EP1250855A1 - Method and device for eliminating a disturbance from a tobacco channel in a rod making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A pile up of tobacco on the conveyor (17) is dislodged by moving one or both side rails (260,260a) to enlarge the belt width or to oscillate to and fro.

Description

The invention relates essentially to a method for eliminating a fault a conveyor belt to convey a strand of tobacco fibers and two from this downward-running tobacco channel with lateral guides a cigarette rod machine as a result of a fiber jam in the fiber strand in the channel.

The invention also relates to a device for eliminating a malfunction in one essentially a conveyor belt for conveying a strand of tobacco fibers and two side guides running downward therefrom Tobacco channel of a cigarette rod machine as a result of a fiber jam in the Fiber strand in the channel.

When the cigarette is manufactured in a strand process, tobacco fibers are used in a tobacco duct a so-called fiber strand formed, which after equalization by one Cigarette paper strips are wrapped to form a cigarette rod. The tobacco canal generally has a moving tobacco conveyor belt to which perpendicular to it lateral guides or boundaries in the form of mostly after below extending stationary elongated rails, strips or the like (sometimes called "cheeks"). The tobacco canal at least has approximates the shape of a U that is open at the bottom Side of the air-permeable conveyor belt, so one Suction belt, there is negative pressure, so the tobacco fibers because of that Suction air flowing through the tape adhere to the tape and as a fiber strand get picked up. Because of the friction on the stationary side channel walls is not small, it can cause blockages due to the jam of the moving tobacco fibers and unwanted densification of tobacco fibers come in the canal, which further Strand conveyance and thus impair cigarette production to a standstill can. In such cases, the machine must generally be switched off after which the jammed tobacco fibers can be removed from the channel. Only then can the machine be started again. In case of blockages So far, intervention by operating personnel was required, that first had to expose the canal before it could clean it.

The problem underlying the invention is the elimination of fiber jams in channels of cigarette rod machines.

According to the invention, this is achieved in that at least in the event of a fiber jam one of the guides moves transversely to the direction of movement of the fiber strand becomes such that the channel cross section is enlarged. As a result of the larger Channel volume, the tobacco fibers can fall down out of the channel. According to a further development of the invention, this effect can be enhanced by that the conveyor belt in the event of a fiber jam transverse to the direction of movement of the Fiber strand is moved to remove the fibers from the tobacco channel. at a channel open at the bottom has a direction of conveyor belt movement vertical component. An additional support for the removal of constipation can be achieved according to a further embodiment of the invention in that the conveyor belt during a fiber jam against its direction of movement during the undisturbed operation is moved. According to the invention, the blockage can be eliminated improve by using an air permeable Conveyor belt, on the side facing away from the channel negative pressure is applied to the tobacco fibers by suction air through the channel and the conveyor belt to hold the conveyor belt, compressed air supplied to the conveyor belt in the event of a blockage that helps to blow the tobacco fibers out of the channel. Moreover It can be advantageous to use a mechanical plug to close the end of the duct Clearing element, preferably a scraper. The A fiber jam or a blockage in the tobacco canal can be determined undertake according to the invention by means of a sensor. An appropriately educated Signal can cross the movement of the guide bar and / or the conveyor belt to its direction of movement and / or the return of the conveyor belt in the opposite Direction to the direction of work movement and / or the use of Control movement of the clearing element.

The device according to the invention mentioned at the outset is characterized by a device activated in the event of a fiber jam for moving at least one of the lateral guides transversely to the direction of movement of the fiber strand in the sense of an enlargement of the channel cross section.
Further device features of the invention can be found in the subordinate device claims.

The invention is not aimed at eliminating clogging in a cigarette rod machine limited. In the same or similar way, constipation can occur due to jams of fibers or similar components in others Machines are eliminated, for example in machines for making cigarillos or cigars or in machines for the production of filters for tobacco processing Industry using particulate filter material such as filter fibers.

