Shuttle machines

This method is slow because of the multiple operations on a shuttle machine. The heat of extmsion sterilizes the bottle, which is not readily achieved after molding. Blow-mold/fill/seal systems are used commercially for beverages and for pharmaceutical packaging. 

Modem shuttle machines can be set up with two complete moulds so that approximately 2/3 of the cure time is under full clamp pressure in the main station. The clamp pressure is then reduced and the closed mould is shuttled out to continue the cure in the side station where it is opened for product removal, mould cleaning and insert loading. While one mould is in the side station the other is injected and receives the first part of its cure. With a special mould opening device on the shuttle table the machine becomes as effective as a two-station machine. 

This type of extrusion blow molding machine uses something called a shuttle machine to get all the parts in place. Alternatively, a rotary machine, illustrated in Figure 14-61, can be used. Rotary extrusion blow molders are used in high volume applications, as in the production of laundry detergent bottles. 

The third and most successful approach was accomplished on a wheel-type blow molding machine. Unlike the shuttle machine where only gravity acts on a downward extruded parison, a wheel machine draws or pulls the parison from the die. This allows extension in the extrusion direction and the opportunity to thin down the barrier layer and reorient the mica platelets. 

The shuttle-type machine (Fig. 2) is used for large products, such as tanks. A frame for holding a mold is moimted on a movable bed. The drive motors for turning the mold biaxially are incorporated in the bed, which is on a track that allows the mold and bed to move into and out of the oven. After the heating cycle is completed, the mold is moved into the cooling station, which is not enclosed. Another bed with a mold is moved into the oven from the opposite end. (Some shuttle machines will use a movable oven.)... 

Heavy-Gauge Machines. There are several common designs for heavy-gauge thermoforming machines. The simplest and most widely used is the shuttle machine (Fig. 5) (14), where the sheet, cut to size and palletized, is loaded, one... 

Figure 34 (a) Models of [2]rotaxanes and the corresponding energy diagrams of a shuttling machine with effective brake function,... 

Shuttle machines and single station machines, other than the wheel type will normally use the core pin for entrance of the blow air. The mathematical formulas that can be used are ... 

Cabinet shuttle machines are common outside of North America. Instead of the sheet moving into and out of the oven, the sandwich heaters horizontally move across the sheet while the sheet remains poised over the mold. When the sheet is at forming temperature, heaters are retracted and the mold is raised onto the sheet to form the product. This technique also allows for plug assist and pressure forming. 

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