JP2009298417A - Bag mouth sealing apparatus and method in bagging packaging - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide sealing method and apparatus that increase a degree of freedom in installation position of a bag position detecting means, enables it to be installed in the optimum position, thereby correcting bag displacement and securely preventing sealing failure, and hence realize improvement of productivity. <P>SOLUTION: Bags are successively transferred to each process while the edges of both sides of each bag W are gripped by gripping members 5 disposed on a rotating table 3, which intermittently rotates. A bag position detecting device 21 is installed between a deaerating process and a sealing process after a filling process for stuff with which each bag is filled. Based on a reference value indicating a preset sealing position on each bag and a detected bagging position, a control device 23 controls a second driving device 51 configured to vertically move sealing members 18, 19, and 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The invention of the present application is provided with a pair of left and right gripping members for gripping both side edges of a bag, and automatic bagging packaging for filling a bag while carrying the bag intermittently or continuously while gripping with the gripping member. More specifically, the sealing device and the sealing method for sealing the bag mouth of the bag, more specifically, when the bag gripped by the gripping member is displaced from the reference position in the length direction, The present invention relates to a sealing device and a method capable of sealing a bag at an appropriate position set on the bag.

  In automatic bagging and packaging of foods, etc., after receiving a bag from a bag supply device that stores a large number of bags to be used, filling the bag while holding the bag with a gripping member and transferring it, the bag mouth It is designed to seal. Usually, in such bag-packing and packaging, in the bag supply device, for example, the bag mouth is placed against a stopper to position the bags, and the bags are taken out one by one using a suction cup or the like and delivered to the gripping member. By the way, when the bag is positioned in the bag feeding device, the bag mouth side applied to the stopper is bent or bent, so that the suction cup is adsorbed to the bag at a position shifted from the original position on the bag, and as a result, the gripping member The gripped bag has a length direction (here, the length direction of the bag means a direction from the bag mouth to the bottom of the bag and a direction substantially orthogonal to the width direction along the bag mouth. The same applies hereinafter), and the seal of the bag mouth is shifted from the set position, resulting in a seal failure.

When the bag material itself is a slippery material, the bag may be displaced in the length direction when the bag is supplied from the bag supply device or when the bag is filled with a filling material. Furthermore, even if the bag itself is not a slippery material, if the filling contains a liquid substance, especially oil, the filling adheres to the gripping part of the gripping member and the same problem occurs. Sometimes.

  In order to cope with such a problem, for example, in the automatic packaging machine disclosed in Utility Model Registration No. 2578608, a first sensor and a second sensor are provided, and a bag mouth of a bag gripped by a gripping member is set. It is detected whether it is within the allowable range in the vertical direction (the length direction of the bag), and bags that are determined not to be within the allowable range are discharged from the line without being treated with fillers. ing. In the described embodiment, the sensor is installed in the bag opening process, but it may be in the bag feeding process or the stamping process.

  However, in such a configuration, the misaligned bag is only discharged from the line, so it is not possible to prevent the formation of a defective packaging bag itself, and the productivity is reduced by the amount discharged. To do. Although the discharged bags can be collected and reused, it is troublesome to collect the discharged bags and supply them again to the packaging machine, which also causes a decrease in productivity. . Moreover, it cannot respond when the bag is displaced in the process after detecting the position of the bag. For example, there is no deviation at the time of detection in the bag opening process, and there is a deviation in the filling process.

  Further, in the packaging machine disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 401567, bag misalignment caused by the end of the bag hitting the stopper in the bag feeding device is lifted by removing the bag from the stocker of the bag feeding device. A sensor is installed in the middle of the trajectory of the rotating arm that receives the bag from the mechanism, converts it into a vertical posture and delivers it to the bag receiving device, and detects the position at the timing when the bag mouth of the bag passes. The position of the bag sandwiched between the sandwiching pieces is detected by detecting the displacement in the length direction of the bag and moving up and down the column of the bag receiving device that has received the bag from the rotating arm by the amount of displacement. Like to move.

