ES2714359T3 - Procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine (1) with at least two retention chains (7) to hold on both sides a bottom sheet (6) and to transport the bottom sheet (6) along one direction of production (R) of the deep drawing packaging machine (1), the retention chains (7) being guided in chain guides (30), the deep drawing packaging machine (1) presenting a forming station (8) for producing cavities (11) in the bottom sheet (6), a sealing station (12) and at least one cutting station (14), which are arranged in this order along the production direction (R) in a machine frame (4), the chain guides (30) extending at least from the forming station (8) along an insertion section (9) to the sealing station (12), presenting the guides of chains (30) in each case an upper guide surface (O) and u na lower guide surface (U), between which a retention chain (7) is guided in each case and presenting the upper guide surface (O) in, or along the forming station (8) in a horizontal orientation and presenting in this section a first vertical distance (V1) with respect to a positioning surface (A) of the machine frame (4) of the deep drawing packaging machine (1), presenting the chain guides (30) at, or along the sealing station (12) a horizontal orientation and presenting the upper guide surface (O) in this section a second vertical distance (V2) with respect to the positioning surface (A), the second distance (V2) being greater than the first distance (V1), as well as presenting the chain guide (30) along the insertion section (9) at least partially in an upward orientation, the product insertion tape (3) presenting at least two tapes (3a, 3b) operable separately, and a separation point (31) being provided between the product insertion tape (3) and a product feeder tape (30) disposed directly upstream in the process, controlling in the procedure the tapes (3a, 3b) of the product insertion tape (3) such that as the products (10) are transferred from the product feeder tape (30), the tapes (3a, 3b) are separately controlled by the product feeder tape (30) to correct differences in the position of adjacent products (10) in the production direction (R), also detecting by means of one or more sensors (33) mounted in front of the separation point (31) the position of adjacent products (10), located one side by side, and transmitting this information to a control (18) of the deep-drawing packaging machine (1), evaluating the control (18) the information on the positions and determining the difference (D) of a front edge (34 ) of a first product (10) of the first rail (S1) with respect to the front edge (34) of a second product (10) of the second rail (S2) and the control (18) controlling the belts (3a, 3b) during the collection of the products (10) in such a way that after picking, the front edges (34) of products (10), successively located in the production direction (R), of each rail (S1, S2) have a planned distance (A) .

Description

DESCRIPTION

Procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine

The invention relates to a process for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine according to claim 1.

From DE 102 24 237 A1, a deep drawing packaging machine for manufacturing packages with a sealing seam inclined with respect to the horizontal is known. A stack of products of several slices of a food product is inserted into the molded cavity in a strip of bottom sheet by a conveyor belt disposed inclined in the form of a recoil belt. The inclination of the conveyor belt with respect to the deep drawing packaging machine or the transport plane of the sheet is due to the structure of the forming station above the transport plane of the sheet. The conveyor belt must be arranged above the upper interference contour in the forming station and due to the following inclined development of the conveyor belt towards the transport plane of the sheet an area is needed from the forming station to the start of the forming insertion section, which is not used by any workstation.

EP 2412632 A1 discloses a procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packing machine with at least two retaining chains to hold a bottom sheet on both sides and to transport the bottom sheet along a production direction of the deep drawing packaging machine, the retention chains being guided in chain guides, the deep drawing packaging machine presenting a forming station to produce cavities in the lower sheet, a sealing station and at least one cutting station that are arranged in this order along the production direction in a machine frame, the chain guides extending at least from the forming station along an insertion section to the sealing station, presenting the chain guides in or along the sealing station a horizontal orientation, presenting the chain guide along the insertion section to the less partially an upward orientation and a separation point being provided between the product insertion tape and a product feeder tape arranged in front directly against the current.

It is an objective of the present invention to reduce the machine length of a deep drawing packaging machine and improve the process of inserting products into molded cavities.

This objective is achieved by a method according to claim 1. Advantageous variants of the invention are indicated in the secondary claims.

