GB2178389A - No-pressure aligner for items, in particular for bottles - Google Patents

Abstract

No-pressure aligner for items, in particular for bottles, consists essentially of a multi-track feed conveyor (2), of an intermediate bottle separating device (4) and of a single-track output conveyor (3) wherein the intermediate bottle separating device (4) is a dual separating device with two different separating sections (7) and (8), of which the first section ensures partial alignment of the bottles (5) and the second their final alignment in one single row (9). The two sections (7) and (8) may be arranged in a single line or at an angle to each other. Each section (7), (8) comprises a plurality of juxtaposed conveyors driven at differing speeds that increase according to the transverse directions (17), (21). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION No-pressure aligner of items, in particular of bottles This invention concerns a no-pressure aligner of items, in particular of bottles, composed essentially of a a multi-track feed conveyor, of an intermediate bottle separating device and of a single-track output conveyor This aligner is designed to group the bottlers, containers or other similar items that arrive in several rows and have to be arranged by no-pressure means in one single continuous row of bottles to feed a machine set up downflow.

We already know of devices designed to group bottles, containers or similar items in one single row and that consist of a series of of juxtaposed pallet chain conveyors topped by two rectilinear guide ramps arranged in converging cone shape so as to force the bottles into one single row.

This type of grouping devices has several drawbacks, in particular by causing fatigue in the glass of which the bottles are made, and by producing a very high operating noise level. On the other hand, they have the advantage of requiring relatively little space.

We also know of no-pressure bottle groupin systems that consist of a series of elementary conveyors juxtaposed in parallel and topped by a curvilinear guide ramp for the containers.

In this case, the various elementary conveyors are being driven at different speeds so as to allow for arranging the bottles arriving in several rows progressively into one single row that forms over the length of the single guide ramp, without pressure and practically without any impact between the bottles.

This type of bottle groupers has consequently and as compared to those mentioned above, the advantage of a much lower operating noise level, but also the drawback of requiring considerably more space.

As a matter of fact, such spontaneous distribution of bottles in one single row under no other constraint than a gradient of the juxtaposed conveyors speeds, requires the bottle separating section located between the multi-track feed conveyor and the single-track output conveyor to be both very long and very wide and, consequently, expensive.

In spite of that, it happens that one or several bottles appear in a double row close to the end of the separating section where they may obstruct the grouping systems and cause perturbation affecting all the conveyors and machines installed upflow and downflow from this area.

Where this type of grouping systems is concerned, only an inordinate lengthening of the separating section and increasing the number of elementary conveyors will validly augment the chances of proper distribution of the containers in one single row, but any result achieved would be affected at any increase of the grouping system feed rate or at any change regarding the size or the shape of the containers.

One of the purposes of this invention is, consequently, to propose a no-pressure aligner for items that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks i.e. that allows for grouping bottles in one single row while it prevents any bottle from appearing in a double row close to the exit of the aligner separating section.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a no-pressure aligner for items of low size and cost that features, furthermore, extensive operating flexibility where output rates, sizes or shapes of the conveyed containers are concerned.

With this purpose in mind, the invention concerns a no-pressure aligner of items, in particular of bottles, that consists essentially of a multi-track feed conveyor, of an intermediate bottle separating device, of a single-track output conveyor, characterized in that this aligner features between the multi-track feed conveyor and the single-track output conveyor a dual separating device with two different separating sections, with the first section ensuring partial alignment of the bottles and the second their final alignment in one single row.

in addition, it turns out that the space available is very restricted. The aligner, however, is still a device designed to group the bottles in rows i.e. the unit formed by the two separating sections arranged in series and where each section ensures part of the bottle alignment, still requires a relatively large amount of space, particularly in length.

Therefore the design prescribes for the multi-track feed conveyors and the single-track output conveyor to be set up in prolongation to one another. This results in major constraints from the size of the premises that affect the optimum arrangement of the aligner in its operating set-up as well as in poor adjustability of the aligner as regards the space available at the user's.

Another purpose of this invention is to eliminate the drawbacks referred to above.

More specifically, one of the purposes of this invention is to provide a no-pressure aligner for items such as bottles, designed as an optimum compromise regarding size and adaptability of the aligner to its operating set-up, without making any allowances regarding the performance levels (output, operating noise level, etc...).

