DOUBLE STACKER SYSTEM AND METHOD
A system and method for stacking two bulk bags one on top of the other on a pallet, the method comprising controlling a pallet feeder into providing a pallet; filling a first bag with a first amount of product on the pallet and sealing the first bag; filling a second bag with a second amount of product, and depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag on the pallet; and straightening the bags on the pallet; wherein these steps of controlling, filling the first and second bags, and straightening are controlled by a programmable controller, the programmable controller selecting the first amount to be fed to the first bag supported by the pallet and, selecting the second amount to be fed to the second bag.
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The present invention relates to bulk shipping. More particularly, the invention pertains to a method and a system for palletizing bags of products, such as peat moss in bulk.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONStandardly, peat moss bulk louse bags are produced manually, requiring multiple operators.
When the volume of production increases, there is a need for a method and a system forming peat moss bulk louse bags automatically with a reduced number of operators.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONMore specifically, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a system for stacking two bulk bags one on top of the other on a pallet, comprising a pallet feeder; a first filling station, receiving a pallet from the pallet feeder and a first amount of product to be bagged, the first filling station comprising hooks for securing a first bag with an open mouth above the pallet, and filling the first bag with the first amount of product on top of the pallet; a second filling station, the second filling station comprising hooks for securing a second bag with an open mouth, the second filling station receiving a second amount of the product to be bagged, filing the second bag with the amount of the product and filing the second bag, receiving the pallet with the first bag filled with the first amount of product and sealed at the first filling station, and depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product and sealed on top of the first bag; a bag straightener station, receiving the pallet supporting the second bag on top of the first bag from the second filling station, the bag straightener station straightening the bags on the pallet; and a programmable controller; wherein the programmable controller operates the pallet feeder into sending a pallet to the first filling station when the first filling station is empty, selects the first amount to be fed to the first bag supported by the pallet at the first filling station, operates the first filling station to send the pallet supporting the first bag filled with the first amount of product to the second filling station when the second filling station is empty, selects the second amount to be fed to the second bag at the second filling station, operates the first filling station to send the pallet with the first bag filled with the first amount of product and sealed at the first filling station to the second filling station when the second bag is filled, and the second filling station to send the pallet supporting the first bag filled with the first amount of product and the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag to the bag straightener station when the bag straightener station is empty.
There is further provided a method for stacking two bulk bags one on top of the other on a pallet, comprising controlling a pallet feeder into providing a pallet; filling a first bag with a first amount of product on the pallet and sealing the first bag; filling a second bag with a second amount of product, and depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag on the pallet; and straightening the bags on the pallet; wherein the controlling, the filling of the first and second bags, and the straightening are controlled by a programmable controller, the programmable controller selecting the first amount to be fed to the first bag supported by the pallet and selecting the second amount to be fed to the second bag.
There is further provide A bag straightener, comprising vertical walls; and a top compression plate; wherein the walls are controlled by cylinders into moving from an opened position to receive a bag, into an enclosure position around the bag; and the compression plate is then actuated by a compaction cylinder operating a compaction shaft supporting the compression plate into compressing the bag in the enclosure formed by said walls.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of specific embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in
Best seen in
Station 1, which will be discussed hereinbelow in relation to
The batching supply (R) is supported by a structure 92 bolted to the frame 31 of the station 3 (see
The batching supply (R) is fed with the product the be bagged, for example by a conveyor dumping in a small bidirectional conveyor 90 to select in which side of the divider plate 91 to dump the product, as controlled by the PLC (see
The batching supply (R) is used to pre calibrate the amount of product in the bags. The system as illustrated herein is able to make two different bag volumes: 55 and 75 cu foot bags. In this example, the batching supply (R) is divided into two by the divider plate 91 (
Station 1 is in automatic mode as programmed by the PLC. The operator has access to an operator panel comprising different windows, for selection of a specific window (
Station 1 comprises a frame 10 supporting a pallet pusher best seen in
The frame 10 of the pallet feeder is a totally enclosed pallet magazine. It is enclosed by two doors 101 at the back (see
Station 2, in automatic mode, puts a pallet on a pallet conveyor 22 (see
The front hooks 28 are fixed to the lifting mouth 26 of station 2 (see
When the bag is installed on the hooks 25, 28 as described hereinabove, the operator opens the mouth 26 of station 2 and installs the bag thereon. The mouth 26 comprises air clamps 27 (see
During the filling time, after preselected timer (entered in the machine control panel by the operator), the lifting mouth filler 26 (see
At the end of filling time, the clamps 27 open to let the operator attach the mouth with the rope of the bag, to make sure no contaminants enter the bag during transport or before his utilization.
