ES2592172T3 - Packaging facility with interlocking station and procedure - Google Patents

Abstract

Packaging installation (1), comprising a deep drawing packaging machine (100), which has a forming station (4), an introduction section (6), a sealing station (8) and a separation point of containers (9), arranged one after the other in a production direction (R), characterized in that a folding equipment (13) is provided to fold a folding container (15) along a folding line (23), and in that an interlocking device (14) is arranged downstream of the folding equipment (13) in the production direction (R), the interlocking device (14) being designed so that a first closing element (26), which is provided in a first container half (24) of the collapsible container (15), it can be made to interact with a second closure element (27) of a second container half (25) of the collapsible container (15), so that the Collapsible container (15) is held together in a folded state, presenting the enclosure device washing (14) a locking unit (31) for pressing ends (26a, 26b) of the first closure element (26) and the locking unit (31) respectively presenting a retaining pin (34) for each end (26a, 26b) of the first closure element (26).

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Packaging installation with interlocking station and procedure

The invention relates to a packaging installation according to the preamble of claim 1 and a method with the features of claim 9.

From DE 28 27 645 A a container container is known which is composed of two halves joined together so that they can be folded. The two halves comprise, respectively, flexible closure parts that can engage each other to press the flange of the two halves tightly against each other.

From DE 10 2010 050 734 A and US 4,226,358 A are known, respectively, that can be closed again, comprising a lower part of the container for housing a product and a cover as the upper part of the container, which is tightly seal each other. The lid and the bottom of the container, which houses the product, have a tongue for a new closure or a tongue housing to be able to close the container manually after opening.

From US 5,603,203 A and DE 298 19 013 U1, packaging machines for manufacturing collapsible packages are known, the packages having a lid part that is interlocked by means of a pronounced edge section on one side of the edge of a part Bottom of container.

Document DE 20 2011 103 391 U shows a foldable container multiple times with four compartments to house products and with mechanical closure elements to join these after folding the container. The folded container has on the side facing the closing elements a subzone that serves as a support surface for the container, for example on the shelf of a store, for a particularly attractive presentation of the product. Manual folding and closing has proved to be disadvantageous.

Document DE 10 2008 045 025 A shows a deep drawing packaging machine with folding equipment to manufacture a double folded container that can be closed again. The use of a label leads both to the holding of the container after folding and to the new closure after the extraction of a part of the products. In this case, it is disadvantageous that the package has only one housing container to house products and that a label is necessary. The labels often have the disadvantage that the adhesive force decreases after opening and re-closing, especially in the case of storage in the frigonfico.

The present invention aims to make available a packaging facility to be able to manufacture a collapsible container with several container containers and automatically folded and closed without the use of a label.

This objective is solved by means of a packaging installation with the features of claim 1 or by a method for operating a packaging facility with the features of claim 9. Advantageous improvements of the invention are provided in the dependent claims.

The packaging installation according to the invention comprises a deep drawing packaging machine having a forming station, an introduction section, a sealing station and a packaging separation point, arranged next to each other in one direction. of production. It is characterized in that a folding equipment is provided for folding a collapsible container by a folding line, and that an interlocking device is then arranged in the direction of folding in the production direction. The interlocking device is designed so that a first closure element, which is provided in a first half of the package of the collapsible container, can be made to interact with a second closure element of a second half of the container of the collapsible container so that the Collapsible container is held together in a folded state. The packaging installation according to the invention enables the automatic manufacture of a collapsible container, which has several housing containers for, for example, different products, and which folds and closes inside the packaging installation after sealing the containers. of housing with a cover sheet. Due to the closure elements, which are part of the sheet in which the housing containers, also called cavities, are formed in the forming station, no additional label is necessary to keep the collapsible container in its folded state.

Preferably, the packaging installation has an intermittent operation that is predefined by means of the deep drawing packaging machine.

Advantageously, the interlocking device is intended to simultaneously process several collapsible packages to present at least the same performance as the deep drawing packaging machine.

In this regard, the interlocking device has, in an advantageous embodiment, an interlocking unit for pressing ends of the first closing element of the first half of the container. This pressing procedure can be performed again manually by a person again to close the container after a first opening and thus preserve the durability of the products during storage in the

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Preferably, the interlocking unit comprises at least one pneumatic cylinder to economically perform a simple movement between two positions that can be predefined.

