MXPA05010942A - Method for automatic packing of containers - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method forautomatic packing of empty tubes (1) conveyed on a conveyor belt in a packing container receiving a plurality of tubes (1). According to the invention, the conveyed tubes (1) are collected in a continuos line, are then fed in line to an intermediate storage (13) and jointly transferred in a packing container, whereupon the packing container is further transported. The empty tubes (1) are arranged in the transport trays (3) of a feed belt (2) and are continuously collected into rows or partial rows by means of adjustable, individually driven suction cylinders (5).

Description

METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC PACKAGING OF CONTAINERS FIELD OF I NVE N TION The invention relates to a method for automatically packing containers, such as collapsible tubes or their like, which are fed on a conveyor belt in a plurality of packaging containers that take the empty containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The methods for the manufacture of containers, which are in principle circular or elliptical in cross section, practically cylindrical containers with invariable cross sections, as preferably, tubes that can be collapsed, cans or tubes, are by example, known from DE 26 43 089 and WO 91 15349, in particular for collapsible tubes. The tubes that can be collapsed in this way can be packed by a tube packing machine that can collapse to form large units of the product, which will then be distributed to a filling company. The packaging machines required up to this point are known, for example, from EP 1 1 14 784 B 1. Both the manufacturing machines and the packaging machines allow the manufacture and packaging, respectively, of approximately 200 to no more than 250 units per minute. However, for the future, the production and packing speeds that are desirable are within a range of + _ 500 units per m in uto. Currently, such machines for the manufacture of collapsible tubes are in development and another part is already in production. Automatic packing machines with high speed units per minute have not been developed, because at such high speeds, the times available to individually load rows of tubes that can collapse are very short. In addition, the problems that arise related to the time available and the loading speeds are also aggravated because the pipes that can collapse are very heavy. In addition, the time available to change the packaging container is insufficient, for example, when the last row and a first row are loaded into two successive packing containers, for example, boxes, as a result, the speed can not be increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A purpose of the invention is to create a method to automatically pack empty containers, such as tubes that can collapse or their like, which are supplied by a conveyor belt, to a plurality of packaging containers that capture empty containers, the method offers high packing speeds of 500 or more containers per minute without critical cyclical times. This problem is solved with the characteristic elements of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated in more detail below with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a view of an apparatus for applying the method according to the invention. Figure 2 is a rear view of the apparatus according to Figure 1. Figure 3 is a view of a collection apparatus and a feeding belt running continuously. Figure 4 is a view of a single revolving suction V-guide. Figure 5 is a view of two transfer units and a loading plate for the rows of tubes that have been accumulated in a collection apparatus and loaded into a packaging container. Figure 6 is a view of a partially loaded apparatus for compacting a row of tubes that can collapse without any space. Figure 7 is the same view as Figure 6, however, of the compacted row of collapsible tubes. Figure 8 is a view of different positions of several packaging containers. Figure 9 is a sectional view of an intermediate storage; and Figure 10 is a view of two different types of collapsible packing tubes. For the most part, the Figures are shown in schematic representations. Certain variants of other forms are indicated in the description below. In the following, the invention will be illustrated in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in Figure 1, containers having an approximately cylindrical shape, such as cans or tubes or their like, here collapsible tubes 1, are fed continuously from a manufacturing unit onto a feeding belt 2 in belts 3 conveyors in the form of individual V-guides, which form the feeding belt 2. The V-guides form of the conveyor belts 3, allow such containers to be captured without having to be changed, where the cross sections of the containers vary within a very wide range. For this purpose, the feeding belt 2 is provided with a collection apparatus 4, which here comprises eight revolving suction guides V 5 operated separately. The rotating suction V-guides 5 capture the tubes 1 that can collapse from the supply belt 2 one after the other - in the exemplary embodiment, they deliver the collapsible tubes 1 collected in rows of eight or seven in two cycles to fifteen fasteners 6 of a transfer unit 7 group. The fasteners 6 are connected to a suction line and comprise parallel recesses that separate uniformly from each other; the collapsible tubes 1 that have been captured from the feeding belt 2 and delivered by means of the suction V guides 5 are fed into the recesses. The group transfer unit 7 transfers the formed rows of collapsible tubes 1 to a snogging apparatus 8 which, in the example, comprises fifteen V-guides 9 that grip the collapsible tube. The axial separation of the fifteen collapsible tubes 1 thus deposited