JP2024054711A - Automatic boxing device for three-linked packaging bag - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an automatic boxing device for a three-linked packaging bag that is advantageous in boxing the three-linked packaging bag reliably and efficiently.SOLUTION: While a second bag body 12B and a third bag body 12C of a three-linked packaging bag 10 with a header are fixed and held, the first bag body 12A is folded back upward, and is folded on a rear surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B with a front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A up, and a header 18 is positioned on a rear surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C to form a folded state of the three-linked packaging bag 10 with the header, and the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the rear surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C of the three-linked packaging bag 10 with the header in a folded state are sucked, transferred from a conveyor belt 26, and packed in a box 36.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic boxing device for triple-pack bags.

A chain bag is made up of a number of bags containing products connected together via transverse seals.
An automatic boxing device for folding this type of chain bag has been proposed, which folds the chain bag to a length that is half the number of bags and packs it into a box (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2012-245988 A

Currently, most of the chain bags on the market have four or more bags, but the distribution of triple chain bags with three bags is also being considered.
Therefore, there is a demand for an automatic boxing device for triple-chain bags that can box three-chain bags reliably and efficiently.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic boxing device for three-piece bags which is advantageous in packing three-piece bags reliably and efficiently.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one embodiment of the present invention is an automatic boxing device for three-part bags, which folds a three-part bag formed of a first bag, a second bag, and a third bag connected together, the first bag having a surface on which a product name or a pattern is printed and a back surface opposite to the first bag and having a vertical seal formed thereon, and packs the folded three-part bag into a box, the machine comprising: a conveyor belt which runs with the three-part bag placed with the back surface facing up; a fixing suction device which, when the conveyor belt is stopped at a stopping position for transferring the three-part bag from the conveyor belt into the box, suctions the front surfaces of the second and third bags or the first and second bags from below and fixes and holds them on the conveyor belt; and a fixing device which fixes and holds the front surfaces of the second and third bags or the first and second bags on the conveyor belt. The present invention is characterized in that it comprises a folding device that, while the first bag body and the second bag body are fixed and held, folds the first bag body or the third bag body upward to form a folded state of the three-piece bag by folding the first bag body with the front surface of the first bag body facing up and onto the back surface of the second bag body, or by folding the third bag body with the front surface of the third bag body facing up and onto the back surface of the second bag body, and a transfer device that is arranged above the conveyor belt and adsorbs the front surface of the first bag body and the back surface of the third bag body of the three-piece bag in the folded state, or adsorbs the back surface of the first bag body and the front surface of the third bag body of the three-piece bag in the folded state, and transports them from above the conveyor belt and packs them into the box.
In addition, one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the three-part bag is a header-equipped three-part bag in which a header is provided on the first bag body, and in the folded state, the first bag body is folded upward and folded onto the back surface of the second bag body with the front surface of the first bag body facing up, and the header is positioned on the back surface of the third bag body.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the conveyor belt has a transport surface on which the triple bag is placed, and the transfer device includes a first suction section having an suction surface that suctions the front surface of the first bag body or the front surface of the third bag body, and a second suction section having an suction surface that suctions the back surface of the third bag body or the back surface of the first bag body, the first suction section and the second suction section being composed of bellows-shaped suction pads of the same shape attached to a support member extending horizontally, and a height adjustment member is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad constituting the second suction section and the support member to absorb the difference in height between the front surface of the first bag body and the back surface of the third bag body, or the difference in height between the front surface of the third bag body and the back surface of the first bag body.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the conveyor belt has a conveying surface on which the triple-pack bag is placed, the transfer device includes a first suction section having an suction surface that is suctioned to the front surface of the first bag body or the front surface of the third bag body, and a second suction section having an suction surface that is suctioned to the back surface of the third bag body or the back surface of the first bag body, the first suction section and the second suction section being composed of bellows-shaped suction pads of the same shape attached to a support member extending horizontally, and a bag displacement device is provided that, at the stop position, displaces the third bag body upward so that the height of the back surface of the third bag body approximately matches the height of the front surface of the first bag body relative to the conveying surface, or displaces the third bag body so that the height of the back surface of the first bag body approximately matches the height of the front surface of the third bag body relative to the conveying surface.
In addition, one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that when the portion of the three-part bag in the folded state where the first bag body and the second bag body are overlapped is an overlapping portion and the portion of the third bag body is a non-overlapping portion, or when the portion of the three-part bag in the folded state where the third bag body and the second bag body are overlapping is an overlapping portion and the portion of the first bag body is a non-overlapping portion, the three-part bag is packed into a box by the transfer device while changing the posture of the three-part bag in the folded state so that the overlapping portions and the non-overlapping portions are stacked alternately.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, while the second and third bags or the first and second bags of the three-part bag are fixed and held, the first bag is folded upward and folded onto the back surface of the second bag with the front surface of the first bag facing up and the header is positioned on the back surface of the third bag, or the front surface of the third bag is folded onto the back surface of the second bag with the front surface facing up to form a folded three-part bag, and the front surface of the first bag and the back surface of the third bag, or the front surface of the third bag and the back surface of the first bag, of the folded three-part bag are adsorbed to each other and transported from the conveyor belt and packed into a box.
This is advantageous in packing the folded triple-packet bags reliably and efficiently into a box.
Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the three-part bag is a header-equipped three-part bag in which a header is provided on the first bag body, and in the folded state, the first bag body is folded upward and folded onto the back surface of the second bag body with the front surface of the first bag body facing up, and the header is positioned on the back surface of the third bag body.
Therefore, when the folded triple-packet bag with header is viewed in a plane, the header is located inside the contour of the third bag body, and therefore the header does not interfere with the inner surface of the box when packed, which is advantageous for packing the folded triple-packet bag with header reliably and efficiently.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a height adjustment member is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad constituting the second suction section and the support member to absorb the difference in height between the front surface of the first bag body and the rear surface of the third bag body on the conveying surface, or the difference in height between the front surface of the third bag body and the rear surface of the first bag body. Therefore, the triple-packet bag in the folded state can be reliably and stably sucked by the first suction section and the second suction section of the transfer device, which is advantageous in reliably and efficiently packing the triple-packet bag in the folded state into a box.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the third bag or the first bag is displaced upward by the bag displacement device so that the height of the rear surface of the third bag substantially matches the height of the front surface of the first bag relative to the conveying surface, or so that the height of the rear surface of the first bag substantially matches the height of the front surface of the third bag. Therefore, the triple-packet bag in the folded state can be reliably and stably attracted by the first suction portion and the second suction portion, which is advantageous for reliably and efficiently packing the triple-packet bag in the folded state into a box.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the transfer device packs the triple-linked bags into a box while changing the position of the folded triple-linked bags so that the overlapping and non-overlapping portions are stacked alternately. This minimizes the unevenness in the vertical height of the folded triple-linked bags contained in the box, which is advantageous in reducing wasted volume of the box and in making the box more compact and reducing the cost of the box.

