EP3424854B1 - Provision of web-shaped sheet material to a cutting area - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for providing web-shaped interleaf material in a cutting area, in which supplied products are cut into slices and interleaves are introduced, which are separated from the interleaved material provided in the cutting area.

In the cutting area, slices separated from the products can consequently be provided with the interleaves introduced into the cutting area. In this case, for example, either interleaves can be inserted between two immediately successive panes or interleaves can be inserted under a pane and thus between this pane and a support surface of this pane. When forming portions from several slices, for example, there is then an intermediate sheet under the bottom slice of a portion. However, such a function, which is also referred to as the underleaver function, does not rule out the fact that when portions are formed, one interleaf is not only placed under the bottom slice, but one or more interleaves are also inserted between two consecutive slices within the portion become. Regardless of whether or not an underleaver function is provided, an interleaf can generally be inserted within a portion either between each pair of directly consecutive slices or only between one or more pairs of directly consecutive slices, for example between every n-th pair, where n> 1.

Such devices are known in principle in the field of slicing food products and are also referred to as interleavers or underleavers. Such a device is in DE 10 2013 204956 A1 according to the preamble of claim 1 disclosed.

As mentioned above, an interleaver can also exercise an underleaver function, and vice versa. The present disclosure therefore applies not only to the interleavers primarily explained here or the provision of interleaves or interleaf material between two immediately successive disks, but also to so-called "underleavers" which are used to place a sheet underneath products. With such an under-sheet feed it is ensured that the products at least do not rest with their entire underside directly on a support surface, for example a conveyor device. If only the term “interleaver” is used in each case in the following, then the respective statements apply and the respective disclosure also applies - insofar as it makes sense - to an “underleaver”. As already mentioned, one and the same device for providing interleaving sheet material or interleaving sheets, depending on the respective application, can exercise both an interleaver function and an underleaver function, ie an interleaver is also an underleaver in the context of this disclosure, and vice versa.

The invention also relates to a device for slicing food products with a product feed, which feeds products to be sliced to a cutting area in which a cutting knife moves in a rotating and / or revolving manner in order to cut the fed products into slices, and with an inventive inter- or Underleaver.

Such cutting devices are also referred to as slicers or high-speed slicers, the latter against the background that with such machines, for example, bar-shaped or loaf-shaped food products can be cut at high cutting speeds of several hundred to several thousand slices per minute. In many applications, the separated, For example, stacked or shingled portions are formed on a storage surface formed, for example, by a portioning belt. An interleaver is used, for example, to insert interleaves between directly successive slices of a portion so that the slices can later be separated from one another more easily. The material used for the interleaves is, for example, paper or a plastic film.

Corresponding to the progress in the development of cutting machines, in particular with regard to speed, accuracy and versatility, ever higher demands are placed on the interleavers and underleavers. Known interleaver or underleaver concepts, which generally deliver satisfactory results, often no longer meet these increased requirements.

There is consequently a need for improved interleaver or underleaver technology, particularly in the field of slicing food products by means of high-speed slicers. In particular, the multi-lane and lane-specific interleaver and underleaver operation is increasingly in the foreground.

One problem with the known interleavers or underleavers is, for example, that a multi-lane slicing of food products and a lane-specific product feed is becoming increasingly important and interleavers or underleavers that can be operated individually are not as efficient as they are for optimal adaptation of the interleavers - or underleaver operation to the track-specific cutting operation would be desirable.

The object of the invention is to improve a device for providing web-shaped interleaf material in such a way that efficient track-specific operation is possible, in particular in connection with multi-track operation Slicing of food products using a high-speed slicer.

This problem is solved by the features of independent claim 1.

According to the invention, it is provided that the device is designed for a multi-lane provision of web-shaped interleaf material and has a material supply which comprises a rotatably mounted roll of material for each lane, a removal device being provided which is designed for a track-specific unrolling of the webs of material from the rolls of material is.

The device according to the invention, which is also referred to simply as an interleaver and / or underleaver in the following, can consequently work continuously with its own material web in each track. It is therefore not necessary to produce a plurality of individual material webs from one raw material web within the interleaver. This aspect of the invention starts with the material supply itself and thus with the "source" of the material webs. This enables a continuous track-specific handling of the individual material webs. The handling of each material web can consequently be optimally matched to the requirements of the corresponding lane of a slicer that works accordingly with multiple lanes. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims, the description and the drawing.

According to the invention, the removal device comprises an unwind drive for each track which, in an active state, is in positive or non-positive engagement with the roll of material or with the rolled up material web.

It is particularly advantageous to design the unwinding drives as a friction drive which, in an active state, is in frictional engagement with the wound web of material. This means that it is not necessary to drive the roll of material, e.g. via its axis of rotation, in order to unwind the material web. It is also advantageous that the friction drive can act on the outer circumference of the roll of material, so that the length of the web unrolled per unit of time is dependent only on the speed of the friction drive, but not on the current diameter of the roll of material. Furthermore, the friction drive can remain in frictional engagement with the roll of material at a standstill, i.e. when no web length is to be unrolled temporarily, and thus serve as a brake for the roll of material in order to prevent the roll of material from rotating further due to inertia.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment, it is provided that the friction drives are controllable in such a way that they remain in frictional engagement with the wound web of material after a transition from a drive state to a non-drive state.

The friction drive can comprise a friction wheel, an arrangement of several friction wheels or at least one circumferential friction belt, one strand of which interacts with the wound web of material.

The unwind drive can be converted into a passive state in which the unwind drive is out of engagement with the wound web of material.

A preferred embodiment provides that the unwind drive comprises a pivotable drive arm. The pivoting movements of the drive arms can be implemented e.g. by means of a pneumatic cylinder.

The pivot axis of the drive arm preferably coincides with an axis of rotation of a drive shaft for a drive element of the drive arm.

According to a preferred exemplary embodiment, pivot axes that are offset parallel to one another are provided for the drive arms of the individual tracks. It is therefore not absolutely necessary to arrange the drive arms of all tracks on a common pivot axis. The division of the drive arms over several swivel axes enables a particularly space-saving arrangement of the individual unwind drives within the interleaver.

