JPH1179108A - Sealing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct with a simple mechanism slippage occurring to positions between a sealing material and a container and to make adjustment by feed rollers unnecessary by a method wherein an adjustment member can adjust the amount of feeding for the sealing material by being driven in the direction crossing the surface of feeding of the sealing material is provided at the downstream side of the containers whereon the sealing material is joined. SOLUTION: With sealing heads 31 and 32 driven in box motion in accordance with movement of containers T, a sealing material S is successively joined to the containers T that are being transferred, and the sealing material is cut, being held down with a holding member 43, at positions between the containers with a cutting edge 46. When any of sealing parts whereon patterns or the like are printed of the sealing material S lags behind the container T, an adjustment member 39 is moved in the direction crossing the surface of feeding of the sealing material S at the downstream side of a part whereon the sealing material S is joined to the container T, and the sealing material S is flexed and drawn at this part and slippage in position is corrected with the sealing material S at the upstream side moved forward. Thereby, the speed of feed rollers for the sealing material S becomes unnecessary to be variable and structure can be simplified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealing device in which a sealing material is sequentially joined to an opening of a container containing food and other contents. In particular, the present invention is useful for a sealing device for continuously transferring a container and joining a sealing material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a sealing operation of a conventional general sealing device. The tray-shaped container T containing the contents is continuously or intermittently sent to the left in the drawing at a constant pitch. On the container T, a strip-shaped sealing material S is supplied. This seal material S has a heat-sealing seal layer formed on the back surface of the resin film.
On the surface of the sealing material S, a pattern is printed on a seal portion joined to the opening of the container T.

[0003] Seal heads 1 and 2 for performing heat sealing are:
It operates in a so-called box motion shown by →→→, and the seal material S is joined to the opening of the container T in the process of → where the seal heads 1 and 2 are pressed to the opening of the container T. Further, the sealing material S bonded to the container T is
The container T is cut by the cutting blade 3 provided on the downstream side. However, in this type of sealing device, the container T
As the sealing material S is sequentially bonded on the top, the sealing material S
However, there is a problem that a positional shift occurs between the pattern printed on the seal portion and the container T.

[0004] Conventionally, in order to correct the above positional deviation,
Generally, the sealing material S supplied from the material roll is supplied onto the container T shown in FIG. 4 by the rotation force of the feed roller. In the supply path of the sealing material S, there is provided a detecting means for detecting the pattern printed on the sealing portion of the sealing material S or detecting a mark provided on the sealing material S corresponding to the sealing portion. When the detecting means detects that a positional shift has occurred between the container T and the design of the seal portion of the seal material S, the rotation speed of the feed roller changes, and the seal material S is rapidly fed. Or the feed speed becomes slow, and the sealing material S
Is corrected.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional correcting method, a speed variable mechanism for changing the feed speed of the seal material by the feed roller or a clutch mechanism for changing the feed amount of the seal material is used. Is required,
The mechanism for driving the feed roller becomes very complicated,
The device becomes large.

Usually, the feed roller is formed of rubber or the like. If the surface of the rubber roller is deteriorated, a slip occurs between the surface of the feed roller and the sealing material, and the rotation of the feed roller is caused. Even if the speed or the like is controlled, the sealing material does not follow this, and as a result, it is impossible to correct the positional deviation between the pattern of the sealing portion of the sealing material S and the container T.

Further, a braking force is applied to the material roll to which the sealing material S is supplied. If the winding diameter of the sealing material S on the material roll decreases, the torque due to the braking force increases. The tension of the sealing material S increases, and the slippage between the feed roller and the sealing material is more likely to occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a sealing device which can correct the displacement between the sealing material and the container with a simple mechanism and can eliminate the need for providing a feed roller. The purpose is.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a container transferring means for transferring a container in which contents are stored, and a supply unit for supplying a band-shaped sealing material to an opening of the container transferred by the container transferring means. And a joining means for joining the sealing material to an opening of a container to be transferred, wherein an adjusting member for adjusting a transfer amount of the band-shaped sealing material is provided on a transfer path of the film; On the downstream side of the container to which the material is joined, the adjusting member is driven in a direction transverse to the transfer surface of the sealing material, so that the feed amount of the sealing material on the container is increased and the material is joined to the container. It is characterized in that the displacement of the sealing material is corrected.

According to the present invention, when the seal portion on which the pattern or the like of the seal material is printed is delayed with respect to the container, the adjustment member is sealed downstream of the portion where the seal material is joined to the container. The seal material is moved in a direction crossing the material transfer surface, the seal material is bent at this portion, and the seal material is drawn in, whereby the seal material on the upstream side is advanced to correct the positional deviation between the container and the seal material. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the speed of the feed roller for feeding the sealing material, and it is only necessary to operate the adjusting member, so that the structure can be simplified.