1A is a plan view of an automatic triple-packet packing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1C is a side view of the automatic triple-packet packing device; FIG. 1A is a front view of an automatic triple-packaging box packing device, a fixing suction device, and a folding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1B is a plan view of the automatic triple-packaging box packing device, and FIG. 1A to 1E are explanatory diagrams showing step-by-step operation states of an automatic triple-chain bag packing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line D-D in FIG. 1A, where (A) shows the state in which the first layer of triple-packet bags is packed in the box, and (B) shows the state in which the second layer of triple-packet bags is packed in the box. 1A is a plan view of a triple-pack bag with a header, FIG. 1B is a side view, and FIG. 1C is a rear view. 10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams of an automatic triple-bag packing device according to a second embodiment, in which (A) is a front view showing a state in which a first bag body is placed on a conveying surface of a conveyor belt, and (B) is a front view showing a state in which the first bag body has been displaced upward by a bag body displacement device.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, a triple-linked bag used in the automatic triple-linked bag packing device of this embodiment (hereinafter simply referred to as the automatic packing device) will be described.
In this embodiment, the triple pack bag is described as a triple pack bag with a header, but the present invention is of course also applicable to a triple pack bag without a header.
As shown in Figures 5(A), (B), and (C), the triple-pack bag with header 10 is composed of three bag bodies, a first bag body 12A, a second bag body 12B, and a third bag body 12C, each containing a product, which are connected (jointed) via a horizontal seal portion 14.
The header-attached triple-pack bag 10 is made of, for example, transparent or opaque packaging film, or light-shielding aluminum-deposited film to prevent oxidation of products such as snack foods, but the type of packaging film is not limited.
Each bag has a surface 1202 on which a product name and a design are printed, and a back surface 1204 located opposite the surface 1202 and on which a vertical seal portion 16 is formed.
The header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 has a length in the direction in which the three bags 12A, 12B, 12C are connected, a width perpendicular to the length direction, and a height perpendicular to the length direction and width direction.
The first bag 12A, the second bag 12B, and the third bag 12C have the same length along the length direction of the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 and a uniform width along the width direction.
A header 18 is provided at one end in the length direction of the first bag body 12A via a horizontal seal portion 14, and a horizontal seal portion 14 is provided at the other end.
A horizontal seal portion 14 is provided at the tip of the header 18, and a hole 1802 for hanging the header-attached triple pack bag 10 is formed in this horizontal seal portion 14 at the tip.
Horizontal seal portions 14 are located at both longitudinal ends of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C, and the horizontal seal portions 14 at the points where the header 18, the first bag body 12A, the second bag body 12B, and the third bag body 12C are connected are connected via perforations 20.

Next, the configuration of the automatic boxing device of this embodiment will be described.
1(A), (B), and (C), the automatic boxing device 22 packs the header-equipped triple-packet bags 10 that have been manufactured by a bag making, filling, and packaging machine (not shown) containing products into boxes. In the drawings, the reference numeral 36 denotes a box.
The automatic box packing device 22 is composed of a frame 24, a conveyor belt 26 assembled to the frame 24, a fixing suction device 28, a folding device 30, a transfer device 32, a box conveying device 34, and a control device (not shown).
The frame 24 has an elongated rectangular shape in a plan view, and has a length in the longitudinal direction, a width perpendicular to the length, and a height perpendicular to the length and width.

The conveyor belt 26 extends in the longitudinal direction of the frame 24 along a horizontal plane at a position close to one side of the frame 24 in the longitudinal direction and at a midpoint in the height direction of the frame 24 .
As shown in Figures 2 (A) and (B), the conveyor belt 26 is composed of a so-called two-row conveyor belt, in which a pair of conveying belts 2602 are spaced apart in a direction perpendicular to the extension direction of the conveying belts 2602, and a space is secured between the pair of conveying belts 2602.
The pair of conveyor belts 2602 form a conveying surface 27 extending on a horizontal plane, and the conveyor belt 26 runs with the header-attached triple-packet bag 10 placed on the conveying surface 27 .
Also, as shown in FIG. 2B, each conveying belt 2602 is made of a perforated belt having a plurality of through holes 2604 spaced apart in the longitudinal direction thereof, so that suction of the bag body by the fixing suction device 28 described later can be reliably performed through each of the through holes 2604.
The conveyor belt 26 is wound around a drive roller 2610 and a driven roller 2612, and the conveyor belt 26 runs when the drive roller 2610 is rotated by a drive motor (not shown).
In addition, in this embodiment, a non-contact sensor (not shown) for detecting the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 is provided above the upstream end of the conveyor belt 26, and the rotation and stopping of the drive motor is controlled by the control device based on the detection signal from this non-contact sensor, thereby controlling the running and stopping of the conveyor belt 26.