The material rolls of the individual tracks are preferably mounted rotatably about a common axis of rotation, the pivot axes of the drive arms lying on a circle around the common axis of rotation. This concept enables a symmetrical structure and the use of identical components for the individual unwind drives. If the material rolls of the individual tracks sit next to one another on the common axis of rotation, all material webs have the same initial geometrical situation, which simplifies the further handling of the individual material webs on their way to the cutting area.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the drive arms of the individual tracks are combined in pairs or groups and a common pivot axis is provided for each pair or each group.

A comparatively simple drive concept can be implemented if, according to a further exemplary embodiment, the drive arms of the individual tracks are combined in pairs or groups and a coaxial shaft drive with several coaxially nested drive shafts is provided for each pair or group, each associated with one of the drive arms .

In particular with regard to cleaning, maintenance and retrofitting, a further possible embodiment of the invention is advantageous, according to which all drive arms for assembly or disassembly from the same side of the device to their respective ones Drive shaft can be pushed on. As a result, the interleaver or underleaver according to the invention only needs to be accessible from one side, namely from the "preferred" operating side of the interleaver or underleaver or slicer with regard to the overall construction of the interleaver or the installation situation on site to which the interleaver or underleaver currently belongs.

A pivot drive comprising a piston / cylinder / arrangement can be provided for each drive arm. The pivot drive can be designed to pretension the unwind drive into engagement with the roll of material or the wound web of material during an unwinding operation.

An optimal use of the installation space available in the interleaver or underleaver can be achieved if, according to a further development, a belt drive with a drive motor arranged offset to a drive shaft is provided for each unwind drive.

Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the unwinding rates of the individual material webs can be changed by changing the drive speed of the unwinding drive when the unwinding drive remains in engagement with the roll of material or with the wound up material web.

An internal or external control device is preferably provided which is designed to control the removal of the individual webs of material by operating the individual unwinding drives on a track-by-track basis.

According to a further preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention, a conveyor device is provided which has a common drive for all material webs and a separate coupling for each material web.

The conveyor device can consequently be built comparatively simply and inexpensively, since only a single drive is required and the track-specific operation of the conveyor device is implemented by the individual clutches, which can be passive components that do not require active control.

The clutch can be a clutch that switches automatically as a function of force or torque, in particular a slip clutch. The coupling can in particular be designed as a magnetic coupling.

The clutch can preferably be set to different threshold values for the transmission of force or torque. In this way, the conveying device can be adapted to the respective requirements, for example to a cutting program set in each case for the slicer or to the material properties of the interleaf material used in each case.

The drive can comprise a common drive shaft for all material webs and a separate conveyor roller on the drive shaft for each material web, a coupling being effective in each case between the conveyor rollers and the drive shaft.

It is preferably provided that the conveying rate of the drive is matched to the unwinding of the material webs from the material rolls in such a way that all material webs are always kept under tension. This ensures that the track length leaving the conveyor device per unit of time is dependent on the roll rate, so that a change in the roll rate results in a corresponding change in the track length departing from the conveyor device per unit time without delay.

A constant value can be specified or specifiable for the delivery rate of the drive.

The constant value can be greater than the largest expected roll rate for the respective application. In this case, the conveying rate of the drive of the conveying device is less than the length of the path emanating from the conveying device per unit of time, since no more material can be conveyed per unit of time than is unrolled from the roll of material.

If a conveying rate is mentioned in connection with the actual length of the web per unit of time from the conveying device, then when the interleaver or underleaver is operated as intended with the material web between the roll of material and conveying device under tension, this conveying rate is identical to the roll-off rate.

If the material web between the roll of material and the conveyor is at least temporarily not kept under tension, but rather has a slack, then the length of material emanating from the conveyor per unit of time can at least temporarily be less than the roll rate, at least when the conveyor rate of the drive of the conveyor to this Time is less than the roll rate.

The conveying rate of the drive of the conveying device can be changed over time and can be adjusted as a function of a measure that can be derived from one or more of the rolling rates.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the drive of the conveyor device can be switched off when there is no more unwinding drive in a drive state, and can be switched on again as soon as at least one unwinding drive changes back into a drive state.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the drive of the conveying device can be controlled by an internal or external control device as a function of the roll-off rates of the individual material webs in order to change the conveying rate.

For each track, the conveyor device can have a conveyor or take-off roller, which interacts with a counter or pressure roller of its own or common to all of the conveyor or take-off rollers. This can ensure that the material webs are securely seated. Alternatively, a plurality of counter or pressure rollers arranged next to one another in the transverse direction can be provided for each conveyor or take-off roller. Other means of pressing on can also be provided.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, a device is provided, the material supply for at least two tracks comprising a common rotatably mounted roll of material, and a device for dividing the web of material into several individual webs of material being provided for the web of material of the common roll of material.

According to this embodiment of the invention, a fundamental, albeit not continuous, multi-lane of the interleavers or underleavers can consequently also be implemented in that a common, rotatably mounted material roll is provided for several lanes. From the material web unrolled from this roll of material, several individual material webs are produced by means of a dividing device. The dividing device can can basically be arranged at any position within the interleaver or underleaver.

If only a single roll of material is provided for at least two tracks, then obviously no track-specific operation of the pick-up device can take place with regard to the unrolling of the material web from this material roll by means of the pick-up device. If, however, more than one roll of material is provided, the unrolling of the webs of material can take place on a track-by-track basis insofar as each roll of material is viewed here as a "track". In this case, however, in the sense of a uniform terminology, one should not speak of a track-specific unrolling, but rather a role-specific or rail-specific unrolling. When this terminology is used, the removal device for the plurality of material rolls is then designed to unroll the material webs individually for each roll or web. This is what is meant when, in connection with this aspect of the invention, a “track-specific” operation of the acceptance device is mentioned. If, for example, two material rolls are provided, the material webs of which are each divided into e.g. two individual material webs, then these two pairs of individual material webs can be handled individually with regard to unwinding.