In this case, the installation position of the sensor is limited to a position along the trajectory of the rotation arm due to the configuration of the mechanism that detects the positional deviation of the bag employed here. Further, as described above, the positional displacement of the bag may occur even in the process after the bag is delivered to the gripping member, and such a case cannot be dealt with, resulting in poor sealing.
Utility Model Registration No. 2578608 Registration Gazette Japanese Patent No. 4011567

  The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the above-described conventional example, and can fill all bags without discharging the supplied bags to the outside of the line, and the bag detecting means. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sealing method and apparatus that can be installed at the most appropriate position with a high degree of freedom with respect to the installation position.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a sealing member in an automatic bagging packaging in which a bag is held by a pair of holding members according to the present invention, and the bag is packed while the bag is transferred along a predetermined movement locus. In the bag mouth sealing method to be used, a step of setting a reference value indicating a sealing position on the bag, a step of detecting the position of the bag gripped by the gripping member in the length direction of the bag, And a step of controlling the position of the sealing member in the length direction of the bag based on the detected value and the set reference value.
Further, in a bag mouth sealing device in automatic bagging and packaging, in which a pair of gripping members according to the present invention grips both side edges of a bag and transfers the bag along a predetermined movement trajectory, and packs the filling material. Is provided in a bag position detecting process set along the movement trajectory of the bag, and is provided in a bag position detecting device for detecting the position of the bag held by the holding member in the bag length direction, and in the sealing process. A pair of seal members that are located on both sides of the bag and seal the bag mouth of the bag, a first drive unit that drives the seal member in a direction to move toward and away from each other, and the seal member is moved in the length direction of the bag A second driving device for controlling the second driving device and a control device for controlling the second driving device, the control device is configured to set a reference value indicating a seal position on the bag set in advance and a bag detected by the bag position detecting device. Second drive unit based on actual position It was set as the structure which controls.
According to the sealing method and apparatus described above, the bag position detection device is installed at an optimal position, and without causing the bag to be discharged as a defect in the middle of the process, an appropriate correction is surely performed for the positional deviation of the bag, The positional deviation of the seal can be prevented and the productivity can be greatly improved.
As the reference value, the seal position with respect to the bag mouth of the bag can be set. In this case, the position of the bag mouth of the bag can be easily and reliably detected using various sensors, which is convenient.
The bag position detecting device can be provided between the filling step and the sealing step. In the filling process, there is a possibility that the position of the bag is displaced due to an impact at the time of filling. By adopting this configuration, it is possible to surely correct the displacement that occurs at the time of filling. In particular, it is convenient to provide the bag position detecting step immediately before the sealing step.
When the gripping member performs intermittent movement, the gripping member can be detected while the bag is moving without stopping the gripping member in the bag position detection step. In this case, since the gripping member does not stop for detection, work efficiency is increased.

  In the present invention configured as described above, all the supplied bags can be filled with a filling material and can be properly sealed, so that productivity can be improved as compared with the conventional case. Furthermore, the degree of freedom regarding the installation position of the bag position detection device along the bagging line is greatly increased as compared to the conventional case, and the position of the bag is determined regardless of which process is installed at the optimal position. Since it is possible to cope with the deviation, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective seals at a much higher rate than before, and to improve productivity.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the following embodiments are exemplarily shown, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a bag filling and packaging machine using a sealing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, although the packaging machine 1 in this Embodiment is demonstrated as an intermittent rotation type thing provided with the turntable 3 rotated intermittently with the drive source which is not shown in figure, this invention is not limited to it. . A plurality of sets of gripping members 5 are arranged on the rotary table 3 at predetermined intervals, and are moved together with the table 3. Each pair of gripping members or grippers 5 grips and holds the bag W as shown in the drawing, and transfers the bag W through the steps described below as the table 3 rotates. is there. Since the gripping member 5 is known, a detailed description is omitted.

  Reference numeral 7 denotes a bag feeding device provided corresponding to the bag feeding process I, which stores a large number of bags W and feeds the bags W one by one in order by a feeding roller 10 and is fed out. A take-out device 11 having a pair of bag take-out suction cups 12 adsorbing to a bag W positioned by an appropriate stopper (not shown) is provided. The take-out device 11 converts the posture of the bag into a vertical state as shown in the figure. The bag is handed over to the holding member 5 which is stopped in the bag supply process I and is waiting. Next, as the table 3 rotates intermittently, the bags W are sequentially transferred to a predetermined process while being held by the gripping member 5. That is, the process II is a printing process, and the date of manufacture is printed on the bag W. The process III is a bag opening process, and the bag W is sufficiently opened to the bottom by the suction cup 13 and the bag opening guide 14 provided in pairs. Step IV is a solid filling step, in which the solid in the filling is put into the bag W using the hopper 15. The bag opening guide 14 is a follow-up type, moves from the process III to the process IV following the bag W, and returns to the process III at a predetermined timing. Process V is a liquid filling process, in which a liquid filling is filled. Process VI is a deaeration process, in which steam is injected into the bag through the nozzle 17 to replace and degas the air in the bag W.

