MACHINE FOR PROCESSING PACKAGING TUBES

Abstract: The invention relates to a machine for performing the necessary process steps in order to provide finished tubes at high capacity by means of a continuously driven conveyor system. The machine has a conveyor track comprising conventional straight part-sections (11, 12, 13) combined with an arrangement of transport/transfer wheels (16-22). By virtue of their positioning, the transfer wheels form effective transport sections, which are individually adaptable to the respective processing operation, for tubes present in cassettes/tube holders in the conveyor system. Each wheel has processing tools which have the same spacing as all the cassette/tube holder positions and rotate with the respective wheel. In the preferred embodiment, use is made of robots (25, 28) for the infeed of empty tubes to and, respectively, the outfeed of processed tubes from the arrangement of transport/transfer wheels.

Description: TITLE Machine for processing packaging tubes. TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a machine for processing packaging tubes, that is to say a machine which, starting from ready-made empty tubes, performs in succession the actions which what are known as tube fillers are capable of performing in-line. Such actions or process steps usually comprise cleaning, cap tightening, tube print registration, filling, sealing and trimming of the tubes. The invention relates to a machine with a very high production capacity and, for this purpose, a continuously operating machine has been designed. STATE OF THE ART Continuously operating packaging machines are known within a number of different packaging systems. An example of such a machine is the continuously operating cartoner, in which products intended for packaging are conveyed synchronously with the blanks for cartons and in which the synchronization is maintained throughout the entire cartoning procedure. Another example of continuously operating, packaging machines is machines with continuously driven endless conveyors provided with holders for packaging blanks/capsules which are to be processed in a number of working stations driven synchronously with the conveyor. Further examples of continuous packaging machines are found within the area of packaging of liquid food products, for example the machines in which a product is filled into a tube constituting a blank for the packaging, and working stations, which are movable synchronously with the advance of the tube, process the tube into finished packagings filled with the product. Within the area of packaging tubes, however, no practicable concept has been proposed, which makes possible continuous handling of packaging tubes for performing the process steps mentioned in the introduction. It is true that trials have been conducted to increase the capacity of existing intermittently operating tube fillers, for example by doubling-up working stations, but the capacity of the intermittent machines is limited by the delay time required for transport between the various working stations and the processing tools located therein. In terms of movement, such delay time includes the acceleration phase and the retardation phase, during which time no processing work is performed on the tubes. As the various working stations in the intermittent systems require mutually different times for performing the respective process steps, the intermittently operating conveyor system is of course the correct one for the purpose. THE PROBLEM UNDERLYING THE INVENTION The problem underlying the invention is to bring about such active processing times in all the working stations that a continuously operating tube handling machine is obtained. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The problem underlying the invention is solved by a machine according to the content of the appended Patent Claim 1 , and further features of the machine emerge from the subclaims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a layout of a machine according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 shows the working principle of the processing tools in a station for cleaning tubes, Fig. 3 shows the working principle for the processing tools in a station for tube print registration, Fig. 4 shows the working principle for the processing tools in a station for filling, and Fig. 5 shows the principle for the processing tools in a station for heat activation. Accommodated in the area 10, which is accessible to an operator 14 via a door 15, is a continuously driven conveyor system or track comprising an endless conveyor 11, 12, 13, only the upper strands of which are shown in the figure. Vertically below each conveyor strand, therefore, are corresponding lower strands which are connected to the upper strands around guide rollers. The conveyor 11 , 12, 13 is driven at a constant speed in the direction indicated by the arrow 23. The conveyor 11 , 12, 13 is followed by a series of transport/transfer wheels 16-22 which are driven at a constant speed in the directions indicated by arrows. The speed of rotation of the transport/transfer wheels is selected so that it is adapted to the continuously driven conveyor 11, 12, 13 in such a manner that the first wheel 16 successively removes and transfers to itself tube holders 24 (Fig. 2) fed on the conveyor part-section 13 as soon as they arrive at the wheel 16. The arrangement for this transfer is not shown in the figures and can in principle consist of drivers. The conveyor track comprising the part-sections 11 , 12, 13 (and the associated lower strands which are not shown) and the transport/transfer wheels 16-22 together form a continuously driven conveyor track in which said cassettes/tube holders 24 run in what is in principle an uninterrupted path with a predetermined centre distance between adjacent cassettes/tube holders (for example with the cassettes/tube holders bearing closely against one another). Part of the straight conveyor section forms part of an infeed station where a robot 25, by means of a gripper 27, removes from transport packagings 26 for empty tubes rows of tubes located rectilinearly therein and inserts these into cassettes/tube holders following one another on the conveyor. On the output side of the set of transport/transfer wheels 16-22, there is, adjacent to the straight conveyor part-section 11 , an outfeed station with a robot 28, the gripper 29 of which, in the exemplary embodiment shown, removes the same number of processed tubes as the robot 25 inserts and delivers the processed tubes to a continuously driven conveyor 30, of the pocket transfer type in the exemplary embodiment, for onward transport to a continuously operating cartoning machine 31. As can be seen from Fig. 1 , adjacent transport/transfer wheels rotate in opposite directions, and the individual wheels moreover have mutually varying peripherally effective or extending conveyor part-sections. The conveyor part-section of the wheel 16 thus extends from the point where the wheel adjoins the straight conveyor part-section 13 forward to the "contact point" with the following wheel 17, which corresponds to a circular arc of roughly 180° according to said figure. The next wheel 17 has an effective transport section corresponding to a circular arc of roughly 220°, the following wheel 18 a transport section of roughly 180° and the wheel 19 after that an even greater transport section, roughly 280°, the wheel 20 has a shorter transport distance, roughly 180°, the wheel 21 a longer transport section again, roughly 220°, _and the wheel 22 has a transport section of roughly 180°. This difference between the transport sections of the various transport/transfer wheels provides an important partial solution to the problem mentioned in the introduction. This is because each transport/transfer wheel has a set of processing tools for performing a certain operation or process step, and, as mentioned in the introduction in connection with intermittent tube fillers, different process steps require different effective processing times. The difference in the length of the effective transport sections of the wheel arrangements 16-22 is the starting point for mastering such effective processing times. The transport/transfer wheel 16 thus has "processing tools" for cleaning, the station 17 has tools for tightening an opening arrangement for the tube (normally a cap), the wheel 18 has tools for tube print registration, the wheel 19 has tools for filling, the wheel 20 has tools for heat activation (in the exemplary embodiment shown hot-air activation), the wheel 21 has tools for squeezing the tube end together, and the wheel 22 has tools for trimming. The processing tools in the various working stations are in principle arranged in fundamentally the same manner and are positioned along the entire periphery of the associated transport/transfer wheel and can be rotated with the latter. The positioning along the entire periphery thus means that each wheel always has a surplus of tools in relation to the number of cassettes/tube holders located in the effective transport section of the wheel. For the wheel 16 in Fig. 1 , this means that, for example, only half the processing tools present are utilized. The accessibility of tools in all the processing stations (transport/transfer wheels), in spite of said inactive surplus of tools, does mean, however, that the effective transport sections along each wheel can be optimally used so that overall it is possible to run the system of transport/transfer wheels and tools continuously. In the exemplary embodiment shown, for example, the wheel 19 has the longest effective transport section, and this has been selected in view of the fact that the process step to be performed over this transport section is that which takes the longest time in the present case, namely the filling step. It is clear that the positioning in space and the mutual angular relationship between the wheels 16-22 can be varied within wide limits, according to requirements, to bring about effective transport sections necessary for continuous operation of the machine. As mentioned, the arrangement of the processing tools is in principle identical in the various stations formed by the transport/transfer wheels. Fig. 2 thus shows the working tools for the wheel 16. As the robots in the infeed station and, respectively, the outfeed station in the exemplary embodiment shown are arranged so as each to handle twenty tubes at a time, there are altogether twenty processing tools in each processing station formed by the wheels 16-22. Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically the wheel 16 supported in a machine stand 32 and driven rotatably via a belt transmission 33. Located peripherally equidistantly on the drive shaft 34 of the wheel 16 are blowing nozzles 35 with connections 36 for compressed air and an arrangement for height adjustment. Below the rotatable wheel 16, there is a circular plate 37 fastened on the machine stand 32, in which plate a cam-follower groove 38 is formed. The wheel 16 has holders (not shown) for the cassettes/tube holders 24, and arranged below the cassettes/tube holders are lifters 39, the vertical movement of which is controlled by said cam groove 38. As can be seen from the illustration on the left in Fig. 2, said holders (not shown) on the wheel 16 and the cassettes/tube holders 24 as well as the set of tools 35 are arranged equidistantly along the periphery of the wheel 16 and above the latter. The effective transport section on the wheel 16 mentioned previously corresponds to a circular arc of roughly 180° and, as the effective transport section/processing section coincides with the lifters 39 being activated, it can be seen from the figure that altogether ten processing tools out of twenty are active and the others are thus in the passive part of the wheel Fig. 3 shows the processing tools assigned to the wheel 18 and intended to bring about tube print registration. The basic illustration of the working sequence corresponds to that in Fig. 2. A combination of spinners 40 and photodetectors 41 are used as processing tools and, as can be seen from the illustration on the left in the figure, use is made here of the same number of tools as in the process step according to Fig. 2. Fig. 4 relates to the arrangement belonging to the wheel 19, that is to say the arrangement in the filling station, where the active transport section along the wheel is the maximum, roughly 270°, in view of the time necessary for filling. In the same way as in the two preceding cases, there is the same number of processing tools, that is to say filling nozzles 42, metering pumps 43 and cassettes/tube holders 24. It can be seen from the illustration on the left in Fig. 4 that altogether twelve processing tools are active over the effective transport section of the wheel 19. Fig. 5 shows the circumstances of the wheel 20 in Fig. 1. In this case, use is made of hot-air nozzles 44 for heat-activating the tubes which in this case are made of a material which allows such heat activation for sealing purposes. The same number of hot-air nozzles as cassettes/tube holders and associated lifters 25 are likewise present in this case. As can be seen from the illustration on the left, altogether ten processing tools (hot-air nozzles) are inactive during the transport of the tubes around the periphery of the wheel 20. In the same way as in the preceding figures, the tubes have been diagrammatically indicated in Fig. 5 by the part designated by number 45. Although only one specific embodiment of the continuous tube handling machine according to the invention has been shown, it is clear that the invention is not limited to such an embodiment, but alternative and equivalent embodiments are possible within the scope of the appended patent claims.

