Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a bagger system and method of operation thereof.
According to one or more embodiments, a bagger is provided. The bagger includes: a support frame including two rails; a movable system configured to receive a film therethrough, the movable system including a seal system, a gripper system, and a cutting device, the movable system attached to the two rails of the support frame; actuators including a first actuator and a second actuator, the first actuator and the second actuator each configured to move the movable system along a respective rail of the two rails of the support frame, simultaneously; and a roller configured to hold a roll of the film, the roller connected to a portion of the support frame, wherein wherein the gripper system includes at least one body that is configured to grip the film, the seal system includes a seal bar that is configured to heat seal opposite side faces of the film together so as to form a first end of a bag, and the cutting device includes an actuator and a knife, the actuator configured to cause the knife to separate the bag from another portion of the film by cutting the film.
According to one or more embodiments, a method of forming a bag from a film by using a bagger is provided. The method includes: controlling a movable system of the bagger to move a predetermined amount in a first direction to a first position while a gripper system of the movable system and a seal system of the movable system are gripping the film; controlling, while the movable system is moving the predetermined amount in the first direction to the first position, the seal system of the movable system to seal the film; controlling, after the film is sealed by the seal system, a cutting device of the movable system to cut the film; and controlling, after the movable system reaches the first position and the film is sealed by the seal system, the gripper system and the seal system to ungrip the film such that a portion of the film, defined by the cut, moves away from a remainder of the film, wherein the movable system is configured to receive the film therethrough, the gripper system includes at least one body that is configured to grip the film, the seal system includes a seal bar that is configured to heat seal opposite side faces of the film together so as to form a first end of the bag, and the cutting device includes an actuator and a knife, the actuator configured to cause the knife to separate the bag from the remainder of the film by cutting the film.
Further features, the nature, and various advantages of the disclosed subject matter will be more apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which:
Non-limiting example embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Similar components in the drawings will be referred to with similar reference numerals, and repeated descriptions thereof may be omitted for clarity.
With reference to
According to an embodiment, a bagger 100 may comprise a support frame 110, one or more rollers 120, one or more motors 130, a movable gripper system 140, a seal system 150, a print head bracket 160, a cutter 170, and a bag chute 180.
The support frame 110 may support components of the bagger 100, such as but not limited to the one or more rollers 120, the one or more motors 130, the movable gripper system 140, the seal system 150, the print head bracket 160, the cutter 170, a tension knob 122, and the bag chute 180. The support frame 110 may include, for example, two rails 111 that are configured to movably support opposite ends of a movable portion of the bagger 100 such that the movable portion may move along extending directions of the rails 111 (e.g. upward and downward). Each of the two rails 111 may be, for example, an extruded frame part of the support frame 110 for holding a respective actuator 112 among actuators (e.g. two actuators). The extruded frame part may be for mounting and option adjustment through the use of T slot nuts and bolts.
