JP2002179019A - Seal machine for packaging bag for tea leaves - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seal machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves capable of evacuating air in a chamber storing the packaging bag with tea leaves therein by a proper sucking force. SOLUTION: There is provided a nitrogen sealing machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves comprising chambers 7, 8 storing a packaging bag A having tea leaves therein under a sealingly closed state; seal bars 10a, 11a for use in sealing an opening part of the packaging bag A; a pipe 16 having one end 16a communicated in the chambers; and vacuum pumps 23, 24 connected to the other end 16b of the pipe 16 so as to evacuate air in the chambers. The other end 16b of the pipe 16 is divided into a plurality of branches, and each of the other branched ends 16b is provided with vacuum pumps 23, 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealing machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves for maintaining the freshness of the tea leaves by evacuating the inside of the packaging bag containing the tea leaves and further filling nitrogen therein.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in order to maintain the freshness of tea leaves after shipment for a long time, the tea leaves are packed in a gusset bag which is a laminated film of polyethylene, vapor-deposited nylon, poly film, etc., and then the air in the bag is released. It has been practiced to withdraw and instead seal the bag mouth with nitrogen as an inert gas. Conventionally, such a device for enclosing nitrogen includes a chamber that can be sealed, a pipe having one end connected to the chamber, and a vacuum pump connected to the other end of the pipe. After the housing, the entire inside of the chamber was evacuated by a vacuum pump, so that the inside of the packaging bag was also substantially evacuated.

[0003] One end of the pipe is connected to the chamber by two.
It is connected at one point and the other end is connected to a single vacuum pump, and another pipe extending to a nitrogen injection means for injecting nitrogen on the way is connected. Then, nitrogen is sent into the chamber evacuated by the nitrogen injection means, and the inside of the bag is filled with nitrogen, and then the mouth of the bag is sealed by heat welding.

[0004]

However, the conventional sealing machine described above has a problem that it is difficult to optimally adjust the air suction force by one vacuum pump. That is, since the vacuum pump is intended to obtain a suction force by rotating the compressor to the output limit, it is generally not possible to control the output, and it is necessary to select and use the one with the optimum output value, For example, if a small output is used, it takes time to extract air from the chamber, and if a large output is used, the suction power becomes excessive and the tea leaves in the bag scatter. There is.

[0005] Further, the output value of the vacuum pump is based on a predetermined standard, and it cannot be said that the range of choices is large. Becomes narrower. Furthermore,
When actually connected to a pipe extending from the chamber, there is a difference between the suction force of the air in the chamber and the suction force of the vacuum pump standard depending on the shape and inner diameter of the pipe. Is very difficult to choose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a sealing machine for a tea leaf packaging bag capable of extracting air in a chamber accommodating a packaging bag containing tea leaves with an appropriate suction force. To provide.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A chamber accommodating a packaging bag containing tea leaves in a sealed state, sealing means disposed in the chamber to seal an opening of the packaging bag, a pipe having one end communicating with the chamber, and the pipe And a vacuum pump connected to the other end of the chamber and having a vacuum pump for extracting air from the chamber, wherein the other end of the pipe is branched into a plurality, and the vacuum pump is connected to the other end of each of the pipes. Are provided, and the suction force of the air in the chamber is adjusted.

According to this configuration, when the packaging bag containing the tea leaves is accommodated in the chamber, and the vacuum pump is driven to extract the air from the chamber and the packaging bag, the suction force by the vacuum pump is reduced to a plurality of pipes. It occurs through the other end of the branch. That is, the suction force mainly depends on the branching method and number,
It is determined by the shape of the pipe, the inner diameter, and the output of the connected vacuum pump. Thereafter, the opening of the packaging bag is sealed by the sealing means. Alternatively, an inert gas such as nitrogen gas may be sealed in the packaging bag in a substantially vacuum state and then sealed.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that one end of the pipe has a plurality of connection points with the chamber, and the suction force of the air in the chamber is adjusted.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nitrogen jetting means for jetting nitrogen, and a nitrogen pipe for connecting the nitrogen jetting means with the pipe, wherein nitrogen is introduced into the substantially vacuum chamber. It is characterized by being enclosed.

According to this configuration, nitrogen is sealed in the inside of the packaging bag that has become substantially vacuum, and then the opening of the packaging bag is sealed by the sealing means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the pipe has one end branched substantially symmetrically into two and connected to the vacuum pump, and the other end branched substantially symmetrically into two. It is characterized by being connected to the chamber.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. The sealing machine for a tea bag packaging bag of the present embodiment is applied to a nitrogen sealing machine that seals by sealing nitrogen after bleeding air from the packaging bag, and the nitrogen sealing machine is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG.
, A pipe section 4 and a transport section 6.

