Abstract
The invention relates to a system for producing a particularly rotationally symmetrical glass container, such as a glass syringe, a glass carpule, a glass vial, or a glass ampoule, from a particularly rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis, comprising a chuck for mounting the glass tube blank in a rotating manner, a length-cutting device for cutting to length glass containers of predetermined length from the glass tube blank, and an air bearing, which is arranged downstream of the chuck and upstream of the length-cutting device, for contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank.
Claims
1.-20. (canceled)
21. A system for producing a rotationally symmetrical glass container from a rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis, said system comprising: a chuck for mounting the glass tube blank in a rotating manner; a length-cutting device for cutting to length glass containers of predetermined length from the glass tube blank; and an air bearing arranged downstream of the chuck and upstream of the length-cutting device and for contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank.
22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the air bearing comprises a receptacle for the glass tube blank, which extends along the rotational axis of the glass tube blank and is adapted at least in sections to a shape of an outer circumference of the rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, and/or is partially open in cross-section, such that the glass tube blank is able to be inserted into the receptacle in a direction transverse to the rotational axis.
23. The system according to claim 22, wherein the receptacle is essentially partially cylindrical, wherein particularly the receptacle is shaped concavely in sections and/or convexly in sections, and wherein a concave section of the receptacle forms a receptacle base and/or a convex section forms a receptacle side flank.
24. The system according to claim 21, wherein the air bearing is arranged at an axial position in the range of ⅓ to ⅔ of an axial distance between the length-cutting device and the chuck, or wherein at least one further air bearing for contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank is provided, wherein an air bearing on the chuck side is arranged at an axial position in the range of ¼ to ½ of an axial distance between the length-cutting device and the chuck and an air bearing on the side of the length-cutting device is arranged at an axial position of at least ¾ of an axial distance between the length-cutting device and the chuck.
25. A system for producing a rotationally symmetrical glass container from a rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis, said system comprising: a length-cutting device for cutting to length glass containers of predetermined length from the glass tube blank; and a chuck arranged upstream of the length-cutting device, for mounting the glass tube blank in a rotating manner, wherein the chuck comprises a feeding device for particularly horizontally displacing the glass tube blank.
26. The system according to claim 25, wherein the feeding device is configured in such a way that the feeding device is able to displace the glass tube blank along with the chuck.
27. The system according to claim 25, wherein the chuck is able to be displaced relative to a stationary housing of the system.
28. The system according to claim 25, wherein the chuck is mounted on a stationary housing of the system by means of a linear guide.
29. The system according to claim 25, wherein the feeding device is configured to displace the glass tube and optionally the chuck in a stepwise translational manner in the direction of the length-cutting device.
30. The system according to claim 29, wherein the feeding device comprises movement increments, which are matched to a predetermined axial length of the glass containers.
31. A system for producing a rotationally symmetrical glass container from a rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis, said system comprising: a length-cutting device for cutting to length glass containers of predetermined length from the glass tube blank; and a chuck that is arranged upstream of the length-cutting device and that mounts the glass tube blank in a rotating manner in such a way that the rotational axis of the glass tube blank is oriented essentially horizontally.
32. The system according to claim 31, wherein the chuck has a span length of less than 80 mm, less than 60 mm, less than 40 mm, or less than 20 mm.
33. An air bearing for a system producing a rotationally symmetrical glass container from a rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis, said air bearing comprising: a compressed-air source; and a receptacle for the glass tube blank, which extends along the rotational axis of the glass tube blank and is adapted at least in sections to a shape of an outer circumference of the rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank in such a way that the glass tube blank is mounted contactlessly when the receptacle is supplied with compressed air by the compressed-air source.
34. The air bearing according to claim 33, wherein the glass tube blank is able to be contactlessly mounted in the receptacle in such a way that a distance between the receptacle and the glass tube blank is in the range of 0.05 mm to 0.5 mm, in the range of 0.01 mm to 0.3 mm, or approximately 0.2 mm.
35. The air bearing according to claim 33, wherein the receptacle is partially open in cross-section, such that the glass tube blank is able to be inserted into the receptacle in a direction transverse to the rotational axis.
36. The air bearing according to claim 33, wherein the receptacle is essentially partially cylindrical, wherein the receptacle is shaped concavely in sections and/or convexly in sections, and wherein a concave section of the receptacle forms a receptacle base and/or a convex section forms a receptacle side flank.