As shown in Figures 1(A) and (B), a discharge conveyor 38 is disposed upstream in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 26 for conveying the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 discharged from a bag making, filling and packaging machine (not shown). The header-equipped three-piece bag 10 is configured to be transferred from the discharge conveyor 38 onto the conveying surface 27 of the conveyor belt 26.
In addition, the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 discharged from the form-fill-seal packaging machine (not shown) is transferred from the discharge conveyor 38 to the conveyor belt 26 with its length direction aligned with the conveying direction and with the back surface 1204, i.e., the vertical seal portion 16 side, facing up and the front surface 1202 facing down, and is transported by the conveyor belt 26 in this position.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the fixing suction device 28 applies negative pressure to the underside of the longitudinally intermediate portion of the forward portion located on the upper side of the conveyor belt 26.
The fixing suction device 28 generates negative pressure in a rectangular area on the underside of the forward portion when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped at the stop position, and adsorbs the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C from below through the through holes 2604 of a pair of conveying belts 2602, thereby fixing and holding them on the conveyor belt 26.
The stop position here refers to the position at which the conveyor belt 26 stops so that the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 can be sucked from above the conveyor belt 26 and transferred into a box 36 by a transfer device 32, which will be described later.
The second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C are fixed and held on the conveyor belt 26 by the fixing suction device 28, thereby preventing the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 from floating up and falling off the conveyor belt 26 due to the stress applied to the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 from the folding device 30 described below, and also preventing the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 from being stopped in a position where the first bag body 10A can be reliably folded back by the folding device 30.
In addition, the fixing suction device 28 generates negative pressure from the time before the conveyor belt 26 stops at the stopping position until the folding state of the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 is completed by the folding device 30 and the transfer device 32 sucks and holds the header-equipped three-piece bag 10, and releases the generation of negative pressure during the rest of the period.
Alternatively, the generation of negative pressure may be released from the time when the folding device 30 completes the formation of the folded state of the header-equipped three-piece package bag 10 until the time when the transfer device 32 described later begins to transfer the folded state of the header-equipped three-piece package bag 10, and negative pressure may be generated for the rest of the period.
The generation and release of negative pressure by the fixing suction device 28 is controlled by the control device based on the detection signal from the non-contact sensor described above.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, a case has been described in which a perforated belt is used as each of the conveyor belts 2602 .
However, as in the modified example shown in FIG. 2C, a normal conveyor belt 2602A having no holes may be used.
In this case, a vacuum hole 2810 may be formed in the upper surface of the fixing suction device 28 at a location corresponding to the space between the pair of conveyor belts 2602A.
Then, when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped at the stop position, the fixing suction device 28 generates negative pressure in the vacuum hole 2810, and adsorbs the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C from below through the space between the pair of conveyor belts 2602A, thereby fixing and holding them on the conveyor belt 26.
In this manner, the central portions of the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C in the longitudinal and width directions, which are the most expanded portions of the bag body, are positioned inside the contours of the vacuum holes 2810, so that the expanded portions of the bag body can be reliably sucked by the vacuum holes 2810, which is advantageous in more securely fixing and holding the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C on the conveyor belt 26.

As shown in Figures 2(A), (B), 3(A), (B) and (C), the folding device 30 folds the first bag body 12A upward while the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C are fixed and held, folding the first bag body 12A with the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A facing up onto the back surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B and forming a folded state of the header-equipped three-part bag 10 with the header 18 positioned on the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C.
In this embodiment, the folding device 30 includes a folding claw 40 and an actuator 42 .
The folding claw 40 is positioned between a pair of conveyor belts 2602, and when the folding claw 40 is swung around a support shaft 44 by an actuator 42, the first bag body 12A is folded upward around the perforation 20 provided between the horizontal seal portion 14 of the first bag body 12A and the second bag body 12B as a fulcrum, so that the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A is folded up onto the back surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B and the header 18 is positioned on the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C to form a folded state of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10, and the shape of the folded state is not limited to the embodiment.
The actuator 42 swings the support shaft 44 in the forward and reverse directions. The operation of the actuator 42 is controlled by the control device based on the detection signal from the non-contact sensor. As the actuator 42, for example, a conventionally known actuator such as a rotary actuator operated by air pressure or an electric motor can be used.
Therefore, the actuator 42 causes the folding claw 40 to swing between a retracted position below the conveying surface 27, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), and a folded position in which the folding claw 40 protrudes above the conveying surface 27, folding the first bag body 12A upward, and folding the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A upward onto the back surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B, as shown in FIG. 3 (B).
Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3 (C), when the folded state of the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 is formed, the first bag body 12A is folded onto the second bag body 12B, so that a difference in height of one bag body is generated between the height of the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A relative to the conveying surface 27 and the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C.

