EP3202673A1 - Deep draw packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Thermoforming packaging machine (2) with at least two staple chains (7) for holding a lower film (6) on both sides and for transporting the lower film (6) along a production direction (R) of the thermoforming packaging machine (2), wherein the staple chains (7) are housed in chain guides (30) wherein the thermoforming packaging machine (2) has a forming station (8) for producing depressions (11) in the lower film (6), a sealing station (12) and at least one cutting station (14) which are arranged in this order along the production direction ( R) are arranged on a machine frame (4), wherein the chain guides (30) extend at least from the forming station (8) along an insertion path (9) to the sealing station (12), the chain guides (30) each having an upper guide surface (O ) and a lower guide surface (U), between each of which a staple chain (7) is guided and the upper guide surface (O) at or along the forming station (8) has a horizon Alle has alignment and along the forming station (8) has a first vertical distance (V1) of a footprint (A) of the machine frame (4) of the thermoforming packaging machine (2), wherein the chain guides (30) at or along the sealing station (12) have a horizontal orientation and the upper guide surface (O) along the sealing station (12) has a second vertical distance (V2) from the footprint (A), and the second distance (V2) is at least 100 mm greater than the first distance ( V1), as well as the chain guide (30) along the insertion path (9) at least partially has an upward orientation, wherein the thermoforming packaging machine (1) comprises a product insert belt (3), wherein the product insert belt (3) has a conveying surface (31) and a deflection region ( 32) and the change from the conveying surface (31) to the deflection region (32) defines a dispensing edge (28) at which the product (10) leaves the product inlay belt (3), the Abga bekante (28) has a third vertical distance (V3) of the footprint (A) and this third distance (V3) is smaller by at least 10 mm than the second distance (V2).

Description

The invention relates to a thermoforming packaging machine with the features of claim 1.

From the DE 102 24 237 A1 discloses a thermoforming packaging machine for producing packages with a horizontally inclined sealing seam. A product stack of several slices of a food is inserted by means of an obliquely arranged conveyor belt in the form of a withdrawal tape in the molded into a lower film web trough. One reason for the inclination of the conveyor belt relative to the thermoforming packaging machine or the film transport plane lies in the structure of the forming station above the film transport plane. The conveyor belt must be arranged above the uppermost interference contour on the forming station and by the subsequent oblique course of the conveyor belt to the film transport plane approaching a range from the forming station to the beginning of the insertion path is necessary, which is not used by any workstation.

The object of the present invention is to reduce the machine length of a thermoforming packaging machine.

This object is achieved by a thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 1. Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

The thermoforming packaging machine according to the invention has at least two staple chains for holding a lower film on both sides and for transporting the lower film along a production direction of the thermoforming packaging machine, wherein the staple chains are guided in chain guides. The chain guides each have an upper guide surface and a lower guide surface, between each of which a staple chain can be guided. The thermoforming packaging machine has a forming station for forming depressions in a lower film, a sealing station and at least one cutting station, which are arranged in this order along the production direction on a machine frame, wherein the chain guides at least from the forming station extend along an insertion path to the sealing station, and wherein the upper guide surface at or along the forming station has a horizontal orientation and a first vertical distance from a footprint of the machine frame of the thermoforming packaging machine, wherein the chain guides on or along the sealing station have a horizontal orientation and the upper guide surface has a second vertical distance from the footprint, wherein the second distance is at least 100 mm greater than the first distance, and the chain guide along the insertion distance at least partially has an increasing orientation. The thermoforming packaging machine according to the invention is characterized in that the thermoforming packaging machine has a product inlay, wherein the product inlay has a conveying surface and a deflection region and the change from the conveying surface to the deflection region defines a dispensing edge at which the product exits the product inlay, wherein the dispensing edge is a third vertical Distance from the footprint has and this third distance is at least 10 mm smaller than the second distance. This embodiment of a thermoforming packaging machine allows a short insertion path, since a product feed belt can feed products in a simple and process-reliable manner and place them in trays. The inclined position of the troughs is particularly advantageous in some forms of troughs or products.

Preferably, the conveying surface defines in the area directly in front of the deflecting a plane which with the chain guide along the insertion path an angle of less than 60 °, preferably less than 40 °, includes, as with this range of angles for different products, the best results for a accurate insertion of the products have resulted in the troughs.

Preferably, the chain guide along the insertion path is partially inclined at an angle of 10 ° to 30 ° to the horizontal.

