In Murmansk, Russia, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, the packaging workshop of a certain aquatic product company faces the challenge of low temperatures below -30¡æ all year round. In the winter of 2023, the company introduced the third-generation cold-resistant pillow packaging machine of Ply-Pack, which achieved a zero sealing failure record in an extreme low temperature environment for three consecutive months with its innovative dynamic temperature control sealing technology, creating a new era of stable operation of ultra-low temperature packaging equipment.
Low temperature dilemma of traditional sealing technology
The heat sealing device of conventional packaging machines generally has two major pain points in low temperature environments: one is that the sealing knife causes pressure imbalance due to metal shrinkage, and the other is that the packaging film produces microcracks due to low temperature embrittlement. When inspecting the sites of many customers in Northern Europe, the ply-pack technical team found that even if thickened composite film materials were used, when the ambient temperature dropped below -25°C, the leakage rate of the packaging bag would still increase sharply to more than 15%, seriously restricting the long-distance transportation safety of frozen foods and chemical products.
Innovative breakthrough of dual-mode temperature control system
In response to this industry problem, the ply-pack engineering team pioneered the "staged dynamic temperature control sealing technology". The core of this technology is to conduct precise temperature intervention in the sealing process:
.Preheating stage: 0.5 seconds before the film enters the sealing area, the packaging film is locally heated to 8-12¡æ through a non-contact infrared array to restore the ductility of the material;
.Constant pressure sealing stage: Silicon carbide ceramic tools are used in conjunction with a PID precise temperature control system to stabilize the sealing temperature at 140±2¡æ, which is 40% higher than the heat conduction efficiency of traditional copper tools;
.Gradient cooling module: After the sealing is completed, the three-level air cooling system is started to evenly reduce the sealing part from 140¡æ to -20¡æ within 3 seconds to avoid stress cracks caused by sudden temperature changes.
In the actual measured data of Murmansk customers, this technology makes the low-temperature sealing strength of PE/PP composite film reach 92% of that at normal temperature, completely solving the leakage problem of salmon vacuum packaging in extremely cold environments.
Intelligent compensation mechanism to cope with extreme fluctuations
To further improve the reliability of the technology, the R&D team developed an environmental adaptive system. Through 18 temperature sensors distributed in key parts of the equipment, the operating environment data is collected in real time. When the ambient temperature is monitored to be lower than -30¡æ, the following compensation mechanisms are automatically activated:
· Sealing pressure is increased by 8%-12% to offset the shrinkage effect of metal components
· Infrared preheating time is extended by 30%
· Cooling fan speed is reduced by 20% to prevent excessive embrittlement
This intelligent system withstood the extreme cold test of -42¡æ in January this year, and maintained a sealing accuracy of 0.01mm in 72 hours of continuous operation.
Technology radiation drives industry upgrade
This sealing technology has now been expanded to special fields such as energy and medicine in Russia:
· Customized cold-resistant aluminum foil bag packaging equipment for a petrochemical company in Siberia, successfully packaging special lubricants under -50¡æ working conditions;
· Polar-specific sealing film materials developed in conjunction with the Moscow State Institute of Materials have extended the storage period of vitamin preparations at the Arctic research station by 6 months;
Currently, ply-pack is modularizing this technology and launching a low-temperature sealing upgrade kit that can be adapted to existing production lines. Tests show that after the traditional packaging machine is equipped with this kit, the sealing qualification rate in a -30¡æ environment can be increased from 78% to 99.6%, and the modification cost is only 1/5 of the purchase cost of a new machine.
With the acceleration of commercial development of the Arctic route, ply-pack dynamic temperature control sealing technology is redefining the industrial packaging standards in polar environments and building a reliable technical moat for customers in cold regions around the world.
