EP0589157A1 - Proces and apparatus for fixing a spout to a container - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for attaching a closable pouring device (6) to the hole in the top floor (4) of a pack (5). This device has a mandrel wheel (2) which is driven to rotate intermittently about an axis of rotation (3). The mandrel wheel is provided with four mandrels (1) projecting radially from a near (9). In order to save machine and material costs for the product and to improve the reliability and hygiene requirements during the attachment process, the invention provides that in the area of the outer circumference of the mandrel wheel (2) at angular intervals with respect to the axis of rotation (3), a mounting station (I), then a heating station (II, II '), then a sealing station (III) and a stripping station (IV) are arranged such that the outer end of each mandrel (1) can be successively brought into engagement with the stations (I-IV). <IMAGE>

Description

Many packs are known, the top of which has at least one surface covered with thermoplastic material and a hole which must be closed so that it can be opened with a closable pouring device. For example, there are liquid packs, in particular for milk or juices, which are provided with closable pouring devices after or before filling and are closed in an openable manner.

It has also already been proposed to create liquid packs from a thermoformable plastic material by connecting two deep-drawn half-shells, so that this results in a plasticiser pack with an upper floor in which a hole is provided for filling. Attempts have also been made to connect the hole to a pouring device which is still in the open state when the package is still unfilled, so that the plasticizer can be filled through the still open pouring device and through the hole in the top of the package.

The in-house attempts to attach such a pouring device in the hole in the top of a superplasticizer package have resulted in closures which can still be improved in-house.

Also proposed are two-part pouring devices which are connected to one another by a hinge, the annular lower part of which has a pouring opening which can be tightly closed by the closure part articulated via the hinge by folding over it. Such a pouring device has an open state in which the closure part is pulled out and opened relative to the lower part via the articulated hinge; and a closed position in which the closure part is pivoted down and pressed into the lower part with the aid of the hinge-like joint in such a way that the pouring opening is tightly closed by the closure part.

The present invention is now concerned with attaching such a pouring device to the hole in the top floor of a package which has a material which is sealable with the plastic material of the pouring device, either continuously or on the surface.

The object of the present invention is to provide an attachment method and an attachment device of the type mentioned with which reliability and hygiene requirements during the attachment process can be improved, while saving machine and material costs for the product.

This object is achieved in that the pouring device is heated and inserted between at least two recently deep-drawn partial packaging shells where there are corresponding recesses in the partial packaging shells, with the surfaces of which the pouring device is sealed by simultaneously pouring the pouring device and the at least two partial packaging shells under Press on at the sealing temperature of the surfaces to be joined. Due to the deep-drawing process for the production of the partial packaging shells, which are preferably half-shells, these are still at a temperature which is higher than the environment, i.e. they contain residual heat. A short time (half a to five seconds, preferably one to two seconds) after the deep-drawing process has been completed, the two partial packaging shells are moved towards one another to form a hollow overall package, while at the same time the heated pouring device is inserted at a specific, desired point in between and held in such a way that the at least three parts to be sealed together are brought together at the same time. This makes it possible to press and seal the pouring device against the at least two partial packaging shells using the residual heat. This clearly saves costs for both the machine and the material for the product, and at the same time improves both the reliability and the hygiene conditions of the new packaging. It goes without saying that the pouring device is attached in a corresponding recess in the partial packaging shells, that is to say along mutually correspondingly shaped surfaces.

With regard to the device, the object is achieved in that in the area of the outer circumference of the mandrel wheel at angular intervals with respect to the axis of rotation, a mounting station, then a heating station, then a sealing station and a stripping station are arranged in such a way that the outer end of each mandrel is gradually moved in succession the stations can be engaged. The pouring device is advantageously preheated. They are preferably attached using the residual heat present in the pack.

It can be imagined that a pouring device is attached to the hole in the pack wall by adhering additionally applied adhesive, by additionally applied hotmelt or by spraying a corresponding pouring device directly on the hole in the top floor of the pack. None of these conceivable measures uses the invention, rather, in the new attachment device, a mandrel wheel is movably attached within four stations in such a way that the mandrel in question is brought into engagement with the individual stations one after the other, so that in the first placement station the hole with the pack Pouring device to be connected is placed and held on the mandrel so that it is then brought together with the pouring device to a heating station is, in which heat is preferably applied from the outside to the sealing and preferably annular surface of the pouring device for heating the plastic until a sealable state is reached; after which by further movement of this mandrel there is an engagement with a sealing station in which the pouring device is connected to the latter by being pressed against the corresponding inner surfaces of the hole in the top floor of the pack; and finally the outer end of the mandrel is brought into engagement with a stripping station, in which the pouring device is stripped from the mandrel with the packing firmly sealed to it and fed to other devices which are connected downstream of the attachment device according to the invention.