corresponds to the separation of the conveyor belts 3, that is, that the tubes are arranged at the same contraction (see Figure 6). In order to achieve an airtight and closed packing of rows of collapsible tubes, the collapsible tubes 1 must be "compacted" so that they are placed one adjacent to the other or are in contact with each other. Each row, in the example, comprises fifteen compacted collapsible tubes 1 which are in contact with each other, and then are deposited on strips 12 which can be lowered from an intermediate storage 13 by a die transfer unit 10 with cavities 1 1 suction grippers that are arranged according to a "compacted" row (see Figure 7). The lower strips 12 then descend in stages to capture the next row of compacted collapsible tubes 1. The descent in stages is carried out until the desired number of rows has been formed, for example, five rows, afterwards, a movement of greater descent is made, whereby the five rows of tubes that can be collapsed are placed in a firm base 15 of intermediate storage 15. The intermediate storage 13 may take the form of a case which moves the side wall, which is provided as a slide 16 which allows all the tubes 1 which can be collapsed collected in the intermediate storage 13 to be transferred, in a sliding movement, inside an empty or partially filled box 14 which is arranged behind the intermediate storage 13. Depending on its size, the box 14 may be partially full and / or may require more batches of collapsible tubes 1 to be collected to be completely filled. The initially empty box 14 is arranged in a vertical position behind the intermediate storage 13 and is lowered in stages by a holding fork 17 according to its filling degree. By means of a rotary gear 18, the clamping fork 17 is arranged in a linear actuator 19 for vertical adjustment. The linear actuator 19 allows the clamping yoke 17 to be placed at several levels that each can be operated, preferably, by an automatic or mechanical control system (not illustrated). Once the empty box 14 is filled with the desired number of collapsible tubes 1, it is rotated 90 degrees from the position behind the intermediate storage 13 by means of the rotary actuator 18 and is placed on a conveyor belt, which can by example, being designed as a ratchet band 20, so that the holding fork 17 can comb through the ratchet band 20 to a position below the ratchet band 20. In a conveyor belt which is preferably arranged laterally and for example designed as a roller conveyor 21, the filled box 14 'is then transported to a filling machine (not shown) or to storage (not illustrated). ). Once the filled box 14 'has been released from the ratchet band 20, the holding fork 17 moves from its lowermost position to its uppermost position by the linear actuator 19, while first combing through the first band 20. of lower ratchet and then through a second upper ratchet band 20 ', arranged parallel to the first ratchet band and spaced from it in height and takes a new empty box 14 which has been fed in advance, for example, by the conveyor belt which can be designed as a second roller conveyor 21 '. After having captured an empty box 14 from the upper ratchet band 20 ', the briefly holding fork 17 remains in a position - higher - just above the upper ratchet band 20', where by means of a rotary actuator 18 , rotates 90 degrees, so that the opening of the box 14 is directed towards the intermediate storage 13, and moves behind the intermediate storage 13 and down to the level of work required for storage, when necessary, where it can capture any number of batches of tubes 1 that can be collapsed until empty box 14 is filled. When necessary, the empty boxes 14 can be supplied through the roller conveyor 21 'and the upper ratchet band 20' by a controllable retainer 22. The above general illustration of the invention is followed by the description of the individual steps. The collection apparatus 4 assigned with a feeding belt 2 for collapsible tubes 1 comprises suction V-guides 5 which are provided with a number of eight suction V-guides 5 in the example (see Figure 3). The suction V-guides 5 are operated separately and are mounted between the supply belt 2 and the group transfer unit 7, so that they can rotate around parallel axes and in the first step, they capture eight tubes 1 which they can collapse and in a second step they capture seven collapsible tubes 1, from the conveyor belts 3 of the feeding belt 2, so that a total of tubes 1 that can be collapsed by the transfer unit 7 are captured in a group . It is also possible to provide more or less than eight V suction guides 5 in order to capture more or fewer tubes 1 that can collapse from the feed belt 2. At the transfer sites A, B, C, D, E , F, G, H in the collection apparatus 4, the collapsible tubes 1 approaching the feeding belt 2 are captured by the suction guides V 5 that are assigned to each site A to the transfer H , as shown in Figure 3. In Figure 3, transfer sites A to D are already occupied. However, the following conveyor belts 3 are not occupied, and there are L spaces. When they are already present, the collapsible pipes are discarded and separated, for example with an upstream control system, which causes spaces L When a space L approaches an unoccupied transfer site E, the last guide in assigned suction V 5 that is not occupied by collapsing tube 1 is not activated, that is, the empty conveyor belt 3 passes through the collection apparatus 4. The suction V-guide 5 'in the transfer site E is activated only when the collapsible tube 1 approaches the conveyor belt 3. For example, when an optical sensor (not shown) detects that a collapsible tube 1 approaches the transfer site E, and therefore, the assigned 5 ° V suction guide, the 5 'V-shaped guide suction rotates in the direction of the arrow (see Figure 4) and collapsible