JP2009112276A - Rod-forming machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rod-forming machine capable of controlling the circumferential length of a rod, while maintaining stable formation of the rod. <P>SOLUTION: The rod-forming machine has a circumference-adjusting mechanism 54 which functions to adjust the diameter of a rod-shaped continuum F1, formed by a winding section 14 based on the circumferential length of a filter rod F2 after forming, wherein the circumference-adjusting mechanism 54 is disposed so as to move vertically at least one of a tongue 44 and a cooler 48 with a heater 46. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rod forming machine for forming a rod such as a filter rod used for manufacturing a filter cigarette, for example.

A rod forming machine used for forming filter rods is provided with a winding part (wrapping section), and this winding part is supplied with sheet material (filler) and paper (packaging material), and is formed into a rod-like shape from the sheet material and paper. A continuous body is formed (for example, Patent Document 1).
More specifically, the upper part of the winding includes a transfer path for guiding the transfer of the sheet material and the paper, and a tong, a forming holder, and a cooler with a heater are sequentially arranged from the upstream side of the transfer path. The tongue forms a compression molding passage with the transfer path, and when the sheet material and the paper pass, the tongue cooperates with the transfer path to compress the sheet material into a rod shape. Thereafter, when the bar-shaped sheet material and the paper pass through the forming holder, a continuous body in which the bar-shaped sheet material is wrapped by the paper is formed, and the continuous body is a lap portion in which both side edges of the paper are overlapped and bonded to each other. Have And when a continuous body passes, a cooler with a heater cools, after once heating the adhesive agent of the lap part.

In addition, the continuous body shape | molded by the winding upper part is cut | disconnected for every predetermined length when passing a cutting part (cutting knife) after this, and, thereby, each filter rod is obtained.
Republished patent WO02 / 017738

  When the above-described filter rod is cut into a filter plug, and this filter plug is used as a filter of a filter cigarette, the circumferential length (outer diameter) of the filter rod needs to be maintained at its specified value with high accuracy. . That is, if the circumferential length of the filter rod is not accurately controlled, when the filter plug and the cigarette are connected via the tip paper, the tip paper and the cigarette are connected between the tip paper and the filter plug. There is a gap between them. The former gap increases the amount of diluted air introduced into the filter plug through the perforation line of the chip paper, and thus adversely affects the amount of tar (T) and nicotine (N) in the filter cigarette and its taste. The latter gap tends to cause separation of the filter plug from the cigarette, that is, so-called neck loss of the filter plug.

Furthermore, if the circumferential length of the filter rod is greatly deviated from the specified value, the chip paper winding itself will be defective, and the cigarette and the filter plug can be securely connected, that is, the filter cigarette cannot be manufactured. Become.
In addition, as a factor that the circumferential length of the filter rod deviates from the specified value, when the basis weight or thickness variation of the sheet material described above, or when the garniture tape used for forming the continuous body is replaced with a new one, A difference in thickness is considered.

For the above reasons, in the above rod forming machine, the circumference of the filter rod after manufacture is measured off-line, and if the measurement result deviates from the specified value, readjust the rod forming machine. However, since such offline readjustment takes time for feedback, the productivity of the rod forming machine is greatly reduced.
The present invention has been made based on the above-described circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to provide a rod forming machine that can easily and highly accurately control the circumferential length of a continuous body without causing a decrease in productivity. It is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the rod forming machine of the present invention has a wrap portion that receives the filler and the wrapping material at the upstream end and overlaps and bonds the both side edges of the wrapping material on the outer peripheral surface thereof. And forming a rod-shaped continuous body in which the filler is wrapped in the packaging material, and a winding path for sending the continuous body from the downstream end, and a transfer path for guiding the transfer of the filler and the packaging material, Formed in cooperation with the transfer path, when the filler passes, the compression molding passage for compressing the filler into a rod shape, and downstream of the compression molding passage, when the filler and the packaging material pass, the packaging material A wrapping passage for forming a continuous body enclosing a filler, and a heating passage that is connected downstream of the wrapping passage and heats the adhesive of the wrap portion when the continuous body passes, and then cools the adhesive of the wrap portion. The upper part of the winding, including the cooling passage, Based on the measurement result of the cutting part which cuts the continuous body sent out from the flow end into rods of a predetermined length, the measuring means for measuring the circumferential length of the rod, and at least 1 in the upper part of the winding Adjusting means for adjusting the passage cross-sectional area of the two passages (Claim 1).

