Apparatus and method for creating corrugated cardboard on-site of systems for automatically forming packaging boxes

Abstract

An apparatus to create corrugated cardboard on the site of a system for automatically forming packaging boxes for packaging an arrangement of one or more item(s) to be shipped, said corrugated cardboard having at least one corrugated layer between two flat layers, comprising at least two supply stations for supplying two different single-faced corrugated cardboards, each single-faced corrugated cardboard comprising a corrugated layer (having a closed side with an attached flat layer and an open side opposite to said closed side, a supply station for supplying a closing layer, a microprocessor communicatively coupled to obtain information on the arrangement to be shipped, the information relating to at least one of overall dimensions, weight, shape, shipping conditions, fragility, sensitivity to moisture, value, shipping destination, and the obtained information allowing selection, based on the obtained information, of at least one of said at least two different single-faced corrugated cardboards, and an attaching station that attaches the closing layer to the selected first single-faced cardboard to sandwich the corrugated layer between the flat layer and the closing layer.

Claims

1. A method of creating corrugated cardboard on the site of a system for automatically forming packaging boxes for packaging an arrangement of one or more item(s) to be shipped, said corrugated cardboard having at least one corrugated layer between two flat layers, the method comprising: providing at least three different types of packaging material, namely a first single-faced corrugated cardboard, a closing layer and at least one second single-faced corrugated cardboard, wherein each single-faced corrugated cardboard comprises a corrugated layer having a closed side with an attached flat layer and an open side opposite to said closed side, obtaining information on the arrangement to be shipped, the information relating to at least one of overall dimensions, weight, shape, shipping conditions, fragility, sensitivity to moisture, value, or shipping destination, based on the obtained information, selecting by a microprocessor amongst the provided packaging material at least one single-faced corrugated cardboard, feeding an amount of said selected single-faced cardboard to an attaching station, attaching at the attaching station the closing layer to the selected single-faced cardboard to sandwich the corrugated layer between the flat layer and the closing layer.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: attaching to the selected single-faced cardboard and/or to the closing layer at least one additional layer.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said at least one additional layer is attached only to a part of said selected single-faced cardboard and/or of said closing layer.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two different single-faced corrugated cardboards are provided that differ in at least one of tear strength, stiffness, thickness, grammage and water repellency.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said layers and/or said single-faced corrugated cardboards to be attached to each other carries an adhesive substance.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said adhesive substance is a substance that has to be activated by heat, light, a liquid or pressure to show adhesive properties.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information on the arrangement to be shipped is obtained from at least one of an order database, an item database, user input, scanning the item(s) and/or weighing said item(s).

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: attaching an RFID tag to one of the selected single-faced cardboard(s) or the layer(s) being attached thereto.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: automatically forming packaging boxes from the cardboard.

10. Apparatus to create corrugated cardboard on a site of a system for automatically forming packaging boxes for packaging an arrangement of one or more item(s) to be shipped, said corrugated cardboard having at least one corrugated layer between two flat layers, the apparatus comprising at least three supply stations to respectively supply at least three different types of packaging material, namely a first single-faced corrugated cardboard, a closing layer and at least one second single-faced corrugated cardboard, wherein each single-faced corrugated cardboard comprises a corrugated layer having a closed side with an attached flat layer and an open side opposite to said closed side, a microprocessor communicatively coupled to receive information on the arrangement to be shipped, the information relating to at least one of overall dimensions, weight, shape, shipping conditions, fragility, sensitivity to moisture, value, shipping destination, and the information to select amongst the provided packaging material at least one single-faced corrugated cardboard, an attaching station to attach the closing layer to the selected single-faced cardboard to sandwich the corrugated layer between the flat layer and the closing layer.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said attaching station or a separate attaching station attaches at least one additional layer to said selected single-faced cardboard and/or to said closing layer.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said attaching station or said separate attaching station attaches at least one additional layer only to a part of said selected single-faced cardboard and/or of said closing layer.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a removal unit that removes a protective layer from the closing layer and/or the open side of said selected single-faced cardboard, said protective layer protecting an adhesive substance provided on the open side of the single-faced cardboard or on the closing layer.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising an activation device that selectively activates an adhesive substance provided on the open side of the selected single-faced cardboard or on the closing layer.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising the system for automatically forming packaging boxes from the cardboard.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are side elevational views of three respective cardboard variations that can be created with the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a specific attaching station.

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of parts of another specific attaching station.

(5) FIG. 5 is an isometric view that shows a blank created from cardboard formed with an apparatus according to FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(6) FIG. 1 shows at least some parts of an apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment of the invention, which comprises a first supply station 12 that supplies a first single-faced corrugated cardboard having a corrugated layer 14 and a flat layer 16 attached to one side of the cardboard, so that the cardboard forms a so-called open side 18, which open side shows or makes visible the corrugated structure, and a so-called closed side 20 from which the corrugated structure is not shown or visible.

(7) Apparatus 10 further comprises a second supply station 22 that supplies a second single-faced corrugated cardboard having a corrugated layer 24 and a flat layer 26 attached to one side of the cardboard. The second single-faced corrugated cardboard differs from the first single-faced corrugated cardboard in at least one or more of the following in physical characteristics: tear strength, stiffness, thickness, grammage and water repellency.

(8) A third supply station 28 is provided that supplies a closing layer 30, which in this embodiment is a substantially flat layer like the layers 16 and 26. Like the supply stations 12 and 22, supply station 28 is in this schematic view is depicted as a drum comprising the respective material, while, as is apparent from the teachings herein, the stations also comprise transport or conveyance structures, for example driven rollers and guiding rollers to transport the respective material to an attaching station, where the materials selected for creating a specific cardboard are attached to each other, as will be described below.

(9) In this embodiment, apparatus 10 further comprises two separate attaching stations 32 and 34 indicated by the dashed lines, in whichif selectedthe first and the second single-faced cardboards are attached to one another and the closing layer 30 is, in the shown situation, attached to the open side 18 of the first single-faced cardboard.

(10) As depicted in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 allows creating three different types of cardboard, each having different physical properties, e.g., stiffness, tear strength, etc., and hence each fulfilling user defined criteria for a certain box to be formed from the respective cardboard better than the other. Said criteria may for example define a trade-off between minimum stability needed for a box containing items of a certain weight and size, minimum weight of the box and minimum material used. Hardware, namely at least one microprocessor 35, may execute processor-executable instructions and data stored by one or more nontransitory processor-readable medium 36 (e.g., volatile memory for instance random access memory (RAM) or memory registers or caches; non-volatile memory for instance read only memory (ROM), EEPROM, Flash memory, magnetic disks, optical disks) communicatively coupled to the microprocessor 35 to control the apparatus. In some implementations, the microprocessor 35 may automatically select a single-faced cardboard for creating a certain piece of cardboard that meets said criteria best. As will become apparent from the following description, such microprocessor 35 may in certain embodiments even optionally select one or more additional layers used in creating the cardboard.

(11) The at least one microprocessor 35 can obtain information on the arrangement to be shipped, the information relating to at least one of overall dimensions, weight, shape, shipping conditions, fragility, sensitivity to moisture, value, shipping destination, etc. This information may for example be obtained from an item property database or other data structure 36a and/or an order database stored by the one or more processor-readable medium 36. A packaging system employing the apparatus for creating cardboard may comprise hardware such as a scanner for obtaining dimensions of the items to be shipped together in a box, and/or a scale for weighing the item(s). The data thus obtained may then be processed by said at least one microprocessor 35 executing the processor-executable instructions to determine a box, which fulfils predefined criteria best, and to select the materials for creating cardboard for such box. The arrangement of items to be shipped could be scanned, and at least the dimension of this arrangement of items could be used for determining the appropriate packaging material and the blank size.

(12) The piece of cardboard shown in FIG. 2A is made by attaching the closing layer 30 to the open side of the first single-faced cardboard, while the piece of cardboard shown in FIG. 2B is made by attaching the closing layer 30 to the open side of the second single-faced cardboard. FIG. 2C shows a piece of cardboard made of the closing layer 30, the first single-faced cardboard and the second single-faced cardboard.

(13) While the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 comprises two separate attaching stations 32 and 34, andif selectedthe first single-faced cardboard and the second single-faced cardboard would in this embodiment be attached to each other prior to attaching the closing layer, as is apparent form the teachings herein the closing layer may be attached, e.g., to the first single-faced cardboard prior to attaching the second single-faced cardboard or any other layer, which will be described below. Furthermore, as apparent from the teachings here, instead of two (or more if more layers are to be attached) separate attaching stations, the cardboard can be formed in a single attaching station.

(14) Depending on the needs of the user of such apparatus, further supply stations may be provided, for example one or more stations that respectively supply different types of closing layers so that the microprocessor cannot only select one or both of two different types of single-faced corrugated cardboard, but can also select a closing layer out of two or even more different types of closing layers. The closing layers may, for example, have different printings or markings on it, allowing the operator of a warehouse to offer personalized drop shipment for different customers, for which he would send out packages created on-site with the closing layer bearing, for example, the name or logo of the respective one of a number of different customers. Providing different closing layers 26 also allows adapting the properties of the cardboard to particular needs, for example to create boxes with water repellent properties and/or a special stability. Also, a supply station for providing further types of single-faced cardboard and/or for providing so-called special property layers may be provided, as will be explained below.

