GB2232116A

GB2232116A - Automatic control of sugar cord shaping machine

Info

Publication number: GB2232116A
Application number: GB9012192A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Pietsch; Jurgen Jahn; Frank Marschall; Harald Illing; Helmut Lauterberg
Original assignee: Nagema VEB
Current assignee: Nagema VEB
Priority date: 1989-06-01
Filing date: 1990-06-01
Publication date: 1990-12-05
Also published as: IT9035794V0; IT9035794U1; DD284404A5; IT220879Z2; DE9004082U1; GB9012192D0

Abstract

The machine comprises a sugar mass container (2) equipped with conical rollers (3 to 6) for rolling-out of a sugar mass, a device (21, 22) for scanning the thickness of the mass cord (M) issuing from the container for automatic control of the mass advance, a device (11) for extraction of the cord having sequential roller pairs (13), and a device (14) for feeding the cord (M) to a packaging machine. The upper and lower conical rollers (3 to 6), have a profile in the kneading region which is star-shaped in cross-section, and the spacing of the upper rollers (3; 5) at the cord exit, inclination of the container, and rotational speed of the rollers, are all adjustable in response to the thickness measurement, to maintain the cord thickness constant. A cutting device (17) is arranged between the cord-extracting (11) and cord-feeding (14) devices, the device (17) having deflection means (15, 20) which deflects the cord upon temporary interruption of the packaging machine operation. <IMAGE>

Description

SUGAR CORD SHAPING MACHINE The present invention relates to a sugar cord shaping machine.

In known sugar cord shaping machines, the sugar mass cord issuing at the exit end of a roller cone system isscanned and the drive of the roller cones is accelerated or slowed down in dependence on the cord diameter. A machine of that kind is disclosed in RP 738 005. In that machine it is disadvantageous that only the rotational speed of the roller system can be controlled, which is not adequate for effective charging of a high-performance packaging machine disposed downstream thereof.

A calibrating rolling mill with change speed gears for sugar cord processing machines is disclosed in DE-PS 886 559. This mill has a very large speed change region so that all normal actions, which are periodically necessary, on the machine operation, such as insertion of a new packaging material row, stopping of embossing equipment and so forth, can be carried out without completely switching off the mill.

The performance of this mill is too low, however, for the purpose of a continuous operating process for packaging machines with high cord speed.

A sugar cord extraction machine with several extractor roller pairs arranged one after the other and an extractor basket, which is connected upstream thereof and consists of four extractor rollers operating one perpendicularly to the other, is described in DE-GM 1 786 677. The drive of the extractor rollers united in the extractor basket is steplessly variable and independently of the drive of the downstream extractor roller pairs. The extractor rollers following the extractor basket are also steplessly variable in drive. This machine is not sufficient by itself for formation of a cord of uniform cord geometry, since the performance is too low and the system responds too slowly to change in the cord geometry.

Finally, equipment for the manufacture of cord profiles is illustrated in DE-OS 27 00 003, which equipment enables cord press, profiles to be produced in narrow tolerance limits in a manner which is simple in terms of regulation and control techniques. However, a disadvantage of this equipment is that the formation takes place by extruder and the resulting high pressures have a negative effect on the quality of the end product in the case of caramel masses.

It would thus be desirable to substantially increase the Derform- ance of such a cord shaping machine and to reduce standstill times in the case of, for example, disturbances in an associated packaging machine. It would be particularly desirable for the machine to produce a cord, which is continuously shaped with exact geometry, in dependence on the quantity and the kind of the mass in the mass container, on the cord diameter at the exit opening of the mass container and on the take-up capacity of the packaging machine.

According to the present invention there is provided a sugar cord shaping machine comprising a sugar mass container equipped with upper and lower conical rollers for rolling a sugar mass in the container into a cord, the upper rollers being mounted to be adjustable at a cord exit opening of the container and the upper and lower rollers having a substantially star-shaped cross-section at least in a kneading region for the mass, drawing means comprising a succession of roller pairs for drawing the cord from the container, delivery means for delivering the cord from the machine, cutting and deflecting means disposed between the drawing means and the delivery means and actuable to cut and deflect the cord, scanning means for scanning the cord issuing from the container, and regulating means for regulating the machine operation in dependence on the scanning result.

In a preferred embodiment, the machine comprises conical rollers for rolling-out of the sugar mass, scanning means for scanning of the cord issuing from the container for the purpose of regulation of the mass advance, a device for the extraction of the mass cord with several extractor roller pairs arranged one after the other, and equipment for feeding the mass cord to the packaging machine. The rollers, particularly in the kneading region, have a profile which is star-shaped in cross-section and the upper conical rollers are mounted to be adjustable at the mass exit opening of the container. A cutting device, which is constructed as stock-shunting switch, is arranged between the last rollers of the cord-extracting device and the cordfeeding equipment. The cutting device preferably comprises cord deflectors provided with cutting edges.

