JPWO2021018916A5

JPWO2021018916A5 -

Info

Publication number: JPWO2021018916A5
Application number: JP2022506479A
Authority: JP
Publication date: 2023-07-19

Claims

A sealing system (1) for heat-sealing a heat -sealable film material , comprising:
The sealing system includes:
- an infeed section including a roll handling station (40) configured to receive one or more rolls of heat sealable film material, heat sealable unwound from the one or more rolls; an infeed section configured to dispense the superimposed walls (101, 102) of thin film material;
- sealing sections (10, 20, 30) downstream of said infeed section, two of which are arranged in series along a linear path (T) of superimposed walls dispensed from said infeed section; a sealing section comprising a sealing station comprising:
- a film material driving station downstream (60) of said linear path through said sealing section for driving said superimposed wall of heat-sealable film material along said linear path through said sealing station; a film material drive station configured to pull at a constant speed;
with
Each sealing station
- Sealing including first jaw (11,11',21,21',31,31',210) and second jaw (12,12',22,22',32,32',220) a device;
- an actuator device (201, 202) configured to move said first jaw and said second jaw relative to each other between an open position and a clamped position, comprising:
The first jaw has a first front surface (111, 211, 311) configured to contact a respective first wall of heat-sealable material, and the second jaw has a heat-sealable material. and at least the first jaw is configured to contact a respective second wall of the first jaw and the second jaw at the heatable member for heat sealing. an actuator device comprising said overlapped wall regions of heat- sealable film material when clamped between the jaws of
- configured to move said first and second jaws synchronously with said superimposed wall when clamped between said first and second jaws; an exercise device (15, 25, 35) ;
including
said sealing system further comprising a control unit (6) associated with said sealing station;
At least each first jaw of each sealing station has at its respective said front surface at least one heatable member embodied as a susceptor element (114, 214, 314) comprising an electrically conductive material, along the respective said front surface. an impulse heatable member extending through
for each pair of first and second jaws in each sealing station, at least one of said jaws comprising an inductor (115, 215, 315) ;
said system comprising a high frequency current source (16, 26, 36) connected to said inductor;
said system comprising at least one cooling device (14, 24, 34) configured to continuously cool at least one of said first and second jaws of each sealing station;
Each sealing station is configured to perform an integrated impulse sealing and cooling cycle, wherein each said actuator device actuates a respective said first and second jaws to move said first and second walls. is actuated to move to the clamping position clamped by the first and second jaws, where the high frequency current source temporarily supplies a high frequency current to the inductor, thereby and a high-frequency electromagnetic field, said high-frequency electromagnetic field inducing eddy currents in said susceptor element and generating a heat impulse emitted by said susceptor element, said heat impulse having a heat impulse duration, said sealing said regions of the first and second walls to each other or to a fitment, if present, and said at least one of said first and second jaws after termination of said supply of high frequency current to said inductor; and said sealed area is effectively cooled by said cooling device during a clamped cooling period during which said respective first and second jaws remain in said clamped position, said actuator device comprising: actuated to move the first and second jaws to the open position after the clamped cooling period;
the control unit is configured to control , for each of the sealing stations independently, the supply of high frequency current to the inductor and thereby the thermal impulse emitted by the susceptor element;
The control unit independently controls the duration of the clamping positions of the first and second jaws, thereby enabling control of the clamp cooling duration for each of the sealing stations. , and is adapted to control the actuator device for reciprocally moving the first and second jaws between the open position and the clamped position.

The control unit, in conjunction with the one or more cooling devices, is independently sealed by at least one of the first and second jaws and the sealing station for each of the sealing stations. 2. The sealing system of claim 1, configured to control the cooling rate of said region.

3. A sealing system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each jaw in the sealing station comprises a susceptor element comprising electrically conductive material and an associated inductor.

The susceptor elements extend along the front surfaces of the respective jaws and have back surfaces, and each inductor is an elongated inductor section (115a, 115b) extending along the back surfaces of the respective susceptor elements. ) .

The inductor of the jaws comprises a plurality of elongated inductor sections parallel to each other , adjacent inductor sections being spaced apart from each other by slits (115c) and the susceptor element being visible from the front face of the jaws. 5. A sealing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, extending beyond the one or more slits, if any.

For each said sealing station, said cooling device establishes a continuous circulation of liquid coolant through one or more cooling ducts (118, 218, 318) arranged in said first jaw and/or said second jaw. 6. A sealing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, configured to.

7. The infeed section of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the infeed section comprises a folding station (50) configured to fold the film material dispensed from a single roll into two superimposed walls. Sealing system as described.

The control unit individually for each sealing station synchronously aligns the first and second walls with the superimposed wall when clamped between the first and second jaws. 8. The sealing system of any one of claims 1-7, configured to control the movement device for moving the jaws.

9. The method of claim 1 to 8, wherein said sealing system comprises a stationary frame (2) and said motion devices of successive sealing stations are mounted on opposite sides of said linear path of said superimposed walls through said sealing section. A sealing system according to any one of the preceding clauses.

Said sealing section comprises a trimming station (55) , said trimming station comprising:
- a trimming device (56) configured to perform a trimming action on command to remove a portion of said superimposed web;
- a motion device configured to move the trimming device synchronously with the superimposed wall when performing the trimming action;
- a collection system configured to remove the trimmed portion;
10. A sealing system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising

A production machine for producing folding pouches, comprising a sealing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, said pouches each being made from a heat-sealable film material A production machine with walls.

The machine was configured to produce a pouch having a fitment , and a first sealing station along the linear path was adapted to heat seal the fitment to the superimposed wall. 12. Configured as a fitment sealing station (10) , according to claim 11, wherein one or more downstream sealing stations are configured to seal one or more other areas of said pouch. production machine.

Said machine comprises a fitment insertion device adapted to insert a mounting portion (151) of a fitment in an unbonded edge region between opposing walls, said fitment sealing station 13. The production machine of claim 12, wherein the wall is configured to heat seal the wall to the attachment portion of the fitment.

The linear path is horizontal and the infeed section is configured to fold the film material dispensed from a single roll into two superimposed walls, the superimposed walls being the opposite walls. said sealing section with an upper edge region not joined between said sealing sections having a crease along the bottoms of said opposing walls, said sealing section being vertically oriented when fed into said sealing section and fitting An insertion device is adapted to insert a mounting portion of a fitment into said unjoined upper edge region between said opposing walls , said movement device of an associated sealing station being positioned below said linear path. 14. A production machine according to claim 12 or 13, attached to a .

15. The apparatus of claims 9 to 14, wherein said machine includes a cutting station (70) arranged downstream of said film material drive station and configured to make one or more cuts to create individual pouches. A production machine according to any preceding clause.

16. A method for heat sealing of heat sealable film materials , for use in a sealing system and/or pouch production machine according to any one of claims 1-15.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the film material is a single polymer heat-sealable film material made from polyethylene (PE) , and wherein no metal layer is present in the film material.

A pouch having a fitment is produced and the first sealing station along the linear path is configured as a fitment sealing station for heat sealing the fitment to one or both of the superimposed walls. 18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein one or more downstream sealing stations are configured to seal one or more other areas of the pouch.

19. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein the side contacted by each jaw of at least one said sealing station having an impulse heatable member is printed with a film material.