JP2006327670A - Packaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly remove a film from a carrying belt even when the film is stretched on a packaging section and is let to stand for a long period of time in a packaging device using a stretch film. <P>SOLUTION: This packaging device is equipped with a pair of the top and bottom carrying belts 3 and 3, two sets of clamps 7b and 7f, and a control means. In this case, a pair of the carrying belts 3 and 3 carry the film F to a specified packaging position of the packaging section by pinching both side edge sections in the carrying direction of the film F. Two sets of the clamps 7b and 7f pinch the film F on the internal sides from the respective carrying belts 3 and 3. The control means control the motions of the carrying belts 3 and 3 and the clamps 7b and 7f in such a manner that both side edge sections of the film F pinched by a pair of the carrying belts 3 and 3 and the clamps 7b and 7f are relatively moved while the film F is being pinched by the clamps 7b and 7f. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a packaging apparatus that wraps an article to be packaged with a film after pushing the article to be packaged from below toward a stretch film stretched on a packaging unit.

In this type of packaging apparatus, a film is pulled out from a film roll, and both side edges along the conveyance direction of the film are sandwiched between a pair of upper and lower conveyance belts and conveyed to a packaging unit. The drawn film is cut with a cutter according to the size of the package. (Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-12008

  However, there is a case where the film is clamped for a long time without pushing up the tray with respect to the film conveyed to the packaging unit due to the reason that the operator stops the operation. In this case, the film adheres to the belt surface of the conveyor belt, the film does not come off the conveyor belt at the time of packaging, and a large tension is generated on the film. It becomes. In the case of a soft tray, the tray may be crushed.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to enable a film to smoothly come off from the conveyance belt even when the film is left for a long time in a state where the film is stretched on the packaging portion in a packaging apparatus using a stretch film.

  In order to achieve the above object, the packaging apparatus of the present invention pulls out a film from a film roll and transports it to a packaging unit, pushes up the packaged object from the lower side of the film by an elevator mechanism, and forms the film on the upper surface of the packaged object. A pair of transport belts on the upper and lower sides for sandwiching both side edges along the transport direction of the film and transporting the film to a predetermined packaging position of the packaging unit, Two sets of clamps that sandwich the film inside the conveyor belt, and both edge portions of the film clamped by the pair of conveyor belts and the clamps are relatively moved while the film is clamped by the clamps. And a control means for controlling the operations of the conveyor belt and the clamp.

  According to the present invention, the film attached to the belt surface of the conveyor belt can be peeled off from the belt surface by relatively moving both side edges of the film sandwiched by the conveyor belt and the clamp.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the relative movement is performed immediately after the film is conveyed to a predetermined packaging position of the packaging unit and immediately before the packaging operation of the package using the film is performed.
Thus, by performing the relative movement immediately before execution of the packaging operation, the film left in the packaging unit for a long time is peeled off from the conveyance belt, and the film is easily detached from the conveyance belt during the packaging operation.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the relative movement is performed by rotationally driving the conveyor belt.
According to this aspect, since it is not necessary to change the hardware, it is possible to peel off the film attached to the surface of the conveyor belt without increasing the cost.

In this invention, after the said film is conveyed to the predetermined packaging position of the said packaging part, when predetermined time or more passes before packaging, it is preferable that the said relative movement is performed.
According to this aspect, since the relative movement is performed only when necessary, it is possible to prevent a decrease in productivity by not performing a useless operation during normal packaging.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the following description, the tray T in which the contents are stored will be described as an example of the packaged item. However, the packaged item may be a product that is not placed on the tray T.

First, the basic structure and operation of the packaging device will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the present packaging apparatus is a front discharge type packaging apparatus that carries an article to be packaged from the front side 2a and packages it, and then discharges it to the front side 2a. The supply device 20 is provided.

  In FIG. 2, the supply device 20 supplies a tray (packaged object) T on which the contents M are placed onto a lifter (elevator mechanism) 201. Each post 210 of the lifter 201 is disposed immediately below a packaging station (packaging section) S of the packaging mechanism 200 and can be moved up and down by an elevating means 208. When the tray T is supplied from the supply device 20, the lifter 201 rises and lifts the tray T to the packaging station S.

On the other hand, the stretched film F is supplied to the packaging station S by a pair of conveying belts 3 and 3 prior to the packaging operation. The film F comes into close contact with the upper surface of the tray T when the tray T is pushed up. In this state, the film folding mechanism 203 has a pair of left and right folding plates 204, 204, a rear folding plate 205, a round bar-shaped front folding member 206, and a pusher 207 (FIG. 2) to The left and right side edges are folded and packaged on the bottom side of the tray T, and the packaged tray T is conveyed onto the heat welding conveyor 10 of FIG. The heat welding conveyor 10 welds the films F folded on the bottom surfaces to each other, and then the tray T is discharged onto the discharge table 209 in FIG.
A label is pasted on the packaged product M to be discharged by the label pasting machine 12.

