KR100880077B1 - Supply equipment and conveying method for packaging machines - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a feeder for a packaging machine, wherein the apparatus continuously manipulates a folded curtain with opposed face contact panels from the feed point of the hopper and transfers the carton to the feeder of the packer, the face Carton pick-up means 12 for continuously engaging one side of the contact panel and withdrawing the folded carton from the hopper, the carton pick-up means 12 being supported on the frame 19, the frame being against the flow of the carton Slidably connected to the collar structure 22 via a rod 24 to move the carton blank in a transverse first direction X, the collar structure 22 being in a first direction relative to the rotatable transport device. Swingable about the shafts 26 and 28 to move the carton blank in a second transverse direction and convey the carton blank to the next treatment do.

Carton, Carton pickup means, Cup holder frame, Collar structure, Acceleration wheel

Description

FEEDER MECHANISM FOR A PACKAGING MACHINE}

The present invention relates to the packaging of main articles such as cans or bottles in cartons, and more particularly to the feeding of cartons in a folded state from a hopper to conveying cartons to a feeder of a packaging machine.

British Patent No. 2,053,133 relates to a device for moving a carton blank from a stationary magazine, folding it and upright assembling and conveying the carton blank. The device includes suction members mounted on a four point link and arranged on a rotatory carrier controlled by a cam. During rotation, a stationary state of the suction member occurs to facilitate movement of the carton blank. While conveying the upright carton blank to the conveying device, the suction member is moved synchronously with the conveying device.

U. S. Patent No. 4,625, 575 relates to a cam assembly for a supply of a cam plate on which a continuous cam track and a shallow cam track are formed. Cam track driven arms are used for relative movement within the first and second cam tracks. Since the pickup means moves to an outwardly extended position and an inwardly retracted position, the pickup means is connected to the cam arm by an eccentric arm and a cam track.

DE 3,525,448 relates to a device for feeding and standing up cartons folded from a hopper mounted at an angle from vertical. The device includes a rotatable frame to which a vacuum cup is attached via a link. As the frame rotates, the suction cup is retracted to move the folded carton away from the hopper and then simultaneously transport the folded carton while separating the walls of the carton. Rotatable links are complex and therefore expensive to manufacture and maintain.

International publication WO98 / 52825 discloses a rotary feeder for feeding a carton blank from an inclined hopper.

The above-mentioned prior art relates to a continuously rotating carton pickup means in which the carton is withdrawn and accelerated to match the machine speed. One drawback associated with this carton transfer is that the carton pulled out by the rotary feeder is limited by the rotational operation, so combining the take-out and acceleration functions limits the machine speed. The present invention is intended to at least alleviate the problems of the prior art.

In one aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for sequentially manipulating a folded carton with opposing face contact panels from a feed point of a hopper and for transporting the carton to a feed end of a packaging machine, the apparatus comprising: Carton pick-up means for engaging one side of the contact panel sequentially and withdrawing the folded carton from the hopper, the carton pick-up means being connected to the shaft by a frame and movable to provide lateral movement of the carton blank, The directional movement is in the transverse plane with respect to the flow of the carton, and the frame is slidably mounted on the collar structure for moving the frame with linear movement relative to the rotatable feeder to transport the carton to the next process. Let's do it.

Optionally, the carton is conveyed to an acceleration means which is accelerated to match the speed of the packaging machine.

In some embodiments, the linear movement of the carton pickup means immediately prior to and during withdrawal of the carton from the hopper is a cam controlled cam bar that is radially movable for a short distance and operably connected to the carton pickup means. bar) to stop for a short interval by the operation of the support frame. That is, the cam reciprocating linear movement of the carton pick-up means is stopped for a time period sufficient to permit the withdrawal of the carton from the hopper, and the stop of such linear movement can be moved radially during the stop and operably connected to the carton pick-up means. Achieved by the operation of a controlled cam bar.

In another embodiment, the carton pickup means comprises a vacuum supply and a suction cup.

A control device may be provided for controlling the transverse speed and linear movement of the carton pickup means, in which case it may be an acceleration means.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for continuously manipulating a folded carton with opposedly disposed face-contact panels from a feed point of a hopper and transferring the carton to a feed end of a packaging machine, the flow of cartons Extracting the carton in a transverse direction relative to, moving the carton down to the accelerator and accelerating the carton to match the speed of the feeder at the feed end of the packaging machine.