A merely roll or web-specific unrolling of material webs from several material rolls, with the unrolled material webs then being divided into several individual material webs, but does not exclude that these individual material webs, which are each assigned to a track, are handled on a track-by-track basis in other respects.

If a multi-lane slicer is provided with an interleaver or underleaver according to the invention, then a common control device is preferably provided which is designed to coordinate the cutting of the products and the provision of the interleaf material on a track-by-track basis.

Fig. 1

schematisch eine Seitenansicht eines Slicers mit einem Interleaver gemäß einem Ausführungsbeispiel der Erfindung sowie drei schematisierte Einzeldarstellungen, und

Fig. 2 - 4

jeweils schematisch eine Ausführungsform einer Vorschubeinheit eines Interleavers.

The invention is described below by way of example with reference to the drawing. Show it:

Fig. 1

schematically a side view of a slicer with an interleaver according to an embodiment of the invention and three schematic individual representations, and

Figs. 2-4

each schematically an embodiment of a feed unit of an interleaver.

The large representation in Fig. 1 shows a schematic, not to scale side view of a multi-lane high-speed slicer, that is to say a device for multi-lane slicing of food products such as sausage, meat or cheese.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the slicer is operated in four lanes. On a product support 53 inclined to the horizontal, four products 11 to be cut lie next to one another. A product feed 49 comprises for each track, i.e. for each of the four products 11, a product holder 46, also referred to as a product gripper, which holds the product 11 at the rear end and feeds it in the feed direction indicated by the arrow to a cutting plane 50 running perpendicular to the product support 53, in which a cutting knife 51 moves, by the cutting edge of which the cutting plane 50 is defined.

The cutting knife 51 can be a so-called sickle or spiral knife with a sickle or spiral cutting edge which only rotates about a knife axis (not shown). Alternatively, the cutting knife 51 can be a so-called circular knife with a circular cutting edge that rotates around its own knife axis and also around an axis running parallel to the knife axis rotates in a planetary manner in order to generate the cutting movement relative to the products 11 required to separate the slices 13 from the products 11.

The product feed 49 can be operated on a track-by-lane basis, i.e. the product holders 46 can basically move independently of one another in the feed direction and thus feed the individual products 11 to the cutting plane 50 at different speeds and speed profiles. This also applies if, instead of the product holders 46 or in addition to the product holders 46, product support belts that can be driven on individual tracks are used as product feed 49 instead of a passive product support 53. In this way, the slicing process can be individually controlled in each lane, independently of the other lanes, in particular with the aim of producing slices 13 with precise weight or portions formed from several slices 13, taking into account the individual product properties such as weight distribution and cross-sectional profile.

It is also possible to stop the product holder 46 in one lane or to move it against the feed direction in order to temporarily not separate any slices 13 from the product 11 in question, while the products 11 in the other lanes continue to be cut. The track-specific product feed 49 can also take into account the cutting movement of the cutting knife 51, which is characterized in that one slice 13 is separated from all products 11 per cutting movement - i.e. per revolution or rotation of the cutting knife 51, but this does not take place exactly at the same time , but rather because of the passage of the cutting knife 51 through the products 11, which requires a certain period of time, the severed slices 13 of the products 11 fall one after the other onto the storage area formed here by a so-called portioning belt 55.

For many products 11, for example ham or some types of cheese, it is desirable for the slices 13 lying on top of one another, for example a stack-shaped or shingled portion, to be separated so that they can later be removed individually by the consumer from a packaging containing the portion. In the field of high-speed slicers, so-called interleavers, that is to say devices for providing web-shaped interleaf material, with which it is possible to insert interleaves 15 between directly successive panes 13, are used for this purpose.

There are interleavers in different designs. According to a widespread mode of operation, which is also provided for the interleaver according to the invention shown here, the endless material webs 19 in the area of the cutting plane 50 are ejected from below in accordance with the timing specified by the cutting movement of the cutting knife 51. This is done in such a way that the front end of the relevant material web 19 lies in front of the cut surface of the relevant product 11 and is cut off from the material web 19 by means of the cutting knife 51 together with the next severed disc 13, thus forming an intermediate sheet 15. This intermediate sheet comes to rest on the portioning belt 55 or the previously separated disc 13 and below that disc 13 with which the intermediate sheet 15 was previously separated.

The structure and the mode of operation of such slicers and also the basic principle of an interleaver are sufficiently known to the person skilled in the art, so that they do not need to be discussed in more detail below.

The interleaver according to the invention integrated into the slicer is multi-lane and is designed to provide the interleaf material continuously for individual lanes. The structure and functionality of the interleaver am Example of four-lane operation explained. However, by means of a comparatively simple conversion, the interleaver according to the invention can also be operated in one, two or three lanes. The respective operating mode depends, for example, on the products to be sliced, the downstream conveying and sorting devices and the type of packaging or the packaging machine. In general, the interleaver according to the invention is designed in such a way that it can be operated with any number of tracks and consequently also with more than four tracks.

For each of the four tracks S1, S2, S3 and S4, the provision of the intermediate sheet material includes removing the material from a material supply formed by a material roll 17, storing material in a loop storage device 61, and guiding the material in an area between the loop storage device 61 and an output device 71 and the output of the material by means of the output device 71.

For each track, the removal of the material web 19 from the material roll 17 includes the unrolling of the material web 19 by means of an unwinding drive 21 and the conveying of the material web 19 into the loop storage 61 by means of a conveyor device 23 common to all tracks. The individual unwinding drives 21 and the common conveyor device 23 form a removal device of the interleaver according to the invention.

For each track, the material web 19 is stored by forming a material loop 20 in the loop memory 61. In the loop memory 61, the individual material webs 19 or loops 20 are laterally guided by partition walls (not shown) in order to ensure that the material webs 19 follow the track.

