JPH06199323A - Heating device for shrink packaging - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a heating device for shrink packaging which can obviate the need for the replacing operation of a guide ring, prevent the blockage of a heating chamber with the object being packaged due to the zigzag movement thereof or the bending of a chain bar and change easily the width, etc., of a transfer passage according to changes in the size of the object. CONSTITUTION:In a heating device for shrink packaging wherein the heat shrinkable film with which an object A is enclosed is shrunk by heat application so as to make up a package of the object determined form, while the object A on a moving chain conveyor 3 is being passed through a heating chamber 2, a pair of oppositely positioned pipe-like guide members 9 and 10 are provided, each along its respective side of a transfer passage of the object A on the conveyor 3, to constrain this passage in width and cooling water is passed through the pipe-like guide members 9 and 10 to cool the same.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating device used for shrink wrapping (shrink wrapping) for wrapping a product with a heat-shrinkable film and shrinking the film by heating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Shrink wrapping involves wrapping a product with a heat-shrinkable film and heating and shrinking the film to bring it into close contact with the product. When performing such shrink wrapping, For example, Jikkou 56-4801
A heating device for shrink wrapping, such as that described in publication 0, is used.

As shown in FIG. 4, this is provided with a tunnel-shaped heating chamber b through which a conveying path a for the articles to be packaged penetrates, and a blower d for sending hot air into the heating chamber b via a heater c. The object to be wrapped, which is wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film, passes through the heating chamber b filled with hot air. According to this, while the article to be packaged passes through the heating chamber, the heat-shrinkable film wrapping the article to be packaged can be contracted by heating so that the article to be packaged can be brought into close contact with the article to be packaged.
For example, if the packaged item has a slightly complicated shape,
Even when several items are packed together and packaged, those items to be packaged can be tightly bound by binding with a film.

By the way, in the apparatus used for such shrink wrapping, it is customary to use a chain conveyor as a means for conveying the articles to be packaged. At that time, the articles to be package meander in the heating chamber. Or get caught,
Since the product value of the packaged item is impaired, it is necessary to prevent such a situation.

Therefore, in the prior art, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, silicon for regulating the width of the conveying path on both sides of the chain bars f ... F constituting the chain conveyor e according to the size of the article to be packaged. Guide ring made of rubber g
The provision of "g" prevents the movement of the article to be conveyed in the width direction of the conveyance path to prevent meandering or the like.

[0006]

However, since the silicone rubber forming the guide ring g as described above does not have heat resistance sufficient to withstand the hot air in the heating chamber for a long time, it is likely to be damaged by heating. Therefore, there was a problem that it had to be frequently replaced with a new one.

On the other hand, if the guide ring g is left in a damaged state, the article to be packaged meanders in the heating chamber and becomes clogged. As a result, an unreasonable force acts on the chain bar f. There was a problem that the chain bar f was bent.

When the size of the article to be packaged changes, it is necessary to change the size of the guide ring g in the chain conveyor e and the width between the rings g and g according to the size. However, at that time, since the chain conveyor e is provided with a large number of guide rings g ... G at regular intervals along the carrying direction, there is a problem that the changing work is very troublesome.

Instead of the guide ring as described above, it is conceivable to dispose guide rails made of metal, for example, on both sides of the guide path. However, in this case, since the guide rail itself is heated, there is an inconvenience that the heat-shrinkable film wrapping the object to be packaged is melted and broken when it comes into contact with the guide rail.

The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems in the heating apparatus for shrink wrapping, and by improving the guide means for guiding the article to be packed, which is arranged in the heating chamber,
For shrink wrapping, which not only eliminates the need for guide ring replacement work, but also prevents clogging of the items to be packed in the heating chamber and bending of the chain bar, and can easily perform mold changing work when the size of the items to be packed is changed. An object is to provide a heating device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a heating chamber and a conveyer for conveying an object to be packaged which is arranged so as to penetrate the heating chamber, and a heat-shrinkable film. In the heating device for shrink wrapping which shrinks the film by heating and wraps the object to be wrapped in a predetermined state while the object to be wrapped wrapped in the conveyor is passed through the heating chamber as follows. It is characterized by being configured.

That is, a pipe-shaped guide member for restricting the width of the conveyance path is provided on both sides of the conveyance path of the article to be packaged on the conveyor. Then, the guide member is cooled by passing cooling water into the pipe of the pipe-shaped guide member.

From the viewpoint of heat resistance and durability, it is preferable to use, for example, iron, aluminum, stainless steel, and other metals (including alloys) as the material of the guide member. Further, the pipe forming the guide member is not limited to a round pipe, and may be a square pipe, or any other shape as long as the cross section has a closed cross section so that cooling water can pass therethrough. Good.

Further, it is preferable that the guide member is fixed at a predetermined position by screwing, as will be described later in Examples. This is because the width between the guide members can be easily changed by loosening the screw and moving the guide member.

