Arrangement with conveyor and scale

Abstract

A space saving apparatus comprised of a conveyor device and a scale. The scale includes a weighing belt that is directly adjacent to the conveyor device. The conveyor device includes a release section that permits unclamped products to reach the weighing belt. The length of the weighing belt is no shorter than the length of the release section.

Claims

1.-10. (canceled)

11. An apparatus comprising: (a) a conveyor device adapted to transport products in a transport direction; (b) wherein the conveyor device includes an upper conveyor belt and a lower conveyor belt arranged in parallel with each other, the lower conveyor belt being located under the upper conveyor belt and spaced apart from the upper conveyor belt in a vertical direction running orthogonal to the transport direction; (c) wherein the upper conveyor belt extends around an upper belt body and the lower conveyor belt extends around a lower belt body such that a lower run of the upper conveyor belt faces an upper run of the lower conveyor belt with a belt spacing therebetween in the vertical direction, and wherein the upper belt body includes a belt support element extending adjacent to the lower run of the upper conveyor belt; (d) wherein the belt support element includes an upper belt straight clamping section facing the upper run of the lower conveyor belt and extending in the transport direction parallel to a lower belt straight clamping section of the lower belt body at a presettable vertical spacing in order to facilitate the transport of the products in the transport direction between the lower run of the upper conveyor belt and the upper run of the lower conveyor belt; (e) wherein the belt support element includes a release section facing the upper run of the lower conveyor belt and extending from a connecting position adjacent to the upper belt straight clamping section along a release length in the transport direction, the release section at least partially overlapping the lower belt straight clamping section and residing at an angle with respect to the upper belt straight clamping section so that the distance between the lower run of the upper conveyor belt and the upper run of the lower conveyor belt increases in the transport direction; and (f) a scale including a weighing belt forming a preload, the weighing belt extending over a weighing belt length in the transport direction in order to accept products delivered by the conveyor device, wherein a receiving end of the weighing belt is located adjacent to a frontmost end of the lower belt clamping section in the transport direction and the weighing belt length is the same length or longer than the release length.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release section extends linearly so that the distance between the lower run of the upper conveyor belt and the upper run of the lower conveyor belt increases linearly along the release length.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release section is made in one piece with or is rigidly connected to the upper belt straight clamping section.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the release section connects to the upper belt straight clamping section over a radius.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 including a pivot connection between the release section and the upper belt straight clamping section for adjusting the angle between the release section and the upper belt straight clamping section.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the distance in the transport direction between the frontmost end of the lower belt straight clamping section and the connecting position is at least 20 mm.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the distance in the transport direction between the frontmost end of the lower belt straight clamping section and the connecting position is at least 50 mm.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the distance in the transport direction between the frontmost end of the lower belt straight clamping section and the connecting position is more than 80 mm.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release length is at least 20 mm.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release length is at least 50 mm.

21. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release length is more than 80 mm.

22. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the upper belt body is slidably positionable and securable relative to the lower belt body in the vertical direction.

23. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising at least one processing station for performing a process on a product clamped between the upper belt straight clamping section and the lower belt straight clamping section.

24. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the lower conveyor belt is adjustable to operate at a lower conveyor belt speed that corresponds to a transport speed of the weighing belt.

25. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the weighing belt length equals a maximum length in the transport direction of a product to be weighed plus a settling addition (L.sub.E), which follows from the condition $L_E=\left(V_B.Math.t_E\right)+L_C$ where V.sub.B=presettable belt speed of the weighing belt t.sub.E=presettable settling time L.sub.C=presettable correction value, the weighing belt length comprising an axle spacing of two reversing elements for the weighing belt or the axle spacing plus the radii of the two reversing elements.

26. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the release length is at least as large as a preset maximum product length in the transport direction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an arrangement according to the invention.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows a side view of an arrangement according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REPRESENTATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0033] FIGS. 1 and 2 show a portion of a production line with an arrangement A, which comprises a scale W and a conveyor F. The conveyor F is designed and configured to transport products P in a transport direction X. As shown in FIG. 2, the products P are moved along at processing stations M, M in order to process the products P by means of the processing stations (imprinting, scanning, labeling, etc.).

