RU2203203C2 - Packing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: packing. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to packing machines used for machining of blanks up to making of ready boxes filled with products. Proposed packing machine has framework for supporting endless horizontal conveyor, packing box holders located on conveyor, drive, box blank feeder and putout device, stations located along box movement path and device to put out filled boxes. Stations are furnished with tools to convert blanks into ready boxes filled with products. Conveyor is provided with ring member which defines endless path of conveyor. Said ring member is installed in bearings located radially at a distance from center of ring member, preferably along periphery of indicated movement path. Invention makes it possible to create packing machine with possibility of flexible arrangement of camshaft and adjustment of box height by means of great number of bearing races installed vertically one over the other on machine framework. EFFECT: enlarged operating capabilities. 15 cl, 9 dwg

Description

 The invention relates to a packaging machine of this type, on which the boxes to be packed (folding boxes) are removed from the store from cardboard or picked up from the store, picked up and placed in holders on an endless conveyor path along which processing stations are located to carry out the necessary technological operations with boxes, including filling of these boxes in order to produce finished boxes filled with products at the outlet station of the packaging machine.

 Machines of this type were introduced to the market many years ago, and the production of one type of such machines was started in the 1950s, and these machines were marketed by the applicant enterprise of the present invention. This type of machine was marketed under the brand name "EXPRESSCO" and is well known among customers.

 The packaging boxes that are released on the machine are boxes without any inner packaging, and the boxes are tightly packed so that the powder does not spill out, with the bottom having a membrane closure and a suitably closed top, the boxes being widely used not only for packaging powdered products, but also for packaging deep-frozen foods, such as fruit juices.

 Boxes of this type occupy a leading position both in terms of environmental protection and processing, and their use provides extraordinary opportunities to meet current and future environmental requirements.

 This type of packaging, however, requires a machine that is specifically designed for this purpose, and such a machine was, of course, created and delivered to the market for many years. Even when the first types of such machines were released, the need for the machines to be robust, reliable in operation and that they can be used in any difficult environmental and climatic conditions became apparent. Machines are therefore made of durable machine-building parts with drive shafts, gearboxes, cam shafts, etc., designed for complex operation.

 A machine of this type operates in a horizontal direction, and the boxes are moved to various processing stations using endless metal bands, chains or similar devices that bend around two sprockets, one of which is driven by a driving engine. The conveyor line consists of two opposite direct conveyor sections, and, in particular, the processing of the bottom of the box is carried out along one part, the box is filled on the attached circular part, and on the next direct conveyor, the top of the box is processed so that the boxes are released at the outlet station at the end of this direct conveyor part.

 To ensure the operation of two straight parts of the conveyor route, cam shafts are mounted on the skeleton of the machine, connected via a gear transmission to the driving engine: the lower horizontal cam shaft and the upper horizontal cam shaft. Cams are installed on these shafts, by means of which the processing tools are manipulated at various processing stations.

 The cost of known machines is relatively high, and previously it was impossible to achieve a certain compromise between a relatively complex but functionally reliable design in order to make the machine cheaper.

 As an example of a machine of the type considered in the introduction, a machine made in accordance with Swedish Patent Application Laid-Open No. 390154 can be mentioned. A machine made in accordance with the aforementioned publication is a further improvement of the original concept and is also intended to provide continuous operation. The machine, however, is equipped with a traditional conveyor belt holder, and it has the usual arrangement of drive shafts and cam shafts. The problem with these known conveyors is that in certain environmental conditions they require increased maintenance, for example, in the form of lubrication and cleaning, and in certain cases they can be damaged until they fail.

 Another type of drive for the holders of packaging containers is described in Swedish Patent Application Laid-Open No. 430407, where the holders are driven by a pinion gear coupled to a drive pulley provided with a peripheral ring gear, and this pulley is mounted on bearings on a central shaft in a conventional manner. This type of installation means that the large mass that must be set in motion is enclosed in the conveyor and the machine, which, among other things, requires that the other parts of the machine have the appropriate dimensions, or leads to severe wear.

 There is an additional pulley on this drive pulley, on which a gear rim is located in order to drive an eccentric for special purposes, associated with sealing the packages in the longitudinal direction.

 British Patent 1233818 describes a device that is a circular "conveyor track", which is made in the form of a central drum mounted in bearings in the horizontal direction. A cam disk (plate) is installed on the drum shaft to perform the functions of a cam acting radially from the center. This machine also has a large mass that needs to be rotated, and in order to operate in such conditions at the greatest possible distance, a larger number of processing stations were placed in the direction of the generatrix.