The nitrogen sealing machine body 1 is fixed to the floor surface,
A roller conveyor 1a is provided below, and a cardboard box B containing a packaging bag A is transported on the roller conveyor 1a. The packaging bag A is a gusset bag containing dried tea leaves to be shipped, and is conveyed from the carry-in port 1b to the chamber 8 (7) with the upper part opened.

The bag folding unit 2 is provided with a bag folding machine 5 for folding the upper opening of the packaging bag A by gusset folding, and the bag folding machine 5 gussets the packaging bag A. It mainly comprises a folding rod 5a to be folded, a bag mouth pressing plate 5b for holding the front and back surfaces of the upper end of the packaging bag A and the bag shoulder, and a vertical cylinder 5c for vertically moving the folding rod 5a.
The bag mouth holding plate 5b is configured to move back and forth and up and down by two cylinders (not shown). When the packaging bag A is carried in from the entrance 1b by the roller conveyor 1a, the upper and lower cylinders 5c are driven to lower the folding rod 5a, and the bag mouth holding plate 5b is moved to two cylinders (not shown).
The packing bag A is moved up and down, and the upper opening and the shoulder of the packaging bag A are sequentially pressed and the wrinkles are stretched to gusset-fold the folding bag 5a.

The transporting section 6 is a section for transporting the packaging bag A and the cardboard box B having the upper opening folded at the bag opening / folding section 2 to the seal section 3 and the upper opening of the packaging bag A is folded. Is provided. The guide plate 6a is composed of two plate members separated by a predetermined distance, and is configured so that the upper portion of the packaging bag A passes through such a gap.

The sealing portion 3 is a portion for sealing the upper opening with nitrogen after bleeding the air in the packaging bag A, and as shown in FIGS. Chamber 8, drive cylinder 9, seal bar 10a, 1
1a, a shoulder presser 12a, 13a, and a bag opening guide 14.

The right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8 are hollow hermetically sealed containers that can be brought into contact with and separated from each other, and are capable of housing the packaging bag A in a hermetically sealed state when they come into contact and become integral ( The contact state is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). A drive cylinder 9 is fixed on the upper surface of the right chamber 7, and a retaining portion 8 a for locking a tip of a rod 9 a of the drive cylinder 9 is formed on the upper surface of the left chamber 8.

The right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8 are movable along a guide bar 15 provided on the lower surface side of the nitrogen sealing machine main body 1. When the driving cylinder 9 is driven to extend and contract the rod 9a. The right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8 are guided by a guide shaft 21 (see FIG. 6) so as to abut or separate from each other.

A seal bar cylinder 1 is provided on each outer wall surface of the right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8.
0 and 11 are provided and their actuation rods 10
b, 11b extend inside the respective chambers 7, 8. Seal rods 10a and 11a for heating and sealing while pressing the front and back surfaces of the upper opening of the packaging bag A are provided at the tips of these operating rods 10b and 11b.
(Sealing means) is formed.

Further, shoulder holding cylinders 12 and 13 are disposed on the outer wall surfaces of the respective chambers 7 and 8 below the seal bar cylinders 10 and 11, and operating rods 12b and 13b are provided in the respective chambers 7 and 8. , 8. And these operating rods 12b, 1
3b, shoulder presses 12a and 13 for pressing the front and back surfaces of the upper opening of the packaging bag A slightly below the positions where the seal bars 10a and 11a press the front and back surfaces.
a is formed. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the seal bars 10a and 10b and the shoulder retainers 12a and 13a are in contact with the upper opening of the packaging bag A.

The bag opening guide 14 is located inside the right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8 when they come into contact with each other, and is arranged so as to straddle the cardboard box B containing the packaging bag A from both sides. A frame 14b, and two guide portions 14 extending at the front end of the frame 14b in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG.
a. The two guide portions 14a are arranged at a predetermined interval, and can be guided while maintaining the gusset fold by passing the upper opening of the packaging bag A through the gap.

