DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CHANGING A SHEET PILE IN A SHEET PILE FEEDER

Abstract

A device for changing a sheet pile (14) in a sheet feeder (10) for a sheet treating machine comprises a main pile supporting unit (18) with a main pile actuating unit (20) for lifting and lowering the main pile supporting unit (18), wherein the main pile supporting unit (18) comprises a supporting surface (22) adapted to support a pallet (16) carrying a sheet pile (14). The device further comprises a residual pile supporting unit (24) with a residual pile actuating unit (26) for lifting and lowering the residual pile supporting unit (24). The residual pile supporting unit (24) comprises a plurality of residual pile bars (38) extending substantially parallel to each other and being substantially parallel to the supporting surface (22) of the main pile supporting unit (18), wherein the residual pile bars (38) are coupled to a bar actuating unit (43) adapted to move the residual pile bars (38) on a line parallel to the direction of extension of the respective residual pile bar (38) into a sheet pile region (30) and retract the residual pile bars (38) from the sheet pile region (30). The bar actuating unit (43) is configured to retract the residual pile bars (38) while introducing an oscillatory movement of the residual pile bars (38) along the direction of extension of the residual pile bars (38).

Further, a method for changing a sheet pile (14) in a sheet feeder (10) is presented.

Claims

1. A device for changing a sheet pile a sheet feeder for a sheet treating machine, the device comprising: a main pile supporting unit with a main pile actuating unit for lifting and lowering the main pile supporting unit, wherein the main pile supporting unit comprises a supporting surface adapted to support a pallet carrying a sheet pile, and residual pile supporting unit with a residual pile actuating unit for lifting and lowering the residual pile supporting unit, wherein the residual pile supporting unit comprises a plurality of residual pile bars extending substantially parallel to each other and being substantially parallel to the supporting surface of the main pile supporting unit, wherein the residual pile bars are coupled to a bar actuating unit adapted to move the residual pile bars on a line parallel to a direction of extension of the respective residual pile bar into a sheet pile region and retract the residual pile bars from the sheet pile region, and wherein the bar actuating unit is configured to retract the residual pile bars while introducing an oscillatory movement of the residual pile bars along the direction of extension of the residual pile bars.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the bar actuating unit comprises a supporting bar extending in an orthogonal direction with respect to the residual pile bars and being parallel to the supporting surface, wherein respective first end sections of each of the residual pile bars are coupled to the supporting bar and the supporting bar is coupled to a chain transmission configured to move the supporting bar-along the line parallel to the direction of extension of the residual pile bars.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the residual pile supporting unit further comprises an alignment unit, wherein the alignment unit comprises a sheet with apertures, in which the residual bar piles are arranged, and an alignment actuator for moving the sheet along a direction perpendicular of the direction of extension of the residual pile bars.

4. A method for changing a sheet pile in a sheet feeder for a sheet treating machine, the method comprising: detecting a limit height of a sheet pile processed in the sheet feeder, wherein the sheet pile is supported on a pallet being arranged on a main pile supporting unit, supporting the sheet pile by a residual pile supporting unit in that a plurality of residual pile bars are pushed into respective slots of the pallet, withdrawing the pallet being arranged on the main pile supporting unit from the sheet pile and placing a replacement pallet carrying a replacement sheet pile on the main pile supporting unit, bringing an upper end of the replacement sheet pile in contact with the residual pile bars such that the residual pile bars are engaged between a lower end of the sheet pile and an upper end of the replacement sheet pile, and retracting the residual pile bars from a sheet pile region such that the sheet pile is supported on the replacement sheet pile, wherein the residual pile bars oscillate along a direction of extension of the residual pile bars while being retracted.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein all residual pile bars are retracted at the same time, with the same speed, and/or with the same oscillations.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the residual pile bars are residual pile bars of a device for changing the sheet pile in the sheet feeder for the sheet treating machine, the device comprising: the main pile supporting unit with a main pile actuating unit for lifting and lowering the main pile supporting unit, wherein the main pile supporting unit comprises a supporting surface adapted to support the pallet carrying the sheet pile, and the residual pile supporting unit with a residual pile actuating unit for lifting and lowering the residual pile supporting unit, wherein the residual pile supporting unit comprises the plurality of residual pile bars extending substantially parallel to each other and being substantially parallel to the supporting surface of the main pile supporting unit, wherein the residual pile bars are coupled to a bar actuating unit adapted to move the residual pile bars on a line parallel to the direction of extension of the respective residual pile bar into a sheet pile region and retract the residual pile bars from the sheet pile region, and wherein the bar actuating unit is configured to retract the residual pile bars while introducing an oscillatory movement of the residual pile bars along the direction of extension of the residual pile bars.

