JP4641855B2 - Packaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a packaging apparatus having a foreign object detection function, and more particularly to a packaging apparatus that performs packaging in a so-called “pillow packaging” with respect to a packaging form.

  A situation where a foreign object is mixed in food significantly reduces the trust of the food manufacturer. Therefore, each food manufacturer places a foreign object detector in the final process part of the production line and ships it. At present, careful attention is paid so that no foreign matter is mixed in the product (food).

  This situation does not change even when food is packaged.

  However, when food is placed in an aluminum pack or the like, it is difficult to detect the foreign matter because the foreign matter detector reacts with the aluminum film as the packaging material.

Under these circumstances, Tok Engineering Co., Ltd. (head office: 26-28 Higashimatsubara, Hakonezaki, Mizuho-cho, Nishitama-gun, Tokyo) A foreign object detector capable of accurate detection is provided (see Patent Document 1).
International publication number: WO03 / 027659

By the way, in the case of a horizontal pillow type packaging device, which is a kind of pillow type packaging device, the overall length is larger than that of other types of packaging devices due to the packaging form. If an attempt is made to further dispose a foreign matter detector, the entire production line (packaging line) becomes extremely long.
That is, in the case of this horizontal pillow type packaging device, a guillotine type or rotary type “top seal portion” is located at the rear end of the device, and this “top seal portion” bites a finger or the like. Therefore, the “Japan Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Association”, which is a safety standard, has voluntarily defined “Packaging and Packaging” so that it conforms to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO Standard) and Japan Industrial Standard (JIS Standard). When trying to satisfy the “Safety Standard for Packing Machinery-2004” Standard, the tip of the transfer line is extended from the danger area to a predetermined distance (for example, 850 mm), and the operator's hand reaches the danger area. If it is necessary to keep it out of reach, and if you try to install a foreign object detector on the downstream side, the packaging line will be extremely long, and it will fit in the factory for relatively small food manufacturers. Become in La no length.

  The present inventor has been made in view of such a situation, and has a foreign object detection function with a short overall length by organically combining the characteristics of the horizontal pillow type packaging apparatus and the characteristics of the foreign object detector. An object is to provide a packaging device.

  The object of the present invention can be solved by a packaging device having the following configuration.

The packaging device according to the present invention is a so-called “horizontal pillow type packaging device”.
A film supply device is disposed at an upper part or a lower part of the base end of the transport line for transporting an article to be packaged, and a center seal part is provided above or below the transport line on the downstream side, and the center seal part Further, a top seal portion is provided on the further downstream side, and a detection gate of the foreign object detector is provided in the vicinity of the rearward flow direction of the top seal portion, and an opening portion that allows access to the top seal portion is covered. It is characterized by being arranged so as to be substantially occluded except for an object passage area.

  According to the packaging apparatus according to the present invention having the above-described configuration, a product in which the opening of the detection gate of the foreign object detector that allows access to the top seal portion that was the “dangerous area” is packaged. The top seal portion is substantially closed except for the lower region through which the operator passes, so that the operator's hand or the like cannot be inserted through the opening on the foreign matter detector side. Therefore, the predetermined distance required to the top seal portion according to the standard is not applicable. Therefore, in the conventional packaging device, because of the “standard” related to the “dangerous area”, by using a part of the part that has become a dead space, the foreign object detector is arranged, so that the “standard” is satisfied. It can be cleared, in other words, safety can be ensured, and the length of the conventional packaging device can be made shorter. In addition, a foreign object detection function can be added to the packaging device.

  Further, in the packaging device according to the present invention, the packaging device includes a control device that controls ON-OFF and operation of the packaging device, and the control device detects foreign matter from the foreign matter detector. When it is configured to stop the operation of the packaging device upon receipt of a signal, if an operator inserts his / her hand into the opening of the foreign object detector, the wristwatch or finger is worn on the wrist. The foreign object detector reacts to the ring that has been placed, and the operation of the packaging device is immediately stopped. Therefore, this foreign object detector can also be used as a safety device.