Film supply mechanism:
As shown in the schematic cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, on both sides in the left-right direction Y of the present apparatus, a pair of a film supply mechanism including a film transfer means 5 and a cutting device 6 and a film roll Fr are provided. One of the left and right film supply mechanisms is selected, and the film F is supplied to the packaging station S by the transport belts (supply means) 3 and 3.

  The film transfer means 5 transfers the film F drawn from the film roll Fr to the transport belts 3 and 3. The transport belts 3 and 3 in FIG. 5 sandwich both side edges Fe along the transport direction Y of the film F, and draw out the film F toward the packaging station S in FIG.

The film supply mechanism is generally symmetrical, and in the following description, the right part will be mainly described.
The film passing means 5 includes a pair of film insertion plates 51 and 52 and a plurality of one-way rollers 53 supported by the film insertion plate 51.
The film insertion plates 51 and 52 move up and down while sandwiching the leading end side of the film F passed to the conveyor belts 3 and 3. The film insertion plates 51 and 52 rise from the retracted end position P1 and pass the film front end F2 to the conveyor belts 3 and 3.

  Each of the conveyor belts 3 and 3 includes two sets of a lower drive belt 31, an upper driven belt 32, and an introduction belt 33 at the front and rear. The introduction belt 33 sandwiches the film F fed from below by the film passing means 5 between the upstream end of the lower drive belt 31 and holds the film F between the lower drive belt 31 and the upper driven belt 32. Lead between.

  The cutting device 6 includes a cutter 61 and a chopping base 62. The cutter 61 contacts the chopping base 62 and cuts the film F.

Packing station S:
FIG. 5 is a schematic plan sectional view of the packaging station S. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, two sets of clamp devices 7 b and 7 f are provided on the inner side (the film F side) of the conveyor belts 3 and 3. Each of the clamp devices 7b and 7f clamps the film F transported to the predetermined packaging position of the packaging station S by the transport belts 3 and 3 near the side edge portion Fe of the film F inside the transport belts 3 and 3.

6A to 6D schematically show a cross section taken along line VI-VI in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6A, the clamp device 7b (7f) includes a movable clamp plate 74a, a fixed clamp plate 74b, and a driving device 75.

  The movable clamp plate 74a can be moved up and down and is divided into a plurality of pieces in the transport direction Y of the film F. The fixed clamp plate 74b is a belt-like plate fixed below the movable clamp plate 74a. When the movable clamp plate 74a is moved up and down by a driving machine (for example, a solenoid valve) 75, the movable clamp plate 74a and the fixed clamp plate 74b shown in FIGS. c) and (d) are set to a sandwiched state in which the film F is sandwiched between the movable clamp plate 74a and the fixed clamp plate 74b.

  The belts 31 to 33 of the conveyor belts 3 and 3 in FIG. 4 are rotationally driven, and the film F is transferred between the lower drive belt 31 and the upper driven belt 32, whereby the film F is pulled out from the film roll Fr. As shown in FIG. 6B, the film F cut by the cutting device 6 is conveyed to a predetermined packaging position by the belts 31 and 32 and held in a stretched state.

  As each of the belts 31 to 33, for example, a rubber-like member such as a thermoplastic elastomer or rubber having rubber elasticity is preferably used to rotate and drive the film F.

  On the other hand, as the material of the movable clamp plate 74a and the fixed clamp plate 74b on the side in contact with the film F, it is preferable to use a material having a hardness higher than that of the conveyor belts 3 and 3, for example, polyoxymethylene (POM: generally Can be used a thermoplastic resin such as polyacetal or acetal resin, and more specifically, Duracon (registered trademark) of Polyplastic Co., Ltd. (registered trademark) can be employed. This is for preventing the film F from sticking to the surfaces of the clamp plates 74a and 74b.

  Each of the above devices is controlled by a control means (not shown) including a drive circuit such as a motor driver and a microcomputer, for example. The control means includes, for example, a not-shown time measuring means comprising a timer.

Packaging operation:
In the open state in which the clamp plates 74a and 74b are opened as shown in FIG. 6 (a), the film transfer means 5 in FIG. When entering between the two, the belts 31 and 32 draw the film F from the film roll Fr. When the length of the film F reaches a predetermined cut length by this drawing, the film F is cut by the cutting device 6.
As shown in FIG. 6B, the cut film F is conveyed to a predetermined packaging position of the packaging station S (for example, the center of the packaging station S) by the belts 31 and 32.