The invention can also be used in so-called two-strand machines find in which the strands of tobacco fibers or other material in adjacent channels are promoted.

The advantage associated with the invention is that the blockage the aforementioned types no longer intervened by hand due to fiber jams are needed, but such fiber jams can be automatically removed.

The invention is explained in more detail using exemplary embodiments in the drawing.

Figur 1

Ein Übersichtsbild einer Zigarettenstrangmaschine mit deren wesentlichen Baugruppen,

Figur 2

den Bereich eines Tabakkanals in einer Zigarettenstrangmaschine entsprechend Figur 1 in einer Seitenansicht,

Figur 3

eine Untersicht des Tabakkanal gemäß Figur 2 in Richtung des Pfeils A mit einer durch ein fluidbetätigtes Kraftelement bewegbare Seitenführung für den Faserstrang,

Figur 3a

eine Variante der Bewegungsvorrichtung für die bewegbare Seitenführung unter Verwendung eines Exzenterantriebes,

Figur 4

eine geschnittene Ansicht des Tabakkanals gemäß Figur 2 entlang der Linie B - B aus Richtung des Pfeils C in Figur 3 in vergrößertem Maßstab.

Show it:

Figure 1

An overview of a cigarette rod machine with its essential assemblies,

Figure 2

the area of a tobacco channel in a cigarette rod machine according to Figure 1 in a side view,

Figure 3

3 shows a bottom view of the tobacco channel according to FIG. 2 in the direction of arrow A with a lateral guide for the fiber strand that can be moved by a fluid-operated force element,

Figure 3a

a variant of the movement device for the movable lateral guide using an eccentric drive,

Figure 4

a sectional view of the tobacco channel according to Figure 2 along the line B - B from the direction of arrow C in Figure 3 on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 1 shows a PROTOS cigarette rolling machine of the applicant known in the cigarette industry.
A pre-distributor 2 is loaded with tobacco fibers in portions from a lock 1. A removal roller 3 of the pre-distributor 2 supplements a storage container 4 with tobacco in a controlled manner, from which a cable conveyor 5 removes tobacco and feeds a storage chute 6 in a controlled manner. A pin roller 7 removes a uniform tobacco flow from the stowage shaft 6, which is knocked out of the pins of the pin roller 7 by a knockout roller 8 and hurled onto a scattering cloth 9 rotating at a constant speed. A tobacco fleece formed on the scattering cloth 9 is thrown into a classifying device 11, which essentially consists of an air curtain through which larger or heavier parts of tobacco pass, while all other tobacco particles are exposed to air in a funnel 14 formed by a pin roller 12 and a wall 13 be directed. The tobacco fibers are hurled by the pin roller 12 in a tobacco duct 16 against a strand conveyor 17, on which the tobacco is held by means of air sucked into a vacuum chamber 18 and a tobacco fiber strand is puffed up. A leveler 19 removes excess tobacco from the tobacco fiber strand, which is then placed on a cigarette paper strip 21 guided in synchronism. The cigarette paper strip 21 is pulled off a bobbin 22, passed through a printing unit 23 and placed on a driven format belt 24. The format tape 24 transports the tobacco rod and the cigarette paper strip 21 through a format 26 in which the cigarette paper strip 21 is folded around the tobacco rod, so that an edge protrudes which is glued in a known manner by a glue apparatus (not shown). The adhesive seam is then closed and dried by a tandem seam plate 27. A cigarette rod 28 formed in this way passes through a rod density measuring device 29, which controls the equalizer 19, and is cut into double-length cigarettes 32 by a knife apparatus 31. The double-length cigarettes 32 are transferred from a controlled transfer device 34 to a take-up drum 36 of a filter attachment machine 37, on the cutting drum 38 of which they are divided into individual cigarettes with a circular knife.