As shown in Figures 1(B) and (C), the transfer device 32 is disposed above the conveyor belt 26, and adsorbs the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C of the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 in a folded state, transfers them from above the conveyor belt 26, and packs them into a box 36.
In FIG. 1B, the transfer device 32 is shown in three different states in order to explain the process of movement of the transfer device 32.
As shown in FIGS. 3A to 3E, in this embodiment, the transfer device 32 includes a suction head 46 and a transfer robot 48.
The suction head 46 includes a support member 50 , a first suction portion 52 A, a second suction portion 52 B, and a height adjustment member 54 .
The support member 50 has an elongated shape and extends in the horizontal direction.
The first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B are configured by bellows-shaped suction pads of the same shape attached to the support member 50.
The first suction unit 52A and the second suction unit 52B are connected to a negative pressure generating device (not shown) via a pipeline, and thereby suction the bag body by the negative pressure acting on the first suction unit 52A and the second suction unit 52B. Furthermore, when the negative pressure from the negative pressure generating device is released, the suction of the bag body by the first suction unit 52A and the second suction unit 52B is released. The operation of such a negative pressure generating device is controlled by the above-mentioned control device in cooperation with the operation of the transfer robot 48 described later.
The height adjustment member 54 is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad that constitutes the second suction portion 52B and the support member 50, and absorbs the difference in height between the surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C on the conveying surface 27.

The transfer robot 48 is provided on the upper part of the frame 24 .
As shown in FIG. 1B, the transfer robot 48 moves the suction head 46 in three directions: the X-axis, the Z-axis, and around the Z-axis.
That is, the transfer robot 48 is configured to include an up-down movement mechanism (not shown) that moves the suction head 46 in an up-down direction (Z-axis direction) relative to the conveying surface 27, a horizontal movement mechanism (not shown) that moves the suction head 46 in a direction parallel to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 26 (X-axis direction), and a rotational movement mechanism (not shown) that rotates the suction head 46 around the Z-axis.
Since various conventionally known robots can be used as the transfer robot 48, a detailed description of the configuration will be omitted.
The suction head 46 which has sucked the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C of the triple-packet bag with header 10 in the folded state is moved by the transfer robot 48, whereby the triple-packet bag with header 10 in the folded state is transferred from the conveyor belt 26 and packed into a box 36.
The control of such a transfer robot 48 is performed in accordance with a control program pre-installed in the transfer robot 48, and the control operation of the transfer robot 48 is performed in cooperation with the control device described above. However, since such control is well known, a detailed explanation of the control operation of the transfer robot 48 will be omitted in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the box conveying device 34 is provided at the bottom of the frame 24 .
The box transport device 34 is composed of a roller conveyor 3402 provided at the bottom of the frame 24 along the longitudinal direction of the frame 24 .
The box conveying device 34 conveys the box 36 in the X-axis direction, conveys the box 36 to a predetermined position, holds it at the predetermined position, and conveys the box 36 from the predetermined position to the outside of the frame 24 when the transfer device 32 has finished packing the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the folded state. The predetermined position is the position where the transfer device 32 packs the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the folded state.
The operation of the box transport device 34 is controlled by the above-mentioned control device in coordination with the operation of the transfer robot 48.

As shown in Figures 1(A)-(C), the box 36 is a cardboard box and has a rectangular bottom 3602 that is placed on the box conveying device 34, four side portions 3604 rising from the four sides of the bottom 3602, and four upper flaps 3606 connected to the upper ends of each side portion 3604.
The bottom 3602 is formed by folding inward the four lower flaps connected to the lower ends of each side 3604, and the packaging of the box 36 is completed by folding inward the four upper flaps 3606 to close the top.

Box 36 is rectangular in plan view, with a length along the long side of the rectangle, a width along the short side of the rectangle, and a height perpendicular to the length and width, and is placed on box conveying device 34 with its length direction aligned with the conveying direction of box conveying device 34 and its width direction aligned with a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of box conveying device 34.
On the box conveying device 34, the four flaps 3606 on the upper side of the box 36 are raised, and the inside of the box 36 is open upward.
Also, as shown in FIG. 1A, the inner dimension between a pair of side portions 3604 opposing each other in the width direction of the box 36 is defined as the widthwise inner dimension W0, and the inner dimension between a pair of side portions 3604 opposing each other in the length direction of the box 36 is defined as the lengthwise inner dimension L0.
Also, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the four upper flaps 3606 of the box 36 are folded to close the top of the box 36, the inner height dimension from the bottom 3602 of the box 36 to the upper flaps 3606 is defined as the inner height dimension H0.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the widthwise inner dimension W0 of the box 36 is formed to be approximately equal to the lengthwise dimension L1 of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the folded state.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the inner length L0 of the box 36 is approximately four times the width W1 of the header-attached triple-pack bag 10. As shown in FIG.
In addition, the inner height dimension H0 of the box 36 varies depending on the specifications of the number of folded three-piece bags with headers 10 to be stored in the box 36, in other words, the number of layers of folded three-piece bags with headers 10 to be stacked and stored in the box 36.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, the inner height dimension H0 of the box 36 is six times the height dimension H1 of each bag body, and a case will be described in which three layers of folded header-equipped triple-pack bags 10 can be stacked and stored inside the box 36.
In addition, the top, sides, bottom, etc. of box 36 are printed with illustrations, letters, numbers, symbols, etc. indicating the products contained within box 36, or stickers are affixed thereto, and the vertical position (top and bottom) of box 36 is determined.
In this embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the box 36 is not inverted upside down on the box conveying device 34, and the folded triple-packet bag 10 with header is placed inside the box 36 from the top of the opening surrounded by the four upright upper flaps 3606.

