FI91051C - Apparatus and method for handling packaging such as bottles - Google Patents

Description

5,91051

Bottle handling equipment and method for handling bottles Anordning for handling and flashing of bottles

The invention relates to a bottle handling device and method for handling bottles.

One of the work steps in handling return bottles is to place the bottles in the transport machine, ie to decorate the return bottles. As is known, the bottles are decorated by hand, whereby said work step 10 constitutes a considerable cost factor in the handling of return bottles.

It is an object of the invention to improve the elevation of packages and to provide a method and apparatus for automatically transferring a return container, in particular a bottle, to an empty basket.

15 This application refers to a bottle for the product in question, but it is clear that other packaging may be involved.

It is realized in the invention to form a bottle handling device so that the bottles are guided from the main conveyor 20 through a sorter to its own conveyor belt and further to the guide. When the guide comprises the full number of packages, the bottles are dropped into the lower position where the basket for the bottles is located. The bottles are moved on the conveyor below by one row of rows of the basket after each drop. The empty basket is taken from the empty basket storage station and the filled basket is transferred from the conveyor to the full basket storage station 25.

The invention has thus been realized to completely automate the post-processing of return bottles. The return bottle is brought from the main conveyor to the side conveyor and through it to a guide comprising as many positions as there are 30 places for the return bottle in each row of the basket to be filled. The sensor devices detect the entry of the bottles to the controller and provide a signal to the central unit for each passing bottle. When the number of passing bottles is equal to the number of bottle positions in the bottle basket in its cell row, the • · <2 91 051 CPU issues a transfer command to move the controller to the position where the bottles drop by gravity into the basket below. The basket is then moved, not solely by the motor, in a controlled manner, so that the basket, moved by the motor, moves on the belt to the next position, where the next empty row of cylinder cells in the basket is filled. 5 When the last line is filled, the sensor device detects the car moving away from the front of the photocells and the CPU issues a downstream belt drive to the engine to move the full car to the full car storage where the full car is stacked.

The device for lifting bottles according to the invention is mainly characterized in that the guide is a U-profile structure open from the bottom and that the guide in the bottle receiving position is located on the conveyor and that the device solution comprises a conveyor in the vicinity of the conveyor. to the basket and that there is an actuator which engages the controller and is adapted to move the controller along a curved path from the bottle receiving station-15 to the bottle drop station and from the bottle drop station back to the bottle receiving station.

The method according to the invention for handling bottles to basket them is essentially characterized in that the 20 - bottles are moved by a guide by moving the the next row of that basket is fillable.

25

The invention will now be described with reference to some preferred embodiments of the invention shown in the figures of the accompanying drawings, to which, however, the invention is not intended to be exclusively limited.

Figure 1A shows axonometrically the method and apparatus according to the invention.

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Figure 1B illustrates a basket to be filled.

Figure 2 is a partial schematic representation of the apparatus of Figure 1A.

5 is shown in Figure 3A of Figure IA, according to the device of Figure IA as seen from the direction of the arrow K i.

Figure 3B illustrates the structure of the controller. The guide is on top of the belt run. 10 In Fig. 3C, the guide is moved off the belt run.

Figure 3D is a block diagram representation of the device.

Figure 4A shows an embodiment of the controller in which the controller is moved non-linearly.

Figure 4B shows an embodiment of the guide in which the side plates comprise an end wall connecting them.

Fig. 5A shows in principle an embodiment of a device according to the invention, comprising an additional movable controller.

Figure 5B shows the actual controller arrangement associated with the additional controller of Figure 5A.

25

Fig. 6A shows the device arrangement of Figs. 5A and 5B as seen from the conveyor direction of the car. The controller is in its lower position. The basket to be filled is not shown.

Figure 6B is a top plan view of the device arrangement of Figure 6A.

• · · 30 4 91 051

Figure 7 shows the movable guide arrangement as an axonometric view and detached from the rest of the structure.

Figure 8 shows a top view of the device arrangement of Figure 7.

5

Figure 9A shows the pivoting guide in the bottle receiving position.