In the container transferring means, the containers may be continuously fed at a constant speed, or the containers may be transferred intermittently. However, it is particularly useful in a case where containers are continuously transferred. Even in the case where the container is continuously transferred, the joining position of the sealing material can be accurately corrected. The sealing material is a resin film or a material obtained by laminating a metal thin film on a resin film, and is a multilayer material having a sealing layer formed on a portion facing a container. The joining of the container and the sealing material by the joining means is performed by heat welding, ultrasonic welding,
High frequency welding and the like. Alternatively, adhesive bonding using a hot melt adhesive or the like may be used.

[0012] For example, the arrangement pitch of the seal portion to be joined to the container among the seal materials sent out from the supply section is set to be slightly longer than the container transfer pitch by the container transfer means, and Preferably, the adjusting member is driven once in a direction crossing the transfer surface every time a predetermined number of containers to be joined are fed.

As described above, by intermittently operating the adjusting member, it is possible to always correct the displacement between the container and the sealing material.

Further, a detecting means for detecting a position of the seal portion of the seal material supplied from the supply portion or a position of a mark corresponding to the seal portion is provided. It is further preferable that the driving timing of the adjusting member is controlled by the detecting means.

That is, as described above, when the joining between the container and the sealing material has been completed for a predetermined number of times, for example, three, the adjusting member is operated once. If the detecting means detects that the positional deviation has increased, the interval for operating the adjusting member is shortened. By using this detection means, it is possible to always align the sealing portion of the sealing material with the container.

Further, after the sealing material is joined to the container, the sealing material is pulled by the force when the container is transferred by the container transfer means, and the strip-shaped sealing material is pulled out of the supply section by the pulling force. It is preferable that they are transported after being transferred.

As described above, when the sealing material is pulled by using the transfer force of the container, the conventional feed roller for the sealing material becomes unnecessary.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire structure of the sealing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing a main part of FIG. 1, and FIGS. It is explanatory drawing which shows the joining operation | movement of the sealing material with respect to a container in order. As a container transfer means, transfer tables 10 are provided at a constant pitch, and the transfer tables 10 are connected by a chain or the like, and are continuously or intermittently transferred at a constant speed V to the left in the figure. As shown in FIG. 2, a tray-shaped container T is placed on each transfer table 10 one by one.
The inside is filled with contents such as food.

The sealing material S is a multilayer film. A sealing layer (sealant layer) that can be melt-welded is formed on the back surface facing the container T. The picture, trademark, date of manufacture, etc. are printed. The sealing material S is wound around a raw roll and attached to the supply shaft 11 in the supply section. A predetermined braking force is applied to the material roll, and a predetermined tension acts on the sealing material S drawn from the material roll. The strip-shaped sealing material S drawn from the material roll is hung by freely rotating guide rollers 12a, 12b, and 12c, and is supplied onto a container T transferred by the transfer table 10.

A mount 13 is provided in the seal device, and lift shafts 15 are slidably inserted into a pair of thrust bearings 14 provided vertically to the mount 13. The upper ends of the pair of elevating shafts 15, 15 are connected by a connecting member 15a. In addition, both lifting shafts 1
A horizontal guide 16 is attached to the lower ends of 5, 5. An elevating cylinder 17 is fixed to the gantry 13, and a reciprocating rod 18 of the elevating cylinder 17 is fixed to an upper end of the horizontal guide 16. A pair of sliders 19, 19 are slidably attached to the horizontal guide 16 in the horizontal direction.
The joining base 21 is fixed to 9.

A horizontal drive link 22 is supported on the gantry 13 so as to be rotatable about a shaft 23, and the horizontal drive link 22 is urged counterclockwise by a spring 24. The horizontal drive link 22
A follower roller 25 is rotatably supported by the follower roller 25.
Is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the drive cam 26 by the urging force. The shaft 27 fixed to the driving cam 26
The power of a motor (not shown) is reduced and transmitted to the shaft 27, and the drive cam 26 rotates counterclockwise at a constant speed.

An elongated hole 22a is formed in the arm of the horizontal drive link 22.
Is formed at a predetermined position in the elongated hole 22a.
9a is fixed. The position where the connecting shaft 29a is fixed is adjusted in the elongated hole 22a. A support block 21a is fixed to the left end of the joining base 21, and a connecting shaft 29b is fixed to the support block 21a. Both ends of the connecting rod 30 are rotatably connected to the connecting shaft 29a and the connecting shaft 29b. Therefore, the rotation of the horizontal drive link 22 causes the joining base 21 to reciprocate in the horizontal direction along the horizontal guide 16.

