JP2011201556A - Packaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a packaging apparatus not requiring a large space for its installation, reducing energy consumed for operation, and performing shrink packaging efficiently.SOLUTION: The packaging apparatus includes upper and lower heating chambers 24 and 26 in an apparatus body 16. A side of the apparatus body 16 has a carrying outlet 16a through which object 12 to be packaged is inserted into or taken out of the upper or lower heating chamber 24, 26. Upper and lower hold members 28 and 30 are provided to hold the object 12 inserted from the carrying outlet 16a. A chain 32 is provided to hold the upper hold member 28 and guide it from the carrying outlet 16a into the upper heating chamber 24 and for holding the lower hold member 30 and guiding it from the carrying outlet 16a into the lower heating chamber 26. Driving means are also provided to drive and controlling movements of the upper and lower hold members 28 and 30. The driving means drives the upper and lower hold members 28 and 30 such that they advance/retract in directions opposite to each other.

Description

  The present invention relates to a packaging apparatus for shrink-wrapping a packaged article such as a product with a heat-shrinkable film.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, shrink wrapping has been performed in which an object to be packaged such as a product is wrapped in a heat-shrinkable film and heated to shrink the heat-shrinkable film and closely adhere to the peripheral surface of the object to be packaged.

  As a packaging apparatus for performing this type of shrink wrapping, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a packaged article is wrapped with a heat-shrinkable film using a packaged article supply means, a film supply means, and a film coating means. There is a heat shrink wrapping apparatus that heats an object to be packaged in a heat shrink chamber of a one-room tunnel furnace. This heat-shrink wrapping apparatus wraps a packaged article with a heat-shrinkable film and wraps the packaged article in one direction using a plurality of belt conveyors.

  Further, as an apparatus for sealing an opening portion of a packaged film, there is an L-type sealer that uses a two-fold heat-shrinkable film to weld and cut two opening portions that are orthogonal to each other in a package. This L-type sealer is composed of, for example, a fusing blade, a film presser, a heat block, a cooling pipe, and the like as disclosed in Patent Document 2.

  In addition, as disclosed in Patent Document 3, as a smaller heat shrink device, a rotating body that rotates around a horizontal axis disposed in a heating chamber in the apparatus body, and a rotating body A table that is supported and rotates in the heating chamber as the rotating body rotates while maintaining a horizontal state, an opening for introducing an object to be packaged wrapped in a heat-shrinkable film on a table vacated from the outside, and heating There is a heat shrink wrapping apparatus provided with an opening for taking out an item to be packaged after being heated indoors from a table. This heat shrink wrapping apparatus is not provided with a transport device such as a conveyor or a device for wrapping an object to be packaged with a heat shrinkable film, and the device outer shape is miniaturized.

JP 2008-50041 A JP-A-5-193626 JP 2002-46716 A

  However, the heat shrink wrapping apparatus of Patent Document 1 requires a wide installation space because a plurality of belt conveyors are provided and the entire length of the apparatus becomes long. Therefore, the application is limited to an automatic packaging line or the like installed in a factory, and it is not suitable for an application in which a small variety of shrinkage packaging work is performed in a narrow space such as a retail store.

  On the other hand, the heat shrink wrapping apparatus of Patent Document 3 is installed in a relatively narrow space and performs shrink wrap semi-automatically or manually. However, since the inside of the heating chamber has to secure a certain wide space so that the table can rotate, there is a limit to downsizing the outer shape of the apparatus. Further, since there are entrances and exits for the objects to be packaged and it is necessary to maintain the heating performance by raising the temperature of the large heating chamber, there is a problem that the amount of energy consumed during operation of the apparatus is relatively large. Furthermore, even if an attempt is made to add a function of wrapping an object to be wrapped with a heat-shrinkable film to this heat-shrink packaging device, because the table moves in the vertical direction, an extra space is required to provide a device for packaging, Structurally, it was difficult to achieve both miniaturization and automation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above background art, and provides a packaging device that does not take up a large space for installation, reduces energy consumption during operation, and can efficiently perform shrink wrapping work. The purpose is to do.