(15) For attaching the single-faced cardboards, the closing layer, and any other layer that may be selected for creating a certain piece of cardboard, different methods can be used, and in particular the method used for, e.g., attaching the second single-faced cardboard to the first single-faced cardboard, may be another method than that used for attaching the closing layer. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the attaching station 34 comprises a glue applying unit 37, in which glue is applied to the closing layer 30, and a pressing roller 38 for pressing the closing layer against the open side of the respective single-faced cardboard. Some of these methods of attaching are described in EP 3 050 809 A1, to whose disclosure it is referred herewith. As indicated by arrow 40, the resulting corrugated cardboard can then be fed into a machine for automatically forming packaging boxes from the cardboard.

(16) FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of an attaching station 50 which attaches the closing layer 30 to single-faced cardboard. This attaching station 50 is adapted to attach, on-demand, at least one additional layer 52 supplied from a supply station 54 to either one or both of the closing layer 30 and the selected single-faced cardboard, which in the depicted case is the first single-layer cardboard comprising the corrugated layer 14 and the flat layer 16 and which is fed to the attaching station 50 as indicated by arrow 56. It should be understood that, as explained above in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 2, either one or both of the single-faced corrugated cardboards could be supplied to the attaching station 50, and in certain cases even more than two supply stations to supply single-faced cardboards may be employed. The selection, which single-faced cardboard(s) are used for producing a specific piece of cardboard, can depend on different factors as will be explained below, and the selection can be made automatically by the hardware (e.g., microprocessor 35 executing the processor-executable instructions stored by the nontransitory processor-readable medium 36) controlling the apparatus, e.g. the at least one microprocessor described above.

(17) Depending on the specific needs that usually occur at the system to automatically form packaging boxes, at which the apparatus to create cardboard is used, the at least one additional layer 52 may for example be a shock protection layer, a water protection layer, or a reinforcing layer, in particular a web of strong fibers, which could also add tamper-proof features to a box formed of the respective cardboard created. As such layers add special properties to the cardboard, they are herein referred to as special property layers. Depending on the specific needs of a certain box, more than one additional layer may be supplied and put on top of each other or may even be applied to different regions of the cardboard, such that different areas of a box finally folded from such cardboard have different properties.

(18) In this embodiment, the additional layer 52 and the closing layer 30 are fed towards the single-faced corrugated cardboard through a number of guiding rollers 58, some of which may be driven and of which, for the sake of clarity, only some have been provided with reference numbers. In the illustrated arrangement, the additional layer 52 will be sandwiched between the single-faced corrugated cardboard and the closing layer. However, as would be apparent from the teachings herein, the arrangement may alternatively place the closing layer sandwiched between the additional layer and the single-faced corrugated cardboard or such that the single-faced corrugated cardboard is sandwiched between the additional layer and the closing layer. In such case, the arrangement may place the additional layer on the outside or on the inside of a box folded from the cardboard thus produced. For example, if the special property added to the cardboard by the additional layer is water repellency, the user may want to have such layer on the outside of the box. If the special property added to the cardboard by the additional layer is tear strength, the user may want to have such layer between the single-faced-corrugated cardboard and the closing layer. If the special property added to the cardboard by the additional layer is shock protection, the user may want to have such layer on the inside of the box. Of course, more than one special property layer may be used for one specific box. Additionally, an information carrier such as an RFID tag may be attached to the selected single-faced cardboard or a layer being attached thereto, in particular in such way that the information carrier is sandwiched and hence protected. Such information carrier facilitates providing certain information, such as destination, sender of a parcel, packing date, postage paid etc. about a parcel that been created by using the respective cardboard. If, for example, RFID-tags are used, the information may be read automatically and contactlessly, such that additional stickers or stamps are not necessary.

(19) In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the single-faced corrugated cardboard, the additional layer 52 and the closing layer 30 pass an activation unit 60 that activates an adhesive layer provided on one or more of the single-faced corrugated cardboard, the additional layer 52 and the closing layer 30. The adhesive layer may for example be hot melting glue, in case of which the activation unit 60 will accordingly include structure (e.g., heating coil, hot air jet) to heat the adhesive layer. The single-faced corrugated cardboard, the additional layer 52 and the closing layer 30 than pass a pair of pressing rollers 62, where they are securely fixed to each other. As one will appreciate from the teachings herein, instead of just one additional layer, two or more additional layers may be attached in a likewise manner. As one will appreciate from the teachings herein, instead of activating the adhesive layer after the different layers have been brought into contact with each other, such activation may be done prior to bringing the layers into contact with each other.

