Patent Application
20240174398
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-188557, filed on Nov. 25, 2022; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a packaging method and a packaging apparatus.
Packaging machines for bagging are known that sequentially perform a predetermined plurality of packaging processes (including a process of introducing contents into a bag) while transferring bags along a predetermined transfer track.
In cases where contents fed into a bag contain multiple solid materials, the solid materials may pile up on top of each other inside the bag. Although all of the contents are normally positioned on the inside of a bag (in particular, below a planned seal part) and contained within the bag, the contents may pile up to the planned seal part or piled-up solid materials may protrude outward through the mouth portion of the bag. Such piled up contents may disturb the sealing treatment of the mouth portion of a bag.
Japanese utility model application publication No. 6-35106 discloses a device aiming to detect whether or not the filling is adhered to the mouth portion of a bag before sealing the mouth portion by an automatic packaging machine in order to prevent the occurrence of defective bags.
From the standpoint of a sealing treatment, a condition in which there are contents in a planned seal part of the mouth portion inside a bag but there are no contents protruding to the outside of the bag through the mouth portion, can be classified as a mildly defective condition because its effect on the sealing treatment is relatively small. On the other hand, a condition in which there are contents protruding to the outside of a bag through the mouth portion, can be classified as a severely defective condition because its effect on the sealing treatment is relatively high.
As described above, the above-mentioned mildly defective and severely defective conditions are both conditions in which contents may disturb a sealing treatment of the mouth portion of a bag.
However, if a bag is placed in the above-described mildly defective condition, the contents do not protrude outward through the mouth portion of the bag, so that a sealing device (such as a heat plate) that contacts the outer surface of the bag during the sealing treatment basically never touches the contents, and consequently the sealing surface of the sealing device is almost never contaminated by the contents. Therefore, even if some bags are placed in a mildly defective condition, it is possible to continuously perform a series of packaging processes including a sealing process, and it is often unnecessary to immediately stop the operation of the packaging machine for cleaning the sealing surface, etc.
Bags that are placed in a mildly defective condition may be separated, as defective bags, from other good bags, since the sealing treatment on the defective bags will not be necessarily performed properly. Such elimination of defective bags can be performed at any time and may be done after the sealing treatment. From a perspective of reusing bags that are placed in a defective condition and reusing contents, it is preferable that bags that are placed in a defective condition be ejected from a packaging apparatus prior to the sealing treatment or that a sealing treatment be not performed on the defective bags in a selective manner, but a sealing treatment may be performed on such bags that are placed in a defective condition.
In particular, as for bags that are placed in a mildly defective condition, the stacking of contents may collapse and consequently the defective condition may be resolved during a period of time from the content injection treatment up to the sealing treatment, because of shaking or transmission of machine vibration associated with transfer. Further, it is also possible to effectively resolve the defective condition of a bag by actively performing tapping of the bag (see Japanese patent application publication No. 9-66903), swinging of the bag, vibration of the bag, or a pressing process in which contents are pushed inside the bag by using a pressing member such as a pestle (see Japanese utility model application publication No. 49-15582), during the period from the content injection treatment to the sealing treatment.
On the other hand, if a bag is placed in a severely defective condition, a sealing device (such as a heat plate) that contacts the outer surface of the bag may become contaminated by contacting with contents that protrude outward through the mouth portion of the bag during the sealing treatment. In such a case, not only a bag currently being subject to a sealing treatment but also a bag to be subject to a sealing treatment thereafter may suffer from poor sealing and/or contamination of the sealed surface. Therefore, it is preferable to prevent a sealing treatment from being performed on bags that are placed in a severely defective condition, and if such a sealing treatment is performed, the operation of the packaging machine may have to be stopped immediately to clean the sealing surface.
Further, if a bag is placed in a severely defective condition, it may be difficult to resolve the defective condition even when tapping, swinging or vibrating of the bag, or pushing the contents inside the bag is performed.
