JP7440898B2 - Egg carton sealing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an egg carton sealing system.

A conventional egg carton sealing system is known in which the egg carton is transported while the lid is closed, and the flange on the lid side and the flange on the body side are connected and tape is applied while sending the egg carton downstream ( For example, see Patent Document 1 below). The upper guide plate 25 (guide portion) of Patent Document 1 is for holding down the lid of the egg carton, and is made to correspond to the height of the egg carton flowing down.

Egg cartons come in various sizes. For example, there are egg cartons for LL size and egg cartons for MS size. Furthermore, there are hard and soft types of egg cartons, mainly due to differences in the thickness of the sheets forming the egg cartons. Furthermore, the size of the eggs contained in the egg carton, the size of the label, the thickness of the label, the location of the label, etc. vary, and the condition of the egg carton before the tape is applied varies.

When multiple types of packaged products flow into one conveying section that forms the egg carton sealing system, the guide section cannot handle all of them, and for example, hard egg cartons or large eggs may Depending on the contents and the condition of the label, the egg carton may get stuck at the entrance of the guide section.

If the lid does not close, the sealing tape will not stick properly, so it is best to adjust the height of the guide to a lower level so that the lid can be closed securely. However, if the guide section is adjusted to a low level, egg cartons will become stagnant at the entrance of the guide section. Therefore, if you adjust the height of the guide part to a high position so that any egg cartons do not stagnate, some egg cartons will not have lids that will close and tape will not stick properly.

If only a single packed product flows through one conveyance section, this can be handled by adjusting the guide section, but if multiple types of packed products flow, adjustment is not sufficient. For this reason, currently, workers are always present to clear egg carton jams at the entrance of the guide section.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-293374

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an egg carton sealing system that can seal the egg carton regardless of the state of the egg carton being conveyed to the guide section.

The egg carton sealing system of the present invention includes a conveying section, a guide section, and a pack feeding section. The conveyance unit conveys the egg carton. The guide section guides the lid side flange of the egg carton to be sealed on the conveyance section in a state where it is overlapped with the main body side flange. The pack feeding section applies a driving force in the transport direction to the egg cartons and sends them to the guide section.

According to the present invention, it is possible to seal the egg carton regardless of the state of the egg carton being conveyed to the guide section.

These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of the egg carton sealing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view for explaining the operation of the egg carton sealing system according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view for explaining the operation of the egg carton sealing system according to the embodiment.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The egg carton sealing system 10 of the present embodiment includes a conveying section 1, a guide section 2, a pack feeding section 3, a sealing section (hereinafter referred to as "pinch roller 4"), a cutter 5, and a lid closing section 6. Equipped with. In the egg carton sealing system 10 of this embodiment, a lid closing section 6, a pack feeding section 3, a guide section 2, a pinch roller 4, and a cutter 5 are arranged in this order from the upstream side along the conveyance section 1.

The conveyance unit 1 conveys the egg cartons P, and is, for example, a belt conveyor. The transport unit 1 supports the egg carton P from below. The transport unit 1 transports the egg pack P to the downstream side at a constant speed.

The lid closing part 6 closes the lid P2 while conveying the egg carton P, and guides the lid side flange P3 of the egg carton P in the unfolded state so as to approach the main body side flange. The lid closing part 6 is provided upstream of the guide part 2. The lid closing part 6 is a fixed rod-shaped member arranged along the transport direction of the transport part 1.

The pack sending unit 3 applies a driving force to the egg carton P in the transport direction and sends the egg carton P to the guide unit 2. The pack feeding section 3 applies a driving force to the egg carton P guided by the lid closing section 6. The pack feeding section 3 is arranged on the side of the conveying section 1, and applies a driving force to the egg pack P from the lateral direction. The pack feeding section 3 is provided on the entrance side of the guide section 2, that is, on the upstream side. The pack feeding section 3 is disposed at a location a certain distance or more away from the pinch roller 4, and is set at a position where it does not interfere with the pinch roller 4 via the egg carton P. The pack feeding section 3 is, for example, a drive belt, which is schematically shown in the figure. The pack feeding section 3 is set to move in the same direction and at the same speed as the conveying section 1. The drive belt of this embodiment has high gripping force.

The guide section 2 guides the lid side flange P3 of the egg carton P to be sealed on the conveyance section 1 in a state where it is overlapped with the main body side flange. The guide part 2 is arranged above the egg carton P with the lid P2 closed, and presses the lid P2 of the egg carton P. The guide portion 2 is urged downward by a spring that expands and contracts in the vertical direction. The guide section 2 is a plate-shaped member arranged along the conveyance direction of the conveyance section 1 .

The pinch roller 4 attaches the tape T to the flanges (lid side flange P3 and main body side flange) of the egg carton P. The pinch roller 4 sends the tape T and the egg carton P to the downstream side with the flange of the egg carton P sandwiched between the tape T folded in two. At this time, the speed at which the pinch roller 4 feeds the tape T and the egg carton P is set to be the same as or faster than the speed of the conveying section 1.