  After the conveyance, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the movable clamp plate 74a is slightly lowered, sandwiches both side edges Fe of the film F with the fixed clamp plate 74b, and waits for the packaging operation. . Thereafter, when the lifter 201 shown in FIG. 2 rises to a predetermined rising end, the tray T rises to a position where the tray T comes into close contact with the film F, and folding of the film F is started. That is, the packaging operation is executed. The clamping devices 7b and 7f in the sandwiched state are controlled so as to be opened when the folding plates 204 and 205 fold the film to a predetermined state.

  Here, when the film F of FIG. 6B is conveyed to a predetermined packaging position of the packaging station S, the time measuring means starts measuring time. The control means controls the packaging operation as follows based on the time signal from the time measuring means. That is, if the predetermined time has not elapsed before the packaging operation is started, the packaging operation is immediately performed after the film F is conveyed to a predetermined packaging position. On the other hand, when a predetermined time or more elapses before the packaging operation, that is, when the waiting time of the film F becomes long due to the operator stopping the operation, the film F is transferred to the transport belt 3. , 3 may stick to the belt surface. Therefore, in such a case, prior to the packaging operation, the relative movement described below is performed immediately before the packaging operation.

Relative movement:
As shown in FIG. 6D, the conveying belts 3 and 3 are slightly rotated in the conveying direction of the film F with the clamp device 7b (7f) holding the film F therebetween. By this rotation, both side edge portions Fe of the film F sandwiched between the pair of transport belts 3 and 3 and the clamp devices 7b and 7f are relatively moved. By this relative movement, the conveying belts 3 and 3 try to move the film F in the conveying direction. However, since the clamping device 7b (7f) holds the film F, the film is formed on the belt surface of the conveying belts 3 and 3. Even if F is stuck, the film F is peeled off from the surfaces of the conveyor belts 3 and 3.

  That is, when the packaging operation is left suspended, the relative movement is performed immediately before the packaging operation, so that the surface of the lower drive belt 31 and the upper driven belt 32 of the conveyor belts 3 and 3 are moved. The stuck film F can be peeled off from the surfaces of the belts 31 and 32. Therefore, since the film F smoothly passes between the conveyor belts 3 and 3, a beautiful finished packaging state can be expected.

Further, since the film F adhered to the belts 31 and 32 is peeled off by driving the conveying belts 3 and 3, it is not necessary to change hardware. Therefore, the film F can be peeled off with almost no increase in cost.
Furthermore, since the relative movement is performed only when a predetermined time or more has elapsed and the relative movement is not performed in the normal packaging operation, the cycle time during normal packaging does not become long.

  Various methods can be considered as the relative movement method. In addition to rotationally driving the belts 31 and 32, for example, both the conveyor belts 3 and 3 can be stopped while the rotation of both the conveyor belts 3 and 3 is stopped. 3 may be moved toward the outside of the film F with respect to each other. Further, the transport belts 3 and 3 may be reversed in the transport direction.

As described above, the preferred embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings. However, those skilled in the art will readily understand various changes and modifications within the obvious scope by looking at the present specification.
For example, as a packaging device, in addition to a packaging device that discharges a packaged product from the front side, a type that discharges a packaged product to the back may be used.
Accordingly, such changes and modifications are to be construed as within the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a packaging device that wraps an article to be packaged using a film drawn from a film roll.

It is a schematic perspective view of the packaging apparatus concerning one Example of this invention. It is a schematic side view which shows a packaging mechanism. It is a perspective view which shows the folding operation of a film. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the supply mechanism of a film. It is a schematic plane sectional view which shows a packaging station. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the packaging station vicinity which shows the method of relative movement.

Explanation of symbols

3: Conveying belt 7b: Clamping device 7f: Clamping device 201: Lifter (elevator mechanism)
F: Film Fe: Side edge part of film Fr: Film roll S: Packaging station (packaging part)
T: Tray (package)
Y: Film transport direction

Claims (4)

A packaging device that draws a film from a film roll, conveys it to a packaging unit, pushes up an object to be packaged from the lower side of the film by an elevator mechanism, covers the upper surface of the object to be packaged with a film,
A pair of upper and lower transport belts that sandwich both side edges along the transport direction of the film and transport the film to a predetermined packaging position of the packaging unit;
Two sets of clamps that sandwich the film inside the respective conveyor belts;
A package comprising control means for controlling the operation of the conveying belt and the clamp so as to relatively move both side edges of the film held by the pair of conveying belts and the clamp while the film is clamped by the clamp. apparatus.   The packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relative movement is performed immediately after the film is transported to the predetermined packaging position of the packaging unit and immediately before the packaging operation of the package using the film is performed.   The packaging apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the relative movement is performed by rotationally driving the conveyor belt.   4. The packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the relative movement is performed when a predetermined time or more has elapsed before packaging after the film is conveyed to the predetermined packaging position of the packaging unit.

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