The method according to the invention defines a procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packing machine with at least two retaining chains to hold a bottom sheet on both sides and to transport the bottom sheet along a machine production direction. deep drawing packing machine, the retention chains being guided in chain guides. The chain guides have in each case an upper guide surface and a lower guide surface, between which a retention chain can be guided respectively. The deep drawing packaging machine has a forming station to produce cavities in a lower sheet, a sealing station and at least one cutting station that are arranged in this order along the production direction in a machine frame, the chain guides extending at least from the forming station along an insertion section to the sealing station, the upper guide surface presenting at or along the forming station a horizontal orientation and presenting a first vertical distance with respect to a positioning surface of the machine frame of the deep drawing packaging machine, the chain guides having a horizontal orientation and along the sealing station and the upper guide surface having a second vertical distance from the surface positioning, the second distance being greater than the first distance, as well as presenting or the chain guide along the insertion section at least partially in an upward orientation. The deep drawing packaging machine, according to the invention, is characterized in that the product insertion belt has at least two separately operable belts. The deep drawing packaging machine has in each case a belt per lane, one lane being defined by cavities located successively in the direction of production. This design of a deep drawing packaging machine allows a short insertion section, because a product feeding belt can feed products in a simple and safe way for the process at least essentially horizontally and insert it into cavities. The separately actuated belts allow a correction of products that move differently between the different rails, thus greatly improving the accuracy of insertion of the products into the cavities. The method according to the invention for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine has a point of separation between the product insertion tape and a product feeder tape arranged in front directly against the current to vary the position of products, which is approximate the deep drawing packaging machine using a product feeder belt, and adapt it to the insertion conditions.

The method according to the invention for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine is also characterized in that the tapes of the product insertion belt are controlled in such a way that when the products of the product feeder belt are transferred, the tapes are controlled separately with the product feeder belt to correct differences in position of adjacent products in the direction of production. This improves the following insertion process and improves the accuracy of the position of the products in the cavities to avoid or at least reduce subsequent manual corrections by an operator.

By means of one or more sensors mounted in front of the separation point, the position of adjacent products is detected, located next to each other, and this information is transmitted to a control of the deep drawing machine, evaluating the control information on the positions and determining the difference of a leading edge of a first product of the first lane with respect to the leading edge of a second product of the second lane. This way you can equalize or compensate for this difference during collection and before insertion and make a correct insertion.

In this case, the control controls the tapes during the collection of the products preferably in such a way that after the collection, the front edges of products, located successively in the direction of production, of a respective lane have an expected distance corresponding preferably to a distance of successive cavities in the lower lamina.

The collection of the products is preferably carried out by means of the product insertion tape, while the advance of the retention chains is inactive.

An example of an advantageous embodiment of the invention is explained in detail below by means of a drawing. They show:

Figure 1 a schematic side view of a packaging installation with a deep drawing packaging machine according to the invention and with a product insertion tape;

Figure 2 a schematic side view of the path of the retention chains from the forming station to the sealing station and the insertion section with the product insertion tape;

Figure 3 a schematic plan view of the insertion section with the product insertion belt and a product feeder belt in a first phase;

Figure 4 a schematic plan view of the insertion section with the product insertion belt and the product feeder belt in a second phase; Y

Figure 5 shows a schematic plan view of the insertion section with the product insertion belt and the product feeder belt in a third phase.

The same components are generally provided with the same reference signs in the figures.

Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of a deep drawing packaging machine 1 with a product insertion belt 3. The deep drawing packaging machine 1 comprises a machine frame 4 that is oriented along a production direction R and it has a positioning surface A on its lower side. At the beginning of the deep drawing packing machine 1, shown on the right in Figure 1, an unwinding device 5 is provided for a lower sheet 6. The lower sheet 6 is fed by two retaining chains 7, arranged on the side from the bottom sheet 6, to a forming station 8 for deep recessing cavities 11 with a vertical cavity depth T in the bottom sheet 6. An oblique or inclined insert section 9 is also shown relative to a horizontal one at an angle to to insert a product 10 into molded cavities 11 (see also figures 2 and 3) in the production direction R towards the forming station 8. In the next development of the production there is a sealing station 12 to close the cavities 11, filled with product 10, with a cover sheet 13 and a first cutting station 14 designed as a cross-cutting station. A second cutting device 15, located in favor of the current after the first cross-cutting station 14, is designed as a longitudinal cutting station 15 and separates the containers 16. The separate packages 16 are extracted from the deep drawing packaging machine. 1 by means of a conveyor belt 17. The deep drawing packing machine 1 has a control 18 which can control not only the drive 19a, for example, a servomotor, of the retaining chains 7, but also the drive 19b of the insertion belt of product 3 to be able to synchronize or adapt the speeds of both drives 19a, 19b to each other in order to optimally execute the insertion process in correspondence with product 10 and / or cavity 11.

The retention chains 7 are guided in a chain guide 30, schematically represented in Figure 1 as lines of dots and stripes that extend parallel above and below the broken line for the retention chains 7. Such a guide chain is known, for example, from DE102006005405A1. The chain guides 30 have an upper guide surface O and a lower guide surface U, between which a retaining chain 7 is guided.

