JPH1059331A - Method and device for packaging automatically - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic packaging device which has general versatility and can automatically determine whether a seal is good or bad. SOLUTION: At an upper part of the downstream side of an end seal device 8, a thermal video sensor 12 capable of detecting a temperature by color information and outputting it is provided. The sensor 12 picks up images including a seal part immediately after a heat seal and creates color images corresponding to the surface temperature. The output of the sensor 12 is given to a determining device 13 wherein whether a defective seal is present or not is determined based on whether a tone signal given there corresponds to a predetermined temperature or not. When the seal is defective, an abnormality signal is outputted to a precluding device 14 and a defective article is precluded by the precluding device 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic packaging method and apparatus, and more particularly, to the presence or absence of a defective seal at a sealed portion of a packaging film performed using a sealing device such as an end sealing device or a center sealing device. And a device therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional packaging apparatus (horizontal pillow packaging apparatus in the illustrated example) is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the belt-shaped film 2 is continuously pulled out from the raw film 2a and guided to the bag-making machine 3, and the band-shaped film 2 is made into a tubular bag by passing through the bag-making machine 3. .

On the other hand, the article to be packaged 4 is pushed by a pushing finger 6 of a supply conveyor 5 arranged on the upstream side of the bag making machine 3.
It is conveyed at a predetermined pitch, and is sequentially supplied into the bag making device 3, that is, into the tubular film 2 'formed into a tubular shape. Then, the supplied packaged object 4 is transported together with the tubular film 2 ′, and in the middle of the transport, the overlapped ends of both side edges of the tubular film 2 ′ are heat-sealed by the center sealer 7. 8, the tubular film 2 'between the front and rear to-be-packaged objects 4 is sealed in the horizontal direction and cut to manufacture the package 9. Then, the package 9 is transported on the unloading conveyor 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, a top sealer 8b is attached to a rotating shaft 8a, which is vertically opposed to and sandwiches a cylindrical film 2 ', and which rotates synchronously. Each time the top sealer 8a makes one rotation, the upper and lower top sealers 8b abut and press against each other with the film interposed therebetween. At the time of the abutment, the film is heated, pressurized and welded, and cut by a built-in cutting blade. . A heater and a thermocouple are built in the top sealer 8b, and the heater is turned on / off based on the output of the thermocouple so that the surface of the top sealer 8b has a predetermined temperature. The heating mechanism and temperature control of the center sealer have the same configuration.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, although the heater can be controlled to a predetermined temperature with relatively high accuracy, the actual temperature of the cylindrical film 2 'is actually high.
It does not measure the temperature of the surface of the top sealer 8b in contact with the heater, that is, the temperature applied to the cylindrical film 2 ', and thus controls the temperature of the heater in consideration of the temperature difference generated between the two. ing. Therefore, if the temperature difference is significantly different from the range considered, an unsealed portion may be generated due to insufficient heating temperature of the tubular film 2 ', or the film may be excessively heated and melted more than necessary to alter the quality. Various sealing defects such as a decrease in adhesive strength are generated.

[0006] As a conventional method of judging the quality of the seal, for example, an inspector is arranged on the side of the carry-out conveyor 10, and the inspector places the main body portion (the seal portion) of the package 9 to be conveyed on the carry-out conveyor 10. (The part that is swelled by storing other items to be packaged) from above. In other words, when the package 9 is sealed, the inside of the package 9 is a sealed space, so that the main body of the package 9 is not crushed. By pressing down, the air existing in the package 9 is pushed out, and the package 9 is crushed. Therefore, it can be determined whether or not the seal is made based on whether or not such a crushing occurs. Further, the pressing process can be performed by a machine / apparatus.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method,
An inspector must be resident and cannot perform automatic discrimination. In addition, since processing and judgment are performed manually as described above, for example, when it is determined as a defective product (seal defect) as a result of the inspection, the defective product is to be eliminated, but the elimination process is also performed directly or manually. The inspector depresses a predetermined switch to switch the transport path of the defective product, leading to a discharge chute or the like, and the elimination process becomes complicated.