 An object of the invention is to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of known packaging machines and to create a new type of conveyor with associated processing stations in a packaging machine, which is especially suitable for the manufacture of packaging boxes of the type mentioned above.

 The new concept allows to increase operational reliability, and offers greater flexibility in its design, and provides conditions for optimal production and to ensure optimal processing costs.

 This technical problem is solved due to the fact that in a packaging machine containing a skeleton of a machine for supporting an endless horizontal conveyor, holders for packaging boxes located on the conveyor, a device for driving the conveyor, a device for feeding and releasing blanks of boxes, stations located along the trajectory moreover, the said stations contain processing tools for performing operations to convert them into finished boxes filled with products, and a device for feeding of the completed boxes according to the invention, the conveyor comprises an annular element which defines an infinite path of the conveyor and which is mounted in bearings located radially at a distance from the center of the annular element, preferably along the periphery of said motion path.

 In this case, the annular element may be one bearing ring, which may be provided with a ring gear, the drive may include means for driving the node with the ring gear.

 In addition, the cam shaft assembly can be installed to control and / or drive the processing tools in at least one processing station, wherein said cam shaft assembly may comprise a cam shaft located in the center of the endless conveyor path.

 The camshaft assembly may be installed to control and / or drive the processing tools in at least one processing station, said camshaft assembly comprising an annular camshaft member with the same central axis as said conveyor bearing ring.

 The annular element of the cam shaft may be one ring in an additional bearing.

 This camshaft bearing ring may have a ring gear, the means being designed to drive mate with the ring gear of the cam shaft.

 In addition, the camshaft bearing ring may have an additional gear ring, the gear being located at least on one machining station for engagement with said additional gear ring, and the motion transmitting device may be coupled to the gear and installed to drive the processing tool at said station .

 The conveyor bearing ring and the cam shaft bearing ring can form a fixed horizontal plane.

 An additional pair of conveyor bearing rings and a cam shaft bearing ring are located at a certain distance in the vertical direction from the first pair, and means can be installed for positioning the said pair of additional rings in the vertical direction.

 The ring gear may be located on the inner side of the conveyor bearing ring, and said drive mating means may comprise a gear mounted on a shaft that is mounted on a skeleton in bearings inside the conveyor bearing ring.

 Means for the drive coupling with the cam ring gear may comprise a cam drive pinion mounted on an additional shaft inside the conveyor bearing ring.

 A separate engine can be installed to drive each of the rings, and the engine may contain means for engagement with the ring gear of the cam shaft.

 At least one of said processing stations can be controlled and / or driven by a servomotor or similar means, while said stations can be equipped with drive means for respective processing tools, and one programmable servomotor or similar means is installed to control said drive means.

The invention will now be described with reference to the embodiments presented in the accompanying drawings, in which:
figure 1 - schematically the principle of the conveyor drive and the holders of the boxes located on it;
figure 2 - schematically, the principle of the drive unit of the cam shaft with means for transmitting motion to the processing tools;
in FIG. 3 - schematically dual conveyor elements together with their drive;
in FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a device with two cam shafts together with a drive of these shafts in the form of an electronic servo;
in FIG. 5 shows a servo drive of a camshaft assembly and a conveyor drive shaft in one embodiment of the invention;
in FIG. 6 - an alternative embodiment of the drive elements of the cam shaft;
in FIG. 7 is another embodiment of a dual conveyor and a cam shaft assembly with a mechanical drive;
in FIG. 8 - a device for receiving drive energy and transmitting movement to processing tools, for example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5;
figure 9 is a device in which the cam shaft is placed in the center of the conveyor path.

 In FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a conveyor design principle in one embodiment of the invention.

 The deck 11 is mounted on the skeleton 10 of the machine, and the outer ring 13 of the ring bearing 14 is attached to this deck by bolting 12. The bearing 14 is a bearing of the type commonly used in wind farms, excavators or armored vehicles with a rotary gun turret and thus is a standard product that can be purchased at a reasonable price.

 The ring bearing 14 may have a diameter of the order of 1.0-1.5 m. The inner ring 15 of the bearing is provided with a peripheral gear rim 16 and is coupled to the outer ring 13 by means of rolling elements 17.

