WO2024033797A1

WO2024033797A1 - Packaging machine used to automatically form a plurality of packages of solid fragile products

Info

Publication number: WO2024033797A1
Application number: PCT/IB2023/057986
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrea FIORAVANTI
Original assignee: MBP S.r.l.
Priority date: 2022-08-11
Filing date: 2023-08-08
Publication date: 2024-02-15

Abstract

A packaging machine (10) used to automatically form a consecutive plurality of packages of fragile products, generally foods, comprises: a) a forming unit (11) of a film which, advancing, is wound around a forming tube (12) arranged vertically, b) a product feed unit (13) configured to feed a predetermined amount of the product to be packaged, c) a rotation carousel (14) comprising at least one containment body (16) adapted to accommodate the film and the food product to be packaged, wherein said rotation carousel (14) placed on a rotation shaft (15) with a horizontal axis, and said at least one containment body (16) is aligned in a radial direction with respect to the rotation axis of said carousel and configured to at least partially contain a predetermined amount of product.

Description

"PACKAGING MACHINE USED TO AUTOMATICALLY FORM A PLURALITY OF PACKAGES OF SOLID FRAGILE PRODUCTS"

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FIELD OF APPLICATION

The present invention relates to a packaging machine used to automatically form a consecutive plurality of packages of solid fragile products , generally foods , and a method for filling solid fragile products in such packages .

The packaging machine according to the invention is of the vertical type and uses devices which allow to l imit as much as possible sudden falls of the product which can cause it to break .

The vertical packaging machine according to the invention uses a loading and enveloping carousel with a hori zontal axis which forms a quadrant adapted to define a consecutive series of work steps which lead to the formation of packages containing the perfectly intact food product .

The present invention is advantageously applied in the field of packaging machines for products of various kinds , and mainly foods .

PRIOR ART

It is known that the sealed packages normally present in supermarkets containing products of various kinds , for example food products , are produced by automatic machines known as automatic packaging machines .

There are various types of these machines of varying nature , and among these one of the most used is what is normally called a vertical packaging machine .

Precisely because of its vertical configuration, such a packaging machine generally comprises a feed unit of a film which descends from the top downwards and a dosing device placed at the top and from which the product to be packaged is dropped to be conveyed in a vertical metal tube of variable width and predetermined length, called a forming tube .

The film of plastic or PVC or similar material is wound on the outside of the latter, which, coming from above , advances around it downwards by means of a pull ing system consisting of rubberised belts and parts made of curved sheet metal , arranged around said forming tube , while at the same time the pre-dosed product to be packaged is progressively dropped .

The plastic or PVC film is advanced downwards by the pulling means outside the forming tube and is sealed by making longitudinal and transverse closures thanks to heat sealing units which use heatable grippers capable of first sealing and then cutting the envelopes to si ze , so that the closure and the consecutive cutting of the envelope in output constitutes the base of the envelope in input .

It is also known that i f delicate food products must be packaged, such as biscuits , especially dry ones , crackers , or other similar delicate products in free fall into the package , the current vertical packaging machines , in which the product is fed by gravity, have all the problems related to the fragility of the products processed .

In this type o f vertical forming tube machines , the problem of breakage of fragile products during the free fall inside the forming tube persists .

In fact , the main problem of these machines is that , during the fall of the fragile product towards the bottom of the package , the product breaks due to the colli sion of each piece against the other, with the consequence that , in addition to the damage of the pieces , the formation of residues of shredded fragments is caused, which can also compromise the heat sealing operations .

The problem to be solved is therefore to limit the damage to the fragile product as it falls into the packages , avoiding or minimising the free fall thereof towards the bottom of the package .

