JP4965269B2 - Horizontal packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a horizontal packaging machine capable of operating in response to a shortage in packaging material feeding means and sealing means when a shortage occurs in a product which is a package to be fed into a packaging material.

  Conventionally, an example of a horizontal pillow packaging machine is schematically shown in FIG. A horizontal pillow wrapping machine 1 (hereinafter referred to as “wrapping machine 1”) that wraps a product A by three-way sealing a tubular packaging material is combined with a product supply device 10 including a belt conveyor 11. A web-shaped packaging material F formed into a curved shape with the side edges thereof approached by the former 2 is center-sealed by the center sealer 3 and formed into a tube shape, and is conveyed by an infeed conveyor 12 which is a product conveying means. The product A to be fed is fed at a constant interval D into the curved packaging material F in the product feed region 6 of the former 2.

  On the downstream side of the center sealer 3, a high-temperature end sealer 4 that performs a rotation operation and a box motion operation as a sealing means is disposed. In the illustrated example, the end sealer 4 includes a pair of upper and lower rotary heater blocks 4a and 4a that are heated to a high temperature by energizing a heating wire. The heater blocks 4a and 4a seal the tube-shaped packaging film F. It welds by pinching in the biting position 5. The product A fed into the tube-shaped packaging film F travels together with the packaging film F, and the packaging film F is packaged by end sealing with the end sealer 4 in the transverse direction at a position between the products A and A adjacent to each other. It is accommodated in the bag B, and the bag package P is manufactured. The product conveying means includes an infeed conveyor 12 and a servo motor M <b> 1 that drives the infeed conveyor 12. A product passage sensor 14 for detecting the passage of the product A is disposed on the infeed conveyor 12. By detecting the passage (time) of the product A by the product passage sensor 14, the empty E of the product A is measured.

  A feed roller 8 that feeds the web-shaped packaging film, a paper feed roller 9 that feeds the laminated edge of the tube-shaped packaging film, and a film feed drive motor M2 that drives both rollers 8, 9 It is a packaging material feeding means to send. Further, the sealing means includes an end sealer 4 and an end seal drive motor M3 for driving the end sealer 4. The controller 7 controls the product supply control and the packaging machine 1 by controlling the driving of the drive motors M <b> 1 to M <b> 3 based on the detection signal input from the product passage sensor 14. If the supply of the product A is continuous at the interval D (pitch p), each means performs a normal operation. The operating speed of the feed conveyor 12 that feeds the product A into the packaging material F corresponds to the packaging processing speed of the packaging machine 1, that is, a one-to-one correspondence relationship between the feeding speed of the packaging material F and the operating speed of the end sealer 4. Is variable while being maintained. Prior to packaging, the controller 7 includes data necessary for controlling the packaging machine 1, that is, the height H and length L of the product A, the cut dimension L1 of the bag package P in which the product A is packaged, the end The rotation radius R of the sealer 4, the distance L <b> 2 from the transition position 15 between the belt conveyor 11 and the feeding conveyor 12 to the seal engagement position 5 of the end sealer 4, and the like can be captured.

  In the packaging machine 1, if the packaging machine is continuously operated at a constant speed even when the interval between the supplied products A is missing, an empty bag without the product A is produced. In order to avoid such a situation, when the product A is available, the operation of the packaging machine 1 is temporarily stopped. After the operation of the packaging machine 1 is stopped, the supply of the product A is awaited. However, based on the above data, the end sealer 4 does not stop while the end sealer 4 is in contact with the packaging film F at the stop position. A stop position is determined in advance. In such a packaging machine 1, it is necessary to restart the operation after confirming various settings such as product supply, packaging material supply, sealer position, etc., and the work load increases and efficient operation of the packaging machine 1 is performed. I can't expect it.

By automatically stopping packaging feed when there is a shortage in product supply and automatically restarting packaging feed when subsequent products catch up to a predetermined product interval, A packaging machine has been proposed that prevents the generation of empty bags that are not contained. In this packaging machine, when it is detected that the product supply device is out of stock, that is, there is a vacancy in the supply of the product, the feeding of the packaging material and the sealing mechanism are automatically stopped, and the subsequent product catches up with the sensor. After confirming this, the packaging material feed and sealing mechanism are automatically restarted to prevent the generation of empty bags that do not contain the product, and to eliminate wasteful consumption of packaging materials. ing.
JP 2002-53104 A

