EP2478782B1 - Conveyor device for rod-shaped articles from the tobacco processing industry - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a conveying device for rod-shaped products of the tobacco-processing industry with the features of the preamble of claim 1.

Such conveyors are known in the art and include, inter alia, two or more parallel product strands in which the products are continuously fed on parallel webs to a longitudinal conveyor.

The longitudinal conveyor is formed of a driven drum with arms projecting on the front side, which perform a circular or elliptical rotational movement by the rotational movement of the drum. At each of the arms of the number of product strands corresponding number of receptacles are provided, which are acted upon by provided in the arms of compressed air lines with negative pressure. The recordings are aligned parallel to each other and to the product lengths and go through during the rotational movement of the longitudinal conveyor a takeover point in which they pass the respective product strand so tight that the existing negative pressure in the recordings sufficient to suck and remove one or more products of the product rank. The arms themselves are rotatably arranged on the longitudinal conveyor, so that the receptacles on the arms during the rotational movement of the longitudinal conveyor have a constant orientation.

Furthermore, a transverse conveyor is provided on the conveyor device, which transports the products of the longitudinal conveyor in a second transfer points transversely to the plane of rotation of the longitudinal conveyor thereof. The products have to be removed from the transverse conveyor from the parallel spaced receptacles of the longitudinal conveyor, for which purpose a plurality of negative pressure recordings are provided on the transverse conveyor in turn. So that the products can be taken over from the parallel recordings of the arms of the longitudinal conveyor, a part number of the receptacles on the cross conveyor in groups and evenly distributed over the circumference of the cross conveyor are arranged on pivotable lever arms (with two parallel product strands this would be every second shot). The pivotable lever arms each engage with a free end in a control cam of a fixed control plate and thereby perform during the rotational movement of the cross conveyor defined by the control cam pivoting movement, during which they are moved away from the periphery of the transverse conveyor in a position in which they the spaced apart in the transfer point of the circumference of the cross conveyor recordings of the longitudinal conveyor so close that the products are sucked by the voltage applied in the receptacles of the cross conveyor vacuum and taken over by the inclusion of the cross conveyor. After the acquisition of the products of the cross conveyor, the lever arms are pivoted back from the pivoted position in the transfer point to the circumference of the cross conveyor.

Such a conveyor is eg from the DE 41 29 672 A1 known.

A disadvantage of such a conveyor device is the fact that the paths of movement of the arms of the longitudinal conveyor and the pivotable lever arms of the cross conveyor could cross during the described sequence of movements, but in practice the pivotable lever arms of the cross conveyor and the arms of the longitudinal conveyor must not collide under any circumstances. The arms of the longitudinal conveyor with the images arranged thereon describe a limited by the trajectories of recordings envelope into which the pivotable lever arms of the cross conveyor must be moved to the products of the more distant from the cross conveyor or closer to the longitudinal conveyor recordings of the arms of the Remove longitudinal conveyor. This results in a covering portion of the envelope and the trajectory of the pivotable lever arms, which is limited by the mutually perpendicular arc sections of the trajectories of the longitudinal conveyor and the lever arms.

To avoid a collision of the lever arms of the transverse conveyor with the arms or the receptacles arranged thereon of the longitudinal conveyor during the immersion in the movement paths of the receptacles, it is therefore necessary to synchronize the rotational movements of the transverse conveyor and the longitudinal conveyor synchronized with each other. This can e.g. be effected by the longitudinal conveyor and the transverse conveyor driven by a common drive means and coupled to each other via a provided between the longitudinal conveyor and the transverse conveyor gear.

To avoid this problem, therefore, a considerable design effort must be operated, whereby the manufacturing cost of the entire device can be increased. In addition, the structurally complex coupling of the longitudinal conveyor and the cross conveyor represents the probability of failure of the conveyor increasing potential source of error.

Also revealed EP 1 493 338 A1 a conveyor according to the preamble of claim 1. The object of the invention is therefore to provide a conveyor with a simplified structural design, in which the above-described collision problem is avoided.

The object is achieved by a conveyor device with the features of claim 1. Further preferred embodiments of the invention can be found in the subclaims, the figures and the associated description.