(20) FIG. 4 shows an attaching station 70 adapted to attach on-demand an additional layer 72 to a material 74 fed to the attaching station 70 as indicated by arrow 76. The material 74 can be either one of the closing layer and the selected single-faced cardboard, and the attaching process can be done prior to or after attaching the closing layer to the selected single-faced cardboard. The additional layer 72 is supplied from a supply station 78 and can, depending on the specific needs that usually occur at the system for automatically forming packaging boxes, at which the apparatus that creates the cardboard is used, be in particular single-faced cardboard, a shock protection layer, a water protection layer, or a reinforcing layer.

(21) A particularity of the attaching station 70 is that it is adapted to attach the additional layer 72 to a part of the material 74, i.e. the selected single-faced cardboard or the closing layer. This allows optimizing the created cardboard under specific aspects, i.e. reinforcing only those parts of the cardboard that upon shipment of a box folded therefrom will need to be particularly strong. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 3, in certain cases it may be advantageous to provide more than one additional layer and to attach such layers on-demand to certain areas of the material 74. As also described above, the expert can advantageously choose amongst different methods for attaching the layer(s) to the material 74.

(22) Generally, to attach the closing layer to a selected single-faced cardboard, to attach a single-faced cardboard to another single-faced cardboard and to attach additional layers, one or more gluing units may be provided to apply glue to one or both of the materials that are to be attached to each other. Also, some of the materials, like in particular the closing layer and/or the open sides of the single-faced cardboards, may carry an adhesive substance (e.g., adhesive) that has been applied to the respective material prior to supplying them to the site for creating the cardboard. The adhesive substance can be of many different types, so one can choose the appropriate adhesive substance for the respective needs of the customer, depending in particular on the material used for creating the cardboard, the required stability etc.

(23) In one particular embodiment, both materials to be attached to each other are provided with adhesive substances, which, when brought into contact with each other, show adhesive properties. In such case, the respective materials can easily be wound up for storing and transporting on respective rolls without needing cover sheets for covering the adhesive substances in order to prevent that a material sticks together on the roll. Such substances may form a kind of two-component adhesive (e.g., two part epoxy).

(24) In another embodiment, the adhesive substance is provided on the corrugated layer of the single-faced cardboards and is of the so-called self-adhesive type used for example for self-adhesive stickers. It is sufficient to provide the adhesive substance only on the areas of the crests of the corrugated layer, as only these areas will come into contact with another layer like the closing layer or any other layer to be attached to the corrugated side. In order to facilitate that the single-faced cardboard can be coiled up on roll while preventing that upon coiling-up the side of the corrugated layer provided with the adhesive substance sticks to the respective flat layer, a protective layer covering the adhesive substance may be provided on the corrugated layer. Such protective layer may have a first side that does not adhere to said adhesive substance and a second side that adheres to the adhesive substance, so that the protective layer can even be first used for covering the adhesive substance on the corrugated layer, then be removed and turned and re-used as closing layer.

(25) For certain applications, it may be advantageous to use a type of adhesive substance provided on the corrugated layer and/or the layer(s) to be attached to it that has to be activated, in particular by heat, light, a liquid (e.g. water), pressure or the like, to show adhesive properties. Accordingly, an activation unit like the one shown in FIG. 3 may comprise a radiant element to generate heat, a light source to emit light, a press or roller to generate pressure or force, and/or a sprayer to spray said liquid.

(26) FIG. 5 shows a blank 80 for folding a box, the blank being formed from a piece of cardboard created using the attaching station 70 shown in FIG. 4.

(27) The blank has the additional layer 72 and a number of so-called side panels 82, of which only some are provided with reference numbers and which are formed through a number of cutting and creasing acts performed on the piece of cardboard. These acts as well as the shape of the blank 80 will be apparent to the skilled reader. As shown in FIG. 5, the additional layer 72 in this example is not present in the parts of the blank that form the side panels 82.

(28) Various embodiments described herein advantageously allows creating a variety of cardboards adapted to the needs of a specific box to be formed, while keeping the number of different materials to be kept ready for creating the cardboard at a minimum.

(29) Various embodiments described herein advantageously provides a huge variety of ways to optimize the packaging process not only in terms of minimizing the amount of material necessary for creating the package, but also to obtain the protection required for the specific item(s). For example, an operator of the system can predetermine that for certain goods always a shock absorbing layer (e.g. protective bubble foil) or a water repellent layer (e.g. foil) or the like is applied. This may also be done dependent on the shipment address, since this address may be linked to certain transportation conditions, due to which it might be likely that the package will be subjected to e.g. humidity.