Packaging device and packaging method for packaging material

Abstract

A packaging device for packaging material includes: a carry-in conveyor configured to carry in a food container along a conveyance direction; a carry-out conveyor configured to carry out the food container along the conveyance direction; a conveyor moving mechanism configured to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor; a packaging material pressing mechanism configured to press a band-shaped packaging material against the food container conveyed between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor and to attach the band-shaped packaging material to the food container; and a control device configured to cause the conveyor moving mechanism to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor to thereby form an attachment space between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor where the packaging material pressing mechanism attaches the band-shaped packaging material to the food container.

Claims

1. A packaging device for a packaging material, the packaging device comprising: a carry-in conveyor configured to carry in an object along a conveyance direction; a carry-out conveyor configured to carry out the object along the conveyance direction; a conveyor moving mechanism configured to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor; a packaging material pressing mechanism configured to press a band-shaped packaging material against the object conveyed between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor, and to attach the band-shaped packaging material to the object; and a control device configured to cause the conveyor moving mechanism to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor to thereby form an attachment space between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor, the attachment space being formed such that the band-shaped packaging material is attached to the object by the packaging material pressing mechanism in the attachment space, wherein the packaging material pressing mechanism includes a packaging material holding mechanism configured to place the band-shaped packaging material on an upper surface of the object such that both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material hang down at side surfaces of the object, an upper surface pressing mechanism configured to press the band-shaped packaging material supplied by the packaging material holding mechanism against the upper surface and a side surface of the object, and a pair of bottom folding rollers configured to move horizontally toward each other, the pair of bottom folding rollers being configured to press the both end portions of band-shaped packaging material hanging down at both side surfaces of the band-shaped packaging material against a bottom surface of the object and to attach the both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material to the bottom surface of the object, the pair of bottom folding rollers is movable below the object in the attachment space, the upper surface pressing mechanism includes an upper surface pressing portion configured to press the band-shaped packaging material against the upper surface of the object, and a side surface pressing portion configured to press the band-shaped packaging material against a side surface of the object, and the upper surface pressing portion and the side surface pressing portion are movable upward and downward independently of each other.

2. The packaging device according to claim 1, wherein the packaging material holding mechanism is configured to swing while gripping the both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material, and to place the band-shaped packaging material on the upper surface of the object, and includes a pair of openable clamps configured to release the both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material after the upper surface pressing portion presses the band-shaped packaging material against the upper surface of the object.

3. The packaging device according to claim 2, wherein an elevation object stopper is disposed at the carry-out conveyor, the object stopper moves downward in attaching the band-shaped packaging material to the object and restricts movement of the object.

4. The packaging device according to claim 1, wherein an elevation object stopper is disposed at the carry-out conveyor and is configured to move downward in attaching the band-shaped packaging material to the object and restrict movement of the object.

5. A packaging method comprising: a preparation step of preparing a packaging device for a packaging material, the packaging device including a carry-in conveyor configured to carry in an object along a conveyance direction, a carry-out conveyor configured to carry out the object along the conveyance direction, a conveyor moving mechanism configured to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor, and a packaging material pressing mechanism configured to press a band-shaped packaging material against an object conveyed between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor and to attach the band-shaped packaging material to the object; a standby step of keeping the carry-out conveyor in a standby position in which a downstream end of the carry-in conveyor and an upstream end of the carry-out conveyor are close to each other; a carry-in detecting step of causing a sensor to detect that the object is carried in to the carry-in conveyor; a retraction step of moving at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor to a retraction position after a lapse of a predetermined time from detection of carry-in of the object in the carry-in detecting step; a conveyor stop step of stopping driving of the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor after the retraction step; a packaging material attaching step of causing the packaging material pressing mechanism to press the band-shaped packaging material against the object and attach the band-shaped packaging material to the object by using an attachment space between the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor; and a conveyor re-driving step of returning at least one of the carry-in conveyor or the carry-out conveyor to the transit position after the packaging material attaching step, and restarting driving of the carry-in conveyor and the carry-out conveyor, wherein in the packaging material attaching step, the band-shaped packaging material is placed on an upper surface of the object such that both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material hang down at side surfaces of the object, the band-shaped packaging material is pressed against the upper surface of the object and then against the side surfaces of the object, and a pair of bottom folding rollers is moved horizontally toward each other such that the both end portions hanging down at the side surfaces of the band-shaped packaging material are pressed against a bottom surface of the object and attached to the bottom surface in the attachment space.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A A front view generally illustrating a carry-in detecting step and a standby step according to an embodiment.