Further, as shown in FIG.
And ports 17, 18, 19, and 20 communicating with the inside and outside of the chamber are formed on each upper surface of the left chamber 8,
In the present embodiment, one end 16 a of the pipe 16 is connected to the ports 17 and 18. Such piping 1
Reference numeral 6 denotes a tubular member for extracting air from the chambers 7 and 8 and for feeding nitrogen, and communicates with the pipe portion 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pipe section 4 has one end 16.
a is connected to the left chamber 8, the other end 16c is connected to the two vacuum pumps 23 and 24, and the pipe 16 has one end 22a connected to an intermediate portion 16b of the pipe 16 and ejects nitrogen. Nitrogen pipe 2 having the other end 22b connected to a nitrogen cylinder (not shown) as a nitrogen jetting means.
2 are arranged. That is, the intermediate portion 1 in the pipe 6
The one end 16a side and the other end 16c side of 6b are each symmetrically branched into two, and the one end 16a side (one end 16a) is branched.
A nitrogen pipe 22 is extended from a substantially intermediate position of (a part where a is divided).

A pipe 29 further extends from the intermediate portion 16b of the pipe 16, and a vacuum break port 28 for taking in air to break a vacuum is formed at the tip of the pipe 29. Further, valves for shutting off and opening each pipe route are arranged at the position shown in the figure in the intermediate portion 16b of the pipe 16, in the middle of the nitrogen pipe 22, and in the middle of the pipe 29, and at desired timing. Each pipe is openable and closable.

The vacuum pumps 23 and 24 are connected to the other end 16c of the pipe 16, respectively, and
This is for extracting air from inside, and has suction powers substantially equal to each other. Such a vacuum pump is a device for creating or maintaining a vacuum in the chamber, and includes a gas-transport vacuum pump (oil rotary pump, oil diffusion pump, turbo molecular pump, etc.) and a gas-filled vacuum pump (soaption). Pump, getter pump, sputter ion pump, cryopump, etc.).

Next, the operation of the packaging bag nitrogen sealing machine having the above configuration will be described. First, as shown in FIG.
The packaging bag A accommodated in the cardboard B sent from the previous process is subjected to gusset folding by the bag folding machine 5 of the bag folding section 2, and then the roller conveyor 1a is driven to drive the transport section 6
And transported to the seal section 3. At this time, the transport unit 6
In the seal part 3, the bag opening guide 1 is provided by the guide plate 6a.
4, the folded state of the packaging bag A is maintained.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, when the packaging bag A is located between the right side chamber 7 and the left side chamber 8 and reaches the seal portion 3, the drive cylinder 9 is driven, and the right side chamber 7 and the left side The chamber 8 is moved in a direction close to each other and brought into contact with the chamber 8 until the chamber 8 is sealed (see FIG. 4). In this state, the air in the packaging bag A is also extracted by simultaneously driving the two vacuum pumps 23 and 24 to extract the air in the chamber. In this step, the valve 25 is opened, the valves 26 and 27 are closed, and only the pipe 16 is open.

When the inside of the packaging bag A becomes vacuum, the operation of the vacuum pumps 23 and 24 is stopped and
5, the valve 26 is opened instead, and nitrogen is fed into the chamber from a nitrogen cylinder (not shown). As a result, nitrogen is sealed in the packaging bag A, and the valve 26 is closed when a desired amount of nitrogen has been sent.

Thereafter, the operating rods 12b and 13b are extended by driving the shoulder holding cylinders 12 and 13, and the upper opening of the packaging bag A is pressed from the front and back surfaces by the shoulder holdings 12a and 13a. From this state, seal bar cylinder 1
0 and 11 are driven to extend the operating rods 10b and 11b, and the upper openings of the packaging bag A are pressed from the front and back surfaces by the seal bars 10a and 11a, and the seal bars 10a and 11a are energized to open the openings. Seal by heat welding. Thereby, the opening is sealed in a state where nitrogen is sealed in the packaging bag A, and the freshness of the tea leaves can be maintained for a long time.

When the sealing is completed, the seal bars 10a and 11a and the shoulder retainers 12a and 13a are separated from the upper opening of the packaging bag A, and the driving cylinder 9 is driven to move the right chamber 7 and the left chamber 8 together. The chambers are moved away from each other, and these chambers are returned to the initial state (the state shown in FIG. 3). Then, the roller conveyor 1a is driven to carry out the cardboard box B containing the packaging bag A from the carry-out port 1c, and a series of sealing steps is completed. The driving operation of each of the above-mentioned components (for example, driving and stopping of a roller conveyor, opening and closing of a valve, driving and stopping of a cylinder 9, etc.)
Are collectively performed by a control panel (not shown).

According to the piping structure of this embodiment, the suction force of the air generated in the chamber is reduced by the vacuum pumps 23 and 24.
Are not simply added, and the suction force of one unit is reduced to about several tens% by the influence of the shape or diameter of the pipe 16. Therefore, suction power is not enough with one vacuum pump, and it takes time to extract air,
If a large vacuum pump is used instead, the problem that the suction force is too large and the tea leaves in the packaging bag A are scattered is solved.