Conveyor belts 39, 41 convey excess tobacco into a below the storage container 4 arranged container 42, from the recycled tobacco from the steep conveyor 5 is removed again.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show details of the tobacco channel 16 in the area of the formation and equalization of a tobacco fiber strand.
In the housing 18 designed as a vacuum chamber in accordance with FIG. 2 there are deflection rollers 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 as well as a drive roller 160, around which an air-permeable suction belt 17 serving as a strand conveyor is guided. The axes of the deflection rollers and the drive roller are perpendicular to the drawing plane. The drive roller 160 drives the suction belt 17 in the direction indicated by the arrows 200. If a fiber jam occurs in the channel 16, the direction can be reversed.
At the lower edge of the device shown in FIG. 2, the suction belt 17, which is perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, forms the bottom of the tobacco channel 16 serving as a strand formation zone. This runs from the deflection roller 140 to the deflection roller 40. The tobacco channel 16 is laterally, ie parallel to the drawing plane of a guide 260 and a further guide 260a, so that the tobacco channel 16 has a cross section when viewed in the conveying direction 240, which has the shape of an upside-down U. A fiber stream of tobacco fibers is fed to the tobacco channel 16, which is thus open at the bottom, from below with the aid of the pin roller 12 (FIG. 1). These tobacco fibers are sucked onto the suction belt by the suction belt 17, which is pressurized by the negative pressure chamber 18, collected between the deflection rollers 140 and 40 hanging on the suction belt 17 and conveyed through the tobacco duct 16. The tobacco rod which forms in the tobacco channel with increasing height in the conveying direction 240 is finally taken over by further processing devices of the cigarette rod making machine, not shown in FIG. 2, by the equalizer 19 known per se at the end of the tobacco channel formed by the deflection roller 40.

Shortly before the end of the tobacco channel 16 formed by the deflection roller 40 is a Sensor 300 provided as a the extent of fiber occupancy of the suction belt 17 detecting detector means is used. A possible construction of such a sensor can be seen in Figure 4 and the corresponding description. The sensor 300 emits a signal to a control device 51 when the occupancy of the suction belt 17 with tobacco fibers exceeds a predetermined dimension or falls below. An arrangement is also connected to the control device 51 52 for interrupting the supply of the tobacco fiber flow to the tobacco channel 16 and an arrangement 53 for interrupting the from a vacuum source 54 via a controllable valve 56 in the vacuum chamber 18. In addition, the control device 51 can drive 55 the drive roller 160 reverse, so that it the suction conveyor belt 17 in the opposite of arrow 240 Direction 241 drives. The control device 51 is also with a Pulse generator 58 connected to a control signal via a line 59 to a Movement device 61, i. H. the force element 62 (Figure 3) for moving a lateral guide 260.

FIG. 3 shows details of a tobacco channel 16 in a bottom view corresponding to arrow A in FIG. 2. It has lateral guides 260, 260a (also called “cheeks”) running downward from the suction conveyor belt. In the U thus formed, the tobacco stalk, not shown, is held by the negative pressure on the suction belt 17 and moved according to arrow 240. Since the guides 260, 260a of the tobacco channel 16 are stationary, a jam can occur in the moving fiber strand as a result of friction, which usually leads to disturbances and even interruptions in the strand movement. In general, an operator must then clear the jam, ie empty the tobacco channel, after which the machine can resume production. This manual intervention is undesirable. Therefore, in the invention, a device 61 is provided for moving at least one of the lateral guides 260, 260a of the channel 16 transversely to the conveying direction 240 of the suction belt 17, such that the channel cross section is enlarged and the tobacco can drop downward. For this purpose, a fluid-operated force element 62, for example a force cylinder 69, can be used, the piston rod 63 of which is articulated to the guide 260. The guide 260 is also rigidly or resiliently attached to the cigarette rod machine via links 64, 66. 67, 81, 82, 83 and 68 are suitable, partly articulated attachment points. If a fiber jam occurs in the channel 16, the sensor 300, after the suction belt 17 has stopped, sends a signal to the force element 62, the piston of which is not visible in the cylinder 69 and thus also the piston rod 63 executes a movement in the direction of the arrow 71. The path of the guide 260 can be relatively small, since the pressure in the channel quickly decreases due to the congestion, in particular if the additional measures described below are used. The device 61 can also act on both guides 260, 260a. 72, 73 are stops which limit the movement of the guide 260.
If the sensor 300 continues a too high or too low fiber occupancy of the suction belt 17 as a result of a blockage (fiber jam), the control device 51 receives a signal. It in turn sends control signals to the arrangement 52 for interrupting the tobacco supply, to the arrangement 53 for switching off the negative pressure in the negative pressure chamber 18 by closing the valve 56 and to the arrangement 57 for switching off the drive motor 55 from roller 160 activated via lines 59 so that it moves the guide 260 in the sense of an enlargement of the channel cross section (arrow 71), and the tobacco fibers can fall out. After removing the fibers from the channel 16 and removing the jam, the control device 51 again activates the vacuum supply of the vacuum chamber 18, the drive of the suction belt 17 and the return movement of the lateral guide 260 into its drawn position by the force element 62.