According to the basic idea of the invention, it is proposed that the movement of the pivotable lever arms be controlled in such a way that the receptacles arranged on the pivotable lever arms are moved before and after immersion in the envelope on a portion of a movement path extending contactlessly with respect to the receptacles and their trajectories , By the proposed solution, a collision of the images is already prevented by the movement alone. In this case, the collision is virtually impossible due to the non-contact portions of the movement path regardless of the relative position of the images to each other and the rotational speeds of the longitudinal and transverse conveyor.

According to the invention it is proposed that the movement of the pivotable lever arms is controlled so that the arranged on the pivotable lever arms shots before and after immersion in a covering portion of the envelope and the trajectory of the receptacles of the pivotable lever arms are each moved into a space section, which is located within the envelope. The advantage of this proposed solution is the fact that the recordings on the pivotable lever arms thereby introduced, for example, radially from the outside into the transfer section of the envelope and led out again, the recordings during this movement, the path of movement of the recordings of the longitudinal conveyor do not cut and thus can not collide with the recordings or the arms of the longitudinal conveyor. The recordings of the pivotable lever arms are thus already before entering the transfer section in a plane of the envelope, so that the recordings enter through the present between the receptacles of the longitudinal conveyor free space in the transfer section.

Furthermore, it is proposed that the movement of the pivotable lever arms is controlled such that the receptacles of the pivotable lever arms are moved into the space section before the arms of the longitudinal conveyor, from their recordings, the recordings of the pivotable lever arms each take over the product, in the overlapping portion of the envelope and the trajectory of the pivotable lever arms enter. The images of the pivotable lever arms are thereby moved without a risk of collision in front of the associated receptacles of the longitudinal conveyor in the overlap section, so that the images of the longitudinal conveyor practically overtake the associated images of the cross conveyor in the overlap section for transferring the products.

Thus, the lever arms can not collide in the swung-out position with the receptacles of the longitudinal conveyor is also proposed that the movement of the pivotable lever arms is controlled such that the recordings of the pivotable lever arms between the entry into the space section before the transfer of the products and the exit from the space section after the transfer of the products exclusively in the envelope itself and by the extension the envelope are moved to the outside defined space.

A preferred sequence of movements for realizing the inventive concept can be realized by controlling the movement of the pivotable lever arms such that the receptacles on the pivotable lever arms during movement into the space portion before the takeover of the products and during movement from the space portion after the takeover the products are each moved on a portion of the trajectory with a smaller radius of curvature than on the portion of the trajectory through the envelope. Due to the different curvature sections of the movement path, the recordings can be moved in a short movement section into the proposed space section, while the recordings in the envelope and in particular in the cover section are moved much more straightly and with a lower lateral acceleration, without interfering with the recordings of the arms of the Longitudinal conveyor collide.

Furthermore, it has been found that the movement sequence can be substantially maintained when the arms of the longitudinal conveyor each have two or more parallel struts on which the receptacles are arranged, and the struts by a in the orientation of the arms during the passage of the cover portion of the Envelope and the trajectory of the pivotable lever arms between the axes of rotation of the arms and the axis of rotation of the longitudinal conveyor arranged web are connected to each other. The proposed struts and the web arranged as proposed, the available space for the movement of the lever arms can be increased and the movement can be further simplified.

In this case, the greatest possible space between the struts can be created by connecting the struts to form a U-shape.

Since the collision problem is practically solved by the proposed solution, the entire conveyor can be further simplified structurally by the longitudinal conveyor and the transverse conveyor can be driven by separate drive means. The use of separate drive devices not only simplifies the design effort and significantly reduces costs, it also results in advantages in terms of maintenance and the controllability of the conveyor.

It is also proposed to solve the problem that the longitudinal conveyor and the transverse conveyor can be driven by separate drive means. The use of separate drive means allows, especially for the cross conveyor and the longitudinal conveyor, a much more precise control of the movements, which much better prevents possible collisions of the arms and the lever arms. Furthermore, this eliminates the previously required complex coupling of the movements.

It is further proposed that the drive means of the longitudinal conveyor and the drive means of the transverse conveyor are independently controllable. The proposed independent control, the movements of the longitudinal conveyor and the cross conveyor can be matched, this may be required, for example, especially when changing the products to be conveyed or a change in the transport speed.

