Abstract
An apparatus for filling tubular cases with a pasty material, such as gathered sausage skin casings with sausage meat, is provided. The apparatus includes at least one filling tube, which is rotatable and drivable about its longitudinal axis and on to which a case which can be filled with the material can be pulled, a receiving portion at which the filling tube is rotatably received, and a drive unit for driving the filling tube. The apparatus advantageously includes a magnetic coupling for making and breaking an at least force-locking torque transmission between the drive unit and the filling tube, which has a drive rotor and a driven roller that is displaceable relative to the drive rotor in the longitudinal direction of the filling tube. Thus, the positioning during filling is reliable and performed with simplified structure. A filling machine including the apparatus is also provided.
Claims
1. An apparatus for filling tubular cases with a pasty material, comprising: at least one filling tube that is rotatable and drivable about a longitudinal axis thereof and on to which a case which can be filled with the material can be pulled, a receiving portion at which the filling tube is rotatably received, a drive unit for driving the filling tube, and a magnetic coupling for making and breaking an at least force-locking torque transmission between the drive unit and the filling tube, which has a drive rotor and a driven roller that is displaceable relative to the drive rotor in a longitudinal direction of the filling tube.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic coupling is a contact-less magnetic coupling, wherein the drive rotor is in the form of an external rotor and the driven rotor is in the form of an internal rotor with coaxially arranged axes of rotation, which cover each other over at least portion-wise for transmission of torque in an axial direction.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic coupling is in the form of a permanent magnet coupling, and the drive rotor and/or the driven rotor respectively have one or more permanent magnets.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the magnetic coupling is in the form of an electromagnetic coupling, and the drive rotor and/or the driven rotor respectively have one or more electromagnets.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the receiving portion is mounted in a displaceable manner in the longitudinal direction of the filling tube by a guide device.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the guide device includes at least one guide carriage moveable along a guide extending parallel to the filling tube.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driven rotor is non-rotatably coupled to the filling tube.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driven rotor is arranged at a feed conduit for the pasty material, at a free end of which a first end of the filling tube is disposed, and wherein the feed conduit is mounted at least with a portion rotatably to the receiving portion.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the feed conduit is in the form of a variable-length telescopic tube.
10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a portion of the feed conduit is in the form of a deformable conveyor hose.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive rotor with respect to an axis of rotation is arranged to be stationary in an axial direction with respect to the drive unit, within a twist-off housing.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the drive rotor is coupled to the drive unit for transmitting a rotary movement by a toothed belt.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a tooth coupling for positively lockingly coupling the drive rotor and the driven rotor, wherein coupling portions that can be brought into engagement with each other are respectively coupled to the drive rotor and the driven rotor.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the coupling portions include a plurality of positively locking elements that project inwardly in a radial direction on the drive rotor and outwardly in a radial direction on the driven rotor, which are adapted to be brought into engagement with each other and out of engagement with each other by a movement of the drive rotor and the driven rotor in the longitudinal direction of the filling tube.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the tooth coupling operates such that the positively locking elements of the drive rotor and the driven rotor move axially relative to each other.
16. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a casing braking unit that is selectively operatively connected to a case drawn on to the filling tube in a region of an oppositely disposed second open end of the filling tube.
17. A filling machine for producing sausages of pasty material, such as sausage meat, the filling machine comprising: a filling hopper for receiving the pasty material, a conveyor pump for conveying the pasty material, and an apparatus for filling tubular cases with the pasty material, the apparatus comprising: at least one filling tube that is rotatable and drivable about a longitudinal axis thereof and on to which a case which can be filled with the material can be pulled, a receiving portion at which the filling tube is rotatably received, a drive unit for driving the filling tube, and a magnetic coupling for making and breaking an at least force-locking torque transmission between the drive unit and the filling tube, which has a drive rotor and a driven roller that is displaceable relative to the drive rotor in a longitudinal direction of the filling tube.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) Various additional features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following detailed description of one or more illustrative embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitutes a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, explain the one or more embodiments of the invention.
(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a machine for filling tubular cases in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention.
(3) FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the filling apparatus of FIG. 1 with the filling tube in one position.
(4) FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the filling apparatus of FIG. 2 with the filling tube in another position.
(5) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a machine for filling tubular cases in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.
(6) FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the filling apparatus of FIG. 4 with the filling tube in one position.
(7) FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the filling apparatus of FIG. 5 with the filling tube in another position.
(8) FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of a magnetic coupling according to the invention.
