EP3046842B1 - Device for producing packaging units - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device for the production of packaging units in a tubular bag machine with a horizontal conveyor for transferring isolated products to a portioning device for the production of portion units with a defined arrangement and number of products and with a vertical conveyor for conveying the portion of a film wrapped serving units to a singulator Separation of the packaging units, wherein the vertical conveyor has two belt conveyors arranged parallel to one another, which define a conveying channel for conveying the portion units enveloped by the film web with conveying belts running around each other.

Devices of the type mentioned above allow the vertically successive arrangement of a portioning device with subsequent vertical conveying, wherein in the region of the vertical conveyor simultaneously with the continuous promotion of the portion units produced in the portioning their wrapping with a film web and usually also the sealing of film edges of the film web to form a portion units receiving film tube takes place. For the completion of individual portion units receiving portion packaging, it is then only necessary to segment the film tube according to the portion units entrained therein.

In general, it is desired to produce packaging units in which the film wrapping rests as closely as possible on the products forming the respective portion unit. Furthermore, it is desired to perform the serving of the portion units and the promotion of the serving units as product-friendly as possible.

From the DE 10 2011 106 352 A1 a device for the production of packaging units in a tubular bag machine with a horizontal conveyor is known in which two mutually parallel belt conveyors with conveyor sides of conveyor belts arranged opposite one another define a conveyor channel for conveying portion units enveloped by a film web.

The DE 102 12 024 A1 shows a horizontal conveyor with a horizontal conveyor channel, which is formed by two opposing, in the same conveying direction promoting belt conveyor. One of the two belt conveyors has a plurality of supporting devices arranged in the conveying direction, which have pivoting levers which rest against the rear side of the conveyor belt with a contact device formed on the free end of the lever for supporting abutment. To support the opposite conveyor belt a rigid guide plate is provided.

From the US 4,840,012 A a device for the production of packaging units in a tubular bag machine is known, in which an annular conveying channel between a filling tube and radially outside of the filling tube oppositely arranged belt conveyors is formed, each having a conveyor belt, which consists on its back with a support means arranged in the conveying direction contact rollers, which are received in a fixed relative arrangement in a common frame.

The invention is therefore based on the object to propose an apparatus for the production of packaging units, which allows the production of a close-fitting product packaging while at the same time as product gentle promotion of the packaging products.

This object is achieved by the device having the features of claim 1.

The device according to the invention has a vertical conveying device with supporting devices which have a pivoting lever mounted on a frame of the belt conveyor and acted upon by a spring device against the conveying direction with a biasing force which is provided at its free end with a contact device for supporting against a back of the conveyor belt ,

Due to the design of the support device as a prestressed with a spring device pivot lever is achieved that each support means acts individually on the product conveyed through the conveyor channel. This makes it possible to adapt the delivery sides of the conveyor belts to the product contours in contact with the conveyor belts, in which case circumferential differences in the conveying direction are compensated for on the products themselves or between successive products of a portion unit. The result is that the conveyor belt and thus also the film wrapping arranged between the conveyor belt and the portion units fits snugly against the contour of the products or portion units and the formation of cavities between the film casing and the products or the portion units can be largely prevented.

It is particularly advantageous if the contact device of the pivoting lever has a contact roller mounted on the lever end, so that undesirable friction effects between the contact device and the conveyor belt can be largely prevented, with the result that the contact device of the contour of the conveyed in the conveyor channel on the contact device over product can follow better, so in particular no delays in the pivoting movements of the support means by friction effects between the contact device and the conveyor belt occur.

When in each case two arranged in a common horizontal plane on opposite sides of the conveyor channel contact rollers form a pair of contact rollers with a left contact roller and a right contact roller, the contact rollers define in a front conveyor channel cross-section a front conveyor gap, which is opposite to a defined in a rear conveyor channel cross-section rear conveyor nip laterally is offset by the support means not only an adjustment of the conveyor channel contour to the conveyed products and serving units allows, but in particular an adjustment of the conveyor channel contour in a direction transverse to the conveying direction, so that in a rear conveyor channel cross-section a conveying gap is defined, which is a conveying gap is offset in a front conveyor channel cross-section.

Such an offset can be achieved particularly simply transversely to the conveying direction when the contact rollers are designed as collar rollers, with a first roller section with a diameter d ₁ and a second roller section with a diameter d ₂ , where d _{1 is} smaller than d ₂ .