With this purpose in mind, the invention also provides for the second separating section to present any orientation as compared to the first separating section and to allow for changing this orientation according to requirements.

The invention will be well understood if we refer to the description provided below as an example without any restrictive purpose, and to the appended drawing where: Figure 1 is a plan view of an aligner for containers with, in confromity with the invention, between the multi-track feed conveyor and the single-track output conveyor, one dual separating device with two different separating sections arranged in series.

Figure 2 is a plan view of an aligner for containers shown with various configurations of the second separating section that can be arranged in any orientation and changed according to requirements.

We refer to Figure 1.

The no-pressure aligner 1 consists mainly of one multi-track feed conveyor 2 made of elementary pallet chain conveyors juxtaposed in parallel, of one singletrack output conveyor 3 and of one intermediate separating device 4. In this manner, as in Figure 1, the bottles 5 arrive in four rows and they have to leave the aligner 1 in one single row for feeding machinery such as a filling unit, a labelling units or others. For this purpose, the intermediate separating device 4 has to ensure the distribution of the bottles 5 in one single row, requiring a minimum of space and at the lowest possible noise level, all this in an adequately reiiable manner so that no bottle may ever appear in double row close to the area 6 of the aligner.

For this purpose, the aligner 1 according to the invention has a dual separating device 4 that consists of two separating sections 7 and 8 arranged in series, with the first section ensuring partial alignment of the bottles 5 and the second their final alignment in a single row 9.

Thus, the first separating section 7 will consist preferably of a multi-track pallet chain conveyor topped by a curvilinear guide ramp 11, with the aforesaid tracks 10 driven at different speeds by motors 12 and transmission gear 13 according to known processes.

More specifically, if the first separating section 7 is being fed at its entrance 14 by a certain number of tracks (or pallet chains) (e.g. by a four pallet chain conveyor as in Figure 1), it has at its exit 15 a lower number of tracks as the flow of bottles has been narrowed between entrance 14 and exit 15 of this first separating section 7. This same comment also applies to the separation section 8 that is linked to the separating section 7 through a multi-track conveyor driven preferable at one and the same speed.

The bottle flow narrowing effect is obtained by a method known i.e. by moving the tracks of the multi-track conveyor 10 of this first separating section 7 at different speeds that increase according to a transverse direction 17 and the gradient of which is easily determined by the Professional, depending on the size, the shape, etc... of the bottles 5, in order to achieve the most perfect alignment possible.

As a result, the flow of bottles 5 close to exit 15 of the separating section 7 is already significantly narrowed as compared to entrance 14, e.g. to the form of one single file with, however, isolated bottles appearing in double row at exit 15 of the first separating section 7.

At this exit 15 of the separating section 7, the bottles 5 are transferred by tracks driven preferably at the same speed from the multi-track conveyor 16 to entrance 18 of the second separating section 8 of the separating device 4.

According to the invention, this second separating section 8 consists of a multi-track conveyor 19 topped by another curvilinear guide ramp 20.

In order to have the aligner 1 benefit from the expected reduction in width, this second curvilinear guide ramp has, as compared to the flow direction of the bottles, an identical curvature but with a concave shape inverse as compared to that of the curvilinear ramp 11 so that the unit formed by the two ramps 11 and 20 has the shape of a chicane.

Furthermore, the tracks underneath the curvilinear ramp 20 of the multi-track conveyor 19 are driven at different speeds that increase according to a transverse direction 21 i.e. the respective gradients of the track speeds of the multi-track conveyor 10 and of the track speeds of the multi-track conveyor 19 show an inverse profile, at least where their direction is concerned. As a matter of fact, where their module is concerned, the speeds of the tracks of the multi-track conveyor 19 driven by motors 22 and/or transmission gear 23 are, in principle, completely independent from the speeds of the tracks of the multi-track conveyor 10 that make up the separating section 7.

The result is full freedom in the choice of speeds, thus allowing for adjusting these speeds in an optimum manner to all the cases in the figures (output, bottle size, etc...).