The present disclosure has been made in view of the circumstances described above, and has an objective of providing a technique advantageous for adaptively performing processing (e.g., a sealing treatment) on a bag according to a condition of contents accommodated in the bag.
One aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a packaging method including the steps of: introducing a content into an accommodation space inside a bag through a mouth portion of the bag in a suspended state; determining whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content; and evaluating a condition of the bag accommodating the content according to a result of determining whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag.
The packaging method may include the step of sealing the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content, and it may be determined, according to a result of evaluating a condition of the bag accommodating the content, whether to perform the step of sealing the mouth portion of the bag.
The bag may be conveyed intermittently, and it may be determined, during a period of the bag being moving intermittently, whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag.
The content may contain a solid material only.
A content determination device that determines whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content, may be positioned higher than the bag.
It may be determined by a first determination device whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag, the content positioned inside the bag in vicinity to the mouth portion may be determined by a second determination device, and a condition of the bag accommodating the content may be evaluated according to determination results of the first determination device and the second determination device.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a packaging apparatus comprising: a bag conveyance device that conveys a bag in a suspended state; a bag supply device that supplies the bag to the bag conveyance device; a content introduction device that introduces a content into an accommodation space inside the bag through a mouth portion of the bag in a suspended state; a content determination device that determines whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content; and an evaluation device that evaluates a condition of the bag accommodating the content according to a determination result of the content determination device.
The packaging apparatus may comprise: a sealing device that seals the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content; and a sealing control device that controls the sealing device, and when an evaluation result of the evaluation device shows that a condition of the bag accommodating the content is defective, the sealing control device may control the sealing device in such a manner that the mouth portion of the bag is not sealed.
The bag conveyance device may include a bag support unit that moves intermittently along an endless track together with the bag while supporting the bag in a suspended state, and the content determination device may determine, during a period of the bag being moving intermittently, whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag.
The content may include a plurality of solid materials.
The content determination device may be positioned higher than the bag.
According to the present disclosure, it is advantageous to adaptively perform processing (e.g., a sealing treatment) on a bag depending on the condition of contents contained in the bag.
The packaging apparatus 10 shown in
The bag conveyance device 11 conveys bags B in a suspended state. The bag conveyance device 11 in the present example is an intermittent rotary-type conveyance device and includes a rotation table 31 and a plurality of pairs of support grippers 32 attached to the outer periphery portion of the rotation table 31. As a result that the rotation table 31 rotates intermittently around its central axis (i.e., a vertical axis), each pair of support grippers 32 rotates intermittently along with the rotation table 31, to move intermittently along an endless track (i.e., a circular track) together with a bag B while supporting the bag B in a suspended state.
A bag B is formed, as shown in
The rotation table 31 is rotated intermittently by a rotation driver, such as a motor, driven under the control of the control device 24 (see
Each pair of support grippers 32 grips both side end portions B2 of a bag B (i.e., an empty bag) supplied from the bag supply device 12, during a period of stopping intermittently at the first station S1. The bag supply device 12 in the present example includes a conveyor magazine 35, a bag transfer device 36 and a bag pick-up device 37 (including a pair of suction cups). The conveyor magazine 35 accommodates a large number of bags B (i.e., empty bags) that are stacked in a horizontal direction in an upright posture. The bag transfer device 36 sends downstream a bag B positioned in the forefront position in the conveyor magazine 35. The bag pick-up device 37 lifts a bag B having been sent out by the bag transfer device 36 and passes it on to a pair of support grippers 32 that stops and is intermittently waiting at the first station S1.
Each pair of support grippers 32 moves to the second station S2 together with a bag B having been supplied at the first station S1. At the second station S2, a bag B supported by a pair of support grippers 32 undergoes a printing process performed by the printing device 13. The printing method and the print information of the printing device 13 on bags B are not limited. The printing device 13 is able to print, on a side surface of a bag B, date and time information (e.g., the date of manufacture, the expiration date of contents, etc.) and an identification information of a bag B by an inkjet printing method or a laser printing method.