In addition to the movement of the side guide 260 by means of element 62 and to support its effect, stamps 320 (FIG. 2) attached to the vacuum chamber 18 are provided. These, as indicated by the double arrows 340, with the help of drives 360, the suction belt 17 from above from the continuous position shown by a solid line in the direction of the inlet of the tobacco channel 16 into a position shown by a broken line 400, if they have a corresponding Received signal from the control device 51. The suction belt 17 can be moved with the aid of the plunger 320 in such a way that the deflecting roller 120, which serves as a tensioning roller, is mounted such that it can be moved against the action of a tensioning force (double arrow 380). The movement of the suction belt 17 downwards supports the removal of the tobacco fibers from the channel. The control device 51 causes the drives 360 to move the punches 320 in the direction indicated by arrows 340 from above against the suction belt 17 in order to press them towards the inlet of the tobacco channel 16, as a result of which the jammed tobacco rod is pressed out of the tobacco channel 16. The stamps 320 then move up again.
In addition to the measures described above or independently of this, the control device 51 can drive the suction belt 17 to remove jams in a direction corresponding to arrow 241 against the operational conveying direction 240.
Instead of an enlargement of the channel cross section by the pivoting shown, an enlargement can also be carried out by displacing a guide bar, for example by means of a parallel displacement. When a machine stops to remove jams, a scraper 77 attached to a belt 76 can also be activated in the region of the end of the suction conveyor belt 17. He can then perform a cleaning movement, for example, while the belt 76 is carrying out one or more orbital movements.
At the end of fiber removal from the tobacco duct 16, the vacuum chamber 18 can be briefly connected to a compressed air source. For this purpose, for example, the direction of rotation of a fan serving as a vacuum source 54 can be reversed by the controller 51. The compressed air pulse thus acting through the suction belt 17 supports the emptying of the tobacco channel 16.

Figure 3a shows a variant of the movement device 61 for the side guide 260 of the tobacco channel 16, in which only the right end of the channel 16 is shown. A rotatable eccentric 91 is connected via a connecting element 92 to the Side guide 260 of the channel 16 connected. When disc 91 is rotated according to arrow 93, the guide bar 260 is pivoted slightly so that the Canal cross-section increases and the tobacco can fall out of the canal. 94 is a resilient support element.

