JPH05305926A - Pillow type packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automate the selection by a method wherein picture data of the external surface of a cylindrical shape which is formed around a filling tube and is filled, is obtained, and a defective article is decided by the rate of specified type picture data in the picture data, and the defective article is removed by the switching of a distributing means. CONSTITUTION:A cylindrical bag is formed by feeding a packaging film F around a filling tube 21 of a pillow type packaging device 2, and a contact is put in the cylindrical bag from a hopper 20. The external surface of the filled cylindrical bag is imaged by a TV camera 55, and the picture is transmitted to a taken picture LRGB decoder 61. In this case, the taken picture is converted into picture data and stored in a color picture memory 62. According to the picture data stored in the picture memory 62, a favorable article or defective article is decided by calculating the occupied rate of a specified type of the picture data in a window at a specified location of the frame. In the case of a defective article, a shaking shoot 29 is switched, and the defective article is removed from the line.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is to detect the presence or absence of printing such as a seal deviation of a packaging material or a manufacturing date and to automatically select a packaging bag determined to be defective by the detection without human labor. Pillow packaging machine that can do

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-134113 discloses that a packaging film is wrapped around a filling tube to form a cylindrical bag, which is hung down, and the contents are filled into the cylindrical bag through the filling tube, and then a cylindrical bag is formed. A pillow wrapping machine for fusing and adhering the upper end of a bag is disclosed.

However, in such a pillow packaging machine, it is unavoidable that the seal shifts, that is, the position of the vertical seal or the horizontal seal of the obtained packaging bag shifts. Conventionally, detection and elimination of a packaging bag in which such a seal shift has occurred have been performed manually. The same applies to the detection of the presence or absence of printing such as the manufacturing date attached to the back surface of the packaging bag and the detection / elimination of the unprinted packaging bag.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically select a defective packaging bag by detecting the presence or absence of printing such as a seal deviation or a manufacturing date and the like and automatically selecting the defective packaging bag. The purpose is to provide pillow packaging machines.

[0005]

The present invention relates to a pillow packaging machine having a filling tube, wherein (a) a sorting means provided downstream of the filling tube for sorting the quality of the packaging bag,
(B) an image pickup means provided to face the tubular packaging material formed by the filling tube, (c) a circuit for converting an image picked up by the image pickup means into image data, (d) the obtained image data Storing means for storing the image data, (e) determining means for determining whether or not the ratio of the image data of the specific type in the window at the predetermined position of the frame is within the predetermined range based on the stored image data, and (f ) A pillow wrapping machine having a control means for controlling the sorting means based on the determination result obtained by the determination means.

[0006]

[Operation and effect] Around the filling tube, the packaging material is formed into a tubular bag. Subsequently, the obtained tubular bag is filled with the contents through the filling tube. At the same time, the outer surface of the tubular bag is imaged. The obtained video is sent to a circuit for converting it into image data, converted into image data, and then stored in a means for storing the image data.

Next, from the image data stored in the means for storing the image data, the ratio of the specific type of image data in the window at the predetermined position of the frame is calculated,
It is determined whether or not this is within a predetermined range, and if it is not within the predetermined range, it is determined as a defective product such as a seal shift. If the product is determined to be defective, the sorting means provided downstream of the filling tube, for example, the means for allocating the packaging bags, is switched, and the defective product is sent to the defective product conveying path and eliminated. As a result, it is possible to automatically detect the presence or absence of printing such as the seal shift or the manufacturing date and the like, and to eliminate the packaging bag that has been determined to be defective by the detection, without manual labor.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic packing apparatus for packing and boxing contents such as snacks, which is an embodiment of the present invention, will be described below with reference to the drawings. The automatic packaging device 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, a pillow packaging device 2 for molding the packaging film F into a bag shape and filling and sealing the contents in the obtained packaging bag, and a packaging bag disposed downstream of the pillow packaging device 2 to prevent sealing failure of the packaging bag. A defective sealing detection device 3 for detecting, a box manufacturing device 4 for molding a packaging box, and a packaging box sent downstream from the defective packaging detection device 3 and sent from the packaging device 4 are packed with packaging bags. It has a boxing device 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pillow wrapping device 2 includes:
It has a hopper 20 for quantitatively supplying the contents.
A filling tube 21 is continuously provided below the hopper 20. A vertical sealing machine 23 is arranged around the filling tube 21, and as shown in FIG. 3, the packaging film F supplied from the packaging film supply unit 19 and wound around the filling tube 21 is tubular. Mold into a bag. As shown in FIG. 2, belt conveyors 22 are arranged on both sides of the filling tube 21, respectively, and contact the packaging film F so that the packaging film F is intermittently separated by a length corresponding to one packaging bag. It is designed to send downwards.

