JPH0157949B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cigarette printing position adjusting device for a cigarette manufacturing machine.

For cigarette manufacturers, it is important not only to maintain the quality of the contents of the cigarette, such as the flavor, but also to maintain the quality of the appearance. Appearance quality includes ensuring that the position of marks printed on the surface of the cigarette paper is always in the specified position, and an adjustment device is used to ensure that the printing is in the specified position. is provided.

[Prior art]

A cigarette making machine is generally constructed as shown in FIG. In the figure, the shredded tobacco is sucked into a chimney 1 and rises, and is adsorbed and stacked on the lower surface of a perforated cigarette conveyor 3 disposed on the lower surface of an intake chamber 2. The stacked shredded tobacco is conveyed to the left in the figure, and is adjusted to an appropriate layer thickness by a trimming device 4. The shredded tobacco whose layer thickness has been adjusted is fed from the roll 6a of the paper supply unit 6, transferred onto the paper 10 stacked on the cloth tape 8, and wrapped in the paper, and the paper wrapped around the shredded tobacco is Gluing is performed using a gluing device 12. The glued portion of the wrapping paper is dried by a heater 14 and formed into a rod-shaped cigarette. The formed rod-shaped cigarette is cut into individual cigarettes by a cutter 16. The cut cigarettes are transferred to a conveyor (not shown) and transported, and finally packed into a tray.

FIG. 8a shows the above-mentioned rod-shaped cigarette 20, and the surface of the wrapping paper of the cigarette 20 is provided with a mark 20a printed by a printer (not shown) provided between the wrapping paper supply section 6 and the cloth tape 8. ing. The rod-shaped cigarette 20 is then cut along the line 1 by a cutter 16 to form individual cigarettes 21 of a predetermined length.

In the illustrated example, marks 20a are placed adjacent to the left and right sides of every other cutting line l; This is because it is convenient to connect the filter tips 22 and cut them along the center line l' of the filter 22 to make the filtered cigarette 23 shown in FIG. 8c.

By the way, if the relative position of the mark 20a and the cutting line l deviates due to misalignment of the printing position by the printer or slippage of the paper between the printer and the cutting section, the mark on the cigarette 21 will deviate from the specified position. , the appearance quality becomes impaired. In particular, when marks are printed as shown in FIG. 8a, the mark position shift between the left and right cigarettes 21 occurs in completely opposite directions, so the variation in mark position between the cigarettes 21 is very large. Become.

Conventionally, in order to prevent such misalignment of the printing position on cigarettes, a worker would periodically pull out the manufactured cigarettes and check whether the printing on the cigarettes was in the specified position and, if not, how much. It was checked to see if there was any misalignment, and based on the results, adjustments were made by manually moving an adjustment member on the paper roll supply path to bring the printing to the proper predetermined position.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

With the above-mentioned conventional position adjustment device, it is not possible for the operator to be on standby for the adjustment work all the time, so the permissible range of positional deviation has to be naturally widened. Some variation occurs in the printing position. Also,
In a cigarette manufacturing machine that operates almost 24 hours a day, it is extremely undesirable to have a worker on hand to manage the printing position in terms of working conditions or product costs. There is a need for equipment to perform this task.

[Means for solving problems]

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette printing position adjusting device for a cigarette manufacturing machine that automatically adjusts the printing on the cigarette so that it is always at a specified position. In order to achieve this, the device wraps shredded tobacco with wrapping paper sent from a wrapping paper supply section through a printing section to form a stick-shaped cigarette, and cuts the stick-shaped cigarette into a predetermined length at a cutting section to produce rolled cigarettes. In the cigarette manufacturing machine, a mark detector is provided between the printing section and the cutting section to detect marks printed during printing, and a mark detector is provided between the mark detector and the printing section to detect the marks. A printing position adjustment roller that changes the length of a paper roll supply section between the detector and the printing section, a drive source that drives the printing position adjustment roller, and a control circuit that controls the drive source, the control circuit comprising: The circuit forms a printing position signal based on a mark detection signal from the mark detector and a position reference signal corresponding to a cutting position by the cutting unit,
The method is characterized in that the operation of the drive source is controlled based on the difference between the print position signal and a set value.