The novel attachment device for the pouring devices can significantly reduce the leakage rate for liquid packs. With a technically simpler device, high-throughput plastic packaging can be reliably provided with pouring devices such that e.g. after this pouring device has been fitted, the pack can be filled and then the pouring device can be closed. There is no need to add adhesives or additional amounts of hot melt, so that the hygiene of the application process can also be considerably improved.

According to the invention, it is particularly expedient if the mandrel wheel is translationally movable in line from the mounting station to the sealing station and vice versa and if the heating station is constructed in two separate stages, the distance between the preheating stage and the final heating stage being equal to the stroke of the mandrel wheel during its translational movement is. Although this additional translational movement possibility for the mandrel wheel means an effort compared to a rotatable mandrel wheel, this technically easily manageable additional measure enables the four stations mentioned to be brought into engagement with the outer end of the respective mandrel in short space in a very short space , so that the output of the device according to the invention is large, although the attachment of the pouring device is very reliable and takes into account high hygiene requirements. The additional translational movement of the mandrel wheel advantageously allows the pouring device to be brought to the desired position in relation to the sealing tool and, after the pouring device has been sealed in at the hole in the pack, to pull the pouring device together with the pack out of the sealing tool and then, by further rotation of the mandrel wheel, the stripping station to reach.

The invention is further advantageously configured in that the mounting station has a slide-on device which is movable in the radial direction relative to the mandrel axis the isolated pouring device on the outer end of the mandrel when it stops. A heating stage, preferably the preheating stage, can optionally be omitted. One recognizes the very simple and therefore reliable construction of the placement station, which, for example, is fed from a strand of pouring devices only through a predetermined breaking line to the strand connected to pouring devices, which is broken by a linear movement of the pusher by shear, whereby the pouring device is isolated and then immediately is pushed onto the outer end of the mandrel.

Furthermore, it is advantageous if, according to the invention, the heating station of each stage has a heat hollow body which is driven so that it can be moved back and forth in a straight line perpendicular to the connecting line between the placement and sealing stations. The above-mentioned translational movement of the mandrel wheel for the engagement of the pouring device with the sealing tool and the pulling out of the pouring device with the packing sealed thereon is also advantageously used to make the heating in two different stages particularly effective and energy-saving in such a way that in one stage the Pouring device preheated and reheated to final temperature in the second. With very good heat transfer to the pouring device, a heating stage can be dispensed with. In addition, with further optimal utilization of the thermal energy by the heat hollow body, a covering of the part of the pouring device to be heated is provided, so that the heat generated by the tool of the heating station by forced convection and radiation (hot air, gas flame) is almost completely and without significant loss to the one to be heated annular surface of the pouring device can be brought.

While the mandrel wheel is immovable, it is moved in the manner described in translation in line from the placement station to the sealing station, and the at least one other angularly spaced mandrel with the pouring device is available for engagement with the heating station. The aforementioned translational movement of the mandrel wheel for sealing is advantageously used at the same time to transport the outer end of the other mandrel, which only carries the pouring device, from the final heating stage to the preheating stage and vice versa. Once the respective step has been reached, the particularly practically designed heat hollow bodies need only be moved towards the mandrel end with the pouring device perpendicularly to the connection line between the placement and sealing station, or moved away from the latter after the heating process.

