PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2014

BOTTLE MAKING 30 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 10/14 www.petpla.net BOTTLE MAKING 30 Linear stretch blow moulding machine goes together with rotary filler Chumpower LSS16 A nice couple Since 2008, the Taiwanese stretch blow manufacturer Chumpower has been putting lots of resource in refining their linear blow mould- ing machines. From the beginning of 6,000bph for the six cavities machine back in 2008 to today’s massive 24,000bph (600cc bottle production) from the 16 cavities machine, Chum- power has set the bench mark for all high-speed linear machine within the industry. The LSS16 stretch blower is a fully electric machine driven by ten servo motors, from the heavy-duty clamping system to fast-responding sealer or preform-eject actuation, precise servo synchronization and high mould cavity count are the two key factors making high output capacity possible. This platform has been well-tested within the industry for years, so it is a suitable candidate for Chumpower to design the LSS16 based on that platform. Since this model has nearly the twice production capacity, robust clamping and fast- responding subsystems were essential in making the machine stable during production. The clamping system was driven by two servo motors actuating each side of mould, since the mould has long horizontal span to house sixteen 500cc bottles, strong cam-driven indexer were used to transfer the high torque from servo motor to the swing arm and push-rod system which sub- sequently also drive another cam to actuate the base mould. Two sets of servo motors drive the stretching system via rack-and-pinion mechanism. Also sealers were servo driven actuated by cams. Ten modules of heating ovens were fitted on the machine to heat 24,000 preforms per hour, and Chumpower’s narrow pitched preform chain (38mm) allows more preforms to be heated at one time. Each oven is controlled by advanced IR heating-control system from Olicorp to regulate the electrical current and ensure stable IR lamp output. The estimated average power consump- tion of the LSS16 for producing a single bottle would be1.9Watts. The fluid-dynamics for heating