Patent Application
20250179738
Paper products often require paperboard to have a specific moisture content during forming. Water moisture in paperboard greatly affects its formability and the success of converting into good quality structures, particularly for deep containers. Optimum moisture is different depending on the shapes being produced.
Delivering paperboard with consistent moisture content to paperboard forming machines is difficult even if the paperboard has been homogenously moisturized. For example, a roll of paperboard material may lose moisture such that the first products formed from the roll are properly formed while the last products formed from the roll are defective from deficient moisture content during forming.
The background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.
The present invention solves the above-described problems and other problems by providing a paperboard moisturizing system in-line with a pressware forming system. This provides complete moisturizing control directly before pressware forming, thus improving product quality and effecting consistent product quality without the need for storing or transporting the moisturized paperboard material.
An embodiment is an in-line paperboard moisturizing and pressware forming system broadly comprising a paperboard moisturizing system in-line with a pressware forming system. The paperboard moisturizing system broadly comprises a supply roll carrier configured to dispense paperboard material, a water spreader configured to deliver water evenly to the paperboard material to moisturize the paperboard material, a water supply configured to meter the water to the water spreader, and a control system comprising a controller configured to instruct the supply roll carrier to advance the paperboard material according to a feed rate. The pressware forming system is configured to directly receive the moisturized paperboard material. The control system is further configured to instruct the water supply to meter water to the paperboard material via the water spreader according to a desired moisture level so that the paperboard material has a desired moisture content as the paperboard moisturizing system delivers the moisturized paperboard material to the pressware forming system.
Another embodiment is an in-line paperboard moisturizing and pressware forming system broadly comprising a paperboard moisturizing system in-line with a pressware forming system. The paperboard moisturizing system broadly comprises a supply roll carrier configured to dispense paperboard material, a water spreader configured to deliver water evenly to the paperboard material to moisturize the paperboard material, a water supply configured to meter the water to the water spreader, and a control system. The control system is configured to instruct the supply roll carrier to advance the paperboard material according to a first feed rate and instruct the water supply to meter water to the paperboard material via the water spreader according to a desired moisture level so that the paperboard material has a desired moisture content. The pressware forming system broadly comprises a scoring station and a forming station. The scoring station is configured to receive the paperboard material from the paperboard moisturizing system and includes a scoring tool configured to be pressed against the paperboard material thereby scoring the paperboard material. The forming station is configured to receive the scored paperboard material from the scoring station and includes a forming tool with a mold configured to shape the paperboard material.
Another embodiment is a method of moisturizing paperboard material broadly comprising steps of dispensing paperboard material from a supply roll carrier, metering water to a water spreader via a pump of a water supply, delivering the water from the water spreader evenly to the paperboard material so the paperboard material is evenly moisturized, and advancing the moisturized paperboard material to a pressware forming system. The method further comprises steps of instructing, via a controller, a motor of the supply roll carrier to advance the paperboard material according to a feed rate and instructing, via the controller, the pump to meter the water according to a desired moisture level so that the paperboard material has a desired moisture content as the paperboard material advances to the pressware forming system.
Embodiments of the present invention are described in 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 supply roll carrier 102 may be an antifriction supply roll carrier and may be schematically positioned before the first idler roller 104. The supply roll carrier 102 actively or passively dispenses paperboard material 204 from a supply roll 202. The supply roll carrier 102 is depicted such that the supply roll 202 rotates clockwise with the paperboard material 204 departing the supply roll 202 from near a top of the supply roll 202. Alternatively, the supply roll 202 may rotate counterclockwise with the paperboard material 204 departing the supply roll 202 from near a bottom of the supply roll 202.
The first idler roller 104 may be schematically positioned between the supply roll carrier 102 and the payout roller 106 to guide the paperboard material 204 over and/or around the water spreader 112. In other words, the first idler roller 104 provides space for the water spreader 112. To that end, the first idler roller 104 rotates clockwise with the paperboard material 204 passing over the first idler roller 104. The first idler roller 104 may not be needed if the supply roll 202 is positioned higher than the water spreader 112.
The payout roller 106 may be schematically positioned between the first idler roller 104 and the second idler roller 114. The payout roller 106 may be sandblasted and have a hard chrome coating for gripping but not damaging the paperboard material 204. The payout roller 106 may be powered by a motor 120 to draw the paperboard material 204 from the supply roll 202. The payout roller 106 may rotate clockwise on the same side of the paperboard material 204 as the first idler roller 104.
The pinch roller 108 may be schematically positioned between the first idler roller 104 and the second idler roller 114 on an opposite side of the paperboard material 204 near the payout roller 106. The pinch roller 108 may be biased toward the payout roller 106 to keep the paperboard material 204 pressed against the payout roller 106. The pinch roller 108 may be positioned approximately 45 degrees diagonally upward from the payout roller 106.