[0015]

According to the above construction, since the width of the conveying path of the article to be packaged in the heating chamber is regulated by the pipe-shaped guide members provided on both sides thereof, the article to be packaged wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film. Is carried on a conveyor along a predetermined carrying path without coming out of the guide member.
Therefore, there is no occurrence of catching or clogging outside the conveyance path due to meandering of the packaged object. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent problems such as bending of the chain bar in the article-carrying conveyor.

Further, in this case, the pipe-shaped guide member is heated by the hot air in the heating chamber, but the pipe wall of the guide member is kept at a relatively low temperature by being cooled by the cooling water passing through the inside thereof. Be done. Therefore, even if the packaged object wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film comes into contact with the guide member during transportation, the film is not melted and broken by the heat.

With the width of the conveying path regulated by the guide member in this manner, the article to be packaged passes through the heating chamber, and the film on the outer side of the article to be packaged contracts due to heating during the heating chamber. By closely adhering to an object, it is packaged in a predetermined state.

On the other hand, when it becomes necessary to change the width of the conveyance path or the like due to the size change of the article to be packaged, the position of the pair of guide members on both sides of the conveyance path is set to the inside or outside by a predetermined amount. By moving, the width of the transport path can be easily changed. Therefore, the width of the conveying path can be adjusted according to the size of the packaged item without the troublesome work of individually moving the large number of guide rings provided on the chain bar to change the width of the conveying path as in the conventional case. The size can be changed easily.

[0019]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. 1, 2, and 3 are a front view, a plan view, and a side view, respectively, showing a shrink wrap heating device according to this embodiment.

As shown in these figures, the heating device 1 is
It has a tunnel-shaped heating chamber 2 in which an inlet and an outlet for the object to be packaged A are formed, and a chain conveyor 3 for penetrating the object to be packaged, which is provided so as to penetrate the heating chamber 2.

Of these, the chain conveyor 3 is a pair of chains 4 and 4 provided on both sides along the conveying direction of the article A to be packaged (direction of arrow X in FIG. 1), and both ends are attached to these chains, respectively. A large number of chain bars 5
.. and 5. Then, the chains 4 and 4 are driven in a predetermined direction by a driving device (not shown) including a sprocket and a motor, which are separately provided, and travel integrally with the chain bars 5 ... 5 along the track thereof. As a result, the article A to be packaged placed on the chain bars 5 ... 5 is conveyed in the X direction and passed through the heating chamber 2.

On the other hand, the heating chamber 2 is surrounded by a heat insulating material 6 and the like, and hot air is blown into the chamber through a heater from a blower (not shown). Then, while the packaged object A wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film is placed on the chain conveyor 3 and passes through the heating chamber 2, the film is heated by hot air to shrink the packaged object A so that the packaged object A is predetermined. It is designed to be packed in a state.

At both ends of the chain conveyor 3 in the transport direction, a supply conveyor 7 for supplying the objects to be packaged before shrink-wrapping on the conveyor, and the chain conveyor 3
It is connected to the receiving conveyor 8 that receives the shrink-wrapped packaged items sent from.

In this heating device 1, one side surface of the upper main body 1b (conveyance) provided above the lower main body 1a having the chain conveyor 3 and the like so that maintenance and inspection of the inside can be performed. By lifting one side) extending in parallel with the direction, it can be opened and closed by a predetermined amount.

Further, in this heating device 1, as a characteristic part of the present invention, pipe-shaped guide members 9 and 10 are provided on both sides of the chain conveyor 3 along the conveyance path of the article A to be packaged. . These guide members 9, 1
0 regulates the width dimension of the conveyance path so that the width of the conveyance path becomes a predetermined width according to the size of the article A to be packaged (the length in the example is 135 mm and the diameter is 45 mm). All of them are made of metal pipes,
In the illustrated example, the respective end portions located on the package loading side (right side in FIGS. 1 and 2) are connected to each other via a flexible hose 11. Then, the cock 13 of the water supply pipe 12 connected to the unloading side (left side in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the one guide member 9 is opened to open the guide member 9.
Cooling water is supplied into the pipe of the other guide member 10
The guide members 9 and 10 are cooled to a predetermined low temperature by discharging them from the unloading side of the article to be packaged and passing cooling water through the pipes of the guide members 9 and 10 in this manner. .

