EP2623424B1 - Method and apparatus for simultaneous packaging of a number of bags in collection containers - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for simultaneously packaging a plurality of bags in collection containers, wherein the bags are transferred from a conveyor belt of a packaging machine to the collection containers and stacked therein.

Powdery or coarse goods such. B. Soups in the food industry are filled into bags and then packaged further. The packaging of the products, for example, via a packaging station, as in the DE 10 2005 023 810 A1 is described. For packaging bags into collection containers, the bags are transferred from a conveyor belt to the collection containers via a lifting device (eg robot). The consistency of the contents entails that collects at the bottom of the bag, the goods, whereby the bag assumes a teardrop-shaped shape when the bags are processed standing upright. Such filled bags, which are mass-produced and filled, all have approximately the same bulbous structure, so that, when packaged in collection containers, stringing the bags over the bulbous structure results in very wide or high stacks that are near the thin end of the bag have a considerable gap. In order to be able to pack such bulbous bags to save space in collecting containers, for example a cardboard box, these are previously leveled in known systems in order to obtain a uniformly filled bag over the height and width. By leveling is thus understood a process in which the bag, which is filled unevenly over its height with a good, is so transformed that a height uniformly wider or thicker bag is formed. Unfortunately, the leveling process is largely lost again as soon as the bags are processed standing upright again.

For leveling different methods are known. For example, there are bag packers in which the leveling is performed by passing the bag with the bulbous side forward between two rollers spaced apart from one another equal to the thickness of the leveled bag. The disadvantage, however, is that when the bag passes through the two spaced-apart rollers, the distance superior material is pressed by the rollers in the region of the bag. Therefore, relatively strong compressive forces act on the bag, which can cause the material not to move quickly enough to the pressure of the rollers by shifting can dodge, causing the bag to burst. It also happens that relatively hard material in the bags, such as hard pasta pieces, are chopped during rolling, which can thus partially pierce the bag wall. Besides that exists Problem that can be crushed by the rollers, the material received in the bag, which should be avoided at all costs.

To avoid these disadvantages, for example, in the DE 39 21 538 A1 proposed to vibrate the bags, so as to bring the material received in the bags in motion. The vibration is selected so that a uniform distribution of the goods is ensured in the space available in the bag. Gravity imparts a certain force component to the material in a direction which, in superposition with the oscillating motion, provides for controllable orientation of the material in the bag.

The leveled bags are then further transported and taken to a packing station. The disadvantage, however, is that in the subsequent packaging of the bag in a collection container, the goods located in the bags can be pressed by gravity back down. This makes the subsequent dense stacking of multiple bags in a collection container difficult. The belly ends of the bags abut each other, while the thin ends of the bags have unnecessarily large gaps at the top. This means that a much smaller amount of bags per carton can be received, as would normally be the case with leveled bags. Often, even when packing the bag, a previously made equalization is partly nullified, which is unsatisfactory. For in the further processing and packaging of the bag is often the previously carried out equalization lost again, since the bags are at least temporarily processed standing. This should be avoided.

In the EP 059840A Therefore, a packaging machine is described in which a "Pater Noster" designated stacking device receives the supplied from a tape packages. A sliding device with frontally provided sliding plate detects the bag stack and pushes it through a funnel-shaped outlet channel into a collecting container. The horizontal storage of the bags on cell bottoms of the stacking device is intended to prevent the above-described undesired volume displacement of the bag goods in the bag. The disadvantage, however, is that both the sliding plate and the outlet channel squeeze the bag. Also, a bag stack makes very high demands on the previous equalization. Slightly uneven product distributions in the bag accumulate in such a way that the entire stack tends to tilt or mutual slipping of the bag during its handling.

In the DE 42 23 587 A1 Therefore, a method and an apparatus for continuously introducing packages into a collection container are described in which the supplied packages are continuously introduced directly into the tray, without any previous stacking takes place. This is made possible with the help of a rotary truck. The rotary stacker essentially consists of at least one, preferably three arms, which point radially outwards from a horizontally mounted drive shaft. At the ends of the arms a gripper flap is articulated. By the rotation of the arms of the rotary stacker, the ready in the transfer plate pack is detected from above and placed in an upright position. However, it is also disadvantageous in the case of this rotary stacker that a subsequent packing of the bags into a carton inevitably entails a displacement of the goods in the bottom area of the bags.

Similar problems exist in other known methods and devices, as for example in the DE 24 39 565 A are described. The uniformly conveyed with a conveyor belt bags are guided in a device for layering over two counter-rotating wheels, of which the one that takes over the bag from the conveyor belt, provided with a tab-like teeth. The bags are fed to the second wheel standing on a bag edge and filled in a vertical shaft where the bags are then layered on walls. Trapped in a pile holder, equal amounts of bags are transferred to a packing station where they are pushed out of the stack holders. Due to the changes in position and the transfers once from lying to standing and again from standing to lying, the bag good is exposed to different acceleration forces, which also leads to an irregular distribution of the product in the bag.