Figure 9B shows the pivoting guide in the position and the stage in which the bottles in the space U inside the guide have fallen into the basket below.

10

In the figures, a bottle is selected as the package (P) and the invention will be described with reference to this selected form of packaging.

As shown in Fig. 1A, a package, such as a return bottle, comes from the sorting unit N of the main conveyor N to the first conveyor 11 of the package (P) handling device 10, preferably to the belt conveyor.

Said first conveyor 11, preferably for the conveyor belt, is driven by a motor 12, preferably via a gear 13, preferably a belt gear. The belt gear 13 with its belt 13a 20 is connected to a wheel 14aj driving a belt run deflection pulley 14a. The conveyor belt 11a thus passes as a closed loop through the folding wheels 14a and 14b.

In connection with the belt run above the conveyor 11, preferably the belt conveyor, there is a guide 15 comprising in its vicinity guide plates 15bj, 15b2 ... and between them 25 drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d ... which preferably have the same number of packing places or cells Rla , Rlb ... in each row of the basket K to be filled

The guide 15 is moved by a moving device 17, preferably a solenoid or a cylinder. Prior to the guide 15, a sensor device 18 is located near the belt run above the first conveyor 11, which detects a passing bottle and produces a signal therefrom to the central unit.

II

, · · 5 91051 le M, which registers and counts the number of bottles passed. When the number of packages, such as bottles, corresponds to the number of fireboxes R1a, R1b ... of the bottle row R1, R2, R3 ... to be filled and preferably also to the number of stations 16a, 16b ... in the controller 15, the CPU M issues a control command to move the actuator 17. 5 to a position where the guide 15 moves the associated bottles away from the conveyor run of the first conveyor 11 or some other platform so that the bottles fall by gravity from the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c ... between the lower guide plates 15 ^, 1502- ... the second conveyor 19 to the top basket K. The controller 15 and the guide plates 15bj, 15b2,15b3 ... are a co-operative entity in which the return packs P 10 are grouped before dropping into a grouping form corresponding to the grouping form of the cells in the cell row of the body to be filled. In this case, the packaging cell row of the basket K, in the case of bottles, the bottle row Rj is filled, i.e. the bottle stations of the row Rj, i.e. the bottle cells, are filled at the same time. When the above-mentioned transfer is completed, after a certain delay time, the motor 21 of the lower conveyor 19 moves the basket forward so that the next row R2 to be filled by the basket comes to a position where it can receive bottles dropped from above.

Thus, the row R1, R2 ... of the car K proceeds one by one, and when the car sensor sensor 20 detects that the car is no longer in place, the central unit generates an action-20 command for the engine 21, the engine 21 being operated until the full car K has moved to full speed. to basket storage station A2.

m The central unit M then takes an empty basket from the empty basket storage station Aj and drives the motor 21 until the empty basket enters the position on the belt run above the lower conveyor 19 25, where the basket detection sensor 20 detects the arrival of a new basket K. In this case, the central unit M produces a signal with which the motor 21 is stopped and in which position the first row of the bottle cell Rj of the car K is in a position where it can be filled.

According to the invention, each car K can be transferred to the lower conveyor 18 either manually or automatically. The basket K can be taken from the storage station Aj of the empty baskets K.

• · 6 91 051

Correspondingly, the storage station A2 for full baskets, in which the complete baskets are stacked, operates automatically or the transfer to the storage station A2 in question can take place manually.

Fig. 1B illustrates an inflatable basket K comprising cell rows R1, R2, R3 ... and cells R1a, R1b ...

Figure 2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which the controller is moved linearly by means of a solenoid, i.e. a controller moving device 17. In the embodiment of the figure, the structure is encapsulated. The motor 12 is connected from its output shaft 10 via a belt gear 13 to a deflection wheel 14a via a drive wheel 14at, the above-mentioned belt outlet being inside the housing structure T. Correspondingly, the run below the conveyor 11 is located in a shield inside the housing structure T, such as the deflection pulleys 14a and 14b of the conveyor belt run.