  The present invention is a packaging device that heats an object to be packaged wrapped in a heat-shrinkable film and adheres the heat-shrinkable film to the peripheral surface of the object to be packaged, and is disposed in the vertical direction in the apparatus body. An upper heating chamber and a lower heating chamber, and a loading / unloading port which is provided on a side surface of the apparatus main body and allows the packaged article to be taken in and out of the upper heating chamber or the lower heating chamber from outside, An upper holding member and a lower holding member for holding a package; and reciprocating between the outside of the loading / unloading port and the upper heating chamber, holding the upper holding member, and holding the lower holding member, It is a packaging device provided with drive means that reciprocates between the outside of the carry-in / out port and the lower heating chamber, and drives the upper holding member and the lower holding member in opposite directions.

  The driving means includes a first sprocket provided at a position on the loading / unloading side between the upper heating chamber and the lower heating chamber, and a second sprocket provided at a position on the back side of the upper heating chamber. A third sprocket provided at a position on the back side of the lower heating chamber, a chain that spans the first to third sprockets and holds the upper holding member and the lower holding member, and the chain The upper holding member and the lower holding member are fixed at different positions of the chain and move in opposite directions by the movement of the chain.

  Further, the packaging material placed on the upper holding member or the lower holding member in the state where the upper holding member or the lower holding member is located on the loading / unloading side is made of the heat shrinkable film. A film sealing device is provided that wraps and seals the opening.

  The packaging apparatus of the present invention has a structure in which heating chambers are arranged in the vertical direction in the apparatus main body, so that the floor area of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and it can be easily applied to a relatively narrow space such as a general retail store. Can be installed. Moreover, since heat shrinkage is performed by alternately using the upper and lower heating chambers, the next packaged article is wrapped in the heat-shrinkable film on the other holding member during the heat shrinkage of the packaged article on one holding member. The sealing work can be performed, and the efficiency of the heat shrink wrapping work is good.

  In addition, since the upper or lower holding member on which the article to be packaged is placed can be set small, the volume of each heating chamber can be suppressed, and it is easy to maintain each heating chamber at a high temperature. Furthermore, since the objects to be heated to be heated are alternately put into the respective heating chambers, the heating chamber without the objects to be packaged can stop the heating operation during that time. Therefore, the amount of energy consumed during operation of the apparatus can be reduced.

  In addition, this packaging apparatus can perform the shrink wrapping operation in a so-called single piece, and the tact time can be adjusted freely. Therefore, it is possible to increase the work efficiency by one worker, and it is also possible to use it in a production form (cell production method etc.) in which the worker performs a plurality of work including shrink wrapping in parallel. The productivity of the entire operation including the shrink wrapping operation can be greatly improved.

It is a front view which shows the external appearance of the packaging apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a right view which shows the external appearance of the packaging apparatus of this embodiment. It is the left view (a) which shows the external appearance of the packaging apparatus of this embodiment, and a longitudinal cross-sectional view (b) explaining the 1st and 2nd heating chamber inside an apparatus main body. It is a front view which shows the drive means and holding member in the apparatus main body of the packaging apparatus of this embodiment. It is a top view of the drive means and holding member in the apparatus main body of the packaging apparatus of this embodiment. It is the front view (a) which shows the external appearance of the film seal apparatus of the packaging apparatus of this embodiment, and a schematic perspective view (b).

  Hereinafter, a packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The packaging device 10 according to this embodiment has a function of wrapping an article 12 to be packaged with a heat-shrinkable film 14, and shrinks the heat-shrinkable film 14 by heating the entire wrapped article 12 to be covered. And a function of performing shrink wrapping closely contacting the peripheral surface of the package 12.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the packaging device 10 includes a substantially rectangular and vertically long device main body 16, a film seal device 18 provided so as to protrude from the loading / unloading port 16 a on the side surface of the device main body 16, and a roll A film feeding device 20 that pulls out the heat-shrinkable film 14 wound in a shape and feeds it toward the film sealing device 18 is provided on a pedestal portion 22 having a caster 22a for movement.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, an upper heating chamber 24 and a lower heating chamber 26 are provided in the apparatus main body 16 so as to be divided vertically. In the two heating chambers 24 and 26, blower devices 24a and 26a for circulating the internal air and heater devices 24b and 26b for heating the internal air are individually attached.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the upper holding member 28 having mounting surfaces 28 a and 30 a on which the article 12 to be packaged wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film 14 is placed inside the apparatus main body 16. And a lower holding member 30, a pair of left and right chains 32 that support the upper holding member 28 and the lower holding member 30 in a horizontal state, and a drive (not shown) that drives and controls the two holding members 28, 30 and the pair of chains 32. Device. In addition, the loading / unloading port 16a is provided with a seal base portion 34 protruding from the apparatus main body 16, and a seal receiving base 44 and the like to be described later.

