JP5546336B2 - Cap sealing device and cap sealing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cap sealing device that seals a cup as a packaging container and a cap placed on the cup from the outside by heat shrinkage of a narrow film, and a cap sealing method thereof .

  An elongated tube film is covered from the top around the cup containing the packaged object, and the entire cup is sealed by heat shrinkage of the tube film. In this case, a device for sealing the cup and the cap placed on the cup is considerably used. It has existed since ancient times. Recently, however, the use of a large amount of unnecessary packaging material has become unpopular because the packaging company is obliged to recycle the packaging material. In this regard, in Patent Document 1 below, a short tube film covering only the mouth portion of the cup is placed on the mouth portion of the cup, and the cup and the cap placed thereon are sealed by heat shrinkage of the tube film. An apparatus is disclosed.

JP-A-11-1253 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-61418

  However, in the case of the above apparatus, a short tube film is stacked vertically in the guide pipe, and each time the cup reaches the lower area of the guide pipe and stops, the tube flume falling from the guide pipe is sequentially applied to the cup. In such a structure, it is necessary for the work to have a step of bending the upper edge of the tube film in advance and forming an engagement piece so that each falling tubeflum is caught by the mouth part of the cup and stops. Moreover, each cup has a problem of inefficiency because of its intermittent transfer due to its structure.

  In the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, welding is performed on a belt conveyor for transporting an object to be packaged with a pair of seal bars approaching from both sides between the leading ends of narrow strip films supplied from both sides of the belt conveyor. After that, the object to be packaged is pushed into the welded joint portion by the belt conveyor, the belt-like film is pulled out forward, and the belt-like film is welded with a pair of seal bars on the back side of the article to be welded. A technique for binding an object to be wrapped with a sheet of heat-shrinkable belt-like film is disclosed. If the object to be packaged is replaced with a cup and the strip film is supplied to the mouth portion, it is not impossible to wind the strip film around the mouth portion of the cup. Moreover, each belt-like film is buffered by a tension roll, and consideration is given so that the object to be wrapped can be easily clamped by a pair of seal bars. However, this type of intermittent transfer packaging structurally has an efficiency limit of around 30 per minute.

The present invention responds to changes in the caliber of the cup, and is intended to wrap a band-like film around the mouth of the cup. From the both sides of the level conveyor, the cups are mounted and transported in tandem. Means for supplying heat-shrinkable strip films to both sides of the mouths of the cups arranged in a row; a restraining conveyor arranged in parallel with the level conveyor for restraining and transporting the cups at equal intervals; direction of conveyance, the place to level the conveyor opposite sides of the cup opening region rearward by restraining conveyor, and a pair of rotary sealers to rotate relative to the tracking direction with respect to the cup passing therebetween, drives said rotary sealer The controller, which is the controller of the servo motor, stores each film usage length corresponding to each cup diameter as a numerical value and uses it. The diameter value of the cup and entering the controller with at input means, the length of the drawer the stored each film used length numeric was adapted to the diameter of the input has been cup to the agreement with the respective strip-like film used length The start timing of the servo motor is configured so as to be transmitted to the servo motor from the controller so that the rotary sealer seals and cuts the belt-like film at a portion.

  The "cup diameter" described in the claims is the cup diameter itself, but if the outer diameter of the cap covering the cup is larger than the outer diameter of the cup, it indicates the outer diameter value of the cap. Shall. Therefore, if the cup has a diameter of 100 mm, the required length of the band-like film joined to wind it is 100 × circumferential ratio = 314 mm, and the required length of each band-like film supplied from both sides of the cup is The half value of 314 mm is 157 mm.

A restraint conveyor restrains and conveys each cup at equal intervals, and the cup opened in the open area passes between a pair of rotating sealers by the conveying force of the level conveyor.