Below the filling tube 21,
A horizontal sealing machine 24 is provided. The horizontal sealing machine 24
Is provided with a horizontal cutter 25 at the center, and heat seal machines 26a and 26b are provided above and below with the horizontal cutter 25 interposed therebetween. As shown in FIG. 3, a television camera 55 for taking an image of the packaging film before filling is provided so as to face the tubular packaging film formed by the filling tube 21. Below the filling tube 21, a packaging bag is further provided with a good product transport path 27 or a defective product transport path 28.
An oscillating chute 29 for selectively discharging is arranged.

The television camera 55, as shown in FIG.
An RGB decoder 61 for converting an image obtained from the television camera 55 into image data, a color image memory 62 for storing the obtained image data, a specific type in a window at a predetermined position of a frame based on the stored image data Determination circuit 63 for determining whether or not the ratio of the image data in the above range is within a predetermined range, and a control unit 64 for controlling the swing chute 29 having the swing mechanism based on the obtained determination result.
Are connected in sequence.

Next, the operation of the pillow packaging device 2 will be described. The packaging film F supplied from a packaging film supply section (not shown) is wound around the filling tube 21 and formed into a tubular bag shape by the vertical sealing machine 23.
At this time, the television camera 55 images the outer surface of the tubular bag-shaped packaging film. The image obtained by the television camera 55 is sent to the RGB decoder 61, and Y, RY, B
-Y color difference signals (image data) are converted and stored in the color image memory 62. The configuration of the color image memory is not particularly limited, but for example, Y, RY, B-
512 per frame (screen) for each Y
About (H) × 480 (V) × 8 (bits) is sufficient.

The determination circuit 63 obtains the ratio of the image data of the specific type in the window at the predetermined position of the frame from the image data stored in the color image memory 62, and determines whether this is within the predetermined range. judge.
That is, as shown in FIG. 4, a case of a packaging bag designed such that the central portion 70 of the back surface of the packaging bag is white and a lemon-colored edging 71 of a predetermined width is provided around the central portion 70 will be described. Window W at a predetermined position on the (screen)
The area ratio of the lemon color of -1, W-2 is calculated based on the values of Y, RY, and BY of the color image memory 62, and it is determined whether or not this is within a predetermined range. Similarly, the area ratio of the lemon color of the windows W-3 and W-4 at the predetermined position of the frame (screen) of the color image memory is obtained, and it is determined whether or not this is within the predetermined range.

To detect the presence or absence of printing such as the manufacturing date, Y,
Based on the values of RY and BY, the black area ratio of the window W-5 at a predetermined position where printing is performed is obtained, and it is determined whether or not this is a predetermined range or more in a predetermined range. If it is not inside, the vertical and horizontal seals of the obtained packaging bag, the position and orientation of the printing of the packaging bag have deviated to the extent that the product value is impaired, or the manufacturing date etc. are printed. Therefore, the packaging bag is judged to be defective.

The image obtained by the television camera 55 does not necessarily have to be converted into a color difference signal, and if the target packaging bag uses a color scheme that is easy to distinguish, such as black and white, simply You may perform a binarization process.
Next, the tubular wrapping film F has the above-mentioned belt conveyor 22.
Is intermittently sent downward by the horizontal sealing machine 2
4 is heat-sealed to form the bottom. Subsequently, the obtained packaging bag is quantitatively filled with the contents from the hopper 20 through the filling tube 21.

Next, the filled packaging bag is fed by belt conveyors 22 provided on both sides of the filling tube 21.
It can be lowered by the length of one packaging bag. Then, the lower heat sealing machine 26b of the horizontal sealing machine 24 horizontally seals the upper end of the packaging bag, and at the same time, the upper sealing machine 2 described above is used.
The lower end of the packaging bag is horizontally sealed by 6a, and the packaging bag sealed by the horizontal cutter 25 is the packaging film F.
Separated from. That is, the packaging bag containing the contents and air is sealed and cut, and at the same time, the lower end lateral seal of the next packaging bag is formed.

