JP2008102058A - Weighing and packaging system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a weighing and packaging system capable of acquiring easily the moving state of a weighing object, and performing easily timing adjustment of each part based on the moving state. <P>SOLUTION: This system is equipped with a weighing part 1 for weighing a content M into a prescribed amount, and discharging the weighed content M to a downstream; a packaging part 40 for bagging the weighed and discharged content M into a packaging material; and a dropping route 41 along which the content M is dropped during a period from being discharged from the weighing part 1 until being supplied to the packaging part 40. The system is also equipped with a display means 20 having a display screen for displaying the weighing part 1, the dropping route 41 and the packaging part 40 in a drawing; a discrimination means for discriminating whether each content M exists in the weighing part 1, the dropping route 41 and the packaging part 40 respectively or not; and a display control means for displaying each content M in the weighing part 1, the dropping route 41 and the packaging part 40 on the display screen according to discrimination of existence of the content M from the discrimination means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a weighing and packaging system.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in combination weighing devices and packaging devices, proposals have been made for grasping the operation status of the devices in order to efficiently set the devices (see Patent Documents 1 to 3).
JP2005-121512 (Abstract) JP2003-11928 (abstract) ACT 6-7024 (abstract)

In the combination weighing device of Patent Document 1, the operation status of the head is displayed on the display screen in real time.
In the filling and packaging apparatus of Patent Document 2, the packaging state is grasped by a camera, and operation and stop control are performed according to the occurrence frequency of defects.
In the timing adjustment device of Patent Document 3, empty bags are formed before and after the filling bag, and the optimum timing is set while visually checking the filling state by the operator.

However, the conventional apparatus can grasp the operating state only for each apparatus. For this reason, in the weighing and packaging system in which the weighing unit and the packaging unit are operated in cooperation, it is difficult to grasp the movement status of the contents, and it is difficult to set the timing of each device.
In particular, in the case of a vertical pillow packaging machine, the processing speed is extremely high (20 to 180 pieces / minute), and it is difficult to grasp the relationship between the sealing jaw that seals the end of the bag and the position of the contents in the bag from the outside. Therefore, the timing setting is difficult.
In the case of a combination weighing device, the gates of many hoppers arranged on the circumference are opened, the contents are gathered at a high speed of about several tens of minutes per minute, and the position of the contents is grasped from the outside. Difficult to do.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a weighing and packaging system that can easily grasp the movement state of an object to be weighed and can easily adjust the timing of each part based on the movement state.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the measuring and packaging system of the present invention measures the contents to a predetermined amount, discharges the measured contents downstream, and the measured and discharged contents in the packaging material. A packaging unit for bagging, and a dropping path through which the contents fall until it is discharged from the weighing unit and supplied to the packaging unit, and the weighing unit, the dropping path, and the packaging unit are displayed in a diagram. Display means having a display screen; discrimination means for discriminating whether or not the contents are present in each of the weighing section, the dropping path and the packaging section; and the display according to discrimination of the presence / absence of contents from the discrimination means Display control means for displaying the contents on the weighing unit, the drop path, and the packaging unit of the screen.

  According to the present invention, since the presence / absence of contents can be known at a glance for each of the weighing unit, the dropping path, and the packaging unit, the opening / closing of the gate of the weighing unit and the timing setting of the seal of the packaging unit are facilitated.

In the present invention, the weighing unit includes a plurality of weighing hoppers for weighing contents and gates for opening and closing the weighing hoppers, and the packaging unit includes vertical sealing means for forming a packaging material into a cylindrical shape, A pair of sealing jaws that seal across the cylindrical packaging material, and the dropping path includes a collecting portion that collects the contents discharged from the gates and falling toward the packaging portion. It is preferable.
According to this aspect, in the case of a weighing and packaging system including a combination weighing machine and a vertical pillow packaging machine, the effect becomes even more remarkable.

In the present invention, it is preferable that the content can be displayed in a stopped state at a predetermined timing.
According to this aspect, since the display of the interior item is displayed without being moved, the position of the contents can be easily recognized even when the moving speed is fast.

In the present invention, it is preferable that at the timing when the sealing jaw is closed, the presence of the contents can be displayed in a state where the contents are not moved.
According to this aspect, since the relationship between the closed sealing jaw and the position where the contents are present can be understood, it is possible to make it difficult for the contents to be “scratched”, “two pieces”, “empty bag”, etc. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1, FIG. 2 and FIGS. 4 to 7 show Example 1. FIG.
Equipment configuration:
First, the equipment configuration and operation of the product processing system will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4, the product processing system is a system for manufacturing a packaged product, and includes a combination weighing device (an example of a weighing unit) 1, a vertical pillow packaging machine (an example of a packaging unit) 40, A conveyor 11, a seal checker 12, a weight checker 13, a sorting device 14 (FIG. 7), and the like are provided.