A bag B that has undergone the printing process moves from the second station S2 to the third station S3 together with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. At the third station S3, a bag B undergoes an opening process performed by the opening device 14 in such a manner that the mouth portion B0 of the bag B (see
A bag B that has undergone the opening process moves from the third station S3 to the fourth station S4 together with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. At the fourth station S4, a bag B undergoes a content introduction process performed by the content introduction device 15 and a weighing process performed by the first weighing device 16.
The content introduction device 15 introduces contents C (see
Contents C are not limited and may be, for example, food, household items, tools (such as nails), or cosmetics. Contents C include only a plurality of solid materials in the present example, but may also include not only a plurality of solid materials but also a liquid material. Further, contents C may be elongated-shape contents C (e.g., bar-shaped contents C, stick-type contents C, or can-type contents C (see Japanese patent application publication Nos. 2011-46407 and 2018-95319)), may have a thin shape such as a disc shape, may have a spherical shape, and may have an external shape that includes a recess portion(s) and a projecting portion(s). However, each content C has a size and a shape that allow the entirety of the content C to be accommodated in the inner accommodation space Bs of a bag B. In particular, when a planned amount of contents C is properly accommodated in the accommodation space Bs of a bag B, all of the planned amount of contents C are positioned lower in the accommodation space Bs than the mouth portion B0 (in particular, a planned seal part) (in other words, are located on the bottom portion B1 side than the planned seal part).
The opening guides 42 may move, together with a bag B, from the third station S3 to the fourth station S4 to maintain an open state of the the mouth portion B0 of the bag B. In this case, the opening guides 42 may return from the fourth station S4 to the third station S3 after achieving a situation where the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is kept open at the fourth station S4. For example, the opening guides 42 may be evacuated from the mouth portion B0 of a bag B and returned from the fourth station S4 to the third station S3, after the lower tip of the weighing hopper 45 is inserted inside the bag B through the mouth portion B0 or after contents are introduced inside the bag B by the content introduction device 15.
The first weighing device 16 in the present example has weighing chucks that grip the mouth portion B0 of a bag B (in particular, the upper end portions of both side end portions B2). As a result that a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 releases its grip on a bag B while the weighing chucks are gripping the bag B, the weight of the the bag B and the contents inside the bag B is measured by the first weighing device 16. The first weighing device 16 transmits the weighing results to the control device 24. The control device 24 may perform feedback control of the content introduction device 15 according to the weighing results of the first weighing device 16. Specifically, the control device 24 may control the content introduction device 15 in such a manner that contents are continuously introduced into a bag B from the content introduction device 15 until the weighing results of the first weighing device 16 indicates that contents having a desired weight (i.e., a planned weight) are accommodated in the bag B. After the measurement of the first weighing device 16 indicates that contents having a desired weight are contained in a bag B, the control device 24 may control the content introduction device 15 to stop the introduction of contents from the content introduction device 15 into the bag B. After the introduction of contents into a bag B from the content introduction device 15 is stopped, the bag B is again gripped by a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 and the weighing chucks of the first weighing device 16 releases its grip on the bag B, under the control of the control device 24.
A bag B, which has undergone the weighing process and the content introduction process, moves from the fourth station S4 to the fifth station S5 together with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. At the fifth station S5, a bag B undergoes a weighing process performed by the second weighing device 17. The weighing process performed by the second weighing device 17 is performed in the same manner as the weighing process performed by the first weighing device 16 described above, and the second weighing device 17 transmits the weighing results to the control device 24. The control device 24 stores the weighing results of the second weighing device 17 in a memory unit (not shown) in association with the identification information (i.e., the ID information) of a bag B. The memory unit may be provided as a part of the control device 24 or may be provided as a separate body from the control device 24, and the information stored in the memory unit may be given to various devices as needed or may be used for various processes under the control of the control device 24.