It is also advantageous if, according to the invention, the sealing station has an at least two-part sealing tool with a central parting plane, which extends the plane of movement the axis of rotation of the dome wheel, and when the sealing tool halves arranged to the side of the central parting plane can be moved back and forth by drives transversely to the central parting plane. This also creates a simple and reliably effective sealing station. It has already been proposed in in-house experiments to deep-draw package halves from plastic sheets and to seal the two package halves together along a central parting plane by pressing them against one another in such a way that a hollow overall package is produced. For this purpose, a thermoforming machine has been developed in the form of a thermoforming machine, in which heat plates which can be moved back and forth in a straight line are provided, which carry such a plastic plate on each of their opposite surfaces and heat them to the relevant end temperature in such a way that thermoformed mold halves touch the heat plate can move up to the heated plastic plate and deep-draw packing half-shells by applying vacuum from one side and compressed air from the other. With this machine developed in-house, the middle heating plate without the plastic half-shells (which are now dispensed and deep-drawn) is pulled out of the space between the deep-drawing and sealing tools. This is the moment in which the outer end of the mandrel with the pouring device which has been placed on and heated to the final temperature is brought into the position between the sealing tools (by the translatory movement of the mandrel wheel mentioned), in which, for example, and preferably semicircular in the deep-drawn plastic half-shells Recesses are provided which are to be sealed with the annular pouring device. The mandrel with the heated pouring device is then located in the middle parting plane mentioned, and then the two halves of the sealing tool located to the side of this middle parting plane move towards one another by drives transversely to this plane until the outer edges of the packing half-shells touch and are sealed to one another, while also the heated surface of the lower part of the pouring device come into sealing engagement with the correspondingly matching surfaces in the recesses of the packing half-shells. In this way, practically three parts are sealed to one another at the same time, namely the two half-shells and the lower part of the pouring device. It should be noted that the closure part of the pouring device is opened. The pouring device has been placed on the mandrel end from the beginning in the open or opened state so that only the ring-shaped lower part of the pouring device is actually stuck on the mandrel end, while the closure part during the entire sealing process and also during the individual movements of the pouring device with the mandrel doesn't matter.

The last-mentioned back and forth movement of the sealing tool halves transversely to the central parting plane also serves to ensure that after the three parts have been sealed to one another, ie after a loosening of the sealing tool halves from the product is ensured after attaching the pouring device to the top of the pack.

After the pouring device has been sealed in the top of the pack, the sealing tool halves move apart, and then the packing with pouring device hangs on the relevant outer end of the mandrel, after which the translational movement of the mandrel wheel returns to the first movement position of the axis of rotation of the mandrel wheel, in the latter is continued intermittently.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the stripping station has a stripper sleeve which at least partially surrounds the mandrel and is driven to slide on the mandrel and which, in its retracted starting position, leaves the outer end of the mandrel free. It has been explained above that the mandrel in question also carries at its outer end, via the pouring device, the finished, empty package which is brought into the stripping station by turning the mandrel wheel. The scraper sleeve is located on the relevant mandrel and moves with it. It leaves the outer end of the mandrel free, so that the pouring device can be pushed on in the mounting station, heated in the heating station and connected to the half-shells in the sealing station. In the stripping station, this assembly of parts is now stripped by sliding the stripper sleeve radially outwards parallel to the mandrel axis in the direction of the pouring device by a drive attached to the mandrel until the radially outer front, annular end of the stripper sleeve with the Bottom part of the pouring device comes into engagement and wipes it off from the mandrel together with the pack attached to it. A conveyor belt or another conveyor is expediently located in this area somewhat below the stripping station, so that the individual package with the sealed pouring device immediately falls correctly onto the next conveyor and further processing can be carried out.

It is particularly advantageous if the mandrel wheel has four mandrels offset by 90 ° to one another and after each quarter-circle rotation in the first movement position of the axis of rotation of the mandrel wheel is provided in a translational manner in the second movement position of the axis of rotation and then can be moved back again. As already described above, the axis of rotation of the mandrel wheel moves in a plane which coincides with the central parting plane between the sealing tools. In this plane of movement, the axis of rotation of the mandrel wheel initially assumes a first movement position in which the intermittent rotational movements of the mandrel wheel take place; always only in this first movement position. After that, ie after each quarter-circle rotation, the mandrel wheel is moved translationally towards the sealing station until the axis of rotation of the mandrel wheel has reached its second movement position. There is no rotation of the mandrel wheel in this. Rather, in this second movement position of the axis of rotation, the pouring device is sealed into the half-shells of the pack; and at the same time, on the mandrel preceding in the direction of rotation, the preheating of the lower part of the pouring device placed on its outer end. After this preheating and at the same time after the pouring device has been sealed into the half-shells of the packing, the aforementioned return movement of the mandrel wheel into the first movement position of its axis of rotation is then carried out.