  The upper holding member 28 has a mounting surface 28a formed by arranging a plurality of rollers at equal intervals and pivotally supporting both ends with plate members. Further, a pair of mounting portions 28b are provided that extend the ends of the pair of plate members of the mounting surface 28a and are slightly bent upward from the mounting surface 28a. Similarly to the upper holding member 28, the lower holding member 30 is also provided with a placement surface 30a and a pair of attachment portions 30b. However, the attachment portion 30b is bent in two steps downward from the placement surface 30a, opposite to the attachment portion 28b.

  The pair of chains 32 includes a first sprocket 38 a disposed on both sides of the opening on the loading / unloading port 16 a side, a second sprocket 38 b positioned on both sides on the back side of the upper heating chamber 24, and the back of the lower heating chamber 26. The third sprockets 38c located on both side portions are respectively hung around. The chain 32 spanned between the three pairs of sprockets 38a, 38b, and 38c reciprocates as the first sprocket 38a is rotationally driven by a driving device (not shown) including a motor and the like. An auxiliary sprocket 42 is attached between the second sprocket 38b and the third sprocket 38c to adjust the tension of the chain 32.

  In the pair of chains 32, attachment portions 28b on both sides of the upper holding member 28 are fixed to a plurality of frames, respectively, and the upper holding member 28 keeps the placement surface 28a horizontal, It is provided so as to be able to move substantially linearly from the seal stand 34 projecting outward to a deep position in the upper heating chamber 24. The lower holding member 30 is also deep in the lower heating chamber 26 from a position protruding from the loading / unloading port 16a with the mounting surface 30a kept horizontal by the mounting portion 30b fixed to the other part of the chain 32. It is provided so as to be moved substantially linearly to the position.

  The upper holding member 28 and the lower holding member 30 are connected to different positions of the chain 32 and separated from each other by a predetermined distance, and the movement starts simultaneously when the drive device moves the chain 32. When the mounting surface 28a of the upper holding member 28 is moved out of the loading / unloading port 16a by the drive control of the driving device, the mounting surface 30a of the lower holding member 30 moves into the lower heating chamber 26. Conversely, when the placement surface 30 a of the lower holding member 30 is moved out of the loading / unloading port 16 a, the placement surface 28 a of the upper holding member 28 moves into the upper heating chamber 24.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the film feeding device 20 is provided on a pedestal portion 22, and a roll body 14 a in which an unshrinkable heat-shrinkable film 14 is folded in two and wound is downwardly rotatable. And a feed unit (not shown) that pulls out the heat-shrinkable film 14 from the roll body 14a and feeds it toward a film seal device 18 to be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the film sealing device 18 has a placement surface 28a of the upper holding member 28 or a placement surface 30a of the lower holding member 30 that protrudes from the first sprocket 38a and is positioned outside the loading / unloading port 16a. In this state, it is arranged so as to be positioned on the seal base 34. The film sealing device 18 is disposed at the peripheral edge of the seal base 34 and has an L-shaped fixed seal receiving base 44. The seal cradle 44 is formed to have a width capable of accommodating the upper holding member 28 or the lower holding member 30 on the inner side, and in the state where the upper holding member 28 or the lower holding member 30 is located on the inner side, their placement surfaces 28 a and 30 a are positioned flush with the upper surface of the seal cradle 44. Further, the film seal device 18 is a U-shaped frame positioned above the seal cradle 44, and a pair of tip portions are pivotally supported by a rotation shaft 46 inside the device body 16 and swing up and down. A movable base frame 48 and an L-type sealer 50 attached to the side surface of the base frame 48 downward and having a tip portion facing the seal receiving base 44 are provided. The swinging motion of the base frame 48 is to manually open and close the holding handle 49 on the front side, and is provided so that the open body can be maintained elastically by a lifting mechanism 52 that biases in the opening direction. Yes.