A bag B that has undergone the weighing process moves from the fifth station S5 to the sixth station S6 together with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. At the sixth station S6, a gas is blown into the inside of a bag B (i.e., the accommodation space Bs) by the gas blowing device 18 driven under the control of the control device 24, so that gas in the accommodation space Bs is replaced. The type of and the blowing mode of a gas blown into the inside of a bag B by the gas blowing device 18 are not limited, and inert gas (such as nitrogen), carbon dioxide or water vapor, for example, may be blown into the inside of a bag B by the gas blowing device 18. The gas blowing device 18 in the present example has a gas nozzle that advances and retracts in the height direction, and a gas is blown out from the tip portion of the gas nozzle toward the inside of a bag B in a state where the tip portion of the gas nozzle is being inserted inside the bag B through the mouth portion B0.
In order to reduce leakage of a gas blown into the inside of a bag B by the gas blowing device 18 to the outside of the bag B, the gas nozzle blows a gas into the inside of the bag B in a state where the distance between support grippers 32 gripping the bag B is widened under the control of the control device 24 and thereby the opening area of the mouth portion B0 is reduced (for example, the mouth portion B0 is tensed).
A bag B that has undergone the gas blowing process moves from the sixth station S6 to the seventh station S7 together with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. While a bag B is moving intermittently from the sixth station S6 to the seventh station S7, the content determination device 19 determines the condition of the contents in the bag B, and in particular determines whether the contents protrude outside the bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B that is accommodating the contents. The specific configuration of the content determination device 19 is described later.
A bag B (in particular, a planned seal part of the mouth portion B0) undergoes a first heat sealing treatment by the first heat sealing device 20 at the seventh station S7, undergoes a second heat sealing treatment by the second heat sealing device 21 at the eighth station S8, and undergoes a cooling sealing treatment by the cooling sealing device 22 at the ninth station S9. Each of the first heat sealing device 20 and the second heat sealing device 21 has a pair of heating plates that opens and closes under the control of the control device 24, and the pair of heating plates heats the mouth portion B0 of a bag B while pinching the mouth portion B0 in a closed state. The cooling sealing device 22 has a pair of cooling plates that opens and closes under the control of the control device 24, and the pair of cooling plates cools the mouth portion B0 of a bag B while pinching the mouth portion B0 in a closed state.
In this manner, the sealing devices (i.e., the first heat sealing device 20, the second heat sealing device 21 and the cooling sealing device 22) seal the mouth portion B0 of a bag B accommodating contents C under the control of the control device 24 (i.e., a sealing control device).
A bag B (i.e., a product bag in which contents are sealed) having the mouth portion B0 that is sealed as a result of having undergone a series of sealing treatments (i.e., the first heat sealing treatment, the second heat sealing treatment, and the cooling sealing treatment) is released from the gripping by a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 and the cooling sealing device 22 at the ninth station S9. As a result, the bag B is guided by the bag discharge device 23 (e.g., a chute) while falling to be sent to a later stage.
A pair of support grippers 32 moves from the ninth station S9 via the tenth station S10 to the first station S1 back again in accordance with the intermittent rotation of the rotation table 31, and then receives a supply of a bag (i.e., an empty bag) again at the first station S1. The tenth station S10 may be provided as an empty station where no special process takes place or may be provided as a station where any process takes place. For instance, a bag B that has not undergone the sealing treatments (i.e., the first heat sealing treatment, the second heat sealing treatment and the cooling sealing treatment) as described below, may not be released at the ninth station S9 but may be released from a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 at the tenth station S10, under the control of control device 24. In this case, bags B (i.e., product bags) that have undergone the sealing treatments are released at the ninth station S9, while bags B that have not undergone the sealing treatments are released at the tenth station S10. Thus, it is possible to release (i.e., discharge) bags B that have not undergone the sealing treatments separately from bags B that have undergone the sealing treatments.
In the packaging apparatus 10 described above, the following processes are sequentially carried out on each bag B at the first station S1 through the ninth station S9 while each bag B is intermittently conveyed by the bag conveyance device 11.
