EP0644847B1 - Conveyer device for sweets - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a sweet-conveyer device with, rotating about a stationary central spindle (8), a gripper wheel (1) having a housing (7) with a multiplicity of cam-controlled pivoting pairs (3) of grippers designed to pick up sweets (B) cutt off a continuous extrusion by a cutter and transfer them to a transfer wheel (6). The grippers (22, 27) of each pair (3) are mounted so that they can pivot longitudinally relative to each other and together. The invention calls for the pivot axis (X) of a gripper-pair pivot-drive transmission device and the pivot axis (Y) for the grippers (22, 27) of each pair (3) to be located on an arc (K) of a circle at the same radius of rotation (R) with respect to the stationary central spindle (8) which acts as the centre of the pivoting motion. The invention also calls for the relative position of one pivot axis (X) with respect to the other pivot axis (Y) to be adjustable on the arc (K).

Description

The invention relates to a conveying device for candies, a gripper wheel rotating about a stationary central axis, which has a housing with a plurality of pivotable, cam-controlled holding jaw pairs, for detecting and transferring the sweets separated from a continuous mass strand by a cutting device to a transfer wheel, the holding jaws of each holding jaw pair are coaxially mounted relative to each other and jointly pivotable.

From DE-A-38 20 139 a conveyor device of the type mentioned at the outset with receiving the candies cut from a mass strand and transferring them to subsequent processing stations is known. The sweets are picked up and handed over by a gripper wheel provided with holding elements. Different speeds between the mass strand and the subsequent processing station are compensated for by pivotable holding element pairs. For this purpose, an outer holding element is attached to a shaft, which is axially displaceably mounted in a hollow shaft. The hollow shaft carries an inner holding element of a pair of holding elements and is pivotably arranged in the housing of the gripper wheel rotating about a stationary central axis. The shaft receives its axial movement for opening and closing the pair of holding elements through a stationary pot curve. The hollow shaft is connected within the housing to a lever arm, the cam roller of which rolls on a cam package. The curve package consists of a stationary basic curve and two adjustable curve segments.

The cam roller runs on a section of the basic curve and on a section of the curve segments. To change the sequence of movements of the pairs of holding elements during the swiveling movement, the cam segments are adjusted by means of a threaded spindle.

This device is disadvantageous in that the movement of the holding jaws is adversely affected by the adjustment of the two cam segments and, in particular, no smooth running of the cam rollers is achieved. Changing the course of movement from acceleration to deceleration of the holding elements cannot be clearly defined, with the result that disruptions can occur during the separation process of the mass strand and when the candies are being grasped. These deficiencies are also exacerbated by the fact that the cam roller is pressed against the cam disc by spring force and that no positive rotation is achieved.

In order to compensate for the different lengths which result from the distance between the radially directed holding jaws of the gripper wheel and the length of candy to be separated from the mass strand, and in order to space the candies, the speed of movement of the gripper wheel must be greater than that of the mass strand. During the separation process and the detection of the candies, however, the same speeds between the mass strand, the holding elements and the relative movement of a z. B. rotating strand knife can be achieved in the conveying direction of the mass strand. At the time when a candy is gripped by a pair of holding elements, its axis must also be aligned radially and perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of the mass strand. These prerequisites must be met in order to ensure trouble-free separation of individual pieces from the bulk strand and secure detection of the sweets at very high processing speeds, for example of 1500 sweets per minute. This requires a precisely defined sequence of movements when accelerating the holding elements before immersing them in the conveying area of the mass strand, when decelerating during the separating process and recording the candies, and when finally accelerating the pairs of holding elements and transferring the candies to a transfer wheel. Here the gripper wheel and the transfer wheel generally have the same peripheral speed.

Should another candy format, e.g. a longer or shorter candy are processed, the speed of the mass strand is to be changed accordingly and the acceleration and deceleration of the holding jaw pairs are to be adapted to these changed conditions.