  Specifically, the compression molding passage is formed by a tongue that is spaced apart from the transfer path, and the adjusting means includes an actuator that contacts and separates the tongue from the transfer path (Claim 2). . On the other hand, the heating / cooling passage is formed by a cooler with a heater spaced apart from the transfer path, and the adjusting means includes an actuator that contacts and separates the cooler with a heater from the transfer path. ).

According to the above-described first to third rod forming machines, the adjustment means, that is, the actuator receives and receives at least one of the tongue and the cooler with the heater from the transfer path in response to the measurement result of the measurement means. Increase or decrease the passage cross-sectional area of the passage. Therefore, the narrowing of at least one of the filler and the continuum is adjusted, and the circumferential length of the continuum is controlled to a specified value.
More specifically, the rod forming machine includes a filler supply unit upstream of the upper part of the winding, and the supply unit includes a filter roll that feeds out the filter sheet material, and a filter sheet material that is fed out from the filter roll. Is formed into a rod-like shape so as to be folded and then formed into a winding means (claim 4), and the filter sheet material can contain activated carbon particles distributed on one side thereof (claim) Item 5).

  According to the rod forming machine of claims 4 and 5, even if the thickness of the filter sheet material or the distribution amount of the activated carbon particles fluctuates, this fluctuation is caused by the cross-sectional area of at least one of the compression molding passage and the heating / cooling passage. The circumference of the continuum is maintained at a specified value.

The rod forming machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3 adjusts the squeezing of the filler prior to forming the continuum, or adjusts the squeezing of the continuum in the continuum molding process to adjust the circumference of the continuum Therefore, the circumference of the continuous body, that is, the rod circumference can be controlled with high accuracy on-line, and the productivity is not reduced.
The rod forming machine according to claims 4 and 5 can control the circumferential length of the rod obtained from the filter sheet material with high precision even if the filler is a filter sheet material that easily varies the circumferential length of the continuous body. It becomes.

FIG. 1 shows a rod forming machine according to an embodiment. The rod forming machine includes a feeding unit 10, a pretreatment unit 12, a winding unit 14 and a cutting unit 16, which are sequentially arranged from the left side as viewed in FIG. .
A filter roll Rf is attached to the feeding unit 10, and the filter sheet material Sr can be fed from the filter roll Rf. As shown in FIG. 2, the filter sheet material Sr is obtained by distributing activated carbon particles r on one surface of a web S made of a nonwoven fabric of pulp fibers.

  The filter sheet material Sr fed out from the filter roll Rf is supplied to the molding device 24 of the pre-processing unit 12, and when the filter sheet material Sr passes through the molding device 24, the molding device 24 forms the filter sheet material Sr into a multilayer shape. While being folded, a filter material F having a substantially rod shape as a filler is formed as shown in FIG. Accordingly, the feeding unit 10 and the pretreatment unit 12 cooperate with each other to form a supply unit that supplies the filter material F to the winding unit 14.

  The upper part 14 has a horizontal transfer path for receiving the rod-shaped filter material F. More specifically, the transfer path includes a forming bed 60 (see FIG. 4), and the forming bed 60 has a forming groove 62 extending along the transfer path on the upper surface thereof. An endless garniture tape 34 is guided to the forming groove 62 through a guide roller, and the garniture tape 34 is wound around a driving drum 36 below the transfer path. It travels in the transfer direction of the filter material F in 62.

  On the other hand, a guide roller 38 is disposed between the transfer path, that is, between the forming bed 60 and the forming device 24, and the web P is supplied toward the guide roller 38. The web P is guided onto the transfer path garniture tape 34 via the guide roller 38. When the filter material F is supplied from the molding device 24 to the garniture tape 34, the filter material F is superimposed on the garniture tape 34 via the web P. The Therefore, as the garniture tape 34 travels, the filter material F and the web P are transferred together along the transfer path.

  A pair of glue applicators 40 are arranged in the supply path of the web P to the guide roller 38. These glue applicators 40 apply two rail glues (vinyl acetate) in the center of the web P in parallel to each other. . Therefore, when the filter material F is supplied onto the web P, the filter material F and the web P are bonded to each other via the rail paste. Further, a glue applicator 42 is disposed downstream of the glue applicator 40, and the glue applicator 42 applies wrap glue (hot melt) as an adhesive to one side edge of the web P.

The hoisting part 14 is provided with a tongue 44, a forming holder (not shown), a cooler 48 with a heater 46, etc. in that order immediately above the transfer path, and these tongs 44, the forming holder and the cooler 48 with a heater 46 are transferred. A compression molding passage, a wrapping passage, and a heating / cooling passage are formed between the passages.
The compression molding passage has a substantially circular cross-sectional shape, and the passage cross-sectional area gradually decreases from the upstream end toward the downstream end. Therefore, when the filter material F passes through the compression molding passage along with the web P as the garniture tape 34 travels, the rod-shaped filter material F is interposed between the tongue and the molding groove via the garniture tape 34 and the web P. The filter material F is gradually squeezed while maintaining the rod shape, and as a result, the filter material F is compression-molded into a rod shape having a desired diameter. At this time, the web P is bent into a U shape together with the garniture tape 34.