(2) FIG. 1B A front view generally illustrating a retraction step according to the embodiment.

(3) FIG. 1C A front view generally illustrating an upper surface pressing operation in a packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(4) FIG. 1D A front view generally illustrating a side surface pressing operation in the packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(5) FIG. 1E A front view illustrating a bottom folding operation in the packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(6) FIG. 2A A right side view generally illustrating the carry-in detecting step and the standby step according to the embodiment.

(7) FIG. 2B A right side view illustrating the retraction step according to the embodiment.

(8) FIG. 2C A right side view generally illustrating the upper surface pressing operation in the packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(9) FIG. 2D A right side view generally illustrating the side surface pressing operation in the packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(10) FIG. 2E A right side view illustrating the bottom folding operation in the packaging material attaching step according to the embodiment.

(11) FIG. 3 A right side view illustrating a packaging device for a packaging material according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(12) FIG. 4 A front view illustrating the packaging device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(13) FIG. 5 A front view illustrating a conveyor moving mechanism and a carry-out conveyor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(14) FIG. 6 A flowchart depicting a method for attaching a packaging material according to the embodiment of the present invention.

(15) FIG. 7 A flowchart generally depicting a packaging process in the packaging method.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(16) An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(17) FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a packaging device 1 for a packaging material according to an embodiment of the present invention. The packaging device 1 attaches a band-shaped packaging material 60 to a food container 50 as a conveyed object. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the food container 50 includes, for example, a disc-shaped lid member 51 of a thin resin product and a circular cross-section container portion 52. The circular cross-section container portion 52 containing food is closed with the disc-shaped lid member 51. The band-shaped packaging material 60 is attached by the packaging device 1. The band-shaped packaging material 60 is made of, for example, a film and bibliographic items such as a date is printed thereon, but may be a plain packaging film or paper, for example.

(18) The packaging device 1 includes a base frame 2 constituted by, for example, a metal frame. The base frame 2 is provided with a carry-in conveyor 3 such as a belt conveyor having a conveyance surface 3a on which the food container 50 is conveyed from the left to the right in FIG. 4. A packaging material supply mechanism 4, a packaging material printing mechanism 5, and a packaging material pressing mechanism 6, for example, are provided above the carry-in conveyor 3. A pair of lateral guides 7 and 7 for preventing an outflow of the food container 50 from the carry-in conveyor 3 stands on both sides of the carry-in conveyor 3. A carry-out conveyor 8 for carrying the food container 50 in the conveyance direction is provided downstream of the carry-in conveyor 3.

(19) Although not specifically described, the packaging device 1 includes a centering device 10 upstream of the carry-in conveyor 3, for example. The centering device 10 modifies posture of the food container 50 such that the band-shaped packaging material 60 can be easily attached to the food container 50. An operation of the entire packaging device 1 is controlled by a control device 40.

(20) The packaging material pressing mechanism 6 for restricting a movable range of the conveyed food container 50 in the lateral direction of the carry-in conveyor 3 attaches the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the food container 50 centered by the centering device 10. For example, in this embodiment, a large number of band-shaped packaging materials 60 coupled in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction are supplied from the packaging material supply mechanism 4, and necessary items are printed on each of the band-shaped packaging materials 60 by the packaging material printing mechanism 5 so that the packaging material pressing mechanism 6 attaches the band-shaped packaging material 60 to each food container 50.

