JP2010228775A - Heat seal device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat seal device that prevents sealing failure and brings about a high-quality product excellent in production efficiency. <P>SOLUTION: The heat seal device according to the embodiment 1 includes a sealing quality determination means 300 and an informing means 400. The sealing quality determination means 300 is connected to a pressure measuring device 5, compares a pressure measurement value from the pressure measuring device 5 with a prestored normal pressure reference value, and automatically determines sealing quality. When the sealing quality determination means 300 determines that sealing has failure, the informing means 400 informs of this. The informing means 400 is composed of a warning device that emits a warning sound when sealing failure is determined. The informing means 400 may be composed of a display device that indicates that sealing is failure when it is determined so. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat sealing apparatus that prevents a sealing failure by monitoring the pressure of a heat bar in a packaging machine.

  For example, in a bag making machine that creates a bag from a rolled base material, a flexible packaging film is generally used as the base material. The basic forms of flexible packaging bags made using flexible packaging films are: two-side seal type, pillow type (back-bonded palm), three-side seal type, bottom gusset type, side gusset type, bottom gusset type standing pouch Etc., which are appropriately selected depending on the application.

  When creating a soft packaging bag as described above, the vertical packaging process, vertical sealing is performed in order to finish the soft packaging film in a pouch shape by matching the surfaces of the front surface member and the back surface member with a predetermined print pattern. Cooling process, horizontal sealing process, horizontal sealing cooling process, deformed part sealing process, deformed part sealing cooling process, notch processing process to give easy opening, bottom part slitting excess part of film with slit blade Through each process such as slit machining process, corner R part machining process to add R to the corner (corner) at the bottom, irregular shape removal process to form the pouring function, side cutting process to cut continuous pouches individually Get a finished bag. Depending on the shape of the bag product to be manufactured, the necessary steps are selected from these steps in a timely manner.

  Processing in such a conventional bag making machine is performed by moving the sealant layers of the packaging materials facing each other to the bag making machine and moving the processing part up and down such as sealing, notching and punching of the bag making machine. It has been broken.

  In the manufacturing method, the flexible packaging film is intermittently fed, and the heating seal bar installed in each sealing step is moved up and down for each intermittent feed, and heat is transferred from the heating seal bar to the flexible packaging film, and the heat causes the surface member. And the back member are sealed. However, in the conventional heat sealing device, for example, foreign matter is caught between the heat seal bar and the flexible packaging film or between the front surface member and the back surface member at the time of the sealing operation, wrinkles are generated in the film, mechanical troubles, etc. As a result, problems such as the seal bar not completely moving up and down and the sealing operation not being completed may occur. Therefore, serious defects such as foreign matter mixed into the product and seal failure have occurred. In addition, it is difficult for a conventional heat sealing apparatus to check for a defective seal when performing a sealing operation.

  In order to solve the above problems, Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus having the following mechanism as an example of an apparatus for preventing a sealing failure. That is, in a pillow packaging machine that forms a soft packaging film, fills the contents, heat seals and cuts, a plurality of load detectors are disposed on at least one side of the heat seal bar for heat sealing, It is a heat seal device configured to detect a seal failure from the pressure distribution of the heat seal bar.

  A feature of the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is that a load detector (for example, a load cell) is used to detect a seal failure. In other words, a device that detects the position of a heat seal bar such as a gap displacement meter when detecting a sealing failure such as entrapment of foreign matter that often occurs when sealing a soft packaging film, wrinkle or tearing of the seal, When installed in a reciprocating drive device that drives a bar, the change in the value detected when the film thickness is thin is extremely small and it is difficult to determine a seal failure. One is installed, and seal failure is determined from the difference between the detection values of the weighted detectors. Further, as another feature, as a sealing condition for determining whether or not the seal is good, it is possible to directly detect the pressing force of the heat seal bar not from the reciprocating drive device but from the heat seal bar that performs heat sealing.

  However, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the soft packaging film is thin, and even if wrinkles or tears occur, the effect on the load is not great, and the foreign matter is minute even when the foreign matter is caught. In many cases, it is difficult to determine a seal failure by detecting a minute change in weight with several weight detectors. Therefore, it may be necessary to use a gap detector that measures the distance between the weighted detector and the heat seal bar in combination, and there is a problem that many mechanisms are required and the cost is increased.

  As another example, Patent Document 2 discloses a heat seal device having the following mechanism. That is, immediately after heat sealing, the thermal image information of the seal part is acquired using an infrared camera, the temperature distribution information is measured by processing the thermal image information, and the temperature information obtained for the heat sealed normally In contrast to information, a seal failure detection method configured to determine a seal failure.

