GB2521024A

GB2521024A - Method and apparatus for palletising bags of granular material

Info

Publication number: GB2521024A
Application number: GB1414938.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Charles Davidson
Original assignee: NORTH DOWN GRAIN Ltd
Current assignee: NORTH DOWN GRAIN Ltd
Priority date: 2014-08-22
Filing date: 2014-08-22
Publication date: 2015-06-10
Anticipated expiration: 2034-08-22
Also published as: IE86786B1; GB201414938D0; GB2521024B; IE20150227A1

Abstract

An apparatus and method of palletising granular material bags are provided, in which bagsÂ are placed into a tubular former 10 which has a number of compartments. A pallet 4 is located at the lower end of the former 10, then the bags are filled with granular material, after which the pallet 4 is lowered from the lower end of the former 10. This may provide a palletised set of bags which keep their shape, and do not overlap the edge of the pallet 4. The bags may be 500kg or 600kg bags.

Description

Method and Apparatus for Palletising Bags of Granular Material This invention relates to a method and apparatus for palletising bags of granular material and in particular to a method and apparatus for palletising large capacity bags of granular fertilizer.

It is known to package granular fertilizer into large bags of 500kg, 600kg or even 1000kg capacity. Such bags, by virtue of their weight and bulk, are generally difficult to handle for both the packager and for the wholesaler. Efforts have been made to palletise four 500k or 600kg bags side by side in a rectangular array on a standard sized pallet (known as a "quad pack") to facilitate handling and storage.

In a known palletising method, bags are filled with metered doses of fertiliser and delivered onto a conveyor from which they are lifted to be positioned on a pallet in groups of four bags before being banded with suitable straps and/or wrapped to retain the bags upon the pallet. However, to date such efforts have not been entirely successful due to the difficulty in accurately positioning the bags upon the pallet and the tendency for the bags to swell and deform as they are lifted onto the pallet, resulting in palletised groups of bags of inconsistent dimensions and overhang of the bags from the sides of the pallet. Prior art attempts to solve this problem have involved the use of hydraulically driven presses to compress the sides of the bags once they have been placed on a pallet to try and force the bags to conform to a square or rectangular profile upon the pallet. However, this produces inconsistent results and requires large amounts of power, both to lift the filled bags onto the pallet and to subsequently compress the sides of the bags prior to banding and/or wrapping.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for palletising large bags of granular material, such as fertiliser, which produces dimensionally consistent results while consuming less energy that known palletising methods.

According to a first aspect the invention there is provided a method of palletising bags of granular material comprising the steps of: providing a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end; locating a bag within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; locating a pallet against a lower end of the former; filling each bag with granular material; and vertically displacing the pallet away from the former such that the bags slide out of the compartment of the former while being supported on the pallet; and delivering the pallet to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.

Preferably the method comprises the further step of delivering metered doses of granular material into each compartment of a hopper device located above the former, said hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former; and simultaneously delivering said granular material from the compartments of the hopper device into the bags located in the compartments of the former. The filling opening of each bag may be attached to a discharge spout of a respective hopper compartment of the hopper device prior to filling the bags with granular material. The filling neck of the bags may be closed once they have been filled and the bags may be detached bags from the discharge spouts of the hopper device.

The method may further comprise the step of fastening one or more bands around the filled bags at said securing station.

The method may further comprise the step of applying a weatherproof wrapping or cover over the filled bags at or downstream of said securing station.

Preferably the former has four compartments arranged in a square of rectangular arrangement, four bags being located in said compartments. The cross sectional area of the former preferably corresponds to that of a standard pallet.

Air may be blown into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for palletising bags of granular material comprising: a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end, whereby an empty bag can be located within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; a filling device located above the former for filling each bag located within each compartment of the former with granular material; a pallet lift located below said former for raising a pallet against a lower end of the former prior to filling the bags with granular material and for lowering the pallet to a conveying position once the bags have been filled with granular material such that the filled bags slide out of the former while supported upon the pallet; and a conveying device for delivering the pallet from the conveying position to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.

The filling device may comprise a hopper device located above the former, the hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former, each hopper compartment being arranged to deliver a metered dose of granular material into a respective bag located in a respective compartment of the former. Preferably a dispensing device is provided for delivering a metered dose of granular material into each compartment of the hopper device. The dispensing device may comprise a metering device for dispensing a metered dose of granular material and a shuttle device for selectively delivering a metered dose of granular material from said metering device into each compartment of the hopper device.