Step VII is a step of detecting the position of the bag held by the gripping member 5 in the length direction of the bag by the bag position detecting device 21 described later. In the present embodiment, the table 3 is not stopped in this step VII, and the position of the bag W is detected while the bag W is moving. Step VIII and Step IX are first and second sealing steps in which the bag W is sealed at a predetermined position on the bag mouth side using a pair of hot plates 18 and 19, respectively. After cooling with a pair of cooling plates 20, the bag W as a finished product is discharged.

The bag position detection device 21 described above detects the position of the bag held by the holding member 5 as described above. As this device 21, detection devices using various known sensors can be adopted. It is not necessary to employ a special sensor for the present invention. For example, a light emitter positioned on one side of the bag and extending on both sides of the bag mouth edge in the length direction of the bag and a light emitter disposed on the opposite side of the bag and extending in the same manner as the light emitter A photoreceptor can be used. In this case, light from the portion of the light emitter located below the bag mouth edge of the bag W is blocked by the bag W and does not reach the photoreceptor. The position of the bag W, specifically in the present embodiment, the height at which the bag mouth edge is located can be known from the amount of light received by the photoreceptor.

The height positions of the first and second hot plates 18 and 19 and the cooling plate 20 are controlled as described later using a signal indicating the bag position detected by the detection device 21. FIG. FIG. That is, the control device 23 not shown in FIG. 1 is used. A reference value indicating the position of the seal on the bag is input to the control device 23 in advance. In this embodiment, this reference value is indicated by the distance from the bag mouth edge to the sealing position, for example, “0” when sealing with a width of 5 mm from the bag mouth, and 5 mm wide from a position 5 mm away from the bag mouth. When sealing with, "5" is input. The seal width and the cooling width are determined by the widths of the portions that are in pressure contact with the bag W, that is, the pressure contact portions, of the opposed surfaces of the heat plates 18 and 19 and the cooling plate 20 to be used. For example, when sealing at a width of 5 mm starting from the edge of the bag mouth, a hot plate having a facing surface having a width of, for example, 20 mm wider than the seal width is usually used, and a lower 5 mm portion (pressure contact portion). Position the hot plate so that only the bag is pressed against the bag. This reference value can be changed according to the packaging specifications.

Further, as in the example of the present embodiment, when performing sealing or cooling a plurality of times, the seal width or the cooling width is usually increased as the subsequent process is performed. For example, the primary seal may be 5 mm wide from the bag mouth edge, the secondary seal may be 6 mm wide, and the cooling may be 7 mm wide. In this case, when a hot plate and a cooling plate having the same dimensions are used, in the secondary seal, the hot plate needs to be lowered by 1 mm from the primary seal, and the cooling plate needs to be lowered by 2 mm. In order to cope with this, a reference value may be set for each, or a single reference value may be set, and calculation formulas for calculating movement amounts described later with reference to FIG. It is also possible to do. This will be described again.

In the present embodiment, the position of the bag W detected by the bag position detection device 21 is detected as the position of the bag mouth edge in the length direction of the bag, and more specifically, the hot plate 18 at the reference position. It is detected as a height with respect to a position such as. That is, the bag mouth edge of the bag W actually detected with respect to the hot plate 18 when it is positioned so as to be sealed, for example, at a position 5 mm away from the bag mouth of the bag W held by the gripping member 5 without being displaced. It is detected as the position of the part, that is, the distance. The difference between the detected value and the reference value is the displacement of the bag position, and the control device 23 controls each second driving device that drives a hot plate 18 or the like to be described later so as to correct this amount. The control device 23 is connected to a heat plate 18 or 19 or a second drive means described later for the cooling plate 20 used in the first sealing step, the second sealing step, and the cooling step, respectively.

Next, the sealing device 25 will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the second sealing device used in step IX and the cooling device used in step X adopt the same configuration, only the first sealing device 25 used in step VIII, that is, the first seal will be described. In addition to the hot plate 18, the bag position detecting device 21 and the control device 23, the sealing device 25 moves the hot plate 18 toward or away from each other in order to seal the bag W. And a second driving device 51 for moving the hot plate 18 in the vertical direction, that is, in the length direction of the bag W, in order to correct the displacement of the bag position described above. The bag position detection device 21 and the control device 23 are also used in common in the second sealing device and the cooling device.