3A, the controller 15 is shown in Figure 1 according to a top of the arrow D of Figure 1 viewed in the direction.

Figure 3B illustrates the guide with an axonometric representation. The guide 15 comprises, as shown in Figure 3B, a top view of the U-shaped guide body 15a. As shown in Fig. 3B, in the position receiving the bottles, the guides 15a are located completely on the belt run 11a above the belt 11 in the position Fj.

Near the guide 15 are guide plates 15bj, 15b- ?, 15b3,15b4 and 15b5. Said guide plates are plate-like parts and position the guide frame 15a of the drop-side side wall 25 15aj the guide slots and are guided in the grooves of the opening of the wall 15a mäosan! at the bottom. 15bt, 15b2 of adjacent guide members; 15b2,15b3; 15b3,15b4; Between 15b4 and 15b5, drop drops 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d are formed from the bottom. The first bottle comes against or in the vicinity of the wall 15a3 of the body 15a. The body 15a is open at the bottom, so that the bottles can thus be dropped by gravity out of the guide 13a 30 in the drop-down stations 16a, 16b .... The guide plates 15bj, 15b2 ... are 1-sided 91051 7 L-shaped, so that the part below the guide Through J, the guide plates ISbj, 15b2— can be connected to the side frame of the conveyor 11.

When the bottles have entered between the wall portions 15aj and 15a2 of the guide body 15a and are within the guide section 15 in the space U a number corresponding to the fires of the basket K approved by the central unit M, the actuator 17 moves the guide body 15a from the position F! to the position F2, where the guide body 15a moves under the control of the guides 15 ^, 15 ^ ... so that the bottles are pushed by the wall 15a2 of the guide body 15a into the spaces 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d between the guide plates 15s15b2; 15b2,15b3 ... and when the guide further 10 is moved by the actuator 17, the bottles move off the base base C and fall about at the same time into the lower basket K shown by the arrow L>. Thus, the bottles are moved from the upper position G1 to the lower position G2.

Figure 3C shows the step in which the guide has almost moved to position F2, where the bottles 15 fall into the basket K on the conveyor belt 19.

Figure 3D shows a block diagram representation of the main drives of the device according to the invention. The central unit M receives information from the sorter N of the main conveyor belt about the sorted bottle, whereby the conveyor 11 above the decorating device 10 is switched on. Thus, the motor 12 is driven, and when the bottle has passed the sensor device 18, the information is transferred from the sensor device to the central unit M, which counts the bypassed bottles. The bottle moves to the control! 15, either at the end of the U-shaped receiving space of the guide 15 or near the bottle already there. When there are the same number of bottles inside the guide 15 as there are holes in the bottle row of the basket K, the central unit M gives an actuator 25 17 to the guide 15, moving the guide 15 to a position (arrow L 1) where packages such as return bottles fall about simultaneously on the lower conveyor 19 to the basket K, whereby the row of bottles of the basket K is filled.

The central unit M then provides a lower conveyor motor 21 to drive the motor and the motor moves the conveyor 19 so that the basket K moves to a position where the next row of bottles can be received. The sensor device 30 detects whether I i 1% 8 91 051 the next line in the basket is empty. It sends the signal parallel to the line. The apparatus comprises a sensor sensor 20 which detects the position of the front edge and the trailing edge of the basket, the central unit M driving the lower conveyor motor 21 to such an extent that the next row of bottles moves precisely to a position where it can receive bottles falling from above. The function of the sensor device 30 is to detect whether the row of bottles that has entered the drop station is empty of the bottles before the bottles are dropped.

Fig. 4A shows an axonometric representation of an embodiment of the device according to the invention, in which the guide 15 is moved non-linearly by the moving device 17 (arrow 10 L3) as the spindle of the moving device 17 rotates the guide shaft d which moves the guide 15 along a curved path (arrow L3). However, in both the embodiments of Figure 2 and Figure 4, it is essential that the bottles move by means of the guide 15 to a position where they fall substantially simultaneously from the upper position G1 to the lower position G2 and the basket K there to the bottle positions of the bottle row.

