JPH0748490Y2 - Packaging seal defect detection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a sealing failure of an airtight packaging bag containing a solid substance.

(Prior Art) In a sealing defect inspection of an airtight packaging bag containing a solid substance, for example, a packaging bag of instant noodles, conventionally, it is usually processed by an inspection method by visual inspection and touch by an inspector,
It is impossible to inspect all of the packaging bags that continuously flow in large quantities on the conveyor, and a defective seal of the packaging bags may be overlooked, resulting in complaints from consumers. In particular, when the object to be packaged is a food, problems such as quality deterioration due to defective sealing tend to occur, which is not preferable in food hygiene. There was a demand for reliable 100% inspection by reducing the number of inspectors and fully automating the inspection.

After that, the following publications are disclosed, but they are completely different from the present invention, that is, in JP-A-60-251017, an external force is applied to a hermetically sealed packaged product to thereby physically A method and an apparatus for detecting the quality of the sealed state by measuring the displacement are disclosed. However, the hermetically sealed package is a fluid and relatively flexible hermetically packaged article such as a bag of powder. It is for detecting the quality of the sealed state,
Only pressure sensors, vibration sensors, and distance sensors have been disclosed as detection devices. Due to the structure of the device, the transfer of packages is inevitable, and it is necessary to continuously inspect a large number of packages. Is not suitable.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-81930 discloses a method in which a hermetically-sealed package is housed or clamped in a tray and then pressed through a non-stretchable hollow body, and a repulsive force is detected by a pressure change of the hollow body. Although a device is disclosed, it is not easy to incorporate it into a packaging line because the pressurizing device repeats intermittent operation, which requires detection time and is inefficient, and a tray is required for transfer.

Next, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-191727 discloses the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-81930.
In the implementation of the issue, it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad sealing only by pressing the packaging bag and measuring the pressure change because the air content of the sealed packaging bag actually inspected varies. However, the following inspection device is disclosed as not practical. That is, the packaging bag transferred by a conveyor provided with product placement parts partitioned by a partition plate at a constant interval on the endless belt surface, the thickness of the bag by a thickness measuring device applying a rotary encoder provided above the conveyor start end side. Measure the height. Next, attach a pressure-sensitive conductive rubber application pressure-sensitive head on the downstream side of the conveyor at the same interval as the product-mounting section to an up-and-down drive panel that supports up and down freely, and reciprocate them along the conveyor to apply pressure. Take a measurement. The output control unit controls the pressure of the pressure-sensitive head based on the thickness data of the thickness measuring machine.
The discriminating function unit discriminates whether the product is good or bad in consideration of the variation in the air content of the packaging bag.

As described above, this device is a constant cycle inspection due to the reciprocating movement of the pressure detection unit, so it is difficult to increase the conveyor speed, and the structure and control are complicated, so the life of the device is difficult and the inspection speed is limited. Therefore, it is not suitable for mass production inspection.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) In order to solve the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional technology, the present invention reduces the number of inspection personnel and improves automation of packaging quality with reliable 100% inspection by full automation and conveyor speed of the production line. (EN) Provided is a device for detecting defective packaging and sealing of airtight packaging bags, which is intended to be easily incorporated into various packaging lines without lowering.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a continuous packaging line, and in a sealed packaging bag having air containing a solid substance to be packaged immediately after completion of the packaging and sealing step. A bag formed at the center of the packaging bag, which is pressed by a pair of elastic sponge-like pressing belts or a pair of ultra-low pressure air-sealed tire tubes that move both lateral ends in synchronization with the conveyor. A detection device characterized by detecting the bulge on the upper surface with a detection plate lightly pressed from the upper surface, and detecting the displacement of the plate with a sensor. Also, to detect an incompletely sealed state more easily. As a pretreatment process,
The apparatus is characterized in that a device similar to the pressing means is used to pre-press the entire packaging bag in advance and the air that escapes is removed.

In addition, this pre-process is appropriately installed depending on the type of the product to be packaged, and when the following detection unit is sufficient, the installation of this pre-process is not necessary.

