decoration | IML
almost 100% of stack moulds for containers globally today are for inside gated products,” he says. However, there is a price to pay for feeding material
Above: Many IML system orders now include full automation from granule to box, says H. Müller
that it is a sidewall label and a bottom label,” Czizegg says. “In 3D full cover IML there is full overlap of the labels. It really appears like one label formed in three dimensions although it is in fact two labels.” Czizegg says the challenge in the past has been to
Right: IML downstream
automation by H. Müller
avoid wrinkling of the labels where they overlap in critical areas such as the corners. This has been overcome in the IML Xperts system by precise synchronisation of its standard Highflex robot with the Roth mould functions. “There is nothing specific and nothing complex. This is all done with standard components on the mould side and on the robot,” he says. “It is the synchronisation in that fraction of a second that forms the label precisely and without wrinkles - the synchronisation with the dummy cores and the mould cavities. It is the handshake between the two systems, the mould and the robot.” IML Xperts demonstrated the technology in opera- tion on its stand at the Fakuma fair late last year. Czizegg says that system is now in operation with a customer in Australia and is running a cycle of around four seconds. The company expects to convert other customers to the technology, as the use of a standard Highflex robot means existing production systems can be upgraded to full 3D cover relatively easily.
Stack mould flexibility Czizegg says Waldorf-Technik has also adapted aspects of its Highflex IML automation solution to improve IML options in stack mould production. When using single-face moulds, the processor can choose to inject from inside or outside of the label with little restriction in terms of the IML robot operation. For stack moulds, however, the choice is more limited. “If you look to a stack mould the material normally
comes from the middle platen. If you want an inside gated container, then you have the cores on the middle platen. This requires putting the labels in the outer platens and from an automation point of view that is easy to do. What is not so easy is to insert the labels on the middle platen because the space for the gripper is so small. Therefore,
22 INJECTION WORLD | June 2015
www.injectionworld.com
through the cores, especially for small containers such as yoghurt pots. “The disadvantage is that you have the hot runner nozzle taking up most of the space in the core. But you also need cooling channels. This can lead to the point where you reduce the cooling performance, which makes the cycle time longer,” he says. “If you can separate the hot runner function from the cooling function, which means injecting the material from the cavity – from the outside – and using the core only for cooling, then you can run faster. That is what we have tried to achieve for the stack mould. Now the customer can choose.”
Czizegg says the company’s engineers have taken some of the label placement features of its standard Highflex single-face automation and integrated it with its Stackmould system to overcome the space limita- tions. It makes it possible to insert labels on the middle platen, allowing the mould cores to be placed on the outer platens where cooling performance can be maximised. “The cooling time depends on the shape of the container but it will be about 5-15% shorter. It is absolutely attractive,” he says. Waldorf-Technik says the technology, demonstrated during the NPE fair in the US earlier this year and which it offers at present for stack moulds up to 8+8 cavities, offers two additional benefits. It eliminates any potential risk of gate stringing contaminating the packaged product. It also opens up a potential route to upgrade
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