[Effect]

In the device according to the invention, the printing position adjustment roller provided between the mark detector and the printing section is adapted to change the length of the web supply path between the mark detector and the printing section, and The printing position adjustment roller is driven by a drive source that operates based on a difference signal between a printing position signal and a set value, which is formed based on a reference position signal corresponding to the cutting position of the bar-shaped cigarette and a mark detection signal. Therefore, the length of the paper roll supply path is changed depending on whether the difference signal is positive or negative, and the mark position relative to the cutting position at the cutting section is changed by advancing or delaying the mark detection point. This makes it possible to automatically adjust the printing position on the cigarette after cutting.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a cigarette printing position adjusting device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing the main parts of a cigarette manufacturing machine incorporating a cigarette printing position adjustment device according to the present invention, and in the figure, 30 is a cigarette paper supply section;
32 is a printing section, 34 is a printing position adjustment roller, 36
38 is a mark detector, and 38 is a cutting section. After the paper roll 40 supplied from the paper supply section 30 has a mark 40' printed on its surface in the printing section 32, it is passed through a printing position adjustment roller 34 and a mark detector 36. The cigarette is then sent onto a cloth tape (not shown), where it wraps the shredded tobacco sent in a separate route and is glued to form a stick-shaped cigarette 41, which reaches the cutting section 38. The cutting section 38 cuts the rod-shaped cigarette 41 into cigarettes of a predetermined length.

Now, the cutting position L and the adjacent marks 4 on the left and right of it
0' and 40' are A and B, respectively, the printing position is at the standard position when A=B, at the advance position when A>B, and at the lag position when A<B. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the position adjustment roller 34 is at the X position, if A>B, the roller 34 is moved in the Y position direction, and the paper roll supply path from the printing section 32 to the cutting section 38 is lengthened. By doing so, the printing position is corrected in the direction where A=B. On the other hand, when A<B, the roller 34 may be moved in the Z position direction.

In order to move the position adjustment roller 34 as described above, a pulse motor 42 is driven by a swing shaft 34b of a support lever 34a to which the roller 34 is fixed.
It is designed to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

FIG. 3 is a circuit block diagram showing the control circuit of the printing position adjustment device.
Reference numeral 6 detects a mark by the reflected light from the wrapping paper 40 when light is projected onto the wrapping paper 40, and as shown in FIG. Accordingly, a mark detection signal as shown in FIG. 4b is output.

The mark detection signal is amplified by an amplifier 50, and an amplified signal as shown in FIG. 4c is obtained at the output of the amplifier 50. The amplified signal is passed through the mask circuit 52
is applied to The mask circuit 52 masks the mark detection signal within the certain period of time by holding the output at H level for a certain period of time in response to the input of the detection signal corresponding to the mark. An output signal as shown in FIG. 4(d) is sent to the output signal.

The output of the mask circuit 52 is input as a trigger signal to the one-shot multivibrator 54, and the one-shot multivibrator 54 is triggered in response to the rise of the output of the mask circuit 52 from L to H level, as shown in FIG. 4e. Outputs a print mark signal. The print mark signal is applied to the set input of R-S flip-flop (FF) 56. When the R-S FF 56 is set, its output changes from L to H level.

A rotary encoder 58 is linked to the mechanical system of the cigarette manufacturing machine, especially the cutting section 38.
The rotary encoder 58 outputs a large number of pulse signals as it rotates. The pulsed signal from the rotary encoder 58 is waveform-shaped by a waveform shaping circuit 60, converted into a pulse train, and applied to a position reference signal generation circuit 62 and a check signal generation circuit 64. Based on the pulse train applied to its input, the position reference signal generation circuit 62 generates one signal per rotation of the rotary encoder 58 shown in FIG. Apply to input. On the other hand, the check signal generating circuit 64 generates a signal based on the pulse train applied to its input as shown in FIG.
For example, a check signal consisting of 1200 pulses per rotation of the rotary encoder 58 as shown in FIG.
is applied to the other input of an AND gate 66 to which the output of is applied as a gate signal.

When the print mark signal (Fig. 4 e) is applied to the set input of the R-S FF 56, its output rises from L to H level, and the reference position signal (Fig. 4 f) is applied to its reset input. Then, the output rises from H to L level, outputs a gate signal as shown in FIG.
Allow the check signal to pass through. The check signal shown in FIG. 4h that has passed through the AND gate 66 becomes a printing position signal shown in FIG. The position signal is sent to the central processing unit (CPU) via the input circuit 68.
70.