The present invention will be described in detail. The material of the package is not particularly limited as long as it has a sealing property. The most suitable material for heat sealing is a synthetic resin film. The object to be packaged is suitable for a solid substance, and when it is encapsulated and hermetically sealed, the packaging bag is naturally aerated, apart from the vacuum packaging. Next, both ends of the packaging bag are pressed by the pressing portions, and means for collecting the air of the aerated packaging bag in the central portion is provided. However, since the object to be packaged does not have fluidity, it is not easy to collect the air, which is partially contained in every corner along the solid material, in the central portion as an air bulge.

Therefore, a pair of soft elastic materials are used, and if both ends of the packaging bag are sequentially pressed along the enclosed solid material, air will naturally collect in the central portion. The pressing portion at this time varies depending on the object to be packaged, but may be, for example, a sponge-like elastic foamed body in the form of an endless belt. If the package is not damaged and is driven synchronously along the flow in the same direction as the packaging bag on the conveyor, air can be easily collected in the central portion of the packaging bag. The pressing portion may have a circular tire tube shape. For example, a pair of tire tubes filled with ultra-low pressure air is used to press both ends of the packaging bag. In this case, if the peripheral portion of the tire tube is lightly brought into contact with the surface of the conveyor, it can be synchronized with the conveyor speed without power. The mounting angle of the tire tube is supported by a mounting base so that the bulge at the center of the packaging bag is maximized. Also, even if the size of the packaging bag is different, it can be adjusted up and down by adjusting bolts so that it can be adjusted to some extent.

In any case, the subtle bulge of air created in this central part is detected by the detection plate supported by parallel links so as to move up and down in parallel with the conveyor surface, and the movement of this detection plate is mechanically amplified, The displacement is detected by a sensor. In the case of a poorly sealed product, air is released by pressing so that no bulge can be made or the bulge becomes extremely small. Therefore, it is possible to detect the presence or absence of a poorly sealed product by applying this principle.

In order to make this detection of bulge even more reliable, if a process similar to the pressing method described above is added as a pre-process over the entire surface of the package in advance to deflate the incompletely sealed bag, a non-defective product can be added. The detection becomes more accurate because the difference between defective products becomes clear.

This sensor can be applied to anything that can be regarded as displacement, such as optical type, laser type, ultrasonic type, etc., but in terms of service life, detection speed and control signal extraction, there is no contact, no contact. Contact sensors are suitable.

As a control, the signal of the photoelectric sensor that detects that the packaging bag to be inspected has passed through the detection unit and the signal of whether the detection unit is good or bad can be installed, and if a discharge device by air purge is installed immediately after the detection device, defective products can be processed. It's easy. All of these control circuits are non-contact and have a timer function that can be synchronized with the conveyor speed. If necessary, it is also possible to count and store the number of inspections and defects and display the defect rate.

(Operation) Pre-loading the entire surface with the pre-loading portion configured as described above causes a failure,
Since the defective parts are differentiated and both ends of the packaging bag are sequentially pressed by the detection part with a pair of soft elastic materials, both sides of the packaging bag are pressed so as to close the gap along the shape. It As a result, an air bulge can be easily formed in the central portion. Even if there is some variation in the amount of air contained, the difference from the defective seal is large, so the bulging state can be detected by the photoelectric sensor and the displacement sensor in combination with the mechanical amplification action of the detection plate.

Example 1 Examples 1 to 6 will be described with reference to the drawings.
The figure shows the case of the three-way seal packaging of the present invention. First, in FIG. 5, the packaging bag 2 passes between the preload belts 22 driven by the variable speed motor 19 in synchronism with the conveyor 13 as a pre-process while being pressed. 22 is a sponge-like elastic foam attached to a belt, and its width is such that the entire upper surface of the packaging bag can be pressed. Reference numeral 23 is an idle roller that holds the preload belt so that it does not lift up.

The incompletely sealed defective packaging bag is completely wiped with air by the previous step, facilitating inspection in the next detection step.

In addition, this pre-process is appropriately installed depending on the type of the product to be packaged, and when the following detection unit is sufficient, the installation of this pre-process is not necessary.