The interlocking unit has, in an especially advantageous embodiment, a respective retaining pin for each end of the first closing element to carry one end of the first closing element of the first container half below an end provided for it of the second closure element of the second container half so that a blockage by the ends between sf leads to a new closure of the collapsible container.

Preferably, the interlocking device comprises a support base for the first closing element to favor the action of pressing the ends of the first closing element against the ends of the second closing element.

In this regard, the support base can preferably be raised in an interlocking position until it is positioned next to the first closing element.

The process according to the invention for operating a packaging installation to manufacture a collapsible container that can be closed again has the following steps:

- form cavities in a sheet,

- introduce products into the cavities,

- generating a collapsible container by sealing a cover sheet over the cavities along a sealing seam, two adjacent cavities forming a first and a second half of the container and a folding line being provided between the two container halves,

- separate the collapsible container in a cutting station,

- fold the folding container into a folding device,

- locking a first closure element of the first container half into a second closure element of the second container half in an interlocking device.

The advantage of this procedure is that an automatic manufacturing of a collapsible container is possible, the collapsible container presenting several housing containers for, for example, different products and, by folding and closing the collapsible container within the packaging installation after the sealing of The accommodation containers with a lid sheet.

In this regard, the interlocking is preferably carried out by pressing the ends of the first closure element of the first container half against the ends of the second container half, so that the ends of the first closure element rest on the opposite side of the ends. of the second closure element to keep the collapsible container closed. This type of interaction and the corresponding design of the closing elements allow an opening and a new closing without the need for aids such as a label.

Preferably, the ends of the first closing element are pressed by means of retention pins in the direction of a support base, the support base acting as a counter-support with respect to a part of the first closing element between its ends. Therefore, it is possible to press down and bend the ends to bring them below the ends of the second closure element. The elasticity of the ends is given by the fact that the sheet is a plastic sheet and the sheet preferably has a thickness of more than 300 pm. This elasticity also ensures that the collapsible container is held together after the interlocking procedure.

The support base acts during the interlocking procedure preferably at the same time together with the retention pins on the first closing element.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the collapsible container is moved from the cutting station by being placed on a separation belt by means of a robot. By using a robot, several collapsible containers can also be removed at the same time from the cutting station, which can be configured as complete cutting equipment, and deposited on the separation belt to continue transporting to the next work station. In this regard, also collapsible containers arranged side by side in the production direction in the deep drawing packaging machine can be arranged behind each other in the direction of transport on the separation tape. This is very advantageous especially in the case of a folding device, an interlocking device, a metal detector and / or consecutive weighing equipment.

An example of an advantageous embodiment of the invention by means of a drawing is explained in greater detail below. They show in detail:

Figure 1 a packaging facility according to the invention,

Figure 2a a foldable container in a closed state with a sealed lid sheet,

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Figure 2b the foldable container in the folded and closed state,

Figure 2c the collapsible container in a side view with closure elements,

Figure 3 a schematic top view of the point of separation of packages with folding equipment and interlocking device,

Figure 4 a section of the packaging installation with a folding equipment and an interlocking device,

Figure 5a a side view of the interlocking device in an open parking position and

Figure 5b a side view of the interlocking device in an interlocking position.

The same components are always provided in the figures with the same references.

Figure 1 shows a packaging installation 1 with a production address R and a deep drawing packaging machine 100, which shows stations next to each other. The following stations are shown in the drawing starting from the right: a sheet unwinding point 2 for a sheet 22, a stretch station 3, a forming station 4 to generate cavities 19, a product supply point 5, an introduction section 6, a supply point for cover sheets 7, a sealing station 8, a packaging separation point 9 with a robot 10, a cutting station 11, a separation tape 12, a folding equipment 13 and an interlocking device 14, which are not visibly represented in Figure 1. The foldable and closed collapsible packages 15 are then supplied to a metal detector 16 and to weighing equipment 17.