When the cup caliber value “100 mm” is input to the controller in advance by the input means, the controller calculates the film length required for the cup caliber, The controller transmits the start timing of the servo motor that drives the rotary sealer so as to seal and cut. As a result, the rotation sealer that started rotating as soon as the start timing arrives rotates relative to the cup passing between them in the tracking direction, squeezes the belt-shaped film from both sides, winds around the cup and seals it at the same time Cut the middle part of this seal part.

If the narrowing force on the cup by the belt-like film is too strong, the reaction force acts as a peeling force of the heat-welded portion of the belt-like film. On the other hand, if the force for narrowing the cup by the belt-like film is weak, there is a possibility that the annular belt-like film will drop off naturally around the cup. In this regard, the pair of rotary sealers activated by the signal calculated by the controller seals the pre-calculated portion of the strip film to form an accurate length annular film. After that, the cup is sent to the heat generation region, and the cap seal is completed by the heat shrinkage of the belt-like film.

  The present invention makes it possible to wrap a band-like film only around the mouth of a cup of a packaging container, and can prevent the use of an unnecessary large amount of packaging material.

Plan view of equipment including block diagram Plan view of the entire device Enlarged front view of the device Front view of rotating sealer Plan view of the previous figure Relationship between cup caliber and film length Illustration of cup Side view of level conveyor The top view of the whole cap seal apparatus of Example 2 of this invention The partial front view of the cap seal apparatus of Example 2 of this invention Partial side view of the cap seal device of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the fall prevention mechanism Production process of Example 2 and perspective view of completed packaging container Perspective view of another embodiment of the packaging container Front view of the manufacturing process of the packaging container of the other embodiment

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

FIG. 2 showing the entire plane of the apparatus shows a level conveyor 11 that carries the cups 10 mounted in tandem, and as shown in the front view of FIG. A pair of restraining conveyors 13 supported on both sides are arranged. The restraining conveyor 13 is provided with two rubber blades 14 per set on the belt 15 constituting the restraining conveyor 13 at equal intervals, and the body of the cup 10 is sandwiched between the two blades 14 of each set from both sides. As a result of restraining the cup 10, the cup 10 is conveyed at equal intervals with the rotation of the belt 15 and at the same speed as the level conveyor 11.

  Further, in FIG. 2, means 17 for supplying the heat-shrinkable belt-like film 16 is disposed on both sides of the cup 10 that is aligned along the pair of side rollers 23 from both sides of the level conveyor 11. Although detailed illustration of the means 17 is omitted, the belt-like film 16 wound around the reel is sent out by the rotation of the feeding roll. In addition, although the opening | mouth part of each cup 10 is sealed with the cap, when the magnitude | size of a cap changes, it is necessary to change naturally the feeding amount of the strip | belt-shaped film 16 wound around it.

  A pair of rotary sealers 18 and 19 are installed on both sides of the level conveyor behind the open area of the restraining conveyor 13 in the transport direction of the cup 10, and these rotary sealers 18 and 19 track the moving cup 10. It is the structure which rotates in the direction to do.

  On both sides of the cup 10 covered by the cap 20 shown in FIG. 4, rotary sealers 18 and 19 are fixedly disposed at the lower ends of a pair of shafts 22 supported and suspended by the frame 21. A pair of gears 25 and 26 which are fixed to the upper ends of the shafts 22 and engage with each other are interlocked with the power transmitted from the outside, and relatively rotate the pair of rotary sealers 18 and 19. The rotation direction is a direction in which the progress of the cup 10 is tracked, as indicated by an arrow 27 in FIG.

  The rotary sealer 18 on one side is provided with a plate blade 28 that fits the push-cut at the center of the tip, and the rotary sealer 19 on the other side has a blade receiving plate 29 embedded in the tip. The one-side rotary sealer 18 has a heat insulating plate 30 fixed to both ends of the rotary sealer 18 so as to protrude from the front end surface thereof, so that the strip film 16 does not directly contact the rotary sealer 18 heated by the pipe heater 31. Then, the heat-insulating plate 30 competes toward the cup 10 while supporting the belt-like film 16, and finally, the two belt-like films 16 are welded by abutting the end surfaces of the rotary sealers 18 and 19 between the heat-insulating plates 30. .