  6 and 7 are explanatory views schematically showing a control mode of feeding the packaging film F as a packaging material when there is one or two vacancy (shortage) in the supply of the product A, respectively. . As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the product passage sensor 14 detects that there is one empty E in the supply of the product A, the empty E is fed into the product by the operation of the infeed conveyor 12 as the product conveying means. When it has been transported to the region 6 (FIG. 6B), it is rapidly decelerated until the feeding speed by the servo motor M1 as the packaging material feeding means is stopped (FIG. 6D). When the succeeding product A in the empty E is conveyed to the product feeding area 6 by the continuous operation of the feeding conveyor 12 during the period t1 during which the operation of the servo motor M1 is stopped (FIG. 6 (c)), the servo motor M1. Accelerate your driving and resume. Thereby, even if there is one empty E in the supply of the product A, a bag package is continuously manufactured without generating an empty bag, and wasteful consumption of the packaging film F is prevented. As shown in FIG. 7, when there are two vacant E1 and E2 in the supply of the product A, the period t2 in which the operation of the servo motor M1 is stopped is longer than the period t1 shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C, as in the case where there is one vacant E in the supply of the product A except that A becomes longer until it is conveyed to the product feeding area 6 (FIG. 7D). Thus, it is possible to continuously produce a bag package without generating an empty bag.

  However, when the packaging material is stopped and restarted, the acceleration is great at both deceleration and acceleration, and the packaging material must be accelerated or decelerated within one cycle. The more the product is, the more the product cannot follow the rapid acceleration / deceleration of the packaging material, and the packaging material slips, causing a phenomenon that the position of the product on the packaging material deviates from a predetermined position. The deviation of the product position causes the bite when sealing with the end sealer. The packaging machine that prevents the occurrence of such empty bags is limited to a packaging speed of about 400 pieces per minute, although it depends on conditions.

  In high-speed packaging machines, there are also packaging machines that can output 1000 to 1200 bag packages per minute. Consecutive empty bags equal to the number of missing items are generated. If there is a vacancy in the product supply for 5 seconds, the number of empty bags reaches 80 to 100, and the amount of packaging material consumed in vain cannot be ignored.

  Therefore, in a horizontal packaging machine, even if the packaging speed becomes high, if there is a shortage in the supplied product, the amount of packaging material that is wasted can be maintained while maintaining the packaging by the packaging machine. There is a problem to be solved in terms of reducing the occurrence of empty bags as much as possible.

  The object of the present invention is to wrap the product by biting the product with the end sealer when the supply of the product is missing or when the supply of the packaging material is stopped or restarted even when the packaging speed is increased. It is an object of the present invention to provide a horizontal packaging machine capable of reducing the amount of packaging material that is wasted by avoiding stoppage of the machine and reducing the number of empty bags in which products are not packaged.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention includes a product conveying means in which a product passage sensor for detecting the passage of a product is arranged, and the product into which a packaging material to wrap the product is fed by the product conveying means. Wrapping material feeding means for feeding in a state in which the packaging material is placed, sealing means for sealing the wrapping material for sealing at a position between the products before and after the packaging material, and the product conveying means, the packaging material feeding means, and the seal A controller for controlling the means, wherein the controller responds to the product passage sensor detecting a missing part state of the product, and the shortage state region from the product conveying means is a part of the packaging material. When the product arrives at the product feed area, a portion without the product to be placed is formed in the product feed area of the packaging material. In a manner that allows the empty bag below the number of the shortage of and contiguous with min or more, and controls the packaging material feed means and said sealing means.

  According to this horizontal type packaging machine, since the product conveying means, the packaging material feeding means, the sealing means, and the controller that controls the operation of each of these means are provided, the product fed in the lateral direction by the product conveying means is It is wrapped in the packaging material supplied by the packaging material feeding means and sealed by the sealing means. When the product passage sensor detects a vacant product, that is, a missing product state, the controller allows an empty bag of one or more products and less than the number of consecutive missing products in response to the detection. Since the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means are controlled, the acceleration / deceleration of the packaging material feeding by the packaging material feeding means is moderated, and there is some waste of the packaging material due to the occurrence of empty bags, but it is caused by a large acceleration Occurrence of an inconvenient situation where the packaging machine must be stopped due to the inertia of the product or the packaging material can be avoided.

  In this horizontal type packaging machine, the controller maintains the conveyance speed of the product by the product conveyance means at a predetermined speed, and responds to detection of two or more consecutive out-of-stock conditions of the product, Control for accelerating / decelerating the wrapping material after decelerating and stopping the wrapping material as a magnitude that does not cause substantial slip of the product with respect to the wrapping material due to the acceleration. Preferably it is done. According to this horizontal packaging machine, by controlling the packaging material feeding means, the acceleration / deceleration of the packaging material feed is suppressed to a level that does not cause the product to substantially slip with respect to the packaging material due to the acceleration. As a result, a large positional shift does not occur before and after the feeding direction of the product with respect to the packaging material, and an inconvenient situation where the sealing means bites the product can be prevented.

  In the horizontal packaging machine, when the product passage sensor detects one missing item state of the product, the controller controls the operation of the packaging material feeding unit and the sealing unit to the missing item state. You may continue without changing it from before the detection. When a missing product is detected, if the packaging material feeding means is forcibly decelerated, stopped, or accelerated in an attempt to reduce the consumption of unnecessary packaging materials, sudden acceleration or deceleration of the packaging material or product will occur. This may force the packaging material to become loose or excessively pulled, or cause the product to be displaced from the packaging material due to inertia. In that case, wasteful packaging material is consumed at the time of the troublesome work for stopping or restarting the operation of the horizontal packaging machine, or at the end of packaging or at the start of restarting. If only one product is missing, the packaging material can continue to be fed, and the formed empty bag can be completed with a minimum of one.

  The horizontal wrapping machine according to the present invention comprises a product conveying means, a packaging material feeding means, a sealing means, and a controller for controlling each of these means, and the controller detects that the product passing sensor has detected a missing product state. In response, when the out-of-stock area from the product transport means arrives at the product infeed area of the packaging material, a part with no product is formed in the product infeed area of the packaging material, and the area with no product in place is supported. The packaging material feeding means and the sealing means are controlled in such a manner as to allow empty bags that are equal to or more than one product and less than the number of continuous shortages. Therefore, even when the packaging speed becomes high, if there is a shortage in the supplied product, the packaging material or product is not forced to suddenly accelerate and decelerate, the packaging material is too loose or pulled, or the product It does not cause displacement from the packaging material due to inertia. As a result, when stopping / resuming the feeding of the packaging material, it is possible to avoid a packaging material feed or vertical seal failure, or stop the operation of the packaging machine due to product biting in the end sealer, and the product is not packed Therefore, it is possible to provide a horizontal packaging machine that can reduce the amount of waste generated and reduce the amount of packaging material that is wasted. Further, the structure of the product conveying means, the packaging material feeding means, and the sealing means need not be changed from the conventional means, and can be handled in software such as operation control of the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means. The structure of the packaging machine does not become complicated, and it corresponds to the shortage of product supply at the time of high-speed packaging, between efficient operation control as a packaging machine and reduction of wasteful consumption of packaging materials. A balanced horizontal packaging machine can be provided.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a control mode for feeding a packaging material in the case where there are two vacant product supplies in the horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention. The structure of the horizontal wrapping machine 20 (hereinafter referred to as “wrapping machine 20”) itself is the same as the structure shown in FIG. 5, and is a feed conveyor 12 as product conveying means and rollers 8 and 9 as wrapping material feeding means. And a servo motor M1, a center sealer 3 and an end sealer 4 as sealing means, and a controller 7 for controlling the operation of each of these means. Therefore, the product A fed in the lateral direction by the product conveying means is wrapped in the packaging material supplied by the packaging material feeding means and sealed by the sealing means. The packaging machine 20 is different in the function of the controller 7.

  In the controller 7, the product passage sensor 14 detects two consecutive shortage states of the product A. At this time, in response to the detection of the shortage, the controller 7 is the product of the packaging film F in which the shortage areas E1 and E2 of the infeed conveyor 12 which is the product conveying means are formed at the opening position of the former 2. When arriving at the infeed area 6, a product-free portion Ea corresponding to one product A is formed in the product-feed region 6 of the packaging film F, and the product A corresponding to the product-free portion Ea is formed. The paper feed roller 9 and the end sealer 4 as the packaging material feeding means are controlled in a mode that allows one empty bag.

  In the packaging machine 20, the controller 7 maintains the conveying speed of the product A by the infeed conveyor 12 at a predetermined speed. Further, the controller 7 responds to the detection of two consecutive shortage states of the product, and causes the acceleration / deceleration of the feeding of the packaging film F to the packaging material feeding means such as the paper feeding roller 9 due to the acceleration. Control that accelerates after decelerating and stopping the packaging film F as a size that does not cause substantial slip of the product with respect to the packaging material. As a result, due to the acceleration / deceleration of the feeding of the packaging film F, the product A is not greatly displaced in the front and rear directions in the feeding direction with respect to the packaging film F due to its inertia, and the end sealer 4 bites the product A in advance. Can be prevented.

  According to the packaging machine 20, as shown in FIG. 1 (d), the paper feed roller 9 is controlled by acceleration / deceleration of the feed of the packaging film F between the normal feed speed Vf and the stop speed 0. The control is gentle. In this example, moderate acceleration (Acc) is started immediately after the speed becomes zero due to gentle deceleration (Dec). Therefore, when the infeed conveyor 12 is traveling at a constant speed, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), when the out-of-stock areas E1 and E2 are detected by the product passage sensor 14, the packaging material feeding means is still The packaging film F is continuously fed at the previous feeding speed. When the out-of-stock state area E1 arrives at the product feeding area 6, the packaging material feeding means decelerates (Dec) to form a half of the product A (the movement of the product A is one half). Pitch (p / 2); FIG. 1 (b)). Next, when the out-of-stock state area E2 arrives at the product feeding area 6, the packaging material feeding means accelerates (Acc) and forms a half space for the product A in the meantime (movement of the product A). Is one-half pitch (p / 2); FIG. 1 (c)), and together with the previously formed half-piece empty space, the product-feeding area 6 of the packaging film F is equivalent to one piece of the product A. A portion Ea having no loaded product (the movement of the product A is 1 pitch p in total) is formed. When the end sealer 4 is applied with the end seal, the no-product-placed portion Ea generates an empty bag. The packaging film wastes one product, but this waste is minimal. Occurrence of an unfavorable situation in which the packaging machine 20 must be stopped, such as movement of the product A due to large acceleration, loosening or pulling of the packaging film F, can be avoided.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing a control mode for feeding a packaging material in the case where there are three vacancies in product supply in the horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention. In this example, when there are three consecutive empty spaces E1, E2, and E3 for supplying the product A, the subsequent product A feeds the product during the period in which the drive of the paper feed roller 9 by the servo motor M1 is stopped. Except for the length of time until it is transported to the region 6 (period t3), as shown in FIG. 1, as in the case where there are two empty E1 and E2 in the supply of the product A, there is an empty bag for one product A. It is generated, and the bag package can be continuously manufactured before and after that. That is, when the out-of-stock area E1 arrives at the product feeding area 6 from the state shown in FIG. 2A, the packaging material feeding means decelerates (Dec) to form a half of the product A. (Product A moves half pitch (p / 2); FIG. 2 (b)). When the next shortage state area E2 arrives at the product feeding area 6, the packaging material feeding means is stopped. Further, when the out-of-stock state area E3 arrives at the product feeding area 6, the packaging material feeding means accelerates (Acc) and forms a vacant space for another half of the product A during that time (the movement of the product A is In addition, a half pitch (p / 2)) and the half of the vacant space formed earlier, the product feed area 6 of the packaging film F has a product-free portion Ea (one product A) ( The total movement of the product A is 1 pitch (p) (FIG. 2 (c)).

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically showing a form of controlling the feeding of the packaging material when there is one vacant product supply in the horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention. When the product passage sensor 14 detects one missing item state of the product, the controller 7 performs control to continue the operation of the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means without changing from the state before the missing item state is detected. . If the packaging material feeding means is forcibly decelerated, stopped, or accelerated in an attempt to suppress wasteful packaging material consumption when one missing product is detected, the packaging material or product must be suddenly accelerated or decelerated. Thus, the troublesome work for stopping and resuming the operation of the packaging machine 20, or the wasteful packaging material is consumed at the end of packaging or at the start of resumption. If only one product A is missing, the wrapping film F can be continuously fed at the same speed, so that the formed empty bag can be completed with a minimum of one.

  FIG. 4 shows a flowchart showing an example of the control of the horizontal packaging machine according to the present invention. According to this control flow, when the packaging film feeding operation is performed (step 1, “S1”, the same applies hereinafter), the continuous supply of product A (corresponding to B in FIGS. 1 to 3) is performed. It is determined whether or not is longer than the length corresponding to acceleration / deceleration with the limit acceleration / deceleration amount (S2). The limit acceleration / deceleration amount is an acceleration / deceleration amount that causes the product A to slide with respect to the packaging film F due to its inertia and to cause a substantial displacement if the acceleration / deceleration is more than that. When the determination of S2 is Yes, the supply continuous vacancy of the product A is sufficiently long, and it is decelerated until the packaging film F is stopped (S3). If the determination in S2 is No, the continuous supply of product A is not sufficient, and when acceleration is performed immediately after stopping, acceleration / deceleration more than the limit acceleration / deceleration amount is required. Therefore, the process returns to S1 and the packaging film feeding operation is continued. This corresponds to the case where there is one product A available. In S3, it is determined whether or not the product A supplied by the product passage sensor 14 is detected and acceleration of the feeding speed of the packaging film F is started (S4). When determination of S4 is Yes, the acceleration operation | movement of the packaging film F is started, and it returns to S1 after that. If the determination in S4 is No, this determination is repeated until the product A to which the product passage sensor 14 is supplied is detected.

