DE3627670C1 - Plant for producing and packaging cigarettes - Google Patents

Abstract

In a plant for producing and packaging cigarettes, each production unit, comprising cigarette machine and packaging machines, is assigned a preparation area to which the consumable materials, comprising wrapping paper, cigarette paper, carton wrapping paper, box material, cardboard blanks, packaging blanks, metallised paper and cellophane or polypropylene are delivered on pallets, one article per pallet. The preparation area is spanned by a portal on which a robot can be moved in the horizontal direction. The robot passes the despatch carton blanks and the pack blanks to a corresponding feed device, while the other consumable materials, especially bobbins, are passed by the robot to a handling appliance of a trolley on an overhead electric rail, which trolley can move along a running rail to the individual consumption points. The handling appliance passes the consumable material to the respective consumption point, especially to a bobbin changer.

Description

The invention relates to a plant for manufacturing and packaging of cigarettes specified in the preamble of claim 1 Genus according to patent 35 19 580.

Modern cigarette machines can handle up to 8000 cigarettes per Minute so that the processing of this cigaret ten, namely their packaging in packages, containers ("bars") and finally, boxes not just of pure construction, but also from the "logistic" side, namely from the after pushing the consumables, big demands on both the development of the corresponding units as well as theirs expedient operation and spatial arrangement. There are therefore developed many different variants of such systems has been, and also from the point of view, the loading of the individual machines with the consumables, as with for example, parcel, container and carton blanks, containers impact paper, frame material, cigarette paper, base paper, aluminum foil lien and cellophane or polypropylene to simplify.  

For example, from DE-PS 27 18 125 a system for Manufacture and packaging of cigarettes two cigarette machines, one buffer storage each and a packing machine into a machine group are contained in the machines and the buffer memory enclose an operator station. The buffer storage neighboring machine groups are each one first cigarettes assigned to a machine group machine connectable while the second cigarette ma machine of this machine group with the corresponding second cigarette machine from a neighboring machine group pen can be connected directly. This is supposed to regarding the choice of the machine to be combined the type and size of the pack Flexibility can be made possible, although with direct Packing machines are fed via buffer reservoirs is worked.

This facility known as the "G-line" has the disadvantage, however, that at a manufacturing point, namely in a "G lineup", two cigarettes machines, a buffer tank and a packing machine are arranged, which creates problems in the economy load of the individual machines.

A similar system emerges from US Pat. No. 3,967,740, whereby between each cigarette machine and the associated packing machine a buffer storage for filled and empty cigarette container is provided so that each the machine can continue to run if the other is stopped.

To ensure the continuous production is from DE-AS 25 53 367 a plant for the production and  Packaging of cigarettes known to be the subject of dispensing quantity of each cigarette machine of each manufacturing unit is greater than the intake of the associated Packaging machine; still is at least one additional packaging machine provided that is not directly assigned to a cigarette making machine is; a transfer conveyor transports the excess cigarettes from the cigarette machines to the additional packaging machines, so that over longer-term differences between the Ejection of the cigarette machine and the absorption capacity the associated packaging machine.

Furthermore, from DE-OS 34 25 734 a plant for the production and packaging of cigarettes, in which the cigarette machine NEN, where appropriate, the associated filter attachment machine and assigned packaging units to complete production units are summarized. In these manufacturing units the manufactured cigarettes in aluminum foil and then in packets packed up. The parcels are made with cellophane or polypropylene wrapped and then into bars in a packaging machine summarized. The rods become one, several Carton packaging machine assigned to production units, in which the poles are packed in boxes.