  As a feature of the device described in Patent Document 2, when a packaging bag is filled with contents such as retort food and the opening is heat-sealed, the contents may bite into the seal. In addition, when adhesion or the like occurs on the seal surface, the contents are deprived of heat and the fact that the temperature is lowered is used. As another feature, when an oblique seal, insufficient seal width, or excessive seal width occurs, the absolute level of the waveform of the thermal image information acquired using the infrared camera changes, so that a seal failure can be detected. Things can be mentioned.

  However, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, when the contents are bitten in the filling and packaging machine, the temperature of the contents is lower than the heat seal temperature, and thus the temperature is lowered in that portion. Thus, a temperature change occurs in the heat seal portion, and a seal failure can be determined. For this reason, in the bag making machine which manufactures the bag making product before stuffing the contents, there is a problem that the temperature change due to the contents does not occur and the temperature change cannot be confirmed. In addition, when there is insufficient seal width or there is an oblique seal, it is possible to obtain a waveform of temperature change because the absolute level of the total is lowered by image processing, but it is difficult to observe minute changes in the seal state There is a problem that it is. In addition, since a mechanism that is not conventionally used is attached, there is a problem in that an installation space cannot be secured depending on the machine.

  Due to the problems described above, in the methods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is difficult to discriminate between non-defective products and defective products by reliably detecting defective seals to achieve high productivity and quality. It was.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-139417 JP 2000-079917 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a heat seal device that can prevent defective seals and provide a product with high quality and excellent production efficiency.

  The heat seal device according to the invention of claim 1 is a heat seal device that applies heat to a soft packaging film to perform sealing, and is disposed on either one of the upper and lower heat seal bars. A sheet-like pressure measuring device that performs pressure measurement to generate a pressure measurement value, and automatically compares the pressure measurement value from the pressure measurement device with a pre-stored pressure normal reference value to determine whether the seal is good or bad And a seal pass / fail judgment means for judging.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a pressure measurement value is generated by measuring the pressure of the entire surface of the heat seal bar, and the quality of the seal is automatically compared by comparing the pressure measurement value with the normal pressure reference value stored in advance. Therefore, during the operation of the heat seal bar, it is possible to determine whether the operation has been performed completely.For example, foreign matter may adhere to the soft packaging film or the heat seal bar, or Even when wrinkles are generated on the packaging film, since the pressure change on the entire surface of the seal bar is measured by the pressure measuring device on the sheet, a minute pressure change on a part of the seal bar can also be measured. For this reason, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a defective seal and to provide a product with high quality and excellent production efficiency.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 1, when foreign matter adheres to the soft packaging film or the heat seal bar, or wrinkles are generated on the soft packaging film and the heat from the heat seal bar is not normally transmitted. In addition, it is possible to reliably detect even a minute change in seal pressure due to adhesion of foreign matter or generation of wrinkles.

  A heat sealing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises the notifying means for notifying that the seal is defective when the seal quality determining means determines that the seal is defective. It is characterized by that.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the alarm means for notifying that the seal is defective is provided, so that an appropriate alarm operation is selected according to the purpose and situation. Thus, it becomes possible to appropriately cope with an abnormality.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat seal device according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the notification means is an alarm device that generates an alarm sound when the seal quality determination means determines that the seal is defective. It is characterized by being.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the invention, the heat seal device operates because the alarm device generates an alarm sound when it is determined that the seal is defective. In this case, it is possible to more reliably prevent the defective product from flowing out when a sealing failure occurs.

  According to the present invention, a pressure measurement value is generated by performing pressure measurement on the entire surface of the heat seal bar, and the quality of the seal is automatically determined by comparing the pressure measurement value with a normal pressure reference value stored in advance. Therefore, during the operation of the heat seal bar, it is possible to determine whether the operation has been performed completely, and foreign matter adheres to the soft packaging film or the heat seal bar, or Even when wrinkles are generated, since the pressure change on the entire surface of the seal bar is measured by the pressure measuring device on the sheet, it is possible to measure a minute pressure change in a part of the seal bar. For this reason, according to this invention, the defect of a seal can be prevented and the product excellent in the quality and production efficiency can be brought about.

