Glue reservoir for hotmelt applications

Abstract

An apparatus for the application of hotmelt onto labels, includes a vacuum cylinder, a gluing unit with a glue roller unit, and a glue reservoir. The gluing unit is pivotally mounted such that it can be slewed away from the vacuum cylinder and the glue reservoir is designed as a self-contained unit that is structurally separate from the pivotable gluing unit. A glue reservoir for hotmelt includes an inner body with heating fins, a thermally insulating jacket enclosing the inner body, and an outer casing made of plastic.

Claims

1. An apparatus for applying hotmelt onto labels, comprising: a vacuum cylinder, a gluing unit comprising a glue roller unit, and a glue reservoir, the gluing unit pivotally mounted such that it can be manually pivoted away from said vacuum cylinder into a cleaning position to provide access to the gluing unit for cleaning, and the glue reservoir being a self-contained unit that is structurally separate from said pivotable gluing unit and not mounted on a common base plate with the gluing unit, wherein the glue reservoir remains stationary when pivoting away the gluing unit into the cleaning position, the glue reservoir being connected to said gluing unit via a supply line, the supply line having an elasticity permitting the supply line to elastically deform throughout a range of motion of the gluing unit when pivoting away the gluing unit into the cleaning position, and the supply line includes a U-shaped tube that is stretched by pivoting away the gluing unit into the cleaning position.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vane pump, the vane pump is adapted to deliver hotmelt from said glue reservoir to the glue roller unit.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, the vane pump comprising a first heating device.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, the glue reservoir comprising: an inner body with a plurality of heating fins, a thermally insulating jacket which encloses the inner body, and an outer casing made of plastic.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, the inner body being at least partially coated with a non-stick coating on its inner side.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, the glue reservoir further comprising a second heating device.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, the glue reservoir further comprising at least one temperature sensor.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a vane pump, that extracts hotmelt from the glue reservoir.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, the vane pump including a third heating device.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising at least one of an open-loop or closed-loop control unit, that at least one of controls or regulates a heat output of at least one of the second or the third heating device according to a signal of the temperature sensor.

11. The apparatus of claim 4, the glue reservoir further comprising a display device that displays at least one of a temperature of a hotmelt contained in the glue reservoir or a filling level of the glue reservoir.

12. The apparatus of claim 6, the second heating device being a heating cartridge.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, the vane pump being driven by a controllable motor.

14. The apparatus according to claim 9, the supply line comprising a fourth heating device.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, the glue reservoir being further connected to said gluing unit via an elastically deformable return line via which express hotmelt can be returned from the glue roller unit to the glue reservoir.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, a cross-section of the supply line remaining constant during elastic deformation of the supply line when pivoting away the gluing unit into the cleaning position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 represents a schematic diagram of an example of a labeling assembly, wherein the gluing unit with the glue roller unit and the glue reservoir are arranged according to the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 represents a schematic diagram of an example of a glue reservoir for hotmelt according to the present invention.

(3) In a labeling machine, labels are applied with high throughput onto products that are in general continuously supplied in a single-lane row. The products or containers can presently be cans, glass bottles, PET bottles or the like.

(4) For this, a labeling machine is in general provided with a feed conveyor that supplies the products to the labeling machine, and with at least one in-feed star wheel with a commonly upstream feed screw supplying the products individually via a guide curve to a carousel on which the products revolve. Located on the carousel is generally a plurality of evenly spaced rotary disks receiving the products. At the outlet of the carousel, a delivery star wheel again receives the products and leads them to a discharge conveyor that conveys the products out of the labeling machine and to subsequent processing steps. The transport elements moving the products through the labeling machine are generally continuously drivable in sync with each other in terms of speed and position.

(5) A labeling assembly for applying labels onto the products is located in the circulation area between the in-feed star wheel and the delivery star wheel at the outer periphery of the carousel.

(6) A schematic diagram is shown in FIG. 1 as an example of such a labeling assembly, where the arrangement of the gluing unit with the glue roller unit and the glue reservoir is embodied according to the present invention. The illustrated exemplary labeling assembly comprises an automatic gluing unit 1, a conveyor disk for a first and a second label strip 6 and 7, as well as a track control unit 2 for controlling the track of the labels supplied. A label strip is drawn off the label strips in a controlled manner and passed along a sensorpresently not shownwhich recognizes print marks or a print image, respectively, and is cut according to the print image or trim marks, respectively, in the cutting device 4 associated with the sensor. The severed label, which is during the cutting operation with the print image facing outwardly disposed on the rotating vacuum roller 3, is after the severing process transferred to a vacuum cylinder being driven by the servo motor 5. In the exemplary embodiment presently shown, the servomotor 5 reaches through the base plate 8 of the labeling assembly to drive the vacuum cylinder (not shown).

(7) The label transferred to the vacuum cylinder is with back side facing outwardly by rotation of the vacuum cylinder passed along the glue roller integrated in the gluing unit 9 and is applied glue in a certain area of the label, depending on its type. The label having the glue applied is then supplied tangentially to the carousel on which the products are located. The label with its applied glue is contacted with the product and is with a suitable motion of the product rolled off onto the latter. After having passed the labeling assembly and after having completed application of the label onto the product, the labeled product in the further course after the carousel reaches the delivery star wheel and is there transferred to the discharge conveyor.