During the "serial" arrangement of the individual units offers advantages from different points of view  and therefore should be maintained, especially from the point of view of the small space requirement, the short transport routes and thus the high ar working speeds, is the loading of the one not aggregates with the consumables optimally solved. Because while the tobacco and the filters can be fed pneumatically is at the known system according to DE-OS 34 25 734 a central Memory provided that several "production lines" loaded. The Ver supplies on trolleys, each matched to the individual, manufactured cigarettes, supplied, d. H., Each car contains a certain stock, for example Base paper, cigarette paper, wrapping paper, Cardboard blanks, pack blanks, aluminum foil and Cellophane or polypropylene. However, this requires time-consuming repackaging of the larger quantities Consumables from their original containers the wagons and especially the organizational expenditure Compilation of the various consumption measures quantities of material for the individual wagons.

As an alternative to this, it is also possible to use a relative to provide a large, stationary central warehouse in which but also the individual consumables, sorted by type, must be stored.

The loading of the individual units with the ver Consumables are made using a movable, with a robotic arm-equipped wagon that is either on Rails run between the central warehouse and the individual units wrong or with one  the additional trolley with the consumables can be coupled, so these cars to the respective ge consumption point and there the appropriate Unit loaded.

The well-known system poses organizational problems especially if on the individual manufacturing different cigarettes are produced should, because then appropriately picked consumption materials either the central, stationary warehouse or have to be fed to the mobile car. In addition, the entire system must usually except Be put into operation when the wheeled trolley with the robot arm fails because the manual loading because of the great distances between the central one Warehouse and the individual units is only possible with difficulty.

In the cigaret manufacturing and packaging line according to the main patent 35 19 580 a pallet conveyor system with arti clean supplies from the central warehouse to a staging area that is a manufacturing facility unit from a cigarette machine and the associated Packaging machines is assigned; the cigarettesma machines and the packaging machines of every production are by a U-shaped track for an overhead rotor arm connected to the Depending on the need, the consumables from the ready to the requesting cigarette or packaging machine of the production unit and the necessary tool change automatically carries out.  

The main advantages of this system are that each for the transport of the consumables required pallet only a special consumable rial, for example topping or cigarette paper, contains so that the pallets with this consumable rial only transported, but no longer consigned must be sioned, d. that is, from delivery to repacking is not necessary at the staging area, Rearrange or compile the various Consumables more needed. Of this The consumables will be made available as required by a freely programmable robot ter arm lifted from the pallet and the respective Aggregate fed.

However, it has now been found that the Trans port of the various consumables from the Pallets on the staging area at the respective problems with the machine; this is based especially on the big differences in weight of the individual consumables, being special lifting and transporting the relatively heavy ones Carton blank stack using a freely programmable robotic arm is not easily possible.

In addition, such a mobile robot arm in the Only relatively light compared to its own weight Lift loads so that the system can also be adjusted the main patent 35 19 580 only with certain restrictions can be used.

The invention is therefore based on the object Plant for the production and packaging of cigarettes to create the specified genus, in which the above mentioned disadvantages do not occur.  

In particular, a system is to be proposed in which no picking of the individual consumables more is needed, and the problem-free transport of the packaging material lien from the staging area to the individual machines enables.

This is according to the invention by the characteristic Part of claim 1 specified features achieved.

Appropriate embodiments are characterized by the features of subclaims.

The advantages achieved with the invention are based on following functionality:

The staging area with the pallets for the ver various consumables, such as Alumi nium foils, frame material, polypropylene or cello phan, the pack blanks, for example the so-called called "Hinge-Lid (HL) packs", the shipping carton Blanks, the reels for the cigarette paper, the Mouthpiece covering paper and the wrapping paper, is spanned by a portal on which a robot move in the level of the portal, the robot arm around horizontal axes pivoted and the wrist of the Robot arm can be rotated around its axis. This robot can therefore be placed in such a position conditions that the robot arm Cuts on the respective pallets of the ready location and can take off.

The robot has a dual function: it leads on the one hand, the blanks for further transport system, generally a conveyor belt, to this Cuts from the staging area to the corresponding one Machine brings; the robot arm also transfers the Bobbins  a handling device of an electric monorail system (EMS), on a rail mounted overhead passing various machines and the bobbins hands over to the respective reel changer.

The handling device of the electric monorail system can also remove the empty cores of the bobbins and place them on an ent speaking stacking place at the staging area len.

The electric monorail system is not software-based ge by simple sensors on the walking machine controls.

The cuts are made by the movable on the portal Robots directly on the corresponding feeder parked. This allows both the portal Robot as well as the handling device of the electric hanging Design the track relatively easily, as it is for the Trans port of the aforementioned consumables required is.

The handling device of the trolley of the electric monorail can be pivoted around a horizontal pivot point the one who in turn went in a horizontal direction ren, so that there is a large radio action us of this handling device, so every Bobi changer can be easily reached. To the Sliding bobbins onto the bobbin changer, or Removing the bobbin cores is the handling device the electric monorail with an initial lift. Otherwise every single bobbin changer would have to deal with it be prepared.  

With low alternating frequencies, it is sufficient if only a single location is provided on the bobbin from the robot arm of the portal to the handling device be handed over to the electric suspension railway. At high Alternating frequencies, i.e. at high Ar processing speeds of the manufacturing unit also two or even more transfer points are provided will.

Electric hangers that can be used for the purpose described Lanes are readily available, so no too additional extreme design effort required is. The required handling devices can also can be easily obtained.

The invention is based on an Ausfüh Example with reference to the schematic drawings explained in more detail. It shows

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a plant for the production and packaging of cigarettes, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through this system, with different positions of the robot arm and the handling device or the trolley of the electric suspension railway.

The apparent from the figures, generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 system for the production and packaging of cigarettes has a conventional ciga-making machine 12 to which the tobacco (not shown) is pneumatically fed. At the Cigarettenmaschi ne 12 a reel changer 14 is provided for the Cigarettenpa pier; it is followed by a filter attachment machine 16 , to which the filter rods are fed pneumatically (not shown). The filter attachment machine 16 contains a further bobbin changer 18 for the mouthpiece covering paper.

After leaving the filter attachment machine 16 , the finished filter cigarettes reach a packet packing machine 20 . In the event of overproduction of cigarettes, they are fed to a cigarette store 19 . On the parcel packaging machine 20 there is a reel changer 22 for the metallized paper, in particular an aluminum foil, furthermore a reel changer 24 for the frame material and a feed device 26 for the parcel blanks, for example hinge-lid (HL) blanks from the feed device 27 , e.g. B. a conveyor belt.

The filled cigarette packs are fed to a machine combination 30 which contains a cellophane dispenser, a pack packer, a reel changer 32 for the cellophane or polypropylene and a reel changer 34 for the wrapping paper. The packer packer thus leave the rod-shaped packs also referred to as "cigarette sticks" or "vending machine packs" and are fed to a pack storage device 36 which, like a machine combination 30 connected packets storage 28, fulfills the buffer function.

From the container storage 36 , the cigarettes stan come to a carton packer 40 , which contains a stock of cardboard cutouts and a transport and positioning device 38 for the shipping carton blanks. The transport and positioning device 38 brings the individual shipping box blanks into the position in which the packer 40 takes them over.

The fully packaged cartons are transported vertically upwards to a conveyor belt 44 via a carton riser 42 , which deposits the cartons on another conveyor belt for removal, for example to a high-bay warehouse.

The transport route of the cigarettes through the system 10 is indicated by the fine dash-dotted lines.

The spatial listing of the individual units, he follows, similar to what is known from DE-PS 27 18 125, in the form of the letter "G". On one side of this spatial arrangement, namely on the opposite side of the filter attachment machine 16 , there is a staging area to which the consumable materials are supplied item-purely by means of an automated guided vehicle system (not shown) on their pallets. The consumables are thus parked on their transport pallets at the appropriate locations of the staging area without picking, as can be seen from FIG. 1, with other pallets for bobbins with aluminum foils 54 , frame material bobbins 56 , polypropylene bobbins 58 , HL blanks 60 , shipping carton blanks 61 , cigarette paper bobbins 62 , mouthpiece covering paper bobbins 64 and wrapping paper bobbins 67 are provided.

