EP0593382B1 - Method and device for continuously labelling articles such as fruit or vegetables - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for automatically and continuously labelling articles such as fruit or vegetables. This method consists in placing the said articles in sheets (A1, A2, A3), with cavities, having parallel rows (L1) of cavities, in arranging these sheets in a single file on a conveyor with continuous movement, the said rows being arranged perpendicularly to the direction of advance of the conveyor, and in displacing at least one labelling head (T1, T2, T3) above a row (4) of cavities in a complex rectilinear translational movement resulting from a longitudinal advance movement jointly with that of the conveyor and a transverse movement, so as successively to deposit a label on each article in the said row (4), then in repeating this last operation for each of the said rows. It also relates to a device for implementing this method. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a method for automatically and continuously labeling articles such as fruits or vegetables.

It also relates to a device for implementing this method.

In the sector of the marketing of fruits and, to a lesser extent vegetables, a current tendency consists in depositing on these, with a view to their subsequent sale, a small adhesive label on which is mentioned for example the variety of the fruit, country or region of origin, or a trademark.

This is particularly the case in the area of apple sales.

So far, to automatically carry out the labeling of apples, we mainly use labeling machines marketed by the company SINCLAIR. A labeling machine of this type is described in document EP-A-0 113 256, the content of which is considered to be an integral part of the present application.

Such a labeling machine essentially comprises a coil around which is wound a strip of support material on which labels are placed. It also includes means capable of peeling off the labels one by one and of transferring them to a labeling head. The latter is rotary and comprises several elastically deformable studs in the form of bellows through which a vacuum can be implemented. When a label is peeled from its support material, it is taken and pressed against a nipple subjected to vacuum, by its non-adhesive side. When this nipple is directly above the fruit to be labeled, the depression is interrupted and the label is stuck on the fruit.

We got into the habit of labeling apples before sorting them depending on their color, appearance or size. After sorting, packaging takes place, during which the apples are most often placed in honeycomb trays and then packed in cardboard boxes.

A labeling technique consists in passing the apples, before sorting, on an endless moving belt on which are arranged elements capable of distributing the flow of fruit in a series of parallel rows. At each of the rows is provided a labeling machine of the aforementioned type, integral with the frame of the conveyor belt.

This procedure has several drawbacks.

First, all the fruit is labeled while some, for example damaged, will not undergo the usual packaging and sales process and, therefore, do not need to be labeled.

Secondly, when the fruits are placed directly above the labeling machines, they are placed in a completely random arrangement. Consequently, around 30% of the labels are placed incorrectly, for example on the tail of the apple, or peel off quickly, before packaging.

The present invention aims to provide a labeling process which overcomes these drawbacks.

It is only used on fruit intended to be effectively packaged. In addition, this process makes it possible to correctly label the fruits, without the risk that the labels are badly positioned or that they peel off quickly.

Finally, this process makes it possible to considerably increase the rate of labeling of fruit.

These results are achieved by the fact that this method for automatically and continuously labeling articles such as fruits or vegetables, consists of placing said articles in blister plates having parallel rows of blisters, placing these plates at the tail leu leu on a continuous movement conveyor, said rows being arranged perpendicular to the direction of advance of the conveyor, and to move at least one labeling head above a row of cells according to a complex movement in rectilinear translation resulting from a longitudinal advance movement joint with that of the conveyor and a transverse movement, so as to successively deposit a label on each article of said row, then to repeat this last operation for each of said rows.

Furthermore, according to a particular embodiment, this method comprises the fact of jointly moving several labeling heads, the distance separating two neighboring heads being the same as that separating the same two rows of two neighboring blister plates.

The invention also relates to a device for implementing this method.

This device is remarkable in that it comprises a frame which overhangs a continuous movement conveyor capable of receiving, at the tail leu leu, honeycomb plates having parallel rows of cells in each of which is placed an article, the rows being arranged. perpendicular to the direction of advance of the belt, it also comprises a first carriage capable of being moved longitudinally above the conveyor and in that said first carriage supports a second carriage which carries at least one labeling head and which is adapted to be moved transversely relative to the conveyor, along the first carriage.

