EP2551224B1 - Method for operating a collection device for printed products - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The invention relates to a method for operating a collecting device for printed products, according to the preamble of claim 1 or 2.

State of the art

There are methods for collecting printed products in which the printed products are collected on a collection line. The individual sheets or supplements are each provided by investors, then deducted, and finally handed over to the collection line. The collecting line is known to comprise conveying means, e.g. Conveyor belts, which transport the printed sheets removed for further processing.

The European patent application EP 0588764 discloses a device for summarizing printed products, which means on the one hand from a loading station for the introduction of envelopes resp. Mantelproducts consists in a rotating conveyor organ, and on the other hand from a feed station for the introduction of supplements, so of printed sheets, in said shell products. The end products thus formed, which consists of a jacket product and a number of supplements are removed from a rotating station from a removal station and transported to a further processing machine.

In the case of sheet-fed collection, the aspect of dealing with errors that occur when the prints are printed is of particular importance to investors, since this greatly influences the quality and the processing time of a collection of printed sheets used to create a final product. Therefore, error handling is an essential aspect of such a collection process.

In some existing processes, defective products are simply rejected, see eg US Pat. No. 3,048,388 A1 , wherein the term "product" in the context of the present invention means a collection of printed sheets, and the term "defective" indicates an incomplete assembled product. The disadvantage of such processes is the high rate of waste, since the excreted products can not be recycled in most cases.

A further development is the European patent application EP 2 107 023 which discloses a method and apparatus for conveying sheet products. In this case, defective products are not discharged as before, but introduced by means of a revolving conveyor back into the collection line, completed there and then fed to further processing, see, eg WO 2009/015503 A1 , The disadvantage of this solution lies in the complicated return transport of the defective end products, which makes the system more expensive.

Basically, one could imagine a logistics in which additional delivery points are provided, which intervene when the removal of the printed products on the ordinary delivery points produce dropouts. Only in such a configuration should at least as many substitute delivery points be provided, which corresponds to the number of operative orderly delivery points. But this would not have covered all eventualities, because even a replacement point provided for the "repair process" could, in extreme cases, fail, whereby the package would then have to be rejected as definitely faulty. So even such a state of the art solution does not offer a sustainable repair process.

Presentation of the invention

The invention aims to remedy this situation. The invention, as characterized in the claims, has the object, in a method for collecting printed products of the type mentioned, to perform the "repair" of defective end products in an efficient manner and cost-effective manner.

This object is accordingly achieved by a method for collecting a number of flat products, in particular printed sheets, in which the products are delivered to the conveying means at an associated delivery point along a moving conveyor, each from a dispensing device, which preferably consists of at least one feeder. In this case, after the collection of all products from the dispenser an end product is formed, which is transferred at a transfer point from the conveyor to a conveying member, which then forwards the end product to a further processing plant.

The product dispenser consists of at least one feeder, from which usually a supplement is deducted. If the product dispenser consists of several sequentially arranged investors, the corresponding package is formed by the number of deducted inserts. This package is then transferred to a Weiterfördervorrichtung, which preferably consists of a rotating conveyor member having a number of pockets in the circumferential direction, which are each designed for receiving the package described.

Thus, there is a tactual interdependence between the formation of the individual supplements packet formed by the investors and the rotational timing of the pockets. This clock interdependence is referred to below as a clock period.

Thus, if an example of a collection device with five investors is used as an example, this means that a clock period on the one hand consists of the period of time which is claimed for the formation of a supplement package, and on the other hand resp. at the same time from the time it takes for the pocket to bridge its angle of rotation. The time for this rotation angle amount is thus dependent on the number of pockets in the circumferential direction and the rotational speed of the rotating conveyor element. Of course, the same conditions are also present when the conveyor organ does not carry out a rotating movement but a different type of translation.