  Thereafter, when the filter material F passes through the forming holder, that is, the wrapping passage, together with the web P, the other side edge portion of the web P is bent in an arc shape so as to cover the upper half of the filter material F. Subsequently, one side edge portion of the web P is also bent in an arc shape so as to cover the remaining upper half of the filter material F. Therefore, one side edge of the web P is bonded to the other side edge through hot melt. At this point, the filter material F is completely wrapped with the web P to form a rod-like continuous body F1, and the continuous body F1 is overlapped with both side edges of the web P on the outer surface and bonded by an adhesive. It has a wrap part.

Thereafter, when the continuum F1 passes through the cooler 48 with the heater 46, that is, the heating / cooling passage, the adhesive of the lap portion in the continuum F1, that is, hot melt is once heated and melted by the heater 46, and then the cooler. 48 is rapidly cooled and solidified, and as a result, both side edges of the web P in the wrap portion are firmly bonded.
Thereafter, the continuum F1 is fed from the end of the winding part 14 toward the cutting portion 16, and when passing through the cutting portion 16, that is, the rotary knife 50, the continuum F1 is cut at every predetermined length. Individual filter rods F2. These filter rods F2 are received by the conveyor (not shown) from the cutting part 16, and this conveyor conveys the filter rods F2 toward the boxing machine.

In the process in which the filter rod F2 is conveyed on the conveyor, the filter rod F2 is periodically sampled by the circumference measuring device 52, and the circumference measuring device 52 measures the circumference of the sampled filter rod F2, Output measurement results.
More specifically, the circumference measuring device 52 continuously measures the diameter of the filter rod F2 in the circumferential direction to obtain the average diameter of the filter rod F2, and the circumference calculated from the average diameter is within an allowable range. It is determined whether it is within. If the circumferential length of the filter rod F2 is out of the permissible range based on the determination result, the circumferential measuring device 52 supplies an increase / decrease signal for increasing / decreasing the circumferential length of the filter rod F2 to the circumferential adjusting device 54. To do.

  As apparent from FIG. 1, the circumference adjusting device 54 is provided on the tongue 44 of the winding unit 14 described above. That is, the circumference adjusting device 54 includes a vertical lifting rod 56 connected to the tongue 44 and a servo motor 58 as an actuator for raising and lowering the lifting rod 56. The servo motor 58 is the circumference measuring device described above. It operates based on the increase / decrease signal from 52. Specifically, when the servo motor 58 receives the increase signal, the servo motor 58 operates to raise the lifting rod 56, that is, the tongue 44.

Therefore, as apparent from FIG. 4, the compression molding passage 64 formed between the molding groove 62 and the tongue 44 of the molding bed 60 has an increased passage cross-sectional area at the outlet thereof, so that the filter material F I.e. the diameter of the continuum F1 is increased.
On the other hand, when the servo motor 58 receives the decrease signal, the servo motor 58 operates to lower the tongue 44, whereby the compression molding passage 64 has a reduced passage cross-sectional area at its outlet, and the continuum F1. The diameter decreases.

As described above, based on the circumferential length of the filter rod F2 measured by the circumferential measuring device 52, the diameter of the continuum F1 is feedback-controlled by the tongue 44. As a result, the circumferential length of the filter rod F2 has a specified value. High accuracy is maintained within the allowable range.
In controlling the circumferential length of the filter rod F2, even if the tongue 44 is raised and lowered as described above, the above-described cooler bar 48 with the heater 46 can apply a constant pressing force to the lap portion of the continuous body F1. . Therefore, excess or deficiency does not occur in the pressure-bonding force to the wrap portion, and adhesion at the wrap portion can be stably maintained. As a result, the continuous body F1 can be stably molded without causing the web P to break.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made.
For example, the circumference adjusting device 54 described above can be provided in a cooler 48 with a heater 46 in addition to the tongue 44. In this case, the circumference adjusting device 54 is based on the measurement result of the circumference measuring device 52, The cooler 48 with the heater 46 is moved up and down with respect to the transfer path. Thus, if the cooler 48 with the heater 46 is moved up and down, the diameter of the continuous body F1 can be adjusted in the same manner as a result of the passage cross-sectional area of the heating / cooling passage being increased or decreased.