tube 1 is captured within the range of P1, rotated to be transferred to a position P ", is delivered to a group transfer unit 7 and inside the fasteners 6 a1 to the hi, where the linear velocity V ^ of the conveyor belts 3 and therefore, of the tubes 1 that can collapse in the feed belt 2 and the tangential speed V2 of the guides in The rotating suction cups are approximately equal or synchronized, at least at the time of capture of the tubes that can collapse in P1, once all transfer sites A to H have been loaded with tubes 1 that can collapse and are delivered to fasteners 6 in the ocean ho positions a-¡a la ,, this is followed by a cycle of loading of tubes 1 that can collapse in positions A to G and by a corresponding subsequent capture of now only seven collapsible tubes that are now deliver to fasteners 6 ii to o ^ of unit 7 of group transfer (see Figure 3) in position P3 (see Figure 4). The suction guide V 5 assigned to the transfer site H operates only every first cycle, whereby an alternate sequence of eight tubes that can collapse in the first cycle and seven tubes that can collapse in the second cycle is generated, and in this way, loading of the transfer unit 7 in group with fifteen tubes 1 that can be collapsed is allowed. Before capturing the seven tubes 1 that can collapse in the second cycle, the group transfer unit 7 is raised a little, in order to allow the capture of the seven missing collapsible tubes in the P3 position. Figure 5 illustrates a capturing position P4, for example, for eight tubes 1 that can collapse from a first cycle, as well as the slightly flipped neighboring position 4 ', which is approximated by a group transfer unit 7 afterwards. to capture the eight tubes 1 that can collapse. Then, the group transfer unit 7 returns to position P4 to capture the seven tubes 1 that can be collapsed in the second cycle, so that the group transfer unit 7 is loaded with a total of fifteen tubes 1 that can be loaded. to collapse. Then, it returns to position P5 where the fifteen collapsible tubes 1 are placed in a snooping apparatus 8 with clamping V-guides 9. The clamping V-guides 9 (see Figures 6 and 7) of the trolley apparatus 8 contain suction cavities, that is, the negative pressure is applied to the collapsible tubes 1 present therein, whereby the tubes 1 that they can collapse remain in the V-9 guides holders. The snooding apparatus 8 comprises that some of the v ujectors are separated from each other. The guidewires in V 9 s are equipped with tubes that can be glued to each other, for example, arranged in two bars 23 where they can be pushed together so that they come in contact with each other. To say, all the tubes 1 that can collapse from one row are in side contact with each other (see Figure 7). The row formed of fifteen collapsible tubes 1 which are in contact with each other is captured by means of the row transfer unit 10 with cavities 11 in position P5 (see Figure 5), and after a rotary movement (see the arrow of Figure 3) is transferred on the strips 12a, 12b, 12c, which can descend from the intermediate storage 13 in the position P6 and are placed therein. When it is desired to have the collapsible tubes 1 packaged in the boxes 14 as close as possible, the spin transfer unit 10 performs a lateral deflection movement (shown schematically in Figure 7, by the arrow between positions P7 and P8), so that the alternating packing of the collapsible tubes 1 (see Figure 10b) can be achieved, that is, a type of packaging where the collapsing tubes 1 of each successive row are placed in a stacked arrangement. However, it is also possible to provide a type of packaging (see Figure 10a) where the rows are arranged exactly on top of each other. After the collapsible tubes 1 have been placed in the lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c which can descend from the intermediate storage 13, the lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c descend an amount corresponding to the particular packing pattern desired ( see for example Figures a and b). When the packaging is close, that is, with a high degree of filling (see Figure 10b), the downward movement is equal to the diameter of the respective collapsible tube, multiplied by a factor of 0.5 X V3; when packaged is loose in accordance with Figure 10a, the downward movement is equal to the diameter of the collapsible tube. Then, other rows are placed and another downward movement is made, until the desired number of rows is reached or the desired degree of filling of a box 14 is reached. Once the lowermost layer of the tubes 1 is can collapse stored reaches the base plate 1 5 of the intermediate storage 13, wherein the base plate 15 is arranged in a non-removable manner, and is provided with cuts for the passage of the lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c, the slider 16 transfers all collapsible tubes 1 collected in the intermediate storage 13 into an empty or partially filled box 14, where the adjustable side guides 24 can be adjusted to a particular collapsible pipe diameter and are provided the type of packaging by any adjustment device (not shown). The intermediate storage 13 also contains an upper face limiting plate 25 which is arranged at a distance and can, when necessary, be lowered in order to allow the passage of one, or even more rows of collapsible tubes. In addition, a rear limiting plate 25 'is provided, the distance of which is adjusted to the length of the tube which can be collapsed and which is also used to stabilize the tubes 1 which can be collapsed and transferred into the intermediate storage 13 while being stored in intermediate storage 1 3. According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, two sets of lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12a ', 12b', 12c 'are arranged in intermediate storage 13 in three