METHOD, DEVICE AND SYSTEM FOR OPENING VALUABLE DOCUMENT PACKAGES

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for opening value document packages in which value documents are packaged by means of a packaging material. A region of the packaging material is heated by means of hot air in such a manner that the packaging material opens along a cutting pattern. A system comprises such an apparatus and a value document package.

Claims

1.-14. (canceled)

15. A method for opening value document packages in which value documents are packaged with a packaging material, wherein a region of the packaging material is heated with hot air in such a manner that the packaging material opens along a cutting pattern.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the cutting pattern is a line-shaped, H-shaped, X-shaped, M-shaped or L-shaped cutting pattern.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the packaging material is softened or weakened along the cutting pattern by the heating with hot air.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the packaging material is configured as a shrink foil that contracts during the heating, so that the shrink foil opens along the cutting pattern on account of forces arising in the region of the cutting pattern.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the packaging material is tensioned by a tensioning device in such a manner that forces are caused or intensified in the region of the cutting pattern by means of which forces the opening of the packaging material is brought about or supported.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the packaging material is removed after the opening from the value documents located in the value document package by the tensioning device.

21. An apparatus for opening value document packages in which value documents are packaged with a packaging material, having at least one hot-air nozzle that is adapted to heat a region of the packaging material with hot air in such a manner that the packaging material opens along a cutting pattern.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the hot-air nozzle is point-shaped, line-shaped, H-shaped, X-shaped, M-shaped or L-shaped.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, having a tensioning device, which is adapted to tension the packaging material, as a result of which forces are caused or intensified in the region of the cutting pattern, by which forces the opening of the packaging material is brought about or supported.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the tensioning device is further adapted to remove the opened packaging material from the value documents located in the value document package.

25. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the tensioning device has at least one rubberized roller.

26. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein a transport device produces a relative movement between the hot air nozzle and the packaging material.

27. A system for opening value document packages having an apparatus according to claim 21 and a value document package having a plurality of value documents packaged with a packaging material.

28. The system according to claim 27, wherein the packaging material is configured as a shrink foil that contracts when heated and that opens along the cutting pattern on account of forces arising thereby in the region of the cutting pattern during the heating.

Description

[0026] Further advantages, features and application possibilities of the present invention will result from the following description in connection with the figures. There are shown:

[0027] FIG. 1 an example of a packaging material of a value document package and a hot air nozzle in a perspective view;

[0028] FIG. 2 two examples of the shape of an opening of a hot air nozzle in a plan view;

[0029] FIG. 3 an example of a tensioning device in a plan view;

[0030] FIG. 4 a first example of the profile of a cutting pattern for the removal of packaging material from a pack; and

[0031] FIG. 5 a second example of the profile of a cutting pattern for the removal of packaging material from a pack.

[0032] FIG. 1 shows an example of a section of a packaging material 1 with which value documents (not shown) are packaged. The represented section of the packaging material 1 forms, for example, a side wall or a part of a side wall of a substantially cuboid value document package (not shown).

[0033] Hot air 2, which is produced, for example, by a hot-air blower, is guided through a hot air nozzle 3 arranged in the vicinity of the packaging material 1. The packaging material 1 is heated in a region 4 by the hot air 2. The distance between the hot air nozzle 3 and the packaging material preferably amounts to between approximately 1 and 30 mm, in particular between 3 and 15 mm. In the example shown, however, the distance between the hot air nozzle 3 and the packaging material 1 is represented clearly greater for reasons of clarity.

[0034] The shape of an opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3 determines the shape of the hot air flow 6 impinging on the packaging material 1. In the example shown, the hot air nozzle 3 has a line-shaped opening 5, so that hot air 2 flowing out of the opening 5 generates a hot air jet 6 with a substantially linear cross section.