  Hereinafter, a packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a side view showing a general configuration of a packaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention with a cover removed, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof.

A packaging apparatus A according to an embodiment of the present invention is a so-called horizontal pillow type packaging apparatus, and as shown in FIG. 1, a base end portion of a conveying line (a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor) C of the packaging apparatus A The film supply device 1 is provided in the upper portion of the film, and the film F from the film roll of the film supply device 1 is directed toward the conveyance surface C1 of the conveyance line C through the first former 2 provided in the middle. Turned and supplied in the form of an inverted U-shape. And the film F supplied with this reverse U-shaped form is supplied so that the to-be-packaged goods B currently conveyed on the conveyance surface C1 may be wrapped from upper direction.
And both ends Fe of the film F which covered the to-be-packaged object in the said reverse U shape are the bottom side of the to-be-packaged object B by the 2nd former 4 (refer FIG. 2) provided below the conveyance surface C1. It will be in the state where the inner surfaces are facing each other.
In such a state, both ends of the film F are welded by the pair of center seal rollers 5 (5A, 5B) that are provided in two pairs apart in the transport direction, and the packaged object is formed of the film F. It will be in a state of being located inside the cylinder. That is, the center seal roller pair 5 performs a so-called “center seal”. Of course, the film F is made of a heat-weldable material. Alternatively, a film in which a welding agent is applied to a position where the film is to be bonded can be used even if the film itself does not have heat-weldability. In this specification, the concept including such a film is referred to as a “heat-weldable film”.

  In addition, the peripheral surface of the roller of the center seal roller pair 5 is heated by an embedded heater so as to have a temperature (high temperature) appropriate for performing the welding. The center seal roller pair 5 constitutes a “center seal portion” in the claims.

And the film F which wraps the to-be-packaged object center-sealed by the said center-seal roller pair 5 is made to flow backward by the conveyance conveyor 6 which comprises a part of conveyance line (left side in FIG. 1, FIG. 2). In the state where the article to be packaged B is pressed from above by the press belt conveyor 7 which can be moved up and down and disposed above the conveyor 6 via the space, the conveyance direction of the article B to be packaged The so-called “top seal” is made by the top seal portion 8 positioned at the front and rear ends (right end and left end in FIGS. 1 and 2). The top seal portion 8 may be of a known configuration, for example, a guillotine type in which a pair of seal holders move from the top and bottom to the transport surface at an appropriate timing and are sandwiched from the top and bottom to perform the top seal, or A so-called “rotary type” configuration may be used. In this embodiment, a guillotine type is adopted.
The guillotine-type top seal portion 8 is driven by a pair of cam mechanisms 8C in synchronization with each other, and has an upper seal holder 8A that descends and a lower seal holder 8B that ascends. And each front-end | tip part of the said upper seal holder 8A and the lower seal holder 8B is comprised so that it may become suitable temperature (high temperature) for welding the said film F by being heated with the heater embedded.

When the top seal holder 8A and the bottom seal holder 8B of the top seal portion 8 are brought into contact with each other to perform sealing of the film F (top seal), the portion where the top seal portion 8 is provided. The two conveyors 6 (6A, 6B) connected in the above are retracted relatively back and forth to form a space in which the upper seal holder 8A and the lower seal holder 8B can move up and down to the transfer surface C1. ing.
And the top seal part 8 comprised as mentioned above becomes what is called a "dangerous area" said by safety standards. The center seal portion is also a “dangerous area”.

For this reason, in this embodiment, a foreign object detector 9 is disposed adjacent to the downstream side of the top seal portion 8. As shown in FIG. 3, the foreign object detector 9 includes a detection gate having a gate shape as a whole, and an opening 9A of the detection gate formed in the center has a cover. The height and width are set such that the package B can pass through.
Accordingly, by disposing the foreign object detector 9 on the downstream side of the dangerous area (top seal portion 8), the dangerous area is substantially blocked from behind by the foreign object detector 9. That is, the operator's hand is substantially inaccessible from the rear to the danger zone due to the arrangement of the foreign object detector 9, and therefore, up to the top seal portion 8 defined by the “standard”, The necessary predetermined distance (predetermined dimension) is not required, and as a result, there is no need to extend the conveying conveyor or the like meaninglessly from the top seal portion 8 to the downstream side. That is, in the case of the packaging apparatus A, the distance L from the top seal portion 8 to the rear end side of the packaging apparatus A is provided by disposing the foreign object detector 9 even though the foreign object detector 9 is provided. (See FIG. 1) can be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the entire length of the packaging device A itself.

  In addition, in this embodiment, when the foreign object detector 9 detects metal, all the operations of the packaging device A are immediately stopped, so that the operator who is in charge of the packaging device A is made of metal. If the operator's hand is inserted into the center seal portion from the opening 9A of the foreign object detector 9, the foreign object detector 9 detects the ring. The control device of the packaging device A stops the operation of the packaging device A. For this reason, also in this respect, safety can be improved.

  Further, in the case of the packaging apparatus A according to this embodiment, when foreign matter is mixed in the packaged object, the packaged object B packaged by the film F is moved downward at the downstream end of the packaging apparatus A. A tilt-type slider 10 (see FIG. 1) is disposed so that it is dropped. In other words, if foreign matter is mixed in the package B, a signal to that effect is transmitted from the foreign matter detector 9 to the control device of the packaging device A, and the control device is arranged at the downstream end of the packaging device A. The slider 10 provided is further tilted from a predetermined inclination angle by using an actuator (not shown) (for example, a motor or a cylinder), and the packaged item B is dropped downward. Therefore, it is possible to easily discriminate the packaged object B mixed with foreign matters and remove it from the transport line.

  In addition, the packaging device A detects foreign matter mixed inside by passing only an article to be packaged in a state where the center seal roller 5, the top seal portion 8 and the film supply device 1 are stopped. Needless to say, it can be used as a detection device.

  As another example, when the foreign object detector itself is arranged so as to be movable up and down in the height direction, and is raised and lowered according to the height of the package, the closed state of the opening is adjusted. Even when the height of the package changes greatly, the configuration is further desirable in that the closed state can be easily maintained. In addition, instead of configuring the foreign object detector itself to be movable up and down, a baffle plate that can be moved up and down is disposed at the opening of the foreign object detector.

  The packaging device according to the present invention can be used for packaging foods and other items to be packaged.

It is a side view in the state where the cover which shows the outline composition of the whole packaging device concerning one example of the present invention was removed. It is the top view which removed the upper part of the packaging apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and abbreviate | omitted one part structure. It is the perspective view which showed notionally the state of the foreign material detector arrange | positioned in the packaging apparatus shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and the top seal part arrange | positioned in the upstream.

Explanation of symbols

A ... Packaging equipment
B ... Package
C ... Conveying line
F ... Film
1 ... Film supply device
5. Center seal roller (center seal part)
8 ... Top seal part
9 ... Foreign object detector
9A ... Opening

Claims (1)

In horizontal pillow type packaging equipment,
A film supply device is disposed at an upper part or a lower part of the base end of the transport line for transporting an article to be packaged, and a center seal part is provided above or below the transport line on the downstream side, and the center seal part A foreign substance capable of detecting metal with a detection gate in the form of a gate provided with an opening having a height and a width that allows a packaged article to pass therethrough, while providing a top seal portion further downstream the detector, disposed adjacent to the flow way after the top seal portion, configured so that the opening of the top seal portion is substantially closed from the rear by the foreign matter detector,
Further, the packaging device includes a control device that controls ON-OFF and operation of the packaging device, and when the control device receives a signal indicating that a foreign material has been detected from the foreign material detector, A packaging device configured to stop operation.

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