The water supply 110 provides water to the water spreader 112 and may include a valve 122, tank 124, and a pump 126. The water supply 110 may be fluidly connected to an external water source such as a city water system. Alternatively, the water supply 110 may be an isolated water system that is periodically restocked with water.
The valve 122 may be fluidly connected to and upstream from the tank 124 and connected to the external water source or a water return line. The valve 122 may be a ball valve, butterfly valve, or the like. The valve 122 may be activated via a tank switch of the control system 118 (described below).
The tank 124 may be fluidly connected between the valve 122 and the pump 126 for temporarily storing water to be provided to the water spreader 112. To that end, the tank may have the tank switch of the control system 118 mounted thereon or therein.
The pump 126 may be fluidly connected between the tank 124 and the water spreader 112 for delivering water from the tank 124 to the water spreader 112. The pump 126 may be remotely controlled to meter water when the payout roller 106 is advancing the paperboard material 204.
The water spreader 112 may be positioned above the payout roller 106 for dispersing water from the water supply 110 onto the paperboard material 204. More specifically, the water spreader 112 may include a chamber and a constricted exit to gravity feed water uniformly across a width of the paperboard material 204 near the payout roller 106. In one embodiment, the water spreader 112 is a Valmet IQ Converting Moisturizer that implements compact micro droplet moisturizing.
The second idler roller 114 may be schematically positioned after the payout roller 106. To that end, the second idler roller 114 may rotate clockwise with the paperboard material 204 passing over the second idler roller 114. The second idler roller 114 may not be needed if the drip pan 116 is positioned very close to the payout roller 106.
The drip pan 116 may be positioned below the water spreader 112 and/or the payout roller 106 for collecting excess or unused water that is not absorbed by the paperboard material 204. The drip pan 116 may not be needed if the water delivered from the water spreader 112 is entirely absorbed by the paperboard material 204.
Turning to
The controller 128 may include processors, microprocessors (single-core and multi-core), microcontrollers, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), analog and/or digital application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), or the like, or combinations thereof. The controller 128 may generally execute, process, or run instructions, code, code segments, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, processes, services, daemons, or the like. The controller 128 may also include hardware components such as finite-state machines, sequential and combinational logic, and other electronic circuits that can perform the functions necessary for the operation of the current invention. The controller 128 may be in communication with the other electronic components described herein through serial or parallel links that include address buses, data buses, control lines, and the like.
For example, the controller 128 may be in communication with the moisture reader 130, roll diameter reader 132, tank switch 134, and HMI 136 and/or other components or sensors. The controller 128 may be in communication with the above components via a communication element and/or direct wiring. The controller 128 may be configured to send and/or receive data to and/or from the above components. The controller 128 may also be configured to send and/or receive commands to and/or from the above components.
The moisture reader 130 may be a contact or non-contact moisture sensor, such as a near infrared (NIR) non-contact moisture sensor and may be configured to detect a moisture level of the paperboard material 204 after it has been moisturized by the water spreader 112. To that end, the moisture reader 130 may be schematically positioned after the payout roller 106 near the paperboard material 204. The moisture reader 130 may sense an absolute amount of moisture, a relative amount of moisture, a moisture percentage, a dryness, or other similar moisture level.
The roll diameter reader 132 may be a contact or non-contact roll diameter reader and may be configured to sense an amount of paperboard material 204 on the supply roll 202. For example, the roll diameter reader 132 may sense a diametric thickness of the supply roll 202, a rotation rate of the supply roll 202 (which changes in direct negative correlation with the diametric thickness of the supply roll 202, a distance of the paperboard material 204 on the supply roll 202 from the roll diameter reader 132, or other similar measurement.
The tank switch 134 may be communicatively connected to the valve 122, the tank 124, and the controller 128 and configured to activate the valve according to a water level in the tank 124. For example, the tank switch 134 may be level switch configured to open the valve 122 when the water level drops to a predetermined threshold and close to the valve when the water level rises to a predetermined threshold.
The HMI 136 may be communicatively connected to the controller 128 and may include physical or virtual inputs (via a display) for allowing a user to input parameters, commands, option selections, and the like. For example, the HMI may allow the user to input paperboard material thickness and width, and a desired moisture percentage.
Turning to
The pressware forming system 200 may also be controlled by the control system 118 or may be individually controlled by a separate control system. In the case of separate control systems, one control system may operate according to operation of the other control system. For example, a separate control system of the pressware forming system 200 may set a feed rate according to a feed rate set by the control system 118 of the system 100. As another example, the control system 118 of the system 100 may change a feed rate or a water flow rate based on forming quality of the products as determined by the control system of the pressware forming system 200. In either case, the paperboard material 204 may be moisturized and then formed into products in a seamless transition even if the system 100 and pressware forming system 200 have separate control systems.
The scoring station 206 receives the paperboard material 204 from the system 100 and scores the paperboard material 204 in preparation of forming the products. The scoring station 206 may include a scoring tool 216 configured to be pressed against the paperboard material 204 to score shapes into the paperboard material 204. 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 204.
