JP2841156B2 - Method and apparatus for shrinking heat-shrinkable flat tube - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat-shrinkable flat tube which is opened, for example, as a cap seal or a tubular label to a container or the like by opening a soft tube made of synthetic resin and folded flat. The present invention relates to a shrink method and an apparatus therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a blow-molded container is generally provided with a tubular heat-shrinkable label. After the tube is opened, the tube is externally fitted to the container, and then heat shrunk by a shrink device.

[0003]

Since the above-mentioned tube is usually stored in a flat state, when the tube is opened, folds with a kinks are formed at both ends thereof. Therefore, the entire tube is heated for a long time in order to eliminate the fold when the tube is mounted, so that the entire container is heated together with the tube and expands.

As a result, the tube is mounted on the container in an expanded state. When the temperature of the container rises immediately after the tube is mounted, the tube is in close contact with the container, but the tube shrinks with time. In spite of the fact that the container is almost nonexistent, the container cools and shrinks, so that the tube may loosen and run idle, or wrinkles and looseness may partially occur. In particular, for example, when the container is a bottle made of polyethylene or polypropylene formed by blow molding and the tube is a label made of a heat-shrinkable polyester, there is a drawback that the above problem becomes conspicuous due to a difference in expansion coefficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and effectively suppresses heating and expansion of a container when the tube is heated and contracted, so that the tube becomes slack with respect to the container and idles. It is an object to prevent wrinkles or wrinkles from being generated in a tube.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made as a flat tube shrinking method and apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problems. The characteristic of the flat tube shrinking apparatus is that the flat tube is shrunk. A heat-shrinkable flat tube shrink device, wherein a heat-shrinkable tube (6) is externally fitted to a container (5) and provided with a heating device for heating and shrinking the tube (6), wherein the heating device is a container (5). Heat the entire surface of the tube (6) externally fitted with hot air
By doing so, a first heating means (12) for shrinking the tube (6) by a predetermined amount, and both fold portions (6a) formed on the tube (6) shrunk by the first heating means (12)
And a second heating means (25) for further heating.

A feature of the flat tube as a shrink method is that an open flat heat-shrinkable tube (6) is fitted over a container (5), and folds formed at both ends of the tube (6). part (6a) switch to the extent that the peripheral is not in close contact
After heat shrinking the entire surface of the tube (6) with hot air ,
The object is to mount the tube (6) to the container (5) by heating the vicinity of the both folds (6a) by infrared radiation heat .

A feature of the heat-shrinkable flat tube as a shrink device is that the heat-shrinkable flat tube has a shrink nozzle for ejecting hot air to the heat-shrinkable flat tube 6 externally fitted to the container 5. In the nozzle body 13 to which hot air is supplied, a plurality of hot air adjusting plates 14 are provided swingably, and the nozzle body 13 can be detachably attached to the side wall 11 of the shrink device body 10. It is to be provided in.

[0009]

According to the present invention, first, the tube 6 fitted outside the container 5 is contracted by the first heating means 12 by a predetermined amount. At this time, the tube 6 is hardly shrunk.
It is only necessary to shrink the other part while the shrinkage of 6a is incomplete, and it is possible to effectively prevent the container 5 from being heated.

Further, since the two fold portions 6a of the tube 6 which are not completely contracted are intensively heated and contracted by the second heating means 25, the container 5 is only partially heated. For this reason, the expansion of the container 5 due to its temperature rise can be suppressed as compared with the case where the entire container is heated.
Even if the container 5 is cooled after the mounting, the amount of shrinkage is reduced, and the close contact state of the tube 6 can be improved.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a shrink device, and a number of containers 5 (for example, polyethylene bottles formed by blow molding) are conveyed by a belt conveyor 3 at intervals in an arrow direction. The tube 6 is heated and shrunk as a label externally fitted on the tube 6.

The tube 6 is formed by forming a synthetic resin film made of a heat-shrinkable film of polyester or the like into a cylindrical shape and then winding it into a roll, cutting it out to a predetermined length while feeding it out. It is opened by an opening device (not shown) and externally fitted to the container 5. The tube 6 externally fitted to the container 5 has both folds 6 a
However, they face both sides with respect to the transfer direction.