In addition, if in the conveying direction adjacently arranged contact roller pairs have an alternating arrangement of the right and left contact roller, such that both in a front conveying channel level and in a rear conveying channel plane of the conveying gap in Transition from one pair of contact rollers to the adjacent pair of rollers has an alternating lateral conveying gap offset, a particularly good adaptation of the conveyor channel contour to products or portion units can be achieved, which have a greatly varying diameter in the conveying direction, as is the case for example with round, disc-shaped products, if the disk-shaped product is arranged parallel to the conveying direction.

A particularly simple and reliable structural design of the support means, which also allows a particularly compact design of the support means, is achieved when the spring means is designed as a torsion leg spring and is arranged coaxially to the longitudinal axis of a pivot shaft of the pivot lever on the pivot shaft.

If the distance between the racks of the belt conveyors can be changed to adjust the conveying channel width, products or portion units with large deviations in the product diameter or diameter of the portion unit can be conveyed with one and the same vertical conveying device, so that the spring travel of the spring device required for the function of the supporting devices does not is limited by the product dimensions and the advantageous properties of the support means in the same way can be used in products or portion units with relatively small diameter as in products or portion units with a relatively large diameter. Thus, by changing the distance between the racks of the belt conveyors, a basic adjustment of the conveying channel width can be made, so that based on this basic setting, the supporting means can unfold their advantageous effects discussed above.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the device will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1

eine Vorrichtung zur Herstellung von Verpackungseinheiten, umfassend eine Transporteinheit mit einer Vertikalfördereinrichtung und einer Folienabzugseinrichtung;

Fig. 2

die Vertikalfördereinrichtung der Transporteinheit in Einzeldarstellung;

Fig. 3

die in Figur 1 dargestellte Transporteinheit in isometrischer Darstellung;

Fig. 4

eine vergrößerte Teildarstellung der Vertikalfördereinrichtung;

Fig. 5

eine Querschnittsdarstellung der in Figur 3 dargestellten Vertikalfördereinrichtung gemäß Schnittlinienverlauf V-V;

Fig. 6

eine Einzeldarstellung einer linken Stützeinrichtung;

Fig. 7

eine Einzeldarstellung einer rechten Stützeinrichtung;

Fig. 8

eine Fig. 3 entsprechende isometrische Darstellung der Vertikalfördereinrichtung mit Portionseinheiten, die jeweils zwei Produkte in Stapelanordnung umfassen;

Fig. 9

eine Schnittdarstellung der in Fig. 8 dargestellten Vertikalfördereinrichtung gemäß Schnittlinienverlauf IX-IX;

Fig. 10

die in Fig. 3 dargestellte Vertikalfördereinrichtung mit Portionseinheiten, die zwei in Reihe angeordnete Produkte umfassen;

Fig. 11

eine Schnittdarstellung der in Fig. 10 dargestellten Vertikalfördereinrichtung gemäß Schnittlinienverlauf XI-XI.

Show it:

Fig. 1

an apparatus for producing packaging units, comprising a transport unit with a vertical conveyor and a film removal device;

Fig. 2

the vertical conveyor of the transport unit in a single representation;

Fig. 3

in the FIG. 1 represented transport unit in isometric view;

Fig. 4

an enlarged partial view of the vertical conveyor;

Fig. 5

a cross-sectional view of in FIG. 3 shown vertical conveyor according to section line VV;

Fig. 6

a single representation of a left support means;

Fig. 7

a single representation of a right support means;

Fig. 8

a Fig. 3 corresponding isometric view of the vertical conveyor with portion units, each comprising two products in a stacked arrangement;

Fig. 9

a sectional view of in Fig. 8 shown vertical conveyor according to section line IX-IX;

Fig. 10

in the Fig. 3 illustrated vertical conveyor with portion units comprising two products arranged in series;

Fig. 11

a sectional view of in Fig. 10 shown vertical conveyor according to section line XI-XI.

Fig. 1 shows a packaging device 10, which serves for the production of packaging units not shown comprising a wrapped in a film web 11 portion unit 12. The packaging device 10 comprises in the in Fig. 1 In the illustrated embodiment, a product conveying device 13, by means of which individual products 14 are conveyed to a portioning device 15, which in the present case has a circulation conveyor 16 with portion stops 18, 19 moved independently in the conveying direction 17, which are kinematically controlled so that in a transfer area between the Product conveyor 13 and the portioning device 15 consecutively individual products 14 are stacked on a front portion stop 18, which is advanced during stacking in time in the conveying direction 17 of the circulation conveyor 16, until finally after reaching a defined stack height of the rear portion stop 19 against the stacked portion unit 12th is moved, so that the portion unit 12 defined between the portion stops 18, 19 is added.

