path where the paperboard material 202 is fed, as depicted in
In one embodiment, a channel 146 in the rigid base portion 132, along with a portion of the top plate 134 covering the channel 146, may cooperatively form the pressure chamber 136. As described above, the pressure chamber 136 may be fluidly connected to the longitudinal narrow gap 138, which in this embodiment may be located between an edge of the top plate 134 and an edge of the rigid base portion 132. In some embodiments, extending further outward than the edge of the top plate 134, an angled protruding surface 148 of the rigid base portion 132 may be extend downward and outward such that coating 204 flows from the longitudinal narrow gap 138 down the angled protruding surface 148, toward the paperboard material 202.
The supply tank 110 may contain the coating 204 and may be fluidly connected to the pressure chamber 136 via the inlet port 142. The supply tank 110 may be positioned above the pressure chamber 136 to gravity feed the coating 204 thereto in addition to or instead of utilizing the controlled precision metering pump 112.
The controlled precision metering pump 112 may be fluidly coupled between the supply tank 110 and the waterfall dispenser 108 and configured to dictate a coating flow rate corresponding to a desired coating thickness and a linear speed of the paperboard material 202 being unspooled. The controlled precision metering pump 112 may control a rate at which the coating 204 is dispensed onto the paperboard material 202. The pump 112 may be electronically interlocked for on/off while the paperboard material 202 is unwinding or unspooling at a continuous linear speed equal to an average web consumption speed (e.g., the speed at which the paperboard material 202 generally soaks in the quantity of coating being pumped out).
The compressed air source 114 may be fluidly connected to the plurality of air nozzles 116 and configured to provide compressed air thereto. The compressed air source 114 may be an air compressor, a tank of compressed air, an air pump, or the like.
The plurality of air nozzles 116 may be configured to increase air flow velocity for drying the coating 204 on the paperboard material 202. The paper or web that is then coated and dried may subsequently be pulled into other systems or machinery for creating the pressware described above.
The air pressure regulator 118 may be configured to receive compressed air from the compressed air source 114 and may be configured to control the air flow rate fed to the electric heater 120 and/or the air nozzles 116. To that end, the air pressure regulator 118 may be fluidly connected between the compressed air source 114 and the electric heater 120.
The electric heater 120 may be configured to heat air from the compressed air source 114 as the air is delivered to the air nozzles 116. The electric heater 120 may include a temperature controller for regulating the output of the electric heater 120 and hence the temperature of the air.
The motors 122 drive the powered unwinding rollers of the supply roll carrier 102, the powered tensioning pinch rollers 104, and any other rollers that may advance the paperboard material 102 through the coating system 100. A speed or feed rate of the motors 122 may be controlled by the control system 124.
Turning to
The processor 126 may run an algorithm or code to calculate a pump rate according to the paperboard material's width, speed, and a desired coating thickness, and then vary the pump rate accordingly (e.g., the rate varied by a precisely controlled amount). The processor 126 may control a speed of the rollers, the flow rate of the air being forced through the air nozzles 116, a temperature of the electric heater 120, and other such electronically controllable functions of the coating system 100. Furthermore, the processor 126 and/or memory 128 associated therewith may be configured to store and/or automatically perform or control any of the method steps or operations described herein.
The processor 126 and/or the memory 128 may be embodied by any one or more electronic devices, such as computer servers, workstation computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, palmtop computers, notebook computers, tablets or tablet computers, smartphones, mobile phones, cellular phones, or the like. Specifically, the processor 126 may comprise one or more processors and may include electronic hardware components such as microprocessors (single-core or multi-core), microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), analog and/or digital application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, or combinations thereof. The processor 126 may generally execute, process, or run instructions, code, code segments, code statements, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, processes, services, daemons, or the like. The processor 126 may also include hardware components such as registers, finite-state machines, sequential and combinational logic, configurable logic blocks, and other electronic circuits that can perform the functions necessary for the operation of the current invention. In certain embodiments, the processor 126 may include multiple computational components and functional blocks that are packaged separately but function as a single unit. In some embodiments, the processor 126 may further include multiprocessor architectures, parallel processor architectures, processor clusters, and the like, which provide high performance computing. The processor 126 may be in electronic communication with other electronic components including the electronic components described herein through serial or parallel links that include universal busses, address busses, data busses, control lines, and the like. The processor 126 may be operable, configured, or programmed to perform the method steps described later herein by utilizing hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof.