In the illustrated embodiment, the entire transport path for the material web 19 between the loop storage device 61 and the output device 71 is formed by a shaft 111 in which the individual material webs 19 are guided. Such a configuration is possible in practice. However, between the loop storage device 61 and the output device 71, in addition to a pure guide section, as shown in FIG Fig. 1 is formed by the shaft 111, further devices are provided, which will not be discussed in detail at this point.

The output of the individual material webs 19 each includes the removal of the material web 19 from the loop storage 61 and the ejection of the material web 19 into the cutting area, that is, in front of the cut surface of the product 11 in question, as explained above. When it is removed, the material web 19 is pulled out of the loop storage device 61. At the same time, the material web 19 is advanced into the cutting area and thus ejected.

These individual areas of the interleaver according to the invention, that is to say the removal device with the individual unwinding drives 21 and the common conveyor device 23, the loop storage device 61 and the output device 71 are described in more detail below. Unless otherwise stated, the respective description of function and structure applies to each of the individual tracks.

The interaction of these individual functional units of the interleaver with one another and also the interaction of the interleaver with the functional units of the slicer, in particular - but not exclusively - the cutting knife 51 and the product feed 49, is controlled by a control device 39, which is the central control device of the Slicers and thus can act as a control device external to the interleaver. Alternatively can the interleaver have an internal control device which cooperates with a control device of the slicer.

Furthermore, the interleaver can also receive external signals, e.g. from a camera system that monitors the portions generated by means of the slicer or the portion formation from the severed slices.

The material rolls 17 of the individual tracks are mounted rotatably about a common axis of rotation 33 defined by a common mandrel. Each roll of material 17 comprises a roll core 113 on which the web of material 19 is wound. The material rolls 17 are freely rotatable on the mandrel in so far as the rotary drive for the material rolls 17 for unrolling the material webs 19 does not take place via this common mandrel.

Instead, a separate unwind drive 21 is provided for each roll of material 17. Each unwind drive 21 comprises a drive arm 27 which can be pivoted about a pivot axis 28. Each drive arm 27 comprises a carrier (not shown), at one end of which a drive roller 30 and at the other end of which a deflection roller 32 is attached. The drive element for the roll of material 17 is an endless belt 25 that runs around the drive roll 30 and the deflection roll 32, which is designed as a friction belt and serves to interact positively with the wound web 19 of the roll of material 17 via the strand facing the roll of material 17.

As in the schematic representation at the top right in Fig. 1 As shown, each drive roller 30 is rotatably connected to a drive shaft 31 which can be set in rotation by means of a drive motor M via a drive belt 24 in order to drive the friction belt 25 and in this way unroll the material web 19 from the material roll 17.

Since the four tracks S1, S2, S3 and S4 of the interleaver run parallel and thus four material rolls 17 sit next to one another on the common mandrel, the four drive arms 27 are arranged offset to one another in the transverse direction. This is shown in the schematic representation at the top right in Fig. 1 indicated by the assignment of the tracks S1 to S4 to the individual drive rollers 30 of the drive arms 27.

The spatial arrangement of the drive arms 27 and the type of rotary drive for the drive rollers 30 are particularly advantageous. The axes of rotation 29 of the drive shafts 31 and thus of the drive rollers 30 each coincide with the pivot axis 28 of the relevant drive arm 27. A single common pivot axis 28 is not provided for all drive arms 27. Instead, the drive arms 27 are combined in pairs, a common pivot axis 28 being provided for each pair. Two drive arms 27 pivotable about an upper pivot axis 28 are assigned to tracks S1 and S3, while tracks S2 and S4 are assigned two drive arms 27 which are pivotable about a lower pivot axis 28.

In the illustrated embodiment, all drive arms 27 have the same length and the upper pivot axis 28 and the lower pivot axis 28 lie on a circular cylinder around the common axis of rotation 33 of the material rolls 17. Alternatively, the drive arms 27 can be of different lengths and the pivot axes 28 can be arranged differently.

A coaxial shaft drive 35 and 37 is provided both for the upper pair of drive arms 27 and for the lower pair of drive arms 27. The two drive motors M1 and M3 belong to the upper coaxial shaft drive 35, while the lower coaxial shaft drive 37 comprises the two drive motors M4 and M2. A motor M3 or M4 is each connected to an inner drive shaft 31 for the drive roller 30 located axially further away, while the respective other motor M1 or M2 is connected to a hollow shaft 31 which surrounds the inner drive shaft 31 and on which the closer drive roller 30 is seated.

As already mentioned, the drive motors M1 to M4 are not connected directly to the drive shafts 31, but rather via drive belts 24. This enables the motors to be positioned offset or offset and consequently an optimal use of the space available in the interleaver. In addition, the interleaver can be built comparatively narrow as a result, since the motors M1 to M4 each do not need to be positioned in an axial extension of the drive shafts 31.

Another advantage of this drive concept is that all of the motors M1 to M4, including the drive belts 24, are only arranged on one side of the interleaver. This area is therefore more accessible via the other side of the interleaver. It is particularly advantageous that all drive rollers 30 and thus drive arms 27 can be plugged onto and removed from the respective drive shaft 31 from the same side - namely starting from the "preferred" operating side. This not only facilitates cleaning and maintenance, but also enables simple and quick conversion, for example, if you want to switch to slicer and interleave operation with a different number of lanes.

These advantages also apply to the arrangement of the material rolls 17, all of which can be slipped onto and removed from the common mandrel from the same side - namely from the same side as the unwinding drives 21. It is therefore sufficient if the functional areas of the interleaver are only accessible from one side.

A pivot drive, not shown, is also provided for each drive arm 27. The swivel drive can for example comprise a piston / cylinder arrangement. As a result, the drive arms 27 can each be pivoted into a passive state in which the friction belt 25 is out of frictional engagement with the roll of material 17. This passive state can, for example, be a parking position into which the drive arms 27 are pivoted when new material rolls 17 are to be inserted.