According to the invention, process sequences are proposed which intervene whenever a so-called "repair process" is pending respectively. must intervene, ie whenever, during the product delivery process, errors occur within the investor, resulting in an incomplete end product. In the case of a product dispenser consisting of a number of feeders, in certain constellations a missing deduction of a supplement may occur, so that the package to be created with it is incomplete at the end of the collection line, whereby the end product would then have to be eliminated for quality reasons.

• Zum ersten geht es erfindungsgemäss darum, ein Prozess vorzuschlagen, bei welchem die im Verbund zu einem Paket fehlenden Beilagen beim nächsten Takt nachgebracht werden können, ohne auf die Strukturierung des schliesslich weitergegebenen Pakets Rücksicht nehmen zu müssen. In einem solchen Fall wird die fehlende oder fehlenden Beilage(n) einfach während eines nachfolgenden Takts nachgeliefert, indem die Abgabevorrichtung während eines solchen Taktes nur jene Beilagen der Reihe nach abzieht, welche dem unvollständigen Paket fehlen, so dass die betreffende unvollständig beladene Tasche, welche sich taktkonform, also zeitgleich, in Übergabeposition befindet, beladen werden kann.

So when it comes to completing the incomplete end product with missing sheet in continuous operation, there are basically two basic patterns in operating the method:

• The first is according to the invention to propose a process in which the missing in the package to a package supplements can be brought at the next clock, without having to take into account the structuring of the finally passed package. In such a case, the missing or missing supplement (s) is simply replenished during a subsequent cycle by the dispenser sequentially withdrawing, during such a cycle, only those supplements which are missing from the incomplete package, such that the incompletely loaded bag in question can be loaded in accordance with the clock, ie at the same time, in the transfer position.

Thus, when the bag loaded with an incomplete package rotates past its receiving location, the now removed and provided missing inserts are placed in the pocket.

Of course, the subsequent bag to be loaded will be properly loaded with the next complete package.

Only when the final product is complete, its removal is initiated from the appropriate bag.

If, after all, after an initial "repair" there is still an incomplete set of inserts, no removal is still initiated, and the incompletely loaded bag in question will remain in circulation until the next "repair".

Secondly, according to the invention, there is a process in which, due to an incomplete removal of the supplements, the structuring of the package formed by the supplements is to be retained in the final product, i. the stacked order of the various supplements must be in the order given to the final product.

For this purpose intervenes for each unsuccessful deduction of a side dish a control, which intervenes in the removal of the subsequent supplements so that no further supplements are deducted during this cycle.

The pocket associated with this clock will therefore only be loaded with the supplements which have been neatly removed in sequence until the failed delivery.

If, for example, the first supplement can not be deducted, the bag in question will initially be loaded with no other supplements. This pocket must then be operated at the next revolution, that is generally at the next period of the rotating organ.

Now it can happen that after the first "repair" the missing supplements in turn can not be taught in sequence. Also in this case, the controller will stop peeling the subordinate inserts within the dispensing device's current cycle as soon as the withdrawal from a feeder has not been made properly. The not yet deducted inserts are then taught the next round of the bag in question.

With this approach, it is ensured that the structuring of the final product is ensured, regardless of the number of stacked inserts and regardless of how many "repair operations" must be controlled.

The main advantage of the invention is the fact that to dispense with a complicated return transport of the defective end products and that the "repairs" made are an integral part of the product composition.

Selected embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and will be explained in detail in the following description with the aid of the figures and examples described below.

Short illustration of the figures

Fig.1

eine vereinfachte Seitenansicht einer beispielhaften Ausführungsform einer Vorrichtung zur Durchführung des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens,

Fig. 2

eine Seitenansicht einer ersten beispielhaften Ausführungsform eines Förderorgans,

Fig. 3

eine Detailansicht eines Teils des Förderorgans nach Fig. 2,

Fig. 4

eine Seitenansicht einer zweiten beispielhaften Ausführungsform eines Förderorgans,

Fig. 5

eine Detailansicht eines Teils des Förderorgans nach Fig. 4,

Fig. 6

eine erste Tabelle mit Abläufen der Reparatur eines fehlerhaften Endprodukts im Falle beispielhafter Fehler, ohne auf die anfänglich angestrebte Strukturierung des Pakets Rücksicht zu nehmen, und

Fig. 7

eine zweite Tabelle mit Abläufen der Reparatur eines fehlerhaften Endprodukts im Falle beispielhafter Fehler, wobei die anfänglich vorgegebene Strukturierung beibehalten wird.