Document GB 2061219 A, with its abstract , discloses a form, fill , seal apparatus wherein individual filled and sealed bags are drawn into respective open-ended cartons . The apparatus comprises a hollow mandrel around which a web of packaging material is formed into a tube of rectangular cross-section, a bag retaining tube located between a pair o f transverse sealing j aws and a pair of knives for separating individual filled and sealed bags , a mechanism for intermittently feeding the tube downwardly and a reciprocating picker for engaging the lower ends of the bags and guiding them into cartons supplied by a conveyor .

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to avoid or minimise the impact due to the free fall of the fragile food products inside the packages in the formation steps by means of vertical packaging machines , so as to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks due to the crushing of the products themselves .

The invention aims in particular to provide a vertical packaging machine for packaging fragile products , and a related method which facilitates the product loading operations while avoiding the breakage thereof .

More in particular, the invention aims to provide a vertical packaging machine and a related method which allow to avoid or at least radically l imit the breakage of the products to be packaged through the gradual sliding of the product inside envelopes which progressively rotate on a carousel with a hori zontal axis from an inverted vertical position to a hori zontal position to move to a closed and unloading position after having loaded the product which has slowly slid therein without being damaged .

This is obtained by means of a packaging machine used to automatically form a consecutive plurality of packages of fragile products , generally foods , and a method for filling fragile products in such packages , the features of which are described in the main claim .

The dependent claims of the present solution outline advantageous embodiments of the invention .

The invention aims in particular to provide a packaging machine provided with a carousel supporting a plurality of radially arranged containment bodies on which an inverted, square-bottom tubular profile already filled with the product in the previous station is fitted, which is moved and subsequently rotated .

Once rotated, the envelope is sealed and cut to be accompanied on a pitch belt which will convey the product into the product levelling, upper bellowing and envelope closing stations .

ILLUSTRATION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the following description of an embodiment of the invention provided by way of nonlimiting example , with the aid of the figures illustrated in the appended tables of drawings , in which : figure 1 depicts a schematic side perspective view of a vertical packaging machine according to the invention for packaging fragile products as a whole ; figure 2 illustrates an axonometric perspective view thereof ; figure 3 is a schematic axonometric view highlighting the shape of the loading and enveloping unit of the packaging machine according to the invention; figure 4 shows a detailed side view of the loading and enveloping unit highlighting the respective work steps .

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the appended figures , and initially to figure 1 , reference number 10 depicts a vertical packaging machine according to the invention used for packaging fragile products .

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the vertical packaging machine comprises a frame arranged vertically in the upper part of which there is placed a forming unit 11 of the packaging film made of suitable plastic material or PVC, which is wound sliding by special pulling means around a forming tube 12 arranged vertically .

The sheet of the forming film is wound, while advancing downwards with the package inscriptions inverted, around the forming tube 12 while a vertical sealing unit longitudinally heat- fixes the two j oining edges , forming a tubular profile .

In a lower and lateral position with respect to the feed and forming unit , a feed unit 13 is arranged which is represented by a hori zontally arranged conveyor belt to which the pieces of predosed and balanced food product arrive , such as biscuits or other similar fragile products subj ect to easy breakage due to crumbliness , as occurred during the traditional steps of falling into the package .

According to the invention, a rotation carousel 14 is provided in the centre of the machine 10 , which represents the actual packaging unit of the fragile products coming from the conveyor belt 13 which are enveloped by the film coming from the forming unit 11 and from the forming tube 12 .

The rotation carousel 14 is placed on a hori zontal rotation shaft 15 , and at least one containment body 16 is arranged on its edge , having a substantially tubular conformation, preferably a parallelepiped or other shape corresponding to the package in use , arranged radially and spaced by a predetermined angle .

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, said containment body 16 is flanked by a plurality of containment bodies arranged at a predetermined angular distance on the edge of the carousel .

The predetermined angular distance of said containment bodies is chosen according to the formats of packages being processed and according to the production speed of the machine .

Said containment bodies 16 are open outwards and closed from the inner side facing the hori zontal rotation shaft 15 , i . e . , they have an opening facing the outside of the carousel which is adapted to allow the insertion of the product in said containment body, which slides towards a bottom wall configured to support the product , substantially opposite said opening .

