RU2781924C2 - Method for packing packages with liquid into packing boxes - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: package and storage.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a device for packaging bags with liquid, for example, bags with milk, in packaging boxes. The device contains at least one receiving conveyor for transporting bags of liquid from the machine for their manufacture and a collecting conveyor located in the transverse direction relative to the receiving conveyor for collecting bags of liquid from the receiving conveyor and transporting them further to the packaging station, where bags of liquid are dumped into packing boxes. On the assembly conveyor, at least one group shaper is located transversely to the direction of its movement, by means of which the bags of liquid transported on the conveyor are assembled into groups containing at least two bags of liquid. A positioning device is located above the assembly line at the unloading end of the receiving conveyor, by means of which liquid packages fed to the assembly line from the receiving conveyor are positioned essentially on the same line in the transverse direction of the assembly line.

EFFECT: invention makes it possible to ensure a more orderly packaging of bags with liquid in boxes, as well as to prevent them from falling during the replacement of the packaging box.

7 cl, 5 dwg

Description

The object of the present invention is a method for packaging liquid bags, such as milk bags, in packaging boxes, in which the liquid bags are made in a bag making machine, transferred to a collecting conveyor, and dropped into packaging boxes. The object of the invention is also a device for implementing the method.

Thus, the present invention relates to the packaging of liquid packets. Liquid bags are bags that contain liquid and are made of a membrane-type material. The liquid may be, for example, milk, a fermented milk product, juice, or the like. The membrane type material used is essentially a polyolefin, such as polyethylene or a copolymer of polyethylene, or possibly nylon or some suitable material. Thus, in the description and in the claims, a liquid bag refers to a bag that easily changes shape and contains a liquid.

Liquid bags are made in a machine in which the membrane-type material is unwound from a roll in the machine, folded into a bag, the bottom end is sealed, filled with the desired liquid, the top end is sealed, and at the same time cut off when the finished bag of liquid is formed. The liquid bag making machine is not described in more detail in this context, since it can be any known machine. The invention relates to the packaging of ready-made liquid bags coming out of such a machine.

The bags of liquid are transported from the manufacturing machine by means of conveyors and are finally dumped into packaging boxes, which in turn are transported on their own conveyor. The packaging box is essentially a cardboard box, but, of course, other types of packaging are possible within the scope of the present invention. The number of liquid bags in each box is, of course, limited by their weight. A 1 liter bag weighs approx. 1 kg. In many countries, the maximum weight a factory or shop worker is allowed to lift is limited. This weight is often 10-12 kg, which dictates the number of liquid bags in each box.

When packages are free-falling from a conveyor into a box, they fall in an arbitrary spatial position and in an arbitrary location in the box. The height to which the package falls into the box is influenced by many factors. The most important factor is the angular spatial position in which the packet begins to fall. Another important factor is the drop height, which is preferably kept as low as possible.

When elongated pouches (typically 1L) are transported to the drop end in transverse orientation on the collecting conveyor, it is important that the pouches take up a position as close to a right angle as possible, i.e. 90° to the direction of conveyor travel. If this is not the case, the package will fall into the box in an undefined spatial position. The goal, of course, is to place the packages on the conveyors in the optimal spatial position already in the early stages, but nevertheless, some packages remain more or less skewed.

Thus, the task is to stack the packages in the packing box as ordered as possible. The width of the packaging box is substantially equal to the length of the liquid bag, in which case it is important to box the bags in a controlled manner. Therefore, it would be preferable to align the packages before they fall into the box. However, it is inconvenient to maneuver liquid packs, since their behavior differs significantly, for example, from that of rigid packs or light bags. In addition, there is strong friction between the surface of the conveyor and the bag, and therefore the bags do not slide on the ascending section of the collecting conveyor before falling into the box. Due to the high friction and “non-stiffness” of the package, the conveyor guide means in practice only move the liquid, i.e. change the shape of the package, but do not actually move the package relative to the surface of the conveyor. If the guide is made so that the movement occurs as a result of the application of force, the package can easily be compressed or rolled up due to friction, and the required rotation will not occur.

Another problem to be solved in packaging is to prevent the packages from falling during the replacement of the packaging box, i.e. when the previous box is filled and removed and a new box takes its place. Since the bag collection conveyor does not stop during box changes, there must be some kind of delay/buffer store at the end of such a conveyor that prevents packages from falling during box changes. Such stopping devices are known, however, they do not guide or align the packets before dropping them into the box.