The chain guide is preferably carried out by the forming station along the insertion path to the sealing station largely continuously to avoid transitions between sections of chain guides, as this can lead to a troubled run of the chain.

In this case, the upper guide surface of the chain guide is preferred at the transition regions from the horizontal orientation to the forming station in the inclined insertion distance and guided by the inclined insertion path in the horizontal orientation in front of the sealing station along a radius of 500 mm to 1000 mm. This ensures smooth transitions of the chain guide, so that there is no kinking of the troughs, especially when using hard foils. At the same time, the insertion path should not be unnecessarily long in order to keep the overall machine length of the thermoforming packaging machine as short as possible.

Preferably, in the region above the forming station and in the region of the front edge, the product inlay has a vertical extent of less than 50 mm, in order to obtain a favorable discharge edge, which enables an optimized transfer of the product into the trough. Also conceivable is a vertical extension that tapers towards the end of the product insertion band.

Preferably, the thermoforming packaging machine is designed to process the lower film as a hard film with a film thickness of more than 250 microns, for example, to produce dimensionally stable sliced packs.

Preferably, the thermoforming packaging machine is adapted to form wells with a depth of 5 mm to 30 mm, for which the feeding of products with a product inlay, the discharge edge has been found below the upper chain guide along the sealing station, has proved to be particularly reliable and suitable.

The product inlay belt preferably has a separately drivable belt per track of the thermoforming packaging machine in order to be able to influence the insertion of each individual product separately, if, for example, the products could not be brought exactly parallel to the discharge edge in their position in the production direction. The separate control of the belts by means of the control makes it possible to eliminate formatting of the products, namely the allocation of the products to one another in tracks and rows, in the case of upstream product conveyor belts. Here are defined as tracks in the direction of production troughs and as rows transverse to the direction of production adjacent troughs defined.

Preferably, the product inlay is provided above the forming station and extends to the infeed path and partially along the infeed path. So products produced upstream of the thermoforming packaging machine can along the forming station to be promoted to a point of insertion in a structurally simplest way.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment, a feed movement of the product insert belt with a feed movement of the staple chains, and thus the troughs, can be synchronized in such a way that a product can be fed into the trough during the advancing movement of the trough. Thus, the placement of the product in the trough can be performed exactly.

Figur 1

eine schematische Seitenansicht einer Verpackungsanlage mit einer erfindungsgemäßen Tiefziehverpackungsmaschine und mit einem Produkteinlegeband,

Figur 2

eine schematische Seitenansicht des Verlaufs der Klammerketten von der Form- zur Siegelstation und der Einlegestrecke mit dem Produkteinlegeband,

Figur 3

eine schematische Draufsicht der Einlegestrecke mit dem Produkteinlegeband,

Figur 4

eine schematische Detailansicht der Einlegestrecke in einer vorteilhaften Ausführungsform des Produkteinlegebands in einer ersten Stellung und

Figur 5

eine schematische Detailansicht der Figur 4.

In the following, an advantageous embodiment of the invention is illustrated in more detail with reference to a drawing. Showing:

FIG. 1

a schematic side view of a packaging system with a thermoforming packaging machine according to the invention and with a product inlay,

FIG. 2

a schematic side view of the course of the staple chains from the form to the sealing station and the insertion path with the product infeed belt,

FIG. 3

a schematic plan view of the insertion path with the product insert belt,

FIG. 4

a schematic detail view of the insertion path in an advantageous embodiment of the product insert belt in a first position and

FIG. 5

a schematic detail view of FIG. 4 ,

The same components are provided throughout the figures with the same reference numerals.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of a thermoforming packaging machine 1 with and a product insert belt 3. The thermoforming packaging machine 1 comprises a machine frame 4, which is aligned along a production direction R and has a footprint A on its underside. At the right in the Fig.1 shown beginning of the thermoforming packaging machine 1, a rolling device 5 is provided for a lower film 6. The lower film 6 is by means of two laterally arranged on the lower film 6 staple chains 7 of a forming station 8 fed to deepen wells 11 with a vertical bowl depth T in the lower film 6. Furthermore, an inclined or inclined relative to a horizontal angle α insertion path 9 for inserting a product 10 in molded wells 11 (see also FIGS. 2 and 3 ) in the production direction R following the forming station 8. In the further course of production, a sealing station 12 for closing the troughs filled with product 10 with a cover film 13 and a first cutting station 14, which is designed as a cross-cutting station. A second cutting device 15, which is arranged downstream of the first transverse cutting station 14, is designed as a longitudinal cutting station 15 and separates the packages 16. The individual packages 16 are transported out of the thermoforming packaging machine 1 via a conveyor belt 17. The thermoforming packaging machine 1 has a controller 18, which can not only control the drive 19a, for example a servomotor, the staple chains 7, but also the drive 19b of the product insert 3 can control to synchronize the speeds of both drives 19a, 19b to each other or each other to be able to perform the insertion process optimally according to the product 10 and / or the trough 11.

