A temperature adjustment device (2) for thermally conditioning preforms (10) made of a thermoplastic material for subsequent molding including a transport device based on the rotary principle for transporting the preforms along a transport path that has at least one section with two adjacent transport lanes (32, 34) for transporting the preforms in two adjacent rows. Heating elements (36) are arranged between the transport lanes for heating the preforms. Each heating element acts on preforms in both transport lanes. At least one compensation device (22, 22′, 23, 24) for compensating for temperature differences between the preforms is assigned to the two transport lanes, which exclusively or more strongly acts on preforms in one of the two transport lanes for adjusting their temperature. Also, a container manufacturing machine (1) for manufacturing containers (12) from preforms that includes a temperature adjustment device.

An apparatus for heating plastic preforms with a transport device which includes holding devices for holding the plastic preforms and wherein the transport path has at least one heating portion inside which the plastic preforms are heated, and with a heating device arranged stationarily at least in portions along the transport path and which heats the plastic preforms transported by the transport device during their transport through the heating portion, wherein the heating device has at least one in particular stationary applicator device which is configured for bombarding the plastic preforms with microwaves to heat them. In the heating portion, the transport device is arranged relative to the applicator device such that at least parts of the holding devices are arranged outside the applicator device, wherein the applicator device is configured to receive several plastic preforms simultaneously for at least some of the time.

Disclosed is a container perform made from plastic material, including: a body; an open neck that extends from the body from which it is separated by a radially projecting flange; a bottom that closes the body opposite the neck; the body having a concave portion in axial cross section, where: B≤0.9.Math.A 0.5.C≤C′≤0.95.C in which A is the overall diameter of the body, measured below the flange; B is the outer diameter of the bottom, measured at the junction of same with the body; C is the cumulative height of the body and the bottom, measured from the flange; C′ is the height, measured axially, of the concave portion of the body, and the concave portion has, in axial cross-section, on an outer surface, an outer radius of curvature RE such that: 1.5.0≤RE≤10.C

A method for heating a preform (1) comprising a body portion (4) extending along a longitudinal axis (A1). The method comprises the following steps:—introducing the preform (1) into a heating apparatus (5) comprising an array of infrared emitters (50) arranged in multiple columns (Cj) and rows (Ri); —setting power levels of the infrared emitters (50) so as to divide said array into subsets of columns (SCn); and—heating the preform while translating it in a direction parallel to the rows (Ri), and simultaneously rotating it around its longitudinal axis, the rotation and translation speeds, and the power levels of the infrared emitters (50) being set so that the power levels of the subsets of columns (SCn) facing zones (42) of the body portion extending longitudinally are different from the power levels of the subsets of columns facing the rest of the body portion, said zones extending relative to one another in a polygonal array.

Plastic preforms are transported during their heating along a predetermined transport path and rotated with respect to their longitudinal axis during transport along a first transport path section to achieve uniform heating of the plastic preforms in the circumferential direction. The plastic preforms remain at least in sections in a predetermined first rotational position with respect to their longitudinal axis during their transport along a second transport path section so that first predetermined circumferential sections of the plastic preforms are heated differently from second predetermined circumferential portions of the plastic preforms. The plastic preforms remain at least in sections in a predetermined second rotational position with respect to their longitudinal axis during their transport along the second transport path section, the first and the second rotational position differing from one another by a predetermined differential angle.

A preform for an integrally blow-moulded bag-in-container uses an inner layer and an outer layer, wherein the preform forms a two-layer container upon blow-moulding, and wherein the obtained inner layer of the container releases from the thus obtained outer layer upon introduction of a gas at a point of interface between the two layers. At least one of the inner and outer layers includes at least one additive allowing both inner and outer layers to reach their respective blow-moulding temperatures substantially simultaneously.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a production facility of a series of containers from a series of preforms made of plastic materials. The method includes a first step of producing a preliminary series of individual containers from a preliminary series of preforms made of plastic materials. For each individual container produced during a tracking period, the method records (i) a marking that distinguishes said container other containers produced during said tracking period, and (ii) data relative to the production facility, its operation, and/or the preform or container. The method also includes a second step during which one or more physical values of each of the individually identified containers are measured during the first step, and a third step of compiling a database that matches, for each individually identified container, the measurement(s) of the second step, and the series of data acquired during the first step.

The apparatus for manufacturing a resin container includes a heating unit configured to heat a preform using heaters and, a blow molding unit configured to blow-mold the preform that has been heated, accumulators that are connected to the blow molding unit and for storing a pressurized gas to be used for blow molding, and a connection pipe that connects the heating unit and the accumulators via an electrically driven valve, in which the electrically driven valve is closed when electric power is supplied, and is opened when electric power is not supplied to cause the gas in the accumulators to flow to the heating unit.

The invention concerns a method for managing captive preforms immobilized in a heating station during an interruption of production, the preforms following a production stream, the heating station including a device for conveying preforms and a heating cavity bordered by at least one row of emitters of monochromatic electromagnetic radiation. The method consists in ejecting from the production stream the cold captive preforms that have been immobilized before they have been exposed to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitters to a recycling stream and rejecting from the production stream the hot captive preforms that have been at least partly exposed to the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the emitters to a reject stream separate from the recycling stream.

The present invention relates to an integrally blow-moulded bag-in-container (2) and preform (1, 1′) for blow-moulding the bag-in-container. An inner layer (11) and an outer layer (12) are used, wherein the preform forms a two-layer container upon blow-moulding, and wherein the obtained inner layer of said container releases from the thus obtained outer layer upon introduction of a gas at a point of interface (14) between the two layers. At least one of the inner and outer layers includes at least one additive allowing both inner and outer layers to reach their respective blow-moulding temperatures substantially simultaneously.