Combination weighing device 1:
Hereinafter, the combination weighing device 1 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 5, the input conveyor 100 drops the article M, which is an object to be weighed, onto the dispersion unit 2 of the combination weighing device 1. Note that several or many articles M are collected and then packed into a product.

  Each supply trough 3i supplies the articles M on the dispersion unit 2 to a large number of pool hoppers 4i provided downstream of each supply trough 3i. Each of these pool hoppers 4i is provided with a gate 5i for temporarily storing and storing the articles M supplied and received from the supply troughs 3i. A weighing hopper 6i is provided downstream of each pool hopper 4i. Each of these weighing hoppers 6i is provided with a weighing head and a gate 8i provided with a weight detector 7i for detecting the weight of the article M put into the weighing hopper 6i from the pool hopper 4i. Below the gate 8i, a booster hopper 10i and a gate 19i are provided. A large collective discharge chute (aggregate part) 9 is provided below the gate 19i. The present combination weighing device 1 combines the weighing values of the articles M detected by the respective weight detectors 7i to collectively set the articles M to a target value or a value close to the target value, and the packaging shown in FIG. The product M is dropped on the machine 40.

Vertical pillow wrapping machine 40:
The packaging machine 40 shown in FIG. 6 includes a tube device 34, a former 30, a pull-down belt 31, a vertical sealer (vertical seal means) 32, an end sealer (horizontal sealer) 33, and the like.
In the packaging machine 40, the film (an example of the packaging material) F is bent into a cylindrical shape by the former 30. In the packaging machine 40, the pull-down belt 31 below the former 30 pulls the side surface of the film F downward, and the side vertical sealer 32 seals the ends (joints) along the flow direction Z of the film F. Then, the film F is formed into a cylindrical shape.

The end sealer 33 includes a pair of seal jaws 33a. While aligning the sheet-like film F with the tube device 34, the end portions along the flow direction Z of the film F are vertically sealed V with a vertical sealer 32 to form the film F into a cylindrical shape, and the film formed into the cylindrical shape After the contents M are filled in F, the end sealer 33 produces a packaged product M which is laterally sealed H in a strip shape in the transverse direction X with respect to the flow direction of the film F.
Note that a drop detector 35 for detecting the contents M discharged from the collective discharge chute 9 (FIG. 5) is provided on the upper portion of the former 30.

  The collective discharge chute 9 (FIG. 5) and the tube device 34 are discharged from the weighing device 1 of FIG. 5, and have a drop path 41 through which the contents M fall before being supplied to the packaging machine 40 and packaged. It is composed.

Seal checker 12:
The seal checker 12 shown in FIG. 4 determines whether or not the seal is defective by applying pressure from above to the product M on the conveyor 11.

Weight checker 13:
The weight checker 13 determines whether or not the product M is in a preset weight range by measuring the weight of the product M while the product M is being transported.

Sorting device 14:
The sorting device 14 shown in FIG. 7 discharges the product M determined to be unacceptable by the seal checker 12 and / or the weight checker 13 out of the system. On the other hand, the commodity M determined to be passed is conveyed downstream.

Centralized controller 15:
Each of the devices 1, 11 to 14, 40 shown in FIG. 7 is connected to the centralized controller 15 via an interface (not shown).

The centralized controller 15 centrally manages the devices, and includes a microcomputer (microcomputer) 18 and a touch screen 20, for example. The microcomputer 18 includes a CPU 16 and a memory 17.
The memory 17 stores a content display screen of the touch screen 20 shown in FIG. On the content display screen, a perspective view 21 corresponding to each device of the present system is displayed.

A touch screen 20 is connected to the microcomputer 18 in FIG.
The touch screen 20 displays various screens such as the content display screen shown in FIG. 1 and can input by touching the displayed screen. Accordingly, the touch screen 20 is a display means and constitutes an input device for performing a predetermined input operation.

The CPU 16 in FIG. 7 includes a determination unit 16a and a display control unit 16b.
The discriminating means 16a discriminates whether or not the contents M are present in each device such as the combination weighing device 1 in FIG. 4, the dropping path 41, the packaging machine 40, the seal checker 12, and the weight checker 13.
The display control means 16b of FIG. 7 displays the contents M on each device on the display screen according to the determination of the presence or absence of the contents M from the determination means 16a.

Contents display screen:
As shown in FIG. 1, a perspective view 21 of the present system is displayed on the content display screen of the touch screen 20. On the touch screen 20, devices constituting the system such as the weighing device 1, the packaging machine 40, the seal checker 12, and the weight checker 13 are displayed. In the perspective view 21, the content M is displayed in a state where the movement is stopped at a predetermined display timing described later.