Since the speed of a knife shaft of the cutting device corresponds to the number of cycles of the packaging machine equipped with such a conveyor device, e.g. handling longer candies a higher speed of the mass strand and thus a lower acceleration and consequently less deceleration of the pairs of holding jaws.

The invention is therefore based on the object of improving a conveyor device of the type mentioned in such a way that the course of movement of the pairs of holding jaws can be determined exactly and changing relative speeds between the speed of the mass strand and the speed of the gripper wheel can be compensated for by simple adjustment, so that a trouble-free cutting of the mass strand and capturing the candies is guaranteed. In this case, optimal movement conditions for each pair of holding jaws and a radial orientation of the pivot axis of the pair of holding jaws oriented perpendicularly to the direction of transport of the mass strand are to be ensured.

This object is achieved in that a pivot axis of a pivot control transmission device for the pair of holding jaws and a pivot axis for the holding jaws of the pair of holding jaws are arranged on a circular arc under a same radius of rotation to the stationary central axis as a pivot center, with a relative position of the one pivot axis to the other pivot axis on the circular arc adjustable and a central swivel control curve for deriving a swivel movement of the pair of holding jaws on the central central axis, adjustable in the circumferential direction relative to the latter, is fixed.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the adjustment of the position of a pivot point of the pivot control transmission device to the position of a pivot point of the pair of holding elements, i.e. the relative position between the swivel axis of the swivel control transmission device and the swivel axis of the associated holding element pair on the circular arc is achieved in that the swivel axis of the swivel control transmission device is formed by a shaft which is rotatably mounted in a positioning ring, the positioning ring being fixed in the circumferential direction on the stationary central axis of the gripper wheel.

An adjusting device for the positioning ring is preferably provided, with a bolt which is rotatably mounted on the end face in the housing of the gripper wheel and is connected to an adjusting scale and which has an eccentrically arranged adjusting pin at its inner end in engagement with a recess in the positioning ring.

To fine-tune the sequence of movements of the holding jaws, the central pivot axis, which can be set on the central central axis, preferably adjustable in the circumferential direction, is connected to an actuating device and an adjustment scale that can be read on the housing, so that with regard to the pivoting control of each pair of holding jaws, an adjustment is made both by the angular position of the positioning ring and is also given by the angular position of the central swivel control curve.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the subject matter of the invention for adjusting the movement sequence of the pairs of holding jaws, the central control cam device is preferably designed as a double cam and the roller lever of the swivel control transmission device carrying the cam rollers is fixed with a shaft rotatably mounted in the positioning ring connected, which at its, on the opposite side of the positioning ring carries a leg fixed to the shaft, which is movably coupled by means of a pin to a connecting member, a bolt is also provided, which is also rotatable with the connecting member and on the other hand with a leg is connected, and the leg is rigidly fixed to a hollow shaft which carries the inner holding jaws of the pair of holding jaws outside the housing.

Preferably, the outer holding jaw of the pair of holding jaws is fastened on a shaft which is axially slidable within the hollow shaft and is pivotably mounted together with the hollow shaft by locking with the hollow shaft, the shaft being given an axial movement by a control cam fixed on the stationary central axis.

Further preferred embodiments of the subject matter of the invention are set out in the remaining subclaims.

By means of the solution according to the invention, the position of the pivot points corresponding to a desired candy length, ie the axis position of the pivot control transmission device relative to the pivot points of the support arms of the pairs of holding jaws and the associated position of the corresponding control cam means, can be determined beforehand and the axis positions determining the law of motion can be set accordingly, preferably using scales, can be set. The setting scale for setting the circumferential position of the positioning ring and the setting scale for setting the circumferential position of the central swivel control curve are preferably used for this purpose. This ensures that the support arms of the pairs of holding jaws are always in a vertical position to the mass strand for any length of candy at the time of detection and the surfaces of the holding jaws capture the candy separated from the mass strand completely parallel. Thanks to the exact setting option of the pairs of holding jaws while maintaining the optimal law of motion, preferably using a double curve as the central swivel control curve, a trouble-free severing of the mass strand is also achieved without upsetting or other deformation. During the cutting process and the detection of the candy, the circulating speed of the holding jaw pairs corresponds to the speed of the mass strand.