(9) FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a second embodiment of a magnetic coupling according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(10) FIG. 1 shows a machine 100 for filling tubular cases, in particular artificial casings and natural skin casings, in conjunction with an attachment 110. The attachment is a filling apparatus 2 according to the invention for filling tubular cases with a pasty material. The filling machine 100 further has a filling hopper 102 and an extrusion head 104. The extrusion head 104 is fluidically coupled to a filling tube 6 of the filling apparatus 2 by a feed conduit 4. The filling machine 100 further includes at least one conveyor pump (not shown) for conveying a material introduced into the filling hopper 102 in the direction of the extrusion head 104 and the feed conduit 4 connected thereto.
(11) The filling apparatus 2 includes a machine frame structure 8 at which the filling tube 6 which is drivable and rotatable about its longitudinal axis is rotatably mounted at a receiving portion 10. The filling apparatus 2 further includes a drive unit 12 (FIG. 8) for driving the filling tube 6. Arranged at the filling apparatus 2 is a casing braking unit 14 with at least one casing braking ring 14 mounted rotatably on the casing braking unit. Two conveyor elements 16, 16 which extend at a spacing relative to each other in a horizontal plane are arranged connected downstream of the casing braking unit 14 in the conveyor direction of the sausages to be produced. Discharge of a string of sausages which is produced at least with the filling apparatus 2 and subdivided into individual portions is performed by the conveyor elements 16, 16.
(12) FIGS. 2 and 3 show a view on an enlarged scale of the filling apparatus 2 according to the invention. As a transmission element for the rotary movement produced by the drive unit 12 (FIG. 8) to the filling tube 6 the filling apparatus has a magnetic coupling 18 for making and breaking an at least force-locking torque transmission between the drive unit 12 and the filling tube 6. The magnetic coupling 18 is in the form of a contact-less magnetic coupling and has a drive rotor 20 and a driven rotor 22. The drive rotor 20 is non-rotatably connected to the drive unit 12. The driven rotor 22 is non-rotatably coupled to the filling tube 6. The part of the magnetic coupling 18, which includes the drive rotor 20, is arranged in a stationary manner in the axial direction of the filling tube 6 on the machine frame structure 8 of the filling apparatus 2. The driven rotor 22 is arranged together with the filling tube 6 rotatably on the receiving portion 10. The receiving portion 10 itself is mounted slidably in the longitudinal direction of the filling tube 6 by a guide device 24. The driven rotor 22 is associated with the outlet end of the feed conduit 4 which in the present embodiment is carried rotatably on the receiving portion 10.
(13) In the present embodiment the guide device 24 has a guide carriage 26 and two guide elements 28 carrying the guide carriage 26. The receiving portion is arranged on the guide carriage 26 in such a way that the axis of rotation of the filling tube 6 and of the driven rotor 22 is arranged coaxially with the axis of rotation of the drive rotor 20 and the casing braking ring 14. The axis of rotation of the filling tube 6 and the longitudinal axis of the feed conduit 4 are also arranged coaxially. In the present embodiment the feed conduit 4 is in the form of a telescopic tube.
(14) FIG. 2 shows the filling or twisting-off position of the filling tube 6, wherein the drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22 have been brought into force-locking operative relationship with each other. The drive rotor 20 is in the form of an external rotor and the driven rotor 22 is in the form of an internal rotor. The drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22 therefore at least portion-wise cover each other in the axial direction. The drive rotor and the driven rotor are not in contact with each other. For moving the filling tube 6 from its filling position in FIG. 2 into the loading position in FIG. 3 movement of the guide carriage 26 and the receiving portion 10 carried thereon is performed by an adjusting drive (not shown). The adjusting drive moves the receiving portion 10 together with the driven rotor 22 and the filling tube 6 in the longitudinal or axial direction relative to the axis of rotation of the filling tube.
(15) FIG. 4 shows an alternative configuration of a filling machine 100 which also has a filling hopper 102 and an extrusion head 104. A filling apparatus 2 in the form of an attachment 110 is again connected upstream of the filling machine 100. The filling apparatus 2 is fluidically coupled to the filling tube 6 of the filling apparatus 2 by way of a feed conduit 4. The filling apparatus 2 differs from the filling apparatus 2 shown in FIGS. 1 through 3 by the configuration of the feed conduit 4. The extrusion head 104 is connected to the filling tube 6 by a conveyor hose 30 which constitutes at least a portion of the feed conduit 4. The extrusion head 104 and the central axis of the rotatably and drivable mounted filling tube 6 are not oriented or arranged coaxially in the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4. The central axis of extrusion head 104 and the longitudinal axis or axis of rotation of the filling tube 6 involve a lateral displacement relative to each other.
