APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PACKAGING UNITS
The invention relates to 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) 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), wherein a film take-off appliance (36), which delimits the conveying channel laterally, is arranged so as to be parallel to the strap conveyors, wherein the vertical conveyor installation (22) has a conveying channel setting appliance for setting the distance b between the conveying sides arranged so as to be opposed to each other and pertaining to the conveying straps, and wherein the film take-off appliance (36) is provided with a setting appliance for setting the distance a3 between the film take-off appliance and the vertical conveyor installation.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing packaging units in a tubular bag forming, filling and sealing machine, having a horizontal conveyor installation for transferring separated products to a portioning appliance for manufacturing portion units with a defined arrangement and number of products, and having a vertical conveyor installation for conveying the portion units, which are enveloped by a film web, to a separating appliance for separating the packaging units, wherein the vertical conveyor installation has two parallel strap conveyors, defining, with conveying sides arranged so as to be opposed to each other and pertaining to circulating conveying straps, a conveying channel for conveying the portion units, which are enveloped by the film web, wherein a film take-off appliance, which delimits the conveying channel laterally, is arranged so as to be parallel to the strap conveyors, said take-off appliance grasping film edges of the film web, which envelopes the portion units, and conveys the film web in a synchronous fashion with the portion units conveyed by the vertical conveyor installation.
Apparatuses of the type mentioned at the beginning allow for arranging a vertical conveyor installation after a portioning appliance in the vertical sense, wherein, in the region of the vertical conveyor installation, as the portion units manufactured in the portioning appliance are being continuously conveyed, they are simultaneously enveloped in a film web and normally film edges of the film web are also sealed for realizing a film tube receiving the portion units. For finishing portion packages receiving individual portion units, the only thing then left is to partition the film tube at points corresponding to the portion units carried along in the same.
Normally, manufacturing packaging units with which the film envelope rests against the products realizing the respective portion unit as tightly as possible is desirable. Moreover, the operations of enveloping the portion units and conveying the portion units are desired to be performed in a fashion as gentle on the product as possible.
The invention is therefore based on the task of proposing an apparatus for manufacturing packaging units allowing for manufacturing a clinging product package while conveying the packaged products in a fashion that is gentle on the products.
This task is solved by an apparatus having the features of claim 1.
The apparatus in accordance with the invention has a vertical conveyor installation, which has a conveying channel setting appliance for setting the distance b between the conveying sides arranged so as to be opposed to each other and pertaining to the conveying straps, and a film take-off appliance having a setting appliance for setting the distance a3 between the film take-off appliance and the vertical conveyor installation.
The apparatus in accordance with the invention, by the setting of the distance between the conveying straps of the vertical conveyor installation on the one hand and by the setting of the distance of the film take-off appliance relative to the vertical conveyor installation on the other hand, makes it possible to dimension the conveying channel exactly, with a corresponding adaptation of the conveying channel cross-section to the product conveyed through the conveying channel. Hereby it is ensured that it is made possible to manufacture a clinging outer product packaging without too intense pressure being exerted on the products by way of the conveying straps of the vertical conveyor installation or by way of the film take-off appliance acting on the portion units via the film web.
It is particularly advantageous if the conveying channel setting appliance has two axial infeed appliances which are arranged at a base frame of the vertical conveyor installation and each of which acts on a strap conveyor, and whose infeed axes are oriented so as to be parallel to the base frame. By procuring a base frame for arranging the axial infeed appliances, it can, on the one hand, be ensured that an aligned orientation of the conveying channel central axis with respect to a supply axis of the products defined by the positioning appliance, with respect to the vertical conveyor installation, is not influenced. On the other hand, the base frame can simultaneously be used for arranging the film take-off appliance, such that the vertical conveyor installation provided with the conveying channel setting appliance, in combination with the film take-off appliance, can be realized as a modular transport unit via the connection to the base frame, which transport unit can be combined via linking the base frame to a machine frame of the apparatus for manufacturing packaging units.
If, in accordance with an advantageous embodiment, the axial infeed appliances, for altering the distance of the strap conveyors, adjust the distance between driving axles of the strap conveyors, a particularly compact construction of the conveying channel setting appliance becomes possible.
If, for realizing the setting appliance of the film take-off appliance, the distance between take-off rollers, pertaining to the film take-off appliance and receiving the film edges of the film web between themselves, and the base frame of the vertical conveyor installation is adjustable, the setting appliances are in a decoupled state from each other, such that one setting axis for each of the two setting appliances is sufficient in each instance, and that the setting axes cannot influence each other.