In an embodiment, the movable portion may be linearly actuated by two actuators 112 that cause the movable portion to move vertically along the rails. The two actuators 112 may be linearly actuators or any other type of actuator that may cause linear movement of the movable portion. The two actuators 112 may be joined together mechanically. In an embodiment, the actuators 112 may each be provided with a respective one of the rails 111. The actuators 112 may be driven by one or more motors 130. In an embodiment, the actuators 112 are each driven by a respective mechanical shaft with a respective gearbox and servo motor. In an embodiment, the actuators 112 are pulley systems 300 with respective belts 310 that are rotated by the respective motors 130, so as to cause linear movement of the movable portion of the bagger 100. An example of the pulley system 300 provided with a rail 111 is illustrated in
In embodiments, the movable portion may include the movable gripper system 140. In an embodiment, the movable portion may include one or more belt drive mounts 340 that are held by the rails 111 and configured to be moved by the actuators 112 associated with the rails 111. An example of the belt drive mount 340 is illustrated in
The one or more rollers 120 may be provided with a tube stock film 10, and the baggers of the present disclosure may be configured to form and cut bags from the tube stock film 10. In an embodiment, the tube stock film 10 may be, for example, plastic. In an embodiment, the tube stock film 10 may be in the form of a tube, wherein lateral sides of the tube stock film are pre-joined before being provided on a roller 120 so as to only be open in an axial direction of the film. Accordingly, the tube stock film 10 may be wound on a roller 120 in a state in which only one side of the tube stock film 10 may need to be sealed and another side may need to be cut to form a bag. In an embodiment, the one or more rollers 120 may include a roller 120 in which a roll of the tube stock film 10 is mounted, and the roller 120 may rotate to enable the tube stock film 10 to unroll from the roll. As illustrated in
The movable gripper system 140 of embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to grip the tube stock film 10 and move upward and downward with and without the tube stock film 10 being gripped by the movable gripper system 140. In an embodiment, the movable gripper system 140 may include one or more grippers 142 that are each provided with one or more respective pneumatic (e.g. air) actuated cylinders. In an embodiment, the movable gripper system 140 may include a pair of grippers 142 as illustrated in
With reference to
Referring to
Referring to
The roller 120B may be provided with the tube stock film 10, and may be positioned at a lower, back side portion of the support frame 110B.
The printer 160B may be positioned at an upper, back side portion of the support frame 110B, and may be configured to receive the tube stock film 10 from the roller 120B, and print on the tube stock film 10.
The movable system 200 may be configured to receive and interact with (e.g. seal, cut, and/or hold) the tube stock film 10, after the tube stock film 10 passes through the printer 160B. The movable system 200 may be linearly actuated by one or more actuators 112B such that the movable system 200 moves vertically along the rails 11B of the support frame 110B. The movable system 200 may include a housing 205 that contains rollers 210, a cutter 170B, grippers 140B, and a seal bar 152B. According to embodiments, the movable system 200 may further include a bracket 215 on which other components (e.g. housing 205, the rollers 210, the cutter 170B, the grippers 140B, and the seal bar 152B) of the movable system 200 are mounted so that the components of the movable system 200 are configured to vertically move together along the rails 11B based on the bracket 215B being linearly actuated by the one or more actuators 112B.
According to embodiments, the movable system 200 may include components in an order of, from uppermost to lowermost, the rollers 210, the grippers 140B, the cutter 170B, and the seal bar 152B.
The rollers 210 may be pneumatic powered rollers and may be configured to keep the tube stock film 10 centered in the movable system 200, in a horizontal direction extending in the front-rear direction of the bagger 100B, as the movable system 200 vertically moves. According to embodiments, the rollers 210 when powered on may enable the movable system 200 to move relative to the tube stock film 10 provided therein. For example, the rollers 210 may prevent the tube stock film 10 from being pushed or pulled while the movable system 200 moves.
The grippers 140B may also be provided above the seal bar 152B, and may be configured to grip the tube stock film 10 at predetermined times.
The cutter 170B may be positioned just over the seal bar 152 such that the movable system 200 may seal the tube stock film 10 with the seal bar 152B and then cut the tube stock film 10 with the cutter 170B, without the movable system 200 moving between two separate positions for sealing and cutting. Accordingly, time may be saved between sealing and cutting operations. The cutter 170B may include, for example, an actuated blade that is configured to transversely cut the tube stock film 10.
According to embodiments, the movable system 200 may further include an air bar that is configured to blow a slight amount of air towards the tube stock film 10 so as to reduce static and keep the tube stock film 10 from contacting other components (e.g. the seal bar 152B and the cutter 170B) of the movable system 200 at predetermined times. According to embodiments, the air bar may be provided between the rollers 210 and the cutter 170B.
The static bar 220 may be located at an upper, front side portion of the support frame 110B. The static bar 220 may be positioned between the movable system 200 and the printer 160B, with respect to a traveling path of the tube stock film 10. The static bar 220 may be configured to contact the tube stock film 10 so as to eliminate or reduce static on a portion of the tube stock film 10 before the portion of the tube stock film 10 enters the movable system 200.
