PETpla.net Insider 11+12 / 2017

TRADE SHOW REVIEW PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 11+12/17 www.petpla.net 48 TRADE SHOW REVIEW 48 Even the most advanced PET bottle blow-moulding system experiences variations in bottle material distribution from mould to mould; each one performs slightly differently, even in the same region. Such variations can result in inconsistent performance even from bottles in the same produc- tion run, leading to potential down- stream problems. In a collaborative effort between Agr and KHS, work was performed to develop a means to reduce or eliminate mould-to- mould variation, resulting in Indi- vidual Mould Control. Built on the foundation of Agr’s Process Pilot automated blow moulder control system, Individual Mould Control provides the ability to optimise the blow-moulding process by controlling the blow parameters for each individual mould station, in addition to the global parameters set for all moulds. This makes it possible to proactively manage the process down to the indi- vidual mould level to finely control material distribution and minimise mould-to-mould variation. The Process Pilot system cap- tures high-precision thickness dis- tribution measurements on every bottle. It manages material dis- tribution to a base-line thickness established on an overall average of all mould stations by control- ling the oven parameters and P1 pressure, as well as start time. These parameters are common to all the moulds and move the mate- rial distribution close to baseline, to produce a consistent quality of bottles. The Individual Mould Control option takes distribution management to a new level by identifying the distribution vari- ance from mould to mould. It uses an advanced control algorithm to reduce individual mould station variability by proactively adjust- ing the pre-blow start time of each one, through individual mould offsets. By doing this, the material distribution can be controlled on a per mould basis. This makes it possible to achieve an overall tighter distribu- tion model over the entire mould set one that is much closer to the baseline than can be provided using the global approach. The level of trend analysis incorpo- rated by Process Pilot on a mould station by station approach pro- Agr introduces “Individual Mould Control” for the Process Pilot automated blow moulder control system Mould Control Agr International, Inc., has announced the launch of Individual Mould Control, the latest addition to its sys- tems. The company says that this technology expands the capabilities of Agr’s Process Pilot product group to include the management of thickness distribution during PET bottle production, at the individual mould level. .com 100815dmyL Individual Mould Control option for Agr’s Process Pilot system opti- mise the blow-moulding process by controlling the blow para-meters for each individual mould station