The CPU is equipped with a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), an arithmetic processing unit, etc., and operates according to a program stored in the ROM in advance. A position control setting switch 72 that sets the mark position based on a digital value (the number of check signals that pass through the AND gate 66 when the mark position is normal, that is, the count value of the print position signal when the mark position is normal). a position control setting signal from the input signal, an input signal from a manual operation section (not shown), a lamp out signal from the mark detector 36,
A logical sum signal of the position control limit signal of the position adjustment roller 34 and the OR gate 74 is inputted via the input circuit 68. Then, the CPU 70 processes the above-mentioned signals according to a predetermined program, and outputs a clockwise rotation signal (CW) and a counterclockwise rotation signal (CCW) that control the pulse motor 42 via an output circuit 76 and print position control. Outputs an abnormal signal.

The clockwise rotation signal and counterclockwise rotation signal are respectively applied as gate signals to one input of AND gates 78a and 78b, and gate-control the pulse motor drive signal inputted from the oscillation circuit 80 to the other input. . and gate 78
The drive signal that has passed through a and 78b is input to the pulse motor drive circuit 82, and the pulse motor drive circuit 82 rotates the pulse motor 42 in forward and reverse directions based on the drive signal to move the print position adjustment roller 34.

The output of the oscillation circuit 80 is also input to the input circuit 68, and the CPU 70 receives a clockwise rotation signal,
Oscillation circuit 8 while outputting the counterclockwise rotation signal
An output of 0 is input through the input circuit 68, and it is monitored whether the pulse motor 42 is controlled by a predetermined amount.

In the above configuration, the work performed by the CPU 70 based on a predetermined program will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

For example, when a program is turned on, its main routine starts, and its first step is
Perform initial settings in S1. In this initial setting,
Setting values necessary for the CPU 70 to proceed with its work are set, such as reading the position control setting signal set by the position control setting switch 72 and storing it in a predetermined storage location in the RAM.

Next, in step S2, it is determined whether the control is in automatic mode or not, and if the determination is NO, control by manual operation input is performed in step S4.
If the mode is automatic and the determination is YES, the presence or absence of a control abnormality is determined based on the OR signal of the lamp burnout signal and the position control limit signal in step S3. If there is a control abnormality and the determination is YES, step S5 is performed. Stop the machine. If there is no abnormality and the determination is NO, proceed to the next step S6. In step S6,
It is determined whether a control start button (not shown) has been operated, and if the determination is NO, the process returns to step S2;
If YES, proceed to the next step S7.

In step S7, it is determined whether or not the control of the pulse motor is on. If this determination is NO, the process returns to step S2, and if YES, the process advances to the next step S8. In step S8, it is determined whether or not the control is forward rotation control, and if the determination is YES
If so, proceed to step S9 and turn on the pulse motor forward rotation (clockwise rotation) output signal, and if NO, proceed to step S10 and turn on the pulse motor reverse rotation (counterclockwise rotation) output signal.

After executing steps S9 and S10, the process proceeds to step S11, where a pulse counter for controlling the pulse motor, which will be described later, is subtracted by a signal from the oscillation circuit 80, and the process proceeds to the next step S12. In step S12,
As a result of the subtraction in step S11, it is determined whether the contents of the counter have become zero or not. If the determination is NO, the process returns to step S2, and thereafter the process continues in step S3 until the counter becomes zero and the determination in step S12 becomes YES. ~
Repeat S11. The judgment in step S12 is
When the result is YES, the process advances to step S13, where the pulse motor is turned off, and then the process returns to step S2.

By the way, when a check signal is input to the CPU 70 during the execution of steps S2 to S13 described above, the execution of the main routine is interrupted at that point and the program jumps to the interrupt routine.