Further, depending on the form of the package, there are many cases where the package is not filled with air. Even if the package is sealed, the main body of the package comes into contact with or close to the packaged object, and When a part is pressed, a packaging film may be pushed until it is pressed against a packaged object with a predetermined urging force. Then, in this case, if the packaged object is soft, such as bread, for example, the packaged object is deformed by the urging force. Therefore, in the case of a package including such an article to be packaged, the above-described inspection cannot be performed.

In addition, a part of the polymerization end is sealed,
The above-described inspection method cannot be applied to a package that is not completely sealed. in this way,
The conventional one is limited in its use location and the like and lacks versatility.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned background, and a purpose thereof is to automatically determine the quality of a seal. Processing to eliminate defective products can be performed,
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic packaging method and apparatus which are versatile and can be accurately determined with a simple configuration.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic packaging apparatus according to the present invention covers an object to be packaged with a packaging film and heat seals a predetermined overlapping end portion of the packaging film. After the heat sealing or at the same time as the heat sealing, assuming an automatic packaging apparatus for manufacturing a package by cutting a predetermined position of the packaging film in the transverse direction with respect to the traveling direction, heat sealing the predetermined overlapping end portion. Monitoring means for monitoring the physical state of the seal surface immediately after the sealing, and determining means for determining the presence or absence of a seal failure based on a signal output from the monitoring means; An output means for notifying an abnormality at least when the result of the judgment by the judgment means is a sealing failure is provided (claim 1).

In the present invention, the state of the sealing surface immediately after the sealing is directly monitored by the monitoring means, so that the presence or absence of a sealing defect can be reliably determined. Here, the physical state includes everything that shows a physical difference between a case where the seal is normally performed and a case where the seal is defective. For example, the physical state is a temperature, a transmittance, a reflectance, or the like. There is optical information. In addition, the present invention is not limited to those appearing on the surface, but may be a state inside the film such as a molecular structure at a boundary surface portion where a film overlap end is detected by X-ray analysis.

That is, in the case of heat sealing, a sealer heated to a certain temperature is brought into contact with the packaging film, and a predetermined heat is applied to melt the bonding surface between the overlapping ends of the packaging film. And, even if the heat to be applied is small or too large, the sealing failure occurs. Therefore, the sealing surface of the film immediately after the sealing is heated to a predetermined temperature by being heated by the sealing means. Therefore, if the temperature is a predetermined temperature (including a certain range), it can be estimated that heating has been performed under a desired temperature condition, and it can be determined that the seal has been performed normally. Conversely, if the temperature of the sealing surface is too low or too high, it can be determined that sealing failure has occurred. As described above, the temperature, which is physical information, differs depending on whether or not the seal is defective. Therefore, the quality of the seal can be discriminated by detecting the temperature.

Further, depending on the material of the packaging film, the material may be made transparent, translucent or opaque by heat fusion. Therefore, the transmittance and the reflectance differ depending on the degree of the thermal fusion. Therefore, optical information (physical information) such as transmittance differs depending on whether or not the seal is defective.
Based on this, the quality of the seal can be discriminated.

Further, the bonding surface between the overlapping ends of the packaging film is merely in mechanical contact with the unsealed state, but is fused and integrated by heat sealing. That is, the materials constituting the film are bonded to each other at the boundary between the bonding surfaces, and the bonding state of the molecules is changed. Therefore, it is possible to discriminate whether or not the seal is defective by detecting this.

On the other hand, "notifying an abnormality when the seal is defective" in the output means of the present invention means not only outputting an alarm signal or an abnormal signal when an abnormality (seal failure) occurs, but also Conversely, this also includes the case where some signal is continuously output in a normal state and the signal output in an abnormal state is stopped. That is, the notification of the abnormality includes both the case where the signal is actively output and the case where the signal is not output passively. It should be noted that a signal of each determination result may be output in both normal (good seal) and abnormal (bad seal) cases.

The term "predetermined film overlapping end" includes not only a case where a plurality of overlapping ends occur but also a case where a part thereof is heat-sealed as well as a case where the whole is heat-sealed and completely sealed. .