3 is a plan view of the sealing device 25, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. First, the first drive device 26 will be described. Reference numeral 28 designates a support stand that is fixed on the upper surface of the machine base 27 and supports the support column 29 so as to be movable up and down. A box frame 30 is attached to the upper end of the column 29. The box frame 30 is supported by slidable shafts 33 and 34, which are attached to the tips of the hot plate mounting blocks 31 and 32 carrying the left and right hot plates 18a and 18b, respectively, so as to be movable in the horizontal direction in the figure. Has been. The hot plates 18a and 18b are located on both sides of the bag W. As is known, heaters 44a and 44b are built in the hot plates 18a and 18b. The figure shows the state before sealing.

A swing lever 36 that is rotatably supported by a fulcrum shaft 35 extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. The swing lever 36 has a three-pronged shape, and the first and second lever portions 37 and 38 extending vertically from the fulcrum shaft 35 are respectively connected to the slide shaft 34 via the connecting rod 40 and the connecting link 41 at their tips. , 33 are connected to connecting members 42, 43 fixed to each other. The connecting rod 40 and the connecting link 41 are rotatable with respect to members connected at both ends. Further, the lower end side 42a and the upper end side 43a of the connecting members 42 and 43 are bifurcated to fit into the slide shafts 33 and 34, respectively, and serve to prevent the slide shafts 33 and 34 from rotating.

The third lever portion 39 of the swing lever 36 extends rightward from the fulcrum shaft 35 in the drawing. On the other hand, an air cylinder mounting block 45 is attached to the support column 29 at a predetermined position in the vertical direction so as to extend downward from the support column. The third lever portion 39 and the block 45 are respectively attached to the air cylinder 46 at the tip thereof. It is connected so that it can rotate. As can be seen from FIG. 4, when the air cylinder 46 is operated and the rod 47 is extended at an appropriate timing, the swing lever 36 rotates counterclockwise, and the hot plates 18a and 18b approach each other to seal the bag W. . When the rod 47 is retracted, the hot plates 18a and 18b move away from each other.

Next, the second drive device 51 that moves the box frame 30 and thus the hot plates 18a and 18b up and down will be described. A gear box 52 is attached to the support stand 28. A servo motor 53 is attached to the left side of the support stand 28, and a drive gear 55 is attached to an output shaft 54 extending into the gear box 52 so as to be integrally rotatable. On the other hand, a driven gear 57 that meshes with the drive gear 55 is attached to a lower end portion of the adjustment shaft 56 that extends upward from the gear box 52 and is positioned in the gear box 52 so as to rotate integrally. . A male screw part 58 is formed on the upper end side of the adjustment shaft 56 and is screwed into a female screw part 60 formed on a nut plate 59 fixed to the support post 29. The adjustment shaft 56 does not move up and down with respect to the gear box 52. Therefore, when the servo motor 53 rotates, the box frame 30 and thus the hot plates 18a and 18b move up and down together according to the direction of rotation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of the second drive unit. In step S1, the position of the bag W in the length direction of the bag W is detected by the above-described bag position detection device 21 in step S2. The signal is input to the control device 23, and the amount of movement for moving the hot plate 18 and the like is calculated. That is, the above-described reference value is subtracted from the detection value detected by the detection device 21. Further, the movement amount of the heat plates 18a and 18b is calculated by subtracting the movement amount calculated last time. In the present embodiment, when the hot plates 18a and 18b are moved based on the calculated value at that time last time, the positions of the hot plates 18a and 18b are not returned to the original positions after the sealing is completed. This is because it is held at the moved position. Of course, it is possible to return to the original position after the seal is completed, and in this case, the movement amount calculated last time is not decremented.

Based on the calculated movement amount, movement control of the first hot plate 18 in the vertical direction is performed. That is, if the calculated value in step S3 is negative, the first hot plate 18 is lowered by the absolute value in step S4. When the calculated value is zero, the process returns to step S2 without moving the hot platen 18. If the calculated value is positive, the hot plate 18 is moved upward by the absolute value in step S7. This vertical movement is performed while the bag W is moving to the first sealing step, but may be performed after the movement. The first driving device is operated at an appropriate timing with respect to the vertical movement to seal the bag mouth.