(21) This embodiment also includes a conveyor moving mechanism 9 configured to move at least one of the carry-in conveyor 3 or the carry-out conveyor 8. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, for example, the carry-out conveyor 8 includes a conveyance belt constituting a conveyance surface 8a, and a carry-out conveyor motor 8b for driving the conveyance belt, and is disposed on the conveyor moving mechanism 9. The conveyor moving mechanism 9 is configured to move the carry-out conveyor 8 horizontally to a specified distance relative to the carry-in conveyor 3 by using, for example, a motor or a cylinder, by control of the control device 40, for example. The conveyor moving mechanism 9 moves the carry-out conveyor 8 so that an attachment space S is formed between the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8.

(22) The packaging material pressing mechanism 6 attaches the band-shaped packaging material 60 to an area from the upper surface to the bottom surface of the food container 50 that has reached the attachment space S and is stopped between the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8.

(23) The packaging material pressing mechanism 6 includes a packaging material holding mechanism 20 for placing the band-shaped packaging material 60 on the food container 50 such that both ends of the band-shaped packaging material 60 hang down at the side surfaces of the food container 50. As also illustrated in FIG. 2B, the packaging material holding mechanism 20 includes a pair of clamps 20a and 20a that swings a band-shaped packaging material 60 supplied from the packaging material supply mechanism 4 and subjected to printing by the packaging material printing mechanism 5 with both ends of the band-shaped packaging material 60 being gripped by the pair of clamps 20a and 20a and places the band-shaped packaging material 60 on the upper surface of the food container 50. The clamps 20a are configured to be opened and closed to thereby grip and release the band-shaped packaging material 60. In the packaging material holding mechanism 20, based on a control signal of the control device 40, an upper surface pressing portion 21a (shown in FIG. 2C) described later performs opening/closing operations of pressing the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the upper surface of the food container 50 and then releasing both ends of the band-shaped packaging material 60.

(24) The packaging material pressing mechanism 6 includes an upper surface pressing mechanism 21 of pressing the band-shaped packaging material 60 supplied by the packaging material holding mechanism 20 against at least the upper surface of the food container 50. Specifically, as also illustrated in FIGS. 2C and 2D, the upper surface pressing mechanism 21 includes the upper surface pressing portion 21a that presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the upper surface of the food container 50 and a side surface pressing portion 21b that presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against a side surface of the food container 50. The upper surface pressing portion 21a and the side surface pressing portion 21b are movable upward and downward independently of each other.

(25) Specifically, the upper surface pressing portion 21a is constituted by, for example, a pair of rod members each having a plate-shaped pressing surface horizontal to the lower end, and is movable upward and downward. The distance between the pair of rod members is also adjustable. When the upper surface pressing portion 21a moves downward, the upper surface pressing portion 21a presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the upper surface of the food container 50. For example, if an adhesive is applied to the lower surface of the band-shaped packaging material 60, the band-shaped packaging material 60 is temporarily fixed to the upper surface of the food container 50.

(26) The side surface pressing portion 21b is constituted by, for example, a pair of substantially plate-shaped members respectively disposed at the left and right outer sides of the upper surface pressing portion 21a and extending along the conveyance direction. After the upper surface pressing portion 21a presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the upper surface of the food container 50, the side surface pressing portion 21b moves downward and presses both ends of the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the side surfaces of the food container 50.

(27) In addition, as illustrated in FIGS. 2D and 2E, the packaging material pressing mechanism 6 includes a pair of bottom folding rollers 23 that moves horizontally toward each other and attaches both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material 60 hanging down at side surfaces of the band-shaped packaging material 60 while pressing both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the bottom surface of the food container 50. Although not specifically illustrated, the pair of bottom folding rollers 23 is slidable below the food container 50 by a motor or an air cylinder, for example, instructed by the control device 40 in the attachment space S.