How to identify and display contents M:
First, a method for determining the presence or absence of the contents M up to the end sealer 33 and a display method will be described.
The discriminating means 16a in FIG. 7 discriminates whether or not the content M exists in the device based on various signals related to the device transmitted from the controller of each device.
For example, in order to determine whether or not the content M exists in the pool hopper 4i shown in FIG. 5, it is determined by opening and closing the gate 5i. In order to determine whether or not the content M exists in the weighing hopper 6i, the presence or absence of the content M is determined based on a change in weight detected by the weight detector 7i.
In order to determine whether or not the contents M are present in the booster hopper 10i of FIG. 4, the presence or absence of the contents M is determined based on the opening / closing signals of the gate 8i of the weighing hopper 6i and the gate 19i of the booster hopper 10i. To do.
The display control means 16b of FIG. 7 displays the contents M on the perspective view 21 according to the determination of the presence or absence of the contents M from the determination means 16a.

Contents M falling along the fall path 41:
In order to determine whether or not the contents M are present in the falling path 41 in FIG. 4, for example, the following method can be employed.

After a predetermined time has elapsed after the drop detector 35 shown in FIG. 2A detects the first content M ₁ , as shown in FIG. Seal H is performed. On the other hand, while the predetermined time elapses, the contents M are discharged one after another, and the fall detector 35 detects the contents M. Therefore, the discriminating means 16a discriminates that (n−1) contents M are present in the drop path 41 (tube device 34) from the drop detector 35 to the seal jaw 33a.
The display control means 16b displays the contents M at equal intervals obtained by dividing the distance L of the drop path 41 from the drop detector 35 to the seal jaw 33a by (n-1).

Display timing:
Next, the display timing for displaying the contents M in the perspective view 21 will be described.
When adjusting timing;
For example, there is a case where the timing for interlocking the weighing device 1 of the present system and the packaging machine 40 is adjusted. In such a case, as shown in FIG. 2 (a), from the drop detector 35 detects the first content M _1, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the sealing jaws 33a are closed after a predetermined time The contents M _n detected by the drop detector 35 before the first contents M ₁ are packaged are displayed in a stopped state in the perspective view 21 of FIG. Since the contents M fall one after another, the contents M are displayed on the perspective view 21 in a state of frame advance.

The perspective view 21 includes a sealing jaw 33a as shown in FIG. 2B, the contents M in the drop path 41 when the sealing jaw 33a is closed, and a hopper as shown in FIG. The contents M in 4i, 6i, and 10i are displayed in a state where the movement is stopped.
Since the operator knows the relationship between the closed sealing jaw 33a and the position where the contents M are present, by adjusting the closing timing of the sealing jaw 33a, the contents M can be “bited”, “entered two”, “ It is possible to make it difficult to generate “empty bags”. Moreover, even when the moving speed of the content M is high, the position of the content M is displayed in a stopped state, so that the positional relationship of the content M can be easily recognized.

As a result of the operator visually recognizing the product M made by the packaging machine 40, when the empty bag is generated first, the timing for closing the sealing jaw 33a is delayed. On the other hand, when two or the like are generated, the timing for closing the sealing jaw 33a is advanced. When biting occurs, the timing for closing the sealing jaw 33a is slightly advanced or delayed.
Note that if the number of contents M displayed in the perspective view 21 does not match the number of bags actually packed, there is a high possibility of an operator timing setting error. Therefore, the perspective view 21 can be used as a guide for timing setting by the operator.

If a miscycle occurs;
On the other hand, during the operation of the weighing device 1, a combination that matches the predetermined weight range may not be obtained. In such a case, the contents M are supplied to the weighing hopper 6i, and the contents M are not discharged from the weighing hopper 6i until a combination within a predetermined weight range is established. Is not done. Therefore, since the sealing jaw 33a stops for a moment during the operation of the system, it is easy for the operator to worry that the packaging machine 40 has failed.
Therefore, when the combination is not obtained, the contents M is displayed in the perspective view 21 so that the operator can know immediately why the horizontal sealing by the sealing jaw 33a has not been performed.
Therefore, since the operation status of the weighing device 1 and the packaging machine 40 can be immediately known, the operator's anxiety and the like can be solved.

Next, a method for discriminating and displaying the contents M for devices downstream from the end sealer 33 will be briefly described.
The discriminating means 16a (FIG. 7) discriminates the position of the product M on the transport conveyor 11 and the position of the product M based on the number of the contents (commodities) M in which the sealing jaws 33a are closed and packed, and the transport speed of the transport conveyor 11. Identify. The display control means 16b in FIG. 7 displays the contents M in the perspective view 21 in FIG. 1 based on the discrimination information of the contents M from the discrimination means 16a.

