EP3326925B1 - Packaging system - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a combination of a clocked packaging system for packaging products in folding boxes and a product manipulator according to the preamble of claim 1.

Clocked packaging systems have the advantage over continuously operating packaging systems that they take up considerably less installation space. In addition, packaging systems that work in a clocked manner have significantly greater flexibility with regard to the format of the folding box blanks and / or the product groups than continuously working packaging systems. Therefore, and also because of their clocked operation, clocked packaging systems are subject to completely different design requirements than continuously operating packaging systems.

In the case of clocked packaging systems, the products to be packaged are usually directed in a continuous product stream to a product manipulator upstream of the packaging system, in which they are combined into product groups of a predetermined configuration and clocked and transferred to the feed device of the packaging system. In connection with the present invention, the product manipulator is not regarded as belonging to the packaging system.

The packaging process can, for example, proceed as follows for a specially considered product group:
In a first work cycle, the product group to be packaged, which has previously been arranged on the feed device by the product manipulator, is transferred into a transfer position by means of the feed device. At the same time, the blank transfer device removes a folding box blank from the magazine and arranges it at the starting position of the packing device.

In the next work cycle, on the one hand, the flat and not yet glued folding box blank is transported from the initial position to a first packing position and, on the other hand, the product group is transferred by means of the product transfer device from the transfer position of the feed device to the first packing position of the packing device and still essentially on it at this point in time arranged flat folding box blank. In the same work cycle, the folding box blank is folded around the product group to form an open box, with sections of the folding box blank possibly being glued together.

In the next work cycle, the open box formed in this way with the product group contained therein is transported to a second packing position of the packing device.

There the box is closed in the next work cycle. In the same working cycle, the closed box is transferred to the discharge device.

In addition, such packaging systems have already been implemented in duplex design, i.e. in a design in which two product groups and two folding box blanks run through the work cycles simultaneously in order to increase the number of product groups packed by the packaging system per unit of time.

In principle, embodiments are also conceivable in which three or more product groups and folding box blanks run through the work cycles simultaneously. However, this extends the paths that the product groups and folding box blanks or folding boxes have to go through in the individual work steps. Since the product groups and folding box blanks or folding boxes cannot be accelerated at will without endangering the predetermined configuration of the products or the desired arrangement of the folding box, such an increase quickly leads to a reduction in the clock frequency, which runs counter to the desire for increased efficiency .

At this point it should be pointed out that the features and processes described above also apply to the packaging system according to the invention.

Depending on the type of product to be packaged, the known packaging systems can pack up to around 60 product groups per minute.

For the reasons explained above, it has hitherto been necessary to provide a plurality of packaging systems of the generic type if one wanted to increase the total output of packaged product groups above the aforementioned limit of about 60 packaged product groups per minute. Of course, this required a corresponding amount of space.

From the pamphlet GB 2 536 806 A a combination of a packaging system and a product manipulator according to the preamble of claim 1 emerges.

Also refer to the pamphlets EP 1 939 090 A1 and EP 1 114 776 A2 pointed out.

Against this background, the object of the present invention is to provide a combination of a packaging system and a product manipulator of the generic type, which allows the total output of packaged product groups to be increased by a predetermined factor without increasing the space requirement by the same factor have to.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a combination of a packaging system and a product manipulator according to claim 1.

It is to the merit of the inventors to have recognized that the capacity of the feed device in the known packaging systems has not been nearly exhausted. As is known, a transport unit, for example a conveyor belt, of the feed device must be stopped while the product groups are being deposited thereon by the product manipulator. In particular, the inventors have now recognized that the proportion of the idle time in the total duration of the work cycle is relative is small, so that enough time is available for accelerating the product groups, transporting them to the transfer position and braking the product groups at the transfer position that a total of a number of product groups can be fed which is sufficient to cover two with a single feed device To load packing devices. With a clock frequency of the packing devices that remains the same in comparison with the packaging system of the generic type, twice as many product groups can be packed per unit of time as in the packaging system of the generic type. Since, however, only a further packing device needs to be provided for this, but not a second feeding device, the space requirement increases by less than a factor of 2.

With the present invention it is possible for the first time to use a clocked packaging system to advance into a performance range (more than 100 products packed per minute) that was previously reserved for continuously operating packaging systems, while fully maintaining the large format flexibility typical of clocked packaging systems .

In order to be able to operate the packaging system according to the invention just as easily as the generic packaging system, it is proposed in a further development of the invention that the further magazine for providing folding box blanks for the additional packing device is arranged on the same side of the feed device as the magazine for providing folding box blanks for the a packing device, and that the blank transfer device is designed to also load the further packing device with folding box blanks. In this way, the operator loading the magazines with folding box blanks can stay on one and the same side of the packaging system and does not have to switch to the other side of the packaging system to load the magazine assigned to the further packaging device, which is always done with a crossing of the product flow on the feed or the discharge side of the packaging system would be connected.

