WO2019238564A1 - Device for separating sheets and method for operating such a device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for separating sheets which are conveyed in a conveying direction (F) and each have an edge region and at least one inner region cut out of said edge region, wherein the conveyed sheets define a first plane (E1). Said device has a wing (10) having an end edge (12), said wing being movable such that the end edge (12) has a first end position on one side of the first plane (E1) and a second end position on the other side of the first plane (E2), and an adjusting means is provided for adjusting the wing (10). A forwarding station (20) which forwards the forwarded regions (42, 44) of the sheets (40) is located upstream of the wing (10). The end edge (12) of the wing forms the end of the wing (10) which is upstream with respect to the conveying direction (F), meaning that the device is able to forward both the edge region and the inner region to the forwarding station (figure 2).

Description

 Device for cutting sheets and method for operating such a device

description

The invention relates to a device for separating sheets conveyed in a conveying direction, each having an edge area and at least one inner area cut out from this edge area, according to the preamble of claim 1, and a method for operating such a device according to claim 15.

From the paper processing industry it is known to cut out at least one inner area from a sheet, so that the sheet after this cutting process consists of an edge area and at least one inner area. Here, several such interior areas are often seen. In traditional manufacturing processes, cutting is usually done in a punching process. As a rule, either the at least one inner area is the good part intended for further use and the edge area is then the bad part no longer to be used, or it is the other way round, that is to say that the edge area is the good part to be used further and the at least one inner region is then the bad part to be rejected. There is therefore a need to separate the edge region and the at least one inner region from one another after the inner region has been cut out. If a large number of similar sheets with such a rim area and at least one cut-out inner area are produced in a punching process, a subsequently arranged separating device can be matched to the same geometry. The generic US Pat. No. 2,588,384 describes a device for separating sheets which is able to separate inner good parts from outer Schiecht parts in such a process. For example, from DE 10 2013 002 122 A1, a laser cutting device for producing sheets (mostly paper sheets) has become known, with which such sheets with an edge area and at least one cut-out inner area can be produced by laser cutting. In this case, the edge area mostly completely surrounds the at least one cut-out inner area. The particular advantage of this device is that it is not necessary to produce large numbers of sheets of the same type, but that, in extreme cases, each sheet produced looks different. This means that each cut-out interior can have a different geometry. It is even possible to produce sheets in any order in which the cut-out inner area is the good part or in which the edge area is the good part. In a specific exemplary embodiment, this can mean that this device outputs a sheet in which the cut-out inner area is the good part, then one in which the edge area is the good part, then another in which the edge area is the Good part and then again one in which the interior is the good part, etc., in any order. As already mentioned, the geometry of the cut-out inner area or the cut-out inner area can also vary from sheet to sheet. The sheets are output on a first level in a conveying direction.

Proceeding from this, the present invention has as its object to provide a device for separating sheets which have an edge area and at least one cut-out inner area, which is capable of changing geometries and requirements even under the conditions described above to work reliably and without significant changeover times, ideally without changeover times. This object is achieved by a device having the features of claim 1. A method for operating such a device is specified in claim 15. According to the invention, this device - hereinafter also referred to as the separating device - has a wing that has an end edge that is movable such that the end edge has a first end division on one side of the first plane and a second end position on the other side of the first Can occupy level and there is an adjusting means for adjusting the wing. The end edge points in the direction of the supplied sheets.

In order to pull the areas conveyed further in the conveying direction over the wing, a further conveying station is provided downstream of the wing in the conveying direction. This preferably has first rollers and second rollers, between which the further conveyed areas of the sheets are conveyed. In this case, the conveying station can define a second level parallel to the first level, it has proven to be advantageous that the second level is spaced from the first level and is in particular above the first level.

