Method for the automatic packaging of at least two parts

Abstract

A method for automatic joint packaging of at least a first part and a second part, the first part and the second part having different geometries, is provided. The method includes automatically placing a first part on a transport surface with a front side facing in a transport direction and automatically placing a second part on the transport surface with the second part in front of the first part relative to the transport direction. The method further includes automatically transporting the first part and the second part along the transport surface to a packaging device by moving a pushing device into engagement with a rear side of the first part and pushing the first part in the transport direction, wherein the second part is taken along by the front side of the first part pushed by the pushing device.

Claims

1. A method for automatic joint packaging of at least a first part and a second part, the first part and the second part having different geometries, the method comprising: automatically placing the first part on a transport surface with a front side facing in a transport direction; automatically placing the second part on the transport surface with the second part in front of the first part relative to the transport direction; and automatically transporting the first part and the second part along the transport surface to a packaging device by moving a pushing device into engagement with a rear side of the first part and pushing the first part in the transport direction, wherein the second part is taken along by the front side of the first part pushed by the pushing device, wherein a first robot places the first part on the transport surface and a second robot places the second part on the transport surface, and wherein a respective position of the first part and/or the second part is detected by a detection device, and wherein the first robot or the second robot, respectively, are controlled on the basis of the detected signal and placing the first part or the second part, respectively, on the transport surface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the front side of the first part includes a driver area, and when the first part is pushed, the driver area of the first part engages and pushes the second part with a portion of the front side of the first part at least partially overlapping a portion of the second part, and wherein the driver area of the first part is curved.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second part includes an entrainment area, and when the first part is pushed, the driver area of the first part engages the entrainment area of the second part and pushes the second part.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the driver area of the first part is formed as a first part projection and the entrainment area of the second part is formed as a second part projection, and when the second part comes into contact with the first part, the first part projection engages the second part projection.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the driver area of the first part includes an engagement section spaced from the transport surface, and when the second part comes into contact with the first part, at least a portion of the second part is located between the engagement section of the first part and the transport surface.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the first part is a bottle, the driver area is a bottle neck of the bottle, and the second part is a blister, and when the second part comes into contact with the first part, the blister is carried along by the bottle neck.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pushing device comprises a plate which engages the rear side of the first part.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second part has an identification mark that is detected by the detection device before another second part is placed on the transport surface, and wherein the second robot is controlled on the basis of the detected signal and places the second part on the transport surface with a defined orientation with respect to the place of the identification mark.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first part and/or the second part are transported to the transport surface by means of a first feed device and/or a second feed device, and the transfer of the first part and/or the second part from the respective feed device is effected by means of the respective robot.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first part is conveyed a defined distance by the pushing device before entraining the second part with the front side of the first part.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the packaging device comprises a tubular bag packaging machine.

Description

(1) Advantageous further embodiments are characterized by the features of the subclaims. In the following, the invention is explained in more detail by means of figures. These show:

(2) FIG. 1 a side view of a first and second part on a transport surface, before and when the second part is driven by the first part;

(3) FIG. 2 a side view of two pairs of first and second parts transported one behind the other on a transport surface;

(4) FIG. 3 a top view of the transport device of FIG. 2, and

(5) FIG. 4 a top view of a schematically shown packaging machine with feeding devices, robots, transport and packaging equipment.

(6) FIG. 1 shows a section of a transport device 1 with a transport surface 2 in side view. On the transport surface 2, a first part 10 is placed in the form of a bottle, e.g. an infusion bottle to be used in hospitals. The first part 10 has a front side 11 and a rear side 12 and rests on transport surface 2 with a support section 14. The term “front side 11” generally refers to the front area of the first part 10, i.e. not exclusively its front face. The bottle preferably has an essentially rectangular cross-section, so that the support section 14 can be designed flat.

(7) In the left half of FIG. 1, a second part 20 in the form of a blister with contents not shown, e.g. an adapter or attachment for the bottle, is placed on the transport surface 2 at some distance from the first part 10. Fingers 4 (only one is shown), spaced apart in the transport direction T of the transport device 1, protrude upwards from the transport surface 2 and are part of a pushing device 3. The transport surface 2 does not move itself in transport direction T; rather, only the pushing device 3 or its fingers 4 are conveyed, which for this purpose, for example, protrude through a central longitudinal slot in the transport surface 2 (indicated by a dashed line in FIGS. 3 and 4) and are carried along by an endless chain (not shown) arranged below the transport surface 2. The skilled person is also aware of a variety of other possibilities for driving the pushing device 3.

(8) In the right half of FIG. 1, a finger 4 of the pushing device 3 grips the rear side 12 of the first part 10 and pushes it in transport direction T. When the first part 10 reaches the second part 20—which is initially not conveyed on the transport surface 2—the second part is carried along by the front side 11 of the first part 10 without coming into contact with the pushing device 3 itself.

(9) In order to realize a defined entrainment of the second part 20 by the first part 10, the first part has a driver area 13 in the area of its front side 11. This driver area 13, which in the case of the bottle shown in the figures is formed by its bottle neck 15, has a section 13a which is spaced from the transport surface 2. The second part 20 gets between this section 13a and the transport surface 2 when the first part 10 reaches the second part 20 by the pushing action of the pushing device 3. Then, the first and the second part 10, 20 are pushed together over the transport surface 2.

(10) Every second part 20 has an entrainment area 23. In the embodiment shown in the figures, this results from the essentially rectangular or oval geometry of the second part 20 with two broad sides and two narrow sides. A safe contact of the second part 20 with the first part 10 is achieved if the second part 20 lies with one of its broad sides against the driver area 13, in this case in the area of the bottle neck 15, i.e. between bottle neck 15 and transport surface 2. The area of this broad side of the second part 20 serves as said entrainment area 23.

(11) If the second part 20 is a blister with a bottle adapter for the first part 10 inserted therein, the first part 10 being embodied as a bottle, the irregular shape of this adapter determines the entrainment area 23 of the second part 20. The adapter has, for example, a broad side, whereby the second part 20 is then placed on the transport surface 2 with the broad side of the adapter being aligned in the direction of the first part 10.

(12) FIG. 2 (side view) and FIG. 3 (top view) show the transport of two first and second parts 10, 20 pushed one behind the other in transport direction T on a transport surface 2. In addition, the circulation of the transport device 1 is indicated very schematically. As can be seen in the figures, a second part 20 gets to the driver area 13 of a first part. In the present case, the second part 20 has an entrainment area (here: a broad side of the second part 20), which is also flat enough to fit under the bottle neck 15 (see FIG. 1-3).

(13) FIG. 4 shows a schematic top view of a packaging machine. The central element is the transport device 1 with its transport surface 2 and the pushing device 3, which has several fingers 4 spaced apart in transport direction T. A first feeding device 5 conveys first parts 10 in feeding direction Z1 parallel to the transport device 1 into the working area of a first robot 6 (symbolized as a dotted circle in the picture). The first robot 6 grips the first parts 10 one by one and places them on the transport surface 2 of the transport device 1.

(14) Furthermore, a second feeding device 7 is provided, on which second parts 20 are fed in feeding direction Z2 perpendicular to the transport direction T according to the present example. If a second part 20 enters the working area of a second robot 8 (also symbolized by a dotted circle), this robot grips this second part 20 and deposits it on the transport surface 2 in front of a first part 10. A first and a second part 20 are placed between two fingers 4 of the pushing device 3. FIG. 4 shows how a first part 10 is pushed at its rear side 12 by a finger 4 in transport direction T towards the second part 20 placed in front of it. FIG. 4 shows three more pairs of first and second part 10 conveyed in transport direction T, each pushed by a finger 4.

(15) The first parts 10 are already delivered in an order on the first feeder 5, for example standing upright. Alternatively, the first parts 10 are disordered on the feeder 5. Each first part 10 is gripped by the first robot 6 and placed on the transport surface 2 with a defined orientation. For the first parts 10, which are in the form of bottles, the bottle neck is placed on the transport surface 2 in transport direction T.

(16) The second parts 20 are also placed on the transport surface 2 with a defined orientation. Their infeed on the feeding device 7 is disordered. A detection device 9, e.g. a camera or other optical device, is located near the transport device 1, which detects the position of every second part 20. In this case, every second part 20 has an identification mark 24, for example in the form of a bar code, on its upper side. The detection device 9 detects the rotational position of the second parts 20 around their respective vertical axis on the basis of the position of this identification mark 24 and transmits corresponding signals to a (not shown) control device, which in turn controls the second robot 8 and commands it to deposit the second part 20, which has been detected by the detection device 9, in a defined orientation on the transport surface 2. In this case, the second part 20 is deposited with a broad side in front of the first part 10. This broadside serves as the entrainment area 23 and is captured by the driver area 13 of the first part 10 so that the second part 20 can be pushed safely by the first part 10.

(17) The pairs of first and second parts 10, 20 conveyed one after the other on the transport surface in transport direction T are conveyed into a known packaging device 29, which is designed as a tubular bag packaging machine and seals a first and a second part 10, 20 into a packaging 30, here a tubular bag. The packaging 30 can be tightly fitted to the two parts 10, 20, especially with respect to the two long sides facing in transport direction T. In this way, the two parts 10, 20 cannot slip relative to each other in transport direction T, so that especially a subsequent collective gripping of the packed first and second parts 10, 20 for packing into larger containers is possible without any problems.

(18) The equipment of the packaging machine, including the transport device 1, the feeding devices 5, 7, the robots 6, 8, the recognition device 9 and the packaging device 29 are preferably controlled by a (not shown) control device.

(19) The present invention was explained in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment, but is not limited to this exemplary embodiment. Variations within the claims are possible without further ado. For example, the first and the second feeding device can also be aligned and/or designed differently in order to deliver the first and second parts, respectively. For example, the feeding directions Z1 and Z2 are arranged in opposite directions or at different angles to each other.

REFERENCE SIGNS

(20) 1 Transport device 2 Transport surface 3 Pushing device 4 Fingers 5 First feeding device 6 First robot 7 Second feeding device 8 Second robot 9 Detection device 10 First part 11 Front side of the first part 12 Rear side of the first part 13 Driver area 13a Section 14 Support section 15 Bottle neck 20 Second part 21 Front side of the first part 23 Entrainment area 24 Identification mark 29 Packaging device 30 Packaging T Transport direction Z1 Feed direction Z2 Feed direction