JP2024064341A - Binding method using an automatic pallet packing machine and band kink prevention device - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a method for binding objects to be bound in an automatic pallet packaging machine while preventing band curl. [Solution] When packaging using an automatic pallet packaging machine having an arch erected to surround objects to be bound loaded on a pallet, a band for binding is fed out along the erected arch, and then the band is pulled back and removed from the arch, and the object is wrapped around the outer periphery of the object to be bound to bind it. Any remaining band not used for binding is sent to a band storage pool, and before the next packaging process, the fed band is quickly pulled out of the band storage pool and stored in a flat storage means provided. This reduces problems in the packaging work such as band clogging and poor binding, and enables efficient automatic packaging work to be achieved. [Selected drawing] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic pallet packaging machine that wraps bands around the outer circumference of items to be bound, such as cardboard boxes, loaded onto a pallet, and is particularly concerned with preventing band tendencies, such as bending and folding, that can occur in the binding bands used.

In recent years, automatic packaging machines have been widely used in packaging work. For example, the machines load items to be bundled, such as cardboard boxes, onto a pallet, wrap the outer circumference of the items to be bundled with a band made of thermoplastic resin, and fuse and bundle them by applying heat and pressure. Such automatic packaging machines often have an arch for guiding the band so that it can be placed around the items to be bundled.

In such an automatic packaging machine, the band is supplied along the arch for guiding the band, and then the supplied band is tightened and removed from the arch while wrapping the band around the outer circumference of the object to be bound. The overlapping parts of the band are then welded to bind the object. Any excess band that is removed from the arch by tightening and not used for binding is temporarily stored in a band storage pool (hereinafter also referred to as a back pool box) provided in the packaging machine body (see, for example, Patent Document 1). When a new packaging operation (banding) is to be performed, the band that was temporarily stored in the band storage pool is pulled out and sent out again to the arch. This makes it possible to send out the band with less force.

There has also been a proposal for an automatic packaging machine equipped with a mechanism that adjusts the amount of band pooled in the back pool box to the appropriate amount required for each package (see, for example, Patent Document 2). This is said to stabilize the delivery of the bands and allow packaging work to be carried out without any problems.

JP 2005-104495 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-10117

However, if the bands temporarily stored in the band storage pool were simply pulled out and supplied to the band guide arch, problems could arise with smooth feeding (discharge) to the band guide arch or proper binding.

The present invention aims to solve the problems of the conventional technology and provide a bundling method and a band curl prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine that can prevent band curl, particularly near the tip of the band being fed, so that the band can be smoothly fed to the band guide arch in the automatic pallet packaging machine.

To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the inventors conducted extensive observations and studies on the storage state of the bands temporarily stored in the band storage pool.

As a result, it was found that the bands that were tightened and sent into the band storage pool sometimes collided with the side walls or were stored in a complex curved state, or were folded over each other. It was found that if bands stored in such a state were sent out of the band storage pool to the arch for the next packaging process, the bands would get stuck in the arch or would not rotate properly due to the bands having tendencies caused by bending or breaking.

The inventors then realized that in order to prevent the occurrence of band curl, it is necessary to minimize the amount of band initially stored in the band storage pool, and came to the realization that in addition to the band storage pool, it is necessary to provide a separate band storage means (flat storage means) that can store the band in a flat state without twisting, etc., in order to prevent band curl.

The present invention has been completed based on these findings and through further investigation.
[1] A method for binding objects to be bound using an automatic pallet packaging machine having an arch erected so as to surround the objects to be bound loaded on a pallet, and a band delivery means and a band storage pool on the side from which the binding bands are delivered to the arch,
a band sending step of sending out the band along the erected arch;
a band pulling back process of gripping the tip end of the band that has been fed out and pulling back the band;
A tightening process in which the band is removed from the arch while being wound around the outer periphery of the object to be tied, and a band welding process in which the front end of the band and the rear end of the band are overlapped and the overlapped portion is welded.
a band cutting step of cutting the band at the overlapping portion;
The object to be bound is bound,
The method for bundling using an automatic pallet packaging machine further comprises a band evacuation process for sending the excess band that has not been used for bundling into the band storage pool, and a band storage process for pulling out one end of the band that has been sent to the band storage pool and storing it in a flat state so that it can be pulled back.
[2] The method for bundling using an automatic pallet packaging machine described in [1], characterized in that the band is made of polypropylene resin.
[3] A band curl prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine that automatically ties up objects to be tied on a pallet with a binding band, comprising:
The apparatus includes an arch erected so as to surround the object to be bound, and a band delivery means and a band storage pool on the side where the band is delivered to the arch,
The band sending means is a means for sending out the band along the arch, pulling back the sent-out band, and sending the pulled-back band to the band storage pool, and the band storage pool is a pool for temporarily storing the sent-in band, and further,
A band kink prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine, comprising: a band storage means for storing the band that has been temporarily stored in a retractable, flat state.
[4] The band curl prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine described in [3], characterized in that the band storage pool has a pool width of (band width) to (band width + 5 mm).

