Packaging
JENOPTIK-VOTANTM P HANDLES PACKAGING MATERIAL WITH PRECISION AND HIGH ACCURACY
Friday 25. April 2008 - Laser is a modern and flexible tool. It never goes blunt, can be focused exactly and does not know inertia. These characteristics are at the back of the dramatic advance of material processing with laser in recent years. The application of laser can obtain productivity leaps and entirely new product features in many areas.
Laser can be applied to advantage in many areas which are not available to conventional methods or where such methods are of limited use; for example, if the quality obtained in manufacturing requires expensive rework which can be avoided if laser is used, if the potential high processing speed can be utilized fully, machines run in several shifts or where small batches or individual parts must be made.
A field in which laser can demonstrate its advantages in a very impressive manner is the processing of 2-dimensional web materials and composites. (photo 4)
JENOPTIK Automatisierungstechnik GmbH can look back on 15 years of development and industrial experience. The Jena-based company is a specialist in processing paperboard, composites of cardboard and plastic, cardboard, aluminum and plastic (photo 3) as well as single- or multi-layer plastic film for flexible packaging.
Scanner systems which move the laser beam across the material help generate virtually any contour and pattern at highest speed. The laser systems are integrated in production lines in which the material runs from reel to reel at speeds from 100 to 1000 m/min, depending on the material.
The laser systems JENOPTIK-VOTAN P are used in the production of packaging, especially for liquids, and for flexible packaging made of plastic film.
These systems generate patterns and structures by the following methods:
cutting (broaching, separating, intersecting)
perforating (Easy Ventilation)
scoring (Easy Opening, generation of defined break lines (photo 1), preweakening by cutting holes of defined depth (photo 2))
marking (safety codes)
combinations of these methods
Depending on the characteristics of the material, processing speeds between 100 and 1000 m/min can be achieved with the following parameters:
kerf width approx. 50 to 400 µm (depending on the material)
tolerance of the contour generated to the target contour < ± 0.5 mm
positional accuracy across direction of web run < ± 0.5 mm
positional accuracy in direction of web run < ± 0.2 mm
In addition to quality gains, the integration of laser equipment in production lines has other advantages as well. Due to the fact that mechanical half cutting tools, which are expensive and difficult to set, are not needed, geometrical shape and operating parameters can be changed ad lib and saved as parameter records. This reduces the changeover time to another product to an absolute minimum.
For integration in a production system, laser scan systems are arranged above the material processed; each laser scan system can operate separately. This compensates lack of homogeneity of the material and thickness variations in webs in which several products are running side by side. Normally, three and up to six laser scan systems can be arranged side by side.
Interested parties can extensively test the possible application of laser in their production environment at the Customer Application Centers of JENOPTIK in Jena and Detroit and assess the suitability of different systems for their own production processes. Highly experienced application engineers assist the customers carrying out such tests.
Visit us at Interpack Düsseldorf, booth D20, hall 8a from 24-30 April 2008.