Systems and methods control the operation of a blow molder. An indication of a crystallinity of at least one container produced by the blow molder may be received along with a material distribution of the at least one container. A model may be executed, where the model relates a plurality of blow molder input parameters to the indication of crystallinity and the material distribution and where a result of the model comprises changes to at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters to move the material distribution towards a baseline material distribution and the crystallinity towards a baseline crystallinity. The changes to the at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters may be implemented.

Systems and methods control the operation of a blow molder. An indication of a crystallinity of at least one container produced by the blow molder may be received along with a material distribution of the at least one container. A model may be executed, where the model relates a plurality of blow molder input parameters to the indication of crystallinity and the material distribution and where a result of the model comprises changes to at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters to move the material distribution towards a baseline material distribution and the crystallinity towards a baseline crystallinity. The changes to the at least one of the plurality of blow molder input parameters may be implemented.

A method for forming and filling a container. The method includes: determining an effective fill area of an opening of the container through which fluid can pass while a stretch rod is seated within the opening; actuating a seal pin to open a nozzle passage of the nozzle to allow the fluid to flow through the nozzle passage and through the opening to simultaneously form and fill the container; detecting a degree to which the nozzle passage is open; increasing fill velocity of the fluid to the nozzle as the nozzle passage is opened; setting fill velocity of the fluid to a maximum fill velocity when the nozzle passage is opened such that an area of the nozzle passage is at least equal to the effective fill area at the opening of the finish; and closing the seal pin after the container is formed and filled.

A method for forming and filling a container. The method includes: determining an effective fill area of an opening of the container through which fluid can pass while a stretch rod is seated within the opening; actuating a seal pin to open a nozzle passage of the nozzle to allow the fluid to flow through the nozzle passage and through the opening to simultaneously form and fill the container; detecting a degree to which the nozzle passage is open; increasing fill velocity of the fluid to the nozzle as the nozzle passage is opened; setting fill velocity of the fluid to a maximum fill velocity when the nozzle passage is opened such that an area of the nozzle passage is at least equal to the effective fill area at the opening of the finish; and closing the seal pin after the container is formed and filled.

An apparatus for the manufacture and unloading of preforms for the manufacture of plastic containers includes a device for the injection molding of preforms and a device for the cooling and extraction of the preforms from the molding device, and further includes a device for the selective extraction of a predetermined subset of preforms supported by the unloading plate in an orderly manner along at least one pickup direction. The apparatus also includes a component for the orderly transfer of the predetermined subset of preforms to a control and inspection device adapted to perform at least one control on the predetermined subset of preforms.

Provided is a method for producing thermoplastic articles. The method comprises forming a hollow parison of heated thermoplastic material and positioning the parison within a cavity of a mold tool, the cavity defining the external configuration of the desired article. Fluid pressure is then applied to an internal chamber defined by the parison upon closure of the mold tool, to expand the parison to conform to the mold cavity. The formed article is then subjected to an in-mold cooling phase to reduce the thermal energy of the formed article sufficiently to permit for safe ejection with reduced distortion. The cooling phase is defined by a variable cooling protocol that applies one or more cycles of thermal shock to the formed article during the in-mold cooling phase.

Methods for producing blow molding instructions for a bottle preform, including creating a first set of first blow molding experiments for blow molding a selected preform design into a target bottle design, each experiment having a different set of blow molding parameters, simulating each experiment of the first set of blow molding experiments using a simulation software program, selecting a group of experiments from the first blow molding experiments based on downselection criteria including wall thickness, section weight, and elastic modulus×wall thickness, creating a second set of blow molding experiments based on characteristics of the downselected group of first experiments, simulating each experiment of the second set of blow molding experiments using the simulation software program, selecting an experiment from the second blow molding experiments based on characteristics of the selected experiment's simulated preform and simulated blown bottle, and producing blow molding instructions based on the selected experiment.

Methods for producing blow molding instructions for a bottle preform, including creating a first set of first blow molding experiments for blow molding a selected preform design into a target bottle design, each experiment having a different set of blow molding parameters, simulating each experiment of the first set of blow molding experiments using a simulation software program, selecting a group of experiments from the first blow molding experiments based on downselection criteria including wall thickness, section weight, and elastic modulus×wall thickness, creating a second set of blow molding experiments based on characteristics of the downselected group of first experiments, simulating each experiment of the second set of blow molding experiments using the simulation software program, selecting an experiment from the second blow molding experiments based on characteristics of the selected experiment's simulated preform and simulated blown bottle, and producing blow molding instructions based on the selected experiment.

A system and method for autonomously defining regions of interest for a container are provided. The system comprises a platform for supporting the container, a detector for capturing feature data of the container while on the platform, and a computer system. The computer system is in communication with the detector and platform. The computer system is programmed to locate features of the container from the captured feature data, and define the regions of interest for the container based on the located features.

A blow mold high-pressure switching step in a blow molding process of an injection stretch blow molding machine is arranged at the first half portion of the blow molding process, to shorten the injection molding process and improve the moldability. The blow mold high-pressure switching step 61B3 of increasing a mold clamping force for blow molds which have been closed in a blow molding process 61B is configured to be performed at a timing within a time from the start of the upper/lower mold opening step 62A1 for opening upper and lower molds in the injection molding process 62A to release a preform 3P to the completion of the injection mold high-pressure switching step 62A3 for increasing the mold clamping force for the closed injection molding mold.