Description

[0035] Further aspects and advantages of the invention will now be described with reference to the attached figures. In the drawings

[0036] FIG. 1 shows a device for changing a sheet pile in a sheet feeder for a sheet treating machine according to the invention,

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a residual pile supporting unit of the device of FIG. 1 with retracted residual pile bars,

[0038] FIG. 3 shows the residual pile supporting unit of FIG. 2 with extended residual pile bars,

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a detail of the residual pile supporting unit of FIG. 2,

[0040] FIG. 5 shows another detail of the residual pile supporting unit of FIG. 2, and

[0041] FIG. 6 shows a schematic sketch of the inventive method for changing a sheet pile.

[0042] FIG. 1 shows a sheet feeder 10 comprising a device 12 for changing a sheet pile 14 placed on a pallet 16. Sheet feeder 10 is part of a (not shown) sheet treating machine.

[0043] In FIG. 1, the sheet pile 14 comprises four sheets of cardboard. Generally, the device 12 can be used for sheets made out of a variety of different materials, for example out of paper, cardboard, plastics, metal, composite materials, and/or leather. Of course, the number of sheets in the sheet pile 14 can also be different from the one shown in FIG. 1, preferably a high number of sheets are provided in the sheet pile 14 on the pallet 16, for example 1000 sheets or more, in general between 200 and 10′000 sheets.

[0044] The sheet pile 14 in FIG. 1 only covers part of the upper surface of the pallet 16. Generally, the sheet pile 14 could also cover less or more of the upper surface of the pallet 16, for example the whole upper surface of the pallet 16.

[0045] The pallet 16 is supported on a main pile supporting unit 18, which is coupled to a main pile actuating unit 20 for lifting and lowering the main pile supporting unit 18. More precisely, the pallet 16 is supported on a supporting surface 22 of the main pile supporting unit 18.

[0046] With the terms “lifting” and “lowering” a movement along a vertical axis V shown in FIG. 1 is understood. Correspondingly, the term “horizontal movement” means movement parallel to the horizontal axis H shown in FIG. 1, which is perpendicular to the vertical axis V.

[0047] The pallet 16 further comprises a number of slots 23, which extent substantially parallel to the axis H throughout the pallet 16. The slots 23 are designed such that they are open on their upper side, i.e. on the side not facing the supporting surface 22.

[0048] It is noted that in FIG. 1 only a few slots 23 are represented in a very schematic way. In a preferred embodiment, the pallet 16 may be a standard pallet having a number of slots 23 usual for standard pallets.

[0049] The device 12 further comprises the residual pile supporting unit 24, which is coupled to a residual pile actuating unit 26 for lifting and lowering the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0050] Further, the residual pile actuating unit 26 is also coupled to a crossbar 28, which can also be lifted and lowered by the residual pile actuating unit 26. The crossbar 28 is lifted and lowered synchronously with the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0051] The area between the residual pile supporting unit 24 and the crossbar 28 is termed sheet pile region 30, which is large enough to accommodate the main pile supporting unit 18, when it is lifted to the height of the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0052] In front of the residual pile supporting unit 24, on the side facing the crossbar 28, a blocking element 32 is provided, which extends along the vertical axis V. In the part of the blocking element 32 which is in front of the possible heights of the residual pile supporting unit 24, the blocking element 32 is made of individual blocking bars 34 spaced apart of each other along an axis D shown in FIG. 1. The axis D is perpendicular to both axes V and H.

[0053] A loading table 36 is arranged above the residual pile supporting unit 24 at a height along the vertical direction V above the blocking element 32. Sheets are fed by the device 12 from the main pile support unit 18 to the loading table 36.

[0054] The residual pile supporting unit 24 is shown in more detail in FIG. 2.

[0055] The residual pile supporting unit 24 comprises a plurality of residual pile bars 38. The residual pile bars 38 extend substantially parallel to each other and substantially parallel to the supporting surface 22 of the main pile supporting unit 18 (c.f. FIG. 1).

[0056] Accordingly, the direction of extension of the residual pile bars 38 is substantially parallel to the horizontal axis H.

[0057] The residual pile bars 38 are movable and can be extended and withdrawn into and from the sheet pile region 30 along a line parallel to the direction of extension of the respective residual pile bars 38, respectively.

[0058] In order to allow for this movement, the residual pile bars 38 are coupled at first end sections 40 to a supporting bar 42 of a bar actuating unit 43 of the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0059] The supporting bar 42 extends in an orthogonal direction with respect to the residual pile bars 38 and is parallel to the supporting surface 22 of the main supporting unit 18 (c.f. FIG. 1), i.e. along a direction parallel to axis D.

[0060] Thus, the residual pile bars 38 are arranged in the residual pile supporting unit 24 in a rake-like manner.

[0061] In the example shown, the supporting bar 42 is made from sheet metal.

[0062] In the shown embodiment, ten residual pile bars 38 are used. Of course, different numbers of residual pile bars 38 can be used, too. In general, the number of residual pile bars 38 is inferior to the number of slots 23 of the pallet 23. However, the number of residual pile bars 38 must not be higher than the number of slots 23.

[0063] The residual pile bars 38 are typically arranged spaced apart from each other along a direction parallel to axis D, wherein the residual pile bars can spaced regularly, especially evenly, or irregularly of each other.

[0064] As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, by moving the supporting bar 42 along the axis H and towards the crossbar 28, the residual pile bars 38 can be moved into the sheet pile region 30.

[0065] When being fully extended, the residual pile bars 38 are arranged in openings 44 of the crossbar 28 with second end sections 46, wherein the second end section 46 describes the end of the respective residual pile bar 38, which is opposite of its first end section 40.

[0066] The movement of the supporting bar 42 is achieved by a chain transmission 48, which is driven by an electric motor 50. FIG. 4 shows a part of the residual pile supporting unit 24, in which the connection between the chain transmission 48 and the supporting bar 42 is shown in detail.

[0067] The chain transmission 48 allows horizontal movement of the supporting bar 42, and therefore of the residual pile bars 38, i.e. parallel to the axis H.

[0068] The supporting bar 42 is mounted on a supporting rail 57 of the bar actuating unit 43 such that the supporting bar 42 can slide along an axis parallel to axis D.

[0069] FIG. 5 shows the residual pile supporting unit 24 from another angle so that an alignment unit 52 can be seen in more detail. The alignment unit 52 comprises a sheet 54 with apertures 56, in which the residual pile bars 38 are arranged.

[0070] The alignment unit 52 further comprises an alignment actuator 58 which allows moving the sheet 54 along a direction perpendicular of the direction of extension of the residual pile bars 38, i.e. along a direction parallel to the axis D.

[0071] The number of the residual pile bars 38, of openings 44 and of apertures 56 can be different. Preferably, each residual pile bars 38 is supported in one aperture 56. The number of openings 44 can be inferior to the number of residual pile bars 38, if the size of the openings 44 is large enough to incorporate more than one residual pile bars 38.

[0072] In the following, the operation of the sheet feeder 10 with the device 12 for changing a sheet pile 14 is explained.

[0073] During operation of the sheet feeder 10, a sheet pile 14 is supported on a pallet 16 on the main pile supporting unit 18. The main pile supporting unit 18 is lifted to a height such that always the uppermost sheet of the sheet pile 14 can be transferred to the loading table 36 for further processing.

[0074] Therefore, the main pile supporting unit 18 is steadily moved upwards by the main pile actuating unit 20. The upwards movement might be continuous or in steps, wherein each step can correspond to the height of a single or of multiple sheets.

[0075] The height of the main pile supporting unit 18 and/or the sheet pile 14 can be monitored by a sensor, allowing to monitor the remaining height of the sheet pile 14. The sensor might be a light barrier, a camera and/or a balance.

[0076] This allows detecting a limit height of the sheet pile 14 processed by the sheet feeder 10 (step S1 in FIG. 6).