It is also proposed that the drive means of the cross conveyor and the drive means of the length conveyor are controlled such that the arranged on the pivotable lever arms shots are moved before and after immersion in the envelope each on a non-contact to the recordings and their trajectories extending portion of a trajectory , By the proposed control, the risk of collision of the arms and the lever arms can be further reduced, whereby it is even possible by the proposed solution, the cross conveyor or the longitudinal conveyor to rotate without the other assembly must rotate.

A further preferred embodiment may be seen in that the drive means of the cross conveyor and the drive means of the length conveyor are controlled such that stopping the movement of the cross conveyor automatically results in stopping the movement of the longitudinal conveyor and / or vice versa. The proposed solution, a damming of the products can be prevented at one of the transfer points of the longitudinal or transverse conveyor, wherein in addition to the transverse and longitudinal conveyor additional drive means other transport drum can be stopped up to the entire manufacturing machine.

Fig. 1:

Längsförderer mit längsaxial zugeführten Produkten und zwei Hebelarmen eines Querförderers nach dem Stand der Technik;

Fig.2:

Längsförderer mit einem Querförderer in Seitenansicht nach dem Stand der Technik;

Fig.3:

Querförderer mit einem Ausschnitt eines Längsförderers in Frontansicht;

Fig.4:

Querförderer mit einem Ausschnitt eines Längsförderers in Seitenansicht;

Fig.5:

Querförderer aus Fig.3 in perspektivischer Darstellung;

Fig.6:

Querförderer aus Fig.5 in Blickrichtung aus einem anderen Winkel;

Fig.7:

Bewegungsbahn der verschwenkbaren Hebelarme mit einer die Bewegungsbahn schneidenden Hüllkurve;

Fig.8:

Hüllkurve mit der die Hüllkurve seitlich schneidenden Bewegungsbahn; und

Fig.9:

Steuerplatte und Steuerkurve.

The invention will be explained below with reference to preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying figures. Showing:

Fig. 1:

Longitudinal conveyor with längsaxial supplied products and two lever arms of a cross conveyor according to the prior art;

Figure 2:

Longitudinal conveyor with a transverse conveyor in side view according to the prior art;

Figure 3:

Cross conveyor with a section of a longitudinal conveyor in front view;

Figure 4:

Cross conveyor with a section of a longitudinal conveyor in side view;

Figure 5:

Cross conveyor off Figure 3 in perspective view;

Figure 6:

Cross conveyor off Figure 5 looking from another angle;

Figure 7:

Trajectory of the pivotable lever arms with a trajectory intersecting envelope;

Figure 8:

Envelope with the envelope laterally intersecting trajectory; and

Figure 9:

Control plate and cam.

In the FIG. 1 First, a longitudinal conveyor 1 according to the prior art is seen from the front. The longitudinal conveyor 1 has a plurality of arms 4, which are always arranged to maintain the same orientation rotatably on the longitudinal conveyor 1 and are moved in a rotation of the longitudinal conveyor 1 in the direction of arrow C on a circular path or in the illustrated embodiment on an ellipse. As in FIG. 2 can be seen, the arms 4 are each provided with receptacles 9 and 12, which due to the rotatable mounting of the Arms 4 always have a horizontal orientation during the rotational movement of the longitudinal conveyor 1.

Laterally, the longitudinal conveyor 1 products 3a and 3b are supplied on two parallel paths on a format base 2 and taken over in a takeover point I of the recordings 9 and 12. The sequence of movement and the speed of movement of the longitudinal conveyor 1 are designed so that the receptacles 9 and 12 have a speed and direction of movement in the transfer point I, which is identical to the direction of movement and speed of the products 3a and 3b. The receptacles 9 and 12 are formed as trough-shaped depressions and acted upon via a compressed air line with a negative pressure of 130 to 160 mbar. At the time of passing the receptacles 9 and 12 through the takeover point I, the receptacles 9 and 12 are subjected to a negative pressure, so that the products are sucked 3a and 3b and transported to a transfer point II. Due to the identical speed and direction of movement of the receptacles 9 and 12 in the takeover point I, the products 3a and 3b are thereby conveyed away from the format base 2 with the least possible forces acting on the products 3a and 3b.