Preferably, on the premise of the above-mentioned apparatus, it is preferable that a means for receiving the output of the output means and excluding the defectively sealed package is further provided (claim 2). With such a configuration, a package having a defective seal can be automatically eliminated, and only a normal package can be carried out from the automatic packaging apparatus.

As described above, as the monitoring means, means for detecting various kinds of physical information can be used. For example, as the monitoring means, means for detecting the temperature of the seal portion may be used. (Claim 3). In other words, in the case of temperature, it is directly involved in the quality of the seal, and can be universally used for all packages (in the case of optical information, some do not change). In addition, the device configuration is simplified (in the case of X-rays, the device becomes larger).

The term “temperature” in the present invention is not limited to a specific numerical value such as how many times.
It may be indicated indirectly, such as by expressing it in a color corresponding to the temperature. In the case of indirectly indicating, it does not have a one-to-one correspondence, but has a certain width and the same in a certain temperature range And the like to be expressed by the color of the image. The point is that information based on the temperature may be used. And it also includes color temperature, heat radiation, and the like.

Further, in the automatic packaging apparatus according to claim 3, the signal output from the monitoring means for detecting the temperature is a color tone corresponding to the temperature, and the determination means determines that the color tone is other than a predetermined color tone. In this case, it may be determined that the seal is defective (claim 4). The monitoring means used herein is, for example, an "infrared thermal imager" or a "thermal video sensor". A warm portion is represented by red or a similar color, and a cold portion is represented by blue, green, or the like. Some are represented by similar colors. By using such an apparatus, the temperature can be monitored in color, so that it is possible to determine whether or not the seal is defective by simple image processing.

Further, in the automatic packaging method according to the present invention, immediately after the predetermined overlapping end portion is heat-sealed,
Monitoring the physical condition of the sealing surface by monitoring means,
Depending on whether the detected physical state is within the normal range, it is determined whether or not the seal is properly sealed or not,
At least when the seal is defective, the abnormality is notified (claim 5).

The physical state of the object to be monitored and detected includes various types as described in the invention of the above-described apparatus. If it is determined that the seal is defective when the temperature is out of the temperature range described above, the versatility can be determined and a simple and accurate determination can be made.

[0024]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present embodiment, the basic structure of the packaging apparatus can be the same as that shown in FIG. In this example, the present invention is applied to a sealing portion by an end sealing device, and only a main portion thereof will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2 in an enlarged manner, a thermal video sensor 12 capable of detecting and outputting the temperature based on color information is installed above the downstream side of the end seal device 8. , To determine whether or not there is a seal failure based on the given video (color tone) signal. If the seal failure is present, an abnormal signal is output to the rejection device 14. It has become. The determination device 13 includes an input device 15.
Are connected, and predetermined information relating to the package and the like can be input.

Each part will be described.
4 has a strip-shaped course changing plate 14a arranged along one side surface of the unloading conveyor 10, and the course changing board 14a
Indicates a first rotation centered on the upstream end portion 14b and indicated by a solid line.
It is possible to rotate forward and reverse between a position and a second position obliquely crossing over the carry-out conveyor 10 indicated by a two-dot chain line. further,
The rotation is performed by receiving power from the drive unit 14c.

That is, the course changing plate 14a is normally
The package 9 is conveyed on the unloading conveyor 10 and is unloaded to a predetermined position. On the other hand, when an abnormal signal is received from the determination device 13, the drive unit 14c operates to rotate the course changing plate 14a and to move to the second position. Then, the package 9 hits the course changing plate 14a, moves obliquely along the course changing plate 14a, and is removed from the side surface of the unloading conveyor 10. It should be noted that various conventional devices can be used as the device to be excluded in this way, and it is a matter of course that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated example.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the judging device 13 outputs a video signal (color tone information) given from the sensor 12.
And the image data stored in the image memory 13a is read out, and the colors in the image are extracted to determine the quality of the seal. , Decision unit 1 that outputs an abnormal signal
3b, and a product database 13c for storing data on a normal range (color) for the type of package. Then, the input device 1 is stored in the product database 13c.
5, data is input.