According to the present invention, the amount of bands temporarily stored in the band storage pool installed in the automatic packaging machine can be reduced, and bands that are free of band tendencies such as bending, folding, and twisting can be sent to the arch. This reduces problems during packaging such as band clogging and poor binding, and achieves efficient automatic packaging operations, providing significant benefits to the industry.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic overview of a band curl prevention device according to the present invention; 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of an automatic packaging machine to which the present invention can be applied; FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a band sending-out roll.

The present invention is a bundling method that can prevent the occurrence of band curling in the bundling bands used when performing packaging work to automatically bundle objects to be bundled using an automatic pallet packaging machine. The present invention includes a (band feeding process), a (band pulling back process), a (band tightening process), a (band welding process), and a (band cutting process), and further includes a (band retraction process) and a (band storage process). This makes it possible to bundle objects to be bundled and prevent the occurrence of band curling in the bundling bands.

In the present invention, the automatic pallet packing machine 10 used is, as shown in FIG. 2, an automatic pallet packing machine 10 having at least an arch 11 erected so as to surround the objects 1 to be bound loaded on a pallet 7, and a band sending means 4 and a band storage pool 3 on the side (main body 100) that sends out the bands 2 for binding to the arch 11.

Furthermore, the automatic pallet packaging machine 10 used in the present invention is equipped with a band storage means 5 (flat storage means 5) as a band curl prevention device, as shown in Figure 1. With the band storage means 5 (flat storage means 5), the bands temporarily stored in the band storage pool can be pulled out by the band sending means 4 and stored in a flat state so that they can be pulled back.

The band 2 is made of a thermoplastic resin. An example of a thermoplastic resin is polypropylene resin. It is preferable that the arch 11 has a U-shaped groove formed therein and has a holding mechanism (not shown) that can hold the band 2 removably within the U-shaped groove. There is no need to be limited to a specific holding mechanism, and any known band holding mechanism can be used.

First, in the present invention, the automatic pallet packing machine 10 configured as described above is used to automatically bundle objects while preventing the formation of band curls.

The present invention has a band delivery process, a band retraction process, a band tightening process, a band welding process, and a band cutting process in this order, and further includes a band retraction process and a band storage process.

Each step will be explained below.
(Band sending process)
In the band delivery process, the bundling band 2 is pulled out from the band reel 6, passes through the band storage pool 3, and is delivered by the band delivery means 4 along the erected arch 11. The band delivery means 4 has a band clamping means 41 and a band delivery roll 44. If the band clamping means 41 is a roll (roller) as shown in FIG. 2, the band can be gripped by the band delivery roll 44 when not driven. The band delivery roll 44 can be, for example, a roll provided with a driving means and a control means and capable of forward and reverse rotation. If the roll is capable of forward and reverse rotation, it can be provided with a function of, for example, rotating forward to deliver the band and reversing to pull back the band.
(Band pull-back process)
In the band retraction process, after the tip of the sent-out band 2 reaches a predetermined position, the tip of the band is held by a band tip holding roll 41 (band clamping means) while the band 2 is pulled back by a band sending-out roll 44, and the band 2 is removed from the arch 11.
(Band tightening process)
In the band tightening process, the band 2 is further pulled back while the band tightening means 45 tightens the band 2 around the outer periphery of the object 1. It is preferable that the band tightening means 45 is provided so as to pull the band 2 by moving up and down by a cam 46.
(Band welding process)
In the band welding process, after the band 2 has been wound and tightened, the leading end and the trailing end of the band 2 are overlapped. Then, the overlapped portion (overlapped portion) is welded by a band welding means 42.
(Band cutting process)
In the band cutting step, the band 2 is cut at the overlapping portion using the band cutting means 43, and the object 1 to be bound is bound.