The staple chains 7 are in a chain guide 30, in FIG. 1 shown schematically as above and below the dashed line for the staple chains 7 parallel dash-dotted lines, out. Such a chain guide is for example from the DE 102006005405 A1 known. The chain guides 30 have an upper guide surface O and a lower guide surface U, between which a staple chain 7 is guided. The upper guide surface O along the forming station 8 has a horizontal orientation and a first vertical distance V1 from a footprint A. The upper guide surface O along the sealing station 12 has a horizontal orientation and a second vertical distance V2 from the footprint A.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic side view of the course of the staple chains 7 and thus the lower film 6 from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12. In the forming station 8 one or more consecutively and / or juxtaposed and forming a format wells 11 are formed in the lower film 6. The staple chains 7 are moved synchronously per working cycle by a film feed V in the direction of production R, in order to provide newly to be filled troughs of the insertion path 9 and the product insert belt 3. FIG. 2 further shows a schematic detail view of the insertion path 9 with the product insert 3, are promoted on the products 10 in the production direction R. The product inlay band 3 has a vertical height H in the area above the forming station 8.

The course of the chain guide 30 from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12 is formed extra S-shaped. The chain guide 30 is horizontally aligned in each case in the regions of the forming station 8 and the sealing station 12, and in the region of the insertion path 9, the chain guide 30 has a course rising from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12. In the transitions from the forming station 8 to the insertion path 9 and from the insertion path 9 to the sealing station 12, the chain guide in each case has a radial course with a radius RA of 500 mm to 1000 mm. On the one hand, this ensures smooth transitions of the chain guide 30, so that no kinks in the troughs 11, especially when using rigid films with a film thickness of at least 250 microns arise. On the other hand, the insertion path 9 should not be unnecessarily long in order to keep the overall machine length of the thermoforming packaging machine 1 as short as possible.

The product inlay band 3 is connected to the machine frame 4 by means of a first adjusting device 23 and a second adjusting device 24. For example, manual or power-operated settings of the product insert belt 3 can be carried out via the adjusting devices 23, 24.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic plan view of the insertion path 9 with the product insert belt 3. The product inlay band 3 comprises two belts 3a and 3b, which are respectively provided for a track S1 and S2 for the product supply. A track S1, S2 is defined by the successive troughs in production direction R. The two belts 3a, 3b are each driven by separately controllable drives 21a, 21b and thus can compensate for an offset D of two adjacent products 10 and both products 10 insert identical. For detecting the position of the products 10 on the tapes 3a, 3b, information from an upstream system may be used by the controller 18, or sensors 22a, 22b are provided in front of the end of the product insert belt 3, covering the respective products 10 on the tapes 3a , 3b and forward to the controller 18.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic detail view of the insertion path 9 in an advantageous embodiment of the product insert 3 in a first position. The first adjusting device Fig. 23 is shown as a power operated adjusting device with a first actuator 25 in the form of a servo motor drive. By means of the first actuator 25, the product inlay band 3 can be raised or lowered in the right-hand area of the drawing and about a pivot axis S (see also FIG FIG. 3 ) are inclined at a mounting position of the second adjusting device 24 on the product insert belt 3. Thus, the inclination β of the product insert belt (3) or its product conveying surface is adjustable relative to a horizontal plane E.

