Abstract:
A method of filling pouches, particularly drink pouches, with few steps in the process. A pouch is provided for filling and placed on its side on a conveyor belt. The pouch is pushed to a stop such that the open end of the pouch is placed for accurate engagement by clamps which pick up the pouch on both sides of the mouth and rotate the pouch to a vertical position with the mouth facing upward. The clamps then move relative to the center of the pouch opening the mouth, optionally with an incoming jet of air to assist with the opening. A substance such as a liquid to drink is then placed in the pouch, the clamps are moved apart and the pouch sealed. Fitments may be placed in the pouch before the pouch mouth is closed and sealed. The filled pouches are then released from the clamps.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to preformed flexible pouch packaging filling and sealing systems and their uses.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The flexible pouches filled by this system may be stand-up pouches or traditional flat pouches. The pouch may be constructed out of a wide range of materials including plastics, foils, and paper. The pouch shapes vary but they are all sealed on three of the four sides before being presented to the filling and sealing system. In all cases the pouches are filled through an opening at the top of the pouch while the pouch is in an upright position.  
         [0003]     There are many packaging systems available to fill these flexible pouches. All existing systems either use integral pouch formers or manually and/or robotically transfer pouches from a remote pouch former into a filler/sealer in-feed cartridge, robotic transfer/carrier clip chain system or a carrier puck system. Due to their basic design these systems are either inflexible, slow, or have several pouch transfers, which adds to equipment cost and reduces system speed, efficiency and quality. U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,824 is an example of such a package system.  
         [0004]     This invention utilizes remote pouch makers and eliminates the need for all manual or robotic transfers, carrier pucks, or chain clip pouch carrier systems by taking the pouches directly from the pouch former in a continuous motion servo drive 4-lane conveyor utilizing a filling/sealing swing jaw system, which maintains complete control of the pouches during the entire filling and sealing process. These swing jaws present the pouches to the fillers, sealers, and fitment placement system in the proper orientation and alignment. They also bring the sides of the pouches closer together for proper opening in the filling and fitment placement processes and stretch the sides of the pouch taunt for proper sealing during the sealing and seal cooling processes. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0005]     The invention is described by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  shows a flexible stand-up pouch with a flat base.  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  shows a flexible stand-up pouch with a fin-sealed base.  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  shows a flexible stand-up pouch with a fitment drink pour spout.  
         [0009]      FIG. 4  shows an elevation view of the overall arrangement of the packaging system.  
         [0010]      FIG. 5  shows a plan view of the overall arrangement of the packaging system.  
         [0011]      FIG. 6  shows a plan view of the method the pouches are swept into the pouch clamps and rotated 90% from a flat position to a upright position.  
         [0012]      FIG. 7  shows details of the pouch brush sweep system.  
         [0013]      FIG. 8  shows a detail of the pouch brush sweep travel pattern.  
         [0014]      FIG. 9  show the top view of a typical sweep jaw unit.  
         [0015]      FIG. 10  shows details of the back side of a typical sweep jaw unit.  
         [0016]      FIG. 11  shows the a perspective view of one of the sweep brush conveyors.  
         [0017]      FIG. 12  shows details of one of the individual sweep brushes.  
         [0018]      FIG. 13  shows details of the travel of the sweep jaws through the 90% tilt phase of the conveyor travel.  
         [0019]      FIG. 14  shows the details of the fitment robotic placement system.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , container  1  is known as a flexible stand-up pouch and it includes vertical walls  5 , flat base  8 , vertical side seals  6  &amp;  7  and open mouth  4 .  FIG. 2  shows a container  2  with a standard flexible non-stand-up pouch, which is similar to container  1  with the exception that it has a fin-sealed bottom  68  instead of flat base  8 , as the stand-up pouch bottom.  FIG. 3  shows container  3  as a stand-up pouch and is similar to container  1  except the open mouth  4  is replaced by closed mouth  64  and contains a fitment (drink/pour spout)  9 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  shows an elevation view and  FIG. 5  shows a plan view of the packaging system&#39;s general arrangement. Pouches  100  are fabricated in a stand alone pouch former  10  preferably at a rate of between 800 and 1,200 pouches per minute. Completed pouches  100  are discharged from the pouch former  10  into 4 lanes in the arrangement shown in  FIG. 6 . Pouches  100  are guided by guide  12  into 4-lane continuous motion pouch clamp conveyors  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d.  To support the pouches until they are properly located and secured. Support bucket conveyors  15  and  16  have been inserted between the 4 lanes of the pouch clamp conveyors  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d.  After pouches  100  have been initially deposited onto conveyors  15  and  16  as shown in  FIG. 6  the pouches  100  are swept into position by sweep brush conveyors  13  and  14 . After the pouches are in position they are clamped by the 4 lines of pouch clamps  70  shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10 . Conveyors  15  and  16  end and the pouch clamps  70  are tilted 90% to present the mouth  4  of the pouches  100  for the filling and sealing process. The pouches  100  then travel under sections  17 ,  18 ,  19 ,  20 ,  21 ,  22 ,  23 , and  24  for filling, fitment placement and sealing. Sections  17  through  24  are supported above the pouch clamp conveyors  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  on an articulating beam system  72  which allows them to perform their tasks in synchronization with the pouch clamp conveyors  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d.  In section  17  the pouch clamps  70  tilt the pouches  100  into the vertical position and the clamp jaws  25  and  26  are brought closer together, thus opening the mouth  4  of pouch  100 . In section  18  suction cups open the top pouch opening and an air blow inflates the pouch. Section  19  is the primary fill station. Section  20  is the secondary fill station. Section  21  is used for as a 3 rd  filling station or a spare if a third fill station is not required, In section  22  fitments are inserted in the top of the pouch, clamp jaws  25  and  26  move away from each other and a tack seal is applied to seal the mouth  4 . The final top seal is applied in section  22 . In section  23  a cooling seal bar (not shown) is applied to the top seal. In section  24  the filled and sealed pouches are transferred from the pouch clamp conveyor  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  to top chain conveyors (not shown) that takes the pouches through cooling (if needed), integrity testing and straw application (if needed) into case packaging.  