In the transfer point II, the arms 4 and the receptacles 9 and 12 arranged thereon exclusively have a vertical speed which corresponds in the direction and the height of the speed of fixed or rotatable receptacles 20 and receptacles 23 to pivotable lever arms 21.

The products 3a and 3b are taken over again in the transfer point II by means of a negative pressure in the receptacles 20 and 23 from the receptacles 9 and 12 and through the cross conveyor 7 in the direction of arrow E to a transfer point III to a in Arrow direction G rotating bowl drum 8 transported on.

Since the longitudinal conveyor 1 takes over the products 3a and 3b from a longitudinal axial feed movement from the format base 2, and the products 3a and 3b are subsequently transported across the transverse conveyor 7 transversely, the products 3a and 3b initially arranged in parallel in a plane must be in the receptacles 9 and 12 are taken across the alignment of the receptacles 20 and 23 transversely to their orientation. Furthermore, the products 3a and 3b are taken over in the subsequent transport path by a rotating drum 8, which has uniformly distributed and arranged at a constant distance from the axis of rotation of the drum 8, so that the products 3a and 3b in the transfer point III on the hollow drum 8 must also be distributed uniformly over the circumference of the transverse conveyor 7. The products 3a and 3b must therefore be moved out of the position provided in the longitudinal conveyor 1 parallel aligned position in a uniformly distributed on the circumference of the transverse conveyor 7 arrangement, wherein the more distant from the cross conveyor 7 product 3a via a pivotable lever arm 21 on the cross conveyor to be moved.

As in the FIGS. 1 and 2 can be seen, the receptacles 9 and 12 of the arms 4 of the longitudinal conveyor 1 are moved to trajectories 5 and 6, which limit an envelope 14. The planes of the trajectories 5 and 6 are in the Fig. 2 dashed and extended extended to the outside. The receptacles 23 on the pivotable lever arms 21 of the transverse conveyor 7 are first moved on a movement path 10 at a constant distance from the axis of rotation of the transverse conveyor 7. To take over the products 3a, the recordings 23 in a portion 11 of the movement path 10 is pivoted outwardly to the receptacles 9 of the longitudinal conveyor 1 out. The envelope 14 and the section 11 which has passed through the receptacles 23 during the pivotal movement of the lever arms 21 thereby overlap in an overlapping section 17, by which the collision problem known in the prior art is due.

In the FIGS. 3 and 4 the transverse conveyor 7 can be seen with a section of the longitudinal conveyor 1 from different views. The cross conveyor 7 has a rotating drum with fixed or rotatable receptacles 20 and verschenkbaren lever arms 21. The pivotable lever arms 21 are rotatably mounted on the second drum and engage with their free ends in a control cam 15 of a fixed control plate 16 (s. FIG. 1 ). Due to the engagement of the free ends in the later described control curve 15, the pivotable lever arms 21 during the rotational movement of the cross conveyor 7 enforced by the course of the control cam 15 pivotal movement, while the receptacles 23 of the lever arms 21 on the path of movement 10 with the section 11 of the pivoting movement are moved.

In that regard, the conveyor corresponds apart from the invention enabled collision-free movement of the recordings of the DE 41 29 672 A1 known conveyor.

As in the Figures 5 and 6 can be seen, the arms 4 are U-shaped of two via a web 22 interconnected struts 24 and 25 are formed, and rotatable in a rotational axis 26 stored on the longitudinal conveyor 1. The receptacles 9 and 12, not shown, are respectively arranged on the underside of the struts 24 and 25. The web 22 connects the struts 24 and 25 at their ends to a U-shape, on the side, which in the position of the arms 4 during the passage through the cover portion 17 and in the transfer point II between the axis of rotation 26 of the respective Armes 4 and the axis of rotation 27 of the longitudinal conveyor 1 is arranged. This results in the largest possible space between the struts 24 and 25 for the passage of the lever arms 21st

The sequence of movement of the receptacles 23 and the recordings 9 and 12 on the arms 4 is in the FIGS. 7 and 8 to recognize schematically.