The fact that, according to the invention, the unwinding drives 21 each engage with their friction belt 25 in a force-locking manner on the outer circumference of the material roll 17 in order to unroll the material web 19, has the advantage that the unwinding rate, ie the web length unrolled per unit of time, is independent of the current diameter of the material roll 17 and thus whose degree of consumption is. The aforementioned swivel drives (not shown) can each preload the drive arm 27 in the direction of the axis of rotation 33 of the roll of material 17 with a predetermined force or a predetermined torque, so that the drive arm 27 follows the diameter of the roll of material 17, which decreases during operation, and the Frictional engagement between the friction belt 25 and the wound web of material 19 is always the same.

A nearly exhausted roll of material 17 is shown with a dashed circle, the diameter of which is only slightly larger than the diameter of the roll core 113. An upper drive arm 27 and a lower drive arm 27 are shown in dashed lines to illustrate a state pivoted correspondingly far in the direction of the axis of rotation 33 of the material rolls 17.

The operation of the unwind drives 21 depends on the requirements of the central control device 39. If less material or temporarily no material is required in a track, the unwind rate of the relevant track can be increased by reducing the speed of the friction belt 25 or by switching off the drive motor M can be changed accordingly. In a non-drive state with the drive motor M switched off, the relevant drive arm 27 with its friction belt 25 remains in frictional engagement with the wound material web 19, i.e. is not pivoted out of engagement with the material roll 17 by means of the above-mentioned pivot drive (not shown). This has the advantage that the friction belt 25 acts as a brake for the roll of material 17, which prevents further rotation of the roll of material 17 due to inertia.

The removal of the material webs 19 from the material rolls 17 includes not only the unrolling by means of the unwinding drives 21 explained above, but also the conveyance of the material webs 19 into the loop storage 61. For this purpose, the removal device comprises a conveying device 23 which is additionally schematized above in the middle of the Fig. 1 is shown.

For each track S1 to S4, the conveying device 23 comprises a conveying roller 47 which, together with a counter roller 48, forms a conveying gap for the respective material web 19. All conveyor rollers 47 sit on a common drive shaft 45, that is to say they are only driven jointly, namely via a common drive motor 41 which sets the common drive shaft 45 of the conveyor rollers 47 in rotation via a drive belt 42.

The track-specific operation of this conveyor device 23 is achieved in that each conveyor roller 47 is assigned a slip clutch 43 which is arranged between the conveyor roller 47 and the common drive shaft 31. The slip clutches 43 are each a magnetic clutch, the switching point of which can be adjusted.

The conveying device 23 is operated via the control device 39 in such a way that the material webs 19 are always kept under tension between the respective material roll 17 and the respective conveying roll 47. During operation the common drive shaft 45 can rotate at a constant speed which is matched to an expected operation of the interleaver for the respective cutting program of the slicer. If the unwind drive 21 is stopped in a lane or the unwind rate in a lane is reduced, there is no need to actively intervene in the operation of the conveyor device 23, since an unwind rate falling below the conveyor rate of the conveyor 23 is intercepted in a track by the clutch 43 of this track is without the material web 19 in question being excessively stressed or even tearing.

One advantage of this concept is that the conveyor device 23 only requires a single drive with drive motor 41 and drive belt 42 and only a single common drive shaft 45 for all lanes S1 to S4 and no structural or control measures are required to enable active lane-specific operation of the To realize conveyor 23.

If the clutch 43 is not currently active in one of the lanes and thus temporarily no material is being conveyed into the loop storage 61 in this lane, the conveying rate of the conveyor device 23 determines the length of the web entering the loop storage 61 per unit of time in each lane. Since the operation of the individual unrolling drives 21 controlled by the control device 39 ultimately decides whether and how much material is unrolled per unit of time in the individual tracks from the respective material roll 17, the individual conveying rates into the loop memory 61 are ultimately determined by the individual unrolling rates.

The track-related material requirement in the cutting area is determined by the control device 39 and ensured by a corresponding track-related control of the unwinding drives 21. The loop memory 61 ensures a decoupling in each track between the sluggish roll of material 17 on the one hand and the highly dynamic output device 71 on the other hand, which is in time with the cutting knife 51 each has to briefly output a web length corresponding to the length of the interleaf 15 required in each case. Such a highly dynamic cyclical ejection of relatively long material sections would be incompatible with pulling off the material web 19 directly from the material roll 17.

The control device 39 therefore ensures that a sufficiently large web length for a trouble-free output operation of the output device 71 is available in the loop storage device 61 in each track by ensuring that a sufficiently large material loop 20 is always provided in the loop storage device 61.

The formation and maintenance of these material loops 20 in the individual tracks is achieved on the one hand by a sufficiently large "replenishment" by means of the removal device, i.e. the unwinding drives 21 and the conveying device 23, and on the other hand by an air circuit with a combined suction and blowing device 63, 65 achieved.

A blower 64 belonging to this combined suction and blowing device 63, 65 is connected with its suction side via a suction line 66 to a negative pressure housing 68 in which several negative pressure chambers 69, which are fluidically separated from one another within the housing 68, are formed. By means of sensors (not shown), the pressure in each vacuum chamber 69 can be measured and made available to the control device 39.

Towards a loop area of the loop storage device 61, the housing 68 is limited by a curved contact surface 67 in which openings are formed through which air can get from the loop area into the individual vacuum chambers 69, as indicated by the small arrows. The vacuum chambers 69 are each on the suction line 66 and thus on the suction side of the fan 64 is connected, the pressure side of which is directed into the loop area, as shown in FIG Fig. 1 is indicated by the arrow.

This air circulation has the effect that an intended material loop 20 is always formed and the material web 19 is intended to lie against the contact surface 67 of the vacuum housing 68. Since the material web 19 is sucked against the contact surface 67 due to the negative pressure prevailing in the vacuum chambers 69, the contact surface 67 also serves as a brake for the material webs 19. This means that the material webs 19 are always kept under slight tension, which prevents the material webs from sticking 19 upset when the output device 71 working in the cutting cycle pulls the material webs 19 out of the loop storage 61 in a highly dynamic manner. The braking effect of the contact surface 67 or the vacuum chambers 69 is set in such a way that this highly dynamic removal process is not impaired.