Next, the operation of the automatic packing device 22 will be described with reference to FIG.
It is assumed that an empty box 36 is previously held in a predetermined position by the box conveying device 34 .
The header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 discharged from a bag making, filling and packaging machine (not shown) is transferred from the discharge conveyor 38 onto the transport surface 27 of the conveyor belt 26.
As described above, the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 is transported with the back surface 1204 facing up and the front surface 1202 placed on the conveying surface 27 of the conveyor belt 26, with the third bag body 12C, which is located opposite the header 18, positioned forward in the conveying direction and the header 18 positioned rearward in the conveying direction.
Based on a detection signal from a non-contact sensor (not shown), the conveyor belt 26 is stopped at a stop position by a control device (not shown).
Then, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped at the stop position, the control device controls the fixing suction device 28 to adsorb the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C from below, thereby fixing and holding the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 on the conveyor belt 26.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, while the three-piece bag with header 10 is maintained in a fixed and held state on the conveyor belt 26 by the fixing suction device 28, i.e., while the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C are fixed and held, the folding device 30 swings the folding claws 40 from the retracted position to the folding position, thereby folding the first bag body 12A upward and folding the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A onto the back surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B with the front surface 1202 facing up, and forming a folded state of the three-piece bag with header 10 with the header 18 positioned on the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C.
Therefore, the difference in height between the front surface 1202 of the first bag 12A and the rear surface 1204 of the third bag 12C on the conveying surface 27 is equal to the height of one bag.

Then, as shown in Figures 3 (C) and (D), with the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 fixed and held on the conveyor belt 26 by the fixing suction device 28 and with the folding claws 40 of the folding device 30 positioned in the folding position, the suction head 46 is lowered from above the conveying surface 27 of the conveyor belt 26 by the transfer robot 48 under the control of the control device, and the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A is adsorbed by the first suction portion 52A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C is adsorbed by the second suction portion 52B.
As described above, the height adjustment member 54 is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad that constitutes the second suction portion 52B and the support member 50, and absorbs the difference in height between the surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C on the conveying surface 27, thereby ensuring that the first suction portion 52A can adsorb the surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the second suction portion 52B can adsorb the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C.
In addition, by suctioning the front surface 1202 of the first bag 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag 12C with the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B with the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 fixedly held on the conveyor belt 26 by the fixing suction device 28 and with the folding claws 40 of the folding device 30 positioned at the folding position, the first bag 12A is prevented from returning to its original shape before folding due to the elasticity of the packaging film forming the header-equipped three-piece bag 10. Therefore, it is possible to reliably suction the front surface 1202 of the first bag 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag 12C with the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B.
Then, at the stage (time point) when the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B have suctioned the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C, the suction of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 by the fixing suction device 28 is released by control of the control device, in other words, the fixed holding of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 on the conveyor belt 26 by the fixing suction device 28 is released.
Also, at the same time as or before or after this release of fixed retention, the folding claws 40 of the folding device 30 are swung from the folding position to a retracted position, and the binding of the folding claws 40 to the surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A of the header-equipped three-part bag 10 in the folded state is released.

3(E), the suction head 46 moves upward by the transfer robot 48 under the control of the control device, moves to above the empty box 36, rotates 90 degrees around the Z axis, and then moves downward, releasing the suction by the first suction unit 52A and the second suction unit 52B, thereby placing the folded three-piece bag with header 10 on the bottom 3602 of the box 36. Note that the angle of the transfer robot 48 around the Z axis is defined as 0 degrees when the suction head 46 performs suction on the folded three-piece bag with header 10 fixed on the conveying surface 27 by the suction fixing device 28.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, the folded triple-pack bag with header 10 is placed on the bottom 3602 of the box 36 with the length direction aligned with the width direction of the box 36.
This series of operations shown in Figures 3(A)-(E) is repeated three times, while moving the position of the suction head 46 in the X-axis direction (the position in the length direction of the box 36) by the width dimension of the header-equipped three-packet bag 10 at a time, so that the folded header-equipped three-packet bags 10 are lined up in four pieces in the width direction, and the first layer of folded header-equipped three-packet bags 10 are stored in the bottom 3602 of the box 36.
In addition, when the transfer robot 48 transfers the folded three-pack bag 10 with a header from the conveying surface 27 of the conveyor belt 26, the folding claws 40 of the folding device 30 are maintained in the retracted position under the control of the control device, and negative pressure is generated by the fixing suction device 28, preparing to fold the next three-pack bag 10 with a header.

Once the first folded triple-packet bag 10 with headers has been stored, the series of operations shown in Figures 3(A)-(E) is repeated four times to stack the second folded triple-packet bag 10 with headers on top of the first folded triple-packet bag 10.
However, when transferring the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the second folded state to the box 36, the transfer robot 48 rotates the suction head 46 -90 degrees around the Z axis and places it there, as shown in Figure 4(B), unlike the case of the first tier shown in Figure 4(A).
In other words, when the portion of the three-part bag with a header 10 in the folded state where the first bag body 12A and the second bag body 12B are overlapped is designated as the overlapping portion 11A, and the portion of the third bag body 12C is designated as the non-overlapping portion 11B, the three-part bag with a header 10 is packed into a box by the transfer device 32 while changing the posture of the three-part bag with a header 10 in the folded state so that the overlapping portions 11A and the non-overlapping portions 11B are stacked alternately.
In this manner, the overlapping portions 11A and non-overlapping portions 11B of the folded three-part packet bag with header 10 are stacked alternately, thereby preventing unevenness in the height of the folded three-part packet bag with header 10 contained within the box 36.
In this way, by stacking four folded triple-packet bags 10 with headers in two layers, a total of eight folded triple-packet bags 10 with headers are accommodated in the box 36.
Here, when storing a total of 12 triple-packet bags with headers 10, it is sufficient to stack four triple-packet bags with headers 10 in a third folded state on top of one triple-packet bag with headers 10 in a second folded state, and in this case, the posture of the triple-packet bag with headers 10 in the third folded state should be the same as that of the triple-packet bag with headers 10 in the first folded state.
In this case, in the three-part bag with header 10 folded in the third tier, a difference in height of one bag body occurs between the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C, but the deviation in height of the three-part bag with header 10 in the folded state contained within the box 36 is minimal.