FIG. 4 shows a section of the tobacco channel 16 at the level of the sensor 300. Below of the suction belt 17 are bores in the lateral guides 260 and 260a 261 introduced, which on the side facing the channel 16 through Windows 262 are sealed. There are two light sources on the side of the guide 260a 301, 302 next to the holes, on the side of the guide 260 there are two photo receivers 303, 304. The receivers 303, 304 are with evaluation circuits 305,306 connected, which in turn in a manner not shown are connected to the controller 51 (FIG. 2). The mode of operation of the sensor 300 is as follows: The light from the sources 301, 302 falls through the bores 261 and Window 262 and through channel 16 to receivers 303,304. Is the channel in the Operation partially filled with tobacco, for example, the light of the top Light source 301 shadowed by the tobacco, not shown, so that the top Receiver 303 receives no light, while lower receiver 304 continues is illuminated by the light source 302. Now occurs upstream of sensor 300 a tobacco jam in the channel 16, the one located in the area of the sensor 300 Tobacco transported away by the suction belt 17 while the traffic jam prevents that new tobacco gets into the area. Hence the light of the upper one Source 301 pass through channel 16 and the upper receiver 303 is illuminated. As soon as this condition lasts longer than e.g. one millisecond on the evaluation circuit 305 of the upper receiver 303 is registered, this reports a jam the controller 51. If a traffic jam occurs downstream of the sensor 300, so the tobacco is upstream of the traffic jam, also in the area of the sensor 300, in the channel so that the light from the lower source 302 is also shaded and the lower receiver 304 is not illuminated. The corresponding Evaluation circuit 306 reports a jam to controller 51 as soon as this state is longer than e.g. one millisecond is registered. The window 262 prevent tobacco fibers from entering the bores 261, which leads to faults the function of the sensor 300 would lead.

Claims (15)

A method for eliminating a malfunction in a conveyor belt for the conveyance of a strand of tobacco fibers and two tobacco ducts of a cigarette rod machine having lateral guides running downwards from the latter as a result of a fiber jam in the duct, characterized in that, in the event of a fiber jam, at least one of the guides transversely to the The direction of movement of the fiber strand is moved such that the channel cross section is enlarged. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that in the event of a fiber jam, the conveyor belt is moved transversely to the direction of movement of the fiber strand in order to remove the fibers from the tobacco channel. A method according to claim 1 and / or 2, characterized in that the conveyor belt is moved in the event of a fiber jam against its direction of movement during undisturbed operation. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that negative pressure is present on the side of the air-permeable conveyor belt facing away from the fiber strand during undisturbed operation and that the conveyor belt is subjected to excess pressure in the event of a fiber jam. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the event of a fiber jam, a clearing element, preferably a scraper, which at least partially penetrates the tobacco channel is activated. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that a signal formed when a fiber jam occurs in the channel is used to move at least one guide, possibly also the conveyor belt itself. Device for eliminating a malfunction in a conveyor belt for conveying a rod of tobacco fibers and two tobacco ducts of a cigarette rod machine which run downwards from the latter and which have downward lateral guides as a result of a fiber jam in the fiber rod in the duct, characterized by a device activated in the event of a fiber jam (61 ) for moving at least one of the lateral guides (260) transversely to the direction of movement (240) of the fiber strand in the sense of an enlargement of the channel cross section. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized by a drive (320, 360) activated in the event of a fiber jam for displacing the conveyor belt (17) transversely to the direction of movement (240) of the fiber strand for the purpose of removing tobacco fibers from the channel (16). Apparatus according to claim 7 and / or 8, characterized by a drive (55) for the conveyor belt (17) which reverses its direction of movement (240) in the event of a conveyor jam (241). Device according to one or more of claims 7 to 9, characterized by a vacuum chamber (18) on the side of the air-permeable conveyor belt (17) facing away from the fiber strand, which can be connected to a source of excess pressure in the event of a fiber jam. Device according to one or more of claims 7 to 10, characterized by a scraper (77) which can be moved in the event of a fiber jam for a cleaning movement through at least part of the channel (16). Device according to one or more of claims 7 to 11, characterized by a measuring device (300) for the occurrence of a fiber jam, the output signal of which is fed to the device (61) for displacing a lateral guide (260). Device according to one or more of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the movement device (61) for at least one of the lateral guides (26) has a fluid-operated force element (62). Device according to claim 13, characterized in that the force element has a fluid-operated cylinder-piston arrangement (62, 63). Device according to one or more of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the movement device 61 has an eccentric arrangement (91 ... 93) for at least one of the lateral guides (260).

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