Patent Application
20180327122
The present invention relates to a method and a device for folding a foil material half-shell edge which protrudes from a surface of the packaging of a packaged food product to lie substantially flush having the features of the preambles of the independent claims.
EP 2 765 081 A1 describes a generic process for manufacturing packages for food products and a device for carrying out said process. These food products may be hollow chocolate figurines which may be shaped, for example, into chocolate eggs, chocolate Santa Clauses or chocolate Easter bunnies. Here, first two packaging half-shells of a ductile material, preferably aluminium foil or a foil of another metallic material, are shaped each with one protruding flange face between which the food product will be received in a subsequent process step so that the protruding flange faces are lying one on top of the other flatly. The inner surfaces of the half-shells and the flange faces lying one on top of the other are laminated with a meltable material, preferably polyethylene. Then, the flange faces are sealed to each other using heat and pressure. In a subsequent procedure step, the protruding flanges are cut to size, and a distal flange section is bent over by about 90° so that in the subsequent procedure step the bent over section of the flanges may be crimped over onto a non-bent section. Upon completion of this procedure, the thus sealed and bordered edge of the flanges lying one on top of the other protrudes from the surface of the food product and affects the aesthetic appearance of the packaged food product.
WO 93/01093 also describes a process for packaging food products into foils. In a corresponding tool, foil half-shells in which the food product is received are initially shaped. The half-shells have connection flanges lying one on top of the other which are subsequently sealed to each other and form an edge protruding upright from the surface. A subsequent folding of the so-called Saturn ring to lie substantially flush is mentioned as optional in WO 93/01093.
DE 1 260 949 describes a method of manufacturing figurines of candy mass enveloped in thin metal foils. In the process, a bordered connection between two preformed foil half-shells having protruding edges is formed. The edges are first placed one on top of the other, subsequently folded upwards into one direction, and finally folded over an inner edge face. A radially protruding edge with an increased stiffness remains.
It is an object of the present invention to suggest a method according to the above type by which the appearance of food packaged in foil-like half-shells can be improved, and which may be carried out reliably, quickly and with little efforts. Furthermore, a generic device which is suited for carrying out the method is to be provided.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method having the features of claim 1.
During the relative movement between the die and the food product, a contact between the edge region of the opening of the die and the protruding foil edge occurs whereby the foil edge is deformed and will thus bend over in the direction of the movement of the food product so that it at least partially abuts against the surface of at least one of the half-shells.
The edge region of the opening of the die may have a closed or an interrupted contour. By such interruptions, the protruding edge does not come into contact with the entire circumference of the edge region so that only a partial folding is allowed. The opening of the die may furthermore consist of one or several parts. If these parts are spaced apart in the circumferential direction, the interruptions of the edge region may be formed between them.
By the low number of procedure steps, the method may be carried out in quick succession and with a constant packaging quality for successive packaged food products and is therefore suited for time-efficient series production. Furthermore, by the process control which can be designed to be simple and which essentially relates to the control of the relative movement, an automation of the process can be advantageously realized.
By this folding of the initially protruding edge to lie substantially flush, the position and the presence of the parting plane of the half-shells is less obvious. The surface of the packaged food product thus appears altogether smoother, whereby the contour of the product will better show to advantage. Thereby, the appearance of the packaged product will be improved.
According to a variation of the invention, at least one elastic element may press onto the protruding edge at the edge region of the die, whereby the edge of the foils may be at least partially folded to lie substantially flush against at least one half-shell. The clearance between the elastic element and the packaging surface may be selected small enough for the elastic element to graze over the packaging surface and to fold the edge to lie substantially flush at the outer contour of the packaged food product. The elastic element may deform during the contact with the protruding edge by the occurring compressive forces and thus better follow the shape of the packaged food product to increase the folding quality. By its deformation, the elastic element causes spring forces onto the edge that act opposite to the direction of deformation. After the contact with the edge and the elastic deformation of the elastic element caused thereby it will resume its original shape.
