MXPA98008079A - Automatic transfer equipment of tortillas of the counter stacker to the bag - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is related to the production of flour tortillas, especially in the part of the process of packaging or bagging the product once the tortilla is already baked, and the equipment or machinery that is required in that packing area. The equipment has the advantage of automatically moving the stacks of counter-stacker tortillas to the feeding belt to the bagger, making several rows of tortilla stacks are placed in a single row, making possible a better hygiene in the handling from the piles of tortillas, homogeneously over time, the displaced, without leaving empty predetermined positions and making the arrangement and deposited synchronized for a better efficiency in the operation. The invention is characterized in that said equipment is located parallel to the line forming the stacks made by the stacking counter, and a band of the width of this stacking counter transports the stacks of tortillas from the stacker to the transfer equipment, or displacer, achieving in this way, regardless of the number of rows that the stacker handles, at the end there is a single row of tortilla stacks

Description

AUTOMATIC TRANSFER EQUIPMENT OF METER TORTILLAS-SHARPENER TO THE BAGGER.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is related to the tortilla production industry and more specifically to the production of flour tortillas, especially in the packaging part of the product, once the tortilla is already cooked, also relating to the equipment or machinery that It is required in this packaging area.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the production of tortillas at an industrial level, in the part of the process corresponding to the packing or bagging of the tortilla, a series of operations is required which, due to tradition and due to the lack of already designed machines, have had to be done manually. On the other hand, being the tortilla a typical product of Mexico and other neighboring countries, which had traditionally been produced at the handicraft level with a rather atomized production structure, packing or bagging at the industrial level had not represented any problem.

With the industrialization that is currently presenting this product, there is a need to automate the different operations that lead to the industrial production of tortillas, and in the present case, to the automatic bagging of the tortillas.

Before arriving at the bagger a series of operations is required in the tortillas that require automation. The machine and bagger and the sealer are subject to as many patent applications.

Before reaching the bagger and the sealer, the tortillas have to be also stacked after they have been cooled, since the tortillas come out of the chiller in disorder and without stacking, in a variable number of continuous rows across. Once the tortillas are stacked, these groups of tortillas should be brought to the bagger for packing.

To carry out this transport to the bagger, it is currently necessary to transfer the product from the exit of the counter-stacker to the conveyor that takes these groups of tortillas to the bagger for packing. The counter-stacker, as its name indicates, counts and stacks the pieces in groups in a pre-selected number of tortillas, to later transfer said groups manually to the conveyor of the Bagger. Until prior to the present invention, performing this operation implied that it would have to have a person dedicated exclusively to perform this operation, which represented several disadvantages such as: O Higher labor costs. Fatigue of the worker for being a routine job OR Less hygiene when having physical contact with the product.

It is presented, in the design of the equipment of automatic transfer of tortillas of the counter stacker to the band feeder of the embol-sadora, the problematic that for an efficient operation, the stacker will have to handle more than a row of tortillas and the band that feeds The bagger must exclusively handle a single row.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION The main objective of the present invention is to make possible an automatic shifter, or automatic transfer equipment, of stacks of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the supply belt to the bagger.

As a secondary objective we have, when fulfilling the previous objective, to make possible a greater hygiene in the handling of the tortilla stacks.

Another additional objective is to obtain an automatic shifter, or automatic transfer equipment, from stacks of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the feeding belt to the bagger, which makes the shifting homogeneously in time, without leaving predetermined empty positions in the feeding band of the bagger.

Another objective is to have a team that makes the arrangement and deposited synchronized for a better efficiency in the operation by making several rows of piles of tortillas are placed in a single row.

And all those qualities and objectives that will become evident when making a description of the present invention, supported by the illustrated modalities.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For purposes of the present description, the stacking counter is also referred to as a stacker or as a stacker.

The design of the transfer equipment, or displacer, between one team (tortilla stacker) and another (bag feeder belt) must obviously take into account the characteristics of both teams, as well as the incompatibilities that arise between both teams.; if there were no incompatibilities, there would be no problem in the transfer activity and the team that carried out this activity would be obvious.