Furthermore, it is advantageous according to the invention if a mechanical clamping or vacuum holding device and / or cooling lines are attached to the inside of the mandrel at the outer end of the mandrel. The first-mentioned device takes up and holds the pouring device pushed onto the mandrel end in the mounting station, and the cooling lines allow the supply of coolant, e.g. Water to keep the pouring device cooled from the inside, so that the closing area of the pouring device is not deformed during heating. The cooling also serves to harden the sealing surfaces of the pouring device.

It is also possible to provide the abovementioned stripper sleeve with an associated drive on each mandrel, so that the stripper sleeve with the drive rotates with the mandrel and is immediately available in the stripping station without feed times if required. The scraper sleeve is actuated by a fixed drive with the mandrel in a horizontal position.

To increase the throughput of the device according to the invention, it is also expedient if a plurality of mandrel gears are fastened on a common rotary shaft. In experiments, e.g. six mandrel gears have been axially spaced apart from each other on the common rotary shaft, so that six stations can be occupied by six pouring devices with one rotation or translational movement. Considering that with four mandrels on a mandrel wheel with such a device, six times four functions can be carried out with each step, then a packing filling machine with a high throughput is nat despite its reliability and although it optimally meets the high hygiene requirements.

If you use thermoformable plastic in the creation of the package by heating plastic plates in the manner described above and deep drawing, then you can as Use plastic material thermoplastic, e.g. polypropene. PVC can also serve as such plastic, with polypropene also being widely known in the art as polypropylene. The package then - even together with the pouring device, which can be made of the same material - consists of parts and materials that can be easily reprocessed and easily rotten. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the plastic material, for example the polypropene, can also be filled, the fillers here being chalk, mica, talc, plaster or the like. It has been shown that such filled plastic materials are easily rotten on the one hand, can of course also be easily reprocessed or recycled using simple methods, and on the other hand slightly impair the properties of a plastic, so that such filled plastic materials are particularly deep-drawable and also sealable.

Figur 1

schematisch und teilweise abgebrochen die Ansicht der Vorrichtung gemäß der Erfindung mit den zwei Bewegungsstellungen des nur in der ersten Bewegungsstellung gedrehten Dornrades mit oben angeordnetem Siegelwerkzeug,

Figur 2

in vergrößertem Maßstab zwei Dorne des Dornrades in dessen erster Bewegungsstellung, wobei die anderen beiden Dorne abgebrochen sind,

Figur 3

die zwei auseinandergezogen dargestellten Siegelwerkzeughälften mit in der richtigen Höhe darunter eingefahrenem Dornende mit aufgesetzter Ausgießeinrichtung,

Figur 4

den späteren Zustand der Siegelwerkzeughälften nach dem Zusammensiegeln der Packungshalbschalen und der Ausgießeinrichtung,

Figur 5

teilweise abgebrochen und in kleinerem Maßstab den Zustand des Siegelwerkzeuges wie bei Figur 4, wobei jedoch auch das Dornrad mit der translatorischen Bewegungsmöglichkeit dargestellt ist, und

Figur 6

den rechten Dorn des Dornrades, dessen andere drei Dorne weggelassen sind, nach dem Abstreifen der Ausgießeinrichtung mit angesiegelter Packung und kurz vor dem Weiterdrehen um 90° in Richtung des gebogenen Pfeiles.

Further advantages, features and possible applications of the present invention will become apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. These show:

Figure 1

schematically and partially broken the view of the device according to the invention with the two movement positions of the mandrel wheel rotated only in the first movement position with the sealing tool arranged at the top,

Figure 2

on an enlarged scale two mandrels of the mandrel wheel in its first movement position, the other two mandrels broken off,

Figure 3

the two pulled-apart sealing tool halves with the mandrel end retracted at the correct height below with the pouring device attached,

Figure 4

the later condition of the sealing tool halves after the packing half-shells and the pouring device have been sealed together,

Figure 5

partially broken off and on a smaller scale the condition of the sealing tool as in FIG. 4, but also showing the mandrel wheel with the translatory movement possibility, and

Figure 6

the right mandrel of the mandrel wheel, the other three mandrels of which have been left out, after stripping off the pouring device with the packing sealed and shortly before turning further by 90 ° in the direction of the curved arrow.