37. The air bearing according to claim 33, wherein the receptacle has a concave receptacle base and two opposite, convex, receptacle side flanks, each of which is arranged at a distance essentially constant in the rotational axis direction, forming a gap space to the receptacle base, wherein the gap space forms a fluid connection between a compressed-air source and receptacle.
38. A method for producing a rotationally symmetrical glass container comprising: providing a glass tube blank, which defines a rotational axis; continuously rotating the glass tube blank about the rotational axis and contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank in a rotating manner in sections; and cutting the glass tube blank to a predetermined length.
39. The method according to claim 38 further comprising contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank in a rotating manner in sections.
40. The method according to claim 38 further comprising displacing the glass tube blank in the rotational axis direction, wherein the rotational axis of the glass tube blank is oriented essentially horizontally
Description
[0044] Other properties, features and advantages of the invention become apparent below from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying exemplary drawings, which show:
[0045] FIG. 1 a schematic representation of a tube cutter under the prior art of a glass processing system;
[0046] FIG. 2 a schematic representation of a section of a system according to the invention for producing a glass container;
[0047] FIG. 3 a schematic top view of the system according to FIG. 2, wherein a length-cutting device of the system is likewise depicted;
[0048] FIG. 4 a schematic frontal view of the system according to FIG. 3;
[0049] FIG. 5 a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of an air bearing according to the invention;
[0050] FIG. 6 a sectional view of the air bearing according to FIG. 5; and
[0051] FIG. 7 a detailed view VII according to FIG. 6
[0052] A tube cutter tube cutter according to the prior art, which is in general provided with reference number 200, of a glass processing system according to the prior art is explained with reference to FIG. 1. In principle, the tube cutter 200 serves to separate glass containers from a glass tube blank 201. The individual processing operations or stations are denoted by consecutive capital letters A-K. At A, a rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank 201 is provided and mounted in a rotating manner by a chuck 203. A glass tube blank longitudinal direction, which at the same time corresponds to the rotational axis of the glass tube blank 201, is denoted by reference sign R. As can be seen in FIG. 1, at A, the glass tube blank 201 protrudes axially downward from the chuck 203. Glass tube blank 201 and jaw chuck 203 are oriented in the vertical direction V. The stations B-D relate to a positioning station 205, which serves to align the glass tube blank 201 with respect to the vertical direction V. This takes place by means of stop plates 207, 209 and 211, which are assigned to the respective stations B-D and extend essentially in the horizontal direction H and toward which the glass tube blank 201 is dropped when the chuck 203 is open. The stop plates 207, 209, 211 are arranged at a predetermined vertical distance with respect to the chuck 203, such that the same vertical distance between jaw chuck 203 and stop plates 207, 209, 211 is always achieved, such that essentially the same axial length of glass containers 213 (station J) can always be separated by means of the downstream separation operation.
[0053] After positioning the glass tube blank 201 with respect to the vertical direction V, the glass tube blank 201 is again grabbed and fixed by the chuck 203, in order to fix the vertical position of the glass tube blank 201. Steps E to J essentially summarize the separation operation 206: At E, the separation operation is prepared, for example by means of scoring by a scoring knife 215; at stations F and G, intense heating takes place, particularly in a local region on the glass tube blank 201, for example by means of a ribbon burner 217; at H, a cooling operation takes place, for example by means of a cooling-air flow or a cooling-fluid flow 219; at I, a local reheating, which results in a thermal shock splitting, is indicated by means of the arrow with reference sign 221; below J, it can be seen that the glass container 213 cut or separated to length is separated from the remaining glass tube blank 201 and falls downward in the vertical direction V; at K, an optional melting operation, indicated by the arrows with reference sign 223, can take place, in order to close the glass tube blank 201 remaining in the chuck 203 at the end face, for example in order to form a base of a glass container 213.
[0054] The process can subsequently begin from the beginning A and the remaining glass tube blank 201, which continues to be clamped in the chuck 203, can initially be repositioned B-D with respect to the vertical direction V.