The DE 3116293 A1 in turn, describes a flat bag packaging apparatus comprising a transport device for transporting flat bags, a stacking shaft for picking up the bags from the transport device and stacking them into a stack with a given number of bags, a turning wheel provided with chambers for receiving each one stack , Lifting means for lifting the Stack consists of the stacking shaft in one of the chambers and a displacement arrangement for ejecting the stack from the chamber. However, there is also the problem with this device, that in the packaging of several bags in a collecting container, the bag goods are exposed to different acceleration forces, which leads to an irregular distribution of the bag goods.

In order to achieve an even distribution of the bag goods, is for this reason in the US 5,778,640 proposed that the Kartonbeladestation is made obliquely to fill each bag in succession via a pick-up station in an inclined position. A disadvantage, however, in this device, the way the carton deployment. These are first rotated by a rotating mechanism in an inclined position, then filled with the individual bags and finally turned back in a horizontal position and continued on a conveyor belt. The cardboard change is therefore very complex and not very efficient.

This problem also exists in the case of DE 44 47 050 A1 described device in which an inclined plane can be provided as a holding device over which the collecting container are inclined when introducing the packaging. A collecting container can be transported either on an inclined conveyor belt or on a horizontally extending conveyor belt, on which an inclined plane is provided. The disadvantage here, however, that the collecting container must be tilted before a placement process by means of a dedicated mechanism and returned to a horizontal position after the insertion process. Such a tilting mechanism is complicated. Similar disadvantages also exist in the packaging machine as they are for example in the US 4,610,125 A is described.

Against this background, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and an apparatus for packaging bags in storage containers, in which a higher packaging performance is made possible with a simplified container bin change.

This object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1 and a corresponding device designed for this purpose.

A central idea of the present invention is that the bags supplied by a conveyor belt for packaging in a collecting container are stacked not vertically or horizontally but in an inclined position in the collecting container. This is achieved by the collecting containers are aligned obliquely with respect to a horizontal longitudinal axis in the stacking direction and the bags are transferred from a conveyor belt of a packaging machine in the collecting containers and stacked in this in an inclined position, the collecting container via a conveyor belt in an angle range between 20 ° and 70 ° are inclined relative to the horizontal longitudinal axis.

Preferably, the individual plant components are erected obliquely for this purpose. These are in particular the conveyor belt, the carton erector and / or the topper. In the simplest implementation, at least the conveyor belt in an angular range between 20 ° and 70 °, with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis obliquely erect. The topper and the carton erector are preferably set at the same angle as the conveyor belt.

Depending on the type of packaging and bag shape can be dispensed with a prior equalization of the bag goods, since the processing of the bag according to the inventive method ensures that the bag stock remains evenly distributed throughout the bag during the entire packaging process. As a result, maximum quantities per carton can be achieved.

The term "equalized packaging" is used in the context of the present invention to clarify that the bag stock is evenly distributed in the bags without belly formation. Nevertheless, it may be necessary to carry out the process step of equalization for certain bagged goods.

As a collection container are any transport containers into consideration, such as boxes that are suitable for a collective packaging. Usually, the lower part of such a collection container is referred to as a tray. In addition to cardboard, other materials are used, such as recyclable plastics.

The collection containers (eg boxes) are guided via a conveyor belt to the packaging position. For this purpose, a separate magazine for the cardboard cuts is provided as well separate magazine for the lids. The storage containers of the magazine are set up by a carton erector and handed over to the inclined conveyor belt. The bags or packages pass via an infeed conveyor to a conveyor belt, via which they are transported to the packing position. The infeed conveyor and the conveyor belt are aligned as usual in a horizontal position. About the conveyor belt, the already shaped and erected collection containers are fed to the packaging station. Via a lifting device, for example a "pick and place" robot, the bags are transferred from the conveyor belt into the collecting container. The lifting device according to the invention can consist of one or more robot heads, whereby a plurality of collecting containers can be filled simultaneously. Furthermore, a plurality of suction heads are preferably arranged on a robot head, in order to be able to transfer a plurality of pouches at the same time per suction head and processing step, for example 10 pouches or more, into a provided collecting container of the conveyor belt. Preferably, the bags are sucked by the robot through a vacuum and held thereby.

The horizontal processing gives a uniform distribution of the bag goods in the bags. Due to the inclination of the conveyor belt and thus of the collecting container, the bag goods remain evenly distributed in the bag when filling the collecting container - a belly formation and thus the formation of a teardrop-shaped shape is avoided. Due to the inclined arrangement of the most important components of the device according to the invention a compact design and a smooth operation when changing the collection container are possible. Furthermore, higher packaging quantities per collection container can be achieved.

In addition to the higher numbers per collection container, the individual bags also take a stable position within the collection due to the uniform distribution of the bag good.

The collecting containers equipped with the multiplicity of bags are transferred by the conveyor belt via a slide onto a conveyor belt for the topper arranged above the conveyor belt. About this conveyor belt, the filled sump reach the capper, which covers the collecting container accordingly and finally feeds a discharge conveyor. An arranged on the front-side tape end discharge device for empty cartons and a separate Unwrapped bag diverter ensures smooth operation should the machine go into emergency mode. The slider is preferably moved over rails.

In a preferred embodiment, the slider additionally has a cartridge function to hold the bags in a defined position upon transfer to the collection container. The cassette may for example be U-shaped and made of brushes to fulfill this function.

The conveyor belt is preferably a race track in which a plurality of cartons are conveyed simultaneously to the lifting device for filling. This is preferably done at intervals. The subsequent filling of the collection container with the bags is preferably carried out simultaneously via one or more suction cups. As soon as the filled collecting containers are completely loaded with the load, they are pushed away in the next step on the slide upwards, so that even the next collection can be promoted in the next interval on the conveyor to the loading station.

Preferably, the angle range for stacking the bags in the sump is between 20 ° and 70 °, preferably 25 ° to 60 °. An angle of about 45 °, in some embodiments also 60 ° is particularly preferred.

In one embodiment of the method it is provided that the individual bags are stacked in the collecting container with approximately the same angle in an inclined position. In order to increase the number of units per packaging unit, it is provided in a further embodiment that the individual bags are deposited in the collecting container with different angles to the horizontal longitudinal axis in the stacking direction. This means that the angle of deflection of each bag in the sump becomes ever smaller, i. H. the individual bags are stacked from a more vertical to a more horizontal position in the sump. As a result, the number of packaging per collection container is increased.

An advantage of the method according to the invention can be seen in the fact that a coordinated provision of a plurality of collecting containers and a simultaneous loading of bagged goods takes place, which enables a high number of packing pieces. The conveyor belt for the In contrast to known solutions, the collecting container does not have to be tilted back into another position (ie a different angle range) in order, for example, to bring the collecting containers into horizontal position. As a result, the device according to the invention has a time advantage when changing the carton. Overall, the device according to the invention can be implemented in a compact design, which represents a decisive cost advantage. Finally, the bagged product evenly distributed in the individual bags during packaging. A previously carried out equalization is retained.

In the device according to the invention, at least the conveyor belt for the collecting container in an angular range of> 20 ° and <70 °, preferably between 25 ° and 60 ° relative to the horizontal axis inclined in the longitudinal direction obliquely. The bags are therefore placed in the sump from bottom to top on the lifting device. In a further embodiment, it is provided that the feed conveyor for the topper, the carton erector and the topper are installed obliquely in the same angular range as the conveyor belt. On the conveyor belt and the infeed belt, the bags are preferably arranged in a horizontal position.

Fig. 1

den Aufbau einer Ausführungsform der erfindungsgemäßen Beutelmaschine ohne Gestell,

Fig. 2

eine Detailansicht der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung von der Stirnseite aus gesehen, und

Fig. 3

eine schematische Darstellung der Beutel.

The invention will be explained in more detail in the following drawings. Show it

Fig. 1

the construction of an embodiment of the bag machine without frame according to the invention,

Fig. 2

a detailed view of the device according to the invention seen from the front side, and

Fig. 3

a schematic representation of the bag.

In Fig. 1 the essential components of the device according to the invention are shown without frame. An essential core of the invention here is that important plant components are not horizontal, but inclined in an angular range between 20 ° and 70 °, preferably between 45 ° and 60 °. In the illustrated embodiment, the conveyor belt 8, the topper 3, the carton erector 1 and the feed belt 6 for the topper 3 are inclined in an angle range between 20 ° and 70 °. The single ones Collecting containers (boxes) are erected by a magazine 13 via a carton erector 1 and fed to the conveyor belt 8. This transports a plurality of collecting containers to the filling station, ie to the lifting device 5. The transport of the conveyor belt 8 takes place via a multi-pelt 17. The bags 15 are fed via an infeed conveyor 11 to a conveyor belt 10. On this pass several bags 15 to the lifting device 5 (shown here as a pick and place robot). A plurality of suction heads formed on the robot head allow simultaneous packaging of bags 15 into a plurality of collecting containers 14. For example, up to eight collecting containers 14 can be equipped with individual bags 15 at the same time. Furthermore, each robot head can simultaneously receive a plurality of bags 15 and transfer them into the respective collection container 14. Once the sump 14 are completely filled with bags 15, the finished collection. 14 pushed over a slider 16 up on the conveyor belt 6. Also, the feed belt 6 is set at an angle. About the feed belt 6 reach the filled sump 14 to the topper 3. There they get a matching capping. The covers are provided via the magazine 12. The finished collecting container 14 are finally transported away via the outlet belt 2 of the packaging device. The slider 16 is moved over rails up to the feed belt 6. The rails are held by a carrier 18 arranged on the left and right sides. In a preferred variant, the slider 16 additionally has a cartridge function to hold the bags in a defined position (not shown).