This series of packaging steps is preferably carried out using the band delivery means 4 (band clamping means 41, band delivery roll 44), band tightening means 45, band welding means 42, and band cutting means 43, which are arranged in the main body 100 of the automatic pallet packaging machine 10 as shown in Figure 2. It goes without saying that the band delivery means 4, band welding means 42, band cutting means 43, band tightening means 45, etc., together with the band storage pool 3, are arranged as the main body 100 so that they can move integrally with the objects to be bound, in order to facilitate efficient automatic packaging operations.

In the present invention, after the series of packaging steps described above and before the next series of packaging steps, a band retraction step and a band storage step are provided, which can prevent the band from becoming creased in the next series of packaging steps.
(Band evacuation process)
In the band evacuation process, the excess band 2 that has been cut off and is not used for bundling is further pulled back by the band delivery roll 44 and sent to the band storage pool 3, where it is temporarily stored for evacuation.
(Band storage process)
In the band storage process, one end of the band 2 stored in the primary storage is quickly pulled out from the band storage pool 3 by the band delivery roll 44, and stored in the band storage means 5 so that it can be pulled back in a flat state. Here, the band storage means 5 is a flat storage means that can store the band in a flat state without bending, folding, twisting, etc., in order to prevent the band from becoming creased. The "flat storage means" here refers to a flat area that can store the band without bending, folding, twisting, etc. For example, in a commonly used automatic packaging machine, when an arch erected for guiding the band has a lower arch 111, the lower arch 111 can be used as the "flat storage means 5".

Although this varies depending on the type of band used, when the band 2 is made of polypropylene resin, it is preferable to send the band 2 to the flat storage means 5 if it takes 10 seconds or more from the time the band 2 is temporarily stored in the band storage pool 3 until the start of the next bundling process.

In addition, storing one end of the band 2 (a specified length of the tip) in the flat storage means 5 reduces the occurrence of bending at the tip of the band. Furthermore, storing the band 2 in the flat storage means 5 reduces the amount of band stored in the band storage pool 3, further reducing the occurrence of band tendencies such as bending, folding, and twisting, reducing problems during packaging work and improving the efficiency of packaging work.

The band curl prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine used in the binding method of the present invention is a device that can prevent the occurrence of band curl in the series of packaging processes described above, and preferably has a band delivery means 4, a band storage pool 3, and further has a flat storage means 5.

The band delivery roll 44, for example, rotates forward to deliver the band 2 along the arch (band guide arch) 11 attached to the automatic pallet packaging machine 10. On the other hand, it rotates in the reverse direction to pull back the band 2, removing the band 2 delivered to the arch 11 from the arch 11 and delivering it to the band storage pool 3. To enable such operations, it is preferable to provide the band delivery roll 44 with a driving means such as a motor that can be normally used in forward and reverse directions. It is also preferable to connect a control means such as a timer to this driving means, and adjust the timing and driving time of the band delivery roll 44 to adjust the timing of delivery and retraction of the band, and the length of the band that is delivered and retracted.

As shown in FIG. 3, it is preferable that the band delivery roll 44 is combined with another roll (41, 44) so as to sandwich the band 2. From the viewpoint of band delivery, it is preferable that the pair of rolls is a combination of a urethane roll and a steel roll. In this case, a drive means is provided on at least one of the rolls (the band delivery roll).

In order to carry out the above-mentioned series of packaging steps, in addition to the band delivery roll 44, it is preferable to further have a band clamping means 41 that grips the leading and trailing ends of the band, a band tightening means 45 that tightens the band for tightening, a band welding means 42 that overlaps the leading end of the tightened band with the trailing end of the tightened band and heat-welds the overlapping portion, and a band cutting means 43 that cuts the band at the band overlapping portion. It is more preferable to use a clamping means that sandwiches the band between the rolls 41 and 44 as the band clamping means. It is also preferable to use a band welding means that has both a heating mechanism consisting of a heater and a pressurizing mechanism that pressurizes the heated band, and is a means that can heat the band to a predetermined temperature, pressurize it, and cool it to weld the overlapping portion. Any cutting means commonly used as a cutting tool can be used as the band cutting means.