For transfer to a arranged below a transfer area 21 vertical conveyor 22, the in Fig. 1 is shown only schematically, the portion unit 12 passes through a film web deflection device 26 which has at its upper end a arranged on a vertical envelope axis 27 inlet opening 28 and at its lower end laterally to the envelope axis 27 has a film edge guide slot 29.

As Fig. 1 shows the Folienbahnumlenkeinrichtung 26 for redirecting the film web 11 from a horizontal conveyor track section 30 in a vertical conveyor section 31, wherein at the same time the formation of a film wrapping 24 of the portion unit 12 by means of the inlet opening 28 bounding form shoulders 32, 33 of Folienbahnumlenkvorrichtung 26 and by means of the film edge guide slot 29 ,

As Fig. 1 schematically shows, is parallel to the vertical conveyor 22, the two the portion unit 12 together with the film wrapping 24 between them receiving belt conveyors 34, 35 (see also Fig. 2 and 3 ), which receive the portion unit 12 together with the film wrapping 24 enclosing the portion unit 12, a film removal device 36 is arranged. The film removal device 36 has two transfer roller pairs 37, 38 arranged one above the other in the conveying direction 17, each of which has a pull-in gap 39 (FIG. Fig. 2 ) form, through which a film edge 40 is transported in the conveying direction 17.

The vertical conveyor 22 forms, together with the film removal device 36, a transport unit 41 which ensures synchronous delivery of the film envelope 24 together with the portion units 12 accommodated therein.

Fig. 2 shows the transport unit 41 in a detailed representation with the vertical conveyor 22 and arranged parallel to the vertical conveyor 22 film removal device 36. For defined relative arrangement of the vertical conveyor 22 and the film removal device 36 is a in Fig. 2 exemplified as a mounting plate executed base frame 42, which also serves to connect the transport unit 41 with a machine frame of the packaging device 10, not shown here.

To explain the function and structure of the vertical conveyor 22 is initially on the Fig. 3 Referring to the vertical conveyor 22 in single representation and prior to connection to the base frame 42. The vertical conveyor 22 comprises, as already described with reference to FIGS Fig. 1 executed, two parallel arranged belt conveyors 34, 35, each having a frame 43 and disposed on the frame 43 deflecting means 44, 45 for guiding belt assemblies 46 which in the present case each comprise two parallel conveyor belts 47, 48, which in present case are designed as a toothed belt. The conveyor belts 47, 48 are driven by means of a drive wheel 49 which is mounted on the frame 43 and which is connected via a drive shaft 50 to a drive motor 52 arranged at the end of a shaft housing 51.

For exemplary embodiment of a Förderkanaleinstelleinrichtung, which is used to adjust the distance b from oppositely arranged conveying sides 61, 62 of the conveyor belt 34, 35 are, as in particular in the Fig. 3 shown, the drive shafts 50 and the shaft housing 51 of the drive shafts 50 housed in adjusting housings 54 which are arranged in a guide frame 55 on transverse guides 56 and therefore on a parallel to the base frame 42 (FIGS. Fig.2 ) extending Zustellachse 23 transversely to defined by the drive shafts 50 drive axles 53 of the belt conveyors 34, 35 are displaceable. Connected to the guide frame 55 is an actuator 57 which has a guided in a shaft housing 58 drive shaft 59 which is driven by a arranged at the end of the shaft housing 58 drive motor 60. The drive shaft 59 acts via a non-illustrated here, arranged in the guide frame 55 deflection on the adjusting housing 54, which are moved synchronously in opposite directions depending on the direction of rotation of the drive shaft 59, so that the distance a ₁ between the drive axles 53 of the belt conveyors 34, 35th either increased or decreased.

As Fig. 3 shows, by the distance b of the facing conveyor sides 61, 62 of the belt conveyor 34, 35 defines the width b of a conveyor belt 63 formed between the belt conveyors. In the conveying channel 63, for example, portion units 12 designed as a product stack are conveyed here, wherein in the present case a representation of the film wrapping 24 has been dispensed with for the sake of simplified illustration. In any case, starting from the representation in Fig. 3 clearly that by changing the center distance a _{1 of} the drive axles 53 of the belt conveyor 34, 35 in a row a corresponding actuation of the actuator 57 in a simple manner, an adjustment of the width b of the conveying channel 63 to the respective dimensions of the promotion in the conveying channel 63 certain products 14 is made possible.