Claims: PATENT CLAIMS 1. Machine for processing packaging tubes, comprising for example cleaning, tightening a top closure, tube print registration, filling, sealing and trimming, characterized by: a conveyor track (11-13, 16-22) for continuous transport of cassettes/tube holders (24), transport/transfer wheels (16-22), with adjacent wheels which can be rotated in opposite directions, which wheels form part of the track, and are arranged for cassette/tube holder transport along part of their periphery and contact one another for cassette/tube holder transfer, and with each transport/transfer wheel arranged in such a manner that it has first position in space in which the cassette/tube holder is received and a second position in space in which the cassette/tube holder is delivered, and said first and second positions on each transfer wheel define a predetermined part-section which is active during the process and a predetermined part-section which is passive during the process, a tube infeed station (25) for infeed of empty tubes into the cassettes/tube holders, processing tools (35, 40, 42, 44) which are arranged along the entire periphery of each transport/transfer wheel and can be rotated with the latter, and a tube outfeed station (28) for outfeed of processed tubes from the cassettes/tube holders. 2. Machine according to Claim 1 , characterized in that lifters (39) for cassettes/tube holders are arranged in each cassette/tube holder position along the periphery of each transport/transfer wheel, and in that means (38) are adapted so as to activate each lifter during transport of the corresponding cassette/tube holder through the part-section which is active during the process. 3. Machine according to Claim 2, characterized in that the infeed station (25) and the outfeed station (28) are each arranged next to their own straight part-section (13, 11 ) of the conveyor track. 4. Machine according to Claim 3, characterized in that the cassettes (24) are arranged so as to be transported with a predetermined mutual centre distance in the straight part-sections (13, 11), and in that said centre distance is also essentially maintained on the respective transport/transfer wheels (16-22). 5. Machine according to Claim 4, characterized in that the processing tools (35, 40, 42, 44) are arranged with said centre distance along the periphery of the respective transport/transfer wheel. 6. Machine according to Claim 5, characterized in that a robot (25) is arranged in the infeed station and has a gripper (27) in order to remove a predetermined number of tubes from a magazine (26) for empty tubes and place these in cassettes/tube holders (24) in the conveyor track. 7. Machine according to Claim 6, characterized in that a further robot (28) is arranged in the outfeed station and has a gripper (29) in order to remove a number of processed tubes corresponding to said predetermined number from cassettes/tube holders (24) in the conveyor track and place these on an outfeed conveyor (30). 8. Machine according to Claim 7, characterized in that the number of processing tools (35, 40, 42, 44), which can be rotated with each transport/transfer wheel (16-22), corresponds to said predetermined number of tubes, and in that the processing tools are positioned along the periphery of the respective transport/transfer wheel with a spacing corresponding to the peripheral distance between cassettes/tube holders on the transport/transfer wheel. 9. Machine according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transport/transfer wheels (16-22) are arranged between said straight conveyor part-sections (13, 11) for infeed and, respectively, outfeed. 10. Machine according to any one of Claims 6-9, characterized in that the robot (25) in the infeed station picks empty tubes from rows of tubes present in transport packagings (26), and in that the robot (28) in the outfeed station delivers a corresponding number of processed tubes onto a conveyor (30) continuously feeding a cartoner (31 ).

Inventors: LINNER HANS, LINNER, HANS
Applicants: LINNER HANS, NORDEN PAC DEV AB, LINNER, HANS, NORDEN PAC DEVELOPMENT AB
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B65B1
IPC codes: B65B43