That is, the output standard of the vacuum pump is generally set, and according to the present embodiment, compared to the conventional pump which cannot obtain an output between one standard and the next higher output standard, While being able to respond flexibly,
The suction force can be easily adjusted by changing the shape of the pipe 16 and changing the number of vacuum pumps to be connected. As can be seen from the above description, the number of vacuum pumps connected to the pipe 16 is not limited to two as in this embodiment, but may be three or more to obtain a desired suction force.

Further, one end 16a of the pipe 16 is connected to two ports 17 and 18 in the left chamber 8, but may be connected to only one of the ports or to the other ports 19 and 20. May also be connected. That is, the number of such connecting ports (that is, one end 1
The number of branches on the 6a side can also adjust the air suction force.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the sealing section 3 and the pipe section 4 are only provided by omitting the bag folding section 2 and the transport section 6 and separately. The gusset folding may be performed by the apparatus described above or manually. Alternatively, the vacuum bag may be provided only in the packaging bag A without the nitrogen pipe 22, and another inert gas may be filled instead of nitrogen. Further, the control by the control panel may be controlled collectively by sequence control, and the driving condition of each component is instructed for each step (bag opening, air suction, nitrogen filling step, etc.). Is also good.

[0036]

According to the first and fourth aspects of the present invention,
The other end of the pipe is branched into a plurality, and a vacuum pump is provided for each to adjust the suction force of the air in the chamber. Can be extracted.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to branching the other end into a plurality and arranging a vacuum pump for each,
Since there are a plurality of connection points where one end is connected to the chamber, the suction force of the air in the chamber can be adjusted more appropriately.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since nitrogen is sealed in the packaging bag which has become substantially vacuum, the present apparatus can be applied to a nitrogen sealing machine, and the freshness of tea leaves is maintained for a long period of time. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a piping configuration of a sealing machine for a tea leaf packaging bag according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view showing a tea leaf packaging bag sealing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a chamber is opened in the tea leaf packaging bag sealing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the chamber is closed in the tea leaf packaging bag sealing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the chamber is closed in the tea leaf packaging bag sealing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a top view showing a chamber in the tea leaf packaging bag sealing machine according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Nitrogen sealing machine main body 1a ... Roller conveyor 1b ... Carry-in port 1c ... Carry-out port 2 ... Bag fold part 3 ... Seal part 4 ... Piping part 5 ... Bag fold machine 5a ... Folding rod 5b ... Bag lip holding plate 5c ... Upper and lower cylinders 6 ... Transfer section 6a ... Guide plate 7 ... Right chamber 8 ... Left chamber 8a ... Holding section 9 ... Driving cylinder 9a ... Rod 10, 11 ... Seal cylinder 10a, 11a ... Seal bar 10b, 11b, 12b, 13b ... Operation Rods 12, 13 ... Shoulder holding cylinders 12a, 13a ... Shoulder holding 14 ... Bag opening guide 14a ... Guide part 14b ... Frame 15 ... Guide bar 16 ... Piping 16a ... One end 16b ... The other end 17-20 ... Port 21 ... Guide shaft 22 ... Nitrogen pipe 22a ... One end 22b ... Other end 23,24 ... Vacuum pump 25-27 ... Valve 28 ... Vacuum break port 29 ... Tube

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masanori Ikeya 347 Kanaya Kawara, Kanaya-cho, Haibara-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture F-term (reference) in Kawasaki Kiko Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A chamber for accommodating a packaging bag containing tea leaves in a sealed state, sealing means disposed in the chamber to seal an opening of the packaging bag, one end of which communicates with the chamber. In a packaging bag nitrogen sealing machine comprising: a pipe, and a vacuum pump connected to the other end of the pipe and for extracting air from the chamber, the other end of the pipe is branched into a plurality, A sealing machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves, wherein the vacuum pumps are respectively arranged at the other ends to adjust the suction force of the air in the chamber. 2. A sealing machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of connection points with one end of said pipe are connected to said chamber, and the suction force of air in said chamber is adjusted. 3. A nitrogen jetting means for jetting nitrogen, a nitrogen pipe connecting the nitrogen jetting means and the pipe,
The sealing machine for a tea leaf packaging bag according to claim 1, wherein nitrogen is sealed in the chamber which has been made substantially vacuum. 4. The pipe has one end branched substantially symmetrically into two and connected to the vacuum pump, and the other end branched substantially symmetrically into two and connected to the chamber. The sealing machine for a packaging bag for tea leaves according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: