APPARATUS FOR THE MECHANIZED REPLACEMENT OF THE SEALING AND CUTTING MODULES IN THE MACHINES FOR THE SEALING OF PRODUCTS IN TRAYS
Apparatus for the mechanized replacement of the sealing and cutting modules in the sealing station of machines for the packaging of products in trays, with said station comprising a lower mold with seats for the support of the edges of the trays with product and that by way of motion means is cyclically raised and lowered vertically with respect to an upper mold which supports in the lower part said modules by way of hooking and releasing means so that said modules can be removed and replaced in a selective manner, characterized in that said hooking and releasing means of the modules are provided between the upper plate of each module and the respective hooking plate of the upper mold, with complementary mechanical engaging means of such a kind and oriented so as to be coupled and uncoupled individually and/or simultaneously, imparting to each said module an approaching and separating vertical movement with respect to said hooking plate of the upper mold.
The present application claims priority to PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2014/054498 filed on Mar. 7, 2014, which claims priority to Italian Patent Application No. BO2013A000105 filed Mar. 12, 2013, the entirety of the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENTNot Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe invention relates to the so-called tray sealers, namely to machines that seal with a cover film pans or trays filled with a product to be packaged, such as a food product. In particular the invention finds application in the sealing station of these machines, usually provided with a lower horizontal mold, provided with compartments open upwards wherein pliers insert and set in support, with their peripheral edge, trays filled with a product and provided with an upper and opposed mold to the previous one, under which passes a film of thermoplastic material coming from a feed reel arranged above and in correspondence to one end of said upper mold and connected to a collecting take-up reel also arranged above and in correspondence to the other end of the same upper mold, inside which the heat-sealing and cutting means are arranged, which after the rising of the lower mold, respectively close each tray by heat-sealing on its peripheral edge a portion of the interposed film and then cut around the perimeter and outside of the sealing said closing film portion, to separate it from the continuous film, so that when the lower mold lowers, the trays closed with the heat-sealed film remain therein, that by way of extractors are arranged in a raised position for the gripping by way of a part of said pliers that, while performing said feeding step of new trays to be closed, transfer the sealed trays from the sealing station in a subsequent unloading station. The waste of the film portion arranged under the upper mold, is cyclically advanced so as to be moved away towards the downstream collecting means and to be replaced by a new portion of intact film coming from the upstream supply means.
The tray sealers are typically arranged to operate cyclically on assemblies of trays formed by many trays arranged on a row or on two or more parallel rows. The technical problems that occur most frequently in these machines, are due to the necessity of having to replace the cutting means or the electrical resistances of the upper cutting and sealing means and to simplify the resolution of these problems, the tendency is to arrange the cutting and sealing assemblies as modules, to be mounted removably on a single hooking plate associated with the upper mold and which carries the electrical systems, so that in case of a malfunctioning module it can be replaced quickly without having to move the other sealing and cutting modules. This same trend also facilitates the so-called format-change operations of the tray sealers, involving replacement of the cutting and sealing modules to vary the size of the trays to be sealed.
As state of the prior art, we mention the Japanese patent JP 3743880 B2 with priority date Jul. 10, 2000 and the publication of the patent application U.S. 2011/0072764A1 deposited in Sep. 28, 2010. In this latter prior art is described how the sealing and cutting modules are provided with handles so as to be easily assembled and disassembled, and how their electric power supply and control cables are connected to an outlet arranged laterally to the modules upper hooking structure in order to facilitate maintenance. This document does not describe how the modules are fixed to said upper support structure. From the observation of an advertising catalog taken from Internet, the machine IN50 of the American firm ROSS, holder of the patent application U.S. 2011/0072764A1, it seems that the sealing and cutting modules are mounted on the support structure having a drawer-like solution, with the ability of sliding on horizontal guides and perpendicular to the advancement direction of the trays, and then with the possibility of engaging and extraction from one or both sides of the machine. In this same prior solution, the replacement of the cutting and sealing modules must be done manually, with considerable loss of time for releasing and mechanically re-fixing the modules, for opening and closing the electrical connections and allowing first a sufficient cooling of the module to be replaced in order to avoid dangerous burns to the maintenance personnel. This same solution cannot be applied on sealing and cutting assemblies acting on more than two rows of trays, as for accessing the modules of the inner rows the modules of the external rows should be removed. It is then evident how this same solution requires wide free space on the sides of the machine, in order to perform said drawer-like engagement and extraction operations of the sealing and cutting modules.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention provides to obviate the limitations and the drawbacks of the known art, with the solution described in the annexed claim 1 and subsequent dependent claims, which exploits the following solution idea. The sealing and cutting modules are provided with mechanical engaging means which presuppose a vertical movement of the modules themselves and each module is provided with a vertical electric plug which engages in a corresponding electrical vertical outlet arranged on the modules upper hooking plate, to achieve the necessary electrical connection of the removable electrical power and signal systems. To disassemble a cutting and sealing module, a forced orientation in the seat of the lower mold is arranged which would receive the tray and which is aligned vertically with the module to be replaced, a template, all or in part of insulating plastic material, provided with comfortable side handles and having a shape complementary to the bottom one of the cutting and sealing module to be replaced and when said template is lifted up with the rising of the lower mold, the same template is available under the module to be replaced and with means associated thereto, releases the module from the upper support plate, so that the module is arranged in a centered support on the template which is then sent down and is removed with the module to be changed, which may also be hot as the template is in thermo-insulating material and can be safely grasped, even with bare hands by way of its side handles. During the release of the mechanical hooking means of the module to the upper support plate and during the next downward stroke of the lower mold, the electrical plug of the module slips off automatically from the upper outlet, therefore the whole operation of extraction of the module can be mechanized and can be performed quickly and safely. For the hooking of a new cutting and sealing module, this is arranged with a forced orientation on a support template, which is mountable with forced guidance too in the empty seat of the lower mold, which is then raised to hook the module to the upper hooking plate and to engage its corresponding plug in the electric outlet of the same upper hooking plate.