When the bag is thus sealed, the operator pushes a button 1b (see
At station 3, a positioning hole is made on the top surface of the bottom bag before the top bag is put sitting thereon. A pallet with a filled first bag as described hereinabove comes from station 2 (
Station 4, described in relation to
Station 4, in automatic mode, is ready, waiting the operator to install an empty bag on hooks 45 and 48. The operator takes straps 101 and put them on the hooks 45 and 48 on the filling mouth 46 of station 4, thereby hanging the second bag ready for filling up. Then the operator pushes a button on the interface (see button bag ready to fill, see
Hooks 45, 48, similar to those described in relation to
During the filling time, after a preselected timer (entered in the machine control panel by the operator), the lifter frame 41 of the mouth filler 46 rises and gets down automatically to shake the second bag and the product therein to distribute the product in the bag and ensure stability of the bag. Guiding plates 43 are provided to hold the bag into a generally square shape footprint corresponding to the pallet.
At the end of filling time, clamps 47 open to let the operator attach the mouth of the bag with a rope, to prevent ingress of contaminants during transportation or before utilization.
When the bag is thus sealed, the operator pushes a button 2b on the operator interface (
When the next station, i.e. station 5 shown in
Station 5 (see
Station 5, like the rest of the system, is controlled by the PLC. At a waiting position, the walls of station 5 are positioned at an opened position to leave maximum room for the pallet coming from station 4 to enter station 5 conveyed by the conveyor 52. When a pallet is ready on the conveyor 42 of the station 4 (
At that time, the walls of unit 5 are put into action, powered by hydraulic power. The walls are moved by step by step displacement toward the pallet. A structure 55 of mobile walls 583, 584 and 588 is moved to place walls on three sides of the pallet sitting on the conveyor 52 until a linear moving frame 56 passes in front of a sensor and stops it (
In a second time, two opposite moving walls 583, 584 are made to close on the load, under action of a pivot tubing system 581 (see
As best seen in
When the three walls 583, 584 and 588 are in place around three sides of to the bags, the wall 532 opposite the wall 588, supported by a structure 53 bolted on the main structure frame 51 of station 5 as shown in
In a final step, compression is achieved by a top plate 542 (
With the four walls 532, 583, 584 and 588 in place as just described, the compaction plate 542 is moved downward to compress the bags, until triggering a bottom sensor, when the plate 542 is stopped for a time, controlled in the PLC by the panel view. The operator can change that timer manually in the panel view to adjust the time the plate 542 remains on top of the bags.
When that timer is done, the four walls 532, 583, 584 and 588 and the plate 542 are withdrawn away from the bags, leaving compressed, straight bags on the pallet. The pallet with the bags is then moved on conveyor 52 to a wrapping machine.
Although the present invention has been described hereinabove by way of embodiments thereof, it may be modified, without departing from the nature and teachings of the subject invention as described herein.
Claims
1. A system for stacking two bulk bags one on top of the other on a pallet, comprising:
- a pallet feeder;
- a first filling station, receiving a pallet from said pallet feeder and a first amount of product to be bagged, said first filling station comprising hooks for securing a first bag with an open mouth above said pallet, and filling the first bag with the first amount of product on top of said pallet;
- a second filling station, said second filling station comprising hooks for securing a second bag with an open mouth, said second filling station receiving a second amount of the product to be bagged, filing the second bag with the amount of the product and filing the second bag, receiving the pallet with the first bag filled with the first amount of product and sealed at said first filling station, and depositing said second bag filled with said second amount of product and sealed on top of said first bag;
- a bag straightener station, receiving the pallet supporting the second bag on top of the first bag from said second filling station, said bag straightener station straightening the bags on the pallet; and
- a programmable controller;
- wherein said programmable controller operates said pallet feeder into sending a pallet to said first filling station when said first filling station is empty, selects said first amount to be fed to said first bag supported by the pallet at said first filling station, operates said first filling station to send the pallet supporting the first bag filled with the first amount of product to said second filling station when said second filling station is empty, selects said second amount to be fed to said second bag at said second filling station, operates said first filling station to send the pallet with the first bag filled with the first amount of product and sealed at said first filling station to said second filling station when said second bag is filled, and said second filling station to send the pallet supporting the first bag filled with the first amount of product and the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag to said bag straightener station when said bag straightener station is empty.
