DE20114959U1 - Handle bar check for plastic bottle crates - Google Patents

Description

PATENT AND LAWYERS MEINKE, DABRINGHAUS AND PARTNER GbR

APPROVED BY THE EUROPEAN PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE EUROPEAN PATENT AND TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS*

PATENT ATTORNEYS*

JULIUS MEINKE, dipl.-ing. WALTER DABRINGHAUS, dipl.-ing. JOCHEN MEINKE ₁ dipl.-ing.

LAWYER

14 959.1 thomasmeinke

ROSA-LUXE MBURG-STRASSE 44141 DORTMUND

TELEPHONE (0231)58 41 90 TELEPHONE (0231) 14 76 70 info@patent-recht.cte

PO BOX 10 46 45

44046 Dortmund, 3 April 2002

DRESDNER BANK AG DTMD, Account No. 1 148 047 (bank code 440 800 50) POSTBANK DORTMUND, Account No. 542 02-463 (bank code 440 100 46)

FILE NO. 6/16608 D/S

Applicant: Volk & Nadenau GmbH, 44149 Dortmund

"Handle bar inspection on plastic bottle crates '

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"Handle bar inspection on plastic bottle crates"

The invention relates to a device for checking the handles and edge strips of plastic bottle crates of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1.

Plastic bottle crates for holding drinks bottles are used in large quantities in the reusable system, i.e. they are often filled and then made available to the customer, who then returns the crates with empties and cleans them, refills them, etc. They are subjected to very different stresses, such as summer, winter, day and night temperature fluctuations, relatively hard impacts during transport, and there are also types of plastic that become somewhat brittle over time, so that breakages can occur.

Particularly unpleasant are the breaks in the handles of these boxes, although these are the most common, as the boxes are loaded relatively one-sidedly, and the entire weight of a full box is then transferred to the handle in the hand of the person carrying it. The handle is often bent so that it can break. If you grab a broken handle, you may not notice it at first, as the broken pieces are very precise.

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If the handles do not fit together, this can lead to crushing of the palm of the hand or fingers. Parts of the handle can break off and the crate falls to the ground, causing the glass bottles inside to break.

Since bottle crates are usually fed through automatic filling systems with pre-cleaning etc., it is possible to incorporate an inspection of the handles and edge strips into the overall concept, which nowadays is often only done by people on the conveyor lines, who check by initial visual perception whether unusable empty bottle crates are being transported.

Testing devices for checking the usability of plastic containers that use ultrasonic testing equipment are known, for example from EP-O 039 494. Another testing device using the same ultrasonic principle is shown in DE-30 17 207-Al, whereby a device for the non-destructive testing of sheet metal and strips is described in general from the testing area in DT-26 04 651-Al. Details about the integration of these testing devices into an automatic filling system cannot be found in these literature references.

This is where the invention comes in, the purpose of which is to provide a device for checking the handles and edge strips

of plastic bottle crates, which in particular enables fully automatic operation and sorting out of defective crates.

To solve this problem, the invention provides the features
of claim 1.

This simple and practical design of the invention
makes it easy to access the boxes
from above is just as possible as the possibility of using the inventive
Construction of existing systems with simple
means, whereby most of the box positions
are easily accessible for measuring instruments due to the portal construction.

It has been shown that ultrasonic testing equipment is able to detect even the finest cracks in the handle area of bottle crates, with the possibility of detecting already opened
Handlebars, which can be achieved by
human eye is often not possible.

Embodiments of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

It is useful if the first ultrasonic test station has a turnstile turning station for turning the

The box to be tested is rotated by 90° and followed by a second ultrasonic testing device. This tandem arrangement of the testing device with an intermediate turnstile makes it possible to subject all four upper handles of a box, both the slightly longer and the slightly shorter ones, to a corresponding break test.

It is advisable to have an ejector arranged downstream of the second ultrasonic testing device, which ejects boxes that are identified as faulty in the movement path of the boxes, at right angles to the conveying direction of the boxes.

The invention also provides that a further rotating device for rotating the crates back into the desired conveying position on the crates conveying path is arranged downstream of the ejector. This is particularly useful when, for example, the machines that place the bottles in the crates are arranged in a preferred access direction of the conveying path, i.e. they always require the crates to be fed in the same orientation.

Further features, details and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawing. This shows in

Fig. 1 is a side view of the device according to the invention and

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device approximately according to arrow II in Fig. 1.

The device according to the invention, generally designated 1, is integrated as a module together with a conveyor system into the transport track, designated 2, of a bottle crate filling system, whereby the design of the conveyor lines of this system is not important here.

The device 1 is equipped with its own conveyor line, designated 3, on which the bottle crates, generally designated 4, move, which are to be checked. The bottle crates are introduced into the device 1, for example, from the left, designated in Fig. 2 with an arrow 5. At the first portal 6, a pair of ultrasonic testing devices, generally designated 7, are mounted in such a way that they can reach into the bottle crate 4 from the inside, to such an extent that the handles or edge strips designated 4a can be scanned and checked for breakages.

The ultrasonic testing equipment 7 is followed by a turnstile 8 for rotating the boxes 4 by 90°, as is the case with

for example from Fig. 2. If the box is in the rotated position, another pair of ultrasonic testing devices 7a follows on another portal 6 to test the other handle or edge strip 4a.

If, based on the electronic evaluation of the measurement result, the associated control device (not shown in detail) reports that one of the boxes 4 does not meet the desired requirements, e.g. has a broken edge 4a, the second pair of ultrasonic test devices 7a is followed by an ejector 9 arranged at 90° to the conveyor track 3, which pushes the corresponding defective box onto another conveyor 10.

Depending on the position in which the boxes 4 are to be conveyed, a further turnstile 8a can be provided in the path of movement of the boxes, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

At this point it should be noted that in addition to the ultrasonic testing equipment, other testing equipment can also be positioned on the portals 6, such as pressure rollers that check the deformation of the handles and can thus draw conclusions about their condition, or similar, in addition to the ultrasonic testing equipment assigned to the same testing stations or replacing them, depending on the design of the plastic boxes.

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Claims (4)

1. Device ( 1 ) for checking the handles and edge strips ( 4a ) of plastic bottle crates ( 4 ) with a conveyor line ( 2 , 3 ) moving the bottle crates ( 4 ) and at least one pair of ultrasonic testing devices (7) which can be moved from a position above the crates ( 4 ) to a position engaging in the crates and which scan the handles or the upper edges ( 4a ) of the moving crate ( 4 ), characterized in that the ultrasonic testing devices ( 7 ; 7a ) are provided on portals ( 6 ) bridging the conveyor line ( 2 , 3 ). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the first ultrasonic testing station ( 7 ) is followed by a turnstile turning station ( 8 ) for rotating the box to be tested ( 4 ) by 90° with a second ultrasonic testing device ( 7a ) following this rotating device ( 8 ). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that an ejector ( 9 ) for boxes identified as faulty is arranged downstream of the second ultrasonic testing device ( 7a ) transversely to the conveying direction of the boxes ( 4 ) in the movement path of the boxes. 4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a further rotating device ( 8a ) for rotating the boxes back ( 4 ) into the desired conveying position on the conveying path of the boxes is arranged downstream of the ejector ( 9 ).