A detection unit is provided on the downstream side of the previous process. In the detection portion, the packaging bag 2 is pressed at both ends by a pair of sponge belts 11 synchronized with each other via a belt 21, and an air bulge 6 is formed in the central portion. At this time, the bulge of 6 cannot be made on the defective seal because the air has already escaped. Reference numeral 7 is a thickness detection plate pushed up by the bulge 6, and the portion in contact with the packaging bag is finished to have a smooth surface with little friction. Reference numeral 8 is a parallel link rod that supports the detection plate 7 and allows the detection plate to move up and down in parallel with the conveyor. Reference numeral 9 is a photoelectric switch that operates while being shielded from light by a light shielding plate attached to the end of the rod.

FIG. 1 and FIGS. 3 to 4 are detailed diagrams in which the configuration of the detection unit is enlarged. 7a is a weight for adjustment that lightly presses the detection plate with an appropriate pressure, and 8a to 8d are parallel links that support the detection plate, amplify the displacement of the detection plate by the principle of movement, and move the light shielding plate of 8e,
Accurately detect the bulge of the packaging bag. 8f is an adjusting screw for adjusting the bottom dead center of the detection plate of 7, 9a is a mounting plate for supporting the photoelectric switch of 9, and 9b is an adjusting bolt for adjusting the position of the photoelectric switch.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a photoelectric switch that detects the passage of the packaging bag flowing on the conveyor, and determines the quality of the sealing of the packaging bag based on the conditions of the passage of the packaging bag and the presence of the bulge 6. Next, the defective sealing product is discharged from the conveyor by a combination 17 of an electromagnetic valve for air purging and a nozzle according to an instruction from the control circuit, and is stored in a defective product receiving box 16 via the guide receiving plate 15.

The above-mentioned preloading section and detecting section are mounted on a mounting frame 24, and further, the mounting frames 24 are suspended on a pedestal 25 which can be adjusted up and down so as to maintain a constant height via a lifting device 26. The lever 27 allows the entire detection device to be easily lined in and out of the packaging line.

The lever 27 is manual in the drawing, but if this lever is structured to be automatically operated by a pneumatic cylinder or electric (not shown), a device for automatically detecting a signal in case of line abnormality can be automatically detected. Can be lined out.

(Example 2) FIGS. 7 to 9 show the case of pillow packaging.

Although it depends on the form of the object to be packaged, it is suitable for a bag that contains a large amount of air among the packaging bags. An embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. As a pre-process, the packaging bag 2 is brought into contact with a conveyor 13 and a pair of tire tubes 28b that are lightly contacted with each other to rotate the both ends of the bag. It is pressed and passes through. 28b is an air filled with ultra-low pressure, and a fixed height is set on a pedestal 25 whose vertical height can be adjusted via a bracket 32, a mounting base 33, adjusting bolts 34 and 35, and a frame 24 to which these are mounted. Suspended to keep. The frame 24 can be easily line-in and line-out by the lifting devices 26 and 27. The lifting device can be automated by a pneumatic cylinder or electric (as shown in the first embodiment) (not shown), so as to make the pressing effect of the pair of tire tubes 28b effective, a sponge for pressing the central portion. Belt
37 is provided and attached to the frame 36. This belt 37 is supported by a pulley that is extremely light and moves freely, and because it is unpowered, it rotates in synchronization with each passage of the packaging bag 2 and does not prevent passage.

The purpose and effect obtained by the preload in the preceding step is described in Example 1.
Is the same as.

In addition, this pre-process is appropriately installed depending on the type of the product to be packaged, and when the following detection unit is sufficient, the installation of this pre-process is not necessary.

In the next detection step, the packaging bag 2 that has been preloaded in the previous step and has a completely sealed and defective defect is pressed at both ends by a pair of tire tubes 28a similar to the preload section, and an air bulge 6 is formed in the center. It is formed. At this time, as with the case of the first embodiment, the defective seal cannot bulge because the air has already been released. Here, the pair of tire chaves 28a is the same as the above-mentioned tire chab 28b, and is a non-powered one that lightly contacts the conveyor 13 and synchronously rotates. Rod 8
Is a parallel link similar to that of the first embodiment, which supports the thickness detection plate 7, detects the bulge 6 of the packaging bag 2 and moves up and down to set the distance L between the amplified end portion and the displacement sensor 9a to be non-uniform. It is detected by contact. Similar to the first embodiment, together with the photoelectric switch 10, the quality of the sealing of the packaging bag can be determined based on the conditions of the passage of the packaging bag 2 and the presence of the bulge 6. The discharging device is the same as that in the first embodiment.