The shrink device 1 has a first contraction zone A and a second contraction zone B from the upstream side in the transport direction of the container 5. The first shrinking zone A is a heating means for preheating which heats the tube 6 from the upstream side until immediately before the start of shrinking.
A first heating means 12 comprising a heating means 9b for shrinking the heated tube 6 is provided. The preheating heating means 9a and the shrinking heating means 9b are each configured such that a plurality of hot air adjusting nozzle bodies 8 (shrink nozzle bodies) are arranged on both sides of the container 5 so as to blow hot air toward the tube 6.

Each of the hot-air adjusting nozzle bodies 8 is configured as a unit, and is detachably attached to a side wall 11 of the apparatus main body 10. As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, each of the hot-air adjusting nozzle bodies 8 has a plurality of hot-air adjusting plates 14 swingably provided in a rectangular main body 13 having an open front surface. That is, the base of each hot-air adjusting plate 14 is pivotally supported by the upper wall 16 and the lower wall 18 via the pivot 20, and the upper wall 16 of the main body 13 has a notch length corresponding to the number of the adjusting plates 14. The hole 17 is formed in an arc shape around the pivot 20 of each adjustment plate 14.

A guide pin 22 protruding from the upper end of each adjustment plate 14 is inserted into each notch long hole 17, so that each adjustment plate 14 is centered on the pivot 20. And the distance between the adjusting plates 14 facing each other can be adjusted.

In the rear wall 26 of the main body 13, an opening 24 for taking in hot air is formed between the adjusting plates 14 facing each other. Accordingly, hot air sent from a hot air supply device (not shown) is supplied into the main body 13 through the opening 24, and the facing adjustment plate 14
By adjusting the interval, the amount of hot air jetted to the tube 6 can be adjusted, and the direction of hot air jetting can be adjusted by the swing angle of the adjusting plate 14.

A mounting piece 27 protrudes upward from the upper wall 16 of the main body 13, and a locking opening 29 as a locked means is formed at an upper end thereof. A hook 30 is fixed to the side wall 11 of the apparatus main body 10 as a locking means and is detachably hooked through each locking opening 29. A fixed body 33 is provided on the lower wall 18 via a bracket 32 so as to be rotatable.
It is provided so as to be freely detachable from 10.

The size and shape of the nozzle body 8 are appropriately determined so that hot air can be blown onto the entire surface of the tube 6 mounted on the container 5. The nozzle body 8 can be attached to the side wall 11.

The second shrinking zone B is provided with infrared heaters 25 on both sides of the container 5.
The radiant heat by 25 allows the folds 7 on both sides of the tube 6 to be partially concentrated and heated.

The embodiment of the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration. Next, the tube 6 is connected to the container 5 by using the apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration.
A description will be given of a case in which the camera is mounted on a computer. The container 5 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the tube 6 is transported by the belt conveyor 3 with the tube 6 fitted outside, and reaches the first contraction zone A.
In the first contraction zone A, first, the tube 6 is heated by the preheating heating means 9a to a temperature just before the contraction is started. For example, when the contraction temperature of the tube 6 is 60 ° C., the tube 6 is heated to approximately 60 ° C.

At the time of this heating, hot air is ejected from the hot air adjusting nozzle bodies 8 on both sides. By adjusting the interval between the adjusting plates 14, the jet power and the amount of hot air can be adjusted and the adjusting plate 14 swings. The direction of the hot air can be arbitrarily set according to the moving direction, the hot air can be jetted uniformly over the entire tube 6 transferred together with the container 5, and the amount and temperature of the hot air supplied to each hot air adjusting nozzle body 8 are: It is controlled by a control device not shown.

Further, since the hot air controlled by the control device is blown out from the hot air adjusting nozzle body 8 of the shrinking heating means 9b, the tube 6 is further heated and shrunk. As shown in FIG. 8, immediately after the hot air is blown out, the tube 6 contracts rapidly, but the temperature of the container 5 rises substantially linearly. Therefore, at the beginning of heating, the tube 6
The diameter ratio (label margin ratio) S sharply decreases, for example, when the label margin ratio becomes 0.5% as shown in FIG. (Shrinked to the extent that it comes into close contact with the container 5).
The container 5 is transferred to the contraction zone B.

In the second contraction zone B, infrared rays are partially irradiated around the both folds 6a, and both folds 6a are heated and contracted.
As shown in (c), it is attached to the container 5 in close contact. The container 5 is also heated by the infrared rays. However, since the heating is only a part, expansion due to a rise in the temperature of the container 5 can be suppressed more effectively than when the entire tube 6 is heated. .

Therefore, the shrinkage of the container 5 due to cooling after the tube 6 is mounted on the container 5 is small, so that the close contact of the tube 6 with the container 5 can be improved, and wrinkles and looseness can be prevented. Can be.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the first heating means 12 is constituted by the preheating heating means 9a and the contraction heating means 9b.
The first heating means 12 does not need to have a separate heating device as described above, and may be a single heating device.

The container may be other than a bottle made of blow molded polyethylene or the like. In other words, it is used for a container that expands thermally when the tube 6 is contracted by heating, such as a container made of other various synthetic resins. It is possible.

In addition, the heating condition of the tube 6 in the first contraction zone A and the second contraction zone B is appropriately set in consideration of the expansion rate due to the material of the container 5 and the tube 6, and the heating temperature in each zone and The transfer speed of the container 5 is controlled by the control device.

[0028]

As described above, in the tube shrinking apparatus according to the present invention, the heating device heats the entire surface of the tube externally fitted to the container with hot air, whereby the first heating shrinks the tube by a predetermined amount. Means, and a second heating means for further heating both folds formed in the tube contracted by the first heating means, so that the first heating means first suppresses the temperature rise of the container. The tube is shrunk by a predetermined amount, and further, the second heating means can partially heat and shrink both folds that require relatively long heating time. The expansion of the container can be reduced as compared with the case where the entire tube is heated until it contracts.

As a result, even if the container is made of a polyethylene or polypropylene bottle and the tube is made of a heat-shrinkable polyester film, the amount of shrinkage of the container is reduced and the label is loosened and rotated carelessly. It is possible to prevent the label from being wrinkled or wrinkled.

According to the present invention, a plurality of hot air adjusting plates are provided in a nozzle body to which hot air is supplied so as to be swingable,
In addition, since the nozzle body is detachably attached to the side wall of the shrink device main body, the nozzle body can be easily and quickly attached to and detached from the shrink device, and can be used according to the size of each tube. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the shrink device.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view showing a contracted state of the tube.

FIG. 4 shows a shrink nozzle body of the present invention;
Is a sectional plan view, and (b) is a sectional side view.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the shrink nozzle body.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the shrink nozzle body.

FIGS. 7A and 7B show a tube shrinking step, wherein FIG. 7A is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where the tube is externally fitted to the container, FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional plan view showing a state where the tube is heated by the first heating means, FIG. () Is a cross-sectional plan view in a state where the tube is heated by the second heating means.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a relationship between a container and a tube during heating.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 ... Container, 6 ... Tube, 6a ... Fold part, 12 ... First heating means, 13 ... Nozzle body, 14 ... Hot air adjusting plate, 29 ... Locked part, 30 ... Locked part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65C 1/00-11/06 B65B 53/00-53/06

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A shrink device for a heat-shrinkable flat tube, wherein an open flat heat-shrinkable tube (6) is fitted around a container (5) and provided with a heating device for heat-shrinking the tube (6). In the above, the heating device comprises a container (5).
Heat the entire surface of the tube (6) externally fitted with hot air.
And by a first heating means for the tube (6) by a predetermined amount contraction (12), both folds formed in the contracted tube (6) by the first heating means (12) and (6a) further A shrink device for a heat-shrinkable flat tube, comprising a second heating means (25) for heating. 2. An open flat heat-shrinkable tube (6) is externally fitted to a container (5), and the folds (6a) formed at both ends of the tube (6) do not come into close contact with each other. H
After heat shrinking the entire surface of the tube (6) with hot air ,
A method for shrinking a heat-shrinkable flat tube, comprising heating the periphery of the both fold portions (6a) by infrared radiation heat and mounting the tube (6) to the container (5). 3. A flat tube fitted externally to a container (5).
Nozzle body for shrinking to blow hot air into the tube (6)
A heat-shrinkable flat tube shrink device having
In the nozzle body (13) to which hot air is supplied,
A hot air adjusting plate (14) is provided swingably, and
The shell body (13) is the side wall of the shrink device body (10).
(11) that it is provided detachably
Characteristic heat shrinkable flat tube shrink device.