As in Fig. 3 shown, pads 64, 65 of the guide frame 55 are provided with connecting means 66, 67, which serve to connect the guide frame 55 of the vertical conveyor 22 to the base frame 42, such that - Fig. 2 shown - the guide frame 55 is connected to a rear side 68 of the base frame 42 formed here as a mounting plate. The adjusting housing 54 with the shaft housings 51 accommodated therein are arranged in window openings 69 of the base frame 42.

In particular Fig. 2 shows, the vertical conveyor 22 is combined in the transport unit 41 with the film take-off device 36, each having two Abzugsrollenpaare 37, 38, which form the nip 39, in the - as in Fig. 1 represented - the film edge 40 is retracted, so that in synchronism with the vertical conveying of the portion units 12 in the conveying channel 63, a promotion of the film wrapping 24 in the conveying direction 17 takes place. The individual take-off rollers 70 of the film removal device 36 are each driven via a drive shaft 71, wherein the two drive shafts 71 of a pair of take-off rollers 37, 38 are driven by a common drive motor 72 via a transfer case 73. The drive shafts 71 are each located in a shaft housing 74, which is passed through a window opening 75 in the base frame 42 and connected to a positioning frame 76, on which the drive motor 72 and the transfer case 73 is arranged and which is parallel to the base frame 42 movable.

In particular Fig. 4 shows support means 100, 101 are provided for guiding or supporting the conveyor belt 47, 48, which are arranged as the deflecting means 44 on the frame 43 and the conveyor belts 47, 48 are supported in the region of the conveying channel 63. As FIG. 5 shows, the support means 100, 101 each arranged on a pivot shaft 102 and pivotable about a pivot axis 103 pivoting lever 104 which are provided at its free end with a contact device 105 having arranged on a roller shaft 106 contact rollers 107, 108.

Fig. 5 shows according to the line of intersection VV a pair of contact rollers 132 with two arranged in a common horizontal plane 114 contact rollers 107, 108. The contact rollers 107, 108 are formed as a collar rollers and have a shoulder 109, the contact rollers 107, 108 in a roller portion 110 with a diameter d ₁ and a roller portion 111 with a diameter d ₂ divided. The contact rollers 107, 108 lie with their respective larger diameter roller section 111 against a back 112 of the conveyor belt 47, 48 at. In contrast, a gap 113 is formed between the rear side 112 of the conveyor belts 47, 48 and the respective smaller diameter roller section 110 of the contact rollers. With the delivery sides 61, 62 are the conveyor belts 47, 48 at the periphery of in Fig. 5 illustrated product 14, so that the delivery channel width b corresponds to the product diameter p. As already mentioned above, in the representations of the vertical conveyor 22, which show the products 14 in the conveyor channel 63, for clarity, the representation of the film envelope 24, between the conveying sides 61, 62 of the conveyor belt 47, 48 and the circumference of Products 14 have been omitted.

Due to the roller sections 110, 111 provided with different diameters d ₁ , d ₂ , a front conveying gap 116 is formed between the contact rollers 107, 108 in a front conveying channel cross-section 115, which is connected to a rear conveying gap 117 formed in a rear conveying channel cross section 118. is offset.

In the 6 and 7 a support device 101 and a support device 100 is shown, with the exception of the differently designed Contact rollers 107, 108 are formed consistently and therefore otherwise have identically formed parts, so that in order to explain the structure of the support means 100, 101 hereinafter only to the Fig. 6 with representation of the support means 101 reference is made. As Fig. 6 shows, the pivot shaft 102 of the support means 100 is provided with a designed as a torsion spring 119 spring means. The torsion spring 119 is located coaxially on the pivot shaft 102, wherein a rotary leg 120 is fixed to the pivot shaft 102 and the other pivot leg 121 is supported on a stop 122 on the frame 43 (FIGS. Fig. 4 ) of the belt conveyor 34, 35 is arranged. In the event of a load on the contact roller 108 with a force F, a load torque generated by the pivot lever acts on the torsion spring 119, which is compressed in succession an evasive movement about the pivot axis 103, so that a supporting moment is generated with a supporting force S counteracting the force F.