Since this idea has the advantage explained above, regardless of the provision of only one further packing device, even when a plurality of feed devices are provided, each with a separately assigned packing device, independent protection is sought for this idea.

Since the magazines for providing the folding box blanks are arranged one behind the other as seen in the main flow direction, it is advantageous in a further development of both aspects of the invention if the initial positions of the packing devices are also arranged one behind the other in the main flow direction. They can advantageously have the same distance from one another as the magazines. In this way, the blank transfer devices do not need to move in the main passage direction. Rather, the blank transfer devices only need to perform three back and forth movements, namely a translational movement in the transverse direction, a translational movement in the height direction and a rotary movement about an axis running essentially parallel to the main passage direction. The transverse direction and the vertical direction run to each other and in each case essentially orthogonally to the main passage direction.

In a further development of both aspects of the invention, it can also be provided that the packing devices are each assigned a separate discharge device. In principle, however, it is also conceivable that a common discharge device is assigned to the packing devices. Which of the two variants is selected in each case can depend, for example, on the performance of the downstream end-of-line packaging system (s).

To the second packing positions of the two packing devices, ie those positions of the packing devices at which the folding box with the inside arranged product groups are closed, in the event that the packing devices are each assigned a separate discharge device, relative to the main flow direction to be able to be arranged at the same height, it is proposed that one of the packing devices has an intermediate position, in particular an intermediate position between the first packing position and the second packing position. Through this intermediate position, the path that is possibly too long for a transfer from the first packing position to the second packing position during a single work cycle can be divided into two subsections, each of which is covered during a work cycle

In order to be able to keep the number of positions of the packing devices low, the transfer device is also designed to push the product group onto a folding box blank that is essentially flat. The merging of the product group and the folding box blank takes place preferably at the first packing position at which the folding box blank is folded around the product group to form an open box in the same work cycle.

The transfer device can comprise, for example, two first metal sheets which run essentially vertically and in the main flow direction. The first two sheets can be arranged on both sides of the product group and displaceable in the transverse direction. When the product group is transferred, the following sheet pushes the product group in front of it, while the leading sheet stabilizes the configuration of the product group when it is braked at the first packing position.

Furthermore, the transfer device can comprise two second metal sheets, which run vertically and in the transverse direction. The second sheets can guide the product group laterally during their transfer. In this way the product groups are on top of all when they are transferred from the first and second sheets enclosed four horizontal sides, which ensures the maintenance of the predetermined configuration.

As an extension of the second metal sheets, third metal sheets can be provided at the first packing position, which, like the second metal sheets, run vertically and in the transverse direction. In this way, the first and third metal sheets can form a folding box at the first packing position, around which the still open folding box is formed, without the folding process being able to impair the configuration of the product group to be packaged. In order to be able to pull the first and third sheets out of the folding box which is still open, they are preferably designed to be vertically displaceable.

The packaging system according to the invention can also be implemented in a multiplex version, preferably a duplex version, that is to say in an embodiment in which a plurality of, preferably two, product groups and a plurality of, preferably two, folding box blanks run through the work cycles simultaneously in both packing devices in order to to increase the number of product groups packed per unit of time by the packaging system. For this purpose, a plurality of magazines, a plurality of blank transfer devices and a plurality of product transfer devices can be assigned to each packing device. Correspondingly, each packing device can have a plurality of starting positions, a plurality of first packing positions and a plurality of second packing positions.

In a development of both aspects of the invention, it can be advantageous in some applications if the product manipulator has two working cycles to prepare the product groups for processing in the packaging system. This can be the case, for example, when the predetermined configuration requires the products to be stacked one on top of the other. In this case it is advantageous if the feed device has a waiting position in the main flow direction before the transfer position, in which a second product group supplied together with a first product group in the direction of the transfer position can be positioned during a work cycle during which the first product group is transferred from the transfer position to the packing device by means of the product transfer device. According to this development, product groups are transferred to the packaging system for packaging only every second work cycle, but then twice the number of product groups. The first product groups are transported directly to the respective transfer positions, while the second product groups are transported to the waiting positions. In the next working cycle, the first product groups are then transferred from the product transfer device to the packing device, while the second product groups are transported from the waiting position to the transfer position, from where they are in turn transferred to the packing device in the next working cycle.