It is the schematic which shows the heat seal apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the heat seal apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the bag making goods to which the heat seal apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention is applied. It is a schematic diagram of the example of a defect in the heat seal apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the specific example of the seal | sticker quality determination means of the heat seal apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the heat sealing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a heat sealing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the heat sealing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention applies heat to a flexible packaging film to perform sealing, and includes a front member 1 and a back member 8 that form a flexible packaging bag. The upper heat seal unit 100 and the lower heat seal unit 200 are arranged so as to sandwich them.

  The upper heat seal unit 100 includes an upper heat seal bar 2, an upper heater 3, an upper heat insulating material 4, an upper sheet-shaped pressure measuring device 5, an upper fixed plate 6 and an upper drive plate 7. The lower heat seal unit 200 includes a lower heat seal bar 9, a lower heater 10, a lower heat insulating material 11, a lower fixing plate 13, and a lower drive plate 14.

  An upper heat seal bar 2 and a lower heat seal bar 9 are respectively installed on the upper and lower sides so as to sandwich the front surface member 1 and the back surface member 8 forming the flexible packaging bag. Since the front member 1 and the back member 8 are in contact with the heat seal bar, the seal shape of the flexible packaging bag can be changed depending on the shape of the heat seal bar. The upper and lower heat seal bars 2 and 9 are supplied with heat from the upper heater 3 and the lower heater 10 installed in contact with the upper and lower heat seal bars 2 and 9, respectively.

  Heating wires are embedded in the upper heater 3 and the lower heater 10, and the temperature rises to a set temperature during operation of the heat seal apparatus. In order to prevent heat from the upper heater 3 and the lower heater 10 from being transmitted to the drive unit side, the upper heat insulating material 4 and the lower heat insulating material 11 are respectively installed on the upper and lower sides so as to be in contact with the upper heater 3 and the lower heater 10. Yes. The upper heat seal bar 2, the upper heater 3, and the upper heat insulating material 4 are attached to the upper fixing plate 6. The lower heat seal bar 8, the lower heater 10, and the lower heat insulating material 11 are attached to the lower fixing plate 13.

  The upper drive plate drives the upper heat seal unit up and down. The lower drive plate drives the lower heat seal unit up and down. The upper drive plate and the lower drive plate move the upper heat seal unit and the lower heat seal unit to seal the surface member 1 and the back member 8 when sealing the front member 1 and the back member 8 which are soft packaging films. Add and heat. A sheet-shaped pressure measuring device 5 is disposed between the upper heat insulating material 4 and the upper fixing plate 6.

  The place where the sheet-like pressure measuring device 5 is installed is not limited to between the upper heat insulating material and the upper fixing plate. If it is a place connected to the upper heat seal bar and the pressure of the upper heat seal bar can be measured, it is possible to detect a defect by detecting the seal pressure.

  The heat sealing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention further includes a sealing quality determination unit 300 and a notification unit 400. The seal quality determination means 300 is connected to the pressure measuring device 5 and automatically determines the quality of the seal by comparing the pressure measurement value from the pressure measuring device 5 with the pressure normal reference value stored in advance. The notification unit 400 notifies that the seal is defective when the seal quality determination unit 300 determines that the seal is defective. The notification unit 400 is configured by an alarm device that generates an alarm sound when it is determined that the seal is defective. Note that the notification unit 400 may be configured by a display device that indicates that the seal is defective when it is determined that the seal is defective.

  The pressure measuring device 5 may be arranged in the lower heat seal unit 200 instead of the upper heat seal unit 100.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a heat sealing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the second embodiment of the present invention, the same components as those in the first embodiment of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the heat sealing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention includes an upper heat sealing unit 100 and a lower heat sealing unit 500, and the lower heat sealing unit 500 is the lower heat sealing unit 200. The sheet-like pressure measuring device 12 is provided. The sheet-like pressure measuring device 12 is disposed between the lower heat insulating material 11 and the lower fixing plate 13. The pressure measuring device 12 is connected to the seal quality determination means 300. The seal quality determination means 300 automatically determines the quality of the seal by comparing the pressure measurement values from the pressure measuring devices 5 and 12 with the pressure normal reference value stored in advance. Configurations other than this configuration in the second embodiment of the present invention are the same as those in the first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of a bag-making product to which the heat sealing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. In the bag making process of the flexible packaging bag, first, the vertical packaging process and the vertical sealing cooling process are performed so that the soft packaging films of the front surface member 1 and the back surface member 8 are opposed to each other by matching a predetermined printed pattern. The sealing portion 16 is formed through various sealing processes such as a horizontal sealing process, a horizontal sealing cooling process, a deformed section sealing process, a cooling process for the deformed section seal, and a cooling process. In addition, a bag-finished product is obtained through various processing steps including a notch processing step for forming a notch 17 for imparting easy opening.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a failure example in the heat sealing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows an example of a defect in which foreign matter is caught in the seal portion. For example, when the foreign matter 19 is sandwiched in the seal portion 16, the pressure received by the heat seal bar is higher than usual at the place where the foreign matter 19 is sandwiched. In addition, the pressure received by the seal bar around the foreign object 19 changes around the foreign object 19, and the change in pressure decreases as the distance from the foreign object increases. Since the load on the entire seal bar can be measured finely with the sheet-shaped pressure measuring device, the location of the foreign matter can be specified.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the seal quality determination means 300 is constituted by a control personal computer (PC) 20, for example. The measurement result of the pressure from the pressure measuring device 5 is transferred to and managed by the connected control PC 20 prepared for managing the measurement value of the pressure measuring device 5. The PC 20 automatically determines the quality of the seal by comparing the pressure measurement value from the pressure measuring device 5 with the normal pressure reference value stored in advance for each operation of the heat sealing apparatus.