The end edge preferably extends exactly parallel to the first plane and perpendicularly or with a slight inclination to the conveying direction. At a skew angle to the conveying direction is preferably between 1 ⁰ and 10 °, preferably between and 3 ° and 7 °. Such a slight inclination can increase the reaction corridor of the wing, in particular at high conveying speeds, since the wing does not necessarily have to grip the entire paper edge during the movement of the wing. Especially with thin papers, the entire front edge of the sheet is nevertheless moved in the desired manner by the wing.

In the operation of this device according to the invention, the wing and thus its end edge are moved from the actuating means from a first end position to the other End position moved after it has passed at least in sections from a front edge of a sheet being conveyed.

As a rule, it is preferred here that the wing is actuated in such a way that the area or areas of the arch, which ones are to be used further (i.e. the good parts), move essentially parallel to the conveying direction and the other or the others Area (s) (i.e. the bad parts) are deflected out of the conveying direction. When the device is in operation, it is also possible not to cut open sheets, for example because they have no cut-out inner area or because they are to be sorted out as a whole.

In principle, it would be possible for the wing to be moved in a translatory manner, in particular parallely to the surface normal of the first plane, but it is preferred that the wing has a pivot axis located downstream of the end edge in the conveying direction, which is preferably vertical or lighter Inclination (see above) extends to the conveying direction and parallel to the first level.

Since this simplifies production and gravity can be used, it is generally preferred if the first level is a horizontal level. For better guidance of the regions articulated out of the conveying direction, a flexible guide element, in particular a flexible guide element, extending from the underside of the wing can be provided.

To remove any remaining bad parts, the further conveying station can have a suction and / or blowing unit. In order to enable these remaining bad parts to get out of the further conveying station, it is preferred that the first rollers move axially of these rollers. have mutually spaced segments. Here again, it is preferred that the segments of adjacent roles are offset from one another.

It is possible that the actuating device is controlled exclusively by an external control unit that “knows” the exact position of the sheets being fed. However, in order to enable autonomous or semi-autonomous operation of the device and / or to generate control redundancy, a sensor can additionally be provided for detecting the front edge of each conveyed sheet in the conveying direction.

The wing extends perpendicular to the conveying direction, preferably at least over the entire width of the sheets to be processed, it being further preferred that the wing extends over the entire width of the further conveying station.

In principle, the device can be arranged after an existing conveyor, in particular the conveyor belt of a laser cutting unit, as described in DE 10 2013 002 122 A1, or it can have its own conveyor, in particular a conveyor belt. One can then consider this conveying direction as (also) belonging to the separating device. So that the conveyed sheets cannot dodge, it is preferred that the conveying device additionally has a hold-down device.

Further advantages and preferred exemplary embodiments result from the further subclaims and from the exemplary embodiment now shown in more detail with reference to the figures.

The invention will now be explained in more detail using a preferred exemplary embodiment with reference to the figures. Here show:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross section through a conveyor belt which, in a first plane, bends in a conveying direction. device and a separating device arranged downstream of the conveyor belt for separating the conveyed sheets, FIG. 2 shows detail D from FIG. 1, a sensor being additionally shown,

3 shows the one shown in FIG. 2, but without a sensor, the wing being in its first end position, namely its lower end position,

FIG. 4 the one shown in FIG. 3, the wing being in its second end position, namely its upper end position,

FIG. 5a that shown in FIG. 1 in a state shortly before a sheet to be cut reaches the cutting device,

Figure 5b that shown in Figure 5a in a plan view from the direction

 R

6a the one shown in FIG. 5a at a later point in time,

FIG. 7a the one shown in FIG. 6a at an even later point in time during the separation process,

FIG. 7b the one shown in FIG. 7a in a representation corresponding to FIG. 5b, FIG. 8a the one shown in FIG. 7a at a later point in time after the separation of the regions of the sheet has been completed, FIG. 8b that shown in FIG. 8a in one of FIG. 7b corresponds to the representation, FIGS. 9a to 12a another type of separation in the representations corresponding to FIGS. 5a to 8a,

Figures 9b to 12b the process shown in Figures 9a to 12a in the

 Figures 5b to 8b corresponding representations and

Figure 13 that shown in Figure 4, with the bottom of the

 Wing 10 extends a flexible guide element 19.

