SYSTEM FOR PACKING PRODUCTS
A system for vertically packing of products into a container, with a predetermined number of products which are fed singly to the system. Said system includes: a shingling unit (14) in which the products are collated with a shingling degree determined by a collated pattern, each product overlapping the previous product to form a product group, a transfer unit (15) bringing the collected product group into a container filling system (16), bringing the product group sideways, a container filling system (16), bringing the product group into the container in a controlled manner, a container handling unit including means for receiving and holding an upright empty container, means (45) for tilting the empty container 90 degrees into the container filling system and tilting the full container back into an upright position, and delivering the full container on an outfeed conveyor, a controller unit (19) adapted to control the operation of said shingling unit (14), transfer unit (15), container filling system and container handling unit, wherein the operational speed of each unit is controlled in proportion to the flow of products through each of said units and system.
The present invention relates to a system for packing products, such as various packets or bags into containers, such as trays, cartons or RSC-cases. Such systems are widely used in the food industry, for packing packets of chocolate, dairy products, crisps or other snack products, but may be used in general for packing all sorts of products.
BACKGROUNDPacking systems exists in many different forms; each manufacturer promoting a particular concept. The present applicant has for several years manufactured and to marketed the TP4500 series of packing machines in which the products to be packed are received from a filling station and delivered lying flat on a conveyor belt. The products are fed to a cross feed unit, which basically is a belt dropping the packets onto a table. A cross feed belt which basically transfer the bags 90 degrees sideways. After one cycle, there will be lying a row of products on said table. Then, the row of products are transferred into the receiving container with a pushing mechanism, whereupon the cycle repeats itself until the container is filled.
These prior art packing systems has been shown to work reliable for decades, but unfortunately they have some shortcomings. This is mainly due to the strictly time governed mechanism, e.g. the cycle in the cross feed unit, the push frequency in the pushing mechanism, etc, the system as a whole being fully synchronized. For this reason, each product must be fully identical in size and shape, and must be delivered exactly on time, i.e. supplied with even intervals on the conveyor belt. This restricts the speed obtainable with this system, the system being complicated to realign to other package sizes (there are many components that must be adjusted to preserve the synchronism), the system may only serve one filling station (due to the requirement of strictly even spacing of the packets), the system cannot handle containers with reinforced corners or which are octagonal in form (as such containers require a variable number of packets in each row). As of today, the packing system has become a bottleneck limiting the possible production rate, as filling stations now may deliver products at a higher rate than the packing system may cope with.
Thus, there is a need for a more flexible packing system with a higher operation speed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a packing system that in the last partially satisfies the above need.
This is obtained in a system for vertically packing of products into a container, with a predetermined number of products which are fed singly to the system, as it is defined in the appended claim 1. In particular said system includes:
a shingling unit in which the products are collated with a shingling degree determined by a collated pattern, each product overlapping the previous product to form a product group,
a transfer unit bringing the collected product group into a container filling system, bringing the product group sideways,
a container filling system bringing the product group into the container in a controlled manner,
a container handling unit including means for receiving and holding an upright empty is container, means for tilting the empty container 90 degrees into the container filling system and tilting the full container back into an upright position, and delivering the full container on an outfeed conveyor,
a controller unit adapted to control the operation of said shingling unit, transfer unit, container filling system and container handling unit, wherein the operational speed of each unit is controlled in proportion to the flow of products through each of said units and system.
The invention will now be described in detail in reference to the appended drawings, in which:
The overview picture in
The system operates as follows:
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- Products are fed horizontal into the system one by one in one or more rows The inventive system can handle both a single infeed stream and a double infeed stream of products, or in fact a larger number of streams; the number being governed by the capacities of the respective filling stations and packing system.
- The rows are merged into a single product stream in the product merger 13 by putting one product from row 2 in between two products from row 1.
- A product group is formed by shingling a number of products. Each product is transferred 90 degree by a calculated length (shingling length).
- When the correct number of products is obtained, the product group is transferred onto the container filling system.
- The container filling system brings the product group into the container, using a pusher and a compressing plate for a repeatable and controlled filling degree.
- When the predefined number of product groups is obtained the container is tilted 90 degrees and delivered on the outfeed conveyor 18.
- A new container is supplied from the container infeed belt 20, tilted 90 degrees and brought into the container filling system
In the following, each component in the inventive packing system will be described in further detail.