The control unit 64 controls the swing chute 29 with a delay time from when the packaging bag is imaged by the television camera 55 until it reaches the swing chute 29. The swing chute 29 discharges the packaging bag, which contains the contents and air and is sealed and cut, to the non-defective product conveyance path 27 or the defective product conveyance path 28 based on a control signal. An air nozzle excluding device may be provided instead of the swing chute. That is, when the packaging bag imaged by the TV camera 55 is continuously conveyed by the belt conveyor, and the defective packaging bag arrives in front of the air nozzle, the control unit 64 injects air from the air nozzle to load the packaging bag. Control the air nozzle to evacuate from the belt conveyor.

Next, the defective sealing detection device 3 has a conveyer (conveying path) 101 for continuously conveying the packaging bags, as shown in FIGS. A pair of endless belts 102 having the same transport speed as that of the conveyor 101 are arranged along the traveling direction of the conveyor 101 above both sides of the conveyor 101 in the transport direction. A plurality of pressure rollers 103 are provided between the pair of endless belts 102 from upstream to downstream in the transport direction. These pressure rollers 103 are supported so that their rotation axes can move in the vertical direction. The height from the conveyor 101 when the pressure roller 103 is at the lowest position is the above-mentioned conveyor 101.
Is set higher than the height from the endless belt 102.

A roller type displacement sensor 104 is arranged on the conveyor 101 downstream of the endless belt 102. The roller displacement sensor 104 includes a plurality of rollers, that is, a single large-diameter roller 104a and a plurality of small-diameter rollers 104, at positions facing the conveyor 101.
b is provided, and these rollers are axially supported by a support body 104c which is vertically movable. This allows
The packaging bag sent by the conveyor 101 passes between the conveyor 101 and the roller type displacement sensor 104 without stopping. At that time, the roller type displacement sensor 104 is pushed up, and the thickness of the passing packaging bag is detected.

The roller type displacement sensor 104 has a storage unit 105 for storing the detected value, and the thickness value stored in the storage unit 105 is within the allowable range of the thickness of the package in which the value is input in advance. Determination circuit 19 for determining whether or not
0, and based on the output of the determination circuit 190, they are sequentially connected to a control unit 108 that controls a sorting unit (not shown) that sorts a package into a non-sealed product and a non-sealed product.

The device 3 for detecting defective sealing has the above-mentioned structure.
First, when the packaging bag is conveyed by the conveyor 101, both end portions of the packaging bag are conveyed to the conveyor 1 as shown in FIG.
01 and the endless belt 102 are sandwiched and pressed. As a result, the air in the packaging bag is collected in the central portion of the packaging bag, and the central portion of the packaging bag swells. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 7, the swelled central portion of the packaging bag is pressed by the pressure roller 103 while the both end portions are pressed by the conveyor 101 and the endless belt 102. Since the pressure roller 103 is movable in the vertical direction, the pressure applied by the pressure roller 103 to the packaging bag depends only on the weight of the pressure roller, and the conveyor 101 and the endless belt 10
It is constant regardless of the thickness of the central portion of the packaging bag that is pressed by 2 and, and even if the content of the packaging bag is particularly thick, the content is not damaged by the pressure roller 103.

If the pressurization causes pinholes or defective sealing in the packaging bag, air will escape from the packaging bag. In this case, since the packaging bag is swollen in the central portion of the conveyor 101 in the width direction, the height from the conveyor 101 to the pressure roller 103 is sufficiently secured unless there is a pinhole or a seal defect, and the contents of the packaging bag are It is possible to effectively prevent the contents from being damaged by being pressed by the pressure roller 103.

The package is then a roller type displacement sensor 1
Sent to 04. The packaging bag sent is on conveyor 1
01 and the roller type displacement sensor 104 without passing, the roller type displacement sensor 104 is pushed up at that time, the thickness of the packaging bag is detected, and the detected value is stored in the storage unit 105. To be done. Next, the detected value is sent from the storage unit 105 to the determination circuit 190, and it is determined whether or not it is within a predetermined range. Then, the control unit 10
Reference numeral 8 denotes a selection means (not shown) for selecting the packaging body as a non-sealed product or a non-sealed product based on the output of the obtained determination result.
To control.