  A filter rod F2 is manufactured from October to December using a rod forming machine provided with a circumference adjusting device 54 on a cooler 48 with a heater 46, and thereafter, the arrangement of the circumference adjusting device 54 is attached with the heater 46. When the filter rod F2 is manufactured from January to April with the cooler 48 changed to the tongue 44, the following Tables 1 and 2 show the transition of the number of winding failures in the continuum F1 and the filter rod F2. The circumference average and the roundness average of these are shown, and these variations are shown respectively.

As can be seen from Table 1, the rod forming machine provided with the circumferential adjustment device 54 on the tongue 44 is capable of winding the continuum F1 as compared with the rod forming machine provided with the circumferential adjustment device 54 on the cooler 48 with the heater 46. The occurrence of defects can be prevented more effectively, and therefore the circumference adjusting device 54 is preferably arranged on the tongue 44 rather than on the cooler 48 with the heater 46.
However, as is apparent from Table 2, regardless of whether the circumference adjusting device 54 is disposed on the tongue 44 or the cooler 48 with the heater 46, there is a difference in the average circumferential length, roundness average, etc. of the filter rod F2. It does not occur. Therefore, if the circumference adjusting device 54 is disposed on both the tongue 44 and the cooler 48 with the heater 46, the circumference of the filter rod F2 can be controlled with higher accuracy.

In this case, the circumference adjusting device 54 on the side of the tongue 44 and the cooler 48 with the heater 46 can be used for coarse adjustment and fine adjustment of the circumference of the filter rod F2.
On the other hand, the rod forming machine of the present invention includes a filter sheet material S that does not contain activated carbon particles, a filter material that includes a bundle of acetate fibers, a filter material that includes activated carbon particles, or Patent Document 1 The rod may be molded using the disclosed sheet material as a filler.

Further, the present invention is not limited to a rod forming machine for forming a filter rod for a filter cigarette, and can be similarly applied to a rod forming machine for forming various rods.
Furthermore, the circumference adjusting device 54 may be capable of manually adjusting the raising and lowering of the tongue 44 when the garniture tape 34 and the sheet roll Rf are replaced.

It is the schematic which shows the rod molding machine of one Example. It is the perspective view which showed the filter sheet material paid out from the film roll of FIG. It is a figure which shows the cross-sectional shape of the filter material supplied to a winding part from the shaping | molding apparatus of FIG. It is the cross-sectional view which showed the compression molding channel | path formed between a conveyance path | route and a tongue.

Explanation of symbols

44 Tongue 46 Heater 48 Cooler 50 Rotary knife (cutting part)
52 Circumference measuring device (measuring means)
54 Circumference adjusting device (adjustment means)

Claims (5)

A rod-like continuous body in which the filler and the packaging material are received at the upstream end, respectively, and the packaging material is wrapped in the packaging material in a state where the outer circumferential surface has a lap portion where both side edges of the packaging material are overlapped and bonded. Is a winding upper part that feeds this continuous body from the downstream end,
A transfer path for guiding transfer of the filler and the packaging material;
A compression molding passage formed in cooperation with the transfer path and compressing the filler into a rod shape when the filler passes;
A wrapping passage that forms downstream of the compression molding passage and forms the continuous body in which the filler is wrapped in the wrapping material when the filler and the wrapping material pass through;
A heating section that includes a heating / cooling passage that is connected to a downstream of the enveloping passage and heats the adhesive of the wrap portion when the continuous body passes, and then cools the adhesive of the wrap portion;
In a rod forming machine provided with a cutting part for cutting the continuous body fed from the downstream end of the winding part into rods of a predetermined length,
Measuring means for measuring the circumferential length of the rod;
A rod forming machine comprising adjusting means for adjusting a cross-sectional area of at least one passage in the upper part based on a measurement result of the measuring means. The compression molding passage is formed by a tong spaced apart from the transfer path,
The rod forming machine according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting unit includes an actuator that moves the tongue toward and away from the transfer path. The heating / cooling passage is formed by a cooler with a heater spaced apart from the transfer path,
The rod forming machine according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting unit includes an actuator that contacts and separates the cooler with the heater from the transfer path. The rod forming machine comprises a supply part for the filler upstream of the upper part of the winding,
The supply unit includes a filter roll for feeding out a filter sheet material,
The rod forming machine according to claim 2, further comprising: a forming unit configured to fold the filter sheet material fed from the filter roll into a rod shape so that the filter sheet material is folded and to supply to the upper part of the winding.   The rod forming machine according to claim 4, wherein the filter sheet material includes activated carbon particles distributed on one side thereof.

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