[0035] When the hot air jet 6 impinges on the packaging material 1, the hot air 2 heats the packaging material 1 in the region 4, which does not necessarily correspond to the cross section of the hot air jet 6 upon exiting from the hot air nozzle 3 and, in particular, can have a larger surface area. This is due, in particular, to heat conduction in the packaging material 1 and/or turbulences of the hot air 2.

[0036] The strongest heating of the packaging material 1 takes place along a region at the center of the region 4, which is referred to as cutting pattern 7. The high temperatures, which are preferably between 120 and 250 C., bring about a softening of the packaging material 1 there, by loosening or at least reducing or at least reducing cohesion forces between atoms or molecules and/or unknotting polymers or molecule chains.

[0037] Through the line-shaped opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3 and the resulting, substantially linear cross section of the hot-air jet 6, the heat is concentrated on the surface of the packaging material 1 substantially along a line, so that the cutting pattern 7 in the present example is also line-shaped.

[0038] The packaging material 1 is preferably configured as a shrink foil, for example made of a polyolefin, which contracts during heating, but can also be employed for any other packaging material that is softened or weakened by heating. During the application of hot air 2 and the shrinkage of the foil caused thereby, in the region 4, in particular in the region of the cutting pattern 7, forces are produced through which the softened packaging material 1 is pulled apart, and finally partially torn, along the cutting pattern 7, which is indicated by arrows 8.

[0039] The resulting opening along the cutting pattern 7 can increase further, until the heating by means of hot air 2 is stopped or the packaging material 1 has reached a state in which it cannot shrink further.

[0040] This opening process can be influenced by various parameters. For example, the temperature of the hot air 2 flowing out of the opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3 can be adjusted such that an opening of the packaging material 1 in the region 4 takes place more rapidly or more slowly. For this purpose, the distance between the hot air nozzle 3 and the packaging material 1 can also be varied. As a result, the size of the region 4 can be influenced additionally.

[0041] The heating of the packaging material by means of hot air has the particular advantage in comparison to other methods, in which the value document package is cut open, for example by means of a laser beam, that tolerances or variations of the distance between the hot air nozzle 3 and the packaging material 1 can be relatively large, without the opening process being noticeably impaired.

[0042] The forces resulting from the heating in the region 4, in particular the direction of action thereof, can also be influenced by the shape of the opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3, which is illustrated by FIG. 2.

[0043] FIG. 2 shows two examples of the shape of the opening 5 of a hot air nozzle 3 in a plan view. In the first example, the opening is configured in an X-shape and in the second example in an H-shape.

[0044] Through the X-shaped opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3, the hot air jet flowing out has a substantially X-shaped cross section. When the opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3 is arranged sufficiently closely to the packaging material 1, this leads to a substantially X-shaped concentration of hot air in the packaging material. The corresponding cutting pattern is therefore likewise X-shaped.

[0045] In the second example, the hot air jet, due to the H-shaped opening 5 of the hot air nozzle 3, has an H-shaped cross section. Accordingly, the cutting pattern on the packaging material is also H-shaped.

[0046] The hatched arrows 8 indicate that the packaging material 1 pulls apart along the respective cutting pattern and opens while so doing.

[0047] In addition to an X- or H-shaped opening 5, a plurality of further shapes are conceivable, through which the region 4 of the packaging material is broken down into several partial regions, through which the packaging material can be opened and removed in a particularly reliable and simple manner.

[0048] For example, point-shaped hot air nozzles 3 can be used. The point-shaped hot air nozzles 3 can be arranged as desired in order to produce any desired cutting pattern.

[0049] Further, it is possible, by means of a transport device, to move the hot-air nozzle or hot air nozzles or the packaged value documents in such a manner that a relative movement between the packaging material and the hot air nozzle or hot air nozzles arises. When, for example, a point-shaped hot air nozzle is used, a cutting pattern arises in accordance with the relative movement, for example a line. When, for example, a line-shaped hot air nozzle is used, an areal cutting pattern arises through the relative movement, for example over an entire surface of the packaged value documents.