Further characteristics of the invention and the advantages deriving therefrom, will appear more evident from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated purely by way of non-limiting example, in the figures of the six attached drawing sheets, wherein:
With reference to
To the sealer 10 is usually associated at least one temperature control sensor, not shown in the drawings, therefore for piloting the electric module M is necessary to provide within the same a small electrical circuit formed by five wires: two power wires for the power supply of the electric resistance 11; two signal wires connected to said temperature sensor and one grounding wire. These five wires are connected on the other end to a penta-polar plug 13 that with its own insulating body 113 protrudes in part from a window 14 obtained on the plate 1 (
From
With reference to
Always in
The hooking plate 3 is finally provided with an electrical penta-polar outlet 26, whose insulating body 126 protrudes downward from a window 27 of the same plate 3 and carries the contact metal bushings 226 open downward and in the vertical alignment position, useful for the coupling with the pins 213 of the electrical plug 13 of the sealing and cutting module M as shown in
With reference to
Have not been illustrated in
The equipment to be used for the purposes in question, is illustrated in
After mounting the template 36 in a seat S of the lower mold C1, as mentioned earlier with reference to
The engaging step of a new module M′ on the hooking plate 3, is an operation which is also very simple and rapid, which involves the provision in the empty seat S of the lower mold C1, of a template 36′ as from
In
It is understood that the description refers to a simple, reliable and preferred embodiment of the invention, to which numerous variations and constructive modifications can be made, all of which without abandoning the guiding principle of the invention, as described, illustrated and as claimed below. In the claims, the references between brackets are purely indicative and do not limit the protection scope of the claims.
Claims
1. An apparatus for the mechanized replacement of the sealing and cutting modules in the sealing station of machines for the packaging of products in trays, with said station comprising a lower mold with seats for the support of the edges of the trays with product and that by way of motion means is cyclically raised and lowered vertically with respect to an upper mold which supports in the lower part said modules by way of hooking and releasing means so that said modules can be removed and replaced in a selective manner, characterized in that said hooking and releasing means of the modules are provided between the upper plate of each module and the respective hooking plate of the upper mold, with complementary mechanical engaging means of such a kind and oriented so as to be coupled and uncoupled individually and/or simultaneously, imparting to each said module an approaching and separating vertical movement with respect to said hooking plate of the upper mold.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, provided with electric power and signal circuits connected to the sealing unit of each module, which in conjunction with the replacement of each module must be opened and closed, characterized in that said circuits abut against supplementary electric coupling means, vertically oriented and also arranged on the upper plate of the modules and on said hooking plate, all in such a way that while the hooking and releasing operations of a module are carried out simultaneously the operations of closing and opening of said electric circuits are carried out as well, and so that all of these operations can be easily unified mechanized and automated, using the lower mold and the respective rising and lowering means.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that:
- each said module is provided at the top and perpendicularly to an own upper plate of a component such as male of at least one mechanical engaging whose component, complementary and for example female, is provided on a hooking plate of said upper mold which carries hooked underneath the various modules, being provided of forced orientation means for properly orienting said modules with respect to the hooking plate and to said molds;
- said upper plate of each module and said hooking plate carry complementary parts of multi-polar electric coupling, of the plug and outlet type, perpendicular to said plates and connected to the power supply and electric control means of the sealing unit of each module;
- some locking and unlocking means are provided on at least one of said plates to cooperate with said complementary mechanical engaging parts;
- a template is finally provided to be mounted with the forced orientation means, in one of the empty seats of the lower mold and said template is provided with means for effecting the hooking or the release of a module to or from said hooking plate and is provided with means for activating or deactivating said locking and unlocking means, using the rising and lowering movement of the lower mold with said template.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the upper plate of each module carries integral on the upper part and perpendicularly, a shank of cylindrical shape, with round base, which ends with a frustum conical head and with rounded edges and which is laterally provided, at opposite positions, with rectilinear grooves, being provided that the hooking plate is provided for each module with a hole of diameter such to be crossed with good accuracy by said cylindrical shank of the module and such that, at successful entry of the shank into the hole, the side grooves of the same shank would protrude from the upper face of the hooking plate on which levers are pivoted guided by means and urged in the closing by a spring which leads said levers to protrude with a part of their inner sides, within said hole, so that when in said hole said shank of the module is engaged and raised, the tapered end of said shank would progressively enter between said levers separating them until bringing them to cooperate with the cylindrical part of the same shank and when the side grooves of said shank reach the height of the levers, the latter snap enter in said grooves firmly fixing the module under the hooking plate.
5. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein inside said mechanical engaging shank guide means are provided as well as the counteracting spring for the sealing assembly of each module and on the plate of said sealing assembly is integral perpendicularly an anti-rotation pin which passes through a slot provided on the upper plate of the module and which protrudes perpendicularly from the latter to be able to removably engage in a corresponding seat of the hooking plate to prevent also the rotation of each module around the axis of the mechanical engaging that fixes the module itself to the hooking plate.
6. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said template has the shape of a parallelepiped and inverted box, made with any thermosetting plastic material, provided with a flat upper wall on which it is intended to rest the lower part of a module and peripherally surrounded by an edge in relief for containing the same module, being the same template provided with comfortable side gripping handles, being provided with downward extensions of its own side walls, with which it engages the perimeter of the seat of the lower mold for properly centering therein the same template which with own corner portions rests on the upper face of the plate with the seats of the lower mold, which in this way takes over the mechanical support function of the template, being provided on one of said corner portions of the template a projecting vertical pin which engages a hole provided only on one of the portions with which said plate supports the corner areas of the same template, so that the latter results arranged on the lower mold with a forced and useful orientation for properly cooperating with a module both in the hooking step and in the releasing one to or from said hooking plate of the upper mold.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the template is provided laterally, for example on the half of one of its sides, with a first plate which extends above the peak of the same template and that carries open on the upper part a vertical and median slit in which a side reference of the module is inserted to be hooked or released, being provided that in opposed and parallel to said first plate, the template carries laterally fixed a second rectangular and projecting plate which carries two upwardly open slits in which a corresponding pair of side references of the same module are engaged which in this way is properly oriented with respect to the template and with respect to the hooking plate of the upper mold.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the template used for releasing a module has the first side plate higher than said second plate and the same first plate is provided at the top with oblique sides adapted to cooperate with end extensions of said levers operating on the hooking plate for locking the mechanical engaging of each module, to determine the mutual separation of said levers in contrast with the action of the respective closing spring, with the resulting output of said levers from the side slots of the shank of the module and the consequent releasing of the same module that by falling on the near peak of the template, lowers said slots so that when the lower mold with the template comes down with the released module and said levers gradually close, said levers slide on the cylindrical portion and then on the conical portion of the shank, returning to the projecting position within the hole of the hooking plate, useful for the snap cooperation with the new module to be hooked.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8, characterized by comprising sensors or micro-switches and a respective electric and/or electronic circuit to ensure that in the event of non-compliance with the orientation protocol of the template on the lower mold and of the module on the same template, the movement of the lower mold is automatically stopped and acoustic and/or visual signals are activated to indicate the type of malfunction occurred.
10. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the plug and the outlet of said vertical electric coupling are provided with respective insulating bodies that cross the respective vertical windows provided on the upper plate of the module and on the hooking plate and said insulating bodies are provided with respective base widening which are respectively maintained abutting under the upper plate and above said hooking plate, by driving screws and by respective counteracting springs whose thrust force is greater than the coupling friction of the electric coupling in question, the whole in such a way that when the upper plate of a module is raised against the hooking plate, the plugs fit into the corresponding bushings of the electric coupling and the protruding parts of the insulating bodies of said coupling touch each other and push away their bases from the plates, forming a clearance of a width such as to compensate for the clearance that is formed between the same plates during the work cycle of the module and which derives from the clearances existing between said hooking levers and the corresponding slots of the shank engaged by said levers, so that during the same working cycle of the module said insulating bodies move through respective apertures remaining always in contact one with the other, with no relative axial movements between the plugs and the respective outlet bushings.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 7, 2014
Publication Date: Dec 24, 2015
Inventor: ANDREA SCHIAVINA (CORREGGIO, PROVINCE OF REGGIO EMILIA)
Application Number: 14/397,689