2. The system of claim 1, comprising a batching supply, said batching supply feeding said first filling station with said first amount of product and said second filling station with said second amount of product.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein said pallet feeder moves a pallet to said first feeding station when instructed by said programmable controller.
4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a compression station, receiving the pallet supporting the first bag filled with the first amount of product and sealed at said first filling station, said compression station compacting said first bag, said programmable controller operating said compression station into sending the pallet supporting the first bag to said second filling station when said second filling station is empty of a pallet.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein said bag straightener station comprises:
- walls; and
- a compression plate;
- wherein said walls are controlled by said programmable controller into moving from an opened position, to receive the pallet supporting the first and second bags from the second filling station, to an enclosure position around the pallet supporting the first and second bags; and said compression plate is then controlled by said programmable controller to compress the bags in the enclosure formed by said walls.
6. A method for stacking two bulk bags one on top of the other on a pallet, comprising:
- controlling a pallet feeder into providing a pallet;
- filling a first bag with a first amount of product on the pallet and sealing the first bag;
- filling a second bag with a second amount of product, and depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag on the pallet; and
- straightening the bags on the pallet;
- wherein said controlling, filling the first and second bags, and straightening are controlled by a programmable controller, the programmable controller selecting the first amount to be fed to the first bag supported by the pallet and, selecting the second amount to be fed to the second bag.
7. The method of claim 6, comprising feeding said filling of the first bag and said filling of the second bag through a batching supply controlled by the programmable controller.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein said straightening the bags on the pallet comprises centering the pallet supporting the second bag on top of the first bag within vertical walls, controlling the walls into moving from an opened position to an enclosure position around the pallet supporting the first and second bags; and activating, by the programmable controller, compression of the bags supported by the pallet in the enclosure formed by the vertical walls by a compression plate.
9. The method of claim 6, comprising selecting, by the programmable controller, the first and second amounts of product to be filed in the first bag and in the second bag respectively, from a batching supply.
10. The method of claim 6, comprising an operator positioning the first bag with an open mouth and activating feeding of the first amount of product within the first bag, and an operator positioning the second bag with an open mouth and activating feeding of the second amount of product within the second bag.
11. The method of claim 6, wherein said filing the first bag comprises shaking the first bag and guiding the first bag into a shape footprint corresponding to the pallet using guiding plates.
12. The method of claim 6, comprising, before said depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag filled with the first amount of product, compacting a positioning hole in a top surface of the first bag.
13. The method of claim 6, comprising filling the second bag, lifting up the filled second bag, positioning the filled first bag underneath the filled second bag, and depositing the second bag filled with the second amount of product on top of the first bag on the pallet.
14. A bag straightener, comprising:
- vertical walls; and
- a top compression plate;
- wherein said walls are controlled by cylinders into moving from an opened position, to receive a bag, to an enclosure position around the bag; and said compression plate is then actuated by a compaction cylinder operating a compaction shaft supporting the compression plate into compressing the bag in the enclosure formed by said walls.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 27, 2014
Publication Date: Jul 30, 2015
Applicant: LES TOURBIERES BERGER LTEE (Saint-Modeste)
Inventors: Regis BERGER (Notre-Dame-du-Portage), Sylvain BERUBE (Dieppe), Stephane BOURGAULT (Riviere-du-Loup), Renaud BOURGOIN (St-Antonin), Andre LAPOINTE (St-Alexandre de Kamouraska), Denis LEBEL (St-Epiphane), Michel OUELLET (Temiscouata-sur-le-lac), Marco PARE (Riviere-du-Loup), Robert PLANTE (St-Antonin), Jean-Yves SAVOIE (Miramichi), Jean-François SENECHAL (Riviere-du-Loup)
Application Number: 14/164,755