One of the problems that arise and that make it difficult to design a device for the transfer of batteries, is the fact that the stacker forms the batteries in an unpredictable sequence and the equipment that makes the transfer of the batteries must be capable of adjust the batteries in the feeding belt of the bagger continuously without leaving empty places to make the process efficient.

Also, as already said, the stacker handles several rows of tortilla stacks and the feeder band of the bagger only handles a single row. To solve this problem, the tortilla stacker, which is not part of the equipment object of the present invention, was placed laterally to the feeder belt with the stacking sites of the stacker in line parallel to said band, and a band of such width that any pile that forms in the apilator can be unloaded in said band, between the exit of the stacker and the combs where the piles of tortillas will be deposited in the equipment object of the present description.

The number of combs of the transfer equipment will correspond with the number of stacks that form the stacker.

In general, the present invention is characterized by 1) a series of bases called combs, placed in line, 2) a means that moves the combs to one side to drop the heaps of tortillas in the bottom band and 3) a controller programmable logic (foot) that controls the displacement of 4) the means that trigger the retraction of the combs to drop the tortillas in precise places of said band.

The structure also includes other elements that, although they are indispensable for the operation of the equipment, do not form part of the invention from the point of view of the inventive activity since they are secondary elements or form part of other equipment. As secondary elements we have the conveyor belt that carries the stacks of tortillas from the stacker to the combs. There is also a series of carcasses, in the form of a half of a cylinder, which surround each stack of tortillas when they are resting on the combs, and some compactor discs that press a certain amount of time the piles of tortillas on the comb. to give them some cohesion and the pile does not fall when falling on the conveyor belt feeder of the bagger.

On the other hand, there is also a band that transports the batteries to the bagger in parallel, directly below said combs. This belt conveyor feeder of the bagger comprises at regular intervals bases where each pile of tortillas should be deposited.

The combs have their teeth passing through the casing, a casing that has the shape of a half cylinder cut longitudinally, surrounding the pile of tortillas, so that when these teeth move outwards, laterally, the pile can not move in this direction , leaving only the option to fall towards the bases of the conveyor feeder belt of the bagger.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The characteristic details of this equipment are clearly shown in the following description and in the drawings that accompany it, serving them as reference signs to indicate the parts in the figures shown.

Figure 1 Isometric transfer. Figure 2 Top view, showing the alignment of the equipment with respect to the exit of the counter stacker. Figure 3 Side view showing the location of the combs to unload the tortillas on the bases of the feed conveyor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFE MODALITY With reference to said figures, the system is composed of 1) counter-stacker combs; 2) Pneumatic cylinders of counter-stacker; 3) Transfer combs; 4) Pneumatic cylinders of the transfer combs; 5) Transfer structure; 6) Compactor discs; 7) Pneumatic cylinders of compactor discs; 8) Diffuse photocell that detects the passage of the bases of the transporter of the Bagger; 9) An encoder; 10) Conveyor-stacker leager conveyor; 11) Bases on conveyor of feeding of Bagger.

For electrical control, a PLC programmable electronic controller is required. When unloading the combs of the counter-stacker the groups of tortillas (A) advance on the band of leagues of the counter-stacker (11) to be deposited in the combs (3) of the automatic transfer. At this moment, the compactor discs (6) lower and press the group of tortillas against the combs of the transfer (3), with the purpose of making the tortillas compact and not discomfort when transferring to the bases (12) of the conveyor of the bagger.

The discs (6) are held down for a moment and return upward to their resting position. At the end of the cycle, the group of tortillas is ready to be transfe to the bases (12) of the transporter of the bagger, that is when the photocell (9) detects the passage of one of the bases (12) of the conveyor and it assigns the coponding lane where the group of tortillas is waiting to be moved.

When this last action is carried out, an internal counter in the PLC counts the pulses of the encoder (10) from the photocell (9) to the rail where the group of tortillas (A) will be unloaded, each pulse of the encoder is equivalent to the advance of a constant and pre-established distance of the Bagger conveyor; this distance can vary in centimeters or inches. Upon completion of the count of pre-set pulses means that the base (12) of the bagger conveyor is in position to receive the coponding group of tortillas. It is then when the combs of the transfer (3) are retracted to drop the group of tortillas (A) to the base (12) of the conveyor of the bagger.