 The driving motor 18 is also mounted on the skeleton of the machine, and this driving motor can be, for example, a servomotor, and it can be equipped with a gearbox, for example a planetary gearbox 19, and a belt drive 20 on the output shaft of the gearbox, the gearbox being used to drive the shaft 21. On the shaft 21 has a drive gear 22 engaged with the ring gear 16 of the inner ring 15. The shaft 21 is mounted in bearings at its upper end in deck 31 and is supported in a different way (not shown) on the skeleton 10 of the machine.

 A number of holders 23 boxes mounted on the inner ring 15, and the holders carry blanks 24 boxes.

 The blanks of the boxes are removed in a flat form from a store (not shown) located at the feed station along the conveyor of the packaging machine, which is formed by bearing rings 13, 15. A number of processing stations are located along the conveyor path, for example, a station for folding down the bottom valves of boxes, a station for sealing membrane closures on folded valves, a station for folding the bottom valves; a station for folding the upper valves of the box, a station for filling the boxes through the open top, a station for sealing the membrane closure on the upper valves; station for folding the upper valves and a station for the release of filled ready-made boxes.

 These processing stations are separated from each other at a predetermined distance along the periphery of the ring conveyor. To carry out the necessary processing operations, the corresponding processing tool is located at the stations. The following description provides links to these stations and their drive.

 It should be noted that in FIG. 1 shows only the principle of the conveyor device, and of course, it is understood that the holders 23 of the boxes, for example, should not be holders that clasp the box on all sides, but they can be holders, such as carrier fingers, which transport the boxes along the sliding path along the annular path conveyor paths.

 As for the processing tool at the processing stations along the conveyor track, some types of drive devices and devices for determining the operating speed are required.

 Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a device suitable for accomplishing the aforementioned purpose. A fixed deck 25 is located on the skeleton 10 of the machine, said deck having a bottom 26, top 27 and side plates 28. Bearing 29, which is basically the same type as the bearing shown in FIG. 1, is equipped with a ring gear and is attached by bolting 30 to the bottom 26 of deck 25.

 The driving motor 31 is coupled by means of a worm gear 32 to a shaft 33 on which a gear 34 is mounted in a fixed position to drive the inner ring 35 of the bearing 29 by means of its peripheral gear 36. The shaft 33 is mounted in bearings located in deck 25 and on the skeleton of the machine (not shown). Above the inner ring 35, at a certain distance in the vertical direction from the outer ring of the bearing 29, a gear, or gear, 37 is bolted for circular motion together with the inner ring. The gear, or gear, 37 is meshed with the gear 38 mounted on the top 27 and located in corresponding positions at the processing stations along the conveyor track. The conveyor and, accordingly, the path of transportation of the boxes only once shown schematically by a dashed-dotted line 39.

 The parts of the packaging machine made in accordance with the invention are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which have been described so far, in perspective represent the basic principle of the conveyor device and one embodiment of the cam shaft for controlling and driving the processing tools at the processing stations along the conveyor track .

 Figure 3 shows an improved embodiment of the conveyor boxes presented in figure 1. The deck 11, bearing the bearing 14, is supplemented with a lower deck 40, on which the outer ring 13 'of the bearing 14', identical to the bearing 14, is bolted 41. To this end, an additional gear 22 ', fixed for rotation with the shaft, is installed, which is located meshing with the ring gear 16 'of the inner ring 15'. To this end, the shaft 21 is configured as a spindle, and adjusting the position of the deck 40 in the vertical direction is thus possible up to the end position, which is shown by dashed lines in the figures. The holder device (not shown) is made on the shaft 21 for fixing the deck in the desired position.

 In figure 3, the annular conveyor is thus made of two identical bearings coaxially arranged one above the other, where the drive inner ring 15 of the bearing 14 carries the upper holder 23 for boxes, and the ring 15 'of the bearing carries the lower holder 23'.

 In FIG. 3 clearly shows that the bearing 14 'and its deck in principle form a mirror image of the bearing 14 and the deck 11.

