Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B1/00—Packaging fluent solid material, e.g. powders, granular or loose fibrous material, loose masses of small articles, in individual containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, or jars
  • B65B1/30—Devices or methods for controlling or determining the quantity or quality or the material fed or filled
  • B65B1/46—Check-weighing of filled containers or receptacles
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
  • B65B35/30—Arranging and feeding articles in groups
  • B65B35/54—Feeding articles along multiple paths to a single packaging position

Definitions

• This invention relates to the assembly of groups of articles for container filling arrangements and to methods of assembling articles for filling containers. It is more particularly concerned although not necessarily so, with such apparatus and methods intended to be operated at high rates of filling.
• An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method in which, during the supply of a series of similar discrete articles from a plurality of sources to be packaged into containers, when one of those sources begins to supply articles having a non-standard weight, that source can be identified by weighing the containers into which the articles from the plurality of sources have been packed.
• the invention provides an article-assembling apparatus wherein a series of similar discrete articles from a plurality of supply- devices are placed in equal quantities in succeeding receivers, each receiver being arranged to be supplied with articles from more than one said supply device, each supply device comprising means for directing the articles to alternative receivers, control means for said directing of the articles being arranged to fill each of a plurality of said receivers with predetermined numbers of articles from at least two said supply devices and said control means directing the articles in predetermined different proportions from the respective supply devices to the respective receivers of said plurality of receivers.
• the weights of the filled receivers, or of respective containers to which the contents of the individual receivers have been transferred can be measured and a variation from a standard for the weight of the articles that occurs in the articles from one said supply device can be identified with the particular supply device by correlating of the weights of the individual filled receivers or containers with said different proportions of the articles from the respective supply means that they each contain.
• a method of assembling articles in groups in which similar discrete articles from a plurality of supply sources are grouped in equal quantities and a variation of weight of the individual articles from any one of said sources is identified comprising assembling the groups of predetermined numbers of articles from the or at least two said supply sources, the proportions of the articles from the respective sources in each said group being varied in a predetermined manner, weighing the individual groups or collected groups of articles and, in the event of a weight deviation being detected, correlating the weighing results with the known proportions of the articles from the respective sources making up weights measured to determine the supply source which is providing articles of a non-standard weight.
• Fig. 1 illustrates an apparatus according to the invention
• Fig. 2 is a schematic graphical representation of the distribution of articles by the apparatus of Fig. 1,
• Fig. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating the use of the invention
• Fig. 4 illustrates further details of the control unit in Fig. 3, and
• Fig. 5 illustrates an alternative switching means for the apparatus of Fig. 1.
• Fig. 1 shows schematically two collating chutes
• the chutes 2,4 are arranged over a conveyor belt 6 and are staggered one in front of the other in relation to the travel direction A of the conveyor belt.
• the conveyor belt 6 is formed with a series of spaced pockets 8 to receive the articles and carry them to a station (not shown) where the contents of each pocket is packed into container.
• Each chute 2, 4 has entry section from which bifurcated leading and trailing legs 2a,2b;4a,4b descend.
• a switching guide 12 is provided in the form of a plate or plates pivotable forwards and backwards between alternative positions in which the guide blocks the entry to one or other of the legs of the chute. Thus, only one leg of each chute is open to receive the articles at any time.
• One function of the switching guide 12 is to ensure that articles are not directed to the spaces between the pockets 8 on the conveyor belt.
• the spacing of the open lower ends of the. leading and trailing legs of each chute is dependent on the article dimensions and the spacing of the pockets 8 on the conveyor belt, so that at least one exit, from each chute 2,4 is over a pocket at any instant.
• the switching guide can be moved to direct further articles through the other leg into the same or another pocket.
• control means (not shown) operate the guides 12 so that from the combined deliveries through both chutes an equal number of articles is deposited in each pocket.
• the switching guides 12 are controlled so that the equal groups of articles collected in the pockets 8 are made up of predetermined, unequal quantities of articles from the two chutes 2,4, and also so that the proportions of the articles from the respective chutes are varied between one pocket and another.
• the process is monitored so as to be able to identify the different proportions of articles from the two processing lines in each pocket.
• the procedure can then be so controlled that when a weight deviation is detected, comparison of the collective weights of the groups of articles carried in the different pockets will identify the line producing the non-standard weight articles.
• the collected groups of articles are packaged and the packages weighed in this procedure, as will be described in more detail below.
• FIG. 2 shows the article deposition pattern in graphical form.
• the vertical axis of the graph represents a time scale, being marked in equal successive units corresponding to the frequency of deposition of successive articles from either of the chutes.