At the edge region of the die, bristles may possibly press onto the protruding edge, whereby the edge of the foils may be at least partially folded to lie substantially flush at a half-shell. During the contact, the bristles may be elastically deformed and graze over the packaging surface, whereby the protruding edge may be better folded to lie substantially flush at complicated and uneven contours of the packaging surface. By the elastic deformation, the bristles cause a spring force on the edge opposite to the direction of deformation. After the contact with the edge, the bristles resume their original shape.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the die may be at rest and the packaged food product may be moved through the opening relative to the die. This permits a resting mounting of the die through the opening of which the product may be moved target-orientated with an accurate fit and with a relatively simple guidance. This provides a high quality of the folded edge.
In an alternative preferred embodiment, the packaged food product may be at rest and the die may be moved relative to the packaged food product. If the product is held at rest, the die may be moved easily, though with an accurate fit, relative thereto, and this results in a high quality of the folded edge.
Advantageously, both the packaged food product and the die may be moved. This results in a greater freedom of the design of the method and the paths covered by the elements involved. Depending on the shape of the product, relative movements may be caused thereby by which the edge may be better folded to lie substantially flush to certain contact sections of the product.
According to a development of the invention, the edge of the foils may be initially approached, in a first step, during the passage through the opening of the die, to the surface of the half-shells, and subsequently, in a further step, folded to lie substantially flush at at least one half-shell. Before the final folding to lie substantially flush at the surface of the half-shells, the edge may be initially preformed in a controlled manner, for example to approach the shape of the edge to be folded to lie substantially flush to the outer contour of the half-shells. In some packages and materials, it showed to be more advantageous for an appropriate folding of the edge to select a step-wise process for folding by which the deformation behaviour of the edge is better taken into consideration.
Preferably, the relative movement between the die and the packaging may extend one-dimensionally. This type of movement facilitates the process control and reduces the procedure steps necessary for folding the edge to lie substantially flush and the overall time for carrying out the process.
Favourably, the relative movement of the packaged food product may first extend in a first moving direction through the opening of the die, and subsequently transverse to the first moving direction to adapt the folding of the edge to lie substantially flush at the outer shape of the food product. A relative movement consisting of several movement components in various directions permits greater freedom in the folding of the edge, above all to complex outer contours of the surface of the half-shells. Thus, during a first partial movement in a first direction, the edge may be tangentially folded to lie substantially flush at a part of the surface to then be adapted to the outer contour of the half-shell by means of one or several relative movements of the die.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the packaged food product may be moved by means of guide means relative to the die. By the guide means, the direction and speed of the relative movement may be controlled. The guide means may optionally be designed in the form of a male mould.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the packaged food product may be held at the guide means during the relative movement. Thus, the packaged food product may be securely positioned during the folding of the edge.
In a further, particularly preferred embodiment, the packaged food product may be held at the guide means by means of a vacuum. This permits a secure and product-protecting fixing of the food product to the guide means while the fixing is easily releasable.
Advantageously, the packaged food product may be held between the guide means and a backing part. The guide means and the backing part may be in contact with the packaged food product at various sides to adjust and control its position. By the additional backing part, an improved fixability of the packaged food product may be achieved.
Particularly advantageously, the backing part may exert a guiding force onto the packaged food product. This may be optionally done by means of a resilient element. By the guiding force, which may act in the direction of the relative movement of the packaged food product, a secure positioning of the packaged food product and a control of the moving direction may be ensured during the operation.
In a particular manner, at least a part of the guiding force between the guide means and the backing part may be transmitted over the packaged food product. Optionally, the whole guiding force may be transmitted between the guide means and the backing part over the packaged food product. Thus, the process may be altogether simplified because the product itself serves as a force-transmitting component. Surprisingly, this may also be applied when hollow chocolate figurines are packaged which are sufficiently stable to also transmit the guiding forces.
Optionally, the guide part and the backing part may be spaced apart so that it is ensured that the folding of the edge is not obstructed by these parts. The foil edge may be located between the spaced apart parts while the packaged food product is positioned between the guide part and the retention part. Thus, during the folding process, it will only come into contact with the edge region of the die and possibly a pre-bending element. Thus, a high fitting quality may be ensured.
According to a further development of the invention, the protruding edge may have a proximal section which is directly connected to the half-shells and connects a distal section of the edge with the half-shells, wherein the distal section is folded onto the proximal section before the edge is folded to lie substantially flush. The section of the edge which is initially further apart from the surface of the food product is being bent over so that it is in flat contact with the section of the edge which is closer to the food product. By this type of pre-packaging, the edge may be bordered, whereby a bordered flange is formed and a reliable mechanical closure of the food product in the region of the edge may be ensured.
According to a particularly advantageous further development of the invention, the distal section may be directed with its front end towards the direction of the surface of at least one half-shell before folding and in particular touch it or be spaced apart from it. Thereby, the folded joint or the bordered joint of the edge will better remain in the closed position during folding.
Possibly, the packaging may move through the opening of the die with the proximal section leading so that the proximal section may come into contact with the edge region of the opening, and the distal section may be at least partially folded to lie substantially flush at at least one half-shell. By a relative movement designed in this way, the distal folded or bordered section is quasi folded to lie substantially flush at a half-shell of the product whereby the security of the bordered or folded joint is improved both with the edge folded and during the folding of the edge to lie substantially flush.
Advantageously, the flanges may be bordered, sealed to each other, or bordered and sealed to each other before the edge is folded. These types of connection permit a mechanically secure connection of the flanges.
In a particularly advantageous manner, the packaged food product may completely cross the die. On the one hand, this provides a good folding of the edge which in any case passes through the die, on the other hand it permits the possibility of further transporting the product on this side after it has been passed through the die.
The object according to the invention is furthermore achieved by a device according to claim 18.
The device permits a quick and reliable folding of the edge to lie substantially flush with a simple process control and an uncomplicated design. The contour of the edge region of the die opening follows the outer contour of the packaged food product at those points or regions where the protruding edge is to be folded so that the edge may come into contact with the edge region. Thereby, the edge region is able to plastically deform the protruding edge during the contact so that it at least partially fits to at least one of the half-shells.
The device permits a quick and easily controllable folding of the protruding edge to lie substantially flush. It may process a high number of packaged food products in series within a short time and with a constant packaging quality.
By the contact with the edge region of the opening during the relative movement, the position of the protruding edge with respect to the foil half-shells is modified so that it may at least partially be folded to lie substantially flush at at least one of the half-shells. Thereby, the appearance of the packaged product is improved.
The opening may have a closed or an interrupted contour. Such interruptions may be designed so that the edge does not come into contact with the edge region where the opening is interrupted and is neither folded there. The edge region may furthermore consist of one or several parts. The parts may be spaced apart so that the interruptions of the opening are created between them.
In one embodiment of the invention, the edge region of the die may have at least one elastic element which presses onto the protruding edge. The elastic element may deform during the contact with the edge region and the packaged food product so that the protruding edge may be better folded to lie substantially flush at complex and non-uniform outer contours of the packaged food product. The deformation of the elastic element is elastic, that means that the elastic element will resume its original shape after the contact with the edge. During the deformation of the elastic element and its contact with the protruding edge, spring forces are acting on the edge.
According to another embodiment, the edge region of the die may have bristles which press onto the protruding edge. The bristles may be elastic to graze over the surface of the packaged food product and fold the protruding edge to lie substantially flush at the surface of the packaged food product so that it better follows its outer contour. After the elastic deformation by the contact with the edge, the bristles resume their original shapes. By the elastic deformation of the bristles, they cause spring forces that act on the edge.
