Packaging machine for forming and sealing packaging trays

Abstract

The invention relates to a packaging machine (1). According to the invention, the film (11) is transported from a roll to a forming station (2), whereupon it is heated and deep drawn by a forming tool (9) to form a packaging tray. The forming tool can also contain a cutting device enabling the packaging trays (10) to be cut of the strip of film (11). The rest of the strip of film (11) is wound by means of a coil (13). The packaging trays thus produced are transported by means of the conveyor belt (14) to the filling station (4) and filled with packaging items. The filled packaging trays are then closed with a covering film (12) in an evacuation and sealing station, said covering film being used to seal the packaging trays (10). A cutting system is integrated into the sealing tool (15) and is used to cut the finished packaging from out of the covering film (12). The remaining covering film is wound by means of a coil (16). The finished packaging is removed by means of an exit strip (17).

Description

The present invention relates to a packaging machine comprising at least one forming station for forming packaging trays from a film, one cutting station for cutting the film between the packaging trays, one filling station for filling the packaging tray with packaging items and one sealing/cutting station for sealing the packaging with a covering film and cutting the covering film.

Tray sealers in which a prefabricated packaging tray is filled and then sealed with a covering film have been prior art for many years. However, tray sealers have the drawback that it is necessary to keep available large quantities of packaging trays. In addition, it is not possible to react quickly to specific customer change requests.

Therefore, the object was to provide a packaging machine without the drawbacks of the prior art.

The object is achieved by a packaging machine comprising at least one forming station for forming packaging trays from a film, one cutting station for cutting the film between the packaging trays, one filling station for filling the packaging tray with packaging items and one sealing/cutting station for sealing the packaging with a covering film and cutting the covering film, whereby the cutting station is integrated in the forming station or arranged downstream of the forming station and upstream of the filling station.

It was extremely surprising to a person skilled in the art to find that this device provides a very flexible and simple packaging machine. The fact that the packaging trays are formed online means they do not have to be kept available and their shape is easy to change by replacing the tools in the forming station. The packaging machine according to the invention is simple and inexpensive to produce.

In a preferred embodiment, the packaging machine according to the invention comprises first and second parallel lines on which the same or different types of packaging may be produced. This embodiment has in particular the advantage that it is very flexible. Depending upon the degree of utilisation, numerous packages of one type or different types of packaging may be produced on the line in question. It is even possible to use different packaging materials on the individual packaging lines depending upon the application in question. When a tool is changed on one line, the other line continues to run so that the packaging machine according to the invention never comes to a complete standstill.

Preferably, a line has a device for placing prefabricated packaging trays in the area of the filling station. In this case, this line is operated purely as a tray sealer and the forming station is not used. This embodiment significantly increases the flexibility of the packaging machines because a line may be operated both as a so-called thermoformer in which the packaging trays are produced online and also as a tray sealer.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sealing station also has an evacuation station with which the ambient air is drawn out of the packaging and preferably replaced by an inert gas.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the diagrams.

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the packaging machine according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the packaging machine according to the invention.

FIGS. 3-5 show possible combinations of the packaging machine according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the packaging machine 1 according to the invention. The film 11 is transported from a roll of film to the forming station 2 where it is heated and deep drawn by the forming tool 9 to form a packaging tray, the so-called tray. In this case, the forming tool also comprises a cutting device, with which the packaging trays 10 are cut out of the strip of film 11. The rest of the strip of film 11 is wound by means of the coil 13. The packaging trays produced in this way are transported by means of the conveyor belt 14 to the filling station 4 where they are filled with packaging items. The filled packaging trays are then closed with the covering film 12 in the evacuation and sealing station with the covering film being used to seal the packaging tray 10. A cutting system is integrated in the sealing tool 15 and is used to cut the finished packaging out of the covering film 12. The remaining covering film is wound by means of the coil 16. The finished packaging is removed by means of the exit belt 17. A person skilled in the art will be aware that the gaseous atmosphere in the filled packaging may be evacuated shortly before the sealing and optionally replaced by an inert gas.

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the packaging machine of FIG. 1. Here, it is evident that the packaging machine comprises two lines 6, 7 on which two different packaging trays 10, 10′ may be produced and then filled with different packaging items in the filling station 4.

FIGS. 3 to 5 show the packaging machine according to the invention in different schematic configurations. FIG. 3 shows a configuration in which the same packaging tray and hence the same packaging is produced on both lines 6, 7. FIG. 4 shows a configuration in which different types of packaging are produced on lines 6 and 7. FIG. 5 shows a configuration in which the forming station in the line 7 is not used. For this, a destacker 8 places prefabricated packaging trays on the conveyor belt 14 where they are filled. The line 6 functions as described above. In particular the embodiment according to FIG. 5 demonstrates the high flexibility of the packaging machine according to the invention. It is possible both to produce different types of packaging as a whole on the packaging machine and also only to complete prefabricated packaging trays to form finished packaging.

Claims

1. Packaging machine (1) comprising at least one forming station (2) for forming packaging trays (10, 10′) out of a film (11), a cutting station (3) for cutting the film (11) between the packaging trays (10, 10′), a filling station (4) for filling the packaging tray (10, 10′) with packaging items and a sealing/cutting station (5) for sealing the packaging with a covering film (12) and cutting the covering film, characterised in that the cutting station (3) with which the packing trays may be separated is integrated in the forming station (2) or arranged downstream of the forming station (2) and upstream of the filling station (4).

2. Packaging machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the packaging machine comprises first and second lines (6, 7) running in parallel.

3. Packaging machine according to claim 2, characterised in that different types of packaging (11, 11′) are produced on the first and second lines (6, 7) respectively.

4. Packaging machine according to claim 1, characterised in that one line (6, 7) includes a device (8) for placing trays (10, 10′) in the area of the filling station (4) and that in this line no packaging trays (10, 10′) are formed in the forming station (2).

5. Packaging machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the sealing station comprises an evacuation station and preferably a system for reaeration with inert gas.