To note that if the separating section 8 has at its entrance 18 as many conveyor tracks in parallel as the separation section 7 has at exit 15, the situation is quite different where the exit 24 of the aforesaid separating section 8 is concerned as this exit 24 has but one single-track conveyor 25 that leads to the output conveyor 3 of the aligner 1.

Thus, when the aligner 1 is functioning according to the invention, the already narrowed flow of bottles 5 arriving from exit 15 of the separating section 7 is taken in by the entrance 18 of the second separating section 8.

In this manner, the last bottles 26 that may have remained in double row after having passed through the separating section 7 are made to change direction and accelerated for the second time, in a direction 21, and they all end up neccessarily in a single row along the curvilinear ramp 20 to be routed then to the single-track output conveyor 3.

To note, however, that in the event of a low bottle output, the latter may already be positioned in one single row after having passed through the separating section 7 and 'a fortiori' at the exit of the separating section 8. On the other hand, in the event of maximum output rates, the availability of two separating sections 7 and 8 or more, if necessary, installed in series as shown by Figure 1, will definitely allow for arranging successively all the bottles in one single row and thus achieve the results desired.

Another advantage of the aligner 1 according to the invention resides in the fact that increasing the number of curvilinear ramps and the number of conveyor tracks driven at increasing differential speeds in opposite directions, allows for more accurate control over the formation of the bottle flow between the antrance and the exit of aligner 1, with reduced space requirements and at lower cost.

We refer to Figure 2 According to this Figure 2, the no-pressure aligner 1 consists overall of the same elements as those described above i.e. of one multi-track feed conveyor 2 of one single-track output conveyor 3 and of one intermediate separating device 4 that ensures that the bottle 5 are arranged in a single row through the intermediate of two separate separating sections 7 and 8.

However, while all the designs known of bottle groupers above are based on conveyors arrenged in sequence and with their entrance and exit practically in the prolongation of one another and, in any event, at a non-reducible and not insignifivant distance one from the other, these improvements to the aligner described in the main patent propose to position the feed conveyor 2 and the output conveyor 3 of the aligner 1 in an optimum place, depending on the position of the machines 31 and 32 of the plant.

For this purpose and as shown by the thin line in Figure 2, the second separating section 8 has, compared to the first separating section 7, any orientation that can be changed accoring to requirements i.e.

according to the position, determined alsewhere, of machines 32 and 32 of the conveying chain, which machines may be filling, labelling or other machines.

Thus, exit 1 5 of the first separating section 7 and entrance 18 of separating section 8 are linked through a curved conveyor 30 of a suitable design determined by the Professional. This curved conveyor 30 may consist, in particular, of several pallet conveyor chains with lateral flexion 33 of a known design.

To note that at a high operating speed, the curved conveyor 30 may also contribute positively through its curvature towards improving the setting-up in one row of the bottles 5 through the centripetal force applied to the latter.

The no-pressure aligner 1 improved in this manner allows for increasing the conveyor chain performance rates within a significantly smaller space and, above all, in a space adjustable to availabilities and to the position of the other elements 31, 32 of the conveyor chain.

This improved adjustability results in lower production costs as several separating sections 7 or 8 of a specific size allow for solving most bottle grouping problems through arranging them judiciously.

To note, furthermore, that in all the configurations shown by Figure 2, the curvature of the curvilinear guides above the respective separating sections 7 and 8 is inverse one to the other, taking into account the flow direction of the bottles. This is not compulsory and a different arrangement of the curvilinear guides and of the separating sections 7 and 8 is possible so as to obtain a curvature of the same direction for each curvilinear guide above its respective separating section 7 or 8, as compared to the flow direction of the bottles 5.

Claims (20)

1. An aligner for items, for instance for bottles, which comprises a multi-track feed conveyor, a single-track output conveyor, and between the multi-track feed conveyor and the single-track output conveyor, in terms of the flow of the items, a separating device with two different separating sections, with the first section ensuring partial alignment of the items and the second section ensuring their final alignment into one single row.

2. An aligner according to Claim 1, wherein the two separating sections are arranged in series, preferably rectilinearly or substantially rectilinearly.

3. An aligner according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the separating sections are linked through a multi-track conveyor with juxtaposed tracks driven at one and the same speed.

4. An aligner according to Claim 1, wherein the second separating section is capable of adopting, relative to the first separating section, any orientation that may be varied according to requirements.

5. An aligner according to Claim 4, wherein an exit of the first separating section is linked to the entrance of the second separating section through a curved conveyor which helps. to set up the items in one row.

6. An aligner according to any preceding claim, wherein the first separating section has a multi-track conveyor with the tracks juxtaposed in parallel and topped by a curvilinear guide ramp installed between a multi-track entrance and a multi-track exit with juxtaposed tracks, with the number of exit tracks being less than the number of entrance tracks of the first separating section.

7. An aligner according to any preceding claim, wherein the second separating section has a multi-track conveyor with tracks juxtaposed in parallel and topped by a curvillinear guide ramp installed between the multi-track entrance and a single-track exit of the second separating section.

8. An aligner according to Claims 6 and 7, wherein the tracks of the multi-track conveyor of the first separating section and the tracks of the multi-track conveyor of the second separating section are driven at differential speeds that. increase, respectively, according to transverse directions, with increased speeds being on the multi-track exits or single-track exit, respectively.

9. An aligner according to Claims 6 and 7, or to Claim 8, wherein the curvilinear guide ramps have identical or substantially identical curvatures with an inverse concave shape, taking into account the flow direction of the items, with the combination of the two curvilinear guide ramps being in the shape of a chicane.

10. An aligner according to Claim 8, wherein the respective gradients of the speeds of the various tracks of the multi-track conveyor and of the multi-track conveyor are independent in module and inverse in direction as compared to the direction of transverse component of flow of the items.

11. No-pressure aligner for items, in particular for bottles, consisting essentially of one multi-track feed conveyor, of one intermediate bottle separating device and of one single-track output conveyor, aligner (1) characterized in that it has between the multi-track feed conveyor (2) and the single-track output conveyor (3) a dual separating device (4) with two different separating section (7) and (8), with the first section ensuring partial alignment of the bottles (5) and the second ensuring their final alignment in one single row (9).

12. No-pressure aligner according to claim 11, characterized in that the two separating sections (7) and (8) are arranged in series.

13. No-pressure aligner according to claim 11, characterized in that the second separating section (8) features, as compared to the first separating section (7), any orientation that may be changed according to requirements.

14. No-pressure aligner according to claim 11, characterized in that the first separating section (7) consists of a multi-track conveyor (10 with the tracks juxtaposed in parallel and topped byacurvilinear guide ramp (11) installed between a multi-track entrance (14) and an exit (15) that consists of a multi-track conveyor (16) with juxtaposed tracks, with the number of exit (15) tracks lower than the number of entrance (14) tracks of separating section (7).

1 5. No-pressure aligner according to claim 11, characterized in that the second separating section (8) consists of a muiti-track conveyor (19) with tracks juxtaposed in parallel and topped by a curvilinear guide ramp (20) installed between the multi-track entrance (18) and the single-track exit (24) of the separating section (8).

16. No-pressure aligner according to claim 11, characterized in that the separating sections (7) and (8) are linked through a multi-track conveyor (16) with juxtaposed tracks driven at one and the same speed.

17. No-pressure aligner according to claim 14 and 1 5, characterized in that the tracks of the multi-track conveyor (10) of the separating section (7) and the tracks of the multi-track conveyor (19) of the separating section (8) are driven at differential speeds that increase, respectively, according to transverse directions (17) and (21).

18. No-pressure aligner according to claim 14 and 15, characterized in that the curvilinear guide ramps (11) and (20) have identical curvatures with an inverse concave shape, taking into account the flow direction of the bottles (5), with the unit formed by the two curvilinear guide ramps (11) and (20) in the shape of a chicane.

19. No-pressure aligner according to claim 17, characterized in that the respective gradients of the speeds of the various tracks of the multi-track conveyor (10) and of the multi-track conveyor (19) are independent in module and inverse in direction as compared to the direction of the flow of the bottles (5).

20. No-pressure aligner according to claim 13, characterized in that the exit (15) of the first separating section (7) is linked at the entrance (18) of the second separating section (8) through a curved conveyor (30) that helps set up the bottles (5) in one row.