cooperating chain actuators 26a, 26b, 26c. All are driven together by a single motor through an arrow 27 for gear wheel. After the lowest of all the rows of collapsible tubes 1 stored in the lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c in the intermediate storage 13 has reached the base plate 1 5, the slide 16 transfers all the tubes 1 that they can collapse inside a box 14 or load the box 14 with all the tubes 1 that can collapse, the other rows of collapsible tubes are grouped to form a packing of tubes that can collapse in the intermediate storage 13 by means of the chain actuators 26a, 26b, 26c and the lower lower strips 12a ', 12b', 12c '. Since the two groups of lower strips 12a, 12b, 12c and 12a ', 12b, 12c are arranged in chain actuators 26a, 26b, 26c in a stacked form and with the same chain lengths, they are actuated by a single arrow 27 for toothed wheel, each of the chain actuators 26a, 26b, 26c comprises different sequences that compensate their different respective arrangement. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 8, the fastening boss 17 is connected to a linear actuator 19 vertically adjustable through a rotary actuator 18, which offers the possibility of moving the actuators 19 through the rotary actuator 18. levels H1 to H7. At level H1, the clamping fork 17 captures an empty box 14 from the upper ratchet band 20 '. Subsequently, 90 degrees is rotated by means of the rotary actuator 18 and transferred to a variable work level which is defined in accordance with the filling degree of the box 14 and the particular work level H3 required. Once the box 14 is filled with collapsible tubes 1, as desired, it moves to level H5. To prevent collisions, the level H6 is passed, and then the filled box is placed in the lower ratchet band 20 by means of the holding fork 17 and the actuator 18 rotatable to the H7 level and transferred to a filling plant (not illustrated). ) or storage by means of the lower roller conveyor 21. The device is characterized in that there is always enough time to complete the next work step, so that there are practically no problems in relation to the time available.

Claims (12)

1. CLAIMS 1 . A method for automatically packing tubes (1) that can collapse, which are supplied by a conveyor belt within a plurality of packaging containers that capture the tubes (1) that can collapse; characterized in that: the collapsible tubes (1) supplied are collected in a row without spaces, are supplied in this row to an intermediate storage (1 3) and are transferred together in a packaging container, then the container packed is transported.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that several rows of empty collapsible tubes (1) that have been supplied one after the other, are collected in the intermediate storage (13) until a a sufficient number of tubes (1) that can be collapsed empty to fill or partially fill a packaging container.
3. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the empty collapsible tubes (1) are arranged in conveyor belts (3) of a feeding belt (2) and are collected continuously in a row or row partial by means of adjustable suction V-guides (5) and operated separately.
4. 4. The method according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that each row containing the desired number of tubes (1) that can be collapsed is compacted so that the tubes come into contact with each other and are transferred. within the intermediate storage (13) only after completing the compaction.
5. 5. The method according to claim 1 to 4, characterized in that each tube (1) that can be collapsed in the intermediate storage (13) is in contact with a tube (1) that can be collapsed next to it. of a single point.
6. 6. The method according to claim 1 to 5, characterized in that each tube (1) that can collapse in the intermediate storage (13) is in contact with two tubes (1) that can collapse on top of it. .
7. The method according to claim 1 to 6, characterized in that the packaging container can be arranged behind each intermediate storage (13) in an adjustable manner in a vertical and rotating manner.
8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that each packaging container can be arranged in a fork (17).
9. 9. The method according to claim 1 to 8, characterized in that the conveyor belts (20, 21 ', 21, 21',) for the supply of empty packing containers and the removal of the same full, is arranged in two different levels.
10. The method according to claim 1 to 9, characterized in that the mobile slide transfers all the collapsible tubes (1) stored in the intermediate storage (13) into a packaging container.
11. The method according to claim 1 to 10, characterized in that the intermediate storage (13) is provided with a fixed base plate (15) with adjustable lateral guides (24), adjustable limit plates (25, 25 '). as well as with at least two groups of mobile lower strips (12a, 12b, 12c and 12a ', 12b', 12c ').
12. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the lower movable strips (12a, 12b, 12c and 12a ', 12b', 12c ') are arranged in the intermediate storage (13) in such a way that they can be passed through. the base plate (15) and can be moved in synchronization with each other. SUMMARY The invention relates to a method for automatic packaging of empty tubes (1) transported on a conveyor belt in a packaging container receiving a plurality of tubes (1). According to the invention, the conveyor tubes (1) are collected in a continuous line, then fed in line to an intermediate storage (13) and transferred together in a packaging container, where the packaging container is also transported . The empty tubes (1) are arranged in the conveyor belts (3) of a feeding belt (2) and are continuously collected in partial rows or rows by means of individually activated, adjustable suction cylinders (5).