By means of the aforementioned pressure sensors in the vacuum chambers 69, the control device 39 can detect which vacuum chamber 69 is covered by the material web 19 and which is not. From this information, a measure for the current size of the material loop 20 in the loop area of the loop storage device 61 can be derived in a simple manner with sufficient accuracy. In Fig. 1 the material web 19 shown in dashed lines is shown with a maximum loop size. The course of the material web 19 with a minimal loop size is indicated by a dotted line, in which only the uppermost vacuum chamber 69 is partially covered by the material web 19.

According to the individual loop sizes determined in this way, the controller 39 can activate or deactivate the individual unwinding drives 21 for each lane or change the individual unwinding rates by appropriately controlling the motors M1 to M4 in order to ensure that a sufficiently large material loop 20 is available for each lane at all times to the previously discussed To maintain decoupling between the relevant track of the output device 71 and the associated roll 17 of material.

The output device 71 is also designed for lane-specific operation. For this purpose, a feed unit 73 comprises a feed roller 74 for each of the tracks S1 to S4, as will be described below with reference to two possible exemplary embodiments according to FIG Fig. 2 and 3 is explained in more detail. The feed rollers 74 have a common axis of rotation 99, with a separate drive motor A1, A2, A3 or A4 being provided for each feed roller 74, which is connected to a drive shaft 83 via a drive belt 78 (cf. Fig. 2 ) cooperates, with which the feed roller 74 in question is rotatably connected.

How Fig. 2 shows, the two feed rollers 74 for the tracks S1 and S2 are driven by a right coaxial shaft drive 79, while a left coaxial shaft drive 81 drives the two feed rollers 74 of the other two tracks S3 and S4. The inner feed roller 74 is driven via an inner drive shaft 83, whereas the outer feed roller 74 is driven via a hollow shaft 83 surrounding the inner drive shaft 83.

In this way, a track-specific drive of four feed rollers 74 arranged next to one another on a common axis of rotation 99 for the feed unit 73 of the output device 71 can be implemented.

An alternative embodiment for a four-track drive with four individually drivable feed rollers 74 is shown schematically in FIG Fig. 3 shown. Here two parallel axes of rotation 91 are provided, two two-track units 95 being arranged next to one another on each of the two axes 91. Each two-track unit 95 comprises a feed roller 74 and a pressure roller 76, which are connected to one another in a rotationally fixed manner and are, for example, formed in one piece with one another could be. Each feed roller 74 interacts directly with a respective material web 19, while the co-rotating pressure roller 76 is provided with a free-running function with respect to the material web 19 in its track. The freewheeling function is implemented in that the pressure roller 76 carries a freely rotatable pressure sleeve 98 for the material web 19 via a roller bearing 97.

For each of the tracks S1 to S4, a feed roller 74 on one axis 91 and a pressure unit consisting of pressure roller 76 and pressure sleeve 98 on the other axis 91 form a pair 93 which forms a feed gap for the material web 19 in question.

Each two-track unit 95 can, for example, be rotated about the respective axis 91 via a drive belt (not shown) by means of an associated drive motor (not shown), the two axes 91 being driven in opposite directions of rotation. Adjacent two-track units 95 on a common axis 91 can be rotated relative to one another. For this purpose, an axial extension of a pressure roller 76 engages in a frontal recess of the adjacent feed roller 74, on which the extension of the pressure roller 76 is supported in the radial direction by a roller bearing 96.

This arrangement realizes a track-specific feed for four adjacent tracks S1 to S4 as a particularly compact unit in which the counter units or pressure units 76, 98 assigned to the individual feed rollers 74 are integrated. A division into a feed unit on the one hand and a counter unit on the other hand as in the embodiment according to FIG Fig. 1 and 2 is therefore not provided here.

How Fig. 1 shows, in the embodiment shown here, a counter unit 75 is provided in addition to the feed unit 73 with the four track-individually drivable feed rollers 74. The counter unit 75 can be used for each feed roller 74 have at least one associated pressure roller 76, which is elastically or resiliently mounted, as in FIG Fig. 1 schematically through the suspension 77 and in Fig 4 is indicated schematically by a piston / cylinder arrangement 109 designed as a suspension.

Alternatively, the counter unit 75 can have a plurality of counter elements distributed along an axis running parallel to the axis of rotation 99 of the feed rollers 74, in particular in the form of individually spring-mounted pressure rollers or pressure rollers, each with a smaller diameter than the feed rollers 74. These non-driven counter elements form with each of the feed rollers 74 a feed gap for one of the material webs 19. Such counter units or pressure units for output devices of interleavers are known in principle, which is why they do not need to be discussed in more detail.

Like the illustration at the bottom left in Fig. 1 schematically shows, a special feature of the output device 71 is that the feed unit 73 and the counter unit 75 together with a cutting edge 85, also referred to as cutting glasses, mold shell or counter knife, are attached to a stationary receptacle 70 which is attached to a machine frame 115 of the slicer.

The receptacle 70 and the components of the counter unit 75, the feed unit 73 and the cutting edge 85 are designed to correspond to one another in such a way that these components can only be installed in a single sequence on the receptacle 70 without tools.

First, the counter unit 75 is arranged on the receptacle 70. By subsequently attaching the feed unit 73, the counter unit 75 is fixed and secured in its desired position. The attachment of the feed unit 73 requires a combined rotary / pivoting movement into an end position, which - like by the arrow in the large representation of the Fig. 1 indicated - has the consequence that when attaching the feed unit 73 all drive belts 78 of the drive motors A1 to A4 are tensioned at the same time, which were previously placed in the relaxed state around the drive shafts 83 of the feed rollers 74 protruding on both sides. Correspondingly, when the feed unit 73 is removed, the drive belts 78 are automatically relaxed.

