Method and device for the production of a packaged unit

Abstract

An apparatus for producing a packaged unit includes a separating device, a shrinking device, and a manipulation unit. The separating device separates out individual products from a product stream and combines them to form a product cluster. The shrinking device secures the product cluster on all sides by applying a shrink film wrapped around the product cluster in a way that forms at least one lateral opening before being shrunk on. The manipulation unit places the shrink film against the product cluster at least in the region of the lateral opening, thereby forming a closed surface in the form of a closure with overlapping fold regions.

Claims

1. An apparatus for producing a packaged unit from a product cluster completely enclosed by at most one seamless piece of shrink film in a way that forms at least two lateral openings, each lateral opening defined by lateral protrusions that extend away from the product cluster, said apparatus comprising: a manipulation unit that comprises a first rotating arm that is configured to move a first element vertically relative to said product cluster to fold a first lateral protrusion of one of said lateral openings, and a second rotating arm that is configured to move a second element horizontally relative to said product cluster to fold a second lateral protrusion of said one lateral opening; wherein overlapping fold regions are formed by said folded first lateral protrusion and said folded second lateral protrusion; and a shrinking device that receives said product cluster after said manipulation unit has placed said shrink film against said product cluster in said overlapping fold region of said lateral opening.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said shrinking device comprises a shrink tunnel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulation unit comprises a bonding device for placing said shrink film in position in a contactless manner.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulation unit places said shrink film, which has had adhesive applied thereto, in position in a contactless manner.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulation unit comprises a bonding device for placing said shrink film in position in a contactless manner and wherein said bonding device fuses said film.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first element comprises a brush adapted to place laterally protruding ends of said shrink film against said product cluster in said overlapping fold region of said lateral opening.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first and second elements comprise brushes adapted to place laterally protruding ends of said shrink film against said product cluster in said overlapping fold region of said lateral opening, said manipulation unit further comprising two additional brushes, thereby providing a total of four brushes, each of which is assigned to operate on a corresponding lateral face of said shrink film product cluster, wherein each of said four brushes operates on a different lateral face.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulation unit said shrink film, which has been electrostatically charged, in position in a contactless manner.

9. An apparatus for receiving individual products that have been combined into a product cluster loosely wrapped by at most one seamless piece of shrink film in a way that forms at least two lateral openings, each lateral opening defined by lateral protrusions that extend away from the product cluster, said apparatus comprising: a manipulation unit structured and configured for producing a packaged unit from said product cluster, wherein said manipulation unit comprises a first rotating arm that is configured to move a first element vertically from above said product cluster in a region of one of said at least two lateral openings and a second rotating arm that is configured to move a second element horizontally from a side of said product duster in said region of one of said at least two lateral openings, wherein said manipulation unit is configured to place said shrink film against said product duster in a region of each of said lateral openings, wherein placement of said shrink film against said product cluster completely encloses said product cluster such that no shrink eyes remain.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit is structured and configured for bonding said shrink film into position in a contactless manner.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation element comprises a brush adapted to place laterally protruding ends of said shrink film against said product cluster in said region of said lateral opening.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit further comprises a third rotating arm configured to move a third element and a fourth rotating arm configured to move a fourth element, each element being a brush, for a total of four brushes in said manipulation unit, each of which is assigned to operate on a corresponding lateral face of said product cluster in said region of one of said at least two lateral opening.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said rotating arms are configured for moving said brushes by rotating said brush respectively about an axis defined by said rotating arm.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit further comprises a third rotating arm configured to move a third element and a fourth rotating arm configured to move a fourth element, each element being a brush; wherein said element is configured to operate on a first lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said second element is configured to operate on a second lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said third element is configured to operate on a third lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said fourth element is configured to operate on a fourth lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit further comprises a third rotating arm configured to move a third element and a fourth rotating arm configured to move a fourth element, each element being a brush; wherein said first element is configured to operate on a first lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said second element is configured to operate on a second lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said third element is configured to operate on a third lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening, wherein said fourth element is configured to operate on a fourth lateral face of a lateral protrusion of said shrink film in a region of said one lateral opening; wherein said first rotating arm is configured to move said first brush by rotating said first brush about an axis of said first rotating arm, wherein said second rotating arm is configured to move said second brush by rotating said first brush about an axis of said second rotating arm, wherein said third rotating arm is configured to move said third brush by rotating said first brush about an axis of said third rotating arm, and wherein said fourth rotating arm is configured to move said fourth brush by rotating said first brush about an axis of said fourth rotating arm.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit comprises an electrostatic charging unit for placing said shrink film in position in a contactless manner.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said manipulation unit comprises a brush adapted to place laterally protruding ends of said shrink film against said product cluster in said region of said lateral opening.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) These and other features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying claims, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a packaged unit,

(3) FIG. 2 shows an apparatus for preparing the package unit of FIG. 1 for shrink wrapping, and

(4) FIG. 3 shows a finished packaged.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) FIG. 1 shows a packaged unit that comprises a shrink film 1 and a product cluster 2 that is encased by the shrink film 1. The product cluster 2 is formed from individual products 3 that are best seen in FIG. 3.

(6) In the exemplary embodiment, the products 3 are cans. These cans can be beverage cans. Alternatively, the cans are rotationally symmetric and cylindrical containers. The containers can accommodate beverages, as well as foodstuffs. The products 3 are combined to form a packaged unit in the manner described below.