The horizontal guide 16 is driven up and down by the lifting cylinder 17, and the horizontal drive link 22 reciprocates in synchronization with this, whereby the joining base 21 is driven by so-called box motion. At this time, if the fixed position of the connecting shaft 29a in the elongated hole 22a of the horizontal drive link 22 is changed, the reciprocating distance of the joining base 21 in the horizontal direction changes. Thereby, the horizontal movement amount of the joining base 21 can be adjusted to the change of the arrangement pitch of the transfer table 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the joining base 21 has
As the joining means, a first seal head 31 and a second seal head 32 are mounted. This seal head 31
And 32 are thermal welding heads, which have built-in heating means. A plurality of sliding shafts 33 are fixed to the upper ends of the support bases 31a and 32a that support the seal heads 31 and 32, respectively.
Is slidably supported by a sliding bearing 34 held at the same position. A pressure spring 35 is provided on the outer periphery of each sliding shaft 33, and the pressure of the seal heads 31 and 32 is applied to the transfer table 10 by the pressure spring 35.

A bracket 36 is fixed to a support base 31a that supports the first seal head 31 disposed on the upstream side of the seal material S, and an adjustment cylinder 37 is fixed to the bracket 36. This adjusting cylinder 3
An advance / retreat member 38 is fixed to the advance / retreat rod driven by 7, and a feed-out member 39 is fixed to the advance / retreat member 38 as an adjustment member. When the reciprocating rod of the adjusting cylinder 37 advances, the feeding member 39 crosses the transfer surface of the sealing material S between the adjacent transfer tables 10 (see FIG. 3C). Since the sealing material S is already sealed in the container on the downstream side, the sealing material S on the upstream side is drawn in.

A support rod 42 is fixed to the left side of the joining base 21 in the figure, and a support plate 41 is fixed to a lower end thereof. A holding member 43 is fixed to the support plate 41, and when the joining base 21 is lowered, the container T in which the sealing material S has been joined is pressed from above by the holding member 43. A cutting rod 44 is vertically slidably supported on the support plate 41, and a cutting blade 46 is supported at a lower end of the cutting rod 44. The cutting rod 44
A spring 45 is provided on the outer periphery of the cutting blade 46, and the cutting blade 46 is constantly urged downward by the spring 45.

As shown in FIG. 1, guide rollers 12b and 12 are provided to guide the sealing material S drawn from the material roll.
A shaft 51 extending in the vertical direction is provided between c, and a detection base 52 is fixed to the shaft 51 so that the vertical position can be adjusted. An optical sensor 53 is mounted on the detection base 52 as a detecting means. The optical sensor 53 can be used to form a mark which is a seal portion of the sealing material S to the container T or a mark formed at the same pitch as the pattern. Is detected. Note that the pitch of the seal portion having a pattern or the like printed on the seal material S and the mark is set to be slightly longer than the transfer pitch of the container T transferred by the transfer table 10.

Next, the operation of the sealing device will be described. In the container transfer means, the transfer table 10 is transferred at a constant speed V to the left in the drawing as described above. This transfer table 1
The contents such as food are supplied to the container T set at 0 in the former stage. First, when the joining base 21 is lowered by the elevating cylinder 17, as shown in FIG. 3A, the first seal head 31 and the second seal head 32 supported by the joining base 21 separate the seal material S The seal heads 31 and 32 are pressed against the opening of the container T by the elastic force of the pressure spring 35 at this time.

Next, the horizontal drive link 22 is driven by the drive cam 26 shown in FIG. 1, the joining base 21 moves to the left in the figure, and the seal heads 31 and 32 follow the transfer of the container T in the drawing. It is sent to the left by a predetermined distance in accordance with the arrangement pitch of the containers T. During this time, the seal material S is thermally welded to the opening of the container T by the seal heads 31 and 32. In this sealing device, the first seal head 31 and the second seal head 32 heat-weld and join the sealant S to the opening of the container T in two stages. With the sealing material S welded to the opening of the container T, the transfer table 1
The sealing material S is pulled to the left in the drawing by the container T transported together with 0, and the sealing material S is pulled out from the raw roll by this pulling force.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the seal head 31
And 32 are fed by a predetermined distance in accordance with the pitch of the container T, as indicated by →, and then the joining base 21 is raised by the lifting cylinder 17 so that the seal heads 31 and 3 are moved.
2 rises to the position shown by the broken line in FIG. 3 (C), and is further rotated by the rotation of the horizontal drive link 22.
The joining base 21 is returned rightward in the figure, and the seal head 3
1 and 32 return to the position of. Further, the joining base 21 is lowered, and the sealing head 3 is attached to the container T to be sent next.
1 and 32 are pressurized.