Fig. 1

eine Stirnansicht des Greiferrades mit dem Übergaberad und der Schneideinrichtung,

Fig. 2

einen radialen Halbschnitt des Greiferrades,

Fig. 3

die Lage des Schwenkpunktes der Rollenhebel bei minimaler Bonbonlänge,

Fig. 4

die Lage des Schwenkpunktes der Rollenhebel bei maximaler Bonbonlänge,

Fig. 5

den Bewegungsverlauf der Haltebacken bei minimaler und maximaler Bonbonlänge während des Trennvorganges und des Erfassens des Bonbons.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment and associated drawings. In these show:

Fig. 1

an end view of the gripper wheel with the transfer wheel and the cutting device,

Fig. 2

a radial half section of the gripper wheel,

Fig. 3

the position of the pivot point of the roller lever with minimum candy length,

Fig. 4

the position of the pivot point of the roller lever with maximum candy length,

Fig. 5

the course of movement of the holding jaws with minimum and maximum candy length during the separating process and the detection of the candy.

A gripper wheel 1, as shown in FIG. 1, is arranged above a mass strand 2. The position of the holding jaw pairs 3 during one revolution of the gripper wheel 1 can be seen from this figure. Below the mass strand 2, a cutting device 4 is provided, which has one or more rotating knives 5, which separate from the mass strand 2 candies B of a soft consistency of length L. The sweets B captured by the holding jaws 4 are transferred to a transfer wheel 6 for further processing. While the gripper wheel 1 rotates at a higher speed than the mass strand 2 to achieve a high effectiveness of the packaging machine, the holding jaw pairs 3 of the gripper wheel 1 and the holding jaw pairs 44 of the transfer wheel 6 have the same rotational speed.

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 2, the gripper wheel 1 consists of a housing 7 which is mounted on a stationary central axis 8. A positioning ring 9 rotatable about the axis 8 is arranged in the housing 7 concentrically with the central axis 8. On the central axis 8, a cam 10 is fixed as a central swivel control curve, which is advantageously designed as a double curve and can be rotated and locked about the central axis 8 in a certain angular range. The cam disk 10 is assigned a graduation 11 outside the housing 7, on which the adjustment of the cam disk 10 can be read. A swivel control transmission device engages with the cam disc 10 for each pair of holding jaws 3, which is explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 2. Rollers 12, which are fastened to a roller lever 13, run off in the cam disk 10. The roller lever 13 is fixed to a shaft 14. The shaft 14 is rotatably mounted in the positioning ring 9 at a distance with the radius R (FIGS. 3 and 4) of its pivot axis X from the longitudinal central axis of the central central axis 8.

At the free end of the shaft 14, a leg 15 is attached, which is pivotally connected to a connecting member 17 at its opposite end by means of a pin 16. A bolt 18 is rotatably mounted on the one hand in the free end of the connecting member 17 and on the other hand in a leg 19. The leg 19 is fixed on a hollow shaft 20 which is rotatably mounted in the housing 7 of the gripper wheel 1 and carries the inner support arm 21 of the inner holding jaw 22 outside the housing 7.

The center axis or pivot axis Y of the hollow shaft 20 is also at a distance from the longitudinal center axis of the central center axis 8 with the radius R, the pivot axis X of the pivot control transmission device and the pivot axis Y of the hollow shaft 20 (and with this coaxial shaft 23 for the outer holding jaws 27, as will be explained below) are thus on an arc K, with the longitudinal central axis of the central central axis 8 as the pivot center.