• ledit premier chariot se déplace le long de rails prévus sur le châssis ;
• le second chariot est solidaire d'au moins une courroie dont le déplacement est assuré au moyen de poulies dont une est motrice, ces poulies étant calées sur des arbres rotatifs montés sur le premier chariot ;
• il comprend des moyens pour piloter conjointement le déplacement des premier et second chariots ;
• lesdits moyens consistent en une commande numérique.

According to other advantageous but non-limiting characteristics of this device:

• said first carriage moves along rails provided on the chassis;
• the second carriage is integral with at least one belt, the movement of which is ensured by means of pulleys, one of which is powered, these pulleys being wedged on rotary shafts mounted on the first carriage;
• it comprises means for jointly controlling the movement of the first and second carriages;
• said means consist of a digital control.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear from the description and the appended drawings which represent a preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention.

• la figure 1 est une vue de dessus schématique et en coupe d'un dispositif d'étiquetage conforme à l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue de dessus d'une plaque alvéolée utilisable dans le cadre de la présente invention ;
• la figure 3 est une vue de côté d'une partie du dispositif ;
• la figure 4 est une vue de côté schématique du dispositif de la figure 1 ;
• les figures 5, 6, 7, 8 et 9 sont des vues de dessus, dont certaines sont partielles, du dispositif de l'invention, destinées à illustrer l'étiquetage de pommes réparties dans plusieurs plaques alvéolées ;
• la figure 10 est un organigramme de séquencement des principales étapes de fonctionnement du dispositif de l'invention.

In these drawings:

• Figure 1 is a schematic top view in section of a labeling device according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is a top view of a blister plate usable in the context of the present invention;
• Figure 3 is a side view of part of the device;
• Figure 4 is a schematic side view of the device of Figure 1;
• Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are top views, some of which are partial, of the device of the invention, intended to illustrate the labeling of apples distributed in several blister trays;
• FIG. 10 is a flowchart for sequencing the main operating steps of the device of the invention.

The device which makes it possible to implement the method of the present invention is more particularly visible in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

This device comprises a chassis 1 which is substantially inscribed in a rectangular parallelepiped.

It is formed by an assembly of hollow metal profiles 10, 11 and 12, for example made of aluminum. The profiles 11 are vertical and extend to the four corners of the parallelepiped. On the two longitudinal sides of the chassis, the sections 11 are connected by horizontal sections 12. These profiles are three in number on each side and are arranged respectively in the upper, lower and substantially half-height parts of the profiles 12. In a similar manner, on each of the other two sides of the frame extend three profiles 10 transverse and horizontal.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, this chassis overhangs a mobile endless conveyor 6 which is arranged just below the profiles 10 located halfway up the chassis. This conveyor is arranged longitudinally and it preferably receives at its upstream part and in its extension another mobile endless conveyor 5.

Longitudinal rails 120 are provided on the upper face of the profiles 12 which are located at mid-height of the chassis. On these rails is mounted, by means of rollers 20, a carriage 2. The rollers 20 are integral with end portions 21 of the carriage, which consist of an assembly of small metal beams. Between these end parts 21 extend two transverse and parallel beams 8 (visible in FIG. 3) themselves connected to longitudinal beams 80 integral with the end parts 21. Means not shown, such as a motor electric, allow the carriage 2 to be moved longitudinally, that is to say along the rails 120.

On either side of the beams 80 are provided pulleys 40 on which is mounted a belt 4, respectively 4 '. The diameter of the pulleys 40 is slightly greater than the thickness of the beams 8 and 80 so that the strands of these belts extend above and below the upper and lower faces of these beams. The belts therefore extend transversely with respect to the chassis 1. The shafts on which the pulleys are wedged are mounted on the carriage 2 and motor means, such as an electric motor makes it possible to drive one of these pulleys in rotation.

Preferably, the belts are notched and are formed from a plastic material reinforced with metallic fibers.

To the lower strand of each of the belts 4 and 4 ′ is fixed the plate 30 of a second carriage 3. It is a rectangular plate which extends in the longitudinal direction of the chassis.

This plate supports three labellers E1, E2, E3 of the same type as that described above, that is to say in accordance with document EP-A-0 113 256.