(28) As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a food container stopper 24 is disposed at the carry-out conveyor 8 of the packaging material pressing mechanism 6, and serves as an elevation object stopper that moves downward in attaching the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the food container 50 and restricts movement of the food container 50. The food container stopper 24 is configured to be movable upward and downward by an actuator (not shown) such as an air cylinder controlled by the control device 40, for example.

(29) Next, an operation of the packaging device 1 according to this embodiment will be described.

(30) First, in a preparation step, the packaging device 1 with the configuration described above is prepared. The following control is performed by the control device 40, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

(31) Then, in a standby step of step S01, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 2A, the carry-out conveyor 8 is kept standby in a transit position P1 in which the downstream end of the carry-in conveyor 3 and the upstream end of the carry-out conveyor 8 are close to each other. The carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8 are in driven states, and the food container stopper 24 is lowered.

(32) Thereafter, in a carry-in detecting step of step S02, a sensor 30 detects that the food container 50 is conveyed into the carry-in conveyor 3. The sensor 30 is configured to detect the food container 50 that has reached near an end of the carry-in conveyor 3. The detection method is not specifically limited, and a detection signal is transmitted to the control device 40.

(33) Subsequently, in a retraction step, in step S03, after the sensor has detected that the food container 50 has been received in the carry-in detecting step, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed or not, and then, the food container 50 is stopped by the food container stopper 24. Although not shown, the packaging material holding mechanism 20 swings downstream in the conveyance direction to grip one band-shaped packaging material 60 on which printing has been performed by the packaging material printing mechanism 5 beforehand.

(34) Then, in step S04, as illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 2B, when the carry-out conveyor 8 is moved to a retraction position P2 by the conveyor moving mechanism 9, an attachment space S of a size enough to prevent a fall of the food container 50 is formed between the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8. The distance of movement of the carry-out conveyor 8 is instructed such that in specifying the food container 50 to be conveyed, the control device 40 instructs that the carry-out conveyor 8 moves to a predetermined distance. Thereafter, in step S05, when it is detected that movement to the retraction position P2 is completed, in a conveyor stop step of step S06, driving of the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8 is stopped.

(35) Then, in a packaging material attaching step of step S07, packaging is started. Here, the packaging material pressing mechanism 6 presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the food container 50 to attach the band-shaped packaging material 60 thereto by using the attachment space S.

(36) In the packaging material attaching step, as shown in FIG. 7, in a band-shaped packaging material placing step of step S11, as illustrated in FIGS. 2B and 2B, the packaging material holding mechanism 20 pivots the band-shaped packaging material 60 whose both ends gripped by the clamps 20a and 20a to a downstream side. Subsequently, the band-shaped packaging material 60 is placed on the upper surface of the food container 50 such that both ends of the band-shaped packaging material 60 hang down at the side surfaces of the food container 50. As described above, the band-shaped packaging material 60 is supplied by the pair of clamps 20a and 20a while extending perpendicularly to the conveyance direction, and thus, a subsequent operation by the upper surface pressing mechanism 21 can be easily performed.

(37) Then, in an upper surface pressing step of step S12, as illustrated in FIGS. 1C and 2C, the upper surface pressing portion 21a of the upper surface pressing mechanism 21 is lowered so that the band-shaped packaging material 60 is pressed against the upper surface of the food container 50.

(38) Thereafter, in a side surface pressing step of step S13, as illustrated in FIGS. 1D and 2D, the side surface pressing portion 21b of the upper surface pressing mechanism 21 is lowered so that the band-shaped packaging material 60 is pressed against both side surfaces of the food container 50. As described above, the side surface pressing portion 21b is movable independently of the upper surface pressing portion 21a. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, the entire upper surface pressing mechanism 21 may moves downward first, and then as illustrated in FIG. 2D, only the side surface pressing portion 21b may move downward.