Exemplary embodiments of the method according to the invention are described in summary with reference to the following figures. All elements not essential to the instant understanding of the invention have been omitted. The same elements are provided in the various figures with the same reference numerals. Show it:

Fig.1

a simplified side view of an exemplary embodiment of an apparatus for performing the inventive method,

Fig. 2

a side view of a first exemplary embodiment of a conveying member,

Fig. 3

a detailed view of a part of the conveying member according to Fig. 2 .

Fig. 4

a side view of a second exemplary embodiment of a conveying member,

Fig. 5

a detailed view of a part of the conveying member according to Fig. 4 .

Fig. 6

a first table of operations of repairing a defective end product in the case of exemplary errors, without taking into account the initial desired structuring of the package, and

Fig. 7

a second table of operations of repairing a faulty end product in the case of exemplary failures while maintaining the initial default patterning.

Ways to carry out the invention, industrial usability

Fig. 1 shows a collecting device for carrying out the inventive method. The plant comprises in the figure to the left of a transfer point 1, a collection line for sheet 27 and to the right thereof a rotating conveyor member 20. The conveyor member 20 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow 25 direction.

The collection line comprises a conveying means 21, which in the present case consists of an endlessly running conveyor belt, which of course can also consist of several conveyor belts. Conveyor belt 21 moves at a certain speed in the transport direction T. Further, the collection line comprises a number of dispensers A, B, C, D, E, which are designed in particular as a feeder. The investors A-E have the task to store printed sheets at a delivery point on the conveyor belt 21, which takes place within a certain clock period, thereby ensuring that in the course of along the filing path of the conveyor belt 21, the sheet 27 can be stacked from the respective feeder. The clock period is understood throughout the application text, the time span between the deposition of two printed sheets 27 of one and the same investor. In the present example, therefore, stacks with five printed sheets 27 are formed, wherein the stacks of the printed sheets are referred to below as packages. The packages consisting of stacked printed sheets then pass to a transfer point 1, where they are conveyed into a receiving pocket 22 of the rotating conveyor element 20.

If the bag already carries a jacket product introduced via a further transport section, then the printed sheet packages and the jacket product form the end product. Otherwise, the single printed sheet package is the final product par excellence. The rotating conveyor 20 further rotates the final product until it is subsequently at a suitable location by a gripper 28 of a delivery chain 24 of a further processing system 23 is taken out of the receiving pocket and transported on for further processing. In this case, the rotational speed of the rotating conveyor member 20 is synchronized with the speed of the conveyor 21 so that in a clock period at most a single end product is delivered to the transfer point 1 in a receiving pocket 22 of the rotating conveyor member 21. In other words, a receiving pocket 22 of the conveying member 20 remains during the delivery of end products from the conveyor 21 at most for a clock period at the transfer point 1. Here, the receiving pockets 1 to 12 are numbered.

The investors A-E, the rotary conveyor 20 and the grippers 28 of the delivery chain 24 are controlled by a controller 29 and are equipped so that they can pass at least status information to the controller 29. This will be explained in more detail in connection with the explanation of a "repair" in case of error.

