“Demand for laser marking systems is rising sharply. While packaging has to provide growing volumes of product information for end customers, it also has to ensure that products are fully traceable at all times. Applying a QR code with a laser is a solution with plenty of advantages,”

says Volker Sassmannshausen, Senior Product Manager Thermoforming at GEA in Wallau, Germany.

The GEA technology experts take an end-to-end approach to designing individual solutions. That includes overseeing everything from selecting the laser supplier and initial film test to optimally positioning the laser in the packaging line.

Lasers – the swift, sustainable solution

The complex codes can encode large amounts of data on a very small area. They can be applied to the packaging by laser at high printing speeds. The bundled light creates long-lasting markings on the top film that are impervious to external influences, including heat, abrasion, and water. As lasers don’t require consumables such as labels and ink, they have impressive sustainability credentials. Lasers are ideal as marking systems in the food and beverage packaging industry since they work just as well in dusty and moist operating environments.

Flexible laser placement

Different packaging processes require different approaches. Depending on production batch sizes, it’s possible to either mark the top film feed in advance or once it has passed through the thermoformer’s sealing station, but before the finished packaging units are cut apart.

For instance, a food industry customer opted for a laser marking system from Videojet to accompany its GEA thermoforming packaging machine. The chosen CO₂ laser solution was integrated at the GEA PowerPak system’s sealing station to print the top film before it is joined to the bottom tray. Despite the additional processing step, there is no increase in production time because labeling is accommodated within the integrated production process cycle.

Increased efficiency thanks to fewer film changes

When packaging similar products, using a laser can significantly boost machine efficiency since the only changes necessary are the ingredient lists, which can be accessed in the database. This means there is no need to switch to previously marked films in each case. Thanks to the reduced number of film changes, setup times are cut down. And that’s not all. The cost of consumables also decreases because they can be ordered in large quantities.

“Seamless interaction between components is the source of packaging machine efficiency. Given that the laser marking system and our thermoformer are engineered to be a perfect fit, they meet high throughput, quality, and product safety requirements,”

says Volker Sassmannshausen in conclusion.

The post GEA Integrates Laser Marking Systems into its Thermoforming Packaging Machines appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

The German expression, ”drilling of thick planks” has long since become a popular metaphor for persistence. Rarely mentioned is the welding of thick metal sheets, although persistence is also required for this, at least when established methods are used.

But users know this all too well, especially those who decide to use submerged-arc welding (SAW) or metal active gas (MAG) welding. For example, to join the thick steel walls of ships with butt-joint using both methods, a welding seam preparation must be made. When using the typical laser MAG hybrid technique, multilayers have to be welded. This takes time. When the sheets are thicker than 20 millimeters, often there is no other way than to weld them from two sides or to use a backing technique. It does not get any quicker and the next time-eater is already waiting because the high-heat input of the conventional welding methods leaves its traces. It influences the steel structures of the sheets beyond the seam area and can lead to a distortion in the components requiring intensive post-processing.

Now, seams created by MAG or SAW welding are undoubtedly very solid and can also tolerate a suboptimal seam preparation. In practice, they have proven themselves over many years. However, this does not mean that we cannot do it better, as the comparatively slow processes and material distortions that must be accepted at MAG welding pose an economic challenge. And this does not apply only to ship construction, the task of welding thick sheets is also given in other areas, for example, in pipe systems for oil and natural gas pipelines or at the foundations of offshore wind turbines. On each of these application fields, one question keeps presenting itself: how can the welding processes be made more efficient and thus more economical?

Among the popular welding methods for joining mainly thick sheets, laser welding is also possible. However, in the past, a wider field operation was avoided for the reason that laser spots were mostly too small to bridge the height offset and the big gap sizes. Until now only the laser MAG hybrid welding could withstand the practical demands of reconciling the
numerous process parameters of this method which still poses a challenge.

Laserline has a real alternative: a fiber-coupled high-power diode laser system with mirror optic was developed especially for welding thick sheets. It offers a 60 kW output power as well as a focusing with 400 mm focal length that creates a practice-oriented focal spot size of 2.7 mm.

In test runs, very convincing welding results were attained. Sheet thicknesses of up to 25 mm can be welded with this system completely one-sided and in only one single work step. The high intensity of the laser beam melts up the material more quickly and thus shortens the processing period, which includes already two processes progresses.

On the one hand, per welding direction, previously unachieved feed rates of up to two meters per minute can be realized. On the other hand, the heating of seam adjoining sheet areas will be minimized with the risk of material distortion reduced.

Three further typical challenges of thick metal welding — height offset, the existence of variable gap sizes, and a lack of precisely milled metal edges — pose no problems at all for diode lasers: gap sizes of up to 1 mm as well as a height offset of up to 2.5 mm are safely bridged, while imperfect metal edges are reliably joined. The outcomes are small, smooth, and clean welding seams with impressive stability and homogeneity.

The fiber-coupled 60 kW diode laser systems from Laserline present therefore a real alternative to established welding methods. The economic benefits of a quicker and material protecting process control are not all there is to it. The laser system and optic must also have no fear of the rough wind that blows in shipyards or in pipeline construction. They can withstand quite a bit, just like the welding seams they produce.

The post Laserline Welding of Thick Metal Sheets appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.