As shown in FIG. 1, the servo motor 33 which is the power source of the rotary sealers 18 and 19 is controlled by a controller 34. The controller 34 includes an input means 35 and a memory 36. Is connected.

FIG. 6 displays the caliber values of various cups from 70 mm to 100 mm along the horizontal axis in increments of 5, 0 mm, while the vertical axis corresponds to the caliber of the cup represented by the horizontal axis. The required length of the strip film is indicated in mm. For example, a cup with a diameter of 70 mm requires a pair of strip-shaped film supplies of 109 and 90 mm, respectively, and a cup with a diameter of 75 mm requires a pair of strip-shaped films with a length of 117 and 75 mm, respectively. The required film length value with respect to the numerical aperture value is represented by a straight upward slanting line 37.

  As a general use example of a cup having a diameter of 70 mm to 100 mm, there are many cases for packaging instant foods. For example, the size of the container varies depending on the type of the package, such as a miso soup container that is edible by pouring hot water or a soup vermicelli vegetable soup. Accordingly, a container other than the numerical aperture shown in FIG. 6 may be used depending on the type of package, and in any case, the memory 36 in FIG. It functions as the storage means.

In FIG. 1, when the caliber of the cup 10 to be used is input from the keyboard input means 35 to the controller 34, the controller 34 calculates the numerical value of the length of the belt-like film adapted to the input caliber of the cup. Pulled out from the memory 36, the timing of starting the servo motor 33 is measured. Then, the pair of rotary sealers 18 and 19 are activated by the servo motor 33 to seal and cut the portion indicated by the length value of the strip film 16 . In this case, the pair of rotary sealers 18 and 19 rotate in the direction in which the cup 10 is tracked and transport each cup without stopping, which is suitable for mass production.

  In addition to the keyboard, the input means 35 can display numerical values of various cups on a monitor, for example, and input the numerical values by touching these numerical values with a fingertip.

  In FIG. 7 (a), the belt-like film 16 wound around the cup 10 forms a longitudinal seal margin 38 at the symmetrical portion thereof. The belt-like film 16 has a length calculated from the diameter of the cup 10 and does not tighten the cup 10 unnecessarily, so there is no reaction force that peels off the seal allowance 38 from the cup 10 side. The annular film 16 can also be prevented from falling downward. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7B, the belt-like film 16 that contracts due to the external thermal action maintains the tension and the cap 20 against the cup 10. This will improve the sealing performance.

  The distance 40 between the installation position of the rotary sealer 18 in FIG. 2 and the pulley 12 in the open area of the restraining conveyor 13 is increased 41 in accordance with the increase in the diameter of the cup 10, and it is essential to secure the necessary amount of film according to the diameter. It is. In this case, the cup 10 is configured to be displaced in the direction of an imaginary line, and the slack of the belt 15 corresponding to the cup 10 can be tensioned by the tension pulley 42 in which a spring force acts.

  In FIG. 3, the slider 43 that supports the pulley 12 of the restraining conveyor 13 on both sides is slidable along the rail 44, and the position of the pulley 12 changes in accordance with the change in the diameter of the cup 10 described in the previous paragraph. Can do. At the same time, the interval 50 between the rails 44 on both sides can be adjusted in accordance with the change in the diameter of the cup 10 by, for example, rotation of a screw rod having left and right screws having different screw inclination directions.

  The base 45 that supports the level conveyor 11 can be displaced along the vertical guide rod 46. When the height value of the cup 10 is changed, the base 10 is moved under the base without moving the position of the upper surface of the cup 10. The height of the level conveyor 11 is changed by the lift 47 in the area.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the lift 47 can be considered as a structure in which the base 45 that supports the level conveyor 11 is configured to expand and contract the pantograph 51 up and down by the rotation of a screw rod 49 including a handle 48.