With the above operation, the seal head 31 is moved in accordance with the movement of the transfer table 10 and the container T to the left in the drawing.
And 32 operate in the box motion of →→→. Thereby, the sealing material S is sequentially joined to the container T to be transferred. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3C, when the joining base 21 descends, the sealing material S
The container in which the bonding has been completed is pressed by the pressing member 43, and the sealing material S is cut between the containers by the cutting blade 46.

Here, the arrangement pitch of the sealing portion of the sealing material S to the container T, that is, the portion where the picture or the like is printed is set to be slightly longer than the arrangement pitch of the containers T transferred by the transfer table 10. ing. Therefore, when the sealing material S is joined to the container T, the position of the sealing portion of the sealing material S in the delay direction is shifted with respect to each container T. Therefore, the box motion (→→→) is performed a fixed number of times, and each time a predetermined number of containers T to which the sealing material S is joined are fed, the sealing material S is fed by the feeding member (adjustment member) 39 only once.

As shown in FIG. 3C, when the joining base 21 is lowered by the elevating cylinder 17, the rod of the adjusting cylinder 37 advances, and the feeding member 39 moves to the first seal head 31. Projecting downward. When the joining base 21 descends in this state, before the seal head 31 is pressed against the opening of the container T, the tip of the feeding member 39 traverses the transfer surface of the sealing material S, and the sealing material S is bent. At this point, the amount of the sealing material S drawn in is increased. Therefore, the first seal head 3
1 is pulled to the left in the figure, and the positional deviation due to the delay of the sealing portion of the sealing material S with respect to the opening of the container T is corrected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in this sealing device, an optical sensor 53 is provided in the transfer path of the sealing material S, and the bonding base 21 is lowered to bond the sealing material S to the container T. At the time, the position of the seal portion on which the pattern of the seal material S is applied or the position of the mark corresponding to the seal portion is detected. When the position of the seal portion or the mark detected by the optical sensor 53 is deviated by a predetermined amount or more, the timing at which the feeding member 39 is projected is adjusted. It is increased or decreased so that the pattern of the joint portion is always matched on the container T.

In the present invention, the feeding member 39 is provided downstream of the seal head 31, and the sealing material S is fed by the feeding member 39. In this state, the sealing material S is joined to the container T by the seal head 31. Then, with the transfer of the container T, the sealing material S is pulled to the downstream side as it is. Therefore, a conventional feed roller for the seal material is not required, and problems such as slippage between the feed roller and the seal material do not occur.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, the displacement between the container and the sealing material can be corrected with a simple structure. Further, there is no need to provide a feed roller for feeding the sealing material and to control the number of revolutions of the feed roller, so that there is no problem such as slippage between the feed roller and the sealing material.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire structure of a sealing device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view showing a main part of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are explanatory diagrams sequentially showing a joining operation between a container and a sealing material;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a joining operation in a conventional sealing device;

[Explanation of symbols]

 S Sealing Material T Container 10 Transfer Table, 16 Horizontal Guide 17 Lifting Cylinder 21 Joining Base 22 Horizontal Drive Link 31, 32 Seal Head 37 Adjusting Cylinder 39 Feeding Out Member (Adjusting Member) 43 Pressing Member 46 Cutting Blade

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A container transferring means for transferring a container in which contents are stored, a supply unit for supplying a band-shaped sealing material to an opening of the container transferred by the container transferring means, and an opening of the transferred container And a joining means for joining the sealing material to a portion, wherein an adjustment member for adjusting a transfer amount of the band-shaped sealing material is provided in a transport path of the film, and a downstream side of a container to which the sealing material is joined. On the side, the adjustment member is driven in a direction transverse to the transfer surface of the sealing material, so that the feed amount of the sealing material on the container is increased,
A sealing device, wherein a displacement of a sealing material to be joined to a container is corrected. 2. The arrangement pitch of the seal portion joined to the container among the seal materials sent from the supply unit is set slightly longer than the container transfer pitch by the container transfer means. 2. The sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting member is driven once in a direction crossing the transfer surface every time a predetermined number of containers to be joined are fed. 3. A detecting means for detecting a position of the seal portion of the seal material supplied from the supply section or a position of a mark corresponding to the seal portion is provided, and a positional shift between a container and the seal portion is provided. The sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the driving timing of the adjustment member is controlled by a detection unit. 4. After the sealing material is joined to the container, the sealing material is pulled by the force when the container is transferred by the container transfer means, and the strip-shaped sealing material is pulled out of the supply unit by the pulling force. The sealing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: