Method for Producing Corrugated Cardboard Blanks, and Device

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing blanks from paper, cardboard, paperboard, corrugated cardboard, or plastic. The method according to the invention does not process panels or sheets into blanks in a multistage process but rather produces the blanks directly from the material web i.e. the corrugated cardboard web or from the paper, paperboard, plastic or cardboard web. The machining process is scalable. Advantageously, the method according to the invention can be adjusted in terms of the required production or packaging quantity by the juxtaposition of additional processing centers in terms of production speed and quantity.

Claims

1. A method for producing corrugated cardboard blanks, comprising the steps of: guiding a material web, in the area of action of a shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool; and cutting the material web with at least one shape-unrelated variable cutting tool, wherein, by the cutting tool, cutting lines are introduced into the material web, and produce the contour of a blank, a piece of waste or parts of the contour of a blank or piece of waste in the material web, wherein the material web is an endless corrugated cardboard web.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool is a laser or a plasma cutter and the method is carried out without a shape-related stamping tool.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: applying synchronization marks to the material web prior to guiding to a cutting tool, detecting the synchronization marks with at least one sensor unit, transmitting data corresponding to a position of the synchronization marks from the at least one sensor unit to a control unit, and controlling the cutting tool by the control unit based on the transmitted data, so that the cutting lines are applied by the cutting tool depending on the position of the synchronization marks.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein cutting of the material web is carried out by a plurality of shape-unrelated, variable cutting tools, which are arranged one behind another in a running direction of the material web and/or side by side.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: removing the pieces of waste from the material web and taking away the blanks; and transporting the blanks and removal of the pieces of waste from the material web.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a planning step wherein a planning unit plans a position of the blanks in the material web.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material web is a corrugated cardboard web, which is fed directly from a corrugated cardboard production plant.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: guiding the material web with the cutting lines to at least one waste removal element, and removing the piece of waste from the material web by the waste removal element.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the material web is transported to a second shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool and the material web is cut by the second shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool, wherein second cutting lines are introduced by the second cutting tool into the material web and cut out the blank or parts of the blank.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the second cutting lines are dividing lines between adjacent blanks.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material web is printed via a digital printing method.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the material web is provided by one or more scoring tools with longitudinal scorings or transverse scorings, wherein the scoring tools can be arranged in front of or behind the at least one cutting tools and/or the material web is provided by one or more embossing tools with embossings, wherein the embossing tools can be arranged in front of or behind the at least one cutting tools.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: introducing first cutting lines into the material web by a first cutting tool, and cutting out the contour of a piece of waste and/or parts of the contour of a blank from the material web, transporting the material web with the first cutting lines to at least one waste removal element, removing, via the one or more waste removal elements, the piece of waste from the material web, transporting the material web without the piece of waste to a second cutting tool, introducing second cutting lines into the material web by a second cutting tool, and cutting out the contour of a blank or parts of the contour of a blank from the material web, and wherein the blank is transported and the material web without blanks is cut by cross cutters into strips or is cut up by a shredder.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transportation of the blanks takes place by removing finished blanks from the material web, wherein the removal of the finished blanks is preferably carried out by robotic systems connected to a control unit or ball-chain conveyors.

15. The method according to claim 1, further including waste removal process comprising the following steps: introducing the material web into a waste removal area which has no web guiding elements or web conveying elements below the material web and in an area of influence of all waste removal elements, treating the material web with the waste removal elements that are installed above the material web and acting on the material web from above to remove the waste from the material web in the area of influence of the waste removal elements.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the waste removal elements are surface-acting waste removal elements, including compressed air beams, brushes or vacuum belts, or locally acting waste removal elements, including air nozzles or movable pushers, or a combination of different waste removal elements.

17. A device for producing blanks from corrugated cardboard, comprising: a feeding device for feeding a material web of corrugated cardboard; a first cutting station having at least one shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool, wherein the shape-unrelated, variable cutting tool is a laser or a plasma cutter and the device has no shape-related stamping tool; wherein the first cutting station comprises; at least one sensor unit and at least one control unit connected to the sensor unit, the sensor unit having a sensor for detecting a position of synchronization marks and the control unit being a controller of the cutting tool, at least one planning unit which plans a position of the blanks in the material web; at least one transport device by which the material web is transported in the device; and at least one waste disposal device having no web guiding elements.

18. The device according to claim 17, wherein a plurality of shape-unrelated, variable cutting tools are arranged in the first cutting station, the plurality of cutting tools positioned one behind an other in a running direction of the material web and/or in pairs next to each other.

19. The device according claim 17, wherein the feeding device is a corrugated cardboard production plant for producing a corrugated cardboard web.

20. The device according to claim 17, wherein the device further comprises a first waste removal station, a second cutting station and at least one transportation unit for the blanks.

21. The device according to claim 20, wherein the transportation unit is a robotic system or a ball-chain conveyor, the robotic system optionally connected to the control unit.