A shaft 23 is arranged axially displaceably in the hollow shaft 20, but is non-rotatably connected to the hollow shaft 20. For locking with the hollow shaft 20, a lever arm 24 is rigidly attached to the end of the shaft 23, inside the housing 7, which carries a bolt 25 at its free end and in turn engages axially displaceably in a bore of the leg 19. Outside the housing 7, the outer support arm 26 of the outer holding jaw 27 is fastened on the shaft 23. The holding jaws 22 and 27 form a pair of holding jaws 3.

For the axial movement of the shaft 23 against a compression spring 28 for opening and closing the pair of holding jaws 3, an angle lever 29 acting on the shaft 23 on the end face inside the housing 7 is provided. The angle lever 29 is pivotally mounted with the pivot point 30 in a bearing block 31 fastened to the housing 7. While one lever arm of the angle lever 29 carries a cam roller 32, which rolls on a cam disk 33 fixed on the central axis 8, the other lever arm has a pressure piece 34 acting on the end face of the shaft 23.

In order to adjust the position of the shaft 14 (pivot axis X) relative to the position of the central axis (pivot axis Y) of the hollow shaft 20 and the shaft 23 on the circle K with the radius R with the aid of the positioning ring 9, a pivotable bolt 35 is mounted in the housing 7, the outside of the housing 7 with an adjustment scale 36 and an adjusting device for rotating the rotatable bolt 35, for example a key surface 37, and with means for locking the rotatable bolt 35 in the selected position. At the end of the rotatable bolt 35 located in the housing 7, an adjusting pin 38 is arranged eccentrically, which engages in a groove 39 of the positioning ring 9.

In order to stabilize the mass strand 2 during the separation process, the inner holding jaws 22 are longer than the outer holding jaws 27 by a working width of the cutting device and are provided with a slot 40 for carrying out the strand knife 5.

The operation of the conveyor device is explained below as follows:

The ground strand 2 is fed tangentially to the gripper wheel 1. Individual sweets B of predetermined length L are separated by the rotating cutting knife 5 of the cutting device 4 and are gripped by a pair of holding jaws 3. During the separating process, the separating knife 5 also performs a movement running with the mass strand 2 in addition to its rotational movement, so that compression of the mass strand 2 is avoided. At the same time, the inner holding jaw 22 of the holding jaw pair 3 serves to stabilize the mass strand 2 against the cutting direction of the separating knife 5. The separating knife 5 passes through the slot 40 in the holding jaw 22.

Since the peripheral speed of the holding jaw pairs 3 of the gripper wheel 1 is greater than the conveying speed of the mass strand 3, the holding jaw pairs 3 must receive a delay during the cutting process and the detection of the candy B in order to move in synchronization with the mass strand 3 during this time. For this purpose, the pairs of holding jaws 3 of the gripper wheel 1 are given before being immersed in the range of motion of the mass strand 2 a lead. After the detection of the candy B, the holding jaw pairs 3 are each accelerated again.

At a point 41 (FIG. 1) where the partial circles of the gripper wheel 1 and the transfer wheel 6 touch, the candies B are transferred from the gripper wheel 1 to the transfer wheel 6. The gripper wheel 1 and the transfer wheel 6 rotate in opposite directions at the same peripheral speed. At the transfer point 41, the support arms 21, 26 of the relevant pair of holding jaws 3 have again reached their radial central position.

After the handover of the sweets B, the advance of the holding jaw pairs 3 begins. The acceleration and deceleration of the holding jaw pairs 3 are generated by the rotation of the gripper wheel 1 about the stationary central axis 8. The cam rollers 12 of all swivel control transmission devices roll on the stationary double curve 10 (central swivel control curve).

The lifting movement of the cam rollers is carried out as a pivoting movement for each pair of holding jaws 3 via the roller lever 13, the shaft 14, the leg 15, the pin 16, the connecting member 17, the pin 18 and the leg 19 onto the hollow shaft 20 and from there onto the support arm 21 and thus transferred to the inner holding jaws 22 of the relevant holding jaw pair 3. The outer holding jaw 27 of this pair of holding jaws 3 receives the same pivoting movement via the support arm 26, the shaft 23, the lever arm 24 and the bolt 25 from the leg 19.