The function of the judgment unit 13b will be described, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the imaging area of the sensor 12 is an area including the seal portion 9a of the package 9 as shown in FIG. At this time, when roughly classified, there are a method of setting an area A where only one seal portion 9a is imaged and a method of setting an area B where both seal portions 9a and 9a are imaged at the same time. The background portion and the main body portion of the package 9 are imaged. In particular, when imaging the area B, since there are many unnecessary parts, it is necessary to reliably extract the seal part.

First, a seal portion in the image stored in the image memory 13a is extracted (ST1). In this extraction processing, the background portion is the unloading conveyor 10 and the temperature is low, while the package 9 (the seal portion 9a) is at a high temperature, so that the color tone is different. Therefore, since the change in color tone is large at the boundary between the two, the seal portion can be extracted by performing edge extraction processing or the like. The passage timing of the package 9 can be easily and accurately known by acquiring, for example, zero position information of the rotation of the end sealer of the end seal device 8. Therefore, the image data in the window set in advance according to the package may be extracted according to the timing.

Next, the color tone of the extracted area is obtained (ST
2) Compare with the normal range of the color tone of the package to be determined acquired from the product database 13c, and determine whether the color tone in the area is within the normal range (ST3). If it is within the normal range, it is determined that the seal is good (ST4).
On the other hand, if the result of the branch determination in step 3 is out of the normal range, it is determined that the seal is defective (ST5), and an abnormal signal is output (ST6).

Another function of the judgment unit 13b is as follows.
For example, it can be configured as shown in FIG. That is, a red area existing in one image data stored in the image memory 13a is extracted (ST11). Here, what is to be extracted is the tone of the normal range of the seal portion of the package stored in the product database 13c. In this example, the predetermined red color is the normal range. I have.

Then, it is determined whether or not the shape of the extracted red area is a predetermined shape, that is, a shape of a normal sealing portion for the package (ST12). Then, in the case of the predetermined shape, it is determined that the seal is good (ST1).
3) If the shape is not the predetermined shape, it is determined that the seal is defective (ST14). Further, if the seal is defective, an abnormal output is issued (ST15).

In this embodiment, since an abnormal signal is output from the judging unit 13b, the judging unit 13b outputs an abnormal signal.
b serves both as a determination unit and an output unit. Further, the output means is not limited to a means for outputting an abnormal signal to various machines and devices such as an elimination device, but may be a means for notifying a human such as a warning buzzer and a warning lamp of the abnormality.

Next, an embodiment of the automatic packaging method according to the present invention will be described. First, using the input device 15,
The type of the package to be manufactured and the like are input, and data such as the normal range of the package is transferred from the product database 13c to the determination unit 13b. Also, the product database 13c
In advance, various methods such as giving a normal range directly via the input device 15 or performing a learning process such as actually flowing a normal one and registering one detected by a sensor are performed. Data on normal / abnormal is stored.

Then, the same pillow packaging as before is performed,
The package is manufactured by applying to the end seal. Then, an image of the seal portion 9a immediately after the end seal is taken by the sensor 12 at the same timing, the state of the surface temperature distribution of the seal portion 9a is acquired, and image data expressed in a color tone corresponding to the temperature is generated. It is sent to the stage determination device 13.

If the obtained data is such that the color tone X of the area corresponding to the seal portion 9a is a predetermined red color (indicated by cross-hatching) as shown in FIG. When the process is executed according to the flow shown in FIG. 4, the seal portion 9a is obtained in step 1, and information on the color tone in that region is obtained. Then, in the example shown in the drawing, since the entirety of the seal portion 9a is red, the color tone X is recognized as a normal range, and the seal is determined to be good. Also, when executed according to the flow of FIG. 6, the area of red X is acquired in step 11, and
Since the shape of the acquired area substantially matches the shape of the seal portion 9a, it is determined that the seal is good.