In addition, a further pallet space 68 is indicated in FIG. 1, which can take up additional small material and can be used for the shot and waste disposal.

The driverless floor conveyor system thus brings the individual pallets with the various, "item-pure" consumables to the staging area and places the pallets at the locations shown in FIG. 1, for example.

The staging area with the various pallets is spanned by a portal 46 , which has two vertical supports 48, 50 and a horizontal traverse 52 ; the two vertical supports 48, 50 are located at the two outer ends, so that the traverse 52 extends across all pallets with the consumables.

A robot 66 (see FIG. 2) can be moved in the horizontal direction on the traverse 52 of the portal 46 . Its robot arm has two articulated arm elements 70, 71 , each of which can be pivoted about a horizontal axis, as can be seen in FIG. 2; there are a total of four different layers of the two arm elements 70, 71 of the robot arm Darge; in the left position, the lower robot arm 71 can grasp material bobbins 56 which are located on the left edge of the associated pallet 63 ; in the right th, lower position of the two arm elements 70, 71 HL blanks 60 are detected.

In addition, the two arm elements 70, 71 are shown in the transfer position, that is, in the position in which the bobbin 56 is a handling device of the trolley of an electric suspension railway (EMS) to be explained. Finally, a further, higher position of the two arm elements 70, 71 is indicated, as is necessary for the transfer of the HL blanks 60 to the feed device 27 of the parcel packing machine 20 .

At the lower end of the lower arm element 71 there is a gripper 73 , the bobbin, and a gripper 73 ' , which can grip blanks. In order to be able to automatically change and align the tools 73, 73 ' for detecting the bobbins or the stack of blanks, the lower arm element 71 is fitted with a wrist 75 which is rotatably mounted about its axis.

The individual cigarette, filter attachment and packaging machines of this manufacturing unit are connected by an approximately 3.5 m high rail 72 (indicated in FIG. 1 by the thick dash-dotted line) of an electric hanging track, which runs along the Rail 72 movable carriage 74 has. This carriage 74 carries a handling device 76 which can be pivoted about a horizontal axis 78 , as can be seen on the right in FIG. 2. Is also the swivel axis can be moved in the horizontal direction, as also shown in Fig. 2 indicated the left of the carriage 74 in the transfer position and on the right the carriage 74 with two different pivot positions and horizontal positions showing the handling device 76th

The required for the various movements of the handling device 76 and the carriage 74 Elektromoto ren are fed via a power supply embedded in the rail 72 .

The robot 66 is thus moved along the traverse 52 of the portal 46 into a position above a pallet on which the desired consumable is located, that is to say as shown in FIG. 2 via a pallet 63 with bobbins 56 for the frame material. The gripper 73 of the lower arm element 71 takes a bobbin 56 and pivots it upwards into the transfer position (see FIG. 2).

In parallel, the robot 66 moves the bobbin 56 into the horizontal transfer position; In Fig. 1, two such transfer positions are indicated by the arrows 87, 84 . If the frequency of change is low, a single transfer point is also sufficient, for example transfer point 87 .

The robot 66 therefore travels to the transfer point 87 or 84 , which is the cheapest, taking into account the position of the pallet on the one hand and the current position of the carriage 74 of the electric monorail on the other.

This transfer point is determined by a central computer that controls the robot 66 and the carriage 74 .

At the respective transfer point 87, 84 , the robot 66 meets the bobbin 56 on the one hand and the carriage 74 on the other hand, the handling device 76 of which takes over the bobbin 56 (see FIG. 2). Now the carriage 74 travels along the rail 72 to the associated bobbin changer, so in the situation shown in FIG. 2 to the bobbin changer 24 for the frame material on the packet packing machine 20 , so that the bobbin 56 can be inserted into the bobbin changer 24 .