In one variation of the invention, the clearance between the edge of the die bordering the opening and the half-shells may be, at least in some regions, smaller than the width of the protruding edge. The width of the protruding edge is the distance between the packaging surface of the half-shells and the end of the protruding edge remote from the surface of the half-shells. With a clearance between the edge of the die bordering the opening and the half-shells that is at least in some regions smaller than the width of the protruding edge, the edge region of the opening of the die may be brought into contact with the protruding edge to fold the protruding edge to lie substantially flush at the half-shells.
Advantageously, the distance between the edge of the die bordering the opening and the half-shells may at least in some regions correspond to the thickness of the protruding edge. The thickness of the protruding edge extends transverse to its length protruding upwards from the product and corresponds to the overall thickness of the foil layers which form the protruding edge. By such a design of the distance, a good approach of the edge to the surface of the half-shells is permitted.
In particular, the guide means may comprise retention means for the packaged food product. By means of these retention means, the packaged food product may be held at the guide means. Thus, a secure positioning of the packaged food product is possible.
In one possible embodiment of the invention, one or more suction elements may be provided as retention means. By means of the suction elements, a vacuum may be created which exerts a retention force onto the surface of the packaged food product and thus holds the latter. The suction elements permit a reliable, careful and easily controllable releasable connection between the retention means and the packaged food product.
Optionally, a backing part opposite the guide means may be provided by which the packaged food product may be held between the guide means and the backing part. Thereby, the packaged food product may be securely fixed between the guide means and the backing part and is guided in its movement through the opening of the die.
According to a further development of the invention, the backing part may exert a compressive force onto the packaged food product which is directed opposite to the direction of the relative movement of the food product through the opening of the die. This compressive force improves the fixability of the food product during the relative movement.
In a particularly advantageous manner, the backing part may comprise spring means which may exert a compressive force onto the packaged food product. Such spring means are an advantageous possibility of exerting a controllable compressive force with little constructive efforts.
Advantageously, the device may furthermore comprise a pre-bending element for approaching the edge to the surface with an opening whose edge region is further spaced apart from the half-shells than the thickness of the flanges lying one on top of the other in some regions. Depending on the constructive design of the packaging and the product, and of the material, a better folding may be achieved thereby if initially, a pre-bending is effected before a further folding to a half-shell of the product is accomplished.
In one embodiment of the invention, the die is fixed and the guide means are movable. Thereby, a resting mounting of the die is permitted. The product may be moved through the opening of the die with an accurate fit and targetedly with a relatively simple guidance. This provides a high quality of the folded edge.
In a further embodiment, the guide means are fixed and the die is movable. When the food product is at rest, the die may be moved relative to the food product easily and with an accurate fit. This results in a high quality of the folded edge.
According to a development of the invention, the die and the guide means are movable. Thereby, a greater freedom in the design and control of the method and the paths covered by the elements involved is achieved. Depending on the shape of the product, relative movements are thereby possible, by which the edge may be better folded to lie substantially flush at certain contact sections of the product.
Possibly, the die and the guide means may be movable in one single direction relative with respect to each other. This facilitates the control of the folding process.
In a particularly advantageous manner, the die and the guide means may be movable in several directions relative with respect to each other. This facilitates a folding of the edge to lie substantially flush even at complex external shapes of a packaged food product.
In a particularly advantageous manner, the edge region of the opening of the pre-bending element tapers towards the edge region of the opening of the die. By the tapering, the reduction of the distance between the half-shells and the respective edge regions is realized so that in the region of the greater distance, the pre-bending can be realized, and in the region of the die with the small distance, the edge may be closer folded to lie substantially flush at the surface of the half-shells.
Favourably, the pre-bending element may be embodied as a chamfer of the edge region of the opening. During the pre-bending process, the protruding edge will slide over the chamfer and will be bent towards the surface of the half-shell in the process.
According to a development of the invention, the flanges that at least partially lie one on top of the other are bordered to each other, sealed to each other, or bordered and sealed to each other. These types of connection improve the closure of the flange connection.