Figur 1

eine perspektivische Darstellung des Ablaufschemas zur Erläuterung der Arbeitsweise einer grundlegenden Ausführungsform der erfindungsgemäßen Verpackungsanlage;

Figur 2

eine perspektivische Darstellung des Ablaufschemas zur Erläuterung der Arbeitsweise einer Weiterbildung der erfindungsgemäßen Verpackungsanlage; und

Figur 3

eine perspektivische Darstellung des Ablaufschemas zur Erläuterung der Arbeitsweise einer weiteren Weiterbildung der erfindungsgemäßen Verpackungsanlage.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings of exemplary embodiments. It shows:

Figure 1

a perspective illustration of the flow chart to explain the operation of a basic embodiment of the packaging system according to the invention;

Figure 2

a perspective representation of the flow chart to explain the operation of a further development of the packaging system according to the invention; and

Figure 3

a perspective view of the flow chart to explain the operation of a further development of the packaging system according to the invention.

In Figure 1 a first embodiment of a clocked packaging system is generally designated by 100. The packaging line 100 serves to pack product groups 102, which are each formed from a plurality of products 104 arranged in a predetermined configuration, in folding boxes 106, which are each formed from a folding box blank 108.

The packaging system 100 comprises a feed device 110, which is shown in FIG Figure 1 is only indicated by a dashed line. The feed device 110 serves to feed the product groups 102 along a main flow direction D of the packaging system 100 from a product manipulator (not shown) upstream of the feed device 110 to transfer positions TP. In addition, the packaging system 102 comprises packaging devices 112 and 114, which are shown in FIG Figure 1 likewise only indicated by dashed lines and are arranged on the left or right of the feed device 110, as seen in the main passage direction D.

On the side of the packing device 112 facing away from the feed device 110, two magazines 116 and 118 are arranged, in each of which a plurality of folding box blanks 108 are received. Using an in Figure 1 Blank transfer device 120 indicated only by dashed lines, one folding box blank 108 can be removed from magazine 116 per work cycle and deposited at an initial position AP of packing device 112. In an analogous manner, by means of the blank transfer device 122, a respective folding box blank 108 can be removed from the magazine 118 and deposited at an initial position AP of the packing device 114.

The transfer of the product groups 102 to the transfer positions TP and the transfer of the folding box blanks 108 to the initial positions AP take place in one and the same work cycle.

In the next working cycle, the folding box blanks 108 are transferred from the initial position AP into a first packing position PP1. The folding box blanks 108 are still arranged flat and not glued. In this way, in the same work cycle, the product groups 102 can be transferred in the transverse direction Q from the transfer position TP to the first packing position PP1, specifically in such a way that they are pushed onto the folding box blanks 108. The latter transfer is accomplished by means of product transfer devices 124 and 126 shown in FIG Figure 1 are shown schematically by arrows.

In the same work cycle, the folding box blanks 108 are folded by means of folding devices 128 and 130 acting in the height direction H from below (also shown schematically by arrows) to form a still open folding box 106 'in which the product group 102 is received.

In the next working cycle, the packing device 112 transports the still open folding box 106 'to a second packing position PP2, in which it is closed to form the folding box 106 and transferred to a discharge device 132. This is accomplished by means of the closing device 136 indicated by an arrow.

The packing device 114 also transports the still open folding box 106 'from the first packing position PP1 to a second packing position PP2, with the still open folding box 106', however, making an intermediate stop at an intermediate position ZP for one work cycle before it is transported to the packing position PP2, where it is closed by means of the closing device 138 and transferred to the discharge device 134.

Due to the fact that the feed device 110 is powerful enough to load two packing devices 112 and 114 with product groups 102, the capacity of the packaging system 100 can be doubled compared to a packaging system of the prior art with only one packing device, without double the installation space to need. It is only necessary to provide a second packing device 114.

In addition, the two magazines 116 and 118 are arranged on one and the same side of the packaging system 100, so that the operator responsible for filling the magazines 116 and 118 can remain on one side of the packaging system and the product flow in the main flow direction D to fill the two magazines does not need to cross.

In Figure 2 a further embodiment of a packaging system according to the invention is shown, which is essentially according to the embodiment Figure 1 corresponds. Therefore, in Figure 2 Similar parts are provided with the same reference numerals as in Figure 1 , but increased by the number 100. In addition, the packaging system 200 according to Figure 2 are described below only to the extent that they differ from the embodiment according to Figure 1 differs, the description of which is otherwise expressly referred to.

Like the packaging system 100, the packaging system 200 also comprises a feed device 210, packing devices 212, 214, magazines 216, 218, blank transfer devices 220, 222, product transfer devices 224, 226, folding devices 228, 230, closing devices 236, 238 and discharge devices 232, 234.

