JP2006103115A - Carton treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carton treating device which can prevent defective printing caused by the adhesion of foreign substances to a print head. <P>SOLUTION: The carton treating device 1 has a carton assembly unit 3 which assembles the carton 2 from a sheet and bonds it with an adhesive, a transport path 5 for transporting the carton 2 to the next process, and a printing unit 7 for printing on the surface of the carton. A cleaning unit 9 for removing the foreign substances adherent to the surface of the carton is provided between the carton assembly unit 3 and the printing unit 7. The cleaning unit 9 is contacted with the surface of the carton by a rotary brush to remove the foreign substances. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a carton processing apparatus for printing a carton in which sheets are assembled and glued with an adhesive.

  Patent Document 1 discloses that after assembling a carton developed in a sheet shape, printing is performed on the carton.

  On the other hand, in a beer manufacturing factory, canned beer is stored in a cardboard carton and shipped, but predetermined items such as the date of manufacture and the expiration date are printed on the side surface of the carton immediately before shipping.

JP-A-9-207919

  However, in assembling the carton, the adhesive used for assembling the carton may pull the yarn or the corrugated cardboard powder may adhere to the carton.

  As described above, when the yarn pulled by the adhesive or the paper dust of the corrugated cardboard remains on the carton surface, the adhesive or the paper dust adheres to the print head in the next printing process and causes printing failure. There's a problem. For this reason, conventionally, since the carton processing apparatus is periodically stopped and the print head is cleaned, there is a problem that the operation of the carton processing apparatus is complicated and the operation efficiency is lowered.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a carton processing apparatus that can prevent printing defects due to adhesion of foreign matter on a print head.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention described in claim 1 includes a carton assembly unit that assembles a carton from a sheet and adheres it with an adhesive, a conveyance path that conveys the carton to the next process, and printing on the surface of the carton. And a cleaning unit for removing foreign matter adhering to the carton surface between the carton assembly unit and the printing unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cleaning unit includes a rotating brush that contacts the carton surface.

  The invention described in claim 3 is the invention described in claim 2, wherein the carton is made of paper, and the assembling unit includes a folded portion at a rear end portion in a transport direction on the upper surface of the carton and a folded portion on the side surface. It is characterized in that an adhesive is attached by hot melt gun.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the rotating brush has at least two locations of an upper rotating brush that contacts the upper surface of the carton and a side rotating brush that contacts the side surface along the conveying direction. It is provided.

  The invention described in claim 5 is the invention described in claim 4, characterized in that the side rotating brush rotates in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the carton at the contact surface with the carton surface.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 5, the upper rotating brush rotates in the same direction as the conveying direction on the contact surface with the carton surface.

  The invention described in claim 7 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 6, the upper rotating brush has a linear velocity at the contact surface with the carton surface higher than the conveying speed of the carton.

  The invention described in claim 8 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 7, an antistatic material and an abrasive are mixed in the bristles of the rotating brush.

  The invention described in claim 9 is the invention described in claim 8, wherein the cleaning unit includes a carton detection sensor on the entrance side of the carton, and each rotating brush is driven in response to a detection signal of the carton detection sensor. When the sensor does not detect a carton for a predetermined time, each rotary brush stops driving, and when the sensor continues to detect the carton for a predetermined time, the driving of each rotary brush stops.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the ninth aspect of the invention, the rotating brushes of the upper rotating brush and the side rotating brush are driven by motors provided respectively, and each driving motor individually adjusts the rotation speed. It is characterized as being possible.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the cleaning unit removes foreign matter on the carton surface before the printing step, foreign matter adheres to the print head when printing is performed by the printing unit. Can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to prevent defective printing due to adhesion of foreign matter, and to significantly reduce the number of times the maintenance of the print head is performed.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained, and the cleaning unit removes the foreign matter on the carton surface by the contact of the rotating brush. Moreover, the carton surface is hardly damaged.

  According to the invention described in claim 3, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 2 can be obtained, and in the case of a paper carton, paper dust is easily generated when a carton is assembled from a sheet. In the application of the adhesive by the gun, the adhesive is particularly easy to pull the yarn, so that it is possible to effectively remove the foreign matter on the carton surface generated by these, that is, the adhesive by pulling the paper powder or the yarn.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 3 can be obtained, and foreign matter is removed not only on the printing surface but also on the entire carton surface. Since it is possible to prevent the thread from pulling the yarn and adhering to the print head by adhering to the side surface, it is possible to reliably prevent the print head from attaching foreign matter.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, while the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 4 is obtained, the brush is made stronger by rotating the side rotating brush in the direction opposite to the carton conveying direction. The foreign matter adhering to the side surface can be efficiently removed.