Said opening facing the outside of the containment bodies 16 and said bottom wall allow the product to slide therein while they are arranged in an inclined position and progressively settle gently on the bottom of the respective envelope while the carousel rotates , inverting from an upper sliding loading station to a lower spaced closing station . According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, better depicted in figures 1 and 4 , the containment bodies 16 are eight and spaced apart from each other by 45 ° , according to a configuration such as to form a quadrant with eight operating stations corresponding to as many work steps .

A respective film retention unit 17 is arranged at each containment body 16 , which, based on the position of the package , provides for the transverse sealing of the two opposite edges of the package based on its position on the carousel .

In accordance with the present invention, and in particular with reference to figure 4 , the containment bodies 16 define a respective operation based on their position during the rotation of the carousel according to the following steps :

A) loading station of the product coming from the conveyor belt 13 which is introduced in the containment body 16 ;

B ) station of creation of the envelope coming from the film feeder of the forming tube placed with bottom seal ;

C ) glue point station or any optionals ;

D) fin folding station with sheet ;

E ) free station or any optionals ;

F) envelope unloading station;

G) free station or any optionals ;

H) free station or any optionals .

More in particular, when the containment body 16 reaches a first loading station identi fied with A in figure 4 , the product coming from the conveyor belt slides therein, accumulating without any impact .

With a first rotation the container arrives at the next station, identi fied with B, located at 12 o ' clock, in which the film wrapped on the forming tube 12 and previously sealed longitudinally, descends until it is totally wrapped with a certain margin, both above and below . In this step the film is cut transversely at its outermost wall which in this step is facing upwards , separating from the film of the forming tube and remaining open . It should be noted that the inscriptions of the film are inverted according to the direction of the arrow indicating the top position of the inscriptions , and that the product stabilises stably without shaking at the bottom of the containment body .

Upon further rotation, the container arrives at a subsequent station C in which the film wrapping it is sealed in the part which is still open facing outwards .

In the further station D the containment body 16 is rotated to be arranged at 9 o ' clock and in this step the sealing devices 18 , depicted in figure 1 , intervene to bend the fin formed by the previous sealing, making it even with what is about to become the bottom of the envelope .

After passing station E which is free and in which the product begins to slide towards the previously sealed and folded bottom of the envelope wrapping the container, it arrives at station F arranged at 6 o ' clock, and in this step the envelope is presented with the inscriptions in a straight position, as depicted by the arrow facing up .

In this station the envelope with the bottom already sealed and folded and now comprising the product which has progressively reached the base of the envelope itsel f , is sealed and cut at the upper edge to be accompanied on a pitch belt which conveys the product in the product levelling, upper bellowing and envelope closing steps . Summarising, said rotation carousel 14 is configured to comprise at least one loading station A of the product coming from the feed unit 13 , in which the containment body 16 is arranged in an inclined position to allow the product to slide therein, a packaging station B interposed between said loading station A with an inclined configuration and an output station F and in which said film forming unit 11 is configured to fit an envelope on said containment body 16 at said packaging station B along an insertion direction extending from said opening to said bottom wall , so that the base of the envelope is arranged at the opening of the containment body 16 .

All the sealing, bending and cutting devices are known per se and are therefore not described in detail , which may also vary depending on needs .

In particular, the forming tube 12 , according to a preferred embodiment , is of a telescopic type to come into contact with the edge of the containment body located in the station B, so as to accompany the film which is arranged to fit around the containment body itsel f .

According to a further embodiment , the forming tube 12 for approaching the edge of the containment body 16 is arranged on a movable structure from a remote position to a close position with respect to the edge itsel f .