[0077] Once a predefined limit height of the sheet pile 14 is detected, it is concluded that the replacement sheet pile needs to be provided in the sheet feeder 10.

[0078] To this end, the residual pile supporting unit 24 has to be arranged by the residual pile actuating unit 26 at the same height as the main pile supporting unit 18. In particular, the residual pile bars must be at the same height than the slots 23 of the pallet 16. Additionally, the upwards movement, i.e. lifting, along the axis V of the main pile supporting unit 18 is to be synchronized with an upwards movement of the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0079] Further, the alignment unit 52 of the residual pile supporting unit is used to align the residual pile bars 38 with the slots 23 of the pallet 16. For this, the sheet 54 is moved by the alignment actuator 58 along the axis D until the apertures 56 are arranged in front of the slots 23.

[0080] As the residual pile bars 32 are arranged in the apertures 56 and the supporting bar 42 can be moved along the supporting rail 57, the movement of the sheet 54 results in the alignment of the residual pile bars 32 in front of the slots 23 of the pallet 16.

[0081] Then, the supporting bar 42 is moved by the chain transmission 48 along a direction parallel to axis H in the direction of the pallet 16 and the crossbar 28, resulting in a horizontal movement of the residual pile bars 38 in the direction of their extension.

[0082] Therefore, the residual pile bars 38 are pushed into the respective slots 23 of the pallet 16, resulting in the sheet pile 14 currently being processed, which will also be referred to as residual sheet pile, being supported by the residual pile supporting unit 24 (step S2 in FIG. 6).

[0083] Once the residual sheet pile is fully supported on the residual pile bars 38, the pallet 16 can be withdrawn by lowering the main pile supporting unit 18 with the main pile actuating unit 20. As the slots 23 of the pallet 16 are open in the direction of the upper surface of the pallet 16, the residual pile bars 32 will no longer be within the slots 23 and will support the residual sheet pile at the current height.

[0084] Of course, this means that the movement of the main pile supporting unit 18 and the residual pile supporting unit 24 is not synchronized anymore. While the main pile supporting unit 18 is lowered, the residual pile supporting unit 24 keeps lifting the residual sheet pile so that the transfer of sheets to the loading table 36 can be done without interruption, i.e. non-stop.

[0085] After lowering the main part supporting unit 18, the now empty pallet 16 can be withdrawn and a new replacement pallet carrying a replacement sheet pile can be put onto the main pile supporting unit 18 (step S3 in FIG. 6).

[0086] Then, the main pile supporting unit 18 is lifted again until the upper end of the replacement sheet pile is brought in contact with the lower side of the residual pile bars 38.

[0087] This results in the residual pile bars 38 being engaged between the lower end of the sheet pile 14, i.e. the residual sheet pile, and the upper end of the replacement sheet pile (step S4 in FIG. 6).

[0088] Finally, the residual pile bars 38 are retracted from the sheet pile region 30 such that the residual sheet pile is supported on the replacement sheet pile. During this movement, the residual pile bars 38 oscillate along the direction of extension of the residual pile bars, i.e. along a direction parallel to axis H (step S5 and FIG. 6).

[0089] The oscillations ensure that the static friction between the sheets in the residual sheet pile and in the replacement sheet pile, respectively, is higher than the dynamic friction of the retracting residual pile bars 38 and each of the two sheet piles, i.e. the residual sheet pile and the replacement sheet pile. Therefore, no sheet is dragged along with the residual pile bars 38, allowing for non-stop operation of the sheet feeder 10.

[0090] This is further ensured by the blocking element 32, which blocks unwanted movements of sheets into the direction of the residual pile supporting unit 24.

[0091] The blocking bars 34 are spaced apart of each other in such a way that they do not block the movement of the residual pile bars 38.

[0092] Due to the fixation of the residual pile bars 38 on the supporting bar 42, all residual pile bars 38 are retracted at the same time, with the same speed and/or with the same oscillations, resulting in an overall easy design of the residual pile supporting unit 24 and therefore of the sheet feeder 10.

[0093] After the residual pile bars 38 are retracted, steps S1 to S5 (FIG. 6) can be repeated, preferably without interruption for continuous operation of the sheet feeder 10.