• the horizontal axis of the graph represents the conveyor length and is marked in units equivalent to the relative movement between the conveyor and the chutes between the instants of depositing successive articles from either chute. That is to say, in the time between the deposition of successive articles from either chute 2,4 the conveyor and chutes will have moved relative to each other by one unit of the horizontal scale.
• Fig. 1 shows the positions of the conveyor pockets at unit time "1" (vertical scale) .
• the series of pockets are represented as each extending seven units, ie. the pocket will pass a given position in seven units of time, and successive pockets are spaced apart by three units.
• Fig. 2 shows the delivery of the articles with the pocket positions stationary and the chutes moving at the same rate to the left of the graph.
• the legs 2a,2b;4a,4b of each chute diverge so that at their exits there is a space of five length units between the front and rear legs.
• the two chutes are so pitched that the trailing leg 2b of the first chute 2 and the leading leg 4a of the second chute 4 are coincident in the travel direction of the conveyor.
• the delivery of individual articles to the pockets from the first chute 2 is represented in Fig. 2 by the symbol "/" in the appropriate space-time position on the graph.
• the delivery of articles from the second chute 4 is similarly represented by the symbol " ⁇ ".
• the guide 8 switches a further four articles through the leading leg 2a, into that second pocket.
• the guide then switches over to deposit a further four articles (17th to 20th time intervals) in the same pocket through the trailing leg 2b. From one processing line, therefore, a total of 12 articles have been deposited in one pocket and 8 articles in the succeeding pocket.
• the second chute 4 deposits articles in conveyor pockets beyond those shown in Fig. 2.
• the deliveries through the chute 4 first appear in Fig. 2 at time intervals 9-12 when a further four packets are delivered into the first pocket, through the leading leg 4a of the second chute, simultaneously with the articles from the trailing leg 2b of the first chute. It will be recalled that the trailing leg 2b of the first chute and the leading leg 4a of the second chute are coincident in the travel direction.
• the guide 12 in the second chute then switches over to deposit in the 13th to 16th time intervals, through the trailing leg 4b, a final four articles into the first pocket. This brings the contents of the pocket to a total of 20 articles.
• the leading leg 4a of the second chute 4 is now in register with the second pocket and deposits a series of six articles during time intervals 17-22, overlapping with the delivery of articles into that same pocket from the trailing leg of the first chute 2.
• the guide in the second chute 4 then switches over to direct a further six articles into the second pocket (23rd to 28th time intervals) .
• each chute is so configured in relation to the pockets that it is able to switch each flow of articles between the front and rear legs of the chute in order to allow a substantially continuous series of articles to be deposited into the pockets. It is also possible to operate the assembling procedure described without spaces between the pockets, which may be required for the subsequent handling of the groups of articles but are not essential to the invention.
• the two article production lines 20,20a deliver their outputs to the two switching devices 2,4.
• the switching guide 12 of each device is operated by a respective actuator 22 under the control of a common microprocessor control unit 24.
• the articles assembled in the pockets 8 are boxed in a packing station 26 and the boxes are then weighed in a weighing station 28.
• Read-out unit 30 supplies the weight reading to the control unit 24 and the value is held in a section of a memory store 32 connected to the unit.
• data are held for operating the actuators 22 in a predetermined sequence so as to produce the switching patterns of the two devices 12 which give the groups of articles with different proportions of articles from the two production units.
• the control unit has a further output 34 controlling the speed of the conveyors in the apparatus in order to co-ordinate the operation of the switching guides with the arrival of successive pockets under the units 2,4.
• the control unit 24 ' is programmed to recognise the time delay between the assembly of each group of articles and the weighing of that group. If, because of some deviation in one of the production lines, the box of articles has a weight outside a preset tolerance, by its access to the article proportions data held in the store 32 the control unit can identify the particular proportions of articles from the two production lines in that box. The next reading of the weighing process will give a different total weight because the proportions of articles in the next box will be different. By comparison of groups of readings, therefore, the control unit is able to determine which of the two production lines is faulty and initiate a correcting action accordingly.
• Fig. 4 shows further details of the control unit 24, it being understood that the components illustrated can be in the form of software and/or hardware where appropriate.
• Motion generation unit 36 controls the movements of the conveyors and the switching drives. For the latter it outputs a sequence of pulses to a diverter switch unit 38 that generates the bag diversion switching sequence of the guides 2,4, in synchronism with the movement of the conveyor 6.
• the diverter switch unit can hold the predetermined switching sequence as an algorithm or as a look-up data table, for example.