  The structure of the L-type sealer 50 is, for example, the same as that of the known L sealer and seal cradle disclosed in Patent Document 2 described above, and the first sealer 50a and the second sealer 50b form L-shaped sides. Each sealer 50a, 50b is composed of a wide fusing blade with a tip attached downward, a film presser, a heat block that heats the fusing blade, a cooling pipe, and the like. The first sealer 50a is attached to one side of the U-shaped base frame 48 and one side perpendicular to the feeding direction on the side where the heat-shrinkable film 14 is fed from the film feeding device 20. The sealer 50 b is also attached to the inner side of the base frame 48 and is disposed in parallel with the feed direction of the heat-shrinkable film 14. The fusing blade and the film presser at the tip of the L-type sealer 50 are attached so as to abut on the upper surface of the L-shaped seal cradle 44 evenly.

  Next, operation | movement of the packaging apparatus 10 is demonstrated. First, the shrinkable film 14 folded in half is pulled out by the film feeding means 20 and fed in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first sealer 50a of the film sealing device 18 as shown in FIG. 6B. The shrinkable film 14 folded in half is unfolded by a jig (not shown) from the second sealer 50b side (front side in FIG. 6), and the operator manually spreads the package 12 by folding it. The film is inserted between the films and placed on the placement surface 30 a of the lower holding member 30 inside the seal receiving base 44.

  When the article to be packaged 12 is placed, the handle 49 is held and the L-type sealer 50 is lowered together with the base frame 48, and the shrinkable film 14 folded in half between the fusing blade and the seal cradle 44 is placed. The opening is sandwiched and the portion is sealed by welding, and the portion sandwiched between the first sealer 50a and the second sealer 50b is fused. Thereafter, the L-type sealer 50 is raised together with the base frame 48.

  When the object to be packaged 12 is sealed by the film sealing device 18, it is in a state of being wrapped in the shrinkable film 14 as shown in FIG. The welded portions 54 and 56 of the shrinkable film 14 covering the article to be packaged 12 and the welded portion 58 which is the end of the shrinkable film 14 continuous from the roll body 14a are welded by the sealing operation of the L-type sealer 50 this time. The welded portion 60 is a portion welded by the previous sealing operation. In addition, the surplus part (not shown) of the heat-shrinkable film 14 blown off by the second sealer 50b is appropriately wound and discarded.

  When the sealing operation by the film sealing device 18 is finished, the lower holding member 30 is moved together with the chain 32 from the seal base 34 through the loading / unloading port 16a into the lower heating chamber 26 by the drive control of the driving device. The object 12 is heated by the hot air from the heater device 26 a, and the heat-shrinkable film 14 that wraps the object to be packaged 12 is contracted and is in close contact with the peripheral surface of the object to be packaged 12. Further, at the same time when the lower holding member 30 moves into the lower heating chamber 26, the upper holding member 28 in the upper heating chamber 24 comes out of the carry-in / out port 16 a together with the drive of the chain 32 and is on the seal base 34. To the outside, and the packaged object 12 that has been put in the previous time comes out in a shrink-wrapped state. Then, the article 12 to be packaged is taken out by the operator and stored in a product storage bucket or the like (not shown).

  Next, a new article to be packaged 12 is placed on the placement surface 28a of the upper holding member 28, and shrink-wrapping is performed. At this time, the operation of drawing out the heat-shrinkable film 14 by the film feeding device 20 and the operation of sealing the heat-shrinkable film 14 by the film sealing device 18 are the same as the previous time.

  When the sealing operation by the film sealing device 18 is completed, the upper holding member 28 is moved from the sealing base 34 together with the chain 32 into the upper heating chamber 24 by the drive control of the driving device, and the article 12 is heated by the heater device 24a. Then, the heat-shrinkable film 14 that wraps the article 12 to be packaged shrinks and adheres closely to the peripheral surface of the article 12 to be packaged. At the same time as the upper holding member 28 moves into the upper heating chamber 24, the lower holding member 30 that has been in the lower heating chamber 26 moves together with the chain 32 to the seal base 34, so The package 12 comes out in a state of being shrink-wrapped. Then, the article 12 to be packaged is taken out by the operator and stored in a product storage bucket or the like (not shown).

  By repeating the above operation, an operation of continuously shrink-wrapping a plurality of articles 12 to be packaged is performed.