[0055] FIG. 2 shows a detail of a system 1 according to the invention for producing a particularly rotationally symmetrical glass container of predetermined axial length in a simplified perspective view. An aspect of the present invention is that the system 1 or particularly its individual components are designed in such a way that a rotational axis R of the rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank 3 to be processed is oriented essentially in the horizontal direction H. In comparison to the prior art, this results in considerably more flexible handling of the system 1 and simplified operating and, particularly, loading of the system 1 with glass tube blanks 3. Particularly, the loading can specifically take place transversely to the rotational axis direction R, which essentially corresponds to a glass tube blank longitudinal direction. In principle, the system 1 according to FIG. 2 comprises a frame 5, which, according to the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 2, has essentially three identically designed support columns 7, 9, 11. The frame 5 carries the further components of the system 1. This includes, inter alia, a chuck 13 for mounting the glass tube blank 3 in a rotating manner. The chuck 13 can, for example, be a 3-jaw chuck. For example, the chuck 13 has a clamping device 15, such as clamping jaws, for at least partially circumferentially encompassing the glass tube blank 3 and for fixing the glass tube blank 3 inside the chuck 13. The chuck 13 can have a driving device (not shown), by means of which the glass tube blank 3 can be rotated, particularly continuously, about its rotational axis R.
[0056] According to a further aspect of the present invention, the chuck 13 has a feeding device, which is generally provided with reference sign 17 and is configured to be able to translationally displace the chuck 13, along with the glass tube blank 3 clamped and fixed and mounted in a rotating manner therein. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the translational displacement takes place along the glass tube blank longitudinal direction, i.e., in the horizontal direction H. The feeding device 17 can, for example, have a stepper motor for stepwise translational displacement of the chuck 13. For example, the stepwise movement increments can be matched to a predetermined axial length of the glass containers to be produced.
[0057] According to FIG. 2, a linear guide, particularly a rail guide 19, is provided, in order to translationally displace the jaw chuck 13. The linear guide 19 comprises a rail-like sliding device 21, which extends in the horizontal direction H between two of the support columns 9, 11 and along which a guide carriage 23 attached to the chuck 13 can be displaced relatively. As can be seen, for example, in FIG. 2, the guide carriage 23 can be matched to the shape of the rail 19 and/or can be connected thereto in a form-fitting manner. For example, the guide carriage 23 can form the feeding device 17 or can have a driving device, such as the stepper motor, for translationally displacing the jaw chuck 13. Furthermore, a further drive carriage 25 that is in sliding engagement with the rail 21 and can be brought into contact with the guide carriage 23 can be provided, which is configured to displace the guide carriage 23, which does not have a drive unit and is fixedly connected to the jaw chuck 13. During the processing of the glass tube blank 3 and the production of a plurality of glass containers, the glass tube blank 3 is translationally displaced by means of the jaw chuck 13 by a translational movement force by the feeding device 17, in order to move the glass tube blank 3 successively further in the direction of the length-cutting device 27 (see FIG. 3) not shown in FIG. 2, such that a plurality of glass containers can be produced from one glass tube blank 3. The advantage of the system 1 of the present invention is also that due to the translational mobility of the jaw chuck 13, after a separation operation has taken place, the jaw chuck 13 does not have to be opened, in order to reposition the glass tube blank 3. This specifically continues to take place by means of the feeding device 17 with the glass tube blank 3 clamped in the chuck 13.
[0058] For further mounting of the elongated glass tube blank 3, two air bearings 29 provided at a horizontal distance from one another are provided between the chuck 13 and the length-cutting device 27, which is not visible in FIG. 2 and which is to be arranged to the far left in FIG. 2. For example, the air bearings 29 may be designed according to one of the aspects or exemplary embodiments according to the invention. The air bearings 29 are held on one of the supports 7, 9 in each case and are arranged in such a way that the air bearings 29 are open upward in the vertical direction V, in order to receive the glass tube blank 3. The air bearings 29 serve to contactlessly mount the glass tube blank 3 and to hold it in position with respect to the rotational direction R so that the separation operation by means of the length-cutting device 27 can take place reliably. For example, the air bearing (on the left in FIG. 2) on the side of the length-cutting device is positioned in the immediate vicinity of the length-cutting device 27. On the one hand, the glass tube blank can be mounted in a rotating manner by means of the air bearing 29 and on the other hand, the air bearing 29 also provides a degree of freedom of translational movement, such that the translational displacement movement, which is initiated by the feeding device 17, can take place without problems, particularly without any mountings having to be removed.