• the weight read-out 30 inputs to an arrangement of averaging filters for controlling the dosing of the tea bags.
• a first filter 42 of the arrangement outputs average values for a number of read-out values to a comparator 44 which has a target weight value 46 as its other input. In accordance with any error output signal generated, the dosing of the bags in both production lines is adjusted equally.
• the weight read-out values are supplied via a changeover switch 48 controlled by the diverter switch unit 38 to input the read-out values to alternative averaging filters 50,52, in dependence upon whether the carton weighed contains more bags from the guide 2 than from the guide 4 or vice versa.
• the averaged values accumulated in the respective filters 50,52 are input to a second comparator 54 which can thus output a balancing signal when the two processing lines produce bags of different weights, the sign of the signal indicates which line is producing the heavier bags and which the lighter bags.
• a fully automatic system may be provided in which the control unit signal operates on a dosage regulation apparatus or the like to correct the weight of the articles in the appropriate production line.
• control unit respond simply by stopping the production of further articles, or by actuating an alarm to bring human intervention. It is of course possible to collect and package larger or smaller numbers of articles and detect weight deviations by the method described. The difference to be maintained between the proportions from the respective processing lines will depend upon the sensitivity of the weighing apparatus used. This and the size of the groups of collected articles will affect the manner in which the flows of articles are apportioned, and the number of weight read-outs averaged to generate weight control signals. It is thus not necessary to vary the proportions of articles in every succeeding group in all cases. If the weights are only sampled at intervals, the proportional distribution need not be controlled between those intervals.
• the articles are to be weighed only after the contents of two or more pockets are collected together e.g. to fill a larger box, it may not be necessary for more than one of the groups of articles so collected to have unequal numbers of articles from the different processing lines.
• the difference between the quantities of articles from the different sources may be kept the same although the total numbers of articles in the boxes will vary with their capacities.
• groups of 20 articles are collected in the pockets. If the groups are used to fill containers holding 80 articles which are then weighed to check for variations in the individual article weights, it may be appropriate to adopt a switching pattern for the articles from the two switching units of 24,16;20,20;16,24;20,20. Repeating this pattern would produce, in alternation one box having 44 bags from the first head and 36 from the second and a following box having 36 bags from the first head and 44 from the second.
• weight control process described above can also be adapted to operate with more than two processing lines operating in parallel.
• the streams of articles are assembled together in spaced groups by virtue of the spacing of the successive conveyor pockets from each other. If the articles are packaged in their groups, this ensures an interval between the delivery of successive groups from the conveyor, allowing time for packaging to take place.
• other means of time separation may be employed and that the invention may be employed in circumstances in which such separation is not necessary.
• the articles arriving from each processing line have three alternative routes, to provide a third exit for reject articles.
• Fig. 5 shows an alternative arrangement.
• the chute comprises a fixed hopper 62 in which a single, inclined leg 64 is mounted on a rotary support 66 to be rotatable about a vertical axis.
• a rotary actuator 68 is operable to pivot the leg 64 to an oppositely inclined position 64a, shown in broken lines.
• This and the full- line position correspond to the positions of the loading and trailing legs of the chute of Fig. 1.
• the leg can also be pivoted to a third position 64b at right-angles to the first two positions to provide an exit path, clear of the conveyor 6, for rejected articles.
• the monitoring means 38 is able to operate the actuator 68 for each of the streams of articles being supplied to the apparatus to direct any reject article detected through the third exit.
• the actuator 68 In order not to disturb the predetermined proportions in which the articles from the two chutes are assembled in the pockets, it is arranged that on a reject signal articles are rejected from both chutes at the same moment although only one of the articles may have triggered the signal. Concurrently, the conveyor movement pauses so that it remains in synchronism with the pattern of delivery of acceptable articles through the leading and trailing exits of the chutes.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Quality & Reliability (AREA)
• Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=8217630

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

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• 1995
  • 1995-03-22 TW TW084102795A patent/TW290508B/zh active
  • 1995-03-27 WO PCT/GB1995/000687 patent/WO1995026299A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1995-03-27 JP JP7525043A patent/JPH09510938A/ja active Pending
  • 1995-03-27 AU AU19578/95A patent/AU1957895A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1995-03-27 CA CA002185022A patent/CA2185022A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1995-03-27 ZA ZA952484A patent/ZA952484B/xx unknown
  • 1995-03-27 EP EP95912373A patent/EP0752951A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1995-03-27 NZ NZ282471A patent/NZ282471A/en unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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