It may thereby be possible to increase the performance of the sugar cord shaping machine and to continuously feed a cord of precise geometric shape to a high-performance packaging machine. In addition, standstill times may be appreciably lowered in the case of disturbances in the packaging machine.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a schematic perspective view of a sugar cord shaping machine embodying the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a sugar cord shaping machine comprising a mass container 2, which is pivotably mounted in a machine frame 1 and in which upper conical rollers 3 and 5 and lower conical rollers 4 and 6 are mounted in pivot levers 7 and 8.

The upper conical rollers 3 and 5 are arranged to be adjustable in pivot levers 9 and 10 at the mass exit opening of the container 2.

A cord-extracting device 11 with a succession of roller pairs is arranged downstream of the container 2. A cutting device 15 constructed as a stock-shunting switch is disposed between the last rollers 12 and 13 of the device 11 and a cord-feeding or delivery device 14 to a packaging machine. The cutting device 15 consists of a double blade 16, cord deflectors 17 and 18 provided with cutting edges and a drive element 19. A cord deflection chute 20 is mounted beside the cordfeeding device 14.The sugar cord shaping machine is completed by measuring devices 21 and 22, which are disposed in operative connection with the drive 23 of the upper conical rollers 3 and 5 and the lower conical rollers 4 and 6, a tilting element 24 of the container 2, an adjusting device 25 of the conical rollers 3 and 5, a drive motor 26 of the cord-extracting device 11 and a drive element 27 of the cordfeeding device 14.

In use, a sugar mass Z introduced into the container 2 is formed into a constantly rotating sugar mass cone Z on rotation nf the conical rollers 3 to 6, wherein substantially improved conditions of advance of the sugar mass in the mass container are present due to the starshaped cross-section of the conical rollers in the kneading region.

The mass cord M is guided through the exit opening of the conical rollers 3 to 6 of the container 2, past the measuring device 22, transferred to the cord-extracting device 11 and thereafter fed by way of the cutting device 15 and the cord-feeding device 14 to the packaging machine.

In order to exclude disturbances in the sugar cord shaping machine and the packaging machine due to the mass cord M, it is necessary to keep the diameter of the cord M after the exit opening of the conical rollers 3 to 6 of the container 2 in a predetermined range in dependence on the constituent material of the mass and the geometry of the end product. The diameter of the sugar mass cone Z in the container 2 is detected by the measuring device 21. If the diameter of the cone Z exceeds a predetermined limit value, the rotational speed of the cord-extracting device 11 is increased by way of the measuring device 21 in conjunction with the drive motor 26 and the rotational speed of the packaging machine is increased by way of the drive element 27.At the same time, in order to fulfil the requirements imposed on the cord M, the container 2 is given a greater inclination and the exit opening of the rollers 3 to 6 is increased through adjustment of the upper rollers 3 and 5. If the diameter of the cone Z reduces to such an extent that it falls below the predetermined limit value, the process takes place in converse manner, whereby a coarse regulation is provided. In addition, the diameter of the cord M issuing from the mass exit opening, which diameter has already been coarsely predetermined by the change that has taken place in the inclination of the container 2 and by the adjustment of the upper conical rollers 3 and 5 and thereby of the mass exit opening, is checked by the measuring device 22.On exceeding or falling below a predetermined diameter, the rotational speed of the conical rollers 3 to 6 is changed with a view to obtaining the prescribed diameter of the cord M. If the change is not sufficient for this purpose, the inclination of the container 2 is again adjusted. If both these changes are still not sufficient for the required purpose, the exit opening of the conical rollers 3 to 6 is further changed. By means of this regulation of the cord M, a continuous charging of the packaging machine with a geometrically correct cord M is achieved independently of the kind of material making up the mass.

In case of disturbances in the packaging machine, a stop signal is issued to the drive 23 of the conical rollers 3 to 6 and their rotational speed is reduced to the minimum rotational speed. At the same time, the rotational speed of the drive motor 26 of the cordextracting device 11 is set to a lower value. In addition, the cutting device 15 is actuated by way of its drive element 19, in that this is moved in the direction of the cord deflection chute 20, in which the cord M is severed by the cord deflector 17 and fed by way of the chute 20 to a waste container or a return system. Consequently, the shaping process of the cord M can be maintained in the described manner. After elimination of the disturbance in the packaging machine, a switching-on signal thereof initiates regulation of the shaping process of the cord M in reverse sequence, wherein the cutting device. 15 pivots in direction towards the cord-feeding device 14, in that case severs the cord M by the cord deflector 18 and guides this to the cord-feeding device 14.

Claims

1. A sugar cord shaping machine comprising a sugar mass container equipped with upper and lower conical rollers for rolling a sugar mass in the container into a cord, the upper rollers being mounted to be adjustable at a cord exit opening of the container and the upper and lower rollers having a substantially star-shaped cross-section at least in a kneading region for the mass, drawing means comprising a succession of roller pairs for drawing the cord from the container, delivery means for delivering the cord from the machine, cutting and deflecting means disposed between the drawing means and the delivery means and actuable to cut and deflect the cord, scanning means for scanning the cord issuing from the container, and regulating means for regulating the machine operation in dependence on the scanning result.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, the cutting and deflecting means comprising cord deflectors provided with cutting edges.

3. A sugar cord shaping machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.