Products honored in Plastics for Life competition at Antec

Detroit — General Motors Co. won the grand prize in the Plastics for Life Global Parts Competition for a thick polycarbonate light bar for LED styling in headlamps on the 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup truck. The "sculpted ice" light bar uses a novel light-pipe design that incorporates special multishot thick molding, tooling and processing.

The Society of Plastics Engineers named the winners of the Plastics for Life awards during SPE's Antec 2019 conference, held March 18-21 in Detroit.

For the grand prize-winning part, Valeo Lighting Systems is the Tier 1 supplier. GM used Covestro LLC's crystal polycarbonate. The mold maker is Proper Group International Inc. Because of the large, complex shape of the part, the tooling required a modified surface plus a special ejection design to properly eject the thick light bar.

The light bar was a winner at the 2018 SPE automotive division's awards gala.

Judges selected the Plastics for Life winners from among parts that had already won in competitions at SPE conferences during the past year. Products winning the Plastics for Life competition were deemed to make people's lives better in some way.

A People's Choice Award was also presented to the part that gained the largest number of votes by Antec attendees. At the Detroit Antec, the winner was a 6-gallon container, called a carboy, used in fermenting in the brewing industry. The wide-neck container is blow molded from HDPE to replace glass carboys, which can break and also have narrow necks that are hard to clean.

TricorBraun Inc. had submitted the part for the parts competition at the SPE's Annual Blow Molding Conference on behalf of Brewcraft USA. The blow molder is Western Case Inc. of Riverside, Calif.

The Improving Life Award went to the ThermaPanel, a modular liquid heat transfer system for heating and cooling exterior and interior systems, thermoformed by Therma-Hexx of Portsmouth, N.H.

ThermaPanel's main applications are efficient snow melting of pavement and collecting solar energy to heat swimming pools while also cooling the pool patio at the same time. The patented turbulent flow channel design transfers 250 percent more energy than traditional heat exchange systems with laminar flow properties.

Therma-Hexx does twin-sheet thermoforming to make the panels, using polyethylene on a shuttle-type former with molds that allow for the creation of a multichannel panel with stanchions and inlets that allow for even, turbulent flow of the hydronic fluid throughout the modular panel. Individual panels are interconnected using plastic pipe in a secondary process that fusion welds the panels together using extruded, raised-temperature polyethylene tubes.

The Protecting Life Award was presented to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV for an integrated tire carrier, rear camera and brake light assembly on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler. The hybrid composite technology uses magnesium injection molding for higher structural strength and reduced weight as well as polymer overmolding for improved impact and corrosion resistance. The new design also eliminates the need for a steel bracket. Toledo Molding & Die Inc. is the Tier 1 supplier. Tooling comes from Leggera Technologies LLC.

The integrated part is 60 percent lighter than metal stamping and 20 percent lighter than die casting. The load rating was improved from 85 pounds to 115 pounds. Cost savings was 20 percent.

The part won an award at the SPE automotive division's awards event.

The Quality of Life Award went to SPI Blow Molding LLC of Coloma, Mich., for a lightweight portable cargo box called the PickUp Tuck. It can be installed or taken out in minutes, without tools. The product, which weighs less than 30 pounds, folds together and stores behind the seat of a pickup truck.

SPI blow molds parts for the cargo box from high density polyethylene. The product has some unique plastic design features — especially an integral, snap-on single hinge between the panels. The adjustable cargo box weighs less than 30 pounds. The hinged box folds together and stores behind the seats when not wanted or needed.

The part is designed for single-cavity tooling to mold either side of the back panel, as the tooling configuration replaces left and right parts with a universal part. American Tool & Engineering Inc. made the mold. The designer was 99 Studio Inc. of Naperville, Ill.

The cargo box won an award at the SPE's Annual Blow Molding Conference.

The Sustaining Life Award went to the Simply Orange juice bottle, from Coca-Cola Co.

The 89-ounce bottle is formed from extrusion-blow-molded PET. The bottle is lighter than the previous container, which was made of glycol-modified PET, and it is 100 percent recyclable, the companies said.

The high-gloss bottle met or exceeded standard requirement for drop impact strength.

The Simply Orange bottle also has won a design award from the Association of Plastic Recyclers.

Atlanta-based blow molder CKS Packaging Inc. and Thai chemicals maker Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd. teamed to make the bottle, which earlier won an award at the Annual Blow Molding Conference.