First, the separating device according to the invention is explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 and partly with reference to FIG. 5b.

The device 5 according to the invention is arranged downstream of a conveyor designed as a conveyor belt 30. The conveyor belt 30 has an upper side 32 on which sheets are conveyed in the conveying direction F. In a cutting device (not shown), in particular a laser cutting device, arranged upstream, at least some of the supplied sheets were processed in such a way that the processed sheets have at least one cut-out inner area and an edge area surrounding this inner area. As a rule, the edge area completely surrounds the at least one inner area, but this is not absolutely necessary, but it is necessary that the front end area of each arch is part of the edge area.

The upper side 32 of the conveyor belt 30 defines a first level E1 in which the sheets are conveyed. This first level extends horizontally. At the end of the upper side 32 there is a hold-down 34 designed as a roller, which is preferably not driven and rests on the upper side 32 of the conveyor belt 30. After the hold-down device 34, that is to say in the region of the deflection roller of the conveyor belt 30, there is a wing 10 of the separating device 5. This wing 10 has an end edge 12 which points counter to the conveying direction F. This means that the end edge 12 is the part of the wing 10 on which the delivered sheets meet first. This end edge 12 extends parallel to the first plane E1 and perpendicularly or with a slight inclination, in particular between 3 ° and 7 °, to the conveying direction F. The wing 10 also has a pivot axis S, which can be designed as a physical shaft, but does not have to , This pivot axis S is located essentially at the downstream end of the wing 10. As can be seen, for example, from FIG. 5b, an adjusting means acting on the wing is provided, with the aid of which the wing 10 and thus its end edge 12 are in a first end position (lower end position) and can be brought into a second end position (upper end position). This adjusting means 18 can be designed, for example, as an electromagnet or as a servo motor. This actuating means 18 is controlled by a control device, not shown. This control device can be designed such that it receives information from the upstream cutting device or is integrated in it.

As can be seen particularly well in FIG. 2, the end edge 12 is in the first end position below the first level E1 and in the second end position above the first level E1. At this point it should also be mentioned that it will mostly be preferable that the first level E1 is a horizontally extending level. However, if very strong suction belts are used, it would also be conceivable that the first level E1 is not a horizontal level is. In the two end positions of the wing 10, it is crucial that the end edge 12 is in one end position on one side of the first plane E1 and in the second end position on the other side. For language simplification, however, it is always assumed in the following that the first level E1 is a horizontal level, so that the horizontally extending end edge 12 of the wing in one end position, namely the first end division, is below the level E1 and in the second end position above the first level E1.

If the separating device 5 is intended to be able to work fully or partially autonomously, a sensor 7 is also provided, which detects the front edge of a sheet being conveyed. This sensor 7 is only shown schematically in FIG. 2. If all position data of the sheets from the upstream cutting device are known, such a sensor 7 can also be dispensed with.

As can be seen from FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, the wing does not touch the conveyor belt 30 even in its first (lower) end position, there is always a distance which is preferably at least one to five millimeters. As can further be seen, for example, from FIG. 2, a further conveying station 20 with first rollers 22 (lower rollers) and second rollers 24 (upper rollers) is arranged downstream of the wing. The first rollers 22 and the second rollers 24 define a second plane E2, which is located above the first plane E1 and extends parallel to it. The end edge 12 of the wing 10 lies in the second end position 10 in this second plane

E2. In this end position, the top 14 of the wing 10 lies essentially in the second plane E2.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, the further conveying station 20 has a suction and / or blowing unit in order to clean the areas conveyed through it. This is indicated schematically here by the blower housing 26. In order to enable blown-off small parts (remaining bad parts) to fall out of the further conveying station, the first rollers (lower rollers) 22 are each formed with a plurality of segments 22a spaced apart from one another in the axial direction of the rollers. The segments 22a of adjacent roles are offset from one another, so that there are gaps. A further conveyor belt can be arranged downstream of the further conveying station 20, the conveying level of which can again correspond to the first level E1, for example.