In the case of an error, ie in the event that one or more of the offshoot AE can deduct no sheet 27 and place it on the sheet stack, the end product, so at least the sheet set is incomplete and therefore faulty. In this case, the defective end product thus formed is not passed on after its adoption by the conveying member 20, but keep in circulation. In this case, it is thus prevented that the gripper 28 can pull the defective end product out of the receiving pocket 22. This can be done either by the fact that the gripping function of the gripper 28 for the defective end product does not come into operation or in that the faulty end product is pulled so far into the interior of the receiving pocket that the gripper 28 reaches into the void. These two options make it possible to use different existing grippers or conveyor organ systems. For example, the second alternative can be used if the delivery chain 24 has no controllable gripping function. Of course, further, not described here ways to remove or prevent the removal of a final product possible. In the present embodiment, therefore, the incomplete end product is retained after the prevented removal in the conveying member 20 for another circulation, wherein a holding device ensures that the product can not fall out of pocket. These processes are under Fig. 2 to 5 explained in more detail.

Fig. 2 shows a side view of a first exemplary embodiment of a rotating conveyor member 20 with receiving pockets 22. X denotes a detail of a receiving pocket of the conveyor member 20, which in Fig. 3 is shown enlarged. The receiving pocket 22 contains a printed sheet 27 and comprises a holding device 26 which is designed as a flap and presses the printed sheet 27 against a wall of the receiving pocket 22 as soon as it is completely inserted into the receiving pocket 22.

Fig. 4 shows analogously to Fig. 2 a side view of a second exemplary embodiment of a conveyor member 20 with receiving pockets 22. Y denotes a detail of a receiving pocket of the conveying member 20, which in Fig. 5 is shown enlarged. The receiving pocket 22 contains a printed sheet 27 and comprises a holding device 26, which is formed in this embodiment as a clamp and clamps the sheet together with a wall of the receiving pocket 22 as soon as the sheet 27 is fully inserted into the receiving pocket 22.

Fig. 6 shows a graphical representation of the "repair history" at the collection device, in which the missing to a package supplements can be brought without limiting the timing of the rotating member 20. In this "repair process", the structuring of the enclosed package of supplements is not in the foreground. This is all about giving complete packages. In such a case, the missing or missing supplement (s) is simply replenished by the dispenser withdrawing during one cycle only those supplements which are missing the incomplete package which is already in a bag "stand by". Thus, when the bag loaded with an incomplete package rotates past its pickup location, the now removed and provided missing inserts are placed in this bag. Of course, the subsequent bag is properly loaded in time with the completely deducted supplements. If the supplements are present in their entirety, the removal of the end product from the rotating member 20 via the means 24/28 is no longer an obstacle. If, however, after the first completed "repair process" still an incomplete supplement package, so still no removal is performed, and the Bag is then completed the next round in the manner described.

The Fig. 6 shows such a course on the basis of assumed examples. The following clarifications are required here: The left-hand column 21 shows a series of clocks which are in agreement with the clocking curve of the rotating member 20, assuming that this member 12 has a number of pockets. Of course, the number of pockets of a rotating or on a Wegtranslation constructed organ 20 may be greater, but on the "repair process" itself does not change anything.

Assume here is an illustration when loading the pockets 22 during three consecutive revolutions, which are marked accordingly with the number of superscript lines. The dispenser, which is equipped here with, for example, five investors AE, for each bag to be loaded 22 in turn five inserts a ₁ b ₁ , c ₁ , d ₁ , e ₁ , which form a package for a first pending bag. Accordingly, for the remaining pockets 2 to 12 analogous procedure, this also during the subsequent revolutions of the body 20. Now it may happen that from a feeder no supplement is or can be deducted (in the figure with "X"), so that the supplement pack for incomplete present bag is incomplete, whereupon corresponding vacancies "Y" form in the receiving pocket, as can be seen from the figure.

Such a constellation is here in Fig. 6 set forth at the fourth clock of the first turn (4 '). Here, the investor C does not provide a supplement c, ie the supplement c ₄ is missing, and the package is therefore not complete. In this initial situation, therefore, the incomplete package remains in waiting for at least one further revolution of the organ 20 in the pocket in question. A forwarding of the incomplete content of this receiving pocket is prevented by the control, which is symbolized in the figure with two vertical lines after the arrow.