  As described above, the packaging apparatus 10 of this embodiment has a structure in which the two heating chambers 24 and 26 are arranged in the apparatus main body 16 so as to overlap in the vertical direction, so that the floor area of the entire apparatus can be reduced. It can be installed in a relatively small space such as a retail store. Furthermore, the sealing work of the next packaged object can be performed during the heat shrink of one packaged object 12, and the work efficiency is good.

  In addition, the volume of the upper and lower heating chambers 24 and 26 can be set very small as long as the upper or lower holding members 28 and 30 can be accommodated, so that each heating chamber is maintained at a high temperature. Is easy. Furthermore, since the objects to be packaged 12 to be heated are alternately charged in the heating chambers 24 and 26, the air blowers 24a and 26a of the heating chambers 24 and 26 to which the objects to be packaged 12 are not charged There is no problem even if the heater devices 24b and 26b are stopped during the operation. As a result, the amount of energy consumed during operation of the apparatus can be greatly reduced.

  Moreover, the packaging apparatus 10 can perform shrink packaging operation by what is called one piece. In addition, the setting of the tact time can be freely adjusted by appropriately changing the moving speed at which the driving device of the chain 32 moves the upper and lower holding members 28 and 30. Moreover, you may determine the drive timing of a drive device by switch operation by an operator. Therefore, for example, the packaging apparatus 10 can reduce the tact time for one operator to perform shrink wrapping, and can greatly improve the productivity of the entire work including the packaging work.

  In addition, the packaging apparatus of this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, For example, if it is in the range with which the effect mentioned above is acquired, an operator will be able to work with a reasonable posture etc. For the purpose, the positional relationship among the loading / unloading port, the upper heating chamber, and the lower heating chamber can be changed. The upper heating chamber and the lower heating chamber need only have heating chambers in the vertical direction, and an inexpensive apparatus or the like may be one without a partition.

  In addition to the configuration using the L-type sealer, the film seal apparatus can be freely changed to a known I-type sealer, a curved sealer, or the like. Moreover, when the operation | work which wraps a to-be-packaged object with a heat-shrinkable film is performed in another factory or another floor, the film sealing apparatus of this packaging apparatus can be abbreviate | omitted. At this time, the upper and lower holding members may be changed to a structure in which, for example, the object to be packaged is held in the concave portion instead of being held flat.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Packaging apparatus 12 Package 14 Heat-shrinkable film 16 Apparatus main body 16a Loading / unloading port 18 Film sealing apparatus 24 Upper heating chamber 26 Lower heating chamber 28 Upper holding means 28a Mounting surface 30 Lower holding means 30a Mounting surface 32 Chain 34 Seal base part 38a, 38b, 38c Sprocket 44 Seal receiving base 46 Rotating shaft 48 Base frame 50 L type sealer 52 Lifting mechanism 54, 56, 58, 60 Welding part

Claims (3)

In a packaging apparatus for heating a packaged object wrapped in a heat-shrinkable film and bringing the heat-shrinkable film into close contact with the peripheral surface of the packaged object,
An upper heating chamber and a lower heating chamber arranged in the vertical direction in the apparatus body;
A loading / unloading port which is provided on a side surface of the apparatus main body and takes the packaged material in and out of the upper heating chamber or the lower heating chamber from the outside;
An upper holding member and a lower holding member for holding an object to be packaged introduced from the loading / unloading port;
While holding the upper holding member and reciprocating between the outside of the carry-in / out port and the upper heating chamber, holding the lower holding member and reciprocating between the outside of the carry-in / out port and the lower heating chamber A packaging apparatus, comprising: a drive unit that moves and drives the upper holding member and the lower holding member in opposite directions. The driving means includes a first sprocket provided at a position on the loading / unloading side between the upper heating chamber and the lower heating chamber, and a second sprocket provided at a position on the back side of the upper heating chamber. A third sprocket provided at a position on the back side of the lower heating chamber, a chain that spans the first to third sprockets and holds the upper holding member and the lower holding member, and the chain A driving device for driving
The packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper holding member and the lower holding member are fixed at different positions of the chain and move in opposite directions by movement of the chain. In the state where the upper holding member or the lower holding member is located on the loading / unloading side, the object to be packaged placed on the upper holding member or the lower holding member is wrapped with the heat shrinkable film. The packaging apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 provided with the film sealing apparatus which seals an opening part.

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