The forming station 208 is operationally downstream of the scoring station 206 and is 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 is operationally downstream of the forming station 208 and is configured to pick the shaped products from the forming tool 218 of the forming station 208. The picking station 210 may include an extractor 220 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 HMI 136 may then be used to input paperboard material thickness and width and a desired moisture percentage, feed rate, water flow rate, among other inputs, as shown in block 302. The controller 128 may then instruct the payout roller 106 to begin advancing the paperboard material 204 over the second idler roller 114 and to the pressware forming system 200, as shown in block 304. This may include advancing the paperboard material 204 at the desired feed rate. The feed rate may be continuous at an average web consumption rate of the pressware forming system 200 when the pressware forming system 200 is running in an automatic mode.
The controller 128 may also instruct the pump 126 to deliver water from the tank 124 to the water spreader 112 so that water is gravity fed from the water spreader 112 onto the advancing paperboard material 204 near the payout roller 106, as shown in block 306. The pump 126 may pump water at the desired water flow rate or at a flow rate corresponding to the feed rate of the paperboard material 204. For example, an 8 gallon per hour flow rate may be used to add 5% moisture to 45 inch width, 20 pt. paper paperboard material 204 at 100 feet per minute feed rate. As another example, a feed rate of 15 inches per second and a flow rate of 5.7 inches per second with a 0.002 inch exit gap and 0.00076 inch thick water layer over the payout roller 106 may be used. The pump 126 may be remotely controlled and may be configured to pump water to the water spreader 112 when the payout roller 120 is dispensing paperboard material 204.
The water flow rate may be controlled for the paperboard material 204 to absorb water for a desired moisture level. To that end, a coded software formula may auto set the feed rate according to a line speed and HMI input of paperboard material thickness, paperboard material width, the desired moisture (e.g., additional percentage of moisture), forming quality of the products formed by the pressware forming system 200, forming speed of the pressware forming system 200, and other factors. Alternatively, a closed loop automatic moisture control algorithm may modulate the pump according to moisture detected by the moisture reader 130.
The moisturized paperboard material 204 may be seamlessly fed to the pressware forming system 200, as shown in block 308. The controller 128 may control the payout roller motor 120, pump 126, and other devices thereby changing feed rates, water flow rates, etc. to accommodate operation of the pressware forming system 200. The controller 128 may also stop advancing the paperboard material 204 when the roll diameter reader 132 indicates the supply roll 202 has been depleted, as shown in block 310.
The above-described in-line paperboard moisturizing and pressware forming system 10 and method provide several advantages. For example, the paperboard moisturizing system 100 feeds the moisturized paperboard material 204 directly to the pressware forming system 200 to produce paper products such as trays, bowls, and punnets. The paperboard moisturizing system 100 optimizes moisture content of the paperboard material 204 even as supply roll speeds change, moisture requirements change, different products are being formed, and other factors are dynamically accounted for by the system 100.
In this description, 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 technology 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 in any subsequent regular utility patent application. 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.
Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, or instructions. These may constitute either software (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium or in a transmission signal) or hardware. In hardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as computer hardware that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.
In various embodiments, computer hardware, such as a processing element, may be implemented as special purpose or as general purpose. For example, the processing element may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or indefinitely configured, such as an FPGA, to perform certain operations. The processing element may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement the processing element as special purpose, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or as general purpose (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.
Accordingly, the term “processing element” or equivalents should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which the processing element is temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the processing elements need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the processing element comprises a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different processing elements at different times. Software may accordingly configure the processing element to constitute a particular hardware configuration at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware configuration at a different instance of time.
Computer hardware components, such as communication elements, memory elements, processing elements, and the like, may provide information to, and receive information from, other computer hardware components. Accordingly, the described computer hardware components may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple of such computer hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect the computer hardware components. In embodiments in which multiple computer hardware components are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such computer hardware components may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple computer hardware components have access. For example, one computer hardware component may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further computer hardware component may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Computer hardware components may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and may operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information).
The various operations of example methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processing elements that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processing elements may constitute processing element-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modules referred to herein may, in some example embodiments, comprise processing element-implemented modules.
Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at least partially processing element-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processing elements or processing element-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the one or more processing elements, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processing elements may be located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processing elements may be distributed across a number of locations.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using words such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions or processes of a machine (e.g., a computer with a processing element and other computer hardware components) that manipulates or transforms data represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical) quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or other machine components that receive, store, transmit, or display information.
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 included in any subsequent regular utility patent application a non 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 invention 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 invention.
Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, potentially patentable subject matter may include the following:
This regular utility non-provisional patent application claims priority benefit with regard to all common subject matter of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/604,988, filed Dec. 1, 2023 entitled “IN-LINE PAPERBOARD MOISTURIZING”. The above-identified patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into the present patent application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63604988 | Dec 2023 | US |
