PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2014

40 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 01+02/14 www.petpla.net PET products Bottle wall thickness gauge Base thickness inspection Trac Measurement Systems’ new B300 Bottle Wall Thickness System, which was launched at drinktec 2013, allows measurements to be taken at finite intervals of 50microns with a sensor spot size of 7.2microns. Faulty base formation can be a consequence of either the manufacture of the preform or production setup and Trac maintains that conventional weight checks do not provide a detailed description of base quality, which is critical to PET bottle manufacturers. The company says that its Wall Thickness Gauge can take comprehensive measurements at user definable positions and that it provides fast, non- destructive, non-contact, accurate measurement. It has the capability to produce detailed measurement reports from data collected at up to 4,800 points. These measure- ments are taken by the sensor from outside of the bottle, while maintaining perpendicularity to the bottle surface and so preventing angular errors. The sensor can also be rotated to specified positions and is thus suitable for all bottle designs The inspection system measurements are traceable to UKAS standards. The system includes factory-calibrated, very accurate linear sensor technology and can take up 960 measurements per feature type. Trac asserts that it eliminates the need for base weight checks and that its 7.2micron spot measurement enables a more inclusive positional test. Bottle height, base clearance, base thickness, base corner thickness, shoulder and wall thickness can be tested in one operation. www.measurement.trac-group.com Preform mould offering A 128-cavity pre- form mould incor- porating Sipa’s new X-Mould technology was a highlight at the Sipa stand at K 2013. X-Mould was developed to enable processors to fill wall sections that are thinner than ever before, so designers can design preforms that are longer or wider, and to create con- tainers with more suitable stretch ratios. It is now pos- sible, for example, to design a 500-mL bottle preform weighing as little as 7.2g that presents no production issues, either in injection or in stretch-blow, with existing legacy equipment. Even though the preforms are extremely light, the high mechanical performance required in the finished bottle is not compromised. The new preform designs save on energy as well as material, so carbon footprints along the production and supply chain are smaller than ever. Sipa claims that X-Mould technology makes it possible to produce preforms with ratios of length to wall thickness (L/t) close to 60, while applying injection pressure simi- lar to that normally used for preforms with 45L/t ratios. This means that the stretch ratio in the final 7.2g bottle is between 10.5 and 13.6, depending on its design-highly manageable for modern stretch-blow moulding equipment. Plus, the performance of the bottle, on the filling line and in use, meets all relevant requirements. The company is making the X-Mould technology available across the market. Injection moulding of the new preform designs can be carried out not only on the company’s latest generation of processing equipment- XFORM-but also on most existing preform injection moulding machines, regardless of their brand. Similarly, the preforms can be blown not only on SIPA linear and rotary stretch-blow lines, but also on lines from other sup- pliers. Additionally, Sipa unveiled its new mould refurbish- ing and conversion services at K2013. Sipa has service centres in Italy (Vittorio Veneto), China (Hangzhou), and the USA (Atlanta), and offers a mould audit program sup- ported by its experts in the field. The advantage of mould conversion over buying a brand new mould lies in the lower capital investment involved. The existing mould shoe is reused, and return on investment is faster. www.sipa.it