 The separation device just described is particularly intended to separate good parts from bad parts. The good parts and the Schiecht parts can be both inner areas and marginal areas of conveyed sheets. As a rule, the separating device is operated in such a way that the good parts pass essentially in the conveying direction, so that they pass through the further conveying station 20. At this point, however, it should be mentioned that the device could in principle also be operated the other way around, namely in such a way that the bad parts are conveyed by the further conveying station 20 and the good parts are directed out of the conveying direction. Having said this, it will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5a to 8b how the device works when inner areas 44 of a sheet 40 as good parts are essentially transported further in the conveying direction F and the edge area 42 of this sheet 40, which is then the bad part , is directed out of the conveying direction F.

Figures 5a and 5b show an initial state. A sheet 40 is conveyed in the direction F on the upper side 32 of the conveyor belt 30. This sheet 40 is generally one of a whole stream of sheets, but this is not shown. As can be seen in particular from FIG. 5b, the sheet 40 of this specific exemplary embodiment has an edge area 42 and six inner areas 44 cut out from this edge area 42. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the six inner regions 44 are six circles of the same type. Of course, this should only be understood as an example. The inner areas 44 can have any shape.

The separation device 5 described above has the task of separating the edge region 42 from the inner regions 44, the inner regions 44 being the good parts here which are to be conveyed essentially in the conveying direction F. As can be seen in particular from FIG. 5a, there is of flights! 10 initially in its first (lower) end position. Before the leading edge 45 of the sheet 40 reaches the separating device, the control device (not shown) receives, for example from the upstream laser cutting device, the information that a sheet 40 now follows, in which the edge region 42 is the bad part. On the basis of this information, the control device actuates the actuating means and this initially places the flights 10 in their upper end position, as is shown in FIG. 6a. In this second end position (upper end position), the wing 10 remains until the front edge 45 of the sheet 40 has passed the end edge 12 of the wing 10, so that the front edge 45 of the sheet 40 is below the end edge 12. If the end edge 12 of the wing 10 extends slightly obliquely to the conveying direction F, it may be sufficient if only a portion of the front edge 45 of the sheet is below the end edge 12. Immediately afterwards (this information can either be generated by the sensor 7 or based solely on the position information of the upstream cutting device), the actuating means 18 is activated and moves the wing 10 and its end edge 12 into its first end position, that is to say the end edge 12 of the wing 10 moves downward and thus also presses down the area of the sheet adjoining the front edge 45 of the sheet 40 (which is a part of its edge areas 42). Since the entire edge region 42 of the arch 40 is connected to this front end region, the entire edge region 42 of the arch 40 follows and is thus deflected downward, as can be seen in particular in FIGS. 7a and 8a. Due to their inherent rigidity, the cut-out inner regions 44, which are therefore no longer connected to the edge region 42, do not follow this movement and thus slide over the top 14 of the wing and thus reach the further conveying station 20, through which they are conveyed (see FIGS. 7b and 8b). FIGS. 9a to 12b show the opposite process: here the edge region 42 is the good part, which essentially continues in the conveying direction F. to be promoted while the inner areas 44 are ejected as bad parts down:

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 10 a, the wing 10 and thus its end edge 12 remain in the lower end position until at least a portion of the front edge 45 of the sheet 40 has passed the end edge 12 so that it is located above the end edge 12 , The actuating means 18 is now controlled in such a way that it folds the wing 10 up into its second end position, so that the end edge 12 is in its upper end position. The edge region of the arch 40 adjoining the front edge 45 thus lies on the upper side 14 of the wing 10. The wing 10 now remains in this second end position and thus guides the edge region 42 in the conveying direction F to the further conveying station 20. Because of the inherent rigidity described above and the lack of connection to the edge region 42, the inner regions 44 follow this slight deflection of the edge region 42 not and therefore initially remain in the first level E1, that is to say below the end edge 12 of the wing 10, so that they stop the flights! 10 pass on its underside 16 and are deflected downwards (FIGS. 11a, 12a and 11b, 12b). So you can see that a separation of the inner and outer areas is possible in every constellation with simple means. As can also be seen, the expansion of the wing perpendicular to the conveying direction should at least correspond to the width of the sheets to be processed. The wing preferably extends (as shown) over the entire width of the conveyor belt 30 and the further conveying station 20.