  When the pair of rotary sealers 18 and 19 compete while sandwiching the belt-like film 16 on both sides of the cup, the cup 10 is slightly retracted in a direction different from the rotation of the level conveyor 11. Regardless of the fact that the overall weight of the cup 10 is lighter, the higher the weight is, the more the cup 10 is scooped by the level conveyor 11. Only when the rotary sealer 18 competes with the belt-like film 16 on a part of the level conveyor 11, a belt 52 that is temporarily synchronized with the backward movement of the cup 10 and rotates in the opposite direction to the level conveyor 11 is used. There is also a need for measures to be deployed.

9 is a plan view of the entire cap seal device of the second embodiment, FIG. 10 is a partial front view of the cap seal device of the second embodiment, and FIG. 11 is a plan view of a sticking mechanism of the cap seal device of the second embodiment. It is. The cap seal device of the second embodiment includes a level conveyor for transporting cups in a column, and means for supplying heat-shrinkable strip films to both sides of the mouth of the cups that are cascaded from both sides of the level conveyor. A pair of rotary sealers that are arranged on both sides of the rear area of the level conveyor in the transport direction of the cup and that rotate relative to the tracking direction with respect to the cups passing between them, and a belt-like film sealed by the rotary sealer And a fall prevention mechanism that holds the cup placed upright on the level conveyor and holds the cup, and the fall prevention mechanism is composed of two mechanisms to press the front edge of the top cup from above. The first holding mechanism and the second holding mechanism that supports the second cup from the top from the back to prevent the cup from toppling are configured. The fall prevention mechanism of the cap seal device suppresses the inclination of the cup when the belt-like film is sealed by the rotary sealer, and holds the cup upright on the level conveyor.

Furthermore, the cap seal device of this Example 2 was provided with a sticking mechanism for sticking a peel piece for cutting the belt-like film in the vertical direction on the inner surface of the belt-like film in the downstream area of the means for supplying the belt-like film. It is characterized by.

  Also in the second embodiment, a plurality of side rollers 23 are arranged on both sides of the level conveyor 11 that conveys the cups 10 arranged in parallel, and the film 16 is transferred from the means 17 for supplying the heat-shrinkable strip film 16 to the level conveyor. 11 is sent out in the direction of travel. Although the detailed illustration of this means 17 is also omitted, the strip film 16 wound around the reel is fed out and sent out by the rotation of the roll. The cap seal device shown in FIG. 9 does not include the restraining conveyor 13 illustrated in the first embodiment, but includes a fall prevention mechanism described later.

  Furthermore, the point that the cap seal device of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment is that an adhesive mechanism 50 for attaching the peel piece 51 to the strip film 16 is provided. However, this sticking mechanism 50 may be provided in the first embodiment. The peel piece 51 is intended to be easily peeled off when the strip-shaped film 16 wound around and coated on the mouth portion of the cup 10 to be described later is peeled off.

  The sticking mechanism 50 winds a release paper tape 52 on which a plurality of peel pieces 51 are attached around a reel (not shown), and the release paper tape 52 is fed in close proximity to the belt-like film 16 to feed the belt-like film. 16 and the release tape 52, the stamp roller 53 is disposed on the inner side, and the pusher 54 is disposed on the outer side. The pusher 54 presses the strip-shaped film 16 and the release paper tape 52 from the outside against the stamp roller 53, and is placed on the release paper tape 52. The adhesive face of the peeled peel piece 51 is attached to the back surface of the strip film 16. The peel piece 51 may be the same color as the strip film 16, but a different color is conspicuously preferable.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the sticking mechanism 50 is configured such that the release paper tape 52 is fed while matching the speed at which the strip film 16 is fed, and the pusher 54 moves at a predetermined position of the strip film 16 to move the strip film 16 to the outside. Then, as shown in FIG. 10, a rectangular peel piece 51 is attached in the vertical direction on the back surface of the belt-like film 16, and perforations are also formed on the belt-like film 16. The pusher 54 presses the strip film 16 and the release paper tape 52 against the stamp roller 53 at the timing while moving in the direction of the arrow 56 at the same speed as the strip film 16. Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, the belt-like film 16 is sent to seal the upper portion of the cup 10.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the speeds of the servo motors of the sealers 18 and 19, the belt-like film 16, and the sticking mechanism 50 are controlled by the controller 34 so that the cup 10 is sealed with the belt-like film 16 in a timely manner. It is configured.