Product MergerThe product merger (
The detectors are used in a feedback loop to establish an even output stream of products. Many packing systems include control stations checking the products delivered from the filling stations. Substandard products, such as the product bag being empty, leaky or overfilled, are removed leaving a hole in the stream. Thus, the streams from each filling station will not be as even as desirable. However, such holes will be detected, whereupon the conveyor speed in the other stream is retarded correspondingly. Said in other words, the merging process is controlled by detecting the actual presence (and position) of the products. In opposition to this, strictly time governed systems could not have handled such uneven streams of products.
Shingling UnitThe shingling unit (
The shingling unit also includes detectors, e.g. an optical detector at the entrance detecting arriving products. The operation of the shingling unit is controlled by the controller unit 19.
Transfer UnitThe transfer unit (
The container filling system shown in
In
As mentioned above, each component in the system may operate at a variable speed. The variable speed is obtained by use of asynchronous AC motors driven by variable frequency converters in the controller unit 19. The controller unit 19 includes a number of frequency converters, one for each synchronous drive in the system, which are controlled by a main controller. Instead of said AC motors and frequency converters, other solutions could be used to obtain variable speed drives, as is well known to the person skilled in the art. Each unit/component in the system includes at least one sensor in order to determine the flow of products through the unit. The main controller will receive feedback signals from the various sensors and control the speed of the belts to obtain an even flow of products into the containers, i.e. the operational speed of each unit is controlled in proportion to the flow of products through each unit in order to avoid congestion in any unit. It also includes a number of actuators controlling servo drives and pneumatic cylinders in the container filling system, i.e. for holding and turning the containers, run the pushing mechanism and the transfer plate out and in, control the indexing, etc at a variable timing. The controller unit 19 is an essential part of the invention as it allows the system to adopt itself to the actual position and size of the products. The controller unit has a menu driven interface that allows the system to be quickly reprogrammed to handle products or containers of different sizes.
The plant is a highly effective reliable packing system for a big various number of products. This means that every product type fed horizontal, which should be collated in a row of various numbers, with or without a shingling degree, and packed vertically in a container, is suitable for the plant.
Claims
1. A system for vertically packing of products into a container, with a predetermined number of products which are fed singly to the system, characterized in that said system includes:
- a shingling unit (14) in which the products are collated with a shingling degree determined by a collated pattern, each product overlapping the previous product to form a product group,
- a transfer unit (15) bringing the collected product group into a container filling system (16), bringing the product group sideways,
- a container filling system (16), bringing the product group into the container in a controlled manner,
- a container handling unit including means for receiving and holding an upright empty container, means (45) for tilting the empty container 90 degrees into the container filling system and tilting the full container back into an upright position, and delivering the full container on an outfeed conveyor,
- a controller unit (19) adapted to control the operation of said shingling unit (14), transfer unit (15), container filling system and container handling unit, wherein the operational speed of each unit is controlled in proportion to the flow of products through each of said units and system.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said units and system includes at least one sensor detecting the flow of products through the unit/system.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shingling unit (14) includes a sensor detecting the arrival of a product, the shingling unit being controlled to step to a next position when a product actually has arrived.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shingling unit (14) includes a conveyor belt (21) arranged 90 degree on the arriving stream of products.
5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shingling unit (14) includes a perforated conveyor belt that is guided over a vacuum chamber extending over the entire length of the belt.
6. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shingling unit is using a high friction conveyor belt.
7. A system as claimed in claim 1, said system further including a product merger (13), which merges products from two, or more, product streams into one product stream prior to entering the shingling unit, said product merger including upper (61, 62) and lower (63) conveyor belts, each receiving a stream of products, driving means (64, 65, 66) controlling the speed of said upper and lower conveyor belts, sensors detecting the arrival of products in each stream, the product merger being adapted to output products alternatively from the upper and lower conveyor belts.
8. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transfer unit (15) includes two variable speed conveyor belts, the speed of the conveyor belts being controlled by said controller unit (19).
9. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container filling system includes a pushing plate (32) arranged to push product groups into a container and a transfer plate (34) supporting said product groups while they are pushed into the container.
10. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the container handling unit includes:
- a container clamping mechanism with two vacuum pads (43, 44) adapted to hold a container between them,
- a tilting mechanism (45) for the container clamping mechanism,
- the container clamping mechanism being mounted on two rails (41, 42),
- a drive adapted to move the container clamping mechanism along the rails (41, 42) in an indexing manner.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 4, 2010
Publication Date: Dec 15, 2011
Applicant: Nor-Reg Systems AS (Honefoss)
Inventors: Geir Brunes (Vikersund), Aril Bekkasen (Sokna)
Application Number: 13/143,149
International Classification: B65B 1/04 (20060101);