The FIG. 6 now shows how such a "repair" is performed. In the next turn, marked with two superscripts (4 "), investors A, B, D, E do not subtract (marked" 0 "in the figure); for the fourth Clock provided supplement c _{4 is} deducted, which is now added to the rotating past receiving pocket 4, so that the side dish consisting of the supplements a, b, d, and e from the first revolution with supplement c from the second revolution is added. The FIG. 6 also shows that this Supplement c does not conform to the original order of the package, but is simply added to the other supplements at the end.

The FIG. 6 also shows other examples of "repairs" to prove this to the stability of the system, so the "repair history". Shown are errors that occur during the 7th stroke of a first revolution (7 '), in which the supplements d and e are not deducted, respectively. which are marked by "X". In the following rotation, also at the 7th bar (7 "), only the missing inserts d and e are removed, and these are added to the corresponding rotating receiving pocket, as a supplement to the supplements a, b, c there already existing from the previous revolution. Here, too, it is the case that the inserts deducted last d and e are simply added to the existing subpackage.

It is further shown how to proceed if, for example, the "repair" can not be accomplished immediately in the subsequent rotation, but an additional repair rotation for the pocket in question must be initiated.

This concerns the 12th bar during the first turn (12 '). The supplements a ₁ , b ₁ , c ₁ can not be deducted ("X"), so that only the deducted inserts d and e can reach the corresponding pocket. In the next turn (12 "), the" repair "can not be completed because, for example, insert c can not be removed from feeder C. This means that the set of sheets is still not completely present, and this during another turn Only in the following turn (12 "') insert c can now be deducted, so that the package in the appropriate pocket then completely present, and therefore it can also be given more, which in the figure with one alone standing arrow is marked. In this regard, note the order of the side dishes, which consists of the insertion according to the inserts d and e from the first revolution, then from the supplements a and b from the second revolution and finally from supplement c from the third revolution. Shown is also an example of how the "repair process" takes place, for example, if errors occur at a certain clock only during another revolution. During the second turn only the investors A and E can deduct supplements at the 2nd bar. The remaining investors B, C, D do not supply enclosures b, c, d. The "repair" is now in the next turn, and the missing supplements bc and d are now taught and added to the existing in the appropriate pocket.

In Fig. 7 It is about a process in which it comes to a remedy, if in an incomplete deduction of the supplements, the sequential structuring of the supplement package must be present in all cases in the final product, ie the desired order of stacked supplements must be guaranteed in the final product. For those from the Fig. 7 Resulting operational states "X", "0" and "Y" are explained in the explanations below Fig. 6 directed.

For this purpose, in each case occurring error, ie in each case not taken off a side dish again as related to Fig. 6 a control, but which is now programmed so that when subtracting the subsequent supplements to be delivered so intervenes that during the current cycle in an unsuccessful deduction of a supplement, the immediately following investors also no longer deliver supplements. The pocket associated with this clock is therefore loaded with only the sequentially withdrawn supplements, which corresponds to the order of investors until the failed delivery. If, for example, the first supplement can not be deducted, then for the bag in question there is initially no single supplement for loading. This bag must then be operated the next turn of the rotating organ.

Now it may happen that after the first "repair" the missing supplements can not be deducted in turn completely. Also in this case the control will be subtracting the downstream one Suppress supplements within the current bar, and the not yet deducted side dishes are then brought to the next turn. With this approach, it is ensured that the orderly structuring of the end product is always present, regardless of the number of stacked inserts and regardless of how many "repair operations" must be controlled.