A first difference between the packaging system 100 and the packaging system 200 is that the packaging system 200 is designed as a duplex system, i.e. twice as many units can be processed per work cycle as in the packaging system 100.

For example, the blank transfer devices 220 and 222 are each designed to remove folding box blanks 208 from two magazines 216 and 240 or 218 and 242 and to deposit them at two starting positions AP of the packing devices 212 and 214 arranged one behind the other in the main flow direction D. Furthermore, the product transfer devices 224 and 226 designed to transfer two product groups 202 at the same time from the transfer positions TP to the first packing positions PP1 of the two packing devices 212 and 214. The same also applies to the folding devices 228 and 230, the intermediate positions ZP and the second packing positions PP2.

A second difference between the packaging system 100 and the packaging system 200 is that each transfer position TP of the feed device 210 is assigned a waiting position WP. In this way, twice as many product groups 202 can be transferred to the transfer positions TP and the waiting positions WP in a single transfer from the input area 210a of the feed device 210, which is loaded by the product manipulator (not shown), as can be further processed in one work cycle . In a first work cycle, the product groups 202 'arranged in the transfer positions TP are forwarded to the first packing positions PP1, while the product groups 202 ″ arranged in the waiting positions WP are forwarded to the transfer positions TP in order to be forwarded to the first packing positions PP1 in the next work cycle will.

In this way, the product manipulator has two working cycles to prepare the product groups 202 for processing in the packaging system 200. This can be advantageous, for example, if the predetermined configuration of the product groups 202 requires the products 204 to be stacked on top of one another.

In Figure 3 a further embodiment of a packaging system according to the invention is shown, which is essentially according to the embodiment Figure 1 corresponds. Therefore, in Figure 3 Similar parts are provided with the same reference numerals as in Figure 1 , but increased by the number 200. In addition, the packaging system 300 according to Figure 1 are described below only insofar as they differ from the embodiment according to Figure 1 differs, the description of which is otherwise expressly referred to.

The packaging line 300 of the Figure 3 differs from the packaging system 100 in that each packing device 312 and 314 is assigned a separate feed device 310 or 310 'for feeding product groups 302. Nevertheless, the magazines 316 and 318 for loading the packing devices 312, 314 with folding box blanks 308 are arranged on the same side of the packaging system 300. In this way, the operator loading the magazines 316, 318 with folding box blanks 308 can stay on one and the same side of the packaging system 300 and does not have to switch to the other side of the packaging system 300 to load the magazine 318 assigned to the further packaging device 314, which is always done with a Crossing of the product flow on the feed or the discharge side of the packaging system 300 would be connected.

Claims (2)

1. Combination of a clocked packaging system (100) for packaging products (104) in folding boxes (106) and a product manipulator,
   each folding box (106) being formed from a folding box blank (108) and intended to receive a product group (102) which is formed by a single product or a plurality of products (104) grouped in a predetermined configuration,
   the products (104) to be packaged being conveyed in a continuous product flow to the product manipulator and combined therein to form product groups (102) of a predetermined configuration,
   the packaging system (100) comprising:

   • a feed device (110) to which the product groups (102) are passed in a clocked manner by the product manipulator, the feed device (110) being provided for feeding the product groups (102) in a main flow direction (D) of the packaging system (100),

   • a storage unit (116) for providing a plurality of folding box blanks (108),

   • a packing device (112) for packaging the product groups (102) in associated folding boxes (106), the packing device (112) being arranged on the side of the feed device (110) facing the storage unit (116),

   • a blank transfer device (120/122) for arranging at least one folding box blank (108) which has been removed from the storage unit (116) at an associated starting position (AP) of the packing device (112),

   • a product transfer device (124/126) for transferring at least one product group (102) from the feed device (110) to the packing device (112),

   • a discharge device (132) for discharging the product groups (102) packaged in folding boxes (106) from the packaging system (100), and

   • an additional packing device (114) for packing product groups (102) in folding boxes (106),

   the additional packing device (114) being arranged on the side of the feed device (110) facing away from the one packing device (112), and the product transfer device (124/126) being designed to also load the additional packing device (114) with product groups (102),
   characterised in that the product transfer device (124/126) is further designed to place the product group (102) on a substantially flat folding box blank (108).
2. Combination of a packaging system and a product manipulator according to claim 1, characterised in that a further storage unit (118) for providing folding box blanks (108) for the additional packing device (114) is arranged on the same side of the feed device (110) as the storage unit (116) for providing folding box blanks (108) for the one packing device (112), and in that the blank transfer device (120/122) is designed to also load the additional packing device (114) with folding box blanks (108).

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