Figure 2 shows a schematic side view of the path of the retaining chains 7 and, therefore, of the lower sheet 6 from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12. In the forming station 8 they are molded into the sheet bottom 6 one or more cavities 11 that are arranged one behind the other and / or next to each other of another and create a format. The retaining chains 7 move synchronously through each work cycle with a feed of sheet V in the direction of production R to provide in each case new cavities to be filled to the insertion section 8 or to the product insertion belt 3. Figure 2 it also shows a detailed schematic view of the insertion section 9 with the product insertion belt 3, on which products 10 are transported in the direction of production R. The product insertion belt 3 has a vertical height H in the area above of the forming station 8.

The path of the chain guide 30 from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12 is configured, for example, in the form of an S. The chain guide 30 is oriented horizontally in the areas of the forming station 8 and of the sealing station 12 and the chain guide 30 has an upward development in the area of the insertion section 9 from the forming station 8 to the sealing station 12. The upper guide surface O along the station shaped 8 has a horizontal orientation and a first vertical distance V1 with respect to a positioning surface A. The upper guide surface O along the sealing station 12 has a horizontal orientation and a second vertical distance V2 with respect to a positioning surface A. In the transitions of the forming station 8 to the insertion section 9 and the insertion section 9 to the sealing station 12, the chain guide in each case has a development radial with a radius RA of 500 mm to 1000 mm. This guarantees, on the one hand, smooth transitions of the chain guide 30 so that no folds occur in the cavities 11, especially when hard sheets are used. On the other hand, the insertion section 9 must not be designed unnecessarily long to keep as short as possible the total length of the deep drawing machine 1.

The product insertion belt 3 is attached to the machine frame 4, for example, by a first adjustment device 23 and a second adjustment device 24. The adjustment devices 23, 24 allow, for example, manual or mechanical adjustments of the product insertion tape 3.

Figure 3 shows a schematic plan view of the insertion section 9 with the product insertion belt 3 and a product feeder belt in a first phase. The product insertion belt 3 comprises two belts 3a and 3b, provided in each case for a rail S1 or S2 for the product feed. A rail S1, S2 is defined by cavities 11 successively located in the direction of production R. The two belts 3a, 3b can be driven respectively by drives 21a, 21b separately controllable.

In Figure 3 a product feeder belt 30 for feeding products 10 in a first lane S1 and in a second lane S2 is assigned to the product insertion belt 3 in correspondence with the number of rails of the deep drawing packaging machine 1 In the transition from the product feeder belt 30 to the product insertion tape 3 a separation point 31 is provided and in front of the separation point 31 a device 32 is located to detect the products 10 on the product feeder tape 30. The device 32 may, for example, have a common display system for both lanes or for each lane S1, S2 a sensor 33 may be provided to detect a leading edge 34 of the product 10 and to transmit this information to the control 18.

The distance A between two successive products 10 or their front edges 34 of a rail S1, S2 preferably corresponds to the distance A 'of two successive cavities 11 for inserting, for example, a group of four products 10, a so-called format. The group, shown in Figure 3, corresponds twice to two products 1c, 2c, 1d, 2d and this group of products 10 can be inserted into the cavities 11 with a common and synchronized advance movement of the product insertion belt 3 and of the retaining chains 7. The product feeder belt 30 has a drive 30a, preferably a servomotor drive analogous to the drives 21a, 21b.

The products 3c, 4c, 3d, 4d, which can be fed to the product feeder belt 30, according to the representation of figure 3 show a difference D in the direction of production R with respect to the leading edge 34 of two adjacent products 3c and 3d , which is detected by the device 32, while the products 10 are located in their measurement range or move through it. When there is a difference D, this means that a product 10 is in the production direction R with respect to a contiguous product 10 in a contiguous rail S1, S2 later or further back on the product feeder belt 30.

The belts 3a, 3b are shown in a forward movement to transport the product group 1c, 2c, 1d, 2d by its front end in order to insert this group or also only two adjacent products 1c and 1d in the cavities 11 during a joint advance with the retention chains 7 in a following work cycle.