[0034] Processing takes place while the products P are clamped, in order to avoid undesirable relative movements of the products during processing. For this purpose the conveyor device F comprises a lower conveyor belt B.sub.U, which lies below an upper conveyor belt B.sub.O in a vertical direction Z. Each conveyor belt is carried by a respective upper or lower belt body F.sub.BO, F.sub.BU, where each belt body is outfitted with drive means (not shown) for the respective conveyor belt. As shown in FIG. 1 the example conveyor device F includes two laterally spaced belt bodies or conveyor belts shown. Such an arrangement enables stable transport of the products and for certain processing operations allows access to the upper side and lower side of the product between the horizontally spaced belt bodies at the same time. The two upper and lower belt bodies are comparable, so that in what follows the description can be limited to just one belt body.

[0035] The upper belt body F.sub.BO comprises a belt support element F.sub.O, on which the upper conveyor belt B.sub.O slides along during its circulation around the upper belt body F.sub.BO and at the same time is closely supported. As shown in FIG. 2 the belt support element F.sub.O has a straight clamping section K.sub.O, which is facing the upper run of the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U. The upper clamping section K.sub.O extends in a presettable vertical spacing parallel to a straight lower clamping section K.sub.U of the lower belt body F.sub.BU. In the practice of this invention, a product P can be clamped by and between the upper and lower clamping sections and thus between the two conveyor belts B.sub.O, B.sub.U, that is, between the lower run of the upper conveyor belt B.sub.O and the upper run of the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U, supported by the respective clamping section in each case, while the product is being transported by the driven conveyor belts in the transport direction X.

[0036] As can be seen in FIG. 2, a release section T connects in transport direction X to the upper clamping section K.sub.O. The release section T connects to the upper clamping section K.sub.O starting from a connecting position X.sub.T, essentially likewise in transport direction X. The release section T has a length L.sub.T, which is referred to herein as the release length. A reversing roller, which is not shown in more detail, is provided at the frontmost end of the upper belt body and reverses or returns the upper conveyor belt B.sub.O, which is guided along the release section T, to the upper side of the belt body. The release section T of the belt support element F.sub.O extends up to the reversing roller. Comparably, such a reversing roller is provided at the frontmost end, looking in the X direction, of the lower belt body B.sub.U. The lower clamping section K.sub.U extends up to this lower reversing roller of lower belt body B.sub.U.

[0037] The release section T in the illustrated embodiment is essentially made as a straight section T.sub.G, which extends slightly upward at a low angle . A product P transported in direction X and initially clamped between the conveyor belts is gradually released along the release length L.sub.T until the back end of the product P reaches the gently rising release section T. Since the belt spacing Z.sub.B between the upper and lower conveyor belts becomes greater along the release section T by the clamping release distance in the Z direction, the clamping effect correspondingly decreases, so that the product P is completely released when its front edge reaches the frontmost effective end X.sub.KU of the lower clamping section K.sub.U.

[0038] In transport direction X the weighing belt B.sub.W connects to a scale W disposed upstream from the conveyor device F, directly adjacent to (immediately at) the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U. That is, the receiving end of weighing belt B.sub.W which receives products from the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U is directly adjacent to the frontmost end of the lower clamping section K.sub.U. The arrangement of the weighing belt B.sub.W is chosen so that a product P being transported by the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U transfers its weight from the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U directly to the weighing belt B.sub.W. In particular, the arrangement of an intermediate additional conveyor belt or another support surface that is known from the prior art is omitted. The scale W with its weighing belt B.sub.W can therefore be introduced with the receiving end of weighing belt B.sub.W very close to the conveyor device F in order to spare overall construction length in the transport direction X.

[0039] The weighing belt B.sub.W has a weighing belt length L.sub.BW, which in the illustrated example corresponds to the total length of the weighing belt in the transport direction X. In addition, the weighing belt length L.sub.BW is chosen so that it corresponds at least to the release length L.sub.T. Through this it is ensured that the scale W can properly weigh any product, which is transferred to it from the upstream conveyor device F in a completely released state.