The processor 126 may include and/or communicate with other processors, the memory, the pump, and/or one or more of the rollers described herein via communication elements and/or user interfaces known in the art, such as keyboards, a mouse, a trackball, a touch screen, input ports, wireless communication devices, or the like. Various communication elements may allow the exchange of data with other computing devices, external systems, networks, and the like. The communication element may include signal and/or data transmitting and receiving circuits, such as antennas, amplifiers, filters, mixers, oscillators, digital signal processors (DSPs), and the like. The communication element may establish communication wirelessly by utilizing radio frequency (RF) signals and/or data that comply with communication standards such as cellular 2G, 3G, 4G, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), LTE, Voice over LTE (VoLTE), or 5G, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard such as WiFi, IEEE 802.16 standard such as WiMAX, Bluetooth™, or combinations thereof. In addition, the communication element may utilize communication standards such as ANT, ANT+, Bluetooth™ low energy (BLE), the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band at 2.4 gigahertz (GHz), or the like. Alternatively, or in addition, the communication element may establish communication through connectors or couplers that receive metal conductor wires or cables which are compatible with networking technologies such as ethernet. However, the communication elements may be omitted without departing from the scope of the invention.
The memory 128 may be embodied by devices or components that store data in general, and digital or binary data in particular, and may include exemplary electronic hardware data storage devices or components such as read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM, erasable programmable ROM, random-access memory (RAM) such as static RAM (SRAM) or dynamic RAM (DRAM), cache memory, hard disks, floppy disks, optical disks, flash memory, thumb drives, universal serial bus (USB) drives, solid state memory, or the like, or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the memory 128 may be embedded in, or packaged in the same package as, the processor 126. The memory 128 may include, or may constitute, a non-transitory “computer-readable medium”. The memory 128 may store the instructions, code, code statements, code segments, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, services, daemons, or the like that are executed by the processor. The memory 128 may also store data that is received by the processor 126 or the device in which the processor 126 is implemented. The processor 126 may further store pump rate data corresponding with the paperboard material's width (e.g., between approximately 40-50 inches wide), rotating speed, and a desired coating thickness for specific pressware forming processes and pressware. Furthermore, as noted above, the memory 126 associated therewith may be configured to store any of the method steps or operations described herein.
The HMI 130 may be communicatively connected to the processor 126 and configured to receive user commands including a desired feed rate via the motors 122, a flow rate of the coating 204 via the controlled precision metering pump 112, a flow rate or air pressure via the air pressure regulator 118, an air temperature via the electric heater 120, or the like. To that end, the HMI 130 may include physical or virtual inputs (via a display) for allowing a user to input the above information, select options, or the like.
When referring to an in-line process, various rollers and guides described or depicted herein may guide the paperboard material 202 from the coating system 100 directly to the pressware forming system 200 described below. Generally speaking, the pressware forming system 200 may include other paperboard processing equipment, such as another plurality of rollers, a scoring tool, a scoring station actuator, a forming tool, and/or a forming station actuator, similar to or identical to any of the systems described in “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCING PRESSWARE”, Ser. No. 17/369,406, filed on Jul. 7, 2021; “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCING PRESSWARE”, Ser. No. 17/369,365, filed on Jul. 7, 2021; and/or “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCING PRESSWARE”, Ser. No. 17/369,380, filed on Jul. 7, 2021; all of which are hereby incorporated in their entireties by reference herein.
Turning to
The scoring station 206 may receive the paperboard material 202 from the coating system 100 after the coating system 100 has finished coating the paperboard material 202. The scoring station 206 may score the paperboard material 202 in preparation of forming the products 12. The scoring station 206 may include a scoring tool 216 configured to be pressed against the paperboard material 202 to score shapes into the paperboard material 202. To that end, the scoring tool 216 may include one or more tool sections (e.g., a top tool section and a bottom tool section), at least one of which being actuatable toward the paperboard material 202.