  In the packaging machine 20, the operation of the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means according to the available amount of the product A can be performed by the software measure of acceleration / deceleration of the packaging material feeding means without changing the hardware configuration of each means constituting the packaging machine 20. A simple measure of controlling can reduce the consumption of the packaging material. Since the acceleration / deceleration of the feeding of the packaging material does not exceed the limit acceleration / deceleration that causes the positional shift of the product A with respect to the packaging film F, it is possible to prevent inconveniences such as the sealing means biting the product A in advance. it can. In addition, the resumption of the packaging material in line with the detection of the supply of the product A is performed while maintaining the acceleration within a range not exceeding the limit acceleration / deceleration, and can be suppressed to one empty bag which is the minimum number. Therefore, useless consumption of the packaging film can be prevented.

  In the above-described embodiment, the generation of the empty bag is described as one that is the minimum, but the generation of the empty bag can be less than the number of empty products A, depending on conditions such as the packaging speed. For example, when the product A has three consecutive empty spaces, the number of empty bags may be two. Further, when the product A has four consecutive empty spaces, the number of empty bags may be two or three.

  In the above embodiment, the end sealer 4 is a rotary heat sealer. However, instead of this, a sealer that performs box motion may be used, and a cutter that cuts and separates each bag package P together with a seal may be provided. it can. Further, the packaging machine 20 has been described by taking a horizontal pillow packaging machine as an example. However, the packaging machine 20 can be applied to a reverse pillow packaging machine that supplies a web-shaped packaging material from below and performs center sealing on the upper side, or a web-shaped packaging material. It is obvious that the present invention can also be applied to a horizontal type drawing and packaging machine in which a concave portion that accommodates a product is formed by drawing and the concave portion that contains the product is covered with another packaging material and sealed.

In the horizontal packaging machine by this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows typically the control form of the feeding of a packaging material when there are two vacancy in supply of a product. In the horizontal packaging machine by this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows typically the control form of the feeding of a packaging material when there are three vacancy in supply of a product. In the horizontal packaging machine by this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows typically the control form of the feeding of a packaging material when there is one empty for supply of a product. It is a flowchart which shows an example of control of the horizontal packaging machine by this invention. It is a side view which shows typically an example of a horizontal pillow packaging machine. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the control form of the feeding of a packaging material when there is one empty for supply of a product. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the control form of feeding of a packaging material when there are two vacancy in supply of a product.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Horizontal pillow packaging machine 2 Former 3 Center sealer 4 End sealer 4a, 4a Heater block 5 Seal biting position 6 Product feed area 7 Controller 8 Roller 9 Paper feed roller 10 Product supply device 11 Belt conveyor 12 Feed conveyor 14 Product passage sensor 15 Crossover position 20 Horizontal packaging machine A Product B Packaging bag D Interval E, E1, E2, E3 Empty space of product A (area in shortage) Ea No part of product to be mounted F Packaging material H Height of product A L Product A Length L1 Cut dimension L2 Distance M1 Servo motor M2 Film feed drive motor M3 End seal drive motor P Bag package R Turning radius t1, t2 Period

Claims (3)

Product conveying means in which a product passage sensor for detecting the passage of the product is arranged, packaging material feeding means for sending the packaging material to be wrapped around the product in a state where the product fed by the product conveying means is placed, and the packaging material A sealing means for sealing the packaging material for sealing at a position between the products before and after the product, and a controller for controlling the product conveying means, the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means,
The controller responds to the fact that the product passage sensor has detected the shortage state of the product, and when the shortage state region from the product transport means arrives at the product feed region of the packaging material, A portion without a product to be placed is formed in the product feed area of the packaging material, and an empty bag that is equal to or more than one piece of the product and less than the number of continuous shortages corresponding to the portion with no product to be placed is allowed. The horizontal packaging machine according to the aspect, wherein the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means are controlled.   The controller maintains the conveyance speed of the product by the product conveyance means at a predetermined speed, and in response to detection of two or more consecutive missing parts of the product, the packaging material feeding means Control of accelerating and decelerating the packaging material as a magnitude that does not cause substantial slipping of the product with respect to the packaging material due to the acceleration is performed after the packaging material is decelerated and stopped. The horizontal packaging machine according to claim 1.   When the product passage sensor detects one missing product state of the product, the controller does not change the operation of the packaging material feeding means and the sealing means from that before detecting the missing product state. The horizontal packaging machine according to claim 1 or 2, which is continued.

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