Figure 2a shows a collapsible container 15 in an open state and, therefore, still deployed after a cover sheet 18, which is supplied from the point of supply of cover sheets 7 to the sealing station 8, has been sealed on cavities 19 filled with products along a sealing seam 20 and cut in the cutting station 11 along the outer contour and, therefore, separated. The cavities 19 are generated by deep drawing in the sheet 22 in the forming station 4. The collapsible container 15 has a first half of container 24 and a second half of container 25. Between the two halves of container 24 25 a line is provided of preferably perforated folding 23 by which the two container halves 24, 25 are folded approximately superimposed on one another. The first container half 24 has on its outer side oriented parallel to the folding line 23 a first closure element 26 and, analogously, the second container half 25 a second closure element 27. The closure elements 26 , 27 are part of the sheet 22 and are in the plane of a plate configuration of the sheet 22, on which the cover sheet 18 is sealed by sealing seam 20. The interior of the two cavities 19 can be emptied and / or filled with gas in the sealing station 8 before sealing to generate a modified atmosphere, for example, in the case of food, long durability can be achieved. The first closure element 26 has lateral ends 26a, 26b and the second closure element 27 has lateral ends 27a, 27b. The cover sheet 18 is fixed by sealing points 40 on the closure elements 26, 27 to increase the attractiveness of the collapsible container 15.

Figure 2b shows the collapsible container 15, after it has been folded in the folding equipment 13 and closed in the interlocking device 14, interacting the lateral ends 26a, 26b of the first closure element 26 with the lateral ends 27a, 27b of the second closing element 27 so that the end 26a of the first closing element 26 is below the end 27a of the second closing element 27 and the second end 26b of the first closing element 26 is below the end 27b of the second closure element 27. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2b and Figure 2c, the first half of container 24 that is located above is held next to the second half of container 25 that is below.

Figure 2c clearly shows in the side view how the ends 26a, 26b of the first closure element 26 are located below the ends 27a, 27b of the second closure element 27 after the interlocking procedure. Therefore, an opening of the collapsible container 15 is possible only with a force that exceeds the clamping force, with which the ends 26a, 26b can be made to bend and pass through the ends 27a, 27b.

Figure 3 shows the top view of the packaging installation 1 from the sealing station 8 to the metal detector 16. The packaging installation 1 operates intermittently, and during a duty cycle they are processed, as shown in this case. , for example, four collapsible containers 15. A first collapsible container A is referred to as A 'and A "and a second collapsible container B with B' and B". Both folding containers A and B are processed at the same time in each station or equipment together and up to the cutting station 11. In the cutting station 11 the two folding containers A and B are cut from the sheets 18 and 22 and are they move through the robot 10 by placing themselves on the separation tape 12. The robot 10 is also provided to select defective collapsible containers 15, not depositing these collapsible containers 15 during the movement of movement on the separation tape 12, but dropping them in a vessel not represented. During the transport movement of the separation tape 12 in the production direction R, the folding containers A, B are folded by the folding equipment 13, so that a part A "of the folding container A is turned 180 ° around the folds 23, so that both sides

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A "and A 'are placed one above the other.

By means of the interlocking device 14, the closing elements 26, 27 not shown in greater detail in Figure 3 are brought to a closing position in which they keep the collapsible container 15 closed, and are supplied through the separation tape 12 to the metal detector 16. The interlocking device 14 has two interlocking units 31.

It is conceivable that the four collapsible packages 15 in the area of the cutting station 11 or in the deep drawing packaging machine 100 are not oriented transversely, but longitudinally with respect to the production direction R. Therefore, during the transfer of the collapsible container 15 from the cutting station 11 on the separation belt 12 the robot 10 rotates the collapsible containers 15 correspondingly.

The folding equipment 13 and the locking device 14 are explained in greater detail in Figure 4. The folding equipment 13 has a first guiding element 28, by means of which the part A ", B" of the Folding containers A, B during transport in the production direction R. A second guiding element 29 continues this folding procedure until part A ", B" rests on part A ', B'. Two footsteps 30 of the interlocking device 14 ensure that the collapsible containers A, B are held one above the other until the collapsible containers A, B are closed through the closing elements 26, 27. The interlocking device 14 comprises two interlocking units 31 one after the other to be able to close both folding containers A, B. at the same time.

Figure 5a shows an interlocking unit 31 of the interlocking device 14 as a fragment in a side view. The interlocking unit 31 comprises a support base 32 that can be raised or lowered through a cylinder 33. In addition, the interlocking unit 31 comprises two retaining pins 34, which are placed together in a support 35. The support 36 can rising or descending through a cylinder 36. Cylinders 33, 36 can be made, for example, as a pneumatic cylinder or an actuator with two adjustment positions. In this representation, the support base 32 and the retention pins 34 are in a parking position. This means that the support base 32 is spaced below the closure elements 26, 27 and the retaining pins 34 spaced above the closure elements 26, 27.