(39) Subsequently, in a bottom folding step of step S14, as illustrated in FIGS. 1E and 2E, the pair of bottom folding rollers 23 is horizontally moved toward each other so that both end portions of the band-shaped packaging material 60 hanging down at both side surfaces are pressed against the bottom surface of the food container 50 in the attachment space S to attach the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the bottom surface. As described above, since the bottom folding roller 23 presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 with the band-shaped packaging material 60 pressed against the food container 50 by the upper surface pressing portion 21a and the side surface pressing portion 21b, the band-shaped packaging material 60 can be attached to the food container 50 from the bottom surface to the upper surface thereof as intended.

(40) Then, packaging is finished in step S08. In this embodiment, the packaging material pressing mechanism 6 presses the band-shaped packaging material 60 against the food container 50 to attach the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the food container 50 with the attachment space being kept therebelow by stopping movement of the food container 50 by the food container stopper 24. This ensures attachment of the band-shaped packaging material 60.

(41) Then, in a conveyor re-driving step of step S20, after the packaging material attaching step, the carry-out conveyor 8 is returned to the transit position P1.

(42) Thereafter, in step S21, the food container stopper 24 is lifted to be retracted. In this manner, the food container 50 can be carried out. Subsequently, driving of the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8 are restarted, and the food container 50 to which the band-shaped packaging material 60 is attached is carried out. In this manner, after the attachment, it is sufficient to convey the food container 50 after returning the carry-out conveyor 8 to an original position after attachment. Thus, the food container 50 can be conveyed stably.

(43) Then, in step S22, it is determined whether a predetermined time has elapsed or not. If a time substantially enough to allow the food container 50 to pass has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S23, and the food container stopper 24 is lowered again.

(44) Subsequently, the process returns to step S02, and the operation is repeated.

(45) As described above, in this embodiment, when the food container 50 is carried in, the carry-out conveyor 8 is moved to the retraction position P2, and the attachment space S is formed between the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8 so that the packaging material pressing mechanism 6 attaches the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the food container 50 in this attachment space S. Thus, even a long band-shaped packaging material 60 extending from side surfaces to the bottom surface of the food container 50 can be attached as intended.

(46) As a result, in the packaging device 1 according to this embodiment, it is possible to ensure attachment of the band-shaped packaging material 60 to the food container 50 from the upper surface to the bottom surface thereof while maintaining posture of the food container 50 by moving the carry-out conveyor 8 to form the attachment space S.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

(47) The embodiment of the present invention may have the following configurations.

(48) Specifically, in the embodiment described above, when the food container 50 is carried in, only the carry-out conveyor 8 is moved to the retraction position P2. Alternatively, both the carry-in conveyor 3 and the carry-out conveyor 8 may be retracted to the retraction position or the carry-in conveyor 3 may be retracted to the retraction position.

(49) In the embodiment described above, although the object is the food container 50, the object is not specifically limited as long as a long band-shaped packaging material 60 extending to the bottom surface is to be attached to the object.

(50) The foregoing embodiments are merely preferred examples in nature, and are not intended to limit the invention, applications, and use of the application.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

(51) 1 packaging device for packaging material 2 base frame 3 carry-in conveyor 3a conveyance surface 4 packaging material supply mechanism 5 packaging material printing mechanism 6 packaging material pressing mechanism 7, 7 lateral guide 8 carry-out conveyor 8a conveyance surface 8b carry-out conveyor motor 9 conveyor moving mechanism 10 centering device 20 packaging material holding mechanism 20a, 20a clamp 21 upper surface pressing mechanism 21a upper surface pressing portion 21b side surface pressing portion 23 bottom folding roller 24 food container stopper (object stopper) 30 sensor 40 control device 50 food container (object) 51 disc-shaped lid member 52 circular cross-section container portion 60 band-shaped packaging material S attachment space P1 transit position P2 retraction position