The guide members 9 and 10 are fixed to the mounting members 14 and 15 fixed to both ends of the lower main body 1a in the conveying direction of the package with screws 16, respectively. Each mounting member 14, 15 has
Long holes 14a and 15a are formed in parallel with the width direction of the transport path. When the width between the guide members 9 and 10 is changed, the screw 16 is loosened and the elongated hole 14
The fixed positions of the guide members 9 and 10 can be easily adjusted / changed within a predetermined range by sliding the guide members 9 and 10a within a.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The article A wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film is mounted on the supply conveyor 7 and supplied to the chain conveyor 3 in the heating device 1, and then mounted on the conveyor 3 and conveyed in the arrow X direction in FIG. It

At this time, pipe-shaped guide members 9 and 10 are provided on the chain conveyor 3 at predetermined positions on both sides of the conveying path of the article A to be packaged.
Since the width of the conveyance path is regulated by 10, even if the article A to be packaged is biased in the width direction for some reason during conveyance, the article A only contacts the guide members 9 and 10. And never outside of them.

As a result, the object A to be packaged is prevented from being caught or jammed in the chain 3 or the like due to the object A to be packaged meandering on the chain conveyor 3 while being positioned inside the guide members 9 and 10. It passes through the front heating chamber 2 without being generated. As a result, the bending of the chain bars 5 ... 5 caused by catching or clogging of the article A to be packaged can be reliably avoided.

While passing through the heating chamber 2 in this way, it is heated by the hot air in the chamber. By this heating, the film on the outer side of the packaged object A contracts and adheres to the packaged object. Thereby, the article to be packaged is shrink-wrapped in a predetermined state.

By the way, since the guide members 9 and 10 are also heated in the heating chamber 2 by the hot air, if the state is kept as it is, when the article A to be packaged comes into contact with the guide members 9 and 10, There is a risk that the outer film that wraps the packaged object A will be melted by the heat of the guide members 9 and 10 and broken.

However, in the heating device 1 of the present invention,
Since the cooling water passes through the guide members 9 and 10, the cooling water cools the guide members 9 and 10 and maintains a predetermined low temperature. Therefore, even if the article A wrapped with the heat-shrinkable film contacts the guide member 9 or 10, the heat does not melt the film. Thereby, the damage due to the melting of the film as described above can be effectively avoided.

On the other hand, in the apparatus for performing such shrink wrapping, there are cases where the width of the conveying path or the like must be changed in accordance with the size change of the article to be packed. In that case, in the heating device 1, the attachment members 14 and 1 of the lower body 1a
Since the guide members 9 and 10 are fixed by the screws 16 inserted in the long holes 14a and 15a of the screw 5,
The width of the conveying path can be easily changed only by moving the positions of the guide members 9 and 10 inward or outward by loosening 6 or the like. Therefore, unlike the conventional case, it is not necessary to individually move a large number of guide rings provided on the chain bar to change the width of the conveying path, which eliminates the troublesome work.

[0034]

As described above, according to the shrink wrap heating device of the present invention, the movement of the articles to be packaged in the width direction of the transport path is restricted by the pipe-shaped guide members provided on both sides of the transport path. Therefore, the guide ring made of silicon rubber, which has been used conventionally, becomes unnecessary. This eliminates the need for frequent replacement work due to damage to the guide ring, as well as avoiding catching or clogging due to meandering of the package, which in turn bends the chain bar that carries the package. Such problems can be solved.

Moreover, although the guide member is heated in the heating chamber, it is kept at a relatively low temperature by being cooled by the cooling water flowing therein. Therefore, the melting and breakage of the film when the packaged object contacts the guide member can be effectively avoided.

Further, also in the work of changing the width of the conveying path accompanying the size change of the article to be packaged, the entire width of the conveying path is set to the predetermined width by moving the position of the guide member inward or outward by a predetermined amount. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the troublesome work of individually moving a large number of guide rings provided on the chain bar and changing the width of the conveying path as in the conventional case.

Further, when the silicon rubber guide ring as described above is used, the number of chain bars cannot be increased so much because it is necessary to avoid contact between the guide ring and the chain bar, but according to the present invention. For example, since it is not necessary to use such a guide ring, the number of chain bars can be increased by that amount as compared with the conventional one. Then, by increasing the number of chain bars in this way, it becomes possible to smoothly pass the article to be packaged through the heating chamber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted front view showing a heating device for shrink wrapping according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially omitted plan view of the heating device.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the heating device taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example of a conventional shrink wrap heating device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of a chain conveyor of a heating device used for explaining a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Shrink packaging heating device 2 ... Heating chamber 3 ... Conveyor (chain conveyor) 9, 10 ... Guide member A ... Packaged object

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heating chamber and a conveyer for conveying an object to be packaged, which is arranged so as to penetrate through the heating chamber, and an object to be packaged wrapped with a heat-shrinkable film is placed on the conveyor and heated. An apparatus for wrapping an object to be packaged in a predetermined state by shrinking the film by heating while passing through the chamber,
A pipe-shaped guide member for regulating the width of the conveyance path is provided on both sides of the conveyance path of the article to be packaged on the conveyor, and the guide member is cooled by cooling water passing through the tube. A heating device for shrink wrapping characterized by the above.