Next, when the packaging bag is a poorly sealed product by a sorting means (not shown), the packaging bag is discharged to the transport path 192 for a poorly sealed product, and in the case of a package of a non-sealed product. Is sent to the boxing device 5 via the sealed non-defective product conveying path 191. Next, the box making device 4 and the boxing device 5 will be described. The box making device 4 forms a cardboard box having an open upper part by bending a cardboard plate on which a predetermined cutting process and printing have been performed. As shown in FIG. 8, the box packing device 5 has a box-transporting conveyer 401 which is arranged so as to be orthogonal to the sealed non-defective product transport path 191 at a position adjacent to the front end of the sealed non-defective product transport path 191. .. The light-emitting element 441 is located at the filling position of the box-carrying conveyor 401, that is, at the position where the cardboard box is stopped to fill the packaging bag.
A transmission type optical sensor 441 including a and a light receiving element 441b is provided. When the cardboard box manufactured by the box manufacturing device 5 is transported to the filling position, the cardboard box is detected by the transmissive optical sensor 441, and thereby the box transporting conveyor 401 is stopped.

A robot 402 is arranged in the vicinity of the box conveying conveyor 401 and the sealed non-defective item conveying path 191, and a work suction device, that is, a robot hand 410 is attached to the tip of the robot hand body of the robot 402. There is. The robot hand 410 is shown in FIG. 9 and FIG.
As shown in 0, a plurality of, preferably three or more downward suction pads 411 are provided. Downward suction pad 411
Are supported by springs (not shown) which can be expanded and contracted in the vertical direction, and are respectively connected to a vacuum source (not shown) via a vacuum pressure distribution pipe 413, and the vacuum pressure distribution pipe 413 is also connected. The compressed air can be sent to the adsorption pad 411 by switching an electromagnetic valve (not shown) provided in the suction pad 411.

The size of the suction pad 411 is not particularly limited, but for example, a suction pad having a circular opening may be used.
When gripping a packaging bag containing 0 to 100 g of snacks, if the diameter is set to 5 to 10 cm, it is more effective that wrinkles are generated at the adsorption portion of the packaging bag surface or the peripheral portion of the opening of the adsorption pad during adsorption. Can be prevented.

Further, the material of the suction pad 411 is not particularly limited, but it is desirable that it has flexibility such as natural rubber or silicone rubber. As a result, the edge of the opening of the suction pad comes into closer contact with the surface of the packaging bag, and the packaging bag can be gripped more reliably. The arrangement of the suction pad 411 is
The packaging bag is not particularly limited as long as it can grip the packaging bag in a well-balanced manner, but uneven portions such as a seal portion must be avoided.

The robot hand 410 includes a suction pad 41.
1 and at the same height as or lower than the opening 412 of the suction pad 411.
Have fourteen. The work holding member 414 is formed of a metal wire or a plate material, and its shape is substantially similar to that of the packaging bag, for example, approximately rectangular, and at least two sides thereof, preferably three or more sides thereof, are in contact with the packaging bag. desirable.

As a result, when the robot hand 410 is lowered, the work holding member 414 first holds the packaging bag from above, and the work holding member 4 is pressed.
At the central portion of the packaging bag surrounded by 14, the air inside the packaging bag gathers and expands. As a result, the wrinkle-free upper surface of the packaging bag is brought into close contact with the opening 412 of the suction pad. Further, the robot hand 410 is used as the work holding member 4.
Since the packaging bag is pressed by 14, the packaging bag can be stably held.

That is, for example, when the packaging bag is packed in a box, even if the end of the packaging bag comes into contact with the upper end of the cardboard box and the packaging bag shakes greatly, the opening of the suction pad and the surface of the packaging bag. It is possible to effectively prevent the packaging bag from dropping, because there is no excessive gap between the and. The robot hand 410 may be one in which a packing bag is packed in a box, but as shown in FIG. 9, it is desirable to have a structure for simultaneously gripping a plurality of packing bags in terms of work efficiency. ..

In the above construction, an empty cardboard box which is box-formed from the box making device 4 and has an open top is supplied by the box-transporting conveyor 401. When the cardboard box is detected by the transmissive optical sensor 441, the box transporting conveyor 401 is stopped. On the other hand, the sealed good product conveyance path 1
The packaging bag conveyed by 91 is the stopper 490.
Stops at the end of the transport path 191.

Next, the robot 402 is operated, and the robot hand 410 is turned so that each side of the work pressing member 413 is substantially parallel to each side of the packaging bag stopped at the end of the transport path 191. Also, by switching the solenoid valve (not shown), the vacuum source is connected to the vacuum pressure distribution pipe 413.
Vacuum pressure is supplied to the inside of the suction pad 411 via the, and the robot hand 410 is operated so that the opening of the suction pad 411 contacts the upper surface of the packaging bag. As a result, first, the packaging bag is pressed from above by the work pressing member 414 provided outside the suction pad 411 and at the same height or lower position as the opening 412 of the suction pad. As a result, the air inside the packaging bag gathers and swells in the central portion of the packaging bag surrounded by the work pressing member 414. This prevents wrinkles from being generated on the upper surface of the packaging bag and allows the opening 412 of the suction pad to be formed.
Can be adhered to and adsorbed on the surface of the packaging bag.