15

Fig. 4B shows an embodiment of the invention otherwise corresponding to Fig. 4A, except that in the embodiment of the figure, the guide plates 155 ^ 1502, 15b3 ... are connected by an end wall 15c. Correspondingly, the guide wall 15a3 of the guide 15 is formed so that the side wall 15aj is narrower than the second side wall 15a2. The wall 15aj is adapted to move over the guide plates 15bj, 15b2 ... 15c delimiting the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d. In the embodiment of Figure 4B, as well as in the previous embodiments, the belt 11 may also be some other feeding device and such that it is adapted to feed e.g. a storage table on which the movable guide 15 is placed.

Fig. 5A illustrates a vertically movable additional guide 22 according to the invention. The additional guide comprises an end wall 22a and side walls 22b and. : 22c. The auxiliary guide is moved by a motor device 23 which rotates the drive wheel 25 via a gear 24. A crank 27 is articulated to the drive wheel 25 from the articulation point 26. The other end of the palm 27 is articulated from the articulation point 28 to the end wall 22a. The additional guide 30 22 is moved vertically as shown by the arrow S. The additional guide 22 comprises guide sleeves 29a, 29b, the guide 22 being movable under the guidance of the guide sleeves 29a, 29b in the guides 1191051 3la, 3Ib. The guides 3la, 3lb are fixed to the frame R. Correspondingly, the motor arrangement moving the additional guide is fixed to the fixed frame R.

Fig. 5B shows the device arrangement of Fig. 5A in connection with the guide plate arrangements 15bj, 15b2 ... 15c forming the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d 5. The drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d have an inlet (^, 02.03, () 4 on one side of the guide arrangement 15bj, 15b2 ... As shown in the figure, the movable guide 15 transfers return bottles or other corresponding return packages to the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d, which are open from the bottom and whereby, when entering the drop-off stations, the return bottle drops into the empty basket K below 10. The side wall 15aj of the guide 15 passes over the above-mentioned guide structure when the packages P have entered the trough-like space U of the guide 15. The second side wall 15a2 of the guide body 15a, which pushes the return packages into the drop stations, is wider than the wall structure 15aj.

15

The side walls 22b, 22c of the movable guide 22 are located inside the plate portions 15bj, 15b5, said plate portions 15bj, 15b5 comprising an elongate slot H which at the same time acts as a guide part when guiding the movable guide 22 downwards. When the mobile guide 22 is moved to the lower position before the drop in connection with the cell row Rj or R2 or R3 ... 20 of the car K, the falling packages are supported and prevented from falling over.

Figure 6A shows the movable guides in the lower position. Crank 27 is then located in a vertical line and articulation points 26,28 on the same vertical line.

Figure 6B is a top plan view of the device arrangement of Figure 6A. The figure shows four return bottles which have entered the state U of the controller 15. When the space U comprises the same: the number of bottles P when there are fire places R 1, R -> ... in the cell row of the basket K, the guide 15 is moved by turning it, dropping the bottles from the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d into the empty basket below its bottle row.

30 91 051 ίο

Figure 7 shows an axonometric view of a device arrangement according to the invention. The movable guide 22 has its end and side walls in the lower position and is connected to the row of bottles of the return basket K (not shown), whereby the falling bottles are also supported in the lower position.

Fig. 8 shows a top view of the device solution of Fig. 7. The guide 15 (not shown in Fig. 8) transfers the bottles, e.g. from the collecting table, to the drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d between the guide plates 15bj, 15b2,15b3,15b4,15b5 and 15c.

Fig. 9A shows a guide 15 according to the invention in a filling station in which the bottles (P) 10 can be introduced into the trough-like side walls 15aj and 15a? to the space U. The belt run 11 need only extend in the vicinity of the inlet B of the guide 15. The feeding device for the packages P can also be a feeding device other than the belt 11.

Fig. 9B shows the step in which the guide 15 is turned as shown by the arrow L3 so that the bottles P have moved from the bottom to the open drop stations 16a, 16b, 16c and 16d and to the refillable basket K below them.