  In addition, the product M determined as a seal failure by the seal checker 12 or the weight checker 13 is displayed in a different color from the other products M.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment.
In this embodiment, no drop detector is provided in the fall path 41, and the discriminating means 16a (FIG. 7) is based on the discharge signal for opening the gate 19i of the booster hopper 10i shown in FIG. It is determined whether or not the contents M are present in the dropping path 41 formed of the tube device 34 (FIG. 6).

  In FIG. 3 (a), after the first discharge signal is transmitted and the gate 19i (FIG. 5) of the booster hopper 10i is opened and closed, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), as shown in FIG. It is closed and a lateral seal H is performed. On the other hand, n contents M fall in the fall path 41 before the predetermined time elapses. The discharge signal for the contents M is transmitted from the controller of the weighing device 1 shown in FIG. Therefore, the discriminating means 16a discriminates that (n−1) contents M are present in the dropping path 41 between the booster hopper 10i and the sealing jaw 33a in FIG.

Therefore, the display control means 16b displays the contents M at intervals obtained by equally dividing the drop paths 41 displayed in the perspective view 21 of FIG. 1 into (n−1) pieces.
Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are given to the same portions or corresponding portions, and the description thereof is omitted.

The contents and the product M may be displayed in the perspective view 21 in real time.
Further, the product M such as a printing error or biting error generated in the packaging machine 40, an excessive amount generated in the combination weighing device 1 or a weighing error may be displayed in the perspective view 21 with different colors.
Furthermore, after roughly setting the device using the information on the product M displayed in the perspective view 21, the interlock timing of each device may be automatically adjusted.

Further, it is not always necessary to provide the combination weighing device 1 with a booster hopper. Further, the weighing device 1 may include a timing hopper. The timing hopper may be provided in a plurality of stages above and below.
Moreover, as the packaging machine 40, in addition to the vertical pillow packaging machine, for example, a packaging machine that introduces the contents M one after another by rotating a plurality of packaging materials formed in a bag shape in a substantially horizontal direction. Also good.

  Moreover, you may memorize | store in the memory 17 the fall speed in the fall path | route 41 of several types of standard contents previously. When the operator designates the type of content closest to the content M, the CPU 16 reads the drop speed corresponding to the content from the memory 17, and the position of the content M in the drop path 41 based on the drop speed. May be calculated. The display control means 16b may display the contents M on the drop path 41 in the perspective view 21 corresponding to the position of the contents M.

  This device can be used in a weighing and packaging system.

It is a schematic front view which shows the display screen of the controller of the measurement packaging system concerning Example 1 of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the flow of the contents in a measuring device and a packaging machine. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the flow of the contents in the weighing | measuring apparatus concerning Example 2 of this invention, and a packaging machine. It is a schematic perspective view which shows an example of a goods processing system. It is a schematic block diagram which shows an example of a combination weighing device. It is a schematic perspective view which shows a vertical pillow packaging machine. It is an apparatus block diagram which shows a goods processing system.

Explanation of symbols

1: Weighing device (an example of a weighing unit)
6i: Weighing hopper 8i: Gate 9: Collecting discharge chute (collecting part)
16a: discrimination means 16b: display control means 20: touch screen (an example of display means)
32: Vertical sealer (longitudinal sealing means)
33a: Seal jaw 40: Vertical pillow packaging machine (an example of a packaging part)
41: Falling path F: Film (an example of packaging material)
M: Contents

Claims (4)

A weighing unit for weighing the contents to a predetermined amount and discharging the weighed contents downstream;
A packaging section for packing the measured and discharged contents in a packaging material;
A dropping path through which the contents fall until it is discharged from the weighing unit and supplied to the packaging unit,
Display means having a display screen for displaying the measuring section, the dropping path and the packaging section in a diagram;
A discriminating means for discriminating whether or not the contents are present in each of the measuring unit, the dropping path and the packaging unit;
A weighing and packaging system comprising: a display control unit for displaying the contents on the weighing unit, the dropping path, and the packaging unit of the display screen according to the determination of the presence or absence of the contents from the determination unit. The weighing unit according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of weighing hoppers for weighing contents and gates for opening and closing the weighing hoppers.
The packaging part includes a vertical sealing means for forming the packaging material into a cylindrical shape, and a pair of sealing jaws for sealing so as to cross the cylindrical packaging material,
The weighing and packaging system includes a collecting unit that collects contents that are discharged from the gates and fall toward the packaging unit.   3. The measuring and packaging system according to claim 2, wherein display is possible in a state where movement of contents at a predetermined timing is stopped.   4. The measuring and packaging system according to claim 3, wherein the presence of the contents can be displayed in a state where the contents are not moved at the timing when the seal jaw is closed.