The overall arrangement of the attachment device according to the invention, which is shown and described here only by way of example, can best be described first with reference to FIG. 1. The mandrel wheel 2, which is provided with four mandrels 1 arranged at an angular distance of 90 ° to one another, can be rotated in stages by 90 ° around the axis of rotation 3 in the first movement position and translationally via the stroke H from the first movement position shown in solid lines in FIG Position shown in dashed lines and driven back, the dome wheel 2 not being rotated about the axis of rotation 3 'in the dashed second movement position.

In the hole, not shown, in the top floor 4 of a liquid pack 5, a pouring device 6 is to be fitted, which consists of a lower part 7 and a closure part 8 articulated via a hinge (not shown).

The direction of rotation of the mandrel wheel 2 and thus of its hub 9 with the mandrels 1 projecting perpendicularly to the axis of rotation 3 in the first movement position is in the direction of the curved arrow 11 from the mounting station I shown in FIG. 1 below into the next heating station II rotated clockwise (second stage ), then translationally displaceable in the direction of arrow 12 up to the second movement position of the axis of rotation 3 'so that the mandrel in question then lies against the heating station of the first stage II'; while the clockwise direction of the next mandrel 1 is at its sealing end III with its outer end; while finally the further mandrel, which is arranged further in the clockwise direction, is in the retracted position of the first movement position of the axis of rotation 3 in the actuation area of the stripping station IV, i.e. here the stripping station IV comes into operation. The respective outer end of the mandrel 1 is thus successively with the mounting station I, then the heating station II ', II, then with the sealing station III and finally the stripping station IV in a position for the active intervention.

Only the mounting station I and the heating station of the second stage II (final heating) are in the 6 o'clock or 9 o'clock position when looking in the direction of axis 3 of the first movement position, while only after translating the mandrel wheel 2 in the direction of translation the arrow 12 upwards such that the axis of rotation 3 'has reached the second movement position, the heating station II' of the first stage (preheating) is again in the 9 o'clock position and the sealing station III is in the 12 o'clock position. Means for stripping the pouring device 6 are provided on each mandrel 1. however, these only come into action in the lower 3 o'clock position when the axis of rotation 3 is again in the first movement position. The individual intervention phases become clearer in connection with the following description of the company. First, however, the design of the individual workstations is explained in more detail.

The mandrel wheel 2 with its hub 9 can be moved from the mounting station I in the direction of the sealing station III in the direction of the arrow 12 and vice versa so that the axis of rotation 3 of the first movement position can be moved on a line to the second movement position of the rotation axis 3 ', and this line lies in the central parting plane 13, which is spanned by translating the axis of rotation of the first movement position 3 back and forth to the axis of rotation 3 'of the second movement position, this imaginary center plane being of course also conceivable above and below. Two mandrels each extend symmetrically in this central plane 13 and the two other mandrels extend perpendicularly thereto. The center parting plane 13 is thus identical to the plane of movement of the axis of rotation 3 of the mandrel wheel 2.

The mounting station I has a push-on member 15 with a push rod 16, which can be moved back and forth in the direction of the double arrow 14 and which can be moved intermittently in the direction of the central parting plane 13 by a pneumatic drive (not shown). At the point shown at 17, a knife for shearing off a pouring device 6 from the previous one is attached to the outer end of the mandrel 1.

The heating station is constructed in two stages, namely the first stage of the preheater II ', which is shown in Figures 1 and 5 above, and the second stage of the heating station II for final heating, which is shown in Figures 1 and 5 bottom left . The distance between the two heating stages 2, 2 'of the heating station is equal to the distance H (FIG. 5) between the position of the axis of rotation 3 of the first movement position and the position of the axis of rotation 3' of the second movement position.

Each stage of the heating station II, II 'is constructed in the same way as the other, ie the most important part is the heat hollow body 18 which contains the preheating heater in the first stage of the heating station II' and the final heating in the second stage of the heating station II. The warm hollow body 18 is constructed in such a way that it is open towards the front of the respective mandrel 1 of the mandrel wheel 2 and can accommodate the outer end of the mandrel 1 with the pouring device 6, more precisely its lower part 7, when the operative engagement position is reached. In addition, the respective heat hollow body 18 can be moved back and forth in a straight line in the direction perpendicular to the central parting plane 13 according to double arrow 19. This is because, via the pneumatic intermediate piston 20 within the pneumatic cylinder 21, a cross member 23 can be moved back and forth over the piston rod 22 in such a way that the guide rod 24 moves the said hollow hollow body 18 out of the retracted rest position shown at the top left in FIG the axis of rotation 3 'is moved to the right into the second movement point perpendicular to the central parting plane 13, as shown in FIG. 1 at the bottom left in connection with the heating station II in the final heating stage.