  According to the invention described in claim 6, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 5 can be obtained, and the upper rotating brush is rotated in the same direction as the transport direction so that the rear end in the transport direction is provided. The brush can be contacted, and the thread pulled by the adhesive applied to the rear end can be removed.

  According to the invention described in claim 7, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 6 can be obtained, and the linear velocity of the upper rotating brush is faster than the conveying speed. It can be rubbed, and the adhesive with the thread pulled from the rear end can be effectively removed.

  According to the eighth aspect of the invention, the same effect as that of the seventh aspect of the invention can be obtained, and static electricity is hardly generated on the surface by the antistatic material, or the generated static electricity is removed, and printing is performed. It is possible to prevent electrical troubles with the head, for example, troubles such as difficulty in ink due to static electricity. Moreover, the foreign material adhering to the carton surface can be effectively removed by mixing the abrasive.

  According to the invention described in claim 9, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 8 can be obtained, and when the sensor does not detect the carton for a predetermined time, there is no carton, and the carton for the predetermined time is If the carton continues to be detected, the carton is substantially stopped on the transport path, so that the carton may be damaged if the brush is kept in contact with the carton for a long time. Therefore, when the carton is continuously detected for a predetermined time, stopping the rotation of each rotary brush can prevent such damage and prevent waste of energy.

  According to the invention described in claim 10, since the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 9 can be obtained and the rotation speed can be adjusted for each rotating brush, each surface of the upper surface and the side surface can be adjusted. The rotation of the brush can be adjusted in accordance with the state of each surface, such as the paper dust adhesion state and the location where the adhesive thread is easily pulled.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a cleaning unit in a carton processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the cleaning unit, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cleaning unit, and FIG. Is a schematic configuration diagram of a carton processing apparatus, and FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a control unit.

  In the carton processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a carton assembly unit 3, a conveyance path 5, and a printing unit 7 provided in the middle of the conveyance path are provided in this order. A cleaning unit 9 is disposed between the units 7.

  The carton assembly unit 3 folds the corrugated cardboard sheet and applies an adhesive from a hot melt gun to the folded folded portion to assemble the carton 2. During the assembly of the carton 2, canned beer is loaded into the carton 2, and the carton 2 loaded with canned beer is discharged.

  The carton 2 is cardboard (made of paper), and the assembling unit attaches an adhesive to each of the folded portion of the rear end portion 2b in the conveying direction and the folded portion of the side surface 2c on the upper surface 2a of the carton 2 by a hot melt gun. is doing.

  The cleaning unit 9 includes an upper rotary brush 11 that contacts a top surface of the carton 2 with a rotary shaft arranged in a horizontal direction, and side rotary brushes 13a and 13b that are provided on the left and right sides of the conveyance path with the rotary shaft vertical. Each rotating brush 11, 13a, 13b has a rotating shaft connected to independent drive motors 15, 17, 19 respectively. The rotational speeds of the drive motors 15, 17 and 19 can be adjusted by speed controllers M1c, M2c and M3c, respectively (see FIG. 5). Each of the rotating brushes 11, 13a, and 13b rotates at a speed at which the linear velocity at the contact surface with the carton surface is higher than the transport speed of the carton.

  The upper rotating brush 11 rotates in the contact surface with the surface of the carton 2 in the same direction as the transport direction S (arrow W in FIG. 1). Further, the side surface rotating brushes 13a and 13b are rotated in the contact surface with the surface of the carton 2 in the direction opposite to the conveying direction S of the carton 2 (arrow V in FIG. 1).

  The brush bristles 23 of the rotary brushes 11, 13a, 13b are made of nylon or 6 nylon, mixed with aluminum oxide or silicon carperlite as an abrasive, and carbon as a conductive material as an antistatic material. It is mixed.

  In the cleaning unit 9, a carton detection sensor 25 is provided on the entrance side of the carton 2, and the rotary brushes 11, 13 a, and 13 b are driven in response to a detection signal from the carton detection sensor 25. The carton detection sensor 25 is connected with a caseless timer 27 for measuring the time without a case and a timer with a case 28 for measuring the time with a case (see FIG. 5). The drive of each motor 15, 17, 19 is stopped.

  In FIG. 5, L1W is a power lamp, L2R is an operating lamp that is lit only during operation, T1, T2, PH1, and PH2 are switches, and 31 is interlocked with the main power source and operated manually. Thus, each of the drive motors can be switched on and off.

  Next, the effect | action which concerns on this Embodiment is demonstrated. In the carton assembly unit 3, the sheet-like cardboard is assembled into a carton, and the adhesive F is applied to the folded portion of the carton from the hot melt gun. In the carton assembly unit, canned beer is loaded into the carton at the same time.