Further, in the second embodiment, when the upper part of the cup 10 is sealed with the belt-like film 16 using the sealers 18 and 19, the fall prevention mechanism 60 for stably placing the cup 10 on the level conveyor 11 is used. It has.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the belt-like film is embraced by the sealers 18 and 19, the fall prevention mechanism 60 includes the top cup 10 (the cup before the sealers 18 and 19) and the second cup from the top. 10 (the cup after the sealers 18 and 19) is restrained at the top by the belt-shaped film 16, but the bottom of the second cup 10 from the top and the top is also moved forward by the movement of the level conveyor 11. The cup 10 may be scooped up and tilted backwards. As a result, the belt-like film may be wrapped around the cup 10 at an angle, and the upper part of the cup 10 may not be wrapped neatly and packaging may fail.

The fall prevention mechanism 60 of the second embodiment suppresses the inclination of the cup 10 when the belt-like film 16 is sealed by the sealers 18 and 19, and maintains the cup 10 placed upright on the level conveyor 11. The fall prevention mechanism 60 is composed of two mechanisms, the first holding mechanism 61 for pressing the front edge of the top cup 10 from above, and the cup 10 to fall down so as to support the second cup 10 from the back. It consists of a second holding mechanism 62 to prevent.

The first holding mechanism 61 includes an air cylinder 63 and a pressing piece 64, and the pressing piece 64 moves up and down by the operation of the air cylinder 63 to press the upper edge of the cup 10. As described above, when the belt-like film 16 is held behind the top cup 10 by the sealers 18 and 19, the level conveyor 11 tries to move forward, so that the front side of the top cup 10 will rise. Therefore, it is prevented from being tilted by being suppressed by the pressing piece 64 of the first holding mechanism 61.

Although only a part of the second holding mechanism 62 is depicted in FIG. 12, an endless rotating body 66 such as a chain or a belt is stretched over two sprockets 65, and the cup 10 is placed on the endless rotating body 66 from behind. An oblique projection 67 for supporting is provided. The endless rotating body 66 rotates and the protrusion 67 supports the rear side of the second cup 10 from the top. Thereby, the second cup 10 does not fall backward.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the cup 10 sealed in the second embodiment. 13A shows a state in which the belt-like film 16 is wound by the sealers 18 and 19, and FIG. 13B shows a state in which the belt-like film 16 is shrunk by heating. In this packaging container, the upper opening of a cup, which is a bottomed cylindrical packaging container, is closed with a cap, and only the upper part of the cup covered with the cap is sealed with a heat-shrinkable film. By sealing only the upper part of the cup with a heat-shrinkable belt-like film, it is possible to prevent unnecessary use of a large amount of packaging material. Further, by providing the peel piece 51 as in the cup 10, the belt-like film 16 can be easily removed in use. In addition, a peel piece for cutting the strip film is attached in the vertical direction on the inner surface of the strip film, and perforations are formed in the strip film along the peel piece. The perforations formed on both sides of the peel piece 51 facilitate tearing when the strip film 16 is torn.

FIG. 14 shows another embodiment of the cup 10. In this embodiment, the band-like film 16 having a different width is used for sealing. As in this embodiment, if the cup is sealed with a heat-shrinkable band-shaped film in which two kinds of films having different widths are bonded, a step can be formed at the bonding portion 55 of the band-shaped film. Since it can be peeled off, the peel piece 51 is not necessary as in the cup 10 of the above embodiment.