The carriage 3 comprises non-visible rollers mounted idle in rotation, which move along the lateral faces of the crosspieces 8. These have a profile suitable for receiving the rollers while absorbing part of the forces generated by the weight of the labeling machines. Thus, the weight of the three labellers is supported in part by the plate 30 but also by the carriage 2.

The labellers are all three of the same type and one of these is shown in Figure 3. This labeller includes a frame 70 which receives a reel 71 of support material on which the labels to be dispensed are stuck. It also comprises a lower part 72 which comprises a labeling head formed by a cylinder 73 which has at its periphery a series of pins 74 in the form of bellows. As explained above, there are means which make it possible to peel the labels from the strip of support material 71 in turn and to transfer them one by one to the pins 74.

The labelers E1, E2, E3 are mounted on the carriage 3 with the same spacing between each of them.

As shown in Figure 4, the periphery of the chassis, in its lower part is covered by opaque plates 100 which act as protective casing. However, it does not have it in the passage zone of the conveyor 6.

The upper part of the frame, that is to say that which is located around the labelers, can be protected by sliding windows.

There is shown schematically in Figure 2 a blister plate of known type, intended to receive fruit such as apples. This honeycomb plate A has a rectangular shape and is formed from a synthetic material such as polystyrene. The cells a which it comprises extend in five lines or rows parallel to the long sides of the plate. These rows carry respectively, from left to right of the figure, the references L1, L2, L3, L4, L5. Each row has four cells a . As can be seen in these figures, the various cells are staggered with respect to each other.

In order to be able to implement the labeling method of the present invention, the device is equipped with a digital control which makes it possible to control the joint movement of the carriages 2 and 3. This digital control consists, for example, of a NUM microprocessor 820 REFLEX from TELEMECANIQUE.

The first step of the method of the invention consists in placing the articles to be labeled in the blister plates. We are going to assume that they are apples. As we specified above, we sort them, for example according to their appearance or size. The apples are therefore placed one by one in the cells a of honeycomb plates of the type described above.

They are then placed at the tail leu leu on the conveyor 5 mounted at the upstream part of the device, which moves in the direction of the arrow f . During their movement, the plates are taken up by the conveyor 6 which moves at the same speed as the conveyor 5. This forward speed is for example between 0 and 12 meters per minute.

The plates are arranged with the same interval between each of them so that the spacing between two same rows of two neighboring plates corresponds to the mutual spacing between the heads of two neighboring labellers. As an indication, the width of a plate is 300 mm and the interval between two successive plates of 50 mm.

The plates A are placed on the conveyor so that the rows L1 to L5 are arranged perpendicular to the direction of advance of the conveyors 5 and 6.

The last step of the method consists in moving at least one labeling head above a row of a honeycomb plate in a complex movement in rectilinear translation which comprises a longitudinal advance movement joint with that of the conveyor 6 and a transverse movement perpendicular to the latter so as to successively deposit a label on each apple in the row, then repeat this last operation for each of the rows.

We will describe in detail below this last step of the process. This description will be made with reference to a sequencing flowchart of the main stages of operation of the device, represented in FIG. 10.

In a first step, we start by selecting on the numerical control the size of the honeycomb plates, that is to say their dimensions as well as the number of rows it contains. Indeed, there are different sizes of honeycomb plates for example having four, five or six rows of cells. When this selection is made, the Numerical control initializes the carriages 2 and 3, that is to say it positions them in a reference position, considered as the original position.

In the following description, the direction of movement of the carriage 2 along the rails 120 will be understood by x and by y the direction of movement of the carriage 3 relative to the carriage 2.

After the initialization of the numerical control, this takes into account the selection of the rating.

A cell C placed on the conveyor 6, for example of the photoelectric type, detects the presence of a first dimpled plate A1 at the upstream part of the conveyor 6. It also detects the presence or not of a fruit at the corner of the plate, closest to the cell. This detection is made necessary because the fruits are placed in cells staggered.