According to embodiments, the tube stock film 10 may be routed from the roller 120B to the printer 160B, to the static bar 220, to the rollers 210, and then to the cutter 170B and the seal bar 152B. The movable system 200 may be configured to be actuated by the actuators 112B so as to vertically move along the rails 11B so as to produce bags of various lengths.
According to embodiments, the bagger 100B may further include a wifi air manifold, human-machine interface touch screen, and a bag presenting apparatus.
Referring to
In embodiments, the bagger 100 may comprise printers that are attached to the support frame 110 using, for example, t slot nuts and mounting brackets. In an embodiment, the bagger 100 may comprise a printer head 162 (e.g. a printer) with, for example, a print head bracket(s) 160. The printer head 162 may be configured to print information on the tube stock film 10 that forms the bags. For example, the printer head 162 may print lot numbers, data codes, product IDs, barcodes, etc. The print head bracket(s) 160 may be attached to the actuators 112 on the rails 111 (e.g. belt driven actuators) by way of t slot nuts in extruded aluminum frames of the rails 111 with actuators 112.
With reference to
According to processes of the present disclosure, baggers of the present disclosure may be configured to, after a start button is pressed, make a bag(s) of a programmed length(s) by, for example, closing grippers of the bagger, activating actuators to move the grippers so as to pull the tube stock film to a predetermined length, and sealing the tube stock film to form a bag using the bag seal bar.
According to embodiments, an open end of the bag (e.g. a bottom end) may then be gripped by two vacuum bars 190 (refer to
After the first bag is made, a second bag may be sealed by the seal bar 152 of the seal system 150 as the tube stock film 10 is being pulled downward. This saves time and speeds up the processing by the bagger.
In embodiments, the bagger may further comprise printer units, RFID printers, labeling units, etc. In embodiments, a bagger system may be provided that includes any of the baggers of the present disclosure. The bagger system may further comprise a conveyor that is configured to move products to the bagger of the bagger system. The bagger system may further comprise a 3D scanner or others means that may scan product coming down the conveyor to the bagger. Accordingly, information of a size of the product can be obtained by the scanner and the bagger can create a programmed length bag based on the information. In other words, the bagger of the bagger system may be configured to make custom length bags based on the product(s) scanned. Accordingly, bag waste may be reduced and time may be saved.
An example process performable by baggers of the present disclosure is provided below. Some stages of the process are described with reference to
According to an embodiment, an operator of the bagger may feed the tube stock film 10 into the grippers 142 of the movable gripper system 140, and close guarding of the bagger. The guarding may refer to a guarding enclosure around any number of components of the bagger to prevent an operator from getting injured. The guarding may have to be opened by the operator for the operator to load the tube stock film 10 into the bagger, and when closed, the guarding may prevent the operator from physically interacting with the tube stock film 10 and any number of other components of the bagger so at to avoid injury. With reference to
On the second and following cycles for forming bags, the controller 900 may control the bagger to seal subsequent bags while the tube stock film 10 is pulled to length by the movable gripper system 140 gripping and downwardly moving the tube stock film. Accordingly, time may be saved. The process may be repeated.
In an embodiment, during a first cycle for forming a bag, the bagger may pull an open section of the tube stock film 10 (e.g. a bottom of the bag to be formed) to a bottom position, then release the grippers 142 of the movable gripper system 140, move to the sealing position (e.g. a position corresponding to a top end of the bag to be formed), then perform the sealing and cutting operations. In an embodiment, an accurate first bag length and/or positions of the tube stock film 10 (e.g. a position of the unrolled tube stock film) may be identified and stored in memory of the bagger based on the first cycle.
In an embodiment, after the first cycle, the bagger may be configured to move directly to the sealing and cutting position of a second bag (e.g. a top end of the second bag), based on an identified position of the tube stock film 10 from the first cycle. Accordingly, the bagger may be configured to move directly to the sealing and cutting position and perform these operations while the movable gripper system 140 pulls the tube stock film downward to form the second bag of a correct length.