[0050] FIG. 3 shows an example of a tensioning device 9 in a plan view. The tensioning device 9 is arranged above the packaging material 1 and has two rollers 10, which can rotate about a respective roller axis 11. For this purpose, the two rollers 10 are driven by a suitable drive (not shown), for example an electric motor. The direction of rotation of the two rollers 10 is indicated by the curved arrows 12.

[0051] When the two rollers 10 are in friction-locked contact with the packaging material 1, the packaging material 1 is tensioned in the region 4 between the two rollers 10 by a torque applied to the rollers 10.

[0052] When hot air is applied to the region 4, the packaging material 1 softens along the cutting pattern 7. The forces produced by the tension in the interior of the packaging material 1 bring about an opening of the packaging material 1 along the cutting pattern 7. The direction of the forces acting during the opening is indicated by the arrows 8.

[0053] As a result, the packaging material 1 opens even if it does not contract or contracts only slightly during the heating by means of hot air, for example when it is not configured as a shrink foil.

[0054] Preferably, the packaging material 1 is not only tensioned by the tensioning device 9, in order to bring about or support an opening of the material along the cutting pattern 7, but, after the completed opening, is also removed from the value documents contained in the value document package, in particular by pulling off along the direction of the arrows 13. For this purpose, the two rollers 10 rotate further in the opposite rotation direction 12 after the opening has taken place, and, while so doing,push the packaging material 1 or parts of the packaging material 1 out laterally between the value documents and the rollers 10.

[0055] Since forces arise along the edges of the packaged value documents during the heating of the packaging material 1, it is also possible to employ only one of the rollers 10 for producing the previously described tension for opening the packaging material.

[0056] FIG. 4 shows by way of example ten packs 16 of 100 banknotes each, which are packaged into a packet 15 by means of packaging material 1. In order to remove the packaging material 1, a cutting pattern 7 is employed that extends along two edges of the two narrow sides of the packet 15, and diagonally over the areas of the two longitudinal sides of the packet 15. The direction of the forces acting during the opening is indicated by the arrows 8.

[0057] The cutting pattern 7 according to FIG. 4 has the advantage that the packaging material 1 is opened along the edges of the packet 15 in such a manner that the packaging material 1 no longer has to be pulled over edges of the packet 15 in order to be removed.

[0058] The cutting pattern 7 according to FIG. 4 can be produced, for example, with the above-described point-shaped hot air nozzle and a transport device, which produces a relative movement between the packet 15 and the hot air nozzle, which relative movement corresponds to the cutting pattern 7. In another possibility, it is provided to employ one or several line-shaped hot air nozzles, which are arranged along the lines 17, 18 of the cutting pattern 7.

[0059] FIG. 5 shows by way of example ten packs 16 of 100 banknotes each, which are packaged into a packet 15 by means of packaging material 1. In order to remove the packaging material 1, a cutting pattern 7 is employed that extends around the circumference of the packet 15. The direction of the forces acting during the opening is indicated by the arrows 8.

[0060] During the production of the cutting pattern 7 according to FIG. 5, the packet 15 is clamped by means of clamping jaws 20 and 22. For example, a clamping force 21 acts on the clamping jaws 20, which is greater than the force 23 acting on the clamping jaws 22. After the production of the cutting pattern 7, the packaging material 1 can then be removed from the packet 15 by means of the clamping jaws 22, on which the smaller force 22 acts. The clamping jaws 21, 23 advantageously have a friction lining directed towards the packaging material 1, in particular for the previously described removal of the packaging material 1.

[0061] The cutting pattern 7 according to FIG. 5 can be produced, for example, with the above-described point-shaped hot air nozzle and a transport device, which produces a relative movement between the packet 15 and the hot air nozzle, which relative movement corresponds to the cutting pattern 7. In a further possibility, it is provided to employ one or several line-shaped hot air nozzles, which are arranged along the cutting pattern 7.