 Figure 4 shows the cam shaft assembly containing the upper and lower decks, and is intended for the conveyor boxes shown in figure 3. Deck 25 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to deck 25 in FIG. 2, and the double bearing rings containing the conveyor assembly are indicated by a dashed line 39. On the same shaft 33, as in the device shown in FIG. 2, located an additional deck 42, mounted with the possibility of movement in the vertical direction, as shown by dotted lines. On deck 42, the outer ring of the bearing 29 ', which is identical to the bearing 29, is bolted 30', and the inner ring 35 of the bearing is driven by a gear 34 'fixed to the shaft 33. As with deck 25, the gear or gear wheel, 37 'is bolted to the rotatable inner ring, with the gear or gear 37' following the circular rotational movement of the bearing ring 35. In conjunction with this gear wheel 37 'along the periphery of the annular path of motion are additional gears 38' located in appropriate positions at the processing stations, and gears 38 ', as well as gears 38, are designed to control and / or drive the processing tools.

 From figure 4 it is clear that the deck 42 and its contents is a mirror image of the deck 25.

 In FIG. 5 shows a complete arrangement of two conveyor slewing ring bearings (roller bearings) and two slewing ring bearings of the cam shafts 14, 14 'and 29, 29', respectively. From FIG. 5 it is clear that the outer rings of the upper cam shaft bearing 29 and the conveyor upper bearing 14 are bolted together to a bottom 26 of the deck 25. Similarly, the lower conveyor bearing 14 ′ is bolted to the outer ring of the lower cam shaft bearing.

 In the shown embodiment, the pair of inner rings of the upper pair of bearings 14, 29 is intended for transportation and, accordingly, for participation in the processing of the top of the boxes, while the pair of rings of the lower conveyor and the cam shaft are intended for (processing) the bottom of the boxes.

 Since the position of the pair of lower rings can be adjusted in height, a minimum number of operations is required to readjust the machine to process boxes with different sizes in height.

 In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the shaft 33 is driven at a constant speed by an electric motor 31 and a gearbox 32 and transmit (signals) of the current position of the cam shaft ring to the servo drive 44 using the absolute position sensor 44 (see FIG. 4) , which performs the necessary actions, for example, intermittent displacement of the holders 23 of the boxes in a circular path with a planetary gear 44 ''.

 As an alternative to the camshaft ring drive shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 shows an embodiment where each of the outer rings 45, 45 ′ of the cam shaft bearings is driven by its own servomotor 46 and 47, respectively. The drive of both inner rings of the bearings 14, 14 'of the conveyor is carried out using an additional separate servomotor 48. To achieve the function of transfer (movement) to the processing tools at the processing stations in the embodiment shown in Fig.6, there is no need for an additional gear, or ring gear , on the drive inner ring, but instead, the directly driven outer ring has the function of transmitting to the processing tools when controlling programmable servomotors 46, 47. Similarly therefore, no mechanical connection is required between the camshaft assembly and the conveyor drive shaft, since the motors can be preprogrammed to perform the intended action and synchronize processing operations at the processing stations.

 The device shown in Fig.6, provides a high degree of freedom, and, if required, the packaging machine can be made in the form of a continuous apparatus.

 The embodiment of FIG. 7 corresponds to the principles of the embodiment of FIG. 5, with the exception of the drive of the cam shaft assembly and the drive shaft of the conveyor rings. Instead of an engine with an absolute encoder, an engine 49 with a variable speed can be installed, which drives the shaft 33 through an angular gear 50 and which drives the conveyor ring through an angular gear 51 and an indexing box 52 for intermittent operation, synchronized with the control of the cam shaft assembly and / or with drive executive tools. Instead of an indexing box, another gearbox may be used, for example a gearbox that allows continuous operation.

 In versions with gears, or gears, on the drive inner ring of the cam shaft, a power take-off device made in accordance with FIG. 8 is suitably installed at the processing stations.

 Gear 46 is designed for engagement with the mating gears 38 along the circular path of the cam ring and through the angular gear 47 to drive the output shaft 48. In turn, the processing tools are driven from this shaft 48 directly or through a transmission mechanism.

 As is apparent from the preceding description of the embodiments, the invention makes it possible to create a plurality of embodiments within the basic concept of a circular element defining a conveyor path in the packaging machine. In contrast to the known solutions, the conveying element is not installed in the bearings in the center, but at a certain distance from the center in the radial direction, which, from the point of view of cost, creates many opportunities for varying the detailed design and, no less, allows you to create a machine that in terms of service, you can reconfigure.

 The illustrated camshaft assembly may, for example, be replaced by a camshaft placed in the center of the conveyor path, which contains a number of eccentrics and curved cams for transmitting movements to the processing tools at the processing stations.