(8) According to the present disclosure, the gluing unit is pivotally mounted with the glue roller unit such that it can be slewed away from the vacuum cylinder being driven by the servo motor 5not shown. The labeling assembly shown in FIG. 1 further comprises a glue reservoir 10 for hotmelt, which is connected to the gluing unit 9 via an elastically deformable tube 11. According to the present disclosure, however, the glue reservoir is designed as a self-contained unit that is structurally separate from the gluing unit 9. In the exemplary illustration of FIG. 1, the glue reservoir 10 is, apart from the supply line 11, not connected to the gluing unit 9 but separately attached to the base plate or the base support 8, respectively, of the labeling assembly. Alternatively, the glue reservoir 10 can also be placed directly on the floor beside the labeling apparatus. By separately designing the glue reservoir 10 as an independent unit which is structurally separate from the gluing unit 9, the gluing unit 9 can be slewed away from the vacuum cylinder or towards the vacuum cylinder without taking along the relatively heavy glue reservoir, as is usual the case in prior art. Slewing away the gluing unit 9 is additionally facilitated by using an elastically deformable hose as a supply line 11. As described above, the glue reservoir 10, the supply line 11, and the gluing unit 9 can each comprise separate heating devices making the hotmelt flowable or bringing it to or maintaining it at the processing temperature, respectively.

(9) FIG. 2 represents a schematic diagram of an example of a glue reservoir for hotmelt according to the present invention. The glue reservoir comprises an inner body 20 which is preferably made of cast aluminum, a thermally insulating jacket 26 which encloses the inner body and preferably comprises polyisocyanurate (PIR) and/or polyurethane (PU), and an outer casing made of plastic. The outer casing made of a plastic injection-molded member encloses the thermally insulating jacket 26. The inner body 20 presently shown by way of example comprises a plurality of heating fins which are illustrated as structures emerging from the base. Heat transfer from the heating cartridges 21 located in the base of the inner body 20 to the hotmelt 29 located in the interior of the inner body 20 is improved by the heating fins. In the embodiment presently illustrated by way of example, the inner body comprises three heating cartridges 21.

(10) To facilitate a change of glue, the inner surface of the inner body 20 is at least partially coated with a non-stick coating. In particular the gaps between the heating fins can be coated with such a non-stick coating. For determining the temperature of the inner body, at least one temperature sensor 30 is disposed in the base of the inner body and delivers the measured temperature to an electronic unit for controlling and/or regulating the heat output of the heating cartridges 21. The temperature sensor can in particular be integrated as a thermocouple in the cartridges 21. The electronic unit for controlling and/or regulating the heat output of the heating cartridges 21 can be integrated into the glue reservoir or be formed separately.

(11) In addition to the temperature sensor 30 of the inner body 20, the glue reservoir presently illustrated by way of example further comprises a temperature sensor 23 which directly measures the temperature of the hotmelt 29. The glue reservoir illustrated additionally comprises a glue temperature sensor 22 in the lid of the reservoir.

(12) For removing hotmelt from the glue reservoir, the glue reservoir is equipped with a vane pump 25 which is coupled to a controllable motor 24 via a thermo-flange 27. The receiving area of the vane pump or the vane pump 25, respectively, can presently comprise a heating device, presently not shown, that [sic] the hotmelt collected by the vane pump in dependency of temperature data delivered by the temperature sensors 22, 23, 30 and/or a temperature sensor in the mounting region of the vane pump 25 to an open-loop and/or closed-loop control unitnot shownfor the in particular steplessly controllable motor 24 of the vane pump.

(13) The vane pump 25 supplies hotmelt via a heatable flow or supply line 28 from the glue reservoir to the gluing unit shown in FIG. 1 at a flow rate controlled by the controllable motor 24. As described above, the flow rate of the hotmelt supplied by the vane pump 25 depends, for example, on the type of hotmelt used, the quantity of glue required for a label, and/or the throughput of the labeling machine. The heating devicenot shownfor heating the flow line 28 can be embodied as described above, in particular, as a heating line or as a heating pipe, respectively. The flow line 28 is additionally made of elastically deformable material so that minor or no forces act upon the glue reservoir when moving the gluing unit towards and away from the vacuum cylinder. The heat output of the heating device of the flow line 28 can also be controlled in dependency of measured temperatures, in particular, by one or more temperature sensors in the region of flow line.

(14) For improved extraction of hotmelt from the glue reservoir by the vane pump 25, the base of the inner body 20 can be inclined downwardly towards the vane pump 25 at a predetermined angle. Furthermore, the glue reservoir can be connected to a touch panel indicating inter alia the temperature of the hotmelt contained in the inner body and a filling level of the hotmelt. An operator can via the touch display also specify required processing parameters such as the type of hotmelt used, the desired processing temperature, or the capacity of the vane pump 25. In addition, simple monitoring of the above parameters by the operator is possible using the touch screen. However, the display can also be designed without said touch functionalities. Furthermore, the display can be formed either integrated in the container or separate or integrated in a separate open-loop or closed-loop control unit, respectively.

(15) The glue reservoir illustrated in FIG. 2 and described above can be used for all hotmelt applications. Use of the hotmelt reservoir is in particular possible with Contiroll and Canmatic labeling machines and in combination with spray gluing.