[0059] In addition, an exemplary embodiment of a length-cutting device 27 is shown in the schematic view according to FIG. 3, which can be viewed as a top view of the system 1 according to FIG. 2. The glass tube blank 3, which is mounted in a rotating manner by the jaw chuck 13, is constantly rotated about its rotational axis R, which is indicated by the curved arrow with reference sign 31. The two air bearings 29 are shown schematically and mount the glass tube blank 3. The length-cutting device 27 can have, for example, a CO.sub.2 laser, which is indicated as a whole by reference sign 33, and an energy source 35, a laser device 37 along with a mirror device 39 for focusing a laser beam 41 onto the glass tube blank 3, along with a cooling device 43, by means of which a cooling-fluid jet 45 can be applied to the glass tube blank 3. As can be seen in FIG. 3, both the heating via the CO.sub.2 laser 33 and the cooling by means of the cooling device 43 take place locally, particularly at the same local point. This local point, which is provided with reference sign 47, represents that axial point on the glass tube blank 3 at which the glass tube blank 3 is deflected in order to form a glass container. This axial position is fixed. This is realized in that the length-cutting device 33 is positioned in a stationary manner and the glass tube blank 3 is translationally displaceable in the horizontal direction H, which is indicated by reference sign a. Alternatively, for example, a burner could also be provided, in order to heat the glass tube blank 3 locally.
[0060] FIG. 4 shows a frontal view according to FIG. 3 (viewed from the right in FIG. 3), wherein a spring-loaded scoring wheel 49 for pretreatment, particularly scoring, of the separation point 47 is additionally depicted. As can be seen in FIG. 4, the cooling-fluid jet 45 is oriented eccentrically with respect to the rotational axis R of the glass tube blank 3 and is directed essentially tangentially to an outer circumference 51 of the glass raw blank 3. It was found that the eccentricity or the offset has an advantageous effect on the effectiveness of the cooling of the heated glass tube blank 3.
[0061] FIGS. 5 to 7 explain an exemplary embodiment of an air bearing 29 according to the invention. In general, the air bearing 29 is designed in such a way that it allows contactless mounting of the glass tube blank 3 using the Bernoulli effect, wherein both a degree of freedom of rotation and a degree of freedom of translation are created, resulting in the particularly flexible system according to the invention for producing glass containers. The basic structure of the air bearing 29 can be seen in FIG. 5; the functionality of the air bearing 29 is described above all with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. The air bearing 29 can comprise an essentially flat support 53 and a housing 57, which forms a receptacle 55 for the glass tube blank 3 and is connected to the support 53. According to the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 5, the housing 57 is formed as an essentially cuboidal block, the extent of which is dimensioned to be greater in the rotational axis direction R of the glass tube blank than transversely to the rotational axis direction R. The glass tube blank 3 mounted by the air bearing 29 and inserted into the receptacle 55 is shown with dashes in FIG. 5 for better illustration of the air bearing 29.
[0062] Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the exemplary embodiment of the air bearing 29 is described in the sectional view as well as schematically its functionality. Particularly, FIG. 6 shows that the air bearing 29 has a multi-part design, particularly that the housing 57 has a multi-part design. The air bearing 29 comprises a base or base part 59, into which compressed-air channels 61, 63, which are oriented in FIG. 6 essentially in the vertical direction V, for connection to a compressed-air source or a compressed-air generator (not shown). The compressed-air channels 61, 63 end up to an end face 65 forming an upper side of the base 59. A cover part 67, which partially delimits the receptacle 55, is located above the base 59. The cover part 67 is placed onto the base part 59, forming two horizontally oriented compressed-air channels 71, 69, in which the vertical compressed-air channels 61, 63 respectively end. The horizontal compressed-air channels 69, 71 are also sealed laterally, particularly in a fluid-tight manner, by means of seals 73, 75. The housing part 67 has a recess, which is formed on its abutment upper side and which partially forms the receptacle 55. The hollow-cylindrical, rotationally symmetrical glass tube blank 3 is received and mounted in the receptacle 55. The cross-section of the receptacle 55 is adapted in sections to the shape of an outer circumference of the glass tube blank. The housing 67 delimits the receptacle 55 essentially on both lateral sides and has an essentially central recess 75, which ends in the receptacle 55 and into which an insert 79 forming a receptacle base 77 is inserted. The insert 79 is also furthermore received in a central recess 81 inside the base part 59.