The rotation carousel 14 allows to be able to perform the following fundamental points at the end : a ) the fragile product enters the containment body 16 when it is in the inclined station A, sliding gently; b ) the package is formed and sealed longitudinally with inverted graphics , i . e . , rotated by 180 ° , by means of a forming tube and a transverse sealing unit and is fitted in the station B at 12 o ' clock around the container ; c ) the containment body rotates further to move to the station F where the package now has the graphics straight . In such a station, the edge which has now become upper is sealed and then the package with product therein is extracted .

The invention has been previously described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof . However, it is clear that the invention is susceptible to numerous variants which fall within the scope thereof , and which are technically equivalent .

Claims

CLAIMS ) A packaging machine (10) used to automatically form a consecutive plurality of packages of solid fragile products, generally foods, said machine comprising: a) a forming unit (11) of a film which, advancing, is wound around a forming tube (12) arranged vertically, b) a product feed unit (13) configured to feed a predetermined amount of the product to be packaged, c) a rotation carousel (14) comprising at least one containment body (16) adapted to accommodate the film and the food product to be packaged, said machine being characterised in that said rotation carousel (14) is placed on a rotation shaft (15) with a horizontal axis and said at least one containment body (16) is aligned with a radial direction with respect to the rotation axis of said carousel and configured to at least partially contain a predetermined amount of product, said containment body (16) being mounted on said rotation carousel (14) to rotate therewith around said rotation shaft (15) ; said containment body (16) having a tubular shape having an opening, adapted to allow the insertion of the product in said containment body, and a bottom wall, adapted to support the product and substantially opposite said opening; said rotation carousel (14) being configured to comprise at least one loading station (A) for the product coming from the feed unit (13) , wherein the containment body (16) is arranged in an inclined position to allow the product to slide therein, a packaging station (B) interposed between said loading station (A) with an inclined arrangement and an output station (F) and wherein said forming unit (11) is configured to fit an envelope on said containment body (16) at said packaging station (B) along an insertion direction extending from said opening to said bottom wall, so that the base of the envelope is arranged at the opening of the containment body (16) . ) The packaging machine (10) according to the preceding claim, characterised in that said containment body (16) is angularly flanked on said rotation carousel (14) to further containment bodies arranged at a predetermined angular distance on the edge of the rotation carousel (14) . ) The packaging machine (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said containment bodies (16) are configured to cause the product to slide therein while they are arranged in an inclined position at the loading station (A) .) The packaging machine (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said containment bodies (16) are eight and spaced apart from each other by 45°, according to a configuration such as to form a quadrant with eight operating stations corresponding to as many work steps. ) The packaging machine (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a respective film retention unit (17) is arranged at each containment body (16) . ) The packaging machine (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said containment bodies (16) arranged radially on said carousel (14) , during the rotation thereof, define the following stations:

• loading station (A) for the product coming from the conveyor belt (13) ;

• station of creation of the envelope (B) coming from the film feeder of the forming tube (12) placed above;

• glue point station (C) or any optionals;

• fin folding station (D) with sheet or any optionals ;

• free station (E) or any optionals;

• envelope unloading station (F) ;

• free station (G) or any optionals;

• free station (H) or any optionals. ) A method for using a packaging machine (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it includes the following steps: a) loading the fragile product which, coming from the feed unit (13) enters sliding in the container body (16) arranged with an inclined arrangement in a first station (A) ; b) descent of the film which wraps the container body (16) in a second station (B) forming a tubular profile open at both ends; c) sealing the film in a third station (C) in the part still open facing externally; d) folding the sealing fin in a fourth station (D) , levelling it with what is about to become the bottom of the envelope. e) the product begins to slide in a fifth station (E) from the container body (16) towards the previously sealed and folded bottom of the envelope which wraps the container body; f ) the container body ( 16 ) reaches a sixth station ( F) where the envelope with the bottom already sealed and folded, and now comprising the product it has reached, rotating progressively, is sealed and cut at the upper edge to be accompanied on a pitch belt which conveys the product towards the subsequent processing steps .