         [0022]     The pouch former  10  preferably produces pouches at 800 to 1,200 pouches/minute in 4 rows of 2 pairs each. Each pair has their mouths  4  adjacent to each other and their bases  8  remote from one another as shown in  FIG. 6 . All 4 rows are produced with little clearance between each row as shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0023]     The finished pouches  100  are discharged from the pouch former  10  on a flat belt through pouch guide  12  into four rows on the pouch clamp conveyors  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  and support bucket conveyors  15  and  16 . The pouch guide  12  is a slanted metal guide that insures the pouches  100  from the pouch former  10  are deposited into the pouch clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  and support bucket conveys  15  and  16  properly. Without this guide the pouches  100  may float in the air and over shoot the proper bucket location.  
         [0024]      FIGS. 6, 7 ,  8 ,  11  and  12  show the details of how the sweep brush conveyors  13  and  14  and the support bucket conveyors  15  and  16  configure and align the pouches  100  in the pouch clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  and the pouch clamp  70 . Once the pouches  100  are deposited from the pouch former  10  on to the pouch clamp conveyor lanes  11 A,  11 B,  11 C, &amp;  11 D and bucket support conveyors  15  and  16  as shown in  FIG. 6  they are sweep into guides and stops located in the pouch clamps  70  of the pouch clamp conveyors lanes  11 A,  11  B,  11 C, and  11  D.  
         [0025]     The sweep brush conveyors  13  and  14  are servo drive and move thin flexible brushes  49  along with the pouches  100  in the same direction of flow. The metal guide  27  ensures that none of the brush bristles inadvertently get under the pouches or knock the pouches  100  out of alignment as they are being transferred on the sweep jaw conveyor  11 . Once the pouches  100  are nested in the bucket conveyors  15  and  16  and the pouch clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d,  the brushes  49  are moved perpendicular to the flow thereby forcing the pouches  100  into the correct alignment in the pouch clamps  70  as shown in  FIGS. 6, 9  and  10 . This movement is facilitated by the brush shafts  51  sliding horizontally to the conveyor flow along the slot in carriage bar  50 . The horizontal movements are caused and controlled by the brush shafts riding in grooved guides  52 .  
         [0026]     Once the pouches  100  are in the correct alignment in the pouch clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  clamp jaws  25  and  26  clamp the pouches into place. After the pouches  100  are secure the pouches are conveyed past support bucket conveyors  15  and  16  the sweep jaws rotate 90% to present the pouches in a vertical position with their mouths  4  up as showed in  FIGS. 6 and 13 .  
         [0027]     The clamp jaws  25  and  26  are detailed in  FIGS. 9, 10  and  13 . These clamp jaws  25  and  26  are horizontally opposed on conveyor lane  11   a,    11   b,    11   c  and  1   d.  As clamp jaws  25  and  26  are affixed to pouch clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  drive chains and are moved in the direction of flow by a continuous motion servo drive motor (not shown). As the clamp jaws  25  and  26  move along in the horizontal position, pouch cam  48  will open spring loaded clamp jaws  25  and  26  by pushing up cam followers  36  and  37 . After the clamps are open, pouches  100  are inserted into the jaws. Pouch cam  48  then relieves the upward pressure on cam followers  36  and  37  and clamp jaws  25  and  26  secure the pouches. The pouch clamps  70  travel forward and are tilted 90% into the upright position by guide rails  45 . As the pouch clamps  70  travel further cam  46  pushes cam follower  35  upward decreasing the distance between clamp jaws  25  and  26 , which allow pouches  100  to be opened for filling. Later in the operation cam  46  relieves the pressure on cam follower  35  allowing the pouch mouth  4  to be stretched for proper sealing. Cam  48  also pushes cam followers  36  and  37  forward opening clamp jaws  25  &amp;  26  allowing the filled and sealed pouches to be removed.  
         [0028]     The fitment placement system is shown in  FIG. 14 . Bulk fitments  9  are placed into vibratory feed hopper  54 . The fitments  9  are fed into the vibratory feeder chute  55 . The fitments are taken from the feeder chute  55  by rotary spacer  56  and then transferred to feeder transfer belt  57 . Robotic picking fingers  59  take the fitments  9  from the feeder transfer belt  57 . After the robotic picking fingers  59  have secured the fitments  9  the robotic arm arrangement  58  transfers them into the open mouth  4  of the pouches  100 . The robotic arm arrangement  58  holds the fitments  9  in place while traveling with the continuous motion clamp conveyers  11   a,    11   b,    11   c,    11   d  until the sealing jaws  60  complete a tack seal. After the fitments and pouch openings are tack sealed they proceed through the rest of the operation and receive a final seal, a seal cooling plate, and finally are discharged into an overhead conveyor for cooling and casing.  FIG. 14  shows one typical line out of the 4 that make up the entire system.  
         [0029]     Although most of the drawings show the typical operation on one of the four sweep jaw lines it should be noted that the system preferably is a 4 line system. The filling is completed by unique positive displacement bottom up fillers (not shown). Although the pouch opening sealing is referred to as heat sealing, ultrasonic sealing or any other method of sealing, can be used with this system.  
         [0030]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,824 is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0031]     Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.