Il

Claims (22)

1. Bottle processing device (10), by means of which the basket is placed or placed in empty baskets (K), in which the basket assembly (10) is transferred by means of a conveyor (11) or other corresponding device which feeds bottles to a bottle. control means (15) receiving and transferring bottles, and in which device solution the basket assembly comprises a second conveyor (19) located below in relation to the conveyor (11), which second conveyor (19) is arranged to move the basket (K), to which the failure which has fallen from above is placed, characterized in that the control means (15) is an open-bottom U-profile structure and that the control means (15) is located on top of the conveyor (11) in the position where it receives bottles and that the device solution comprises a drop-down space. in the vicinity of the conveyor (11), which space comprises guide discs (15 ^, 1502,1503 ...), wherein the failures can be dropped into the basket (K) via the space provided. bounded by the control discs and controlled by these 15 and that there is a functional device (17) coupled to the control means (15) and arranged to transfer the control means (15) along a curved path from a position where it receives bottles and tiles. a fallout mode for failure and from the dropout position of the bottles back to the receive mode for failure. 2. Bottle treatment device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that there are positions (16a, 16b, 16c ...) between the control discs (15bl515b2, 15b3 ...), to which the bottles can be transferred by means of the control means (15) before the bottles fall into the basket (K). Bottle treatment device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the control means comprises openings (not, e2, e3 ...) on one side in which: the disc-shaped guide discs (15bj, 15b2,15b3 ...) set and which controls the actual body of the guide member (15a) in such a way that it maintains the desired direction, whereby the bottles can be dropped by the action of gravity away from the positions (16a, 16b, 16c ...) of the guide member (15) while the control means (15) is laterally transmitted by the functional device (17). Il 91 051 Bottle treatment device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control means (17) is moved non-linearly by means of a motor device coupled to bring the shaft (d) connected to the control body (15a) to rotate. 5 Bottle processing device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plant comprises a central unit (M) receiving the signals coming from the sensor device (18), which sensing device observes the passing bottle and produces a signal eating the signal unit. (M) which records and counts the number of bottles passed by and where the number of bottles passed corresponds to the amount of bottle sites in a bottle row (R1, R2 ...) in the basket (K), the central unit (M) provides a control signal to move the transfer device ( 17) in such a way that the guide means (15) are transferred in a position where the bottles are moved away from above the conveyor (11), whereby they fall substantially simultaneously to a basket 15 (K). Bottle processing device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the system comprises a sensor device (20) in communication with the conveyor (19) which gives a control signal to the central unit (M) where the basket is located at the sensor device, and when a new basket is placed on the conveyor (19), the basket is moved by the conveyor until the sensor device sends a signal to the central unit (M) which stops the motor (21) which drives the conveyor. Bottle treatment device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device comprises a sensor device (30) at the conveyor (19), by means of which sensor device is observed on the bottle rows (R1, R2 ...) in: the basket (K) is empty before the row loading, the encoder transmitting an identification signal in the direction of the bottle row and observing a bottle if the basket contains a seed. 30 91051 8. Bottle treatment device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bottle treatment device comprises a storage position (A j) for empty containers (K) and a storage position (A2) for full filled baskets, wherein the conveyor (19) is located between the aforementioned storage positions. 5 Bottle treatment device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the device comprises a motor (12), the output shaft of which is connected via a belt gear (13) to the wheel (14aj) which drives the breaking wheel (14) of the belt race ( 11), by driving the motor (12), causing the conveyor belt (11a) of transit the porter (11) to rotate via the drive wheel (14a t) and the conveyor (19) located below it comprises a motor (21), whose output shaft is coupled either directly or via a gear system from one of the breakwheels (19a, 19b) of the belt race by the conveyor (19) using the web race. Bottle treatment device according to claim 1, characterized in that the movable guide member (15) comprises a side wall (15a!) Which is narrower than the second side wall (15a2) of the guide member which pushes the return bottles towards the downpost positions (16a, 16b). ..) into the spaces between the guide discs (15b !, 15b2,15b3 ...), and where the return bottles are moved with the guide means (15), the side wall (15a!) is moved over the guide discs (15b [, 15b2,15b3 ...). 