In an alternative embodiment it is envisaged that the hopper device may be omitted and the dispensing device may be arranged to deliver metered doses of granular material directly into each bag located in the compartments of the former.

A conveyor may be arranged to convey pallets, having a plurality of filled bags located thereon, from the pallet lift to a securing station.

The securing station may comprise means for fastening one or more bands around the filled bags located on the pallet. A wrapping station may be provided downstream of the securing station adapted to apply a weatherproof wrapping or cover over the filled bags located on the pallet.

In a preferred embodiment the former has four compartments arranged in a square or rectangular arrangement for receiving four bags. The cross sectional area of the former preferably corresponds to that of a standard pallet.

A blower device may be provided for blowing air into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.

The apparatus may further comprise a computer programmed to control the operation of the filling device and the pallet lift.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a pallet having four bags of granular material whenever palletised by the method of the first embodiment of the invention or the apparatus of the second embodiment of the invention. Preferably each bag weighs 500kg. The granular material may comprise ferti liser.

A method and apparatus for palletising bags of bulk granular material in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a schematic view of a palletising apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a palletising apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention for palletising bags of granular material, and in the particular embodiment shown, for palletising four 500kg or 600kg bags of granular fertiliser onto a pallet 4.

Each bag is of a known type, comprising a woven strand outer bag with a pre-fitted film liner, both typically formed from polypropylene, and having a filling opening at an upper end and a rectangular base so that the bag can be filled to define a rectangular parallelepiped block. The dimensions of the filled bags are such that four filled bags can be fitted onto a suitable pallet 4, such as a standard 1200mm x 1400mm pallet. A lifting loop is typically provided at an upper end of the bag to allow the bag to be lifted by suitable lifting equipment.

As discussed above, known methods of loading four 500kg or 600kg bags onto a pallet produce inconsistent results. Bags are often incorrectly placed on the pallet and can partly hang off the pallet, leading to difficulty in transporting and storing the palletised bags and potentially resulting in damage to the bags. Furthermore, known methods of lifting filled bags onto pallets and compressing the bags to attempt to "fix" the problems caused by deformation of the bags during lifting require large amounts of energy, thus increasing costs.

The present invention solves these problems of the prior art by filling the bags in position on a pallet and using a former 10 to ensure that the filled bags are dimensionally consistent and are accurately located on the pallet 4.

As shown in Figure 1, the palletising apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a pallet magazine 12 located to one side of a pallet lift 14, the pallet lift 14 having a pallet support platform for supporting a pallet 4 thereon. The pallet support platform is moveable by suitable lifting means, such as one or more hydraulic rams, between a lowered position, in which a pallet can be loaded onto the support platform from the pallet magazine 12 and from which position a pallet 4, having four filled bags supported thereon, can be transferred onto a conveyor to be carried to a securing and/or wrapping station, and a raised position, wherein the pallet 4 supported thereon abuts the lower end of the tubular former 10.

Thus the pallet lift 14 is adapted to lift individual pallets 4 on the support platform thereof vertically from said lowered position to said raised position, in which position groups of four bags can be filled in position upon the pallet, and to lower the pallet 4, carrying four filled bags thereon, back to said lowered position, as will be described below in more detail.

The tubular former 10 comprises an arrangement of vertically disposed outer and intermediate walls defining an array of four rectangular parallelepiped compartments, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end. The outer walls of the former 10 define a rectangular cross sectional profile corresponding to the dimensions of the pallets 4.

A service hopper 16 is mounted above the former 10, the service hopper 16 having an array of four hopper compartments corresponding to and aligned with the four compartments of the former 10, a respective discharge chute 18 being provided at a lower end of each hopper compartment for delivering granular material from the respective hopper compartment of the service hopper 16 into a respective bag located in a respective compartment of the former 10.

Each discharge chute 18 is provided with attachment means (not shown), such as a clamping ring, for attaching a filling opening of a respective bag to the discharge chute 18, with the bag extending into a respective compartment of the former 10. A discharge valve, such as a gate or flap valve, may be associated with the discharge chute of each hopper compartment of the service hopper 16.

A dispensing device 20 is located above the service hopper 16 for dispensing metered doses of granular material therefrom. The dispensing device 20 comprises a metering device 22 arranged to deliver metered doses of granular material, preferably metered by weight. In a preferred embodiment the metering device 22 is programmed to meter 500kg or 600kg doses of granular material by weight.