The PLC, on the one hand, relies on the information sent 1) by the stacker to know which comb has a stack of tortillas, 2) an encoder, each pulse representing a certain advance of the belt conveyor feeder of the bagger and 3) a photo-cell that indicates when an empty base of the feeder band is entering the area above which the combs are located.

On the other hand, this PLC, with the information it receives from the stacker, sends a signal to the pneumatic cylinder of the compactor disk that is on a pile of tortilla, so that it moves the coponding disc and presses the pile against the comb. Also, with this information received from the stacker that indicates that comb has a pile of tortilla, and with the information that sent the photo-cell indicating that an empty base is entering, it relates the position of the pile of tortillas with this base and leaning on the incremental encoder, the signal is sent to the comb of the coponding stack at which moment it must be retracted to drop the pile of tortillas on said band, since it is in the position to be stopped.

Different modalities of this team are based on managing a variable number of rows of tortillas, starting with a single one; two or more transfers can be mounted in series and synchronized to handle the product of two or more parallel lines and feed a single bagger.

The invention has been described sufficiently so that a person with average knowledge in the art can reproduce it and obtain the results that we mentioned in the present invention. However, any person skilled in the art who is competent in the present invention may be able to make modifications not described in the present application. However, if for the matter claimed in the following claims, said devices should be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims (2)

CLAIMS Having sufficiently described the invention, it is considered as a novelty, and is therefore claimed as property, contained in the following clauses.

1. Equipment for automatic transfer of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the bagger, characterized in that said equipment is located parallel to the line forming the stacks made by the stacking counter, and a band of the width of this stacking counter that transports the stacks of tortillas from the stacker to the transfer equipment, achieving in this way that regardless of the number of rows that the stacker handles, at the end there is a single row of piles of tortillas.

2. Equipment for automatic transfer of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the bagger, as claimed in the previous claim, characterized by comprising 1) a series of bases called combs, placed in line, where the piles of tortillas formed in the stacker, 2) a band that transports the piles to the bagger in parallel, directly underneath said combs, 3) a means that moves the combs to one side to drop the piles of tortillas in the band below and 4) a programmable logic controller (foot) that controls the movement of 5) the band to the i - maker of the bagger and 6) the means that actuate the withdrawal of the combs to drop the tortillas in precise places of said band. Equipment for automatic transfer of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the bagger, as claimed in the previous claim, characterized in that the foot has a program that 1) receives information from a) the stacker, where it is indicated that the comb is occupied; b) of a photocell, which indicates that an empty base of the feeder belt of the bagger is entering the area where the combs are; c) an encoder that sends a series of pulses, serving as a clock to 2) coordinate the control of the medium that causes the combs to retract to indicate at what time this withdrawal should be made. Equipment for automatic transfer of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the bagger, as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized by further comprising, on the combs on which the toroll stacks are placed, actuating means. of compactor discs, and said compactor discs, which upon receiving a signal from the PLC will perform a downward displacement to produce to the pile of tortillas below a compression against the comb to give it some compaction and the pile does not lose its structure when falling on the base of the belt feeder of the em-Bolsadora, when the comb retract. R E S U E N The present invention relates to the production of flour tortillas, especially in the part of the process of packaging or bagging the product once the tortilla is already cooked, and the equipment or machinery that is required in this packaging area. The equipment has the advantage of automatically moving the stack of tortillas from the counter-stacker to the belt, feeding to the bagger, making several rows of tortilla stacks placed in a single row, making possible a better hygiene in the handling of the tortilla stacks, homogeneously in time, the displaced, without leaving empty predetermined positions and making the arrangement and deposited synchronized for a better efficiency in the operation. The invention is characterized in that said equipment is located parallel to the line forming the stacks made by the stacking counter, and a band of the width of this stacking counter transports the stacks of tortillas from the stacker to the transfer equipment, or displacer, achieving In this way, regardless of the number of rows that the stacker handles, at the end there is a single row of piles of tortillas.