In an advantageous embodiment, the guide means and the backing part may be spaced apart. In this distance, the edge to be folded may be located so that it may be folded without contacting the backing part and the guide means, thereby increasing the fitting quality.
Several embodiments of the invention are represented in the drawings described below.
In the drawings:
The method according to the invention and the device according to the invention relate to the packaging of food products. These food products may in particular be hollow chocolate figurines with any external shape, for example the external shape of eggs, stylized animals or human figurines.
Proportions in size and dimensions represented in the Figures are not drawn to scale but are selected to represent the features of the invention clearly. In general, the thickness of the foil is clearly smaller than the thickness of the outer hull of a hollow food product. The combination of optional features of the invention is given by way of example and is not to be considered in a restricting manner.
The packaged food product 1 is received in two foil-like half-shells 2, which comprise flanges 3 flatly lying one on top of the other. The flanges together form a protruding edge 4, which may be brought into contact with an edge region 8 of the die 5 during a relative movement whose direction is represented by means of an arrow R. In the shown embodiment, the device moreover includes guide means 6 by means of which the relative movement may be performed. In this Figure, the guide means are designed as movable male mould while the die is mounted at rest.
The external shape of the food product has the shape of an egg and is rotationally symmetric. The two foil half-shells have identical shapes, their contact plane lying in the plane of the largest cross-section of the packaged food product when they receive the food product between them. Since the cross-section of the food product preferably tapers from this plane on, it may be better inserted in the foil half-shells during the packaging process. The foil-like half-shells are therefore configured as half-shells in the shown embodiments. Instead of identical half-shells, a packaging according to the invention may be also formed by mirrored half-shells or half-shells of different shapes.
The foil half-shells with the protruding flanges are preformed from foil sections cut to size, for example by means of deep-drawing. The curvature of the foil half-shell resulting from deep-drawing corresponds to the outer contour of the food product which is received and packaged in the half-shells.
As a packaging material, an aluminium foil may be employed which may be externally provided with a print to create, in connection with the shape of the food product, an attractive appearance of the packaged product. The foil may have a thickness of 5 to 100 μm, in particular 10 to 50 μm, and particularly advantageously 15 to 40 μm. However, the foil material is not restricted to aluminium nor metallic materials.
The protruding edge 4 has a width B and a thickness D. Between the edge of the die bordering the opening and the half-shells, there is a clearance A perpendicular to the relative movement. The shown arrow R indicates the direction of the relative movement of the packaged food product in relation to the die 5. Here, in the represented embodiment, the packaged food product is not necessarily moving. The relative movement of the food product in the direction of the arrow may also be realized by a resting product and a moving die.
The clearance A is smaller than the width B of the protruding edge. During the passage of the die in the moving direction designated by the arrow R, the protruding edge comes into contact with the edge region of the die. In the process, the edge region exerts a compressive force onto the protruding edge which is transmitted to the guide means via the food product. By the compressive force, the protruding edge deforms plastically and is at least partially folded to lie substantially flush at one of the half-shells.
In the shown first embodiment, the opening of the die has a closed contour without interruptions. Across the entire circumference of the packaged food product, the protruding edge comes into contact with the edge region of the die and is deformed thereby. Equally, an open or interrupted contour of the die opening is possible by which parts of the protruding edge do not come into contact with the edge region.
During the folding of the foil edge to lie substantially flush, compressive forces may act on the food product due to the process. To avoid damages, the forces may be adapted to the stability of the food product, depending on the occurring forces and environmental influences, for example ambient temperature.
Below, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same elements in the Figures.
In this embodiment, there is no contact between the guide means 6 and the backing part 10. The retention force exerted by the backing part 6 onto the packaged food product 1 is completely transmitted via the packaged food product 1 to the guide means 6. Thereby, neither the guide means nor the backing part come into contact with the protruding edge, whereby a non-obstructed folding of the edge to lie substantially flush at the surface of the half-shells may be ensured.