The sealing station generally designated III (FIGS. 1, 3 to 5) has two sealing tool halves 25 constructed symmetrically with respect to the central parting plane 13, with trough-shaped recesses 26 facing each other for the deep-drawing design, each of a packing half-shell 27. Each sealing tool half 25 is via a drive rod 28 with a pneumatic cylinder 29 connected, which ensures a reciprocating movement of the two sealing tool halves 25 in the direction of the double arrows 30 around the stroke h. Around this, the two sealing tool halves 25 can be pulled apart from the closed position shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5 into the open position shown in FIG. 3. The closing then of course takes place in the reverse manner. In this case, the mutually facing front surfaces of the sealing tool halves 25 are moved towards one another except for contact and mutual contact, these front surfaces then being in alignment with the central parting plane 13 (position of FIGS. 1, 4 and 5).

It can be seen that the liquid pack 5 is made entirely of the thermoformable plastic material, which was described above. The pack is formed from the two half-shell halves 27 which are mutually connected via their edge 31 (FIG. 3), so that the double-layered stiffening rib 32 indicated in FIG. 4 forms. On the lower side shown in the figures, which is opposite the dome wheel 2, this stiffening rib 22 is interrupted by the opening device, which in the finished package essentially consists of the closed pouring device 6. The purpose of the device described here is to attach this pouring device 6 to the packaging 5, in each case in half to the half-shells 27. This attachment is carried out in recesses 33 in the form of a half-cylinder jacket on the side of the subsequent package 5, which forms the top floor 4 thereof.

It can be clearly seen from FIG. 3 that the mandrel 1 has been moved in translation in the direction of the central parting plane 13 up to the sealing station III in the direction of the arrow 12 so that the semi-cylindrical surface of the lower part 7 of the pouring device (located on one side of the central parting plane 13) 6 faces a corresponding ring collar 38 (FIG. 6) on the pack 5 or respectively half of the corresponding inner surface of the half-shell 27. If the two parts, which are made of compatible plastic and are to be connected to one another, are heated accordingly and are sealable, then the sealing tool halves become 25 moved from the position of FIG. 3 into that of FIG. 4, then one understands the sealing process of the annular lower part 7 of the pouring device 6 into the hole in the top floor 4 of the pack 5, which achieves the purpose of the device described here.

The stripping station can best be described with reference to FIG. 6, in which the axis of rotation 3 of the first movement position in the hub 9 is shown with only one mandrel 1 for clarification, which is the mandrel projecting to the right in FIG. 1 in the 3 o'clock position should. The stripping station IV has a stripper sleeve 34 which extends around the entire circumference of the mandrel 1, but only over part of its length, and which can be moved on the mandrel 1 and is shown in FIG. 6 in its retracted position.

In addition to the stripper sleeve 34, the drive generally designated 35 can also be attached to each mandrel 1 and rotate with the mandrel wheel 2; in the embodiment shown here, however, it is assumed that only in the area of position IV, i.e. the active operating position of the stripping station IV there is a drive 35 with which an active intervention is only made in this 3 o'clock position shown in FIG. 1 below. This takes place via the flange 36 of the stripper sleeve 34, which is attached to the sleeve 9 on the radially inner side with respect to the sleeve 9. Via a tension spring 37, the stripper sleeve 34 can always be held in its retracted position without engagement with the drive 35, in which the outer end of the mandrel 1 is left free in the retracted initial position shown in FIG. 6 such that the annular lower part 7 of the pouring device 6 can be pushed on (just pushed off in FIG. 6).

With the annular flange 36 of the stripper sleeve 34, the gripper 39 comes into active engagement, which can be moved back and forth radially in the direction of the mandrel 1 by the pneumatic cylinder 41 in the direction of the double arrow 42 via the piston rod 40.

On the opposite side of the mandrel 1 from the gripper 39 (in FIG. 6), the tension spring 37 is clamped on the flange 36 on the one hand and on the mandrel 1 via the fixed screw 43.

The axis of rotation 3 of the mandrel wheel 2 is to be presented lying horizontally in the figures, so that the stripped package 5 shown in FIG. 6 to the right of the mandrel 1 lies horizontally and after stripping can fall vertically onto an assembly line 44 or another suitable conveyor .