11. Bottle treatment device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the guide plates (15b1,15b9,15b3 ...) are joined to an end wall (15c). 12. Bottle treatment device according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the plant comprises an additional control means (22) which can: be moved in a vertical direction, which can be brought into direct contact with the row (R in the basket (K) before the return bottles fall down. Bottle treatment device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the auxiliary controller (22) is moved by a functional device, advantageously an engine (23) and the auxiliary controller (22) comprises an end wall (22a) and side walls (22). 22b, 22c) and that the operation of the functional device (25) is associated with the end wall (22a), wherein the auxiliary control means (22) can be displaced in the vertical direction by means of lines (3la, 3b) while the control means (22) is controlled in articulated sleeves (29a, 29b). 5 Bottle treatment device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the motor (M) drives a drive wheel (25), to which drive wheel (25) a crank (27) is connected in an articulated manner, which crank is connected to the additional control means (22). 10 A method of treating bottles, which method comprises the following steps: in the method, a bottle is transported with a conveyor (11) and the bottle is transferred to a control means (15) receiving bottles, the method observes the amount of bottles transferred to the control means (15). 15., where the number of bottles transferred to the control means corresponds to the number of bottle points in the row of the basket (K), the central unit (M) of the device provides a control signal to move the control means (15), characterized in that the bottles are moved by moving the control means ( 15) by means of a functional device (17) for a drop-off space which is limited by the control discs (15bj, 15b2,15b3) and further from a location between them to a basket (K) on a conveyor (19) located below. that the conveyor (19) after the row loading in the basket (K) is moved in such a way that the basket (K) is moved to such a position that the following row in the basket can be filled in . 25 16. Process for the treatment of bottles according to the preceding claim, characterized in that, in the process, a tower basket is taken automatically or manually from the storage position (Aj) and moved to another conveyor (19) in a lower position (G2), by means of which the conveyor empties the empty basket to a position below the guide (15) where the basket can receive the bottles dropped from above. 91 051 Method of treating bottles according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that the basket (K) is observed with a sensor device (20) in such a way that the basket (K) comes to the sensor device, in the method. the operation of the motor (21) is stopped by the conveyor (19), whereby the bottle row in the basket can be filled and in the process the basket is moved a distance forward corresponding to a bottle row, while the previous row is filled by moving the basket by means of the conveyor ( 19) so that the following row in the basket (K) is placed in the loading position. Method for treating bottles according to any of the preceding claims 15-17, 10, characterized in that the basket (K) is also observed with a second sensor device (30) in the method, whereby the sensor device (20) produces a control signal which is directed in the direction of the bottle row, wherein the encoder (30) observes whether the basket to be filled contains a bottle in the cell row, in which case the drop of the bottles located above is not performed. 15 A method of treating bottles according to any of the preceding claims 15-18, characterized in that in the method the control means (15) are linearly moved with a functional device (17) and in the method a such control means (15) is used, which is from below. open, wherein the bottles may fall by the action of gravity 20 away from the body (15a) of the guide (15). Method for treating bottles according to any of the preceding claims 15-17, characterized in that the control means is moved non-linearly by moving the control means with a functional device which rotates the shaft (d) in connection with the body of the control means and the control body ( 15a) which is attached thereto. The method of treating bottles according to any of the preceding claims 15-20, characterized in that the beginning end of the first conveyor (11) is contacted in contact with the sorting device (N), in the process of sorting the bottles (P). ) obtained from a return bottle dispenser, wherein the II sorting device (N) transfers the retrieval bottle from the main conveying route to the conveyor (11), advantageously to a conveyor belt. 91 051 Method of treating bottles according to any of the preceding claims 15-21, 5, characterized in that before the return bottles, such as the bottles, are dropped from the upper position into a basket to be filled in the lower position, the additional control means (22) is moved. ) which can be moved in a vertical direction in connection with the row of cells, thereby supporting the falling bottles and preventing them from falling. 10 i «