Taking injection moulding to the next level

A LIGHT bulb image is often used to signify that moment when the solution to a problem  becomes apparent. However, in my 30 years of experience,  breakthrough  innovations are  usually  not  marked  by  one  ‘light bulb’moment; instead, they are an evolution of  thinking,founded  in  experience, technical expertise and creativity. That is certainly how the ground breaking injection moulding technology behind the world’s first aseptic carton bottle, the Tetra Evero Aseptic (TEA) came to be a reality.

When we set about designing the TEA, we wanted to create a package with the opening and pouring functionality of a bottle whilst maintaining the environmental and operational efficiency of a carton package. However, to do this we needed to develop a plastic top which could fuse the bottle opening to a cardboard sleeve, whilst ensuring that the liquid was kept safe and secure.

Existing injection moulding technology would require large production units which are too slow and expensive to run. The cost implications of using traditional injection moulding  technology  would  have  been prohibitive for producers. So we set abouttrying to figure out how to use injection moulding technology in a completely different way,  but  which  would  still  provide  the robustness and reliability required to assure aseptic conditions whilst also minimising costs. That also meant coming up with a polymer to get the right properties for both the package and for protecting the milk inside it.

Injection moulding is one of the most common manufacturing processes in the world, used in manufacturing such products as  mobile  phones,  computers,  sports equipment and DVDs.

Simply put, materials are injected into a  mould  to  produce  parts  of  a  product. We  have  25  years  of  experience  in  this technology and have used in the production of packages such as the Tetra Top.

The concept
Drawing on our experience we came up with a concept for injection moulding which could keep production costs down and production times up: reduce the size of the injection moulding equipment and integrate it into the filling machine itself, simplifying the process as much as possible. To do that we decided to place the sleeve and closure in the mould before the injection moulding: We apply the closure on a rotating mandrel and in the next step we put the paper board sleeve on the mandrel. The mandrel is then transferred into a moulding tool where we inject melted plastic–in just 40 milliseconds. One injection moulding cycle is 1.44 seconds and that makes this the fastest injection moulding system in the world and the first that is integrated into the aseptic carton bottle filling machine.

To progress, we needed to test the concept and demonstrate its viability. We started by designing some very basic tests to validate the fundamental idea and then developed a test rig, a process which took many more engineers and man-hours.

Towards industrial production
Having overcome the initial challenge of coming up with an idea and testing it, we were faced with the more difficult design challenge: transforming the concept and test rig into a production process which could operate on an industrial scale and become incorporated within the filling machine.

Among the many design challenges were the physical characteristics required for the plastic top. We needed a thin top to ensure quick freezing of the liquid plastic after moulding, but it neededNew Balance Womens Shoes