The dispensing device 20 further comprises a shuttle device 24 for selectively delivering metered doses of granular material from the metering device 22 into each of the hopper compartments of the service hopper 16. The shuttle device 24 comprises a horizontally moveable controllable to be moved to direct material from the metering device 22 into each of the hopper compartments of the service hopper 16.

A computer may be provided for controlling the operation of the pallet lift, dispensing device and service hopper under control of suitable computer program.

In use, a pallet 4 is first manually (or automatically via a suitable lifting device) loaded from the pallet magazine onto the support platform of the pallet lift 12 with the platform in its lowered position. The pallet lift 14 is then operated to raise the support platform thereof, and thus the pallet 4 located thereon, to its raised position, wherein the pallet 4 is in abutment with a lower end of the former 10.

Four bags are located within the compartments of the former 10, one bag to each compartment, with the filling opening of each bag connected to a respective discharge chute 18 of a respective hopper compartment of the service hopper 16.

The dispensing device 20 is operated to delivered metered doses of granular material into each compartment of the service hopper 16. The metered doses of granular material are then simultaneously discharged into the bags from the service hopper 16 via the discharge chutes 18 thereof to fill the bags with metered doses of granular material, such as fertiliser in 500kg or 600kg doses.

During filling, the walls of the bags are constrained by the walls of the former 10 such that each filled bag defines a rectangular parallelepiped. The bags may be inflated by a suitable blast of air prior to filling to ensure that the bags are filled evenly.

Once the bags are filled their filling openings are closed by suitable fasteners or straps and the bags are detached from the discharge chutes 18 of the service hopper 16.

The pallet lift 14 is then operated to lower the support platform thereof to its lowered position. During such movement, the filled bags, resting on the pallet 4 supported on the support platform of the pallet lift 14, gently slide out of the former 10, retaining their position and shape upon the pallet 4 as the pallet 4 is lowered. The pallet 4 may then be conveyed by the conveyor to a securing station, wherein straps are secured around the bags to hold the bags together on the pallet 4. The pallet 4 may be subsequently conveyed to a wrapping station where a weatherproof cap or cover is applied over the bags.

By filling the bags in position upon a pallet 4 at a raised position with the bags located within respective compartment of the former 10, dimensional consistency and positioning of the bags is ensured. Furthermore, no subsequent lifting of heavy filled bags is required and no subsequent pressing operations are required to compensate for deformation of the bags caused during lifting, greatly reducing energy consumption compared to prior art methods of palletising large bags of granular material.