In Fig. 2 a further view of the embodiment shown is shown by the front view. One recognizes the horizontally oriented magazine 12 for the lid. The carton erector 1, the topper 3 and the conveyor belt 8 are inclined in an angle range between 20 ° and 70 ° in the longitudinal direction relative to the horizontal axis. Furthermore, one recognizes the horizontally oriented conveyor belt 10, from which the bags 15 are transferred via the lifting device 5 in the collecting container 14 provided on the conveyor belt 8 (collecting container 14 and bag 15 not visible). The slider 16 pushes the filled sump 14 up on the feed belt 6 for the topper 3. The feed belt 6 is disposed above the conveyor belt 8 and runs to this in push-pull.

In Fig. 3 schematically different stacking possibilities of individual bags 15 within a collecting container 14 can be seen. A collecting container 14 is for Packing the bag 15 is arranged in an inclined position at an angle of about 45 °. With a lifting device 5 a plurality of bags 15 are transferred into the collecting container 14. The bagged material remains evenly distributed in the bag 15 by the inclined position of the collecting container 14. In the in Fig. 3A In the embodiment shown, the bags 15 are arranged at approximately the same angle parallel to one another and are accordingly deposited by the lifting device. In Fig. 3B For example, the subsequent bags 15 are deposited in the sump 14 at a smaller angle so that the subsequent bags are stacked from a more vertical position to a more horizontal, shallower position. The advantage of such a packaging method is the fact that a higher number of bags per packaging unit can be accommodated than in the case of the equiangular type of packaging Fig. 3A the case is. Thus, both packaging variants are encompassed by the present invention.

Claims (12)

1. Method for packaging a plurality of bags in collection containers, in which the collection containers are oriented obliquely with respect to a horizontal longitudinal axis in the stacking direction and the bags are transferred to the collection containers by a transport belt of a packaging machine and stacked in said containers in an oblique position, characterised in that a plurality of collection containers are simultaneously inclined in an oblique position in an angular range of between 20° and 70° with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis by means of a conveyor belt and loaded with bags.
2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the angle for stacking the bags in the collection containers is approximately 45°.
3. Method according to either claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the individual bags in the collection containers are stacked in the oblique position at the same angle.
4. Method according to either claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the individual bags in the collection containers are set down at angles which become smaller, with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis, in the stacking direction.
5. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a plurality of bags are simultaneously transferred from a horizontal position into the oblique position by the transport belt, by means of a lifting apparatus, and transferred into the collection containers.
6. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the completely loaded collection containers are pushed from the conveyor belt to a feed conveyor for a lidding machine by means of a slider.
7. Method according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the initial raising for the collection containers and the subsequent lidding operation takes place in the same angular range as the transfer of the bags into the collection containers, which are positioned obliquely.
8. Device for packaging bags (15) in collection containers (14), in which the bags are transferred to the collection containers (14) by a transport belt (10) by means of a lifting apparatus (5) in that a plurality of collection containers (14) are oriented obliquely with respect to a horizontal longitudinal axis in the stacking direction in order to allow the bags (15) to be stacked in the collection containers (14) in an angular range of between 20° and 70° with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis, said device consisting of a transport belt (10) for the bags lying in a horizontal position, a conveyor belt (8) for the collection containers (14), a lifting apparatus (5) and a feed conveyor (6), arranged above the conveyor belt (8), for a lidding machine (3), characterised in that at least the conveyor belt (8) for the collection containers (14) is inclined obliquely with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis in an angular range of between 20° and 70° and in that a plurality of collection containers (14) are simultaneously oriented obliquely on the conveyor belt (8).
9. Device according to claim 8, characterised in that additionally the feed conveyor (6) for the lidding machine (3) is oriented obliquely in an angular range of between 20° and 70° with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis.
10. Device according to either claim 8 or claim 9, characterised in that additionally the cardboard box raising machine (1) and the lidding machine (3) are oriented obliquely in an angular range of between 20° and 70° with respect to the horizontal longitudinal axis.
11. Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that a slider (16) is additionally arranged on the conveyor belt (8) in order to transfer the loaded collection containers (14) from the conveyor belt (8) to the feed conveyor (6) for the lidding machine (3).
12. Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that the slider (16) additionally has a magazine function in order to keep the bags in a defined position.

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