The cutter 5 cuts the tape T. The cutter 5 is arranged downstream of the pinch roller 4.

Next, the operation of the egg carton sealing system 10 of this embodiment will be explained.

First, when eggs are packed into the main body P1 of the egg carton P and the egg carton P is sent to the conveyance section 1 with the lid P2 open, the egg carton P is As a result, the lid P2 is gradually closed. Thereafter, the lid is kept in a closed state by the guide section 2 instead of the lid closing section 6 and sent to the downstream side. Each egg carton P is delivered to the guide part 2 from a state where it is held by the lid closing part 6 and the pack feeding part 3.

The height position of the guide section 2 from the conveyance section 1 can be changed to some extent based on the expected state of the packed product. However, when the pack feeding unit 3 is not provided as in the past, the size of the eggs contained in the egg carton P may be larger than expected among the multiple types of packed products being transported, or the eggs may be larger than expected. Problems have arisen when the material of the egg carton P is thicker and the egg carton P is harder than expected, or when the label inside the egg carton P is placed in a place that obstructs closing the lid. That is, the delivery of the egg carton P from the lid closing part 6 to the guide part 2 was not successful, and the packed products were stagnant at the entrance of the guide part 2.

In this embodiment, at the entrance of the guide section 2, the pack feeding section 3 applies a driving force to the egg carton P in the conveying direction. That is, by the action of the pack feeding section 3 in addition to the conveying section 1, the egg carton P with the lid P2 gradually closed by the lid closing section 6 is sent into the guide section 2. Therefore, even in cases where problems have conventionally occurred, the egg carton P can be sent downstream without becoming stagnant at the boundary between the lid closing part 6 and the guide part 2.

Thereafter, the egg carton P is sealed with tape T while being fed by a pinch roller 4 in a state where it no longer receives the driving force from the pack feeding section 3. After one pack product is sealed with tape T, the tape T is cut with a cutter 5.

As explained above, the egg carton sealing system 10 of the present embodiment includes the conveying section 1, the guide section 2, and the pack feeding section 3. The transport unit 1 transports the egg cartons P. The guide section 2 guides the lid side flange P3 of the egg carton P to be sealed on the conveyance section 1 in a state where it is overlapped with the main body side flange. The pack sending unit 3 applies a driving force to the egg carton P in the transport direction and sends the egg carton P to the guide unit 2.

Because of this, the operator is always present to clear egg cartons P from clogging at the entrance of the guide section 2 and to make fine adjustments to the guide section 2 for various packaged products. This eliminates the need for egg cartons P to be sealed regardless of the state of the egg cartons P conveyed to the guide section 2.

In particular, the egg carton sealing system 10 of this embodiment includes a pack feeding section 3 that does not affect the pasting process using the pinch rollers 4. That is, the egg carton P is provided with a pack feeding section 3 that applies a driving force in the pack feeding direction to the egg carton P before it reaches the pinch roller 4.

The egg carton sealing system 10 of the present embodiment further includes a lid closing section 6, and the pack feeding section 3 applies driving force to the egg carton P guided by the lid closing section 6. Therefore, the egg carton P is smoothly transferred from the lid closing part 6 to the guide part 2. There is no need to make detailed adjustments to the lid closing part 6 and the guide part 2 for each egg carton P.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above.

The pack feeding unit 3 may be of any type as long as it provides driving force to the egg carton P, and may be of a push type, for example. The pack feeding section 3 may apply the driving force continuously or intermittently. The pack sending section 3 may be arranged above the conveying section 1.

The pack feeding section 3 may be provided with a mechanism that can drive the egg pack P regardless of its size or length. For example, there is one that absorbs the difference in the size of the egg cartons P in the thickness direction of the drive belt.

The size and shape of the guide portion 2 are not limited to those shown in the drawings, nor is it limited to a plate-like shape.

The embodiment disclosed this time is an example and is not limited thereto. The present invention is defined not by the scope described above, but by the scope of the claims, and is intended to include all changes within the meaning and range equivalent to the scope of the claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention can be utilized for the sealing system of an egg carton.

10...Egg carton sealing system 1...Transporting part 2...Guide part 3...Pack feeding part 6...Lid closing part P...Egg carton P2...Lid P3...Lid side flange

Claims (2)

A conveyance unit that conveys the egg carton;
a guide section that guides the lid side flange of the egg carton to be sealed on the conveyance section in a state where it is overlapped with the main body side flange;
An egg carton sealing system comprising: a pack feeding section that applies a driving force in the transport direction to the egg carton at the entrance of the guide section and sends the egg carton to the guide section. 1 . The egg carton according to claim 1 , further comprising a lid closing portion that guides the lid side flange of the unfolded egg carton toward the main body side flange, and wherein the pack feeding portion applies a driving force to the egg carton guided by the lid closing portion. The egg carton sealing system described.

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