As Fig. 4 shows, in the conveying direction 17 adjacently arranged contact roller pairs 132 an alternating arrangement of the right and left contact rollers 107, 108, such that both in a front conveying channel plane 133, which is defined by the front conveyor belt 47, as well as in a rear conveyor channel level 134th which is defined by the rear conveyor belts 48, which in Fig. 5 illustrated, formed between the roller sections 110 and 111 front conveying gap 116 and the rear conveying gap 117 in the transition from a contact roller pair 132 to the adjacent contact roller pair 132 has an alternating lateral conveying gap offset. Since the conveyor belts can each perform evasive movements in the gap 113 formed between the smaller diameter portions d ₁ and the rear sides of the conveyor belts 47, 48, superimposed on the evasive movements of the support devices 100, 101 is a particularly good adaptation of the conveyor channel contour to the products 14 or the portion units 12 are reached, which in the conveying direction a have greatly varying diameter, as is the case for example with round, disc-shaped products, when the disc-shaped product is arranged parallel to the conveying direction.

In the Fig. 8 and 9 the vertical conveying device 22 is shown with portioning units 130 arranged in the conveying channel 63, each of which has two products 14 arranged transversely to the conveying direction 17 in a stacking arrangement. Here too arise, as in particular from Fig. 9 It can be seen, increased compliances of the conveyor belts 47, 48 in the region of the formed between the rear sides 112 of the conveyor belt 47, 48 and the roller sections 110 of the contact rollers 107, 108 column 113th

Fig. 10 shows the vertical conveyor 22 with arranged in the conveying channel 63 portion units 131, each having two arranged in the conveying direction 17 in a row 14 products. As if from a synopsis of Fig. 10 and 11 becomes clear, allows the alternately arranged in the conveying direction 17 arrangement of different contact rollers 107, 108 support means 100, 101, that even at portion units 131 due to the between the back 112 of the conveyor belt 47, 48 and the roller sections 110 of the contact rollers 107, 108 in the area the column 113 an increased flexibility of the conveyor belt 47, 48 is formed, so that a particularly good adaptation to the curve contour of the products 14 is possible.

Claims (7)

1. An apparatus for manufacturing packaging units in a tubular bag forming, filling and sealing machine, having a horizontal conveyor installation for transferring separated products (14) to a portioning appliance (15) for manufacturing portion units (12, 130, 131) with a defined arrangement and number of products, and having a vertical conveyor installation (22) for conveying the portion units, which are enveloped by a film web (11), to a separating appliance for separating the packaging units, wherein the vertical conveyor installation has two parallel strap conveyors (34, 35), defining, with conveying sides (61, 62) arranged so as to be opposed to each other and pertaining to circulating conveying straps (47, 48), a conveying channel (63) for conveying the portion units, which are enveloped by the film web,
   characterized in that
   the strap conveyors each have a multiplicity of support appliances (100, 101) arranged in the conveying direction (17) for supporting the conveying straps along the conveying channel, the support appliances have a pivoting lever (104) which is borne at a framework (43) of the strap conveyor and exposed to a pretensioning force with the help of an elastic element against the conveying direction, and which is provided, at its free lever end, with a contact appliance (105) for resting against a rear side (112) of the conveying straps in a supporting fashion.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1,
   characterized in that
   the contact appliance (105) of the pivoting lever (104) has a contact roller (107, 108) borne at the lever end.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2,
   characterized in that
   in each instance, two contact rollers (107, 108) arranged in a common horizontal plane (114) on opposite sides of the conveying channel (63) form a contact roller pair (132) having a left contact roller and a right contact roller, wherein the contact rollers define a front conveying gap (116) in a front conveying channel cross-section (115), said gap being offset to the side relative to a rear conveying gap (117) defined in a rear conveying channel cross-section (118).
4. The apparatus according to claim 3,
   characterized in that
   the contact rollers (107, 108) are realized as flanged rollers, having a first roller section (110) having a diameter d₁ and a second roller section (111) having a diameter d₂, wherein d₁ is smaller than d₂.
5. The apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
   characterized in that
   contact roller pairs (132) arranged so as to be adjacent in the conveying direction (179) have an alternating arrangement of the right and of the left contact roller (107, 108), in such a manner that the conveying gap (116, 117), both in a front conveying channel plane (133) and in a rear conveying channel plane (134), in the transition from one pair of contact rollers to the adjacent pair of contact rollers, has an alternating lateral conveying gap shift.
6. The apparatus according to one or more of the preceding claims,
   characterized in that
   the elastic element is realized as a swivel pin spring (119) and is arranged on a swing shaft (102) so as to be coaxial with respect to the longitudinal axis of the swing shaft (102) of the pivoting lever (104).
7. The apparatus according to one or more of the preceding claims,
   characterized in that
   for setting the conveying channel width, the distance between the frameworks (43) of the strap conveyors (34, 35) is adjustable.

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