Finally, the cutting edge 85 is attached to the receptacle 70. The cutting edge 85 in turn positions and secures the feed unit 73 in its desired position. A clamping device 117, which comprises two pneumatically adjustable clamping bolts 117 relative to the receptacle 70 - as indicated by the two double arrows - positions and finally secures the cutting edge 85 and thus all three components of the counter unit 75, feed unit 73 and cutting edge 85 on the receptacle 70.

The receptacle 70 can also be used to attach further devices. For example, in practice it may be necessary to set the so-called cutting gap between the cutting knife 51 and the cutting edge 85 to a certain value. In this context, sensors such as vibration sensors can be used, which can be attached to the receptacle 70 or integrated into the receptacle 70.

In this way, a simple and reliable tool-free assembly and disassembly of the three components mentioned is realized.

The control device 39 can also use the clamping bolts 117 to query whether a cutting edge 85 is present at all and whether the correct cutting edge 85 has been installed, depending on the cutting program set in each case. If the cutting edge 85 is missing, for example, the clamping bolts 117 extend further than if there is a correct one Cutting edge 85 - this incorrect positioning of the clamping bolts 117 can be recognized by the control device 39.

As already explained above, the material web 19 is ejected by means of the output device 71 in such a way that the front end of the material web 19 lies in front of the cut surface of the respective product 11 so that it is together with the next disc 13 to be separated from the material web 19 by means of the cutting knife 51 cut off and so form an intermediate sheet 15.

In order to influence the front end of the material web 19 in this sense, a negative pressure is generated by means of an air flow in the area between the material web 19 and the cut surface of the product 11, which causes the front end of the material web 19 to lie against the cut surface. This concept is known in principle. The air flow can be generated, for example, in that compressed air is ejected through a gap extending transversely to the material web 19 or through several openings distributed in the transverse direction.

How Fig. 4 shows, according to the invention, an individually variable air flow 87 is generated for each of the tracks S1 to S4 via the feed unit 73, so that the free ends of the individual material webs 19 can be influenced individually for each track. The individual air flows 87 can be varied in terms of time and with regard to their strength for each individual track.

This is achieved in that in the front area of the feed unit 73 above the exit gap formed by the feed unit 73 and the counter unit 75 for the individual material webs 19 for each track S1 to S4, several exit openings are distributed transversely to the respective material web 19.

Each outlet opening belongs to an outlet channel 101 formed in the feed unit 73, with all outlet channels 101 from a common distributor space 103 go out, which is connected via an inlet channel 105 and a supply line 107 to a compressed air source, not shown. Each supply line 107 is provided with a controllable valve 108. The valves 108 can be controlled for each lane via an actuating device 89.

In this way, for each of the tracks S1 to S4, the behavior over time and the strength of the respective air flow 87 can be varied independently of the respective other tracks.

At the in Fig. 4 In addition, the bar 72 shown is a replaceable wear part, preferably made of plastic, which serves as a cutting edge cooperating with the cutting knife 51 when cutting through the individual webs of material 19.

The interleaver can be designed to automatically connect successive material webs 19 to one another in each of the individual tracks S1 to S4. In Fig. 1 possible positions are shown schematically at which a connection device V integrated in the interleaver can be arranged.

In Fig. 1 not shown is a changing device which is designed to automatically change a currently used roll of material 17 for a roll of material 17 to be used. The changing device can be arranged outside the interleaver or at least partially integrated into the interleaver. A separate changing device can be provided for each of the tracks S1 to S4. Alternatively, several tracks or all tracks can have a common changing device.

The interleaver can also have multiple tracks in that a common, rotatably mounted material roll 17 is provided for several tracks S, with this common material roll 17 for the material web 19 a device T for dividing the material web 19 into several individual material webs 19 is provided. One possible position at which such a dividing device T integrated in the interleaver can be arranged is in FIG Fig. 1 indicated schematically. For these tracks S, ie for the relevant roll of material 17, only one unwind drive 21 is then provided.

It is possible, for example, that a four-lane interleaver is implemented in that two material rolls 17 are provided, each of which is assigned a roll-off drive 21 and a dividing device T, that is, two individual material webs 19 are created from their material web 19 so that the Four individual material webs 19 reach devices downstream of dividing devices T, as in the case where a separate material roll 17 and no dividing device T is provided for each track S.

Different combinations are possible. For example, in the case of a four-track interleaver, a separate roll of material can be provided for two tracks and a common roll of material and a dividing device for two further tracks.

With the interleaver according to the invention, continuous track-specific handling of the individual material webs 19 is consequently possible, so that the interleaver can be operated by means of the control device 39 as a function of the cutting process in such a way that the track-specific interleaver operation can be perfectly matched to the track-specific cutting operation.

For the sake of completeness, it should also be mentioned that an interleaver designed as a single-track or temporarily operated single-track can also have an unwind drive, as described above for one of the tracks S1 to S4.

Reference list

11

product

13th

disc

15th

Interleaf

17th

Material roll

19th

Material web

20th

loop

21

Unwind drive

23

Conveyor

24

Drive belt

25th

Friction belt, drive element

27

Drive arm

28

Swivel axis

29

Axis of rotation of the drive shafts

30th

Drive roller

31

drive shaft

32

Pulley

33

Axis of rotation of the material rolls

35

upper coaxial shaft drive

37

lower coaxial shaft drive

39

Control device

41

Drive the conveyor

42

Drive belt

43

coupling

45

drive shaft

46

Product holder

47

Conveyor roller

48

Counter-role

49

Product feed

50

Cutting plane

51

Cutting knife

53

Product circulation

55

Portioning belt

61

Loop storage

63

Suction device, brake

64

fan

65

Blower

66

Suction line

67

Contact surface

68

casing

69

Vacuum chamber

70

admission

71

Output device

72

strip

73

Feed unit

74

Feed roller

75

Counter unit

76

Pressure roller

77

suspension

78

Drive belt

79

right coaxial shaft drive

81

left coaxial shaft drive

83

drive shaft

85

Cutting edge

87

Compressed air flow

89

Adjusting device

91

common axis

93

Pair

95

Dual track unit

96

roller bearing

97

roller bearing

98

Pressure sleeve

99

common axis of rotation

101

Exhaust duct

103

Distribution room

105

Inlet port

107

Supply line

108

Valve

109

Piston / cylinder arrangement

111

Manhole

113

Core

115

Machine frame

117

Clamping bolts

S.

track

M.