(7) The products 3 are initially separated from a product stream by a separating device, which is conventional and therefore need not be shown. The products 3 are then combined to form the product cluster 2. During this process, they are aligned and compacted to the extent where they abut against each other. A shrink film 1 then secures the products 3 or the product cluster 2 so that packaged units that have been produced in this manner can be better stored and/or conveyed.

(8) Initially, the shrink film 1 is loosely wrapped around the product cluster 2, as is shown in FIG. 1. Loosely wrapping the shrink film can be carried out by a winding machine, which is conventional and therefore need not be shown. In the case of this operation, the shrink film 1 is wrapped around the product cluster 2 such that respective edges 1a, 1b overlap, as can be seen in FIG. 1. In the exemplary embodiment the edges 1a, 1b are longitudinal edges 1a, 1b of the shrink film 1. However this configuration is only an example and is not limiting.

(9) In the illustrated embodiment, the shrink film 1 is wrapped around the product cluster 2 in the longitudinal direction L such that the lateral faces 2a face the direction L. However, this is not mandatory.

(10) A packaged unit formed in this manner has lateral protrusions 4a, 4b that protrude beyond an associated lateral face 2a of the product cluster. In this case, the lateral protrusions 4a, 4b of the shrink film 1 are dimensioned such that the shrink film 1 closes the lateral face 2a when the lateral protrusions 4a, 4b are placed against the lateral face 2a or the product cluster 2.

(11) The shrink film 1 is initially wrapped in a hose-shaped manner around the product cluster 2, as shown in FIG. 1. When wrapped, the shrink film 1 forms an opening 5 that exposes the two lateral faces 2a. The opening 5 has only one closure 6, which is seen in FIG. 2.

(12) The closure 6 is defined such that the shrink film 1 or its lateral protrusions 4a, 4b can be placed against the product cluster 2 in the region of the opening 5 thereby forming a closed surface. For this purpose, along with the aforementioned separating device and a conventional shrinking device placed at the end of the production path for the final mutual securing of the products 3 by way of the shrink film 1, an apparatus for producing a packaged unit has a plurality of manipulation elements 7, which are shown in FIG. 2, for producing the packaged unit shown in FIG. 3.

(13) Each manipulation unit 7 has at least one brush 7a that is supported by a pivot arm 7b. In some embodiments, the brush 7a rotates about an axis defined by the pivot arm 7b. However, there are embodiments where this is not the case.

(14) Using the brush 7a or the manipulation units 7, the lateral protrusions 4a, 4b of the shrink film 1 are placed against the product cluster 2 in the region of the opening 5. At the same time, overlapping fold regions 8a, 8b, as shown in FIG. 2, are formed. In one embodiment, there are four brushes 7a. This configuration is useful for block-shaped product clusters since there will then be one brush 7a per lateral face of the product cluster 2.

(15) The lateral protrusions 4a, 4b include narrow side protrusions 4a and broad side protrusions 4b. The broad side protrusions 4b are placed against the lateral faces 2a by associated manipulation units 7 on the corresponding broad sides of the block-shaped product cluster 2. The fold regions 8b according to FIG. 2 in the exemplary embodiment are formed in this way.

(16) The fold regions 8b corresponding to FIG. 2 may be secured or become secured to the lateral face 2a by the shrink film 1 having been completely charged electrostatically beforehand and the manipulation units 7 being responsible for moving the associated lateral protrusions nearer until they are attracted by the electrostatically charged lateral face 2a. As an alternative or in addition to this, it is also possible for the fold regions 8b to be bonded together, or bonded to the product cluster 2. The same is also true for the narrow protrusions 4a and the resultant fold regions 8a.

(17) In each case, the placing of the narrow side protrusions 4a is carried out first such that initially the two associated narrow side folds 8a are placed against the lateral face 2a to be covered. The two broad side protrusions 4b are then placed against the lateral face 2a and there form the broad side folds 8b. In the case of this operation, the broad side folds 8b are connected to the narrow side folds 8a. This can be effected by having a conventional electrostatic unit carry out electrostatic charging of the shrink film 1 in its entirety or at least of the lateral protrusions 4a, 4b and/or by bonding the fold regions 8a, 8b.

(18) After the described operations, the packaged unit corresponding to FIG. 2 is moved into a shrink tunnel or a comparable shrinking device in which the shrink film 1 is shrunken onto the product cluster 2. At the same time, the products are secured to each other because the size of the shrink film 1 is reduced during this operation.

(19) As a result, the lateral faces that were formerly open due to the shrink eyes are covered by a closed surface through the interaction of the narrow side folds 8a and broad side folds 8b. The disclosed apparatus and its method of operation thus close the shrink eyes. The shrink film 1 therefore completely encases the product cluster 2 after the shrinking-on operation. As a result there is no express need to attach additional stabilizing elements such as, for example, cardboard covers, etc. This reduces the production costs and the expenditure.

(20) As already represented, in the case of many other applications where additional stabilizing elements cannot be dispensed with entirely, the dimensions of the stabilizing elements can be reduced, for example the material thickness can be reduced, thereby producing a cost saving even in such applications.

(21) The electrostatic charging of the shrink film 1 including at least the lateral protrusions 4a, 4b can be performed before, during, or after the described folding operation. This means that the narrow side folds 8a and broad side folds 8b can be electrostatically charged after their production as in FIG. 2 to prevent them coming unfolded again. In each case, the shrink film 1 remains in its position after the described operations, also, in particular in the region of the closure 6, and is also not displaced by a possible hot air fan in the interior of the shrink tunnel. This means that it is possible for the shrink film 1 to surround the product cluster without any gaps and, in particular, to also obtain a reliable closure 6 for the lateral faces that were formerly open.