Figure 5b shows the locking unit 31 in an interlocking position, which is obtained by raising the support base 32 until it is located next to the closing element 26 and lowering the retaining pins 34 on the ends 26a, 26b of the first closure element 26 of the upper container half 24. In this regard, the flexible ends 26a, 26b are folded down until they meet, after lifting the retaining pins 36, below the ends 27a, 27b of the second closing element 27 of the container half 25 lower and, in this respect, the ends 26a, 26b rest on the ends 27a, 27b. Folding containers 15 closed in this way and secured against unwanted opening can continue to be transported without additional support devices to consecutive work stations such as the metal detector 16 or weighing equipment 17.

In contrast to the exemplary embodiment shown, for example, the folding equipment 13 and the locking device 14 may also be arranged outside the container separation point 9.

Claims (11)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 35 40 Four. Five fifty 55 1. Packaging installation (1), comprising a deep drawing packaging machine (100), which has a forming station (4), an introduction section (6), a sealing station (8) and a point of separation of packages (9), arranged next to each other in a production direction (R), characterized in that a folding equipment (13) is provided to fold a collapsible container (15) by a folding line (23) , and because an interlocking device (14) is then disposed of the folding equipment (13) in the production direction (R), the interlocking device (14) being designed so that a first closing element (26) , which is provided in a first container half (24) of the collapsible container (15), can be interacting with a second closure element (27) of a second container half (25) of the collapsible container (15), so that the collapsible container (15) is held together in a folded state, presenting the device of e n interlocking (14) an interlocking unit (31) for pressing ends (26a, 26b) of the first closing element (26) and the interlocking unit (31) respectively presenting a retaining pin (34) for each end (26a, 26b) of the first closure element (26). 2. Packaging installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the packaging installation (1) has intermittent operation. 3. Packaging installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the interlocking device (14) is intended to simultaneously process several collapsible packages (15). 4. Packaging installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the interlocking unit (31) comprises at least one pneumatic cylinder (36). 5. Packaging installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the interlocking device (14) comprises a support base (32) for the first closing element (26). 6. Packaging installation according to claim 5, characterized in that the support base (32) can be raised to an interlocking position until it is placed next to the first closing element (26). 7. Packaging installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the folding equipment (13) has a first guiding element (28), which is configured to lift a part (A ", B") of the collapsible packages ( 15) during transport in the production direction (R), and the folding equipment (13) presenting a second guiding element (29), which is configured to continue the folding procedure until the part (A ", B ") flipped over the folding container (15) rest on the remaining part of the folding container. 8. Procedure for operating a packaging installation (1) to manufacture a collapsible container (15) that can be closed again, the procedure presenting the following steps: - forming cavities (19) in a sheet (22), - introduce products into the cavities (19), - generating a collapsible container (15) by sealing a cover sheet (18) on the cavities (19) along a sealing seam (20), forming two adjacent cavities (19) a first and a second half of container (24, 25) and a folding line (23) being provided between the two container halves (24, 25), - separate the collapsible container (15) in a cutting installation (11), - fold the collapsible container (15) into a folding device (13), - locking a first closure element (26) of the first container half (24) into a second closure element (27) of the second container half (25) in an interlocking device (14), the interlocking being carried out by pressing ends (26a, 26b) of the first closure element (26) of the first container half (24) against the ends (27a, 27b) of the second container half (25) so that the ends (26a , 26b) of the first closure element (26) rest on the opposite side of the ends (27a, 27b) of the second closure element (27) to keep the collapsible container (15) closed, pressing the ends (26a, 26b ) of the first closing element (26) by means of retaining pins (34) in the direction of a support base (32), the support base (32) acting as a counter-support with respect to a part of the first closing element ( 26) between its ends (26a, 26b). 9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the support base (32) together with the retaining pins (34) acts at the same time on the first closing element (26). Method according to one of claims 8 to 9, characterized in that the collapsible container (15) is moved from the cutting station (11) by being placed on a separation belt (12) by means of a robot (10). Method according to one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that to fold the folding container (15) into the folding equipment (13) a first guiding element (28) of the folding equipment raises and turns a part (A " , B ") of the collapsible container during transport in the production direction (R) before a second guiding element (29) continues this folding procedure, until the part (A", B ") rests on the part Remaining foldable container (15).