The attachment device described in this way works as follows:
A strand of pouring devices 6 is fed in a form similar to that shown in FIG. 1 at the bottom left in the feed direction 45 from a supply roll onto the placement station I. The lower part 7 are separated from the closure part 8, ie the two parts are articulated to one another approximately perpendicularly. The lower part 7 is annular in such a way that even after sealing in the state of FIG. 6, the inside of the package 5 can be reached and filled from outside for a filling device through the hole in the lower part 7.

The pusher 15 is moved in a straight line in the direction of arrow 14 upward radially to the axis of rotation 3 of the mandrel wheel 2 in its first movement position, shears off the foremost pouring device with the knife 17 at a predetermined breaking line in the strand of the pouring devices 6, so that it is isolated and is pushed directly onto the outer end of the mandrel 1. Then the slide 15 is withdrawn so that the outer end of the mandrel is free again.

The mandrel wheel 2 now rotates 90 ° in the direction of the curved arrow 11. After the attachment has been completed, the mandrel wheel begins to rotate and continues until the next rotational position is reached. Now the dome end under consideration with the pouring device 6 placed on it is in front of the second stage of the heating station II, without heating up there. Instead, immediately after completion of the rotary movement, the translatory displacement movement of the mandrel wheel 2 in the direction of the arrow 12 upwards in FIG. 1 up to the position shown in broken lines, where the axis of rotation 3 'has reached its second movement position. The mandrel 1 under consideration is now located in this before the first preheating stage of the heating station 2 '. This is now operated in the manner described that the heat hollow body 18 surrounds and preheats the annular outer surface of the lower part 7. In the meantime, a further pouring device according to arrow 45 is being fed under the placement station I. The heat hollow body 18 is pulled back again to the left, so that the mandrel 1 is free, the mandrel wheel 2 is moved in the opposite direction to the arrow 12, translationally downward again, so that the preheated pouring device is now in front of the second final heating stage of the heating station 11. Here the second heating to final temperature takes place, so that the outer surface of the lower part 7 is now sealable.

In the meantime, the respective packaging half-shell 27 had been formed by deep drawing on both sides and is located in the sealing tool 25 at a relatively high temperature.

After retracting the heat hollow body 18 in the heating station II - and after a new pouring device 6 onto the subsequent mandrel 1 also during the final heating had been pushed on, the second rotation of the mandrel wheel 2 now begins in the direction of arrow 11 by 90 °, so that the mandrel wheel considered here has now reached the upper 12 o'clock position.

Again, the mandrel wheel 2 moves translationally in the direction of arrow 12 into the position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 1, in which the two sealing tool halves 25 have previously assumed the position of FIG. 3, so that the mandrel 1 is at the desired height between the sealing tool halves 5 at the bottom next to the Recesses 33 can go up. If this position is reached, in which the lower part 7 has a sealable high temperature and the respective half-shell 27 also has a high sealing temperature due to the residual heat, the two sealing tool halves 25 move together into the position of FIG. 4. Here, the pouring device 6 is sealed in on the one hand and this Sealing together the two half-shells 27 to form the pack 5 on the other hand.

Now the two sealing tool halves 25 open again and reach the position similar to FIG. 3, except that the pack 5 is attached to the mandrel 1 by means of the attachment with the pouring device 6. Only the tool halves 25 are now in the pulled-apart state, and the mandrel wheel 2 moves the new pack with the pouring device 6 sealed in in the central parting plane downward in the direction of the arrow 12.

The previous pouring device is then heated and the new pouring device is placed on the bottom of the placing station I.

The mandrel wheel 2 now rotates the mandrel 1 in question to the 3 o'clock position, so that the stripping station IV, i.e. the drive 35 comes into active engagement with the stripper sleeve 34 (FIG. 6).

The stripping process is initiated in the manner described above by actuating the pneumatic cylinder 41. so that the flange 36 of the stripper sleeve 34 is moved to the right in the direction of the arrow 42 such that the pouring device 6 together with the packing 5 attached to it is pushed horizontally from the mandrel 1 into the position shown on the right in FIG. The spring 37 is extended and tensioned. While the pack 5 with pouring device 6 falls down onto the conveyor belt 44 and is being conveyed away, the spring 37 pulls the stripper sleeve 34, with the air cylinder 41 switched off, the sleeve 34 back into the retracted initial position.