A method for packaging liquid bags and a positioning guide are known from Finnish Patent Application 20095210.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for packing liquid bags into boxes in a more orderly manner. The method of the present invention is characterized in that, prior to being dropped into packaging boxes, liquid bags are collected on a collecting conveyor in groups of at least two liquid bags behind an opening and closing group former located transversely above the collecting conveyor, wherein the group former opens when the required number of liquid bags are collected behind it, after which the liquid bags move along the collecting conveyor as one group and are dropped in one group into the packing box.

One preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention is characterized in that the group is formed from three liquid bags.

Another preferred variant of the method according to the present invention is characterized in that the group is formed from four bags of liquid.

The subject of the present invention is also a device for packaging liquid bags. The device according to the invention is characterized in that at least one group former is located on the collection conveyor across the direction of travel, by means of which the liquid packs transported on the conveyor are collected into groups containing at least two liquid packs, and that above the collection conveyor located at the discharge end is a positioning device by means of which the liquid packs supplied to the collection conveyor from the receiving conveyor are positioned so that they are substantially in line in the transverse direction of the collection conveyor.

One preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention is characterized in that at least one group former is located on the collecting conveyor transverse to the direction of travel, by means of which the liquid packs transported on the conveyor are collected into groups containing at least two liquid packs, and thereby that above the collection conveyor, at the discharge end of the receiving conveyor, a positioning device is located, by means of which the liquid packets supplied to the collection conveyor from the receiving conveyor are positioned so as to be substantially in line in the transverse direction of the collection conveyor.

Another preferred embodiment of the device according to the present invention is characterized in that the positioning device is a plate, the lower end of which is bent towards the receiving conveyor for receiving the short side of the liquid bag and dropping it onto the collecting conveyor, while the plate is rotatable so that its axis turn passes across the direction of movement of the receiving conveyor.

Another preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention is characterized in that a counterweight is located on the plate above the axis of rotation to resist the force of the incoming fluid pack acting on the bottom of the plate.

One advantage of the invention that may be mentioned is that, when dropped in groups, liquid packs can be dropped into packing boxes in a more controlled manner than before, whereby they are stacked more orderly and take up less space. Since the groups are formed already on the collecting conveyor, the group former is not needed at the packing station after the collecting conveyor.

The following is a more detailed description of some preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the attached drawings, where:

Fig. 1 - part of the device according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 - group former installed on the assembly line.

Fig. 3 - the situation in which the group builder is open.

Fig. 4 - the output end of the collection conveyor at the packaging station, where a group of packages with liquid arrives.

Fig. 5 shows a situation in which a group of liquid bags are dropped from a collecting conveyor into a packing station.

In FIG. 1 shows a machine 1 producing bags of liquid, such as milk, which may be a known machine. Liquid bags are made in machine 1, where the membrane-type material is unwound from a roll located in the machine, folded into a bag, sealed at the lower end, filled with the required liquid, sealed at the upper end and cut at the same time, thereby forming a finished liquid bag. The liquid bag making machine is not described in more detail in this context, since it can be any known machine of this type. The invention relates to the packaging of packages 3 with liquid coming from this machine.

Ready packages of liquid are dropped onto the receiving conveyors 2, of which in this case only one is shown under the machine 1. There can be two or more receiving conveyors. The receiving conveyor 2 delivers the packages 3 with liquid to the collecting conveyor 5, the direction of movement of which forms a right angle with the receiving conveyor. Since the packages with liquid arrive at the receiving conveyors 2 in the longitudinal direction, they are placed on the collection conveyor at right angles to the direction of movement of this conveyor, i.e. when transported on a collecting conveyor, they move with the long side forward.

Above the collection conveyor at the output end of the receiving conveyor 2 is located a positioning device 4, by means of which the packages fed to the collection conveyor 5 from the receiving conveyor 2 are positioned essentially on the same line in the transverse direction of the collection conveyor. In practice, the positioning device 4 is a plate, the lower end of which is bent towards the receiving conveyor to receive the short side of the liquid bag and to drop the liquid bag 3 onto the collecting conveyor as exactly as possible transverse to the direction of travel of the collecting conveyor. The positioning device 4, i. e. the plate is rotatable so that its axis of rotation 4' runs transverse to the direction of movement of the receiving conveyor 2. A counterweight 4'' is installed on the plate above the axis 4' of rotation to counteract the force of the incoming packages 3 with liquid acting on the lower part of the plate. Thus, the positioning device is designed to deposit the package in an orientation as close to transverse as possible and so that the short sides of each package are substantially in line in the transverse direction of the collection conveyor.