In the interrupt routine, its first step SS1
The pulse count of the check signal as the print position signal is performed. This pulse count is performed for each print position signal, and an average value is calculated in step SS2 using the past 255 pulses and the latest count value. The average value calculated in step SS2 is compared with the set value in the next step SS3, and based on the comparison result, it is determined in step SS4 whether or not control is necessary. Note that the above set value is set by the position control setting switch 72 and is read in advance in step S1,
Further, whether or not control is necessary is determined depending on whether the difference between the average value and the set value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

If the determination in step SS4 is NO and the difference between the average value and the set value is less than a predetermined value and no adjustment is required, the process returns to the main routine. Then, in the process of executing the main routine, the program jumps to the interrupt routine again in response to the input of the next check signal. If the determination in step SS4 is YES, then in step SS5 it is determined whether the adjustment is in the forward or reverse direction, and in the following step SS6 the number of pulses for driving the pulse motor required for position adjustment is calculated. Then, in step SS7 following the calculated number of pulses, a pulse count value for pulse motor control is set in a counter, and the process returns to the main routine.

The count value set in the counter in this step SS7 is used in the above step of the main routine.
Used for subtraction in S11.

In short, the average value is calculated for each printing position signal, the number of pulses for position adjustment is calculated, and the calculated number of pulses is reset in the counter.
Then, when the pulse motor is actually driven, the value set in this counter is subtracted, and it is monitored whether or not the subtracted value of the counter reaches zero, and when the counter value reaches zero, the position is adjusted. The pulse motor is turned off as soon as this is done.

In the process of the above operation, if the lamp of the mark detector 36 burns out or the position adjustment roller 34 reaches its control limit, resulting in an uncontrollable state, the determination in step S5 becomes YES, and an abnormality signal is sent accordingly. Outputs and stops the machine. Further, when a manual operation signal is input and the determination in step 3 becomes NO, the pulse motor 42 advances based on the manual operation input signal and is driven in the retarding direction.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a mark detector preferably used in the apparatus of the present invention, in which a sensor hood 36b is formed in front of a light emitting/receiving lens head 36a through which a printing material wrapper passes. For example, air of 700 to 750 mmHg is supplied by the cleaning air supply hose 36c, and the supplied air is sent out to the outside from a cleaning air outlet 36d bored in the center of the hood so that the paper roll can pass through. The small dust thus generated is blown away by air, thereby preventing the front surface of the lens head 36 from getting dirty and making mark detection inaccurate. Note that 36e is a lead wire of the mark detector.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically adjust the mark position on the cigarette after cutting by moving the printing position adjustment roller according to mark detection, so that the position of the mark on the cigarette after cutting can be adjusted automatically. Compared to conventional systems that make adjustments based on misalignment monitoring, this system not only improves the appearance quality by improving the accuracy of position adjustment, but also reduces costs by eliminating the need for operator monitoring and reducing labor costs. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing an embodiment of the printing position adjusting device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of a part of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a control circuit of the device shown in FIG. 1. A circuit block diagram, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the state of each part in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram showing the operation of the central processing unit in FIG. 3, and FIGS. 6 a and b.
1 is a side view and a partial front view showing a specific example in FIG. 1, FIG. 7 is a side view showing the configuration of a general cigarette manufacturing machine, and FIGS. 8 a to c show the process of manufacturing rolled cigarettes. It is an explanatory diagram. 30... Rolling paper supply section, 32... Printing section, 34...
...Position adjustment roller, 36...Mark detector, 38
... Cutting section, 40 ... Rolling paper, 40' ... Mark,
41... Rod-shaped cigarette, 42... Drive source, 70
...Central processing unit (CPU).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The shredded tobacco is wrapped in the wrapping paper sent from the wrapping paper supply section through the printing section to form a rod-shaped cigarette, and the rod-shaped cigarette is cut into a predetermined length by a cutting section to form rolled cigarettes. In the cigarette manufacturing machine, a mark detector is provided between the printing section and the cutting section and detects a mark on the wrapping paper printed in the printing section, and a mark detector is provided between the mark detector and the printing section, A printing position adjustment roller that changes the length of the paper roll supply path between the mark detector and the printing section, a drive source that drives the print position adjustment roller, and a control circuit that controls the drive source, The control circuit forms a print position signal based on a mark detection signal from the mark detector and a position reference signal corresponding to a cutting position by the cutting section, and controls the drive based on the difference between the print position signal and a set value. A cigarette printing position adjustment device for a cigarette manufacturing machine, characterized in that the device controls the operation of a cigarette manufacturing machine.