This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application No. EP 08 007 419.8 filed on Apr. 16, 2008, entitled “FEEDER” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention pertains to a feeder for a controlled transfer of tablets, capsules, dragées or the like into the pockets of continuously or cyclically conveyed web of sheeting with electronic control components and a base unit for this feeder.
In such feeder, the electrical control components are conventionally arranged outside the feeder. The feeder comprises a supply container, which holds the bulk material, from which the tablets can be transferred via a product conveyor to a sorting plate comprising a first drive. From there the tablets are transferred into the filling tubes of a filling unit with a blocking slide unit, which serves to individuate and to sort the tablets, and which comprises a second drive. In addition, a filling shoe is required, which can be lowered by way of a third drive to deposit the tablets onto the web of sheeting. The electrical control components are necessary to control these drives, wherein it must be remembered that, because of tablet breakage and/or tablet abrasion, it is possible for large amounts of dust to contaminate the feeder, and that the electrical control components are sensitive to dust, which is why, in the case of the conventional feeder, the electrical control components are installed externally in a control panel. The feeder is set up on a machine table of the thermoforming machine, wherein the control panel with the electrical control components is provided at an appropriate distance from the thermoforming machine.
This arrangement suffers from the disadvantage that the electrical lines must be laid individually into the control panel, because only there the motor and the sensors can be connected to the control unit. The electrical lines lead to the filling section, where they can become contaminated with tablet dust, as a result of which a large amount of cleaning work is required. In addition, the control panel takes up additional space next to the thermoforming machine and can under certain conditions block access to more convenient operation of the thermoforming machine.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a feeder for a controlled transfer of products into the pockets of a continuously or cyclically conveyed web of sheeting, which overcomes the disadvantages cited above.
The feeder for the controlled transfer of product items into pockets of a continuously or cyclically conveyed web of sheeting comprises:
Thus, all electrical control components of the drives are arranged in an enclosed, dustproof area in the base unit. As a result, a space-saving design is achieved without impairment to the reliability of the electrical components. This also makes it possible to clean the filling section more quickly. An additional advantage is that the servo cables are less susceptible to malfunction, because they do not have any intermediate plug connections.
Preferably, all electrical control components are arranged in an integrated control panel in the base unit. One wall of the integrated control panel is preferably designed as a wall of the base unit, especially as a rear wall of the base unit. This leads to the advantage of a further decrease in the amount of space required and of an especially sturdy construction.
It has been found favorable for the integrated control panel to be installed pivotably in the base unit, so that the integrated control panel can serve as a door of the base unit for opening and closing a second access area for mechanical maintenance in the base unit. As a result, mechanical maintenance work on the base unit can be carried out easily.
In an advantageous exemplary embodiment of the feeder, the integrated control panel comprises an additional control panel door for opening and closing a first access area for electrical maintenance with a first locking device, and a second locking device is used for the door of the base unit, wherein the first and the second locking devices are designed to work with different keys. This offers the advantage that the access areas for electrical and mechanical maintenance can be handled in a manner which automatically separates them from each other.
According to another aspect of the feeder, it is has been found advantageous for a coolant circuit to be provided in the integrated control panel and for a coolant connector to be arranged preferably in the control panel door on the outside surface of the control panel. In this way, the waste heat can be dissipated more effectively, and the reliability and the service life of the electrical control unit can be increased. Because of the dustproof enclosure of the integrated control panel versus the base unit, which is subject to contamination with tablet dust, the electrical control unit can be cooled additionally by fans in an air recirculation process to transport the waste heat to the coolant circuit.
Control units for the drives, furthermore, can be arranged in the integrated control panel of the feeder, and drives, especially an electrical drive for the feeder, can be arranged in the base unit in such a way that the drives for the feeder are stationary. This offers the advantage that the electrical lines are not subjected to cyclical loads, which has the effect of prolonging their service life. An additional advantage is that the motors do not have to be moved along as well, so that less energy is consumed during operation. In addition, the mechanical components can be smaller, because the components which do have to be moved are lighter in weight.
The invention is explained in greater detail in the following on the basis of the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings.
a is a perspective view of a feeder with base unit and blocking slide unit;
b is a side view of the feeder of
a is a perspective view of a feeder 20 with a base unit 1 and a format unit, which is exchangeably attached to the base unit 1.
The feeder 20 comprises a supply container 14, a product conveyor 15, and the format unit. The format unit can be exchanged depending on the size and shape of products to be filled, and comprises a sorting plate 12 (which is covered in
The tablets are transferred from the supply container 14 via the product conveyor 15 to the sorting plate 12. By means of a first drive, the sorting plate 12 is moved in such a way (for example, upward and downward, but also vibratory movements can be suitable) that the tablets are sorted into the filling tubes 13 of the filling unit. The filling tubes 13 are designed to provide a proper orientation of the tablets. The tablets, which are arranged in a stack in the filling tubes 13, must further be singled out so that only individual tablets are fed to the filling shoe 16 and from there to the pockets of the web of sheeting, preferably a blister package, conveyed below the filling shoe 16. This separation process of single tablets in the filling tubes 13 is performed by at least one blocking slide plate (which is also covered and can thus not be seen) of the blocking slide unit 11 having horizontally extending blocking fingers which are moved out of and back into the guiding channel of the filling tubes 13. In this way, the blocking slide plate blocks the guiding channels in its inserted position, while it allows exactly one tablet per filling tube 13 to fall down in its removed position. The blocking slide plate is moved in a horizontal direction by a second drive, such as a pneumatic cylinder, in such a way that the tablets are individuated, sorted, and transferred into the filling shoe 16.
The whole format unit, which comprises the sorting plate 12, the filling unit and the filling shoe 16, can be synchronized by a third drive to the translational speed of the conveyed web of sheeting in order to be able to deposit the tablets into the web of sheeting. Furthermore, the whole format unit or the filling shoe 16 may be lowered by a fourth drive in order to facilitate the proper filling of the pockets of the web of sheeting. Some of the drives mentioned above could also be omitted or varied. In any way, the plurality of drives is arranged in the base unit 1 and can be controlled completely or partially by electrical control components which are also arranged in the base unit 1. Preferably, the electrical control components are arranged in an integrated control panel 2 arranged in the base unit 1.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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08 007 419.8 | Apr 2008 | EP | regional |