Next, the robot 402 is operated to lift the packaging bag adsorbed in the opening 412 of the adsorption pad 411, and each side of the packaging bag is placed in the empty cardboard box stopped by the box transport conveyor 401. The robot hand 410 is turned so as to be substantially parallel to each side. Next, the robot 402 is operated so as to put the packaging bag in the cardboard box. Subsequently, by switching the solenoid valve (not shown), compressed air is supplied to the suction pad 411 and the packaging bag is separated from the suction pad 411.

When the above operation is repeated and a predetermined number of packaging bags have been put into the cardboard box, the box-carrying conveyor 401 is operated to send the cardboard box to a device (not shown) for closing the cardboard box. In another embodiment of the defective sealing detection device, a roller type first displacement sensor is arranged on the upstream side of the pressure roller of the transport path, and on the downstream side of the pressure roller of the transport path. A roller-type second displacement sensor is arranged in this position. Then, the roller-type first displacement sensor detects the thickness of the packaging bag before the packaging bag is pressed by the above-mentioned pressure roller, and the obtained value is stored in the first storage unit. In addition, the roller type second displacement sensor detects the thickness of the packaging bag after the packaging bag is pressed by the above-mentioned pressure roller, and stores the obtained value in the second storage unit.

The arithmetic processing section subtracts the detection value stored in the second storage section from the detection value stored in the first storage section,
It is determined whether the obtained value is within a predetermined range and is a non-sealed product. According to the above-mentioned embodiment, since the sealing failure is detected by comparing the thickness of the packaging bag before and after the pressure is applied by the roller, it is possible to ensure that the amount of gas in the packaging bag greatly differs for each packaging bag. In addition, it has the advantage of being able to detect poor sealing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the pillow packaging device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a pillow packaging device and a packaging bag non-defective unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for determining a non-defective product of a packaging bag.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a defective packaging product detection device for a packaging bag.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of a defective packaging product detection device for a packaging bag.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view of a defective packaging product detection device for a packaging bag.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the boxing device.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the robot hand.

FIG. 10 is a front view of the robot hand.

[Explanation of symbols]

 F Packaging film 2 Pillow packaging device 3 Poor sealing detection device 4 Box making device 5 Boxing device 20 Hopper 21 Filling tube 22 Belt conveyor 23 Vertical sealing machine 24 Horizontal sealing machine 27 Good product conveying path 28 Bad product conveying path 29 Swing Chute 55 TV camera 61 RGB decoder 62 Color image memory 63 Judgment circuit 64 Control unit 101 Conveyor (conveying path) 102 Endless belt 103 Pressure roller 104 Roller displacement sensor 191 Sealing good product conveying path 192 Sealing defective product conveying path 401 Box conveying Conveyor 402 Robot 410 Robot hand 411 Suction pad 414 Work holding member

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masafumi Takemoto 1-5-7 Mikitei-cho, Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture House Food Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor ▲ Sugi ▼ Takayuki Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture 1-5-7 Sakaemachi House Food Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Shimatani 1-5-7 Mikiteicho, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture House Food Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pillow packaging machine having a filling tube, wherein (a) a sorting means provided downstream of the filling tube for sorting the quality of the packaging bag, and (b) a tubular packaging material formed by the filling tube. Image pickup means provided facing each other, (c) a circuit for converting a video image picked up by the image pickup means into image data, (d) a means for storing the obtained image data, (e) based on the stored image data Determining means for determining whether or not the ratio of the image data of a specific type in the window at a predetermined position of the frame is within a predetermined range, and (f) the selection based on the determination result obtained by the determining means. A pillow packaging machine having a control means for controlling the means. 2. The swinging mechanism, wherein the sorting means sorts the packaging bags by fixing the input part and displacing the discharge part.
Pillow packaging machine as described. 3. The sorting means is composed of a belt conveyor that conveys a packaging bag, and an air nozzle that is arranged in the vicinity of the belt conveyor and that injects air to the defective packaging bag to remove it from the belt conveyor. The pillow packaging machine according to claim 1.