Furthermore, when a total of ten triple-packet bags with headers 10 are to be stored, two triple-packet bags with headers 10 in the third folded state may be stacked on top of a triple-packet bag with headers 10 in the second folded state, in which case the position of the triple-packet bag with headers 10 in the third folded state may be such that its length direction is inclined at an angle of, for example, 45 degrees with respect to the length direction of the triple-packet bag with headers 10 in the second folded state. Such an inclined position is advantageous in improving the aesthetic appearance when the box 36 is opened.
When storing a total of ten triple-packet bags 10 with headers, two of the folded triple-packet bags 10 with headers may be packed in the box so as to be positioned in the first tier, or they may be packed in the box so as to be positioned between the first and second tiers, and the order of arrangement is arbitrary.
In addition, the posture of the two folded triple-packet bags with headers 10 can be adjusted without tilting, i.e., the length direction of the two folded triple-packet bags with headers 10 can be aligned with the length direction of the folded triple-packet bags with headers 10 of an adjacent row, and the posture can be set appropriately according to the required specifications.

When the packing of the determined number of folded triple-package bags 10 with headers is completed in this manner, the box 36 is transported downstream in the transport direction from a predetermined position by the box transport device 34, and the next empty box 36 to be packed is transported to a predetermined position and stopped, completing preparation for the next packing operation.
Thereafter, the above-mentioned series of operations is repeated.
When the box 36 is opened after the packaging is completed, the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A of the folded header-attached triple-pack bag 10 faces upward, and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C faces upward, so that the box does not look out of place when opened.

In this embodiment, in order to simplify the explanation, a case has been described in which the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 is packed into the box 36 from the top of the open box 36 without turning the box 36 upside down (top and bottom).
However, in many cases, the box 36 is first turned upside down and the header-equipped triple-pack bag 10 is packed into the box 36 through the open bottom 3602. In this case, the four flaps 3606 at the top of the box 36 are folded to form the bottom 3602, and the four flaps at the bottom of the box 36 are left open.
The case where the box 36 is turned upside down and packed in this manner will be described below.
In the following description, it is assumed that one box 36 contains a total of ten triple-package bags 10 with headers in a folded state.

First, the folded three-part packets 10 with headers are arranged in two rows at an angle of 45 degrees (that is, when the package is opened, the two rows of folded three-part packets 10 with headers are located on the top row).
At this time, the folded header-attached triple-packet bag 10 is placed so that the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C face the four flaps 3606 of the box 36. Therefore, when the package is opened, the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C of the top two rows of the triple-packet bag face upward.
Next, four of the folded three-part packets with headers 10 are lined up and placed inside box 36 as the second tier, as in the case of the first tier in this embodiment.For the third tier, the posture of the folded three-part packets with headers 10 is changed so that the overlapping portions 11A and non-overlapping portions 11B are stacked alternately in the second and third tiers, as in the case of the second tier in this embodiment.
In this way, a total of 10 triple-pack bags are packed into a box.
Even when the box 36 is thus turned upside down for packing, the two folded header-equipped triple-packet bags 10 may be packed in the box so as to be positioned between the first and second tiers, or in the third tier, as in the case described above, and the order of their placement is arbitrary.
In addition, when the box 36 is packed upside down, the top and bottom of the box 36 are in the correct position when the box 36 is opened, so that the surfaces 1202 of the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the folded state face upward, and therefore there is no awkward appearance.
In other words, whether the box 36 is packed with the top and bottom in the correct position or with the top and bottom inverted, when the box 36 is opened, the appearance of the folded triple-packet bag with header 10 inside the box 36 is not awkward.

In addition, in the first embodiment and the modified example described above, a case in which 10 or 12 triple-packet bags 10 with headers are packed in a box is described, but the number of triple-packet bags 10 with headers to be packed in a box is arbitrary.