According to an embodiment with reference to
An example process performable by the bagger 100B of the present disclosure is provided below.
Based on the bagger 100B being turned on and all machine safeties having been met (e.g. determined to be met by the controller 900), the controller 900 may control the movable system 200 to move upwards to a home position, which the controller 900 may set to have a value of 0. The controller 900 may then control the movable system 200 to move downward to a first position, based on a predetermined bag length, to wait for the tube stock film 10 to be loaded into the rollers 210. After the tube stock film 10 is loaded into the rollers 210, through the grippers 140B, and through the seal bar 152B by an operator, and a start input (e.g. caused by an operator pressing a start button of the bagger 100B) is received by the controller 900, the controller 900 may then begin a bag forming process. The bag forming process may include the following steps:
First, the controller 900 may control the rollers 210 to be turned on, by controlling an air motor(s) of the rollers 210, and the controller 900 may control the movable system 200 to move upwards to a second position, based on the predetermined bag length, while the rollers 210 are on. At such time, the grippers 140B and the seal bar 152B are in non-gripping states with respect to the tube stock film 10, and the movable system 200 moves relative to the tube stock film 10. After the movable system is determined to have reached the second position by the controller 900 (e.g. based on a sensor reading), the controller 900 may control the rollers 210 to be turned off, and control the grippers 140B and the seal bar 152B to close on the tube stock film 10 so as to both be in a gripping state with respect to the tube stock film 10. While the grippers 140B and the seal bar 152B are in the gripping state, the controller 900 may control the movable system 200 to move downwards to a third position such that a bottom of the tube stock film 10 is pulled downwards to, for example, a presenter. While the movable system 200 is moving downwards, the controller 900 may control the seal bar 152B to seal a portion of the tube stock film 10 that corresponds to a bottom of a bag, and then the controller 900 may control the cutter 170B to transversely cut the tube stock film 10 immediately above where the seal was provided. After the movable system 200 is determined to have reached the third position by the controller 900 (e.g. based on a sensor reading), the controller 900 may control the grippers 140B and the seal bar 152B to open so as to return to the non-gripping state with respect to the tube stock film 10. Accordingly, the bag formed from the tube stock film 10 may fall away from a remainder of the tube stock film 10 and be received by the presenter, and the bag forming process may be completed.
, The controller 900 may subsequently control the bagger 100B to repeat the bag forming process any number of times. For example, while the movable system 200 is at the third position, the controller 900 may again control the rollers 210 to be turned on, and may control the movable system 200 to move upwards to the second position, based on the predetermined bag length. Thereafter, the subsequent bag forming process may continue.
According to embodiments, the home position and the second position may be the same position as each other or different positions, and/or the first position and the third position may be the same position as each other or different positions.
According to embodiments, the controller 900 may be configured to control the baggers of the present disclosure in various modes. For example, controller 900 may control the baggers of the present disclosure in a “manual mode” in which operation of the bagger begins based on an operator pressing a start button of the bagger or inserting a start key into the bagger. The controller 900 may also control the baggers of the present disclosure in a “box mode” in which the bagger is controlled to continuously make bags of a predetermined length that is set using a human-machine interface of the bagger. The bagger may continuously make the bags until a stop input is received by the controller 900 (e.g., pressing a stop cycle button of the bagger). The controller 900 may also control the baggers of the present disclosure in an “automatic mode” in which the controller 900 automatically controls the bagger to make bags of a certain length based on receiving an input identifying the length. For example, the input identifying the length may be received from a scanner that scans a size of contents to be inserted into the bags to be made.
It should be noted that although a few embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible to the embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the embodiments. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the embodiments. Therefore, it is to be understood that the foregoing is illustrative of various embodiments and is not to be construed as limited to the specific embodiments illustrated.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2022/018457 | 3/2/2022 | WO |