Of course, it is also possible to convey a sheet without separation if necessary, in which case the wing 10 simply remains in its first (lower) end position. It is of course also possible to sort out an entire sheet. In this case, the wing 10 remains in its second (upper) end position over the entire length of the arch. A flexible guide element 19 can extend from the underside 16 of the wing 12 in order to facilitate the downward movement of the bad parts and in particular to prevent them from getting caught (FIG. 13). This flexible guide element 19 can be a plastic film, for example.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

5 ripping device

 7 sensor

 10 wings

 12 end edge

 14 top

 16 bottom

 18 actuators

 19 flexible guide

20 conveying station

 22 first rolls (lower rolls)

22a segment

 24 second rollers (upper rollers) 26 blower housing

 30 conveyor belt

 32 top

 34 hold-down device

 40 sheets

 42 edge area

 44 interior

 45 leading edge

 E1 first level

 E2 second level

 S Swing axis of the wing

Claims

 claims 1. Device (5) for separating in a conveying direction (F) changed, each having an edge region (42) and at least one inner region (44) cut out from this edge region and having arches (40), the conveyed sheets (40) defining a first level (E1) with:  a wing (10) having an end edge (12) which is movable in such a way that the end edge (12) has a first end position on one side of the first plane (E1) and a second end position on the other Side of the first level (E2),  a setting means (18) for adjusting the wing (10),  a further conveying station (20) downstream of the wing (10) in the conveying direction (F),  characterized in that  the end edge (12) of the wing forms the upstream end of the wing with respect to the conveying direction (F). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveying station has first rollers (22) and second rollers (24), between which the conveyed areas (42, 44) of the sheets (40) are conveyed further. 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that at least some of the first rollers (22) of the conveying station (20) are segmented and the segments (22a) of adjacent rollers are offset from one another. 4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conveying station (40) defines a second plane (E2) which is parallel to the first plane (E1) but is spaced apart from the first plane (E1). 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first plane (E1) is a horizontal plane. 6. The device according to claim 4 and claim 5, characterized in that the second level (E2) is located above the first level (E1). 7. Device according to one of claims 5 or claim 6, characterized in that a Leitele element, in particular a flexible guide element (19), extends from the underside (16) of the wing. 8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the end edge (12) extends perpendicularly or at a slight incline, in particular between 3 ° and 7 °, to the conveying direction (F) and parallel to the first plane (E1). 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wing (10) has a pivot axis (S) located in the conveying direction (F) downstream of the end edge (12). 10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that the pivot axis (S) and the end edge (12) perpendicular or in a slight inclination, in particular between 3 ° and 7 °, to the conveying direction (F) and parallel to the first plane (E1) extend. 11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the further conveying station (20) has a suction and / or blowing unit. 12. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a sensor (7) for detecting the in Direction of conveyance (F) has front edge (45) of each conveyed sheet (40). 13. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a conveying device for conveying the sheets (40). 14. The apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that the För dereinrichtung has a conveyor belt (30) with a horizontally extending top (32) and a hold-down (34). 15. A method of operating a device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the end edge (12) of the wing (10) is moved from one end position to the other end position after being conveyed from a front edge (45) Arc (40) was passed at least in sections. 16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the control of the wing (10) takes place in such a way that the area or areas of the sheet which are to be used (good parts) are essentially parallel to the conveying direction (F ) to the further conveying station (20) and the other area (s) (bad parts) are sunk out of the conveying direction (F).