  When it is determined that the seal is defective, the PC 20 outputs an abnormal signal to the packaging machine body, stops driving the packaging machine, and can perform an operation such as a warning by an alarm sound. Further, the PC 20 can grasp the tendency of occurrence of defects by storing images and history when an abnormality that the seal is defective occurs, and can take measures.

  Next, an example of the operation of the heat sealing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the heat sealing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the heat sealing apparatus operates (step S1), the measurement result of the sheet-like pressure measuring device 5 is acquired (step S2). The acquired measurement result is compared with the measurement result of the good seal pressure registered in advance (step S3), and whether there is a difference between the two measurement results is checked (step S4).

  Next, when there is no difference in the measurement results, it is determined that the sealing state is good (step S5), and feedback to the bag making machine body is not performed. In this case, even when the sealing condition is good, the determination result is output, and the history is saved in the control PC 20 so that the production status can be confirmed later, which is useful for improving traceability. Is possible.

  If there is a difference between the measurement results, the seal state is determined to be defective (step S6), and an abnormal signal is output to the control PC 20 (step S7). The control PC 20 stores the installation position of each heat sealing device in advance, and after abnormal output, when the film moves from the heat sealing device that has output abnormal output to the cutting device, a cutting stop signal is output. Outputs to the bag making machine (step S8), eliminates by cutting only the relevant part, or immediately operates the bag making machine in case of abnormal output regardless of the position of the heat seal device By stopping the operation, it is possible to perform an operation such as reliably removing a portion where a seal failure has occurred.

  The flexible packaging film used in the present invention may be anything as long as it can be heat sealed. Further, the present invention is not limited to the heat seal device of the bag making machine described in the embodiment. It is not only the bag making machine that makes the bag that needs to be heat-sealed, but also a filling machine that fills the contents of the flexible packaging bag and seals the opening, and a bag making and filling machine that performs bag making and filling. In this case, heat sealing needs to be performed. The present invention is useful for reliably performing heat sealing and detecting a sealing failure even in the heat sealing process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Surface member 2 Upper heat bar 3 Upper heater 4 Upper heat insulating material 5 Upper sheet-like pressure measuring device 6 Upper fixed plate 7 Upper drive plate 8 Back surface member 9 Lower heat seal bar 10 Lower heater 11 Lower heat insulating material 12 Lower sheet-like pressure Measuring instrument 13 Lower fixed plate 14 Lower drive plate 15 Defective example 16 Seal part 17 Notch 18 Punch hole 19 Foreign object 20 PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Upper heat seal unit 200 Lower heat seal unit 300 Seal quality determination means 400 Notification means 500 Lower heat seal unit

Claims (3)

In a heat sealing apparatus that heats and seals a flexible packaging film, a sheet that is disposed on one of the upper and lower heat seal bars and performs pressure measurement on the entire surface of the heat seal bar to generate a pressure measurement value A pressure gauge
A seal pass / fail judgment means for automatically judging pass / fail of the seal by comparing the pressure measurement value from the pressure measuring instrument with a pressure normal reference value stored in advance;
A heat sealing apparatus comprising:   The heat sealing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an informing unit for informing that the seal is defective when the seal quality determining unit determines that the seal is defective.   The heat sealing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notification unit is configured by an alarm device that generates an alarm sound when the seal quality determination unit determines that the seal is defective.

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