The drawings show only one horizontal collecting conveyor 5, but there may be more such conveyors arranged one after the other, and at least some of them may be ascending.

In FIG. 2 is the right side of the 6-group shaper, which is a pivotally mounted plate. In the situation shown in FIG. 2, the plate is in the closed position and the liquid bags 3 cannot move forward even though the collecting conveyor tries to move from the right as shown in the drawing. Thus, the first packet 3 stops at the group builder and the second packet stops behind it. The material of the surface of the collecting conveyor 5 has some slipperiness, so the liquid bags can remain in place held by the group shaper 6. On the collecting conveyor 5, on which the group former 6 is located, for example, a plastic laminated structure having a sufficiently low coefficient of friction can be used.

When the third liquid bag 3 approaches the point where the photovoltaic cell 7 is located, i.e. very close to the previous packet or even very close to it, the group builder opens, i.e. rotates to the position shown in Fig. 3, in which case the group formed by the three liquid bags 3 gets the opportunity to pass the group former 6 to the packing station. In FIG. 4, a group formed by three liquid bags 3 is located next to the discharge end of the collecting conveyor. In FIG. 5, a group of liquid bags is dropped from the collecting conveyor 5 into a packing station, from where it is dropped further as a single group into a carton or other packaging device below.

The group shaper 6 is a locking plate hinged on the edges of the collection conveyor and moving between two positions: a stop position in which the plate prevents the movement of the liquid bags, and an open position in which the liquid bags are allowed to move further. In the open position, the group former plate is rotated approximately 90° from the stop position.

The liquid bag making machine can have two outlets, i.e. it may have two receiving conveyors, both of which deliver liquid packs to a collecting conveyor. In this case, two group builders can be used, i.e. each output has its own group generator. First, both group formers form groups of two bags, after which these groups are combined into a group of four bags and this group is manipulated as one group of four bags until it is in the packaging box. In this embodiment, one advantage is that group formation is faster since only two packets are required for the group builder. In the case of three packs, there is a possibility that the first and second packs will begin to move a little laterally.

Specialists it is clear that the present invention is not limited to the above options and it can be modified within the scope defined by the attached claims. The number of liquid bags in one group is not limited to three or four, and may be any desired number, essentially depending on the size of the packaging box.

The features presented in the description, in combination with other features, can, if necessary, be applied separately from each other.

Claims (4)

1. A device for packaging packages (3) with liquid, for example, packages of milk, in packaging boxes, containing at least one receiving conveyor (2) for transporting packages with liquid from a machine (1) for their manufacture, and a collecting conveyor ( 5) located in the transverse direction relative to the receiving conveyor (2), for collecting liquid bags from the receiving conveyor (2) and transporting them further to the packaging station, at which the liquid bags (3) are dropped into packaging boxes, characterized in that at least one group former (6) is located on the collection conveyor (5) transversely to the direction of its movement, by means of which the packages (3) with liquid transported on the conveyor are collected into groups containing at least two packages (3) with liquid, and the fact that above the collection conveyor (5) at the discharge end of the receiving conveyor (2) there is a positioning device (4), through which the packages (3) with liquid supplied to the the main conveyor (5) from the receiving conveyor (2) are positioned essentially on the same line in the transverse direction of the collecting conveyor (5). 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the group former (6) is configured to stop the movement of the packages (3) with liquid until the required number of packages (3) with liquid has accumulated behind the group former (6), after which it opens and allows the group to move further along the collection conveyor (5). 3. Device according to claim. 1 or 2, characterized in that the positioning device (4) is a plate, the lower end of which is bent in the direction of the receiving conveyor to receive the short side of the package (3) with liquid and drop the package onto the collection conveyor (5), wherein the plate is rotatable so that the axis of rotation (4') runs transverse to the direction of movement of the receiving conveyor (2). 4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that a counterweight (4'') is located on the plate above the axis of rotation (4') to counteract the force that the incoming liquid pack (3) applies to the bottom of the plate.

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