In addition, as a result of detecting the defect of the package seal by using the package seal defect detecting device of the present invention described in Example 1 and Example 2, the result is about 1% in the conventional inspection by personnel.
Although the defective packaging seals in the vicinity were inspected and eliminated, by using only the defective packaging seal detector of the present invention, about 1.1% of defective packaging seals can be detected and completely eliminated.

Therefore, it was possible to eliminate approximately 0.1% of defective packaging that could not be eliminated by conventional inspection by personnel.

(Effects of the Invention) Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

Conventional inspection personnel can rely on visual inspection and touch to detect defective packaging, and it is possible to perform 100% inspection without fail, without changing the layout of the packaging line and conveyor speed. The quality has improved dramatically, and the number of inspection personnel has been reduced due to full automation.

Furthermore, this device has general versatility that can be adjusted and applied as long as the shape of the packaging bag to be inspected does not change significantly, and it can be installed across the transport conveyor, so it is extremely easy to incorporate into the packaging line. . Further, in the present invention, in order to make the detection of the bulge more reliable, a pre-pressing part having the same mechanism as the pressing part is provided in front of the pressing part so that the packaging bag is pressed in advance and no seal is generated. By adding the step of completely deflating the air in the bag, there is a unique effect of the present invention in that the subsequent detection by pressing can be performed more accurately.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the detecting portion of the embodiment 1 of the package sealing defect detecting device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view showing an example of a sealed packaged product of the present invention, and FIG. Detailed side view of the thickness detecting portion of the packaging bag of the first embodiment of the invention, FIG. 4 is a front view of the same, FIG. 5 is a side view of the first embodiment of the package seal defect detecting device of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a front view of the same, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the detecting portion of the second embodiment of the package seal defect detecting apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a side view of the second embodiment of the package seal defect detecting apparatus of the present invention. Is the same front view. 1 …… Package, 3,4 …… Seal part, 5 …… Space, 12 …… Belt car, 14 …… Conveyor base, 17a …… Air nozzle, 18 …… Control panel, 20 …… Belt, 24a …… Detector mount, 29 …… Tire wheel, 30 …… Sponge packing, 31 …… Ball bearing.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masayasu Toyota 128-5 Shiga, Arashiyama-cho, Hiki-gun, Saitama Prefecture (72) Inventor Hiroaki Kaji 4-4 Takanodai, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo (56) References JP 60- 251017 (JP, A) JP 54-54790 (JP, A) JP 61-81931 (JP, A) JP 58-52886 (JP, B2) JP 57-8003 (JP, B2)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A pair of pressing portions presses both ends of an air-containing packaging bag containing a solid substance on a conveyor after hermetically sealing, and an air bulge formed in the center of the packaging bag is detected by a detection plate. In a packaging-seal defect detecting device for a packaging bag, which detects the displacement of the detection plate with a sensor to determine the quality of the seal, (a) the pressing portion presses both lateral ends of the packaging bag. It is composed of a pair of elastic sponge-like pressing endless belts or a pair of endless tire tubes enclosing low-pressure air, which moves in synchronism with the conveyor, and (b) is a packaging bag in advance immediately before the pressing portion. In order to deaerate the air from the defective packaging bag by pressing, both ends of the packaging bag in the lateral direction are moved in synchronism with the conveyor and the elastic sponge-like pressing end A pre-pressing part composed of an endless tire tube enclosing a belt or ultra-low pressure air is installed, and (c) the detecting part and the pre-pressing part are attached to a mounting frame, and this mounting frame is mounted via a lifting device. A package seal defect detection device, characterized in that it is suspended on a vertically adjustable frame, and (d) a defective product discharge mechanism is installed immediately after the pressing portion.