The blanks are removed by the robot 66 directly from the associated pallet and placed on the feed device 38, 27 , which feeds them to the corresponding packaging machine.

As an alternative to this, the floor conveyor system can also place the relatively heavy blanks for the shipping cartons directly on the transport and positioning device 38 .

The remaining bobbins, however, are made in the same way, as described for the frame material, with the electrical suspension railway to the point of consumption brings.

If the driverless floor conveyor system fails, the item-free pallets can be brought to the staging area in the usual way with forklifts; further operation is possible even if the robot 66 or the electric overhead conveyor fails, because in the event of an emergency the consumables can be fed in by hand due to the relatively short transport distances between the staging area and the individual units.

The electric overhead conveyor is positioned by switches.

A central computer controls the electric overhead conveyor and the robot 66 , so that the structure is simple and therefore robust.

The handling device 76 of the electric overhead conveyor also removes the empty cores of the bobbins at the individual bobbin changers and guides them to a corresponding stacking place at the staging area, for example the pallet 68 shown in FIG. 1.

Claims (12)

1. Plant for the production and packaging of cigarettes

• a) with a cigarette machine,
• b) with packaging machines for packaging the cigarettes in packages, containers and cartons,
• c) with a floor conveyor system for the transport of pallets with item-free consumables from a central warehouse to a staging area which is assigned to a production unit consisting of a cigarette machine and the associated packaging machines,
• d) with a mobile robotic arm for lifting the consumables from the staging area, and
• e) with a U-shaped guide rail connecting the cigarette machine and the packaging machines of each production unit for an overhead robot arm which, as required, brings the consumables from the staging area to the requesting cigarette machine or packaging machine of the production unit according to patent 35 19 580,

characterized by the following features:

• f) at the staging area, a different pallet with the consumables spanning portal ( 46 ) is provided;
• g) a robot (1st robot arm) ( 66 ) can be moved along the horizontal crossbar ( 52 ) of the portal ( 46 ), the consumables, in particular bobbins, the handling device ( 76 ) (2nd robot arm) one along the running rail ( 72 ) Movable Wa gens ( 74 ) feeds an electric overhead conveyor and the (1st robot arm) automatically performs the tool change required for this; and
• h) the handling device ( 76 ) transfers the respective consumable to the associated machine ( 12; 16; 20; 30; 40 ).

2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the handling device ( 76 ) passes the reel to the reel liner ( 14; 18; 22; 24; 32; 34 ) of the associated machine. 3. Installation according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the robot ( 66 ) transfers the parcel blanks to a feed device ( 27 ) of the parcel packing machine ( 20 ). 4. Plant according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the floor conveyor system shipping carton blanks another transport and positioning system ( 38 ) which brings them to a carton packer ( 40 ). 5. Plant according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the robot ( 66 ) lifts the shipping cardboard blanks from the pallet and passes a trans port and positioning system ( 38 ) which brings them to a carton packer ( 40 ) . 6. System according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the robot ( 66 ) has two pivotable about horizontal axes arm elements ( 70, 71 ) and a rotatable about its axis wrist ( 75 ), and that on the lower arm element Gripper ( 73 ) is provided. 7. Plant according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the handling device ( 76 ) is pivotable about a horizontal axis which can be moved in the horizontal direction. 8. Plant according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the electric motors of the electric suspension ge-Bahn are fed via the embedded in the track ( 72 ) power supply lines. 9. Plant according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the handling device ( 76 ) takes the empty cores of the reels and feeds a corresponding stacking place ( 68 ) at the staging area. 10. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the carriage ( 74 ) of the electrical suspension track can be controlled by sensors on the running rail ( 72 ). 11. Installation according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a central computer is present, which coordinates the movement of the carriage ( 74 ) of the electro-hanging track and the robot ( 66 ) and takes over the material disposition.