Each pair of holding jaws 3 is opened and closed by rolling off the associated cam roller 32 on the stationary cam plate 33 in cooperation with the compression spring 28.

The size of the pivoting movement of the holding jaw pairs 3 depends on the length of the candies B to be processed, ie at longer sweets this swiveling movement is smaller than with shorter sweets B. This is due to the fact that, based on the number of cycles of the separating knife 5, the conveying speed of the mass strand 2 with longer sweets B must be greater in order to have a longer one in the same time unit of the cutting device 4 Feed piece of the mass strand 2.

Since the pivoting movement of the roller lever 13 and the leg 15 generated by the cam plate 10 is always the same, a change in the pivoting movement of the leg 19 together with the lever arm 24, and thus the support arm 21, with the holding jaws 22 and 27 of each pair of holding jaws 3 by one Change in the position of the pivot point 42 (position of the pivot axis X on the circular arc K) to the position of the pivot point 43 (position of the pivot axis Y on the circular arc K) is achieved, as can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4. The pivot points 42 of all pivot control transmission devices are formed by the pivot axes X of the shafts 14 and the pivot points 43 of the holding jaw pairs 3 are formed by the pivot axes Y of the hollow shafts 20 and the coaxial shafts 22.

Fig. 3 illustrates the setting state for the minimum candy length L. Here pivot point 42 and pivot point 43 coincide for each pair of holding elements 3. This corresponds to the largest pivot angle φ (see FIG. 1) of the support arms 21 and 26. The support arms 21 and 26 each The pair of holding jaws 3 assume their vertical central position in relation to the direction of transport of the mass strand 2 at the time when the candy B is detected. In the movement diagram according to FIG. 5 this corresponds to point A. The movement course of the holding jaw pairs 3 with the smallest candy length L is represented in FIG. 5 by the curve L _min . In this movement diagram, the swivel angle φ of the support arms 21, 26 of the holding jaw pairs 3 is shown on the coordinate and the angle of rotation φ of the gripper wheel 1 on the abscissa.

If a longer candy length L is now to be processed, the positioning ring 9 is adjusted by an amount corresponding to the candy length L to be processed by rotating the rotatable bolt 35. The size of the adjustment can be read on the setting scale 36. With the rotation of the positioning ring 9, the pivot points 42, i.e. the pivot axes X of the angle levers 13 and the leg 15 are simultaneously displaced by the same amount with respect to the pivot points 43 (position of the pivot axes Y) on the circular arc determined by the radius R and the pivot angle φ is reduced.

Fig. 4 shows the gear ratio for the largest candy length L _max . The dimensions of the gear members are selected so that each pair of holding jaws 3 assumes the required radially directed, vertical central position at the time when the candy B is detected. The course of movement of the pairs of holding jaws 3 in the area of cutting and grasping corresponds here to the curve L _max in FIG. 5, whereby the time at which the candy B is grasped must again be at point A. For this purpose, when the positioning ring 9 is rotated, the central pivot control cam (cam disc) 10 is rotated by the same amount on the stationary central axis 8 and then locked. The required rotation can be read on the setting scale 11. A candy length L is separated from the mass strand 2 during the rotation angle φ 'of the gripper wheel 1.

In the manner explained, all pairs of holding jaws 3 of the gripper wheel 1 are controlled.