In the case shown in FIG. 7B, the region of the seal portion 9a is a region of red X on both sides of the central region. Here, it is assumed that the color tone X1 in the central region corresponds to a temperature lower than the temperature in the normal range. Then, in the flow of FIG. 4, since the area of the color tone X1 outside the normal range exists in the area of the seal portion 9a, the determination in Step 3 is No, and the seal is determined to be defective. In the flow of FIG.
Since the two regions of the normal color tone X acquired in the step 2 are different from the shape of the seal portion, the determination in step 12 is N
It becomes o, and it is determined that the seal is defective.

As shown in FIG. 7C, if the color tone X2 of the entire area of the seal portion 9a is out of the normal range (for example, the temperature is low), the flow of FIG. Similarly, a color tone X outside the normal range is provided in the area of the seal portion 9a.
Since area 2 exists, the determination in step 3 is No, and it is determined that the seal is defective. In the flow of FIG. 6, since the red region cannot be extracted in step 11, the shape is naturally not a predetermined shape, and it is determined that the seal is defective, and abnormal output is performed.

In each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which the present invention is applied to horizontal pillow packaging has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various types of packaging such as a vertical pillow packaging machine, a three-sided / four-sided sealing device, etc. Can be applied to the body. Also, when biting, the heat is not sufficiently transmitted, the temperature of the sealing portion of the packaging film decreases, but by judging whether or not the sealing is securely performed,
The presence / absence of biting can be indirectly determined.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where monitoring is performed on the sealing surface sealed by the end sealing device has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the sealing is performed by the center sealing device. Of course, the same can be applied to the sealing surface.
And it may be made to apply to both of both sealing devices simultaneously, or may be installed in either one.

[0042]

As described above, in the automatic packaging method and apparatus according to the present invention, the physical state of the sealing surface immediately after the heat sealing is monitored. Detection can be performed, and the quality of the seal can be automatically determined.

According to the present invention, in the case of a defective product, a process for automatically removing the defective product can be performed.

Further, with the configuration according to the third, fourth, and sixth aspects, it is possible to determine with high versatility and accuracy with a simpler configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a pillow packaging device.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a preferred embodiment of a packaging device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a determination device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a function of a determination unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating image data acquired by a sensor.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another function of the determination unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8 End seal device 12 Thermal video sensor (monitoring means) 13 Judgment device 14 Rejection device (removal means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] An object to be packaged is covered with a packaging film, and a predetermined overlapping end portion of the packaging film is heat-sealed, and after or simultaneously with the heat sealing, a predetermined position of the packaging film is moved in a traveling direction. In an automatic packaging apparatus that manufactures a package by cutting in a horizontal direction, a physical state of a sealing surface immediately after the thermal sealing is monitored by being disposed near a downstream side of a sealing unit that thermally seals the predetermined overlapping end portion. Automatic packaging, comprising: monitoring means for determining whether or not there is a seal failure based on a signal output from the monitoring means; and output means for notifying an abnormality at least when the determination result of the determination means indicates a seal failure. apparatus. 2. The automatic packaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for receiving the output of said output means and removing a package having a bad seal. 3. The automatic packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring means detects a temperature of the seal portion. 4. The automatic packaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the signal output from the monitoring means is a color tone corresponding to a temperature, and the discriminating means determines that the seal is defective when the color tone is other than a predetermined color tone. An automatic packaging apparatus characterized in that it is determined that: 5. An object to be packaged is covered with a packaging film, and a predetermined overlapping end portion of the packaging film is heat-sealed. After or simultaneously with the heat sealing, a predetermined position of the packaging film is moved in a traveling direction. In an automatic packaging method of manufacturing a package by cutting in a lateral direction, immediately after performing heat sealing on the predetermined overlapped end portion, monitoring a physical state of the sealing surface by monitoring means, and detecting the detected physical Depending on whether the state is within the normal range or not, it is determined whether the seal has been properly performed or not,
An automatic packaging method characterized in that an abnormality is notified at least when a seal is defective. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the physical state is a temperature state of the seal surface, and if the detected temperature of the seal surface is out of a predetermined temperature range, it is determined that the seal is defective. Automatic packaging method described in 1.