The packaging machine according to the present invention is capable of adjusting the carton size and shape in various aspects to handle a carton comprising various configurations of the article group, for example four to eight bottles, without downtime adjusting the machine. In addition, packaging machines can be quickly adapted to carton processing for manufacturing a wide range of cartons with various article group configurations.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment

1, 2 and 3, a feeder mechanism 10 of a machine for treating a carton blank is shown. The upstream end of the packaging machine includes a hopper H in which a number of cartons in a flat folded state are kept ready for processing. As shown in FIG. 3, the carton is continuously moved from the hopper H by the feeder 10 and transferred to an infeed trensfer mechanism 60 or a conveyor for subsequent processing.

The feeder 10 comprises carton pick up means 12 for withdrawing the lowest folded carton from the hopper. In this embodiment, the carton pick-up means 12 comprises a plurality of suction cups, for example four suction cups 14, 16 each of which is supported on a cup holder frame 19. , 18, 20). The cup holder frame 19 is fixedly mounted on a support rod 24, respectively. In one class of embodiments, the support rods 24 are slidably mounted on collar structures 22 that are rotatably mounted to shafts 26 and 28, respectively. In general, shafts 26 and 28 are supported at their ends by suitable bearing structures, but are mounted to conventional structures and side frames. A suitable rotational drive, such as a servomotor, is provided to rotate the shaft 26 in a transverse manner Y-Y '(FIGS. 4, 5 and 7) described below.

The support rod 24 is a cam controlled cam bar as shown in FIG. 2 to transfer linear movement from the drive means to move the support rod 24 with reciprocating linear movement through the collar structure 22. 40 is connected.

A feeder mechnism (10) feeds into a suitable rotary drive (S), for example a servo, which drives the drive belt (D) to power a pair of indexers (44, 50). Power is supplied by

To impart linear movement to the carton pick-up means 12, links 42 and 43 pivotally connected together connect the drive output to the support frame 40, which is a cam controlled cam bar. Thus, when the link 43 rotates back and forth in a reciprocating manner, the link 42 is moved to make a linear movement in the X-X 'direction (FIGS. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8), so that the cup holder frame ( Cause a linear shift of 19).

Similarly, in order to impart transverse motion to the carton pickup means 12, links 46 and 48 pivotally connected together connect the drive output to the collar structure. Thus, when the link 48 rotates back and forth in a reciprocating manner, the link 46 moves linearly in the Y-Y 'direction so that the reciprocating transverse movement of the cup holder frame 19 in the same direction (shafts 26 and 28). Against).

In this embodiment, a vacuum brake is installed in the feeder 10 and is used in conjunction with the vacuum feeder to establish the vacuum connection and disconnection point so that when the carton is held by the feeder 10, Decide

The use of a vacuum cup to feed the carton to the conveyor is preferred, but other forms of pickup means, for example a gripper such as a gripper, may be used in the present invention without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. have.

Acceleration means, i.e., acceleration wheels 34 and 36, are provided to accelerate the carton after withdrawing from the hopper H. In this embodiment, it includes two pairs of acceleration wheels 34 and 36 positioned adjacent to each other to accommodate the leading edge of the carton to provide a nip feed point N that allows the carton blank to pass through the wheel. . Acceleration wheels 34 and 36 are mounted on drive shafts 32 and 38 which are driven by suitable drive means D1.

Acceleration wheels 34 and 36 are mounted on a feeder frame 30 which can be attached to a packaging machine or supplied as a separation module. The feeder 10 may be attached to a new machine or to machinery on a retro-fit basis.

Preferably, the hopper H is in the form of a "gravity feed" so that the carton blank is held in the hopper in an inclined state to provide a positive feed to maintain a continuous supply of carton.

The transfer process will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9. In order to feed the carton blank from the inclined position, the feeder 10 continuously feeds the carton from the hopper to the feeder which rotates constantly in the "V" direction indicated by the arrow shown in FIG.

The first step shown in FIG. 4 moves the carton pickup means 12 in the transverse direction Y towards the hopper H. As shown in FIG. The suction cup 20 is moved in contact with the sidewall of the carton. The vacuum is then applied to the suction cup by the vacuum supply. Thus, the carton is withdrawn by moving the carton pick-up means 12 in the transverse direction "Y". As soon as the carton is moved in the transverse direction Y, the suction cup 20 is moved with linear movement X to move the carton toward the acceleration wheels 34 and 36 as shown in FIG. The carton is then received in the nip supply N of the acceleration wheels 34 and 36 and accelerated as shown in FIG. 6. Thereafter, a vacuum is maintained during the transfer stage such that the suction cup maintains the sidewall of the carton.