The section 11 of the movement path 10 of the receptacles 23 initially has a first section 11c with a large curvature, ie a smaller radius of curvature, on which the receptacles 23 are moved into the spatial section 19 and subsequently into the covering section 17. In the further course of the movement path 10, the receptacles 23 are moved on a section 11b with a smaller curvature, ie a larger radius of curvature within the envelope 14 between the movement paths 5 and 6 of the receptacles 9 and 12 of the arms 4. To exit from the covering portion 17, the receptacles 23 are again moved on a portion 11 a with a larger curvature or a smaller radius of curvature in the space portion 18 and finally on the circumference of the cross conveyor 7 out. The space sections 19 and 18 are arranged, for example, in the radially outwardly widened envelope 14, so that the receptacles 23 are moved radially from the outside into the covering section 17, without thereby cutting one of the movement paths 5 or 6. The recordings 23 are so between the entrance into the space portion 19 and the exit from the space portion 18 only between the trajectories 5 and 6 thus within the envelope 14 moves. Due to the lower curvature of the section 11b, or in an extreme case rectilinear section 11b of the movement path 10, the receptacles 23 can be moved during the passage through the overlapping section 17 with only very little or almost no transverse acceleration, so that the takeover of the products 3a in the transfer point II can be effected with the lowest possible takeover forces acting on the products 3a. Due to the movement sequence enabled according to the invention, the receptacles 23 of the lever arms 21 are practically moved into the plane of the envelope 14 in a spatial section 19, which does not pass the arms 4 and the receptacles 9 and 12 arranged thereon. The receptacles 23 are radially moved from the outside into the covering portion 17 and laterally overtaken by the receptacles 9 and 12 in the covering portion 17, wherein the receptacles 23 and 9 are moved in the transfer point II in such a close position to each other that in the recordings 9 held products 3a are passed through the voltage applied in the receptacles 23 vacuum. Since the receptacles 23 and the receptacles 9 and 12 do not intersect during the movement of the receptacles 23 in the envelope 14, a collision of the receptacles 23 with the receptacles 9 and 12 or the lever arms 21 and the arms 4 alone due to the movement process practically be excluded. This is also evident from the fact that the cross conveyor 7 or the longitudinal conveyor 1 can rotate without a risk of collision even at a standstill of the respective other component.

Because of this no longer possible collision, the transverse conveyor 7 and the longitudinal conveyor 1 can be driven with separate or non-coupled drive means.

Due to the separate drive means smaller drive means can be used and the structural design can be substantially simplified. In addition, the drive means can be controlled separately, whereby the movement sequences of the transverse and longitudinal conveyor can be controlled to each other finer. Furthermore, eliminates a previously required coupling of the drives of the transverse and longitudinal conveyor by a complex transmission. Another advantage of the use of separate drive means can be seen in that the cross conveyor and longitudinal conveyor can be easily replaced individually, since the previously required complex coupling of the drives no longer needs to be solved beforehand.

In the FIG. 9 the control plate 16 can be seen with the control cam 15 arranged therein. In the lower half of the illustration, the control cam 15 has a course at a constant distance from the center of the control plate 16, so that the pivotable lever arms 21st are held by the leadership of their free ends in this section in the pivoted position and the receptacles 23 have a constant distance from the axis of rotation of the transverse conveyor 7. The course of the control cam 15 in the upper portion defines the swiveling out of the lever arms 21 and thus the movement of the receptacles 23 along the above-described section 11. In the dash-dotted sections 15a and 15b, the changed course of the control cam 15 for realizing the invention proposed Recognize movement.

Due to the course of the control cam 15 with the changing distance to the center of the control plate 16, the pivotal movement of the lever arms 21 is forced upon rotation of the transverse conveyor 7. The free ends of the lever arms 21 run in the in FIG. 9 to be recognized representation in a rotation of the transverse conveyor 7 in the counterclockwise direction in the control cam 15, so that the portion 15b, the Ausschwenkbewegung the lever arms 21 of the cross conveyor 7 in the space portion 19 and the portion 15a, the Rückschwenkbewegung arranged on the lever arm 21 shots 23rd from the space section 18 to the cross conveyor 7 controls. In the transition from the section 15b to the section 15a, the control cam 15 has a course with a smaller curvature, ie a larger radius of curvature, so that the lever arms 21 and the receivers 23 are moved along the section 11b of the movement curve with a likewise smaller curvature. The sections 15b and 15a define by their course the movement of the receptacles 23 along the portions 11c and 11a of the trajectory 10. Since the movement of the lever arms 21 with respect to the shape of the control cam 15 lags, the shape of the control cam is also in a symmetrical movement of the images 23 asymmetric.