FIG. 15 shows a front view of the sealers 18 and 19 for sealing the cup 10 of FIG. In this sealing device, the widths of the left and right strip films are different. By making the difference, the cup shown in FIG. 14 can be sealed. Therefore, the sticking mechanism 50 according to the second embodiment is not necessary and can be sealed with the sealing device according to the first embodiment.

  The present invention can seal the upper part of a cup such as cup noodles, and is useful for a packaging apparatus that requires less sealing material.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Cup 11 Level conveyor 13 Constrained conveyor 16 Band-shaped film 17 Means to supply band-shaped film 18 Rotating sealer 19 Rotating sealer 20 Cap 23 Side roller 28 Blade plate 29 Blade receiving plate 30 Heat insulating plate 33 Servo motor 34 Controller 35 Input unit 36 Memory (Storage means)
50 Adhesion Mechanism 51 Peel Piece 52 Release Paper Tape 53 Rotating Roller 54 Pusher 60 Overturn Prevention Mechanism 61 First Holding Mechanism

Claims (4)

A level conveyor that carries cups in a row,
Means for supplying a heat-shrinkable strip film to both sides of the mouth of the cups cascading from both sides of the level conveyor;
A constraining conveyor arranged in parallel with the level conveyor for restraining and transporting the cups at equal intervals;
A pair of rotating sealers that are arranged on both sides of the level conveyor at the rear of the cup opening area by the restraining conveyor toward the transport direction of the cup, and that rotate relative to the tracking direction with respect to the cup passing between them,
A controller for controlling a servo motor that drives the rotary sealer;
In the controller, storage means for storing each film use length value respectively corresponding to the diameter of each cup,
Input means for inputting the numerical value of the cup diameter to be used to the controller;
Each strip-shaped film usage length value that is adapted to the caliber of the cup input from the input means is pulled out of the storage means, and the rotary sealer seals and cuts the strip-shaped film at each strip-shaped film usage length portion. to a calculating means for calculating a start timing of the servo motor,
Based on the calculation of the calculation means, means for transmitting the start timing of the servo motor from the controller to the servo motor ;
Cap seal device comprising:   When changing the relation between the restraining conveyor and the rotating sealer so that the diameter of the cup to be used is increased, the rotation is performed in the direction of increasing the distance between the position of the rotating sealer and the cup opening area by the restraining conveyor. The cap seal device according to claim 1, comprising means for displacing the cup opening area by the restraining conveyor with respect to the installation position of the sealer.   When changing the relationship between the level conveyor and the strip film so that the height of the cup to be used is increased, the height of the level conveyor is adjusted to the height of the cup based on the supply level of the strip film. The cap seal device according to claim 1, further comprising means for displacing in a direction to lower the height. A level conveyor for carrying the cups in a vertical row, means for supplying a heat-shrinkable strip film to both sides of the mouth of the cups, which are cascaded from both sides of the level conveyor, and the level conveyor are arranged in parallel. A restraint conveyor that restrains and transports the cups at equal intervals, and is placed on both sides of the level conveyor behind the cup opening area of the restraint conveyor in the direction of transport of the cups, and tracks the cups passing between them. A cap seal method using a pair of rotating sealers that rotate relative to each other in a direction,
The controller, which is the controller of the servo motor that drives the rotary sealer, stores each film usage length corresponding to the caliber of each cup as a numerical value, and inputs the numerical value of the used cup caliber to the controller using input means. Thus, the stored film use length value corresponding to the cup diameter inputted from the input means is pulled out, and the rotary film sealer removes the belt-like film at a length portion corresponding to each belt-like film use length. A cap sealing method in which the start timing of the servo motor is transmitted from the controller to the servo motor so as to cut and seal.

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