EP3966115B1

EP3966115B1 - Automatic lid boxing system

Info

Publication number: EP3966115B1
Application number: EP19927931.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Umit SAHIN; Osman KADIROGLU
Original assignee: Mondi Kale Nobel Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret AS
Current assignee: Mondi Kale Nobel Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret AS
Priority date: 2019-05-07
Filing date: 2019-06-06
Publication date: 2023-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 2039-06-06
Also published as: EP3966115A4; EP3966115A1; HUE064561T2; WO2020226581A1; TR201906797A2; PL3966115T3; EP3966115C0

Description

Technical Area

The invention relates to a lid boxing system which enables the lids used in the food packaging sector to be automatically filled in the boxes.

State of the Art

The packaging lids made of cardboard materials are widely used in food industry. In the prior art, the cardboard lids cut in the desired geometric form (hexagonal, pentagonal, circular, etc.) by a cutting machine are removed manually by means of an operator from the cutting machine arranged on a movable car. The operator carries the cut and stacked cardboard lids to the boxing section by the movable car and leaves them into the metal slots by taking them from the car. The cardboard lids which are carried to the boxing section and left into the metal slots are manually filled into the cardboard boxes, which are designed according to the lid form, by operators and the box is closed and the boxing process is completed. Boxes filled with lids and then closed are filled into large cardboard boxes for shipping and ready for shipment. At least two operators are involved in this process, and all the processes are done manually; therefore, the processing time and workmanship are greatly increased. There are also risks such as putting missing lid in the boxes, failure to completely close the openings of the boxes. Thus, the need for an automatic lid boxing system is evident to eliminate existing problems.
In the patent search, no patent application similar to the system of the invention was found. However, some patents issued in the same technical field are referred to below.
US5863177 discloses a system for handling lids, the lids being put into a horizontal stack, the horizontal stack of lids being placed onto a tray before being inserted into a carton.
The patent TR2016/00546 relates to the automatic boxing machine for packaged products, which is characterized by comprising input conveyor, multi-belt conveyor, box opening unit, box positioning conveyor, box filling conveyor, boxing robot, vacuum holder to enable the products in the boxes to be filled in the boxes following the packaging stage. With the aforementioned mechanism, it is not possible to box the cardboard caps.
As a result, the existence of the problems of the existing applications and the inadequacy of the existing solutions necessitated an improvement in the related technical field.

Objectives of the Invention

Based on the state of the art, the main object of the invention is to provide a lid boxing system for automatically filling the cardboard lids into the boxes.
A further object of the invention is to shorten the length of processing times caused by the manual filling of the cardboard lids into the boxes by means of the operators.
A further main object of the invention is to remove the operator and labor required for all processes, such as taking off the cardboard lids from a lid-cutting machine and transporting them to the boxing section, putting them into cardboard boxes and closing the opening portions of the boxes filled with lids and putting them into large cardboard boxes for transportation.
Another main object of the invention is to eliminate the risks such as incompletely placing the lids into the boxes or incompletely closing the openings of the boxes, by means of the automatic lid boxing system. Shortening the processing times is the reduction of labor costs, thus reducing the production costs.
Another object of the invention is to eliminate the hygiene problems, which are caused by the manual placement of the lids in the boxes in the present art, by automatically doing the placement without touching by hand by means of the system of the subject matter of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Figures

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of the automatic lid boxing system according to the invention.

Reference Numbers

A Automatic lid boxing system

1. Loading trolley
2. Ground connection part
3. Connection and movement chassis
4. Lid level adjustment tray
5. Linear bearing system
6. Motion bearing
7. Cardboard box
8. Box arranging mould