There is also shown an optional embodiment of the second adjusting device 24 as a power-driven adjusting device with a second actuator 26 and third actuator 27 each in the form of a servo-motor drive. The second actuator 26 can raise or lower the left-hand area of the product inlay 3 by means of its vertical orientation in order to change the position of a discharge edge 28. The third actuator 27 can adjust the orientation of the product insert belt 3 via a horizontally arranged servomotor in or against the production direction R. By means of all three actuators 25, 26, 27, the product inlay band 3 is free to be displaced with respect to its discharge edge 28 and inclination β into an optimum insertion position for the product and the trough. This position can accordingly be assigned to the program intended for this packaging process as a machine setting parameter.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic detail view of FIG. 4 , The product insert belt 3 comprises a conveying surface 31, on which the products 10 in production area 31 are brought to the discharge edge 28. The position of the discharge edge 28 of the product insert belt 3 is defined by the transition between the conveying surface 31 and a deflection region 32. FIG. 5 also shows the plane E and the angle W in the area directly in front of the deflection area. The plane E meets in a particularly advantageous orientation of the product insert 3, the trough 11 such that the intersection P of the plane E with the trough 11 and the insertion position of the product 10 with its located in the direction of production R leading edge 33 represents.

During the insertion process, the movement of the product insert belt 3 and the advancing movement V of the staple chains 7 are matched to one another by means of the control 18 such that the product 10 is moved into the trough 11 passing obliquely at the discharge edge 28. In order to detect the position of the product 10 on the product insert belt 3, a sensor 22 in the form of a light barrier at the left end of the product insert belt 3, so that the controller 18 can control both the start and the speeds of the respective drive 19a, 19b for the loading operation according to the position of the product 10 on the product infeed belt 3.

Claims (10)

Thermoforming packaging machine (2) with at least two staple chains (7) for holding a lower film (6) on both sides and for transporting the lower film (6) along a production direction (R) of the thermoforming packaging machine (2), wherein the staple chains (7) are arranged in chain guides (30) wherein the thermoforming packaging machine (2) has a forming station (8) for producing depressions (11) in the lower film (6), a sealing station (12) and at least one cutting station (14) which are arranged in this order along the production direction ( R) are arranged on a machine frame (4), wherein the chain guides (30) extend at least from the forming station (8) along an insertion path (9) to the sealing station (12), the chain guides (30) each having an upper guide surface (O ) and a lower guide surface (U), between each of which a staple chain (7) is guided and the upper guide surface (O) at or along the forming station (8) has a horizon Alle has alignment and along the forming station (8) has a first vertical distance (V1) of a footprint (A) of the machine frame (4) of the thermoforming packaging machine (2), wherein the chain guides (30) at or along the sealing station (12) have a horizontal orientation and the upper guide surface (O) along the sealing station (12) has a second vertical distance (V2) from the footprint (A), and the second distance (V2) is at least 100 mm greater than the first distance ( V1), and the chain guide (30) along the insertion path (9) has at least partially an upward orientation, characterized in that the thermoforming packaging machine (1) has a product inlay (3), the product inlay (3) having a conveying surface (31) and a deflection region (32) and the change from the conveying surface (31) to the deflection region (32) defines a discharge edge (28) on which the product (10) the product insert belt (3) ve wherein the discharge edge (28) has a third vertical distance (V3) from the footprint (A) and this third distance (V3) is at least 10 mm smaller than the second distance (V2). Thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveying surface (31) in the region directly in front of the deflection region (32) has a plane (E) defining with the chain guide (30) along the insertion path (9) an angle (W) of less than 60 °, preferably less than 40 °. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the chain guide (30) along the insertion path (9) is inclined in sections at an angle (ß) of 10 ° to 30 ° to the horizontal. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the chain guide (30) from the forming station (8) along the insertion path (9) to the sealing station (12) is at least substantially continuous. Thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 4, characterized in that the upper guide surface (O) of the chain guide (30) at the transition regions from the horizontal orientation to the forming station (8) in the inclined Einlegstrecke (9) and of the inclined insertion path (9) in the horizontal alignment in front of the sealing station (12) along a radius (RA) of 500 mm to 1000 mm is performed. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the product inlay band (3) has an extension (H) of less than 50 mm between an upper surface of its upper run and a lower surface of its lower run perpendicular to these two surfaces. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoforming packaging machine (1) is adapted to process the lower film (6) as a hard film with a film thickness of more than 250 microns. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the thermoforming packaging machine (1) is designed to form troughs (11) with a molding depth (T) of 5 mm to 30 mm. Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the product inlay belt (3) has a separately drivable belt (3a, 3b) per track (S1, S2) of the thermoforming packaging machine (1). Thermoforming packaging machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a feed movement of the product insert belt (3) with a feed movement of the staple chains (7) so synchronized is that a product (10) during ongoing feed movement (V) of the trough (11) can be fed into the trough (11).

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