As described above, according to this embodiment, while the second bag body 12B and the third bag body 12C of the three-piece bag with a header 10 are fixed and held, the first bag body 12A is folded upward, with the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A facing up, onto the back surface 1204 of the second bag body 12B, and the header 18 is positioned on the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C to form a folded state of the three-piece bag with a header 10, and the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C of the folded three-piece bag with a header 10 are adsorbed and transported from the conveyor belt 26 and packed into a box 36.
When forming a three-part bag with a header 10 in a folded state, if the third bag body 12C located opposite the header 18 is folded over onto the second bag body 12B, as opposed to the present embodiment, the header 18 will be located outside the contour of the first bag body 12A when the three-part bag with a header 10 in the folded state is viewed in a plane, and therefore the header 18 will interfere with the inner surface of the box 36 and get in the way when packing the bag, which is disadvantageous in reliably and efficiently packing the three-part bag with a header 10 in the folded state into the box 36.
In contrast, in the present embodiment, when the folded three-part bag with header 10 is viewed in a plane, the header 18 is positioned inside the contour of the third bag body 12C, so that the header 18 does not interfere with the inner surface of the box 36 during packing, which is advantageous in ensuring that the folded three-part bag with header 10 can be packed reliably and efficiently.
In addition, since the header 18 of the folded triple-packet bag with header 10 packed in a box does not interfere with the inner surface of the box 36 and deform, the triple-packet bag with header 10 taken out of the box 36 after opening does not have a fold in the header 18, which does not cause a problem of impairing the appearance of the triple-packet bag with header 10 when it is displayed in a store.
In the case of a triple-pack bag without a header, the first bag body 10A may be folded onto the second bag body 10B as in the embodiment, or the third bag body 12C may be folded onto the second bag body 12B, which is advantageous in packing the folded triple-pack bag without a header reliably and efficiently into the box 36.
In addition, when folding the third bag body 12C onto the second bag body 12B, the folding claw 40 is positioned below the third bag body 12C, and the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B of the fixed suction device 28 are configured to suction the surfaces of the first bag body 12A and the second bag body 12C.
In addition, when folding the third bag body 12C onto the second bag body 12B, the positions of the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B of the transfer device 32 can be reversed from the positions shown in Figure 3, and the second suction portion 52B can be configured to suction the back surface of the first bag body 12A, and the first suction portion 52A can be configured to suction the front surface of the third bag body 12C.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B of the transfer device 32 are composed of bellows-shaped suction pads of the same shape attached to a support member 50 extending horizontally, and a height adjustment member 54 is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad constituting the second suction portion 52B and the support member 50 to absorb the difference in height between the surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C on the conveying surface 27.
Therefore, the folded three-part bag with header 10 can be reliably and stably adsorbed by the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B of the transfer device 32, which is advantageous in reliably and efficiently packing the folded three-part bag with header 10 into a box.
In addition, when the third bag body 12C is folded on top of the second bag body 12B, a height adjustment member 54 that absorbs the difference in height between the front surface 1202 of the third bag body 12C and the height of the back surface 1204 of the first bag body 12A can be similarly provided between the bellows-shaped suction pad that constitutes the second suction portion 52B and the support member 50.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the packing of the header-equipped three-piece bag 10 by the transfer device 32 is performed while changing the posture of the folded header-equipped three-piece bag 10 so that the overlapping portions 11A and the non-overlapping portions 11B are stacked alternately.
Therefore, since it is possible to minimize the vertical height imbalance of the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 in the folded state contained within the box 36, this is advantageous in reducing waste of volume in the box 36, making the box 36 more compact, and reducing the cost of the box 36.

Second Embodiment
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that instead of providing a height adjustment member 54 on the transfer device 32, a bag body displacement device 56 is provided to displace the third bag body 12C upward, but the other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment.
In other words, in the case of a three-piece bag with a header 10, when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped at the stop position, there is no need to place a folding claw 40 below the third bag body 12C of the three-piece bag with a header 10, so in the second embodiment, a bag body displacement device 56 is provided below the third bag body 12C that has stopped at the stop position.
As shown in Figure 6 (B), when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped, the bag body displacement device 56 displaces the third bag body 12C upward so that the height of the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A relative to the conveying surface 27 approximately matches the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C.
As shown in Figure 6 (B), a bag displacement device 56 is provided to displace the third bag body 12C upward so that the height of the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A relative to the conveying surface 27 approximately matches the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped.

The bag body displacement device 56 includes an actuator 58 and a displacement plate 60 .
The actuator 58 is composed of a pneumatic cylinder provided between the pair of conveyor belts 2602 and below the conveyor surface 27 .
The pneumatic cylinder comprises a cylinder body 5802 formed in a shaft shape, and a rod 5804 extending from one axial end of the cylinder body 5802, and the cylinder body 5802 is arranged with one end facing upward.
The displacement plate 60 is a flat plate having an upper surface parallel to the transport surface 27 , and the center of the lower surface is attached to the tip of the rod 5804 .
When the conveyor belt 26 is stopped, the upper surface of the displacement plate 60 is disposed so as to directly face the surface 1202 of the third bag body 12C of the header-equipped triple-package bag 10 in the folded state.
When the pneumatic cylinder is not in operation, the rod 5804 retracts into the cylinder body 5802 , and the displacement plate 60 moves to a lower position located below the conveying surface 27 .
When the pneumatic cylinder is actuated, the rod 5804 protrudes from the cylinder body 5802 , and the displacement plate 60 moves to an upper position located above the conveying surface 27 .
Therefore, when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped, the pneumatic cylinder is activated and the displacement plate 60 displaces the third bag body 12C upward so that the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C approximately matches the height of the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A relative to the conveying surface 27.
The operation of the air cylinder is controlled by the above-mentioned control device in coordination with the operation of the transfer robot 48.
The actuator 58 only needs to be able to displace the third bag body 12C upward by means of the displacement plate 60, and in addition to an air cylinder, an electromagnetic solenoid or a combination of a motor and a link mechanism may be used, and various actuators known in the art can be used.

According to the second embodiment, not only can the same effects as those of the first embodiment be achieved, but also, when the conveyor belt 26 is stopped, the third bag body 12C is displaced upward by the bag body displacement device 56 so that the height of the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C approximately matches the height of the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A relative to the conveying surface 27. Therefore, the front surface 1202 of the first bag body 12A and the back surface 1204 of the third bag body 12C of the three-pack bag with header 10 in the folded state can be reliably and stably adsorbed by the first suction portion 52A and the second suction portion 52B, which is advantageous in reliably and efficiently packing the three-pack bag with header 10 in the folded state into a box.
When the third bag body 12C is folded onto the second bag body 12B, a bag body displacement device 56 may be provided below the first bag body 12A of the triple-pack bag 10 in a similar manner.