In the present embodiment, the second hot plate 19 and the cooling plate 20 are similarly controlled. That is, the second hot plate 19 is controlled in the same manner as the first hot plate 18 based on the amount of movement calculated in step S3 as described above for the bag W moved to the second sealing step. Then, the positional deviation of the bag W is corrected (steps S5 and S8) and sealing is performed. In the meantime, the bag position of the next bag W is detected, and the next control of the first hot plate 18 is performed based on the detection. The cooling plate 20 is controlled in the same manner as in the first sealing step and the second sealing step for the bag W processed in the second sealing step and moved to the cooling step (steps S6 and S9). Appropriate cooling is provided.

The above is a case where the first seal, the second seal, and the cooling are all performed with the same width. However, as described above, when sealing or cooling is performed a plurality of times as in the example of the present embodiment, each step In many cases, the seal width or the cooling width is changed. Therefore, as described above, when using the hot plate or the cooling plate of the same size, the movement amount must be changed. In this case, it is explained that a reference value may be set for each, and an equation for calculating the movement amount may be a calculation equation corresponding to each. For the latter, for example, when the primary seal is 5 mm, the secondary seal is 6 mm, and the cooling is 7 mm from the edge of the bag mouth as in the above example, the formula shown in step S3 for the primary seal is used. The amount of movement can be calculated by preparing a calculation formula that subtracts “1 mm” from this formula for the secondary seal and “2 mm” for the cooling seal.

In the above description, the example in which the distance from the bag edge to the seal position on the bag is used as a reference value has been described. For example, when sealing with a desired width from the bag edge described in the above example Alternatively, the seal width can be set as a reference value.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the bag packing and packaging machine using the sealing device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the control circuit of a sealing device. It is a top view of a sealing device. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. It is a flowchart of control of a sealing device.

Explanation of symbols

    1: Bag filling and packaging machine 3: Rotary table 5: Holding member 7: Bag feeding device 11: Bag take-out device 18: First hot plate 19: Second hot plate 20: Cooling plate 21: Bag position detecting device 23: Control device 25: Sealing device 26: First driving device 51: Second driving device

Claims (9)

In a bag mouth sealing method performed using a sealing member in an automatic bagging packaging in which a bag is held by a pair of holding members and the bag is packed while the bag is transferred along a predetermined movement trajectory,
Setting a reference value indicating a seal position on the bag;
Detecting the position of the bag held by the holding member in the length direction of the bag;
Controlling the position of the seal member in the length direction of the bag based on the detected value and the reference value;
A bag mouth sealing method comprising:   The sealing method according to claim 1, wherein a distance from a bag mouth edge portion of the bag to a sealing position is set as the reference value.   In a bag mouth seal device for use in an automatic bagging and packaging machine that holds a bag on both sides of a bag with a pair of holding members and transfers the bag along a predetermined movement trajectory, Provided in the bag position detecting step set along the movement locus of the bag, and provided in the bag position detecting device for detecting the position of the bag held by the holding member in the bag length direction, and the sealing step, respectively. A pair of seal members that are located on both sides of the bag and seals the bag mouth of the bag, a first drive device that drives the seal member in a direction to contact and separate from each other, and the seal member in the length direction of the bag And a control device for controlling the second drive device, wherein the control device detects the reference value indicating the seal position on the bag set in advance and the detected value. Said based on the actual position of the bag And controlling the second driving device, a bag mouth sealing device.   The sealing device according to claim 3, wherein a distance from a bag mouth edge portion of the bag to a sealing position is set as the reference value. 5. The sealing device according to claim 3, wherein the bag filling and packaging machine includes a filling material filling device provided in a filling step, and the bag position detecting step is provided between the filling step and the sealing step. A bag mouth sealing device, characterized in that   The sealing device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the bag position detection step is provided in a step immediately before the sealing step.   The sealing device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the gripping member performs intermittent movement, and the gripping member does not stop in the bag position detecting step, and the length of the bag is moved while the bag is moving. A bag mouth sealing device, wherein a position in a direction is detected. 8. The sealing device according to claim 3, wherein the gripping member holds the bag in a suspended state.   9. The sealing device according to claim 3, wherein the seal member includes a first seal member, a second seal member, and a seal portion cooling member, wherein the first seal member and the second seal are included. The bag mouth sealing device, wherein the first and second driving devices are provided for the member and the seal portion cooling member, respectively, and each of the second driving devices is controlled by the control device. .

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