Detailed Description of the Invention

Figure 1 shows a general perspective view of the automatic lid boxing system (A) according to the invention.
The automatic lid boxing system (A) according to the invention comprises a loading trolley (1), a ground connection part (2), a connection and movement chassis (3), a lid level adjustment tray (4), a linear bearing system (5), a motion bearing (6) and box arranging mould (8) on which cardboard boxes (7) are placed.
The operation of the automatic lid boxing system (A) according to the invention is as follows: Hexagonal cardboard boxes (7), the inside of which are empty, are placed on the upper surface of the box arranging mould (8). The hexagonal cardboard boxes (7) have been used in the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, the invention also covers the use of the cardboard boxes of different geometric shapes, e.g. quadrangular, pentagonal, circular, ellipse, etc., such as to conform to the geometric form of the lids.
The box arranging mould (8), all the gaps of which are filled with cardboard boxes (7), is then placed in a loading trolley (1). The loading trolley (1) is fixed to the pin locations on a ground connection part (2).
The box arranging mould (8), which is filled with cardboard boxes (7), is connected to the pin locations in a motion bearing (6) in a way to be able to move upward and downward. The box arranging mould (8) placed on the pin locations is automatically raised with a linear bearing system (5), then the empty loading trolley (1) is removed from the pin locations and thus removed from the system.
The level of the box arranging mould (8) is adjusted to the outlet section of the lid cutting machine without leaving any gap in-between. Thus, the openings of the cardboard boxes (7) become adjacent to the outlet of the lids. A lid level adjustment tray (4) automatically adjusts the fall level of the lids as the lid fills in the box so that the lids which are cut and fall into the cardboard boxes (7) can fall into the box at short distance. As the lids are filled into the cardboard boxes (7), the lid level adjustment tray (4) automatically lowers. After the cardboard boxes (7) are filled with the lids which are cut, the lid level adjustment tray (4) comes out of the cardboard boxes (7) and reaches the lowest position. Then, the loading trolley (1) and the box arranging mould (8) filled with the lids in are removed from the system. A new box arranging mould (8), in which empty cardboard boxes (7) are placed, is inserted into the system and the above mentioned cycle is repeated.

Claims

An automatic lid boxing system (A) which enables lids to be automatically filled into cardboard boxes (7) conforming to the form of the lids, characterized in that said automatic lid boxing system (A) comprises
- a box arranging mould (8) in which the cardboard boxes (7) are placed in the gaps on the upper surface thereof,

- a motion bearing (6) to which the box arranging mould (8), in which the cardboard boxes (7) are placed, is connected in a way to be able to move upward and downward,

- a linear bearing system (5) which allows the box arranging mould (8) to move upward and downward,

- a lid level adjustment tray (4) which automatically adjusts the fall level of the lids which are cut and fall into the cardboard boxes (7).
The automatic lid boxing system (A) according to claim 1, characterized in that said automatic lid boxing system (A) comprises a loading trolley (1) which enables the box arranging mould, (8) in which cardboard boxes (7) inside of which is filled with lids or empty in are placed, to enter or exit the system and which can be fixed on the pin locations on a ground connection part (2).
The automatic lid boxing system (A) according to claim 1, characterized in that the cardboard boxes (7) are rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, circular, ellipse etc. such as to conform to the geometric form of the lids.
A method for automatically filling the lids into the cardboard boxes (7) conforming to the form of the lids by means of an automatic lid boxing system (A), characterized in that said method comprises the following stages:
- cardboard boxes (7), inside of which are empty, are placed on the upper surface of a box arranging mould (8),

- the box arranging mould (8), all gaps of which is filled with the cardboard boxes (7) is placed on a loading trolley (1),

- the box arranging mould (8) which is filled with the cardboard boxes (7) is connected to pin locations on a motion bearing (6) in a way to be able to move upward and downward,

- the box arranging mould (8) which is placed on the pin locations is automatically raised up with a linear bearing system (5) and subsequently empty loading trolley (1) is removed from the pin locations (1) and thus removed from the system,

- the level of the box arranging mould (8) is adjusted to the outlet of a lid cutting machine in a way not to remain any gap, thereby the openings of the cardboard boxes (7) are enabled to be adjacent to the outlet of the lids,

- the fall level of the lids which are cut by a lid level adjustment tray (4) and fall into the cardboard boxes (7) are automatically adjusted and lid level adjustment tray (4) lowers as the lids are filled into the cardboard boxes (7),

- the lid level adjustment tray (4) comes out of the cardboard boxes (7) and reaches the lowest position after the cardboard boxes (7) are filled with the lids which are cut,

- the box arranging mould (8) inside of which is filled with the lids by the loading trolley (1) is removed from the system and new box arranging mould (8), in which the cardboard boxes (7), inside of which is empty, is placed, is placed into the system.