[0063] The formation of a fluid connection between the compressed-air source (not shown) and the receptacle 55 via the compressed-air channels 61, 63, 71, 69 are crucial for the functionality of the air bearing 29. The insert 79 is recessed on both sides, i.e., assigned to the respective compressed-air channels 69, 71, forming a gap space 83, 85 oriented essentially in the vertical direction. Compressed air can pass via the gap space 83, 85 via the compressed-air channels to the receptacle 55. This means that the housing cover part 67 is arranged at a distance from the insert 79. The gap space 83, 85 increasingly tapers toward the receptacle 55, in order to bring about a sort of nozzle effect that is ultimately responsible for the Bernoulli effect for producing the bearing and/or holding force for the glass tube blank 3.
[0064] Referring to FIG. 7, the receptacle 55 is depicted in detail. It can be seen that the housing part 67 forms two lateral receiving flanks 87, 89 for delimiting the receptacle 55, which are essentially concavely curved at least in sections. Together with a likewise concavely curved receptacle base 77, which is formed by the insert 79, a receptacle 55 which is essentially adapted to the shape of an outer circumference of the glass tube blank 3 is formed, wherein it is ensured that there is a continuous distance between the glass tube blank 3 and receptacle walls 77, 87, 89. A compressed-air flow, which produces the air film between the glass tube blank 3 and the receptacle wall for contactlessly mounting the glass tube blank 3, is indicated by means of the arrow with reference sign 91. A distance, particularly a vertical distance, which is adjusted between the receptacle base 77 and the glass tube blank 3 and defines a gap space 93, is in the range of 0.05 mm to 0.5 mm, particularly approximately 0.2 mm. Viewed in the rotational axis direction R, an essentially uniform distance or gap exists between the glass tube blank 3 and the receptacle side flanks 87, 89 of approximately 0.05 mm to 0.15 mm, for example 0.09 mm. The gap spaces have proven to be advantageous in the system according to the invention for producing glass containers. For example, the compressed air provided by the compressed-air source is in a range of 1 bar to 4 bar.
[0065] The features disclosed in the above description, the figures and the claims may be important both individually and in any combination for realizing the invention in the various embodiments.
LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS
[0066] 1 System [0067] 3 Glass tube blank [0068] 5 Frame [0069] 7, 9, 11 Support column [0070] 13 Chuck [0071] 15 Clamping device [0072] 17 Feeding device [0073] 19 Linear guide [0074] 21 Rail [0075] 23 Guide carriage [0076] 25 Drive carriage [0077] 27 Length-cutting device [0078] 29 Air bearing [0079] 31 Rotational movement [0080] 33 CO.sub.2 laser [0081] 35 Energy source [0082] 37 Laser source [0083] 39 Mirror device [0084] 41 Laser beam [0085] 43 Cooling device [0086] 45 Cooling-fluid flow [0087] 47 Local cutting point [0088] 49 Scoring wheel [0089] 51 Outer circumference [0090] 53 Support [0091] 55 Receptacle [0092] 57 Housing [0093] 59 Base part [0094] 61, 63, 71, 69 Compressed-air channel [0095] 65 Upper side end face [0096] 67 Cover housing part [0097] 73, 75 Seal [0098] 77 Receptacle base [0099] 79 Insert [0100] 81 Recess [0101] 76 Recess [0102] 83, 85, 93 Gap space [0103] 87,89 Receptacle side flank [0104] 91 Compressed-air flow [0105] 93 Gap space [0106] 200 Tube cutter under the prior art [0107] 201 Glass tube blank [0108] 203 Jaw chuck [0109] 205 Positioning station [0110] 206 Separation operation [0111] 207, 209, 211 Stop plate [0112] 213 Glass container [0113] 215 Scoring device [0114] 217 Heating device [0115] 219 Cooling device [0116] 221 Warming device [0117] 223 Melting device [0118] A-K Tube cutter under the prior art stations [0119] B-D Positioning station [0120] E-J Separation operation [0121] V Vertical direction [0122] H Horizontal direction [0123] R Rotational direction [0124] a Translational movement