The forming station 208 is operationally downstream of the scoring station 206 and may be configured to punch out the scored shapes and form the products. The forming station 208 may comprise a forming tool 218 including one or more molds (e.g., positive and negative molds, male and female molds), one or more heating elements, and the like for shaping the punched-out paperboard material into the desired products.
The picking station 210 may be operationally downstream of the forming station 208 and may be configured to pick the shaped products from the forming tool 218 of the forming station 208. The picking station 210 may include an extractor for removing the shaped products from the surrounding waste material.
The stacking station 212 is operationally downstream of the picking station 210 and receives rows of the products from the picking station 210 and transports each row to a bin. The chopping station 214 is operationally downstream of the picking station 210 and cuts the waste material for recycling or disposal.
Turning to
The method 400 may additionally include unspooling of the paperboard material 202 from the spool or roll by rotating unwinding rollers, as depicted in block 404. The unwinding rollers may be biased against the paperboard material 202 and rotated via one of the motors 122 or the like to assist in forcing the roll or spool to rotate. During this step, the idler rollers 106 guide and unwind the paperboard material 202 from the spool such that the paperboard material 202 traverses a path to the pressware forming system 200.
The method 400 may also include a step of dispensing coating 204 from the supply tank 110 via the waterfall dispenser 108, as depicted in block 406. For example, the supply tank 110 may supply protective coating 204 to the waterfall dispenser 108 via the controlled precision metering pump 112. The coating 204 may be forced to flow evenly across a width of the paperboard material 202 via the waterfall dispenser 108.
The method 400 may also include a step of forcing heated air toward the paperboard material 202 traversing the path, as depicted in block 408. Specifically, the plurality of air nozzles 116 may be directed toward the path the paperboard material 202 traverses downstream from the waterfall dispenser 108. In some embodiments, the forced air may not be heated. However, in other embodiments, the forced air is heated via the electric heater 120. The air pressure regulator may, in some embodiments, receive compressed air from the compressed air source 114 and provide the air at a predetermined flow rate through the electric heater 120 to heat the air flow therethrough. Then, from the electric heater 120, the air may be forced through the plurality of air nozzles 116. This dries the coating 204 that was dispensed onto the paperboard material 202 during the step depicted in block 406. In some embodiments, some of these steps may be repeated with duplicated components immediately following a location along the path where the plurality of air nozzles 116 dries the coating 204 onto the paperboard material 202. This duplication of parts and the method steps described above is particularly useful when two or more layers of the coating 204 is required.
Finally, the method 400 may include a step of directing the paperboard material 202 with the dried coating 204 thereon to the pressware forming system 200, as depicted in block 410. In addition or alternatively to the pressware forming system 200 described above, numerous types of systems for shaping, processing, or forming pressware may be used. However, as described above, the systems for shaping, processing, or forming pressware may include those disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 17/369,406; 17/369,365; and 17/369,380, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties above.
In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the various blocks may occur out of the order depicted in
The method 400 is described above, for ease of reference, as being executed by exemplary devices and components introduced with the embodiments illustrated in
The above-described invention provides several advantages. For example, by coating the paperboard material 202 in-line with pressware forming or shaping systems such as the pressware forming system 200, the coating type and thickness may be optimized for specific types of pressware in real time. Furthermore, this in-line application of coating avoids the labor involved in ordering and carrying large inventory of precoated rolls of paperboard material.
Although the invention has been described with reference to example embodiments illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted that equivalents may be employed, and substitutions made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as described and claimed herein.
Throughout this specification, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments but is not necessarily included. Thus, the current invention can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.
Although the present application sets forth a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legal scope of the description is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this patent and equivalents. The detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment since describing every possible embodiment would be impractical. Numerous alternative embodiments may be implemented, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.
Throughout this specification, plural instances may implement components, operations, or structures described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter herein.
As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
The patent claims at the end of this patent application are not intended to be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless traditional means-plus-function language is expressly recited, such as “means for” or “step for” language being explicitly recited in the claim(s).
Although the technology has been described with reference to the embodiments illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted that equivalents may be employed, and substitutions made herein, without departing from the scope of the technology as recited in the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63600815 | Nov 2023 | US |