The section 15a of the modified cam 15 is compared with the control curve 15 known in the art much farther out, so that the lever arms 21 are pivoted back to the transverse conveyor 7 with the receptacles 23 only at a later rotation in the direction of rotation of the transverse conveyor 7 rotation angle. The arms 4 with the receptacles 9 and 12 of the longitudinal conveyor 1 can be moved so far upwards and laterally from the cover portion 17 before moving out of the receptacles 23 that they can no longer disturb the movement of the pivotable lever arms 21. The Form of the cam 15 can of course be changed depending on the individually to be realized movement sequence of the lever arms 21.

Claims (7)

1. Conveyor device for conveying rod-shaped products (3a, 3b) of the tobacco processing industry comprising

   - a longitudinal conveyor (1) comprising revolving arms (4) on which at least two parallel-aligned receptacles (9, 12) are provided for receiving two or more products (3a, 3b) at a time conveyed along the longitudinal axis on parallel paths, and for handing the products (3a, 3b) over to receptacles (20, 23) of a rotating transverse conveyor (7) which transversely discharges the products (3a, 3b), wherein

   - a group of first receptacles (23) of the transverse conveyor (7) are each located on pivotable lever arms (21) performing a pivot motion controlled by a control device, wherein

   - the motion of the pivotable lever arms (21) is controlled in such a way that the pivotable lever arms (21), for taking over the products (3a), together with the first receptacles (23) plunge into an envelope curve (14) which is limited by the paths of motion (5, 6) of two adjacent receptacles (9, 12) of an arm (4) of the longitudinal conveyor (1), wherein the envelope curve (14) and the path of motion (10, 11, 11a, 11b, 11c) of the pivotable lever arms (21) overlap in an overlapping section (17),

   characterized in that

   - the motion of the pivotable lever arms (21) is controlled in such a way that the pivotable lever arms (21) together with the first receptacles (23) are moved radially from the outside into the overlapping section (17) and are moved back out of the overlapping section without crossing one of the paths of motion (5, 6) of the receptacles (9, 12) of the arms (4) of the longitudinal conveyor (1).
2. Conveyor device according to claim 1, characterized in that

   - the motion of the pivotable lever arms (21) is controlled in such a way that the first receptacles (23) of the pivotable lever arms (21) in the overlapping section (17) are overtaken by the arms (4) of the longitudinal conveyor (1) with the receptacles (9) assigned to the first receptacles (23) of the pivotable lever arms (21).
3. Conveyor device according to one of the claims 1 or 2, characterized in that

   - the motion of the pivotable lever arms (21) is controlled in such a way that, between entering into a radially-outwards extended spatial area (19) of the envelope curve (14) prior to the hand-over of the products (3a) and exiting a radially-outwards extended spatial area (18) of the envelope curve (14) after the hand-over of the products (3a), the first receptacles (23) of the pivotable lever arms (21) are moved within the envelope curve (14) only.
4. Conveyor device according to claim 3, characterized in that

   - the motion of the pivotable lever arms (21) is controlled in such a way that, while moving into the spatial area (19) prior to taking over the products (3a), and while moving out of the spatial area (18) after taking over the products (3a), the first receptacles (23) on the pivotable lever arms (21) are each moved on a section (11c, 11a) of the path of motion (10) having a smaller curvature radius than on the section (11b) of the path of motion (10) of the envelope curve (14).
5. Conveyor device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that

   - the arms (4) of the longitudinal conveyor (1) comprise two or more parallel braces (24, 25) each on which the receptacles (9, 12) are located, and

   - the braces (24, 25) are connected to each other by a web (22) arranged according to the alignment of the arms (4) while moving through an overlapping section (17) of the envelope curve (14) and of the path of motion (10) of the pivotable lever arms (21) between the rotational axis (26) of the arms (4) and the rotational axis (27) of the longitudinal conveyor (1).
6. Conveyor device according to claim 5, characterized in that

   - the web (22) connects the braces (24, 25) to a U-form.
7. Conveyor device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that

   - the longitudinal conveyor (1) and the transverse conveyor (7) can be driven by separate drive devices.

Images