In addition, in the embodiment, a case has been described in which a header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 is transferred from the discharge conveyor 38 to the conveyor belt 26 with the third bag body 12C, which is located opposite the header 18, positioned forward in the conveying direction and the header 18 positioned rearward in the conveying direction.
However, the present invention can of course also be applied in the opposite case where the header-equipped triple-packet bag 10 is transferred from the discharge conveyor 38 to the conveyor belt 26 with the third bag body 12C, which is located opposite the header 18, positioned rearward in the conveying direction and the header 18 positioned forward in the conveying direction.
In this case, the location where the folding claw 40 is provided may be changed to a location opposite to that of the embodiment in the conveying direction, and the other configurations are the same as those of the embodiment.

10 Triple-packet with header (triple-packet)
11A overlapping portion 11B non-overlapping portion 12A first bag body 12B second bag body 12C third bag material 1202 surface 1204 back surface 14 horizontal seal portion 16 vertical seal portion 18 header 1802 hole 20 perforation 22 automatic boxing device 24 frame 26 conveyor belt 2602 conveyor belt 2604 through hole 2610 driving roller 2612 driven roller 27 conveying surface 28 fixing suction device 30 folding device 32 transfer device 34 box conveying device 36 box 3602 bottom 3604 side 3606 flap 38 discharge conveyor 40 folding claw 42 actuator 44 support shaft 46 suction head 48 transfer robot 50 support member 52A first suction portion 52B second suction portion 54 height adjustment member 56 bag body displacement device 58 actuator 5802 Cylinder body 5804 Rod 60 Displacement plate

Claims (5)

An automatic boxing device for three-piece bags, which folds a three-piece bag formed by connecting a first bag body, a second bag body, and a third bag body, the three-piece bag having a surface on which a product name and a pattern are printed and a back surface opposite to the surface on which a vertical seal portion is formed, and packs the three-piece bag into a box,
a conveyor belt that runs with the triple-packet bag placed on it with the back side facing up;
a fixing suction device that, when the conveyor belt is stopped at a stopping position for transferring the triple-packet bag from the conveyor belt into the box, sucks the surfaces of the second bag body and the third bag body or the first bag body and the second bag body from below and fixes and holds them on the conveyor belt;
a folding device for forming a folded state of the triple-pack bag by folding the first bag or the third bag upward while the second bag and the third bag or the first bag and the second bag are fixed and held, so that the front surface of the first bag is facing up and the back surface of the second bag is folded, or the front surface of the third bag is facing up and the back surface of the second bag is folded;
a transfer device that is disposed above the conveyor belt and that adsorbs the front surface of the first bag body and the back surface of the third bag body of the folded triple-package, or that adsorbs the back surface of the first bag body and the front surface of the third bag body of the folded triple-package, and transfers the triple-package from above the conveyor belt and packs it into the box;
An automatic boxing device for triple-pack bags, comprising: The three-part bag is a three-part bag with a header, in which a header is provided on the first bag body,
In the folded state, the first bag body is folded upward and folded onto the back surface of the second bag body with the front surface of the first bag body facing up, and the header is positioned on the back surface of the third bag body.
2. The automatic boxing device for three-piece bags according to claim 1. the conveyor belt has a conveying surface on which the triple-packet bag is placed,
the transfer device includes a first suction unit having an adsorption surface that adsorbs a surface of the first bag body or a surface of the third bag body, and a second suction unit having an adsorption surface that adsorbs a back surface of the third bag body or a back surface of the first bag body,
The first suction portion and the second suction portion are formed of bellows-shaped suction pads having the same shape and attached to a support member extending in a horizontal direction,
a height adjustment member is interposed between the bellows-shaped suction pad constituting the second suction portion and the support member, the height adjustment member absorbing a difference in height between the front surface of the first bag body and the rear surface of the third bag body on the conveying surface, or a difference in height between the front surface of the third bag body and the rear surface of the first bag body.
2. The automatic boxing device for three-piece bags according to claim 1. the conveyor belt has a conveying surface on which the triple-packet bag is placed,
the transfer device includes a first suction unit having an adsorption surface that is adsorbed to a surface of the first bag body or a surface of the third bag body, and a second suction unit having an adsorption surface that is adsorbed to a back surface of the third bag body or a back surface of the first bag body,
The first suction portion and the second suction portion are formed of bellows-shaped suction pads having the same shape and attached to a support member extending in a horizontal direction,
a bag body displacement device is provided which displaces the third bag body upward at the stop position so that the height of the rear surface of the third bag body approximately matches the height of the front surface of the first bag body relative to the conveying surface, or displaces the third bag body so that the height of the rear surface of the first bag body approximately matches the height of the front surface of the third bag body relative to the conveying surface.
2. The automatic boxing device for three-piece bags according to claim 1. When the folded triple-pack bag has a portion where the first bag body and the second bag body are overlapped as an overlapping portion and the portion of the third bag body is a non-overlapping portion, or when the folded triple-pack bag has a portion where the third bag body and the second bag body are overlapped as an overlapping portion and the portion of the first bag body is a non-overlapping portion,
The packing of the three-part bag by the transfer device is performed while changing the posture of the folded three-part bag so that the overlapped portions and the non-overlapping portions are stacked alternately.
5. The automatic boxing device for three-piece bags according to claim 1, wherein the three-piece bag is automatically boxed.

Images