After turning the mandrel 1 further into the placement station I, the game described begins again, while the same game has been carried out in the same way with the following three mandrels.

The respective pouring device 6 can be held by mechanical clamping action at the outer end of the mandrel 1, but a vacuum line 46 can also be used to hold the pouring device by vacuum at the outer end of the mandrel 1. In order to avoid deformation of the closing area, the pouring device 6 can also be kept cooled via coolant lines 47.

Reference list

1

Spines

2nd

Pinwheel

3, 3 '

Axis of rotation

4th

Topsoil

5

Liquid pack

6

Pouring device

7

Lower part

8th

Closure part

9

hub

11

arrow

12th

arrow

13

Middle parting level

14

Double arrow

15

Deferment

16

Push bar

17th

Job

18th

Heat hollow body

19th

Double arrow

20th

Intermediate piston

21

cylinder

22

Piston rod

23

traverse

24th

Guide rod

25th

Sealing tool halves

26

Recesses

27

Packing half-shell

28

Drive rod

29

cylinder

30th

Double arrows

31

edge

32

Stiffening rib

33

Recesses

34

Wiper sleeve

35

drive

36

flange

37

Tension spring

38

Ring collar

39

Gripper

40

Piston rod

41

cylinder

42

Double arrow

43

screw

44

Assembly line

45

Feed direction

46

Vacuum line

47

Coolant lines

Claims (11)

Method for attaching a closable pouring device (6) made of sealable plastic to the hole in the top floor (4) of a pack (4, 5) made of thermoformed plastic, characterized in that the pouring device (6) heats and between at least two just deep-drawn pack part shells (27) is inserted where there are corresponding recesses (33) in the partial packaging shells (27), the surfaces (33, 38) of which are used to seal the pouring device (6) in that the pouring device (6) and the at least two partial packaging shells (27) be sealed at the same time under pressure at the sealing temperature of the surfaces (33, 38) to be joined. Device for attaching a closable pouring device (6) to the hole in the upper floor (4) of a pack (4, 5), with a dome wheel (2) driven intermittently and rotatably about an axis of rotation (3) with at least two radially projecting from a hub (9) Thorns (1), characterized in that in the area of the outer circumference of the mandrel wheel (2) at angular intervals with respect to the axis of rotation (3) a mounting station (I), then a heating station (II, II '), then a sealing station (III) and one Stripping station (IV) are arranged such that the outer end of each mandrel (1) can be successively brought into engagement with the stations (I-IV). Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the mandrel wheel (2) is translationally movable in line from the mounting station (I) to the sealing station (III) and vice versa and that the heating station (II, II ') is constructed in two separate stages, wherein the distance between the preheating stage (II ') and the final heating stage (II) is equal to the stroke (H) of the mandrel wheel (2) during its translational movement. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the mounting station (I) has a slide (15) which can be moved back and forth in the radial direction (12) to the axis of the mandrel (1) for pushing the isolated pouring device (6) onto the outer one End of the mandrel (1) at its standstill. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the heating station (II, II ') of each stage has a heat hollow body (18) which is driven to reciprocate in a straight line perpendicular to the connecting line between the placement (I) and sealing station (III) . Device according to one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the sealing station (III) has an at least two-part sealing tool (25) with a central parting plane (13) which is in extension of the plane of movement of the axis of rotation (3) of the dome wheel (2), and that the sealing tool halves (25) arranged to the side of the central parting plane (13) can be moved back and forth by drives (29) transversely to the central parting plane (13). Device according to one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that the stripping station (IV) has a stripper sleeve (34) which at least partially surrounds the mandrel (1) and is driven to slide on the mandrel (1) and which in its retracted initial position has the outer end leave the mandrel 1 free. Device according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the mandrel wheel (2) has four mandrels (1) offset by 90 ° to one another and after each quarter-circle rotation in the first movement position of the axis of rotation (3) of the mandrel wheel (2) translationally into the second movement position of the axis of rotation (3 ') and afterwards can be moved back again. Device according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that a mechanical clamping (100) or vacuum holding device (46) and / or in the interior of the mandrel (1) cooling lines (47) are attached to the outer end of the mandrel (1). Device according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that a stripper sleeve (34) with an associated drive (35) is provided on each mandrel (1). Device according to one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that a plurality of mandrel gears (2) are fastened on a common rotary shaft.

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