[0040] The arrangement of the weighing belt immediately behind the lower conveyor belt (that is, directly adjacent in the transport direct X) according to the invention is to be understood to mean that no construction elements that project into the transport plane and unnecessarily increase the spacing between the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U and the weighing belt B.sub.W are disposed between the weighing belt and the lower conveyor belt. However, according to some embodiments of the invention the arrangement of a short transition element is conceivable, in particular a short metal support, which serves to cover the unavoidable, for example gusset-shaped, transition gap or roller gap between a front reversing roller of the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U and the rear reversing roller of the directly connected weighing belt B.sub.W. The transition element can lie at the height of the conveyor plane, which is defined by the top side of the lower conveyor belt B.sub.U or the adjacent weighing belt B.sub.W. In this case the transition element supports the product P as it passes over the gap.

[0041] The transition element can be affixed at the weighing belt B.sub.W and so forms a preload. This embodiment enables a weighing signal to be received when the product has already passed the transition element but has not yet reached the actual weighing belt. Alternatively, the transition element can also be a part of the conveyor device F. In this case the transition element does not form a preload. This is also true for a third embodiment, in which the transition element is carried by a machine frame, which is not associated either with the scale W or the conveyor device F. A comparable transition element can also be provided on the downstream side of the weighing belt B.sub.W.

[0042] As used herein, whether in the above description or the following claims, the terms comprising, including, carrying, having, containing, involving, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, that is, to mean including but not limited to. Also, it should be understood that the terms about, substantially, and like terms used herein when referring to a dimension or characteristic of a component indicate that the described dimension/characteristic is not a strict boundary or parameter and does not exclude variations therefrom that are functionally similar. At a minimum, such references that include a numerical parameter would include variations that, using mathematical and industrial principles accepted in the art (e.g., rounding, measurement or other systematic errors, manufacturing tolerances, etc.), would not vary the least significant digit.

[0043] The directions referenced herein and in the following claims, namely, the X or transport direction, the Z or vertical direction, and the Y or transverse direction refer to the corresponding directions indicated in the drawings.

[0044] Any use of ordinal terms such as first, second, third, etc., in the following claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another, or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Rather, unless specifically stated otherwise, such ordinal terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term). Rather than using an ordinal term to distinguish between commonly named elements, a particular one of a number of elements may be called out in the following claims as a respective one of the elements and thereafter referred to as that respective one of the elements.

[0045] The term each may be used in the following claims for convenience in describing characteristics or features of multiple elements, and any such use of the term each is in the inclusive sense unless specifically stated otherwise. For example, if a claim defines two or more elements as each having a characteristic or feature, the use of the term each is not intended to exclude from the claim scope a situation having a third one of the elements which does not have the defined characteristic or feature.

[0046] The above-described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit the scope of the invention. Various other embodiments and modifications to these preferred embodiments may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in some instances, one or more features disclosed in connection with one embodiment can be used alone or in combination with one or more features of one or more other embodiments. More generally, the various features described herein may be used in any working combination.

Key

[0047] A arrangement [0048] B.sub.O upper conveyor belt [0049] B.sub.U lower conveyor belt [0050] B.sub.W weighing belt [0051] F conveyor device [0052] F.sub.BO upper belt body [0053] F.sub.BU lower belt body [0054] F.sub.O belt support element [0055] K.sub.O upper clamping section [0056] K.sub.U lower clamping section [0057] L.sub.BW length of weighing belt in X direction [0058] L.sub.T release length, length of release section in X direction [0059] L.sub.C correction value [0060] L.sub.E settling load [0061] M, M processing station [0062] P product to be conveyed [0063] t.sub.E settling time [0064] T release section [0065] T.sub.G straight section of release section (T) [0066] V.sub.B belt speed [0067] W scale [0068] X transport direction [0069] X.sub.KU frontmost end of lower clamping section (Kr) [0070] X.sub.T connecting position [0071] Z vertical direction [0072] Z.sub.B belt spacing