An oven (10) for the heat treatment of preforms and a method for operating an air-cooling device (42) fitted to such an oven includes controlling elements (58) to vary the cooling air flow rate onto the body (18) and bottom (20) of the preforms (12) along the heating path.

In a blow-molding apparatus, a cooling device and a heating device are each driven by being supplied with electricity of a predetermined voltage from a supply power source. The blow-molding apparatus comprises: a monitoring device configured to constantly monitor fluctuation of the predetermined voltage; and an output automatic control mechanism configured to, in a case where the predetermined voltage monitored by the monitoring device fluctuates beyond a normal range, automatically fluctuate an output of at least one of the heating device and the cooling device to keep the output in a certain range, thereby adjusting at least one of the preform temperature and the ambient temperature to fall within a normal temperature range.

The invention relates to a device for heating preform bodies or flat or preformed semi-finished products from thermoplastic material (3), comprising at least one base body (1.0, 2.0), on the surface of which at least a first layer or coating is formed, which comprises at least one electric heating resistor in the form of a flat, geometrically arranged conductor loop. The base body also has contact elements, by which the at least one heating resistor can be connected to a power source, wherein, as a result of the geometrically arranged conductor loop(s), a defined temperature profile can be generated, which can be transmitted contactlessly to the preform body or the semi-finished product by an outer contact layer formed on the first layer or coating, by contact the surface of a preform body or semi-finished product and/or by using convection or thermal radiation. During a transmission of the defined temperature profile, the preform body or the semi-finished product is arranged at a distance to the contact layer(s).

An oven for preforms and in particular a preform rotation system heats portions of the preform in a preferential manner. An oven (1) for blowing or stretch-blowing preforms (P) to provide containers (C) with oval section includes a path (2) for the preforms (P), transfer system (3) of the preforms (P) from a transport system upstream of the oven (1) and a transfer system (4) of the heated preforms (P) from the oven (1) to a downstream transport. Mandrels (9) are slidingly carried along the path (2), the mandrels temporarily engage with the preforms (P) to conduct the preforms along the path (2). The oven (1) includes at least one first heating module (10) and at least one second heating module (10). The oven (1) includes elements (22, 25) for rotating the preforms (P) by 180, the elements being in median position of the second heating module (10).

An oven for preforms and in particular a preform rotation system heats portions of the preform in a preferential manner. An oven (1) for blowing or stretch-blowing preforms (P) to provide containers (C) with oval section includes a path (2) for the preforms (P), transfer system (3) of the preforms (P) from a transport system upstream of the oven (1) and a transfer system (4) of the heated preforms (P) from the oven (1) to a downstream transport. Mandrels (9) are slidingly carried along the path (2), the mandrels temporarily engage with the preforms (P) to conduct the preforms along the path (2). The oven (1) includes at least one first heating module (10) and at least one second heating module (10). The oven (1) includes elements (22, 25) for rotating the preforms (P) by 180, the elements being in median position of the second heating module (10).

Method of manufacturing containers by blow-molding preforms, comprising a phase of heating the preforms (3) followed by a phase of forming the containers (this phase comprising a pre-blowing step followed by a blowing step), this method comprising the operations consisting in: detecting a pressure spike during the pre-blowing and comparing it against a reference spike, if the pressure in the pressure spike is below the reference pressure, checking an event history to determine whether a heating instruction and/or a forming instruction has been modified; if the result of this check is positive, commanding at least one of the following actions: o generating an alert alarm, o stopping the supply of preforms to the oven, o ejecting the containers derived from the affected preforms.

A heating device (14) includes: a tubular lamp (16) having two free end sections (32); at least one reflector (34) that extends longitudinally at a predefined transverse distance (D) from the lamp (16); two holding members (46) for holding the lamp (16) in a transverse position relative to the reflector (34), each holding member (46) being attached to the reflector (34); characterized in that each free end section (32) of the lamp (16) is removably mounted on each holding member (46) by reversibly interlocking a portion of the free end section (32) of the lamp with a housing (54) of complementary shape in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction.

A heating device (14) includes: a tubular lamp (16) having two free end sections (32); at least one reflector (34) that extends longitudinally at a predefined transverse distance (D) from the lamp (16); two holding members (46) for holding the lamp (16) in a transverse position relative to the reflector (34), each holding member (46) being attached to the reflector (34); characterized in that each free end section (32) of the lamp (16) is removably mounted on each holding member (46) by reversibly interlocking a portion of the free end section (32) of the lamp with a housing (54) of complementary shape in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction.

Disclosed is a method for controlling a conveyor for conveying hollow bodies through a hollow-body heating station including: a heating tunnel defining a heating path, a conveyor including at least one travel track and shuttles capable of moving along the track while picking up at least one hollow body, the movement of each shuttle being controlled individually, a travel-track loading portion on which two consecutive shuttles move at a first predetermined input separation, and a travel-track unloading portion. Two consecutive shuttles moving on this unloading portion are spaced apart by a predetermined output separation that is different from the first input separation.

Disclosed is a method for controlling a conveyor for conveying hollow bodies through a hollow-body heating station including: a heating tunnel defining a heating path, a conveyor including at least one travel track and shuttles capable of moving along the track while picking up at least one hollow body, the movement of each shuttle being controlled individually, a travel-track loading portion on which two consecutive shuttles move at a first predetermined input separation, and a travel-track unloading portion. Two consecutive shuttles moving on this unloading portion are spaced apart by a predetermined output separation that is different from the first input separation.