If, in accordance with a preferred embodiment, the setting appliance of the film take-off appliance has length adjustable brackets, which are connected to a regulating frame and arranged at the base frame, and which are provided with a take-off roller at their free end in each instance, wherein the distance between the regulating frame and the base frame is adjustable by means of an axial infeed appliance, a particularly compact construction of a transport unit comprising the vertical conveyor installation and the film take-off appliance can be achieved, being able to be combined with the machine framework of the packaging apparatus as a mounting module.
If the take-off rollers of the film take-off appliance are provided with a hitch setting appliance, which makes it possible to set an angle of hitch of roller axes of the take-off rollers relative to the horizontal level, it becomes possible to superpose a transverse force to the conveying direction with the propelling force transmitted onto the film web by the take-off rollers in a draw-in gap and acting in the conveying direction, such that, upon setting a suitable angle of hitch, a tensile force acts in the cross-section of the film web, provoking the film web to rest tightly against the portion unit, its size being settable via setting of the angle of hitch.
It is particularly advantageous if the hitch setting appliance has an actuator, which is arranged at the base frame, and which is connected, via a regulating shaft, to a pivoting appliance arranged at the take-off rollers and designated for pivoting the roller axis. In a preferred embodiment, the regulating shaft is realized as a cardan shaft.
In the following, a preferred embodiment of the apparatus will be explained in more detail with the aid of the drawing.
In the figures:
For being transferred to a vertical conveyor installation 22 which is arranged below a transfer region 21, and which is only schematically illustrated in
As
As
The vertical conveyor installation 22, together with the film take-off appliance 36, forms a transport unit 41, which makes sure that the film envelope 24 is synchronously conveyed together with the portion units 12 received therein.
For explaining the function and the construction of the vertical conveyor installation 22, reference initially is to be made to
For an exemplary design of a conveying channel setting appliance, which serves to set the distance b of conveying sides 61, 62 arranged so as to be opposed to each other and pertaining to the conveying straps 34, 35, the driving shafts 50 or the shaft housings 51 of the driving shafts 50, as it is illustrated in particular in
As
As it is illustrated in
As shown by
Hereunto, as shown by
In order to make it possible to slide the take-off rollers 70 relative to the base frame 42 correspondingly, the shaft housings 74 of the film take-off appliance 36, being constructed telescopically, are provided with an outer housing part 84 fixed relative to the base frame 42 and an inner housing part 85 axially slidable relative to the outer housing part and connected to a roller housing 86. As it can be taken in particular from
For explaining the principle and the effect connected thereto, reference is made to
Claims
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 to a portioning appliance for manufacturing portion units with a defined arrangement and number of products, said apparatus comprising:
- a vertical conveyor installation for conveying portion units enveloped by a film web, wherein the vertical conveyor installation has two parallel strap conveyors including circulating conveying straps with conveying sides arranged so as to be opposed to each other, said conveying straps defining a conveying channel conveying the portion units enveloped by the film web;
- a film take-off appliance laterally delimiting the conveying channel is arranged so as to be parallel to the strap conveyors, said take-off appliance grasping film edges of said film web enveloping the portion units, said film edges being brought together in a film web deflecting appliance;
- a conveying channel setting appliance setting a distance b between the conveying sides; and
- a film take-off setting appliance setting a distance a3 between the film take-off appliance and the vertical conveyor installation.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the conveying channel setting appliance has two axial infeed appliances arranged at a base frame of the vertical conveyor installation, each of said axial infeed appliances acts on a strap conveyor, and defines an infeed axis oriented so as to be parallel to the base frame.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, in which the axial infeed appliances, for altering the distance of the strap conveyors, adjust the distance a1 between driving axles of the strap conveyors.
4. The apparatus according to claim 2, in which the film take-off setting appliance adjusts a distance between take-off rollers of the film take-off appliance and the base frame of the vertical conveyor installation.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, in which the film take-off setting appliance has length adjustable brackets connected to a regulating frame and arranged at the base frame, said brackets are provided with a take-off roller at a free end of each bracket, wherein a distance between the regulating frame and the base frame is adjustable by at least one of the axial infeed appliances.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, in which the take-off rollers of the film take-off appliance are provided with a hitch setting appliance (87), which makes it possible to set an angle of hitch α of roller axes of the take-off rollers relative to a horizontal level.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6, in which the hitch setting appliance has an actuator arranged at the base frame and connected via a regulating shaft to a pivoting appliance arranged at the take-off rollers and pivoting the roller axis.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7, in which the regulating shaft is a cardan shaft.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 14, 2014
Publication Date: Aug 11, 2016
Inventors: Markus SCHMACHTEL (Allendorf-Lumda), Horst KONSTANDIN (Karlsbad)
Application Number: 15/021,866