  The carton 2 is transported to the printing unit 7 through the transport path, but the foreign matter attached to the surface of the carton 2 is removed by the cleaning unit 9 in the middle of transport. In this cleaning unit 9, the upper rotating brush 11 and the left and right side surface rotating brushes 13a and 13b are driven to rotate, and foreign matter adhered to the surface of the carton, for example, a thread pulled by an adhesive agent. And remove paper dust. Since the cleaning unit 9 removes foreign matter on the surface of the carton 2 by the contact of the rotating brush, it has a simple configuration and the carton surface is hardly damaged.

  Since the cleaning unit 9 removes foreign matter not only on one side which is a printing surface but also on the entire carton surface, for example, it is possible to prevent the adhesive on the upper surface from spreading on the side surface and adhering to the printing head of the printing unit 7.

  By rotating the upper rotating brush 11 in the same direction as the transport direction (W direction), the brush can come into contact with the rear end portion 2b in the transport direction, and the thread drawn by the adhesive applied to the rear end portion 2b can be removed. Further, the side surface rotating brushes 13a and 13a can efficiently remove the foreign matter attached to the side surface by rotating the side surface rotating brush in the direction opposite to the carton conveying direction S (V direction).

  When the carton detection sensor 25 detects the carton 2, the case timer 29 starts counting, and when the predetermined time has elapsed, the driving of the motors 15, 17, 19 is stopped. The fact that the carton 2 is continuously detected for a predetermined time is a state in which the transport of the carton 2 is stopped, so that the motors 15, 17 and 19 are stopped to prevent wasteful power consumption, and the rotary brush is rubbed too much. 2 is prevented from being damaged. When the carton detection sensor 25 detects no carton and the no-case timer 27 counts for a predetermined time, the carton 2 is not being transported, so the motors 15, 17 and 19 are stopped and unnecessary power consumption is consumed. To prevent.

  After the foreign matter on the surface of the carton 2 is removed by the cleaning unit 9, a predetermined display such as the date of manufacture and the expiration date is printed on the side surface of the carton 2 by the printing unit 7. Since the foreign matter such as the adhesive and paper dust from which the yarn has been pulled has already been removed by the cleaning unit 9 on the carton surface, the print head is not soiled and printing defects can be prevented. In addition, the number of print head maintenance operations is reduced, and the operation efficiency of the apparatus can be increased.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, a carton filled with canned beer has been described as an example. However, a carton that contains a soft drink can may be used.

It is a perspective view which shows roughly the cleaning unit in the carton processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of a cleaning unit. It is a top view of a cleaning unit. It is a schematic block diagram of a carton processing apparatus. It is a circuit diagram of a control part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carton processing apparatus 3 Carton assembly unit 5 Carriage path 7 Printing unit 9 Cleaning unit 11 Upper side rotation brush 13a, 13b Side surface rotation brush 15, 17, 19 Drive motor 25 Carton detection sensor

Claims (10)

  A carton assembly unit that assembles a carton from a sheet and adheres it with an adhesive, a conveyance path that conveys the carton to the next process, and a printing unit that prints on the surface of the carton, between the carton assembly unit and the printing unit A carton processing apparatus comprising a cleaning unit for removing foreign matter adhering to a carton surface.   The carton processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning unit includes a rotating brush that contacts the surface of the carton.   The carton is made of paper, and the assembling unit has an adhesive attached to each of the folded portion and the folded portion on the side surface at the rear end portion in the conveying direction on the upper surface of the carton. The carton processing apparatus according to 2.   4. The carton processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the rotating brush is provided at least in two places: an upper rotating brush that contacts the upper surface of the carton and a side rotating brush that contacts a side surface along the conveying direction.   The carton processing device according to claim 4, wherein the side rotating brush rotates in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the carton at a contact surface with the carton surface.   6. The carton processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the upper rotating brush rotates in the same direction as the conveying direction on the contact surface with the carton surface.   The carton processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the upper rotating brush has a linear velocity at a contact surface with the carton surface that is higher than a conveying speed of the carton.   The carton processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an antistatic material and an abrasive are mixed in the bristles of the rotating brush.   The cleaning unit has a carton detection sensor on the entrance side of the carton, and each rotary brush is driven in response to a detection signal from the carton detection sensor. When the sensor does not detect the carton for a predetermined time, the drive of each rotary brush stops. 9. The carton processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the driving of each rotary brush is stopped when the sensor continuously detects the carton for a predetermined time. 10. The carton processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the rotating brushes of the upper rotating brush and the side rotating brush are driven by motors provided respectively, and each driving motor can individually adjust the rotation speed.

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