While the invention has been described in relation to the palletising of bags of fertiliser of a particular size, it will be appreciated that the invention may be applied to the palletising of bags of other types of granular material of other sizes. While the invention has been described in relation to palletising groups of four 500kg or 600kg bags onto a pallet, it is envisaged that other numbers and sizes of bags may be palletising using the method and apparatus of the present invention.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment(s) described herein but can be amended or modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of palletising bags of granular material comprising the steps of: providing a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end; locating a bag within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; locating a pallet against a lower end of the former; filling each bag with granular material; and vertically displacing the pallet away from the former such that the bags slide out of the compartment of the former while being supported on the pallet; and delivering the pallet to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the step of delivering metered doses of granular material into each compartment of a hopper device located above the former, said hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former; and simultaneously delivering said granular material from the compartments of the hopper device into the bags located in the compartments of the former.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprising the step of attaching the filling opening of each bag to a discharge chute of a respective hopper compartment of the hopper device prior to filling the bags with granular material.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, comprising closing the filling opening of the bags once they have been filled and detaching the bags from the discharge chutes of the hopper device.
5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of fastening one or more bands around the filled bags at said securing station.
6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of applying a weatherproof wrapping or cover over the filled bags at or downstream of said securing station.
7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said former has four compartments arranged in a square of rectangular arrangement, four bags being located in said compartments.
8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cross sectional area of the former corresponds to that of a standard pallet.
9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein air is blown into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.
10. An apparatus for palletising bags of granular material comprising: a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end, whereby an empty bag can be located within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; a filling device located above the former for filling each bag located within each compartment of the former with granular material; a pallet lift located below said former for raising a pallet against a lower end of the former prior to filling the bags with granular material and for lowering the pallet to a conveying position once the bags have been filled with granular material such that the filled bags slide out of the former while supported upon the pallet; and a conveying device for delivering the pallet from the conveying position to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.
11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the filling device comprises a hopper device located above the former, the hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former, each hopper compartment being positioned to deliver a metered dose of granular material into a bag located in a respective compartment of the former.
12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein a dispensing device is provided for delivering a metered dose of granular material into each compartment of the hopper device.
13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said dispensing device comprises a metering device for dispensing a metered dose of granular material and a shuttle device for selectively delivering a metered dose of granular material from said metering device into each compartment of the hopper device.
14. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the securing station comprises means for fastening one or more bands around the filled bags located on the pallet.
15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a wrapping station downstream of the securing station adapted to apply a weatherproof wrapping or cover over the filled bags located on the pallet.
16. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 15, wherein said former has four compartments arranged in a square or rectangular arrangement for receiving four bags.
17. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 16, wherein the cross sectional area of the former corresponds to that of a standard pallet.
18. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 17, comprising a blower device adapted to blow air into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.
19. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a computer programmed to control the operation of the filling device and the pallet lift.
20. A pallet having four bags of granular material whenever palletised by the method of claims 1 to 9 or the apparatus of claims 10 to 19.
21. A pallet as claimed in claim 20, wherein each bag weighs 500kg.
22. A pallet as claimed in claim 20 or claim 21, wherein said granular material comprises fertiliser.
23. A method of palletising bags of granular material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
24. An apparatus for palletising bags of granular material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows Claims 1. A method of palletising bags of granular material comprising the steps of: providing a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end; locating a bag within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; locating a pallet against a lower end of the former; filling each bag with granular material; and vertically displacing the pallet away from the former such that the bags slide out of the compartment of the former while being supported on the pallet; and delivering the pallet to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.2. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the step of delivering metered doses of granular material into each compartment of a hopper device located above the former, said hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former; and simultaneously delivering said granular material from the compartments of the hopper device into the bags located in the compartments of the former.3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprising the step of attaching the filling opening of each bag to a discharge chute of a respective hopper compartment of the hopper device prior to filling the bags with granular material.4. A method as claimed in claim 3, comprising closing the filling opening of the bags once they have been filled and detaching the bags from the discharge chutes of the hopper device.5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of fastening one or more bands around the filled bags at said securing station.6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising the step of applying a weatherproof wrapping or cover over the filled bags at or downstream of said securing station.7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said former has four compartments arranged in a square of rectangular arrangement, four bags being located in said compartments.8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cross sectional area of the former corresponds to that of a standard pallet.9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein air is blown into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.10. An apparatus for palletising bags of granular material comprising: a tubular former having a plurality of vertical walls defining a plurality of compartments therebetween, each compartment having an open upper end and an open lower end, whereby an empty bag can be located within each compartment of the former with its filling opening uppermost; a filling device located above the former for filling each bag located within each compartment of the former with granular material; a pallet lift located below said former for raising a pallet against a lower end of the former prior to filling the bags with granular material and for lowering the pallet to a conveying position once the bags have been filled with granular material such that the filled bags slide out of the former while supported upon the pallet; and a conveying device for delivering the pallet from the conveying position to a securing station for securing the filled bags in position on the pallet.11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the filling device comprises a hopper device located above the former, the hopper device having a plurality of hopper compartments corresponding to the number of compartments of the former, each hopper compartment being positioned to deliver a metered dose of granular material into a bag located in a respective compartment of the former.12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein a dispensing device is provided for delivering a metered dose of granular material into each compartment of the hopper device.13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said dispensing device comprises a metering device for dispensing a metered dose of granular material and a shuttle device for selectively delivering a metered dose of granular material from said metering device into each compartment of the hopper device.14. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the securing station comprises means for fastening one or more bands around the filled bags located on the pallet.15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a wrapping station downstream of the securing station adapted to apply a weatherproof wrapping or o cover over the filled bags located on the pallet. r(Q 16. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 15, wherein said former has four compartments arranged in a square or rectangular arrangement for receiving four bags.17. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 16, wherein the cross sectional area of the former corresponds to that of a standard pallet.18. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 17, comprising a blower device adapted to blow air into each bag to inflate the bags within the compartments of the former prior to filling with granular material.19. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a computer programmed to control the operation of the filling device and the pallet lift.23. A method of palletising bags of granular material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.24. An apparatus for palletising bags of granular material substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. r (0 r