Drive motor of the unwind drive

A.

Drive motor for feed roller

V

Connecting device

T

Dividing device

Claims (15)

1. An apparatus for a multitrack provision of web-like interleaved sheet material at a cutting region in which products (11) supplied on multiple tracks are simultaneously cut into slices (13) and interleaved sheets (15) are introduced which are cut off from the provided interleaved sheet material in the cutting region,
   said apparatus comprising a material store which comprises a rotatably supported material roll (17) for each track (S); and
   a removal device (21, 23) which is configured for a rolling off of the material webs (19) individually per track from the material rolls (17), characterized in that
   the removal device comprises a roll-off drive (21) for each track, said roll-off drive (21) being in form-fitted engagement or force-transmitting engagement with the material roll (17) or with the wound material web (19) in an active state.
2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1,
   wherein the roll-off drives (21) are each configured as friction drives which are in frictional engagement with the wound material web (19) in an active state, in particular wherein the friction drives are controllable such that they remain in frictional engagement with the wound material web (19) after a transition from a driving state into a non-driving state.
3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 2,
   wherein the friction drive comprises a friction wheel; an arrangement of a plurality of friction wheels; or at least one revolving friction belt (25) whose one run cooperates with the wound material web (19).
4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 2 or claim 3,
   wherein the roll-off drive (21) can be changed into a passive state in which the roll-off drive (21) is out of engagement with the wound material web (19), and/or wherein the roll-off drive (21) comprises a pivotable drive arm (27), in particular wherein the pivot axis (28) of the drive arm (27) coincides with an axis of rotation (29) of a drive shaft (31) for a drive member (25), in particular for a friction member, of the drive arm (27).
5. An apparatus in accordance with claim 4,
   wherein pivot axes (28) offset in parallel from one another are provided for the drive arms (27) of the individual tracks (S), and/or wherein the material rolls (17) of the individual tracks (S) are rotatably supported about a common axis of rotation (33) and the pivot axes (28) of the drive arms (27) are disposed on a circle about the common axis of rotation (33).
6. An apparatus in accordance with claim 4 or claim 5,
   wherein the drive arms (27) of the individual tracks (S) are combined pair-wise or group-wise and a common pivot axis (28) is provided for each pair or for each group, and/or wherein the drive arms (27) of the individual tracks (S) are combined pair-wise or group-wise and a coaxial shaft drive (35, 37) is provided for each pair or for each group and comprises a plurality of drive shafts (31) which are disposed coaxially in one another and which are each associated with one of the drive arms (27).
7. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the claims 4 to 6,
   wherein all of the drive arms (27) can be pushed onto their respective drive shaft (31) from the same side of the apparatus for assembly or dismantling, and/or wherein a pivot drive which comprises a piston-in-cylinder arrangement is provided for each drive arm (27).
8. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the claims 2 to 7,
   wherein a belt drive comprising a drive motor (11) arranged offset from a drive shaft (31) is provided for each roll-off drive (21), and/or wherein the roll-off rates of the individual material webs (19) can be changed by changing the drive speed of the roll-off drive (21), in each case when the roll-off drive (21) remains in engagement with the material roll (17) or with the wound material web (19).
9. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims,
   wherein the removal of the individual material webs (19) is controllable by an internal or external control device (39) by an operation of the individual roll-off drives (21) individually per track.
10. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims,
    wherein a conveying device (23) is provided which comprises a common drive (41) for all the material webs (19) and a separate clutch (43) for each material web (19), in particular wherein the clutch (43) is a clutch which engages automatically in dependence on force or on torque, in particular a slip clutch.
11. An apparatus in accordance with claim 10,
    wherein the drive (41) comprises a common drive shaft (45) for all the material webs (19) and, at the drive shaft (45), a separate conveying roller (47) for each material web (19), wherein a clutch (43) is in each case active between the conveying rollers and the drive shaft (45), and/or wherein the clutch (43) is configured as a magnetic clutch, and/or wherein the clutch (43) can be set to different threshold values for the force transmission or for the torque transmission.
12. An apparatus in accordance with claim 10 or claim 11,
    wherein the conveying rate of the drive (41) is coordinated with the rolling off such that all the material webs (19) are always held under tension, and/or wherein a constant value is predefined or predefinable for the conveying rate of the drive (41), in particular wherein the constant value is larger than the largest roll-off rate expected for the respective application.
13. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the claims 10 to 12,
    wherein the conveying rate of the drive (41) is variable in time and is in this respect settable in dependence on a measure which can be derived from one or more of the roll-off rates, and/or wherein the drive (41) of the conveying device (23) can be switched off when no roll-off drive (21) is in a driving state any longer and it can be switched back on as soon as at least one roll-off drive (21) transitions back into a driving state, and/or wherein the drive (41) of the conveying device (23) is controllable by an internal or external control device (39) in dependence on the roll-off rates of the individual material webs (19) in order to change the conveying rate.
14. An apparatus in accordance with any one of the preceding claims,
    wherein the material store comprises a common rotatably supported material roll (17) for at least two tracks (S), and wherein a device for dividing the material web (19) into a plurality of individual material webs (19) is provided for the material web (19) of the common material roll (17).
15. An apparatus for a multitrack slicing of food products (11), in particular a high-speed slicer,
    comprising a product feed (49) which simultaneously supplies a plurality of products (11) to be sliced to a cutting region in which a cutting blade (51) moves in a rotating and/or revolving manner to simultaneously cut the supplied products (11) into slices (13); and
    an apparatus for the multitrack provision of web-like interleaved sheet material in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, in particular wherein a common control device (39) is provided which is configured to coordinate the slicing of the products (11) and the provision of the interleaved sheet material individually per track.

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