Fig. 7 shows selected examples for this "repair process". As can be seen, at the first bar all supplements are properly withdrawn from the respective investors, thus allowing them to be forwarded as a complete package. If now at clock 3 on the occasion of the first turn the supplement c can not be incorrectly deducted, then immediately thereafter, controlled accordingly, no deduction of the remaining supplement d and e, even if the deduction could proceed properly. In the following rotation then the missing inserts cd and e are deducted as a continuous sub-package and placed in the appropriate pocket. Since there are two inherently structured subpackets, namely (a, b) and (c, d, e), the merge corresponds to the originally specified order. At the 4th stroke of the first revolution, for example, the supplement b from the feeder B can not be deducted. The controller immediately intervenes and prevents the sequence that the following supplements c, d, e can be deducted. If insert b can now be deducted in the following rotation, but not the following supplement c, then the control here intervenes and prevents the following supplements d and e can be deducted. In this starting position, the inserts a and b are correctly stacked one after the other in the appropriate bag. Only in the following turn then the remaining supplements c, d, e can be deducted in order in a train, which only now the incomplete loaded bag can be successfully completed.

Claims (10)

1. Method for operating a collating apparatus for printed products (27), in which collating apparatus the printed products are removed from a delivery device comprising at least one delivery station (A-E) and are deposited successively on a collating line during a cycle period, wherein a packet of printed products is present after all the printed products have been delivered within a cycle of the delivery device, which packet is transferred at a transfer station (1) of the collating line to a connected conveying member consisting of a number of receiving pockets, wherein, in the event of at least one incorrect removal of at least one printed product (27) from at least one delivery station (A-E), a repair process is activated such that the missing printed product is removed from the respective delivery station (A-E) in synchronicity with a following pocket-related recurring cycle of the conveying member (20) in a cycle period relating to the delivery device and is inserted in the relevant receiving pocket (22) incompletely loaded with printed products, and wherein the number of subsequent repair processes for producing a complete packet is at least equal to the number of delivery stations (A-E) of the delivery device.
2. Method for operating a collating apparatus for printed product (27), in which collating apparatus printed products are removed from a delivery device comprising delivery stations (A-E) and are deposited successively on a collating line during a cycle period, wherein a packet of printed product is present after all the printed products have been delivered within a cycle of the delivery device, which packet is transferred at a transfer station (1) of the collating line to a connected conveying member consisting of a number of receiving pockets, wherein, in the event of at least one incorrect removal of at least one printed product (27) from at least one delivery station (A-E), a repair process is activated such that the delivery stations arranged downstream of the at least one printed product which has not been removed simultaneously supply no further printed products, and wherein the missing printed products are removed successively from the relevant delivery stations (A-E) in synchronicity with a following pocket-related recurring cycle of the conveying member (20) in a cycle period related to the delivery device and are inserted in the relevant receiving pocket (22) incompletely loaded with printed products.
3. Method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the conveying member (20) consists of a rotary conveyor wheel having n receiving pockets (22) on its circumference, or of an endless belt equipped with receiving pockets.
4. Method according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the rotational speed (25) of the conveying member (20) is synchronised with the running speed of the collating line (21) in such a way that, within a cycle period, not more than a single packet or, during a repair sequence, not more than one partial packet or one printed product is deposited in a receiving pocket (22) of the conveying member (20) at the transfer station (1).
5. Method according to any one of Claims 2 to 4, characterised in that the number of subsequent repair processes for producing a complete packet is at least equal to the number of delivery stations (A-E).
6. Method according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the partial packet deposited in a receiving pocket (22) is secured against falling out by means of retaining or clamping devices (26) during the further movement of the conveying member (20) during the repair sequence.
7. Method according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the speed (25) of the conveying member (20) is designed as a function of the number of its receiving pockets (22) in relation to the number of delivery stations (A-E).
8. Method according to Claim 7, characterised in that the cycle period of the conveying member from receiving pocket to receiving pocket (22) is set to be greater, equal to or less than the cycle period predefined by the collating line (21).
9. Method according to Claim 7, characterised in that the speed of the conveying member (20) is varied during operation.
10. Method according to one or more of Claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the repair sequence which is not designed according to the sequence of the printed products is converted to the repair sequence structured according to the sequence of the printed products, and in that the repair sequence structured according to the sequence of the printed products is converted to the repair sequence which is not designed according to the sequence of the printed products.

Images