The digital control then controls the joint movement of the carriages 2 and 3 in the direction of the arrows x and y so that the head T1 of the labeling machine E1 labels the fruits and the row L2 of the cell A1. The head T1 therefore moves in a complex rectilinear movement which results from the combination of a longitudinal advance movement joint with that of the conveyor 6 and a transverse movement relative to this conveyor.

The longitudinal advance movement of the carriage 2 takes place at the same speed as that of the conveyor 6 while the movement of the carriage 3 takes place at a speed of the order of 800 to 1000 mm per second.

When the labeling of the fruits of line L2 is carried out, the digital control drives the withdrawal of the carriage 3 in the direction opposite to the arrow y while the carriage 3 always moves in the direction of the arrow x . The head T1 is then opposite the line L4 which it in turn labels.

When this operation is carried out, the digital control controls the simultaneous movement of the carriage 2 and 3 in the opposite direction to the arrows x and y .

Line L3 of plate A1 is therefore at this time in face of the labeling head T2. Similarly, the line L3 of the plate A2 disposed just behind the plate A1 is located opposite the head T1 of the label maker E1. These two lines are then labeled. The numerical control then controls the withdrawal of the labeling machines in the direction opposite to the arrow y and then controls the labeling of the L5 lines of the two aforementioned plates.

The labelers then withdraw again and are positioned opposite the lines L1 of the three plates A1, A2 and A3.

These lines are then labeled and we are in a situation in which all of the fruits of plate A1 are labeled. The process is then repeated for the lines L2 of the plates A2, A3 and A4 in the same way as that which has been explained with reference to the plate A1, then for the other lines.

Of course, as a function of the number of cell lines of the blister plates, but also as a function of the number of labelers placed on the carriage 3, the device sequencing flowchart is adapted so as to be able to label all of the lines alveoli.

According to an alternative embodiment, the honeycomb plates which receive the fruit are themselves placed in boxes, for example made of wood or cardboard, of the type of those generally used for the marketing of fruit. The method of the invention is then implemented by placing these boxes at the tail leu leu on the conveyor.

These can include on one of their walls information retranscribed in the form of bar code and corresponding for example to the number of lines of the cellular plate which they contain. Of course, means are provided on the labeling device for reading this bar code. Based on the information read, the digital control automatically controls the labeling.

Claims (8)

1. A method of automatically and continuously labelling articles such as fruit or vegetables, which method consists in placing said articles in indented trays (A1, A2, A3, A4) having parallel rows of indentations (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5), in disposing the trays (A1, A2, A3, A4) in single file on a continuously moving conveyor (6), said rows being disposed perpendicularly to the advance direction of the conveyor (6), and in moving at least one labelling head (T1, T2, T3) over a row of indentations (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5) with composite rectilinear translation motion resulting from longitudinal advance motion corresponding to that of the conveyor (6) combined with transverse motion such that a label is placed successively on each article in said row, and then in renewing said operation for each of said rows (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5).
2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said trays (A1, A2, A3, A4) are themselves placed in shallow boxes.
3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it includes the fact of simultaneously displacing a plurality of labelling heads (T1, T2, T3), with the distance between two adjacent heads being the same as the distance between two corresponding rows in two adjacent indented trays (A1, A2 ; A2, A3 ; A3, A4).
4. Apparatus for implementing the method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises a frame (1) extending over the continuously moving conveyor (6) that is suitable for receiving in single file the indented trays (A1, A2, A3, A4) having parallel (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5) rows of indentations, each indentation having an article placed therein, the rows being disposed perpendicularly to the advance direction of the conveyor, in that it also includes a first carriage (2) suitable for being displaced longitudinally over the conveyor (6), and in that the first carriage carries a second carriage (3) that carries at least one labelling head (T1, T2, T3) and that is suitable for being displaced along the first carriage (2), transversely relative to the conveyor (6).
5. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said first carriage (2) moves along rails (120) provided on the frame (1).
6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the second carriage (3) is secured to at least one belt (4, 4') that is moved by means of pulleys (40), at least one of which is motor-driven, said pulleys being secured to rotary shafts carried by the first carriage.
7. Apparatus according to one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that it includes means for simultaneously controlling the displacement of the first carriage (2) and of the second carriage (3).
8. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that said means is constituted by numerical control means.

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