Figure 4 shows a schematic plan view of the insertion section 9 with the product insertion belt 3 and the product feeder belt 30 in a second phase. The belt 3a of the first rail S1 positions the product 2c in a position intended to generate during the collection of the next product 3c a distance A of the product 2c with respect to the next product 3c just housed. Similarly, the second tape 3b also executes this for products 2d and 3d, with the two tapes 3a, 3b or their products 2c, 3c, 2d, 3d presenting the difference D that is generated during the collection of products 3c and 3d or occurs automatically. In the representation of figure 4, the product feeder belt 30 is in the forward movement, see arrow. The first belt 3a moves in this phase shown synchronously with the product feeder belt 30 and houses the product 3c, while the second belt 3b synchronizes only with the product feeder belt 30 as soon as the next product 3d of lane 2 or the front edge 34 is collected at the separation point 31. Figure 5 shows a view plan diagram of the insertion section 9 with the product insertion belt 3 and the product feeder belt in the third phase. In this phase shown, the products 3c and 3d have been completely arranged by the product feeder belt 30 on the product insertion tape 3 and the difference D can be compensated by a relative movement of the two tapes 3a, 3b together. position the front edges 34 of the products 2c, 2d in a common virtual line L in transverse to the production direction R. In the embodiment example shown in Figure 5, only the second tape 3b moves in the direction of the arrow to compensate for the difference D. During this phase the advance of the retention chains 7 is inactive and new products 4c, 4d of the product feeder belt 30 are not to be collected.

The two tapes 3a, 3b are then positioned in the insertion position for the next insertion process or collection process.

This invention also includes a product insertion belt 3 with more than two rails or tapes, as well as allowing other groups with a different number of products 10 to be inserted into the cavities 11 during an insertion process. The detection of the speed of the product feeding belt 30 for synchronization with the belts 3a, 3b can be carried out by means of a measuring system in the product feeding belt 30 or in its drive 30a, which is connected to the control 18 of the deep drawing packing machine 1. Alternatively, the speed information can be transmitted by a bus system of the control of the product feeding belt 30 to the control 18 of the filling packing machine 1. The sensors 33 may be designed as optical sensors

Claims (4)

1. Procedure for the operation of a deep drawing packaging machine (1) with at least two retaining chains (7) to hold a lower sheet (6) on both sides and to transport the lower sheet (6) along a production direction (R) of the deep drawing packaging machine (1), the retention chains (7) being guided in chain guides (30), the deep drawing packaging machine (1) presenting a forming station ( 8) to produce cavities (11) in the lower sheet (6), a sealing station (12) and at least one cutting station (14), which are arranged in this order along the production direction (R ) in a machine frame (4), the chain guides (30) extending at least from the forming station (8) along an insertion section (9) to the sealing station (12), presenting the chain guides (30) in each case an upper guide surface (O) and an inf guide surface upper (U), among which a retention chain (7) is guided in each case and the upper guide surface (O) presenting at, or along the forming station (8) a horizontal orientation and presenting in this section a first vertical distance (V1) with respect to a positioning surface (A) of the machine frame (4) of the deep drawing packing machine (1), presenting the chain guides (30) in, or along the sealing station (12) a horizontal orientation and presenting the upper guide surface (O) in this section a second vertical distance (V2) with respect to the positioning surface (A), the second distance (V2) being greater than the first distance (V1), as well as presenting the chain guide (30) along the insertion section (9) at least partially in an upward orientation, the product insertion belt (3) having at least two tapes (3a, 3b) ) separately operable, and a point of separation (31) between the product insertion tape (3) and a product feeder tape (30) arranged directly upstream in front, the tapes (3a, 3b) of the product insertion tape (3) being controlled in the process. in such a way that when the products (10) of the product feeder belt (30) are transferred, the ribbons (3a, 3b) are controlled separately with the product feeder belt (30) to correct differences in position of adjacent products ( 10) in the production direction (R), also detecting by means of one or more sensors (33) mounted in front of the separation point (31) the position of adjacent products (10), located next to each other, and transmitting this information to a control (18) of the deep drawing packaging machine (1), evaluating the control (18) the information on the positions and determining the difference (D) of a leading edge (34) of a first product (10) of the first lane (S1) with respect to the edge front (34) of a second product (10) of the second rail (S2) and controlling the control (18) the tapes (3a, 3b) during the collection of the products (10) so that after the collection, the front edges (34) of products (10), successively located in the direction of production (R), of each lane (S1, S2) have an expected distance (A). 2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the distance (A) corresponds to a distance (A) of cavities (11) successively located in the bottom sheet (6). Method according to one of the preceding claims 1 or 2, characterized in that when the product (10) is transferred to the respective tape (3a, 3b), the speed of this tape (3a, 3b) is synchronized with the speed of the product feeder belt (30). Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the collection of the products (10) is carried out by means of the product insertion belt (3), while the advance of the retention chains (7) It is inactive.