SPE's Thermoforming Conference features parts competition.
Press Release Summary:
During SPE's Parts Competition, 3 winners were selected by Jury in both Heavy and Thin Gauge applications. Heavy Gauge winners were Round Bailer Door by Vitalo Industries, Spot Light Housing by AB Formplast, and Window for Electric Bicycle by Greijn Form Technics. Thin Gauge winners included Universal Blister for Knee Prothesis by Cartolux Thiers, Electronic Card Reader by Protective Pack, Syst/Plastistique', and Soup in the Air Cup by Faerch Plast.
Original Press Release:
3rd European Thermoforming Parts Competition at SPE's Thermoforming Conference, April 2010
The Parts Competition showed 33 very qualified thermoformed parts from European and American producers. Three winners were selected by the Jury in both Heavy and Thin Gauge applications.
Heavy Gauge winners were:
o "Round Bailer Door" made by 'Vitalo Industries', Belgium. The complete design and development was made by Vitalo, made of two formed ABS parts (inner-and outer skin) bonded together with glue by a robot system in combination with a plasma treatment.
o "Spot light housing" made by 'AB Formplast', Sweden. Material ABS. A quite difficult forming requiring tooling with several moveable parts. Parts show an even wall thickness distribution and a nice surface. This part was realized in thermoforming "against the odds".
o "Window for electric bicycle" made by 'Greijn Form Technics', The Netherlands. This fantastic drape forming is done with a perfect surface quality enabling plastics to be used instead of a traditional and a more heavy glass solution.
In Thin Gauge competition we tried to find winners in 3 different categories (Medical, Electronic and Food applications). It is always very difficult to find the winner as there were many very sophisticated interesting smart complicated packages from which we had to pick just 1 from its category.
Thin Gauge winners were:
o In Medical applications the winner was "Universal Blister for Knee Prothesis" produced by 'Cartolux Thiers', France.
This universal blister for knee produced from PETG is easy to use mainly because of its screw thread. It can be adjusted to a large range of prothesis size without any additional insert. One of the main difficulties of this innovative product was to ensure the geometry of the cover after cutting, and also for the retainer to ensure an easy unmolding despite of big undercuts in the screw thread.
o In Electronic applications the winner was "Electronic Card Reader" produced by 'Protective Pack, Syst/Plastistique', UK
This ingenious 'all in one' pack from recycled HDPE replaces the need for a complex corrugated die cut insert arrangement within the existing pack. Final product is enclosed it has a 360 degree protective wrap with shock absorption features designed into the pack. The finished pack size is also reduced considerably ensuring a sizeable reduction in vehicle movements for shipping - estimated reduction of one trailer load per month.
o In Food application the winner was "Soup in the Air Cup" produced by 'Faerch Plast', Denmark
The challenge of this special CPET soup tray was to create a packaging that could keep the soup in the tray which at the same time could equalize the air pressure in the airplane. It should also be able to let the steam out when heated in 20 minutes at 185°C in the air and it should be easy to handle for the cabin crew when serving. The grooves around the top edge are designed to let the pressure or steam out and keep the soup in.
The next European Thermoforming Pars competition will be organised in conjunction with the 8th European Thermoforming Conference to take place in April 2012.