(16) FIG. 5 shows the filling position in which filling of a tubular case which has been drawn on to the filling tube 6 is performed. The driven rotor 22 in the filling position has been moved completely into the drive rotor 20 of the magnetic coupling 18. In the filling position the front or free end of the filling tube 6 has also been moved into the casing braking ring 14 (FIG. 8) of the casing braking unit 14. The feed conduit 4 which has a conveyor hose 30 also has a connecting portion 32 projecting substantially perpendicularly relative to the longitudinal axis of the filling tube 6. The connecting portion 32 is fluidically connected with an end to the receiving portion 10. An end of the conveyor hose 30 is connected at the opposite end of the connecting portion 32. FIG. 6 again shows the loading position of the filling tube 6 for fitting it with a fresh case. The conveyor hose 30 of the feed conduit 4 is laid in a loop. The entry flow direction of the pasty material into the conveyor hose and the exit direction of the pasty material from the conveyor hose 30 are mutually opposite directions in the present embodiment.
(17) FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of the magnetic coupling 18 according to the invention. The drive rotor is rotatably accommodated within a twisting-off housing 34, see also FIGS. 1 through 6, by way of at least one rotary bearing 36. The drive rotor 20 is coupled by way of a toothed belt 38 to the drive unit 12 (FIG. 8) for transmitting its rotary movement. The driven rotor 22 is moved into the drive rotor 20 for making the force-locking connection between the drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22 and for transmitting the rotary movement from the drive rotor to the driven rotor. The drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22 have a plurality of permanent magnets 40, 40. Mutually opposite magnets of the drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22 are of different polarities. The driven rotor 22 is arranged at a portion of the feed conduit 4, 4 which is held by way of a rotary bearing 42 on the receiving portion 10. The filling tube 6 is arranged at the free end of the feed conduit 4, 4. The receiving portion 10 together with the feed conduit 4, 4 and the filling tube 6 is carried in a displaceable manner in the direction of the longitudinal axis or the axis of rotation of the feed conduit 4, 4 and the filling tube 6, as is to be indicated by the movement arrow 44.
(18) FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of components of the filling apparatus 2 according to the invention. Besides the magnetic coupling 18 with its drive rotor 20 and its driven rotor 22 the illustrated embodiment additionally provides a tooth coupling 46 with inter-engaging coupling portions 48, 48. The coupling portion 48 which is arranged or provided on the drive rotor has inwardly projecting positively locking elements. The coupling portion 48 arranged or provided on the driven rotor 22 has outwardly projecting positively locking elements 52. Besides the force-locking connection made by the permanent magnets of the drive rotor 20 and the driven rotor 22, a positively locking connection is produced between the coupling portions 48, 48 when the driven rotor 22 moves into the drive rotor 20. With that inward movement the free end of the filling tube 6 is also coupled into the casing braking ring 14 of the casing braking unit 14. Preferably pre-alignment of the coupling portions of the tooth coupling 46 relative to each other is effected by the permanent magnets on the drive rotor and the driven rotor. This facilitates the movement of the coupling portions 48, 48 one into the other. This embodiment also provides that the filling tube 6 is driven by the drive unit 12 having a drive pulley 54 cooperating with the toothed belt 38. The guide carriage 26 of the guide device 24 is held slidably by way of two guide tubes 28 arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis or the axis of rotation of the filling tube 6.
(19) The embodiments described above are only descriptions of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Various variations and modifications can be made to the technical solution of the present invention by those of ordinary skills in the art, without departing from the design and spirit of the present invention. The variations and modifications should all fall within the claimed scope defined by the claims of the present invention.
LIST OF REFERENCES
(20) 2, 2 filling apparatus
(21) 4, 4 feed conduit
(22) 6 filling tube
(23) 8 machine frame structure
(24) 10 receiving portion
(25) 12 drive unit
(26) 14 casing braking unit
(27) 14 casing braking ring
(28) 16, 16 conveyor elements
(29) 18 magnetic coupling
(30) 20 drive rotor
(31) 22 driven rotor
(32) 24 guide device
(33) 26 guide carriage
(34) 28 guide tube
(35) 30 conveyor hose
(36) 32 connecting portion
(37) 34 twisting-off housing
(38) 36 rotary bearing
(39) 38 toothed belt
(40) 40, 40 permanent magnet
(41) 42 rotary bearing
(42) 44 movement arrow
(43) 46 tooth coupling
(44) 48, 48 coupling portion
(45) 50, 52 positively locking element
(46) 54 drive pulley
(47) 100 machine
(48) 102 filling apparatus
(49) 104 extrusion headphone
(50) 110, 110 attachment