Once the carton is placed on the acceleration wheels 34 and 36, the vacuum brake aspirates to release the carton by transversing and linearly moving the suction cup 20 (X ', Y') as shown in FIG. Separate the vacuum supply from the cup 20.

Acceleration wheels 34 and 36 accelerate the carton blank to a position in contact with the sun lugs of the conveyor set as shown in FIG. 8. The lug keeps the carton in that position and moves the carton downstream to the assembly position. At the same time, the suction cup 20 returns to the starting position shown in FIG.

4 to 9, when the feeder 10 draws out and steers the carton, the carton translates about the rotational movement path of the feed feeder 60.

The feeder 10 and feeder feeder 60 are controlled by a controller to combine the processing speed of the carton.

The adjustment of the packaging machine is controlled by an automatically adjustable computer program, which minimizes downtime of the machine. For example, the speed of the feeder 10 can be increased or decreased as desired, or the acceleration vector can be increased or decreased to change the angle of movement.

By separating the take-out and acceleration of the carton into two separation functions, the processing speed can be increased while reducing the risk of carton damage.

The packaging machine according to the present invention is capable of adjusting the carton size and shape in various aspects to handle a carton comprising various configurations of the article group, for example four to eight bottles, without downtime adjusting the machine. In addition, packaging machines can be quickly adapted to carton processing for manufacturing a wide range of cartons with various article group configurations.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 are perspective views showing a carton blank supply apparatus of a packaging machine according to one aspect of the present invention;

3 is a schematic view showing a blank feeding and conveying apparatus;

4-9 is a figure which shows the process of supplying a blank from a hopper to a conveyance apparatus.

Claims (18)

delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete In the packaging machine supply apparatus (10) for continuously manipulating a folded carton having a face contact panel disposed to face each other from the feed point of the hopper (H) and conveying the carton to the feed end of the packaging machine, Carton pick-up means (14, 16, 18, 20) and rotary drive (S) for continuously engaging one side of the surface contact panel and withdrawing the folded carton from the hopper, The carton pick-up means 14, 16, 18, 20 are connected to the shafts 26, 28 by a cup holder frame 19 having a support rod 24 rotatably mounted within the collar structure 22. , The carton is withdrawn from the hopper in the Y-Y 'direction by the reciprocating linear movement of the links 46, 48 connected to the collar structure 22, the carton being linked 42 to the support frame 40 coupled to the support rod. , 43) is moved in the X-X 'which is a direction transverse to the Y-Y' direction by the reciprocating linear movement of the packaging machine. The method of claim 9, The linking device (42, 43) and the link (46, 48) supply device for packaging machines, characterized in that the rotation drive means (S) is connected. The method of claim 10, The rotary drive means S is connected to the links 42 and 43 and the links 46 and 48 by indexes 44 and 50 for converting a continuous drive input into a reciprocating drive output. Feeder for the machine. The method of claim 9, Said carton being conveyed to an acceleration wheel (34, 36) which is accelerated to match the speed of the packaging machine. The method according to claim 9 or 10, The reciprocating linear movement of the carton pick-up means 14, 16, 18, 20 is stopped for a time period sufficient to allow the carton to be withdrawn from the hopper, and the stopping of this reciprocating linear movement is radially movable during the stopping period. And a support frame (40) which is a cam controlled cam bar operably connected to said carton pick-up means. The method according to claim 9 or 10, The carton pickup means (14, 16, 18, 20) is a packaging machine supply apparatus, characterized in that it comprises a vacuum supply and a suction cup (20). The method according to claim 9 or 10, And said surface contact panel comprises opposite sidewalls of a carton. The method according to claim 9 or 10, Supply device for packaging machines, characterized in that the rotary drive (S) is a servo motor. The method according to claim 9 or 10, A control device for controlling the speed of traversal and linear movement, said control device being an acceleration wheel (34,36) as an acceleration means. 1. A method for continuously manipulating a folded carton with opposing face contact panels from a feed point of a hopper H and transferring the carton to a feed end of a packaging machine, Using a carton pick-up means for sequentially withdrawing the folded carton by converting the reciprocating rotational motion into a reciprocating linear motion in the Y-Y 'direction transverse to the flow of the folded carton, Lowering the carton to the acceleration wheels 34 and 36 as acceleration means by converting the reciprocating rotational motion into a reciprocating linear motion in the X-X 'direction parallel to the flow of the carton; and Carton conveying method comprising the step of accelerating the carton to be matched to the speed of the feed transfer device (60) in the supply end of the packaging machine.

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