22. The device according to claim 20, wherein the waste removal station has surface-acting waste removal elements, including compressed air beams, brushes or vacuum belts, or locally acting waste removal elements, including air nozzles or movable pushers, or a combination of different waste removal elements.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0130] The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the following figures. In the figures:

[0131] FIG. 1 shows a device for producing corrugated cardboard according to the prior art,

[0132] FIG. 2 shows a schematic course of an embodiment of the method according to the invention,

[0133] FIG. 3 shows a detail of a method according to the invention with the method step cutting,

[0134] FIG. 4 shows a detail of a method according to the invention with the method step removing waste,

[0135] FIG. 5 shows a detail of a method according to the invention with a further embodiment of the method step removing waste and

[0136] FIG. 6 shows a device according to the invention, which is fed by a corrugated cardboard production plant.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0137] FIG. 2 shows the schematic sequence of an embodiment of the method according to the invention. In a first method step 15, a material web is fed into the process. The material web is a corrugated cardboard web or a honeycomb-corrugated cardboard web. The material web is transported to a group of first cutting tools and in method step 16 the contours of the pieces of waste are cut into the material web. In the following method step 17, the pieces of waste are removed from the material web by one or more waste removal elements. The material web freed from the pieces of waste is transported to a group of second cutting tools, and in step 18 the contour (outer geometry) of the blanks is cut by the second cutting tools into the material web. A robotic system removes the finished blanks from the material web (method step 19) and transports them to a storage location or to a further processing step. The residual web is disposed of in method step 20.

[0138] FIG. 3 shows a detail of a method according to the invention. A material web 22 is transported in the web running direction MD, according to the arrow, to a plurality of cutting tools 23a, 23b, 23c. On the web 22 there are a plurality of synchronization marks 27. The cutting tools 23a, 23b and 23c cut cutting lines 24 into the material web 22 within their effective range. In the illustrated case, the cutting lines 24 are the contours of various blanks 21a, 21b and 21c. In FIG. 3, the blanks 21a, 21b and 21c are arranged so that no pieces of waste are formed between the various blanks. A sensor unit, not shown, measures the distance between two synchronization marks 27a and 27b. By way of this, the position of the blanks and the width of the material web B can be measured and, if necessary, the shrinkage of the web can be taken into account during the cutting operation.

[0139] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the method step of removing waste. A material web 22 with cutting lines 24 which correspond to the contour of a piece of waste 26 is transported along in the web running direction MD under two surface-acting waste removal elements 28, 29. Web guiding and/or conveying elements are located below the material web in sub-areas 25a, 25b, 25c. The first waste removal element 28 is a rotating brush having elastic bristles which extends across the entire width B of the material web 22. The brush rotates in the direction of the arrow R and exerts a force on the material web from above. As a result, the pieces of waste fall down from the material web, so that cutouts 30a arise. In the area of action 32a of the waste removal element 28, no web guiding or conveying elements are installed below the material web. In the further course of the web after the sub-area 25b, a second waste removal element 29 acts on the material web. The waste removal element 29 has various air nozzles, from which compressed air is blown onto the material web. Due to the air pressure, the pieces of waste are pressed downwards out of the material web, so that cutouts 30b are formed. In the area of action 32b of the waste removal element 29, no web guiding or conveying elements are likewise installed below the material web. It can be seen that the material web in the region of the waste removal elements is not supported by web guiding or conveying elements, so that the waste removal in the area of action of the waste removal elements is not hindered.

[0140] FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the method step of removing waste. The waste removal takes place by means of a vacuum belt 31, which moves at web speed in the web running direction MD under the material web 22. The vacuum belt 31 contacts the bottom side of the material web 22. Guiding of the web below the material web takes place by the vacuum belt 31 in the sub-area 25. For this purpose, a defined vacuum is generated below the vacuum belt 31 in the region V. The vacuum belt 31 has a very fine perforation, not shown. The pulleys 33a, 33b at the end of the vacuum belt deflect the belt. The pieces of waste 26 sucked in by the vacuum are led out downwards from the material web 22, while the material web is transported to the next method step. In the area oV no vacuum is generated, only the ambient pressure is applied here. In the area of action 32 no web guiding or conveying elements are installed below the material web. The pieces of waste 26 fall downwards following the gravitational attraction G.

[0141] FIG. 6 shows a device according to the invention which is fed from a conventional corrugated cardboard production plant with an endless corrugated cardboard web. The construction of the corrugated cardboard production plant corresponds to the wet section A according to FIG. 1. The corrugated cardboard production plant is adjoined by a cutting station 40, in which a plurality of shape-unrelated cutting tools cut cutting lines in the corrugated cardboard web 22. The corrugated cardboard web 22 is further transported into a waste removal station 41 where the pieces of waste are removed. The corrugated cardboard web 22 freed from the pieces of waste is then transported into a 2nd cutting station 42 in which 2nd cutting lines are cut into the corrugated cardboard web. Alternatively, it is possible to cut the corrugated cardboard transversely and to stack the sheets in the shelves 14.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0142] roll-out stand 1 [0143] splicer 2 [0144] preheater 3 [0145] preparer (rotatable heating cylinder with humidification) 4 [0146] corrugation assembly 5 [0147] upper transport means 6 [0148] bridge 7 [0149] preheating cylinder 8 [0150] gluing machine 9 [0151] heating and tension section 10 [0152] short cross cutter 11 [0153] scoring and cutting assembly 12 [0154] cross cutter 13 [0155] shelf 14 [0156] blank 21 [0157] material web 22 [0158] cutting tool 23 [0159] cutting line 24 [0160] sub-area with web guiding and/or web conveying elements 25 [0161] piece of waste 26 [0162] synchronization mark 27 [0163] roller with rotating, elastic bristles 28 [0164] air knife 29 [0165] cutout in material web 30 [0166] vacuum belt 31 [0167] area of action of waste removal element without web guiding or web conveying elements 32 [0168] pulley 33 [0169] cutting station 40 [0170] waste removal station 41 [0171] cutting station 42 [0172] web running direction MD [0173] width of the material web B [0174] direction of rotation R [0175] gravitational attraction G [0176] area with vacuum V [0177] area without vacuum oV