By the resilient element 17, a compressive force is exerted via the backing part 10 onto the packaged food product and is forwarded via the food product to the guide part 6 without permanently deforming or damaging the food product. The resilient element may be designed, for example, in the form of one or several coil springs, pneumatic or hydraulic springs or actuators or energy accumulators.
The retention means designed as suction elements of the guide means operated with a vacuum are also suited, apart from their function of holding the packaged food product during the folding of the edge to lie substantially flush, for gripping the packaged food product before folding, for example by a conveyor means or by a tool by which a procedure step preceding the edge folding step has been performed. Similarly, the food product may also be placed again, after the edge folding, onto a conveyor means or into a tool for subsequent procedure steps.
When the packaged food product is passed in the direction of the represented arrow R, the protruding edge initially comes into contact with the pre-bending element 12, subsequently with the chamfer 13, and finally with the edge region of the opening of the die. During the contact with the pre-bending element and the chamfer, the protruding edge is thus first deformed and continuously approached to the surface of the half-shells before it is folded to lie substantially flush at the surface of the half-shells not before it passes the opening and contacts the edge region.
The protruding edge has a proximal section 14 and a distal section 15. The proximal section 14 here connects the distal section 15 with the foil half-shells 2. During the relative movement of the packaged food product through the opening of the die 5, represented by the arrow R, the proximal section 14 comes into contact with the edge region 8 of the die 5 so that the distal section of the edge is at least partially folded to lie substantially flush at one of the half-shells.
In
In
In
The shown active principle corresponds to that in
During the passage through the opening 7 of the die 5 in the direction of the arrow R, the bristles graze over the face of the edge facing outwards after the folding as represented in
The outer extension of the outer contour of the protruding edge may comprise concave sections and indentations directed inwards in the circumferential direction. Thanks to the bristles, the method and device may be well adapted to those and other complex circumferential contours of the edge. The bristles make it easier to deform and fold the edge even at indentations or discontinuous extensions at the circumference of the edge.
In the represented embodiment, only the bristles of the die come into contact with the protruding edge. As an alternative, first a rigid part of the die may press onto the edge and the bristles may only be used for the last step of pressing on the already pre-bent edge. In the sense of the invention, a combination of the bristles with a pre-bending element, a multiaxis movement or other already described features is also possible.
The material and the geometry of the bristles should be selected such that during the edge folding, the bristles will be elastically deformed. The bristles should be sufficiently elastic to exclude a damage of the food product when the bristles are deformed by the contact and the compressive forces occurring in the process. Simultaneously, the bristles should be rigid enough to be able to plastically deform the protruding edge.
To improve the distribution of compressive forces on the surface of the packaged food product and the edge during folding, or to optimise the folding quality, the bristles may have different lengths and/or different distances to the surface of the packaged food product.
The embodiment of the invention represented in
The elastic element 20 is designed in the form of a rubber lip 21 in the represented embodiment of the invention, however, it is not restricted to this design. The functioning of the elastic element 20 is analogue to that of the bristles 19. Thus, the elastic element 20 is also suited to realize an over-pressing of the edge 4 by more than 90° and to adapt the edge to surface sections of the packaged food product which are not in parallel to the moving direction of the packaged food product through the opening of the die. To this end, the elastic element 20 grazes over the surface of the packaged food product 1, presses onto the edge 4 to fold it to lie substantially flush, and subsequently grazes over the side of the then folded edge facing outwards.
The elastic element may be made of rubber, silicone, or an elastic polymer. During the edge folding process, it may be bent over as shown in
The elastic element and the bristles may be provided across the entire circumference of the acting edge region of the die opening, or only in partial sections of the edge region. Different sections where there may be elastic elements and/or bristles may alternate with sections of the edge region which are rigid, i. e. act on the edge without any elastic element or bristles. It is also possible to combine elastic elements, bristles and stiff sections of the edge region so that they act on the edge one after another and thus realize a step-wise folding and pressing on of the edge.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2015 217 593.6 | Sep 2015 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2016/070933 | 9/6/2016 | WO | 00 |