In addition, it is preferable to adjust the pool width of the band storage pool 3 to approximately the band width to (band width + 5 mm) so that the band can be stored in a loop shape so that the fed band does not get twisted.

Furthermore, the band storage means 5 is a flat storage means 5 that can store the bands temporarily stored in the band storage pool in a flat state so that they can be pulled out and returned by the band sending means 4.

The present invention will be further explained below based on examples.

The objects to be bound were bound using an automatic pallet packing machine with an arch for guiding the band, as shown in Figure 2. Polypropylene resin bands (width: 15 mm) were used as the binding bands. The objects to be bound were bundles of cardboard (height: 2000 mm, width: 1500 mm) placed on a pallet.

The band 2 pulled out from the band reel 6 was passed through the band storage pool 3 arranged in the main body 100 of the automatic packaging machine 10, and was supplied (sent out) along the arch 11 using the band sending means 4. Then, after the tip of the band 2 was gripped by the band clamping means, the supplied band 2 was pulled back and removed from the arch 11, while the pulled back band 2 was sent into the band storage pool 3, where it was wrapped around the outer periphery of the bound object 1, the tip and rear ends of the band were overlapped, and the overlapping portion was welded to bind the bound object 1, completing a series of packaging steps. Then, the band was cut at the band overlapping portion, and the band 2 not used for binding (excess band) was sent into the band storage pool 3 for temporary storage.

Immediately after this series of packaging steps, the band delivery means 4 (band delivery roll 44) is driven to pull out a predetermined length (2.6 m) from the tip of the temporarily stored band 2 from the band storage pool 3 and store it in the flat storage means 5 shown in Figure 1. Before the next packaging step, the band is stored in the flat storage means 5 until the start of the next bundling step (example of the present invention).

As a result, in the present invention, there was no bending of the band, and the band was able to be fed smoothly onto the arch and the objects to be bound were bound smoothly.

As a comparative example, the bands 2 stored in the initial storage were not removed from the band storage pool 3, and the next packaging process was carried out after a predetermined time (1 hr) had elapsed.

In the comparative example in which the bands were not stored in the flat storage means, the bands were bent or broken, and the bands were not smoothly fed (sent out) to the arch, reducing the efficiency of the packaging work.

1 Object to be bound 2 Band 3 Band storage pool 4 Band delivery means 41 Band tip gripping roll (band clamping means)
42 Band welding means 43 Band cutting means 44 Band delivery roll 45 Band tightening means 46 Cam 5 Band storage means (flat storage means)
6 Band reel 7 Pallet 10 Pallet automatic packing machine 100 Main body 11 Arch 111 Lower arch

Claims (3)

A method for binding objects to be bound using an automatic pallet packing machine having an arch erected so as to surround the objects to be bound that are loaded on a pallet, a band delivery means on a side for delivering bands to the arch, and a pool for storing bands,
a band sending step of sending out the band along the erected arch;
a band pulling back process of gripping the tip end of the band that has been fed out and pulling back the band;
A tightening process in which the band is removed from the arch while being wound around the outer periphery of the object to be tied, and a band welding process in which the front end of the band and the rear end of the band are overlapped and the overlapped portion is welded.
a band cutting step of cutting the band at the overlapping portion;
The object to be bound is bound,
The method for bundling using an automatic pallet packaging machine further comprises a band evacuation process for sending the excess band that is not used for bundling into the band storage pool, and a band storage process for pulling out one end of the band that has been sent to the band storage pool and storing it in a flat state so that it can be pulled back. A band curl prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine that automatically ties up objects to be tied on a pallet with a binding band, comprising:
The apparatus includes an arch erected so as to surround the object to be bound, and a band delivery means and a band storage pool on the side where the band is delivered to the arch,
The band sending means is a means for sending out the band along the arch, pulling back the sent-out band, and sending the pulled-back band to the band storage pool, and the band storage pool is a pool for temporarily storing the sent-in band, and further,
A band kink prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine, comprising: a band storage means for storing the band that has been temporarily stored in a retractable, flat state. The band kink prevention device for an automatic pallet packaging machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the band storage pool has a pool width of (band width) to (band width + 5 mm).

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