Claims (11)

1. Conveyor device for sweets, with a gripper wheel (1), which rotates about a stationary centre axle (8) and comprises a housing (7) with a plurality of pivotable, cam-controlled retaining jaw pairs (3), for the picking up and transferring of the sweets (B), which are separated from a continuous mass strand by a cutting device, at a transfer wheel (6), wherein the retaining jaws (22, 27) of each retaining jaw pair (3) are mounted coaxially relative to one another and to be pivotable in common, characterised thereby that a pivot axis (X) of a pivot control transmission device for the retaining jaw pair (3) and a pivot axis (Y) for the retaining jaws (22, 27) of the clamping jaw pair (3) are arranged on an arc (K) with an equal radius (R) of rotation relative to the stationary centre axle (8) as pivot centre, wherein a relative position of the one pivot axis (X) to the other pivot axis (Y) on the arc (K) is settable and a central pivot control cam (10) for derivation of a pivot movement of the retaining jaw pair (3) is located on the central centre axle (8) and adjustable in circumferential direction relative thereto.
2. Conveyor device according to claim 1, characterised thereby that the pivot axis (X) of the pivot control transmission device is formed by a shaft (14) mounted to be rotatable in a positioning ring (9), wherein the positioning ring (9) is located on the stationary centre axle (8) to be adjustable in circumferential direction.
3. Conveyor device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised thereby that the pivot control cam (10) is connected with an actuating device for the lockable adjustment in circumferential direction and with a setting scale (11) readable at the housing (7).
4. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 3, characterised thereby that the pivot control cam (10) is a double cam.
5. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 2 to 4, characterised thereby that the shaft (14) is rotatably mounted by a middle portion in the positioning ring (9) and has at its opposite ends at one end a roller lever (13) with rollers (12) for engagement with the pivot control cam (10) and at the other end a limb (15) of the pivot control transmission device.
6. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, characterised thereby that the pivot control transmission device has, for the pivot control of the retaining jaw pair (3) and apart from the roller lever (13) of the shaft (14), the shaft (14) and the limb (15), a connecting element (17) which is rotatably coupled with the limb (15) by a spigot (16) and which is rotatably mounted at its opposite end by a further pin (18), wherein the pin (18) is in turn rotatably mounted in a limb (19), which is rigidly connected with a hollow shaft (20) which is pivotably mounted in the housing (7) and rigidly connected outside the housing (7) with a carrier arm (21) of the inner retaining jaw (22) of the retaining jaw pair (3).
7. Conveyor device according to claim 6, characterised thereby that the pivot control transmission device comprises a shaft (23), which is mounted in the hollow shaft (20) to be axially displaceable and is pivotable in common with the hollow shaft (20) and with which at one end a carrier arm (26) of the outer clamping jaw (27) of the clamping jaw pair (3) is fastened outside the housing (7) and which has at its inwardly disposed end a lever arm (24), which is rigidly fastened on the shaft (23) and carries at its free end a pin (25) which engages axially displaceably and resiliently biassed in a bore of the limb (19) rigidly fastened on the hollow shaft (20), for locking with the hollow shaft (20) in circumferential directions.
8. Conveyor device according to claim 7, characterised thereby that the shaft (23) is acted on at the end face by an angle lever (29) by way of a pressure member (34), wherein the angle lever (29) is mounted to be pivotable and derives its pivot mounting about a fulcrum (30) from a control cam (33), which is fixed on the central centre axis (8), by means of a cam roller (32) mounted at the angle lever (29).
9. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 8, characterised thereby that the carrier arms (21, 26) of the retaining jaw pair (3) as well as the roller lever (13) are constructed as angle lever.
10. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 2 to 9, characterised thereby that there is provided a setting device for the positioning ring (9) with a pin (35), which is rotatably mounted at an end face in the housing (7), is connected with a setting scale (36) and has at its inner end an eccentrically arranged setting pin (38) in engagement with a recess (39) of the positioning ring (9).
11. Conveyor device according to at least one of the preceding claims 1 to 10, characterised thereby that the outer retaining jaw (27) is shortened by a working width of a separating knife (5) of the cutting device (4) for the separating of the sweets (B) from the continuous mass strand and the inner retaining jaw (22) is lengthened by this working width as well as provided with a slot (40) for passage of the separating knife.

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