 Such a device is shown in Fig.9. A fixed deck 11 is mounted on the skeleton 10 of the machine using a group of guides 10 'and holders 10 ". In this deck, the outer ring 13 of the slewing ring bearing 14 is suspended by means of a bolt connection 12. The inner ring 15 has a plate 23' attached to it, which carries holders 23 "for boxes 24.

 The inner ring 15 is meshed with a pinion gear 22 mounted on the output shaft of the star connection 52. The star connection is driven through the shaft 21 from the bevel gear 51 through an additional gear 50 from the drive motor 49.

 The lower deck 53 is mounted in bearings that can be moved vertically along the said rails 10 ', and the vertical slide 10 "acts on the lower deck 53 and the upper deck 54. The slide is designed so that during the vertical adjustment of the deck 53, 54 is shifted by the same distance from the horizontal plane of the machine defined by the holders 23 "boxes.

 In the center of the ring bearing 14 there is a vertical cam shaft 33 ', which is driven from the motor 49 through an angular gear 50. The cam shaft 33 "is divided by a sleeve 55 mounted on the shaft so that it is fixed on it, and said sleeve 55 allows vertical movement two parts of the shaft.

 Cam discs 56, 57 are located on said shaft parts and are fixed thereon; motion transmitting devices (not shown) interact with these disks to transmit the necessary movements by various processing tools at stations located along the conveyor path to boxes on the conveyor ring.

 These cam discs 56, 57 thus follow the displacement of the decks 53, 54 and, thus, occupy positions at equal distances from the 23 "mid-plane, which allows for simple readjustment of the machine to various box heights.

 A number of different embodiments of the invention have been described and it is assumed that the described embodiments will only serve as an example and that the invention is only limited by what is defined in the attached claims.

Claims (15)

 1. A packaging machine comprising a skeleton of a machine for supporting an endless horizontal conveyor, holders for packing boxes located on the conveyor, a device for driving the conveyor, a device for feeding and releasing blanks of boxes, stations located along the path, said stations containing processing tools for performing operations to convert them into finished boxes filled with products, and a device for feeding filled boxes, characterized in that the transport p contains an annular element that defines an infinite path of the conveyor and which is mounted in bearings located radially at a distance from the center of the annular element, preferably along the periphery of said motion path.  2. The packaging machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the annular element is one bearing ring.  3. The packaging machine according to claim 2, characterized in that one ring is provided with a ring gear, the drive comprising means for driving a node with a ring gear.  4. The packaging machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the cam shaft assembly is mounted to control and / or drive the processing tools in at least one processing station, the cam shaft assembly comprising a cam shaft located in the center of the endless conveyor path.  5. The packaging machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the cam shaft assembly is mounted to control and / or drive the processing tools in at least one processing station, said cam shaft assembly comprising an annular cam shaft element with the same central axis as and conveyor bearing ring.  6. The packaging machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the annular element of the cam shaft is one ring in an additional bearing.  7. The packaging machine according to claim 6, characterized in that the camshaft bearing ring has a gear ring, the means being designed for driving mating with the gear ring of the cam shaft.  8. The packaging machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the camshaft bearing ring has an additional gear ring, the gear being located at least on one processing station for engagement with said additional gear ring, the device for transmitting movement being coupled to the gear and installed for driving a processing tool at said station.  9. The packaging machine of claim 8, wherein the conveyor bearing ring and the cam shaft bearing ring form a fixed horizontal plane.  10. The packaging machine according to claim 9, characterized in that the additional pair of conveyor bearing rings and the cam shaft bearing ring are located at a certain vertical distance from the first pair, and means are provided for positioning the said pair of additional rings vertically.  11. The packaging machine according to claim 10, characterized in that the gear ring is located on the inner side of the conveyor bearing ring, and the means for drive coupling include a gear mounted on a shaft that is mounted on a skeleton in the bearings inside the conveyor bearing ring.  12. The packaging machine according to claim 11, characterized in that the means for the drive mating with the gear ring of the cam shaft comprise a drive gear of the cam shaft mounted on an additional shaft inside the conveyor bearing ring.  13. The packaging machine according to claim 7, characterized in that a separate engine is installed to drive each of the rings, and the engine contains means for engagement with the ring gear of the cam shaft.  14. A packaging machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least one of said processing stations is controlled and / or driven by a servomotor or the like.  15. The packaging machine according to 14, characterized in that the stations are equipped with drive means for respective processing tools, moreover, to control said drive means one programmable servomotor or the like is installed.

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