First, a bag B (i.e., an empty bag) is fed by the bag supply device 12 to a pair of support grippers 32 that is intermittently stopped at the first station S1 and is then gripped in a suspended state (a bag feeding process). After that, printing on the bag B is performed by the printing device 13 at the second station S2 (a printing process), and then the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is placed in an open state by the opening device 14 at the third station S3 (an opening process).
After that, at the fourth station S4, while the bag B is being weighed by the first weighing device 16, contents C are introduced, by the content introduction device 15, into the inner accommodation space Bs of the bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B in a suspended state (a content introduction process). After that, the bag B is weighed by the second weighing device 17 at the fifth station S5 (a weighing process), and then a gas is introduced into the inside of the bag B by the gas blowing device 18 at sixth station S6 (a gas replacement process).
After that, the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, which is containing contents C, is sealed (sealing processes). Specifically, a heat sealing treatment of the the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is performed by the first heat sealing device 20 at the seventh station S7 (a first heat sealing process), a heat sealing treatment of the the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is performed by the second heat sealing device 21 at the eighth station S8 (a second heat sealing process), and a cooling sealing treatment of the the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is performed by the cooling sealing device 22 at the ninth station S9 (a cooling sealing process).
The bag B (i.e., a sealed product bag accommodating contents inside) that have gone through the series of processes described above is released from a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 at the ninth station S9, and is consequently sent to a subsequent stage while being guided by the bag discharge device 23 (a bag release process).
The packaging method of the present embodiment further includes a content condition determination process, a content condition evaluation process, and a sealing execution determination process, in addition to the above-described series of processes. In the content condition determination process, it is determined by the content determination device 19 whether contents C protrude to the outside of a bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B accommodating the contents C. In the content condition evaluation process, the condition of a bag B accommodating contents C is evaluated by the control device 24 according to the determination results of the content determination device 19 regarding the protrusion of contents C to the outside of the bag B. In the sealing execution determination process, it is determined by the control device 24 whether or not to execute sealing of the mouth portion B0 of a bag B according to the results of evaluation of the condition of the bag B accommodating contents C. The above-described content condition determination process, content condition evaluation process, and sealing execution determination process are described later.
Next, an example of the specific configuration of the content determination device 19 is described.
The content determination device 19 in the present example has a first determination sensor 19a, a second determination sensor 19b and a third determination sensor 19c. All of the first determination sensor 19a, the second determination sensor 19b and the third determination sensor 19c are located above a bag B that is conveyed along with a corresponding pair of support grippers 32. The first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b function as the first determination device that determines whether contents C protrude to the outside of a bag B from the mouth portion B0 of the bag B. The third determination sensor 19c functions as a second determination device that detects contents C located near the mouth portion B0 inside a bag B (i.e., in the accommodation space Bs).
The first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b shown in
On the other hand, the third determination sensor 19c shown in
The specific contents of the determination results transmitted from the third determination sensor 19c to the control device 24 are not limited and may indicate whether or not contents C are located near the mouth portion B0 inside a bag B (i.e., in the accommodation space Bs), or may directly or indirectly indicate the height position of contents C in a bag B. In a case where data indicating the height position of contents C in a bag B is transmitted from the third determination sensor 19c to the control device 24, the control device 24 may determine whether or not the contents C are located near the mouth portion B0 inside the bag B (i.e., in the accommodation space Bs) according to the data. In this case, the control device 24 forms, along with the third determination sensor 19c, the second determination device that detects contents C located near the mouth portion B0 inside a bag B (i.e., in the accommodation space Bs).
The control device 24 functions as a control device that integrally controls various sections forming the packaging apparatus 10 (e.g., a sealing control device that controls a sealing device) and also functions as an evaluation device that evaluates the condition of a bag B accommodating contents C according to the determination results by the content determination device 19.
The control device 24 of present embodiment evaluates the condition of a bag B accommodating contents C according to the determination results of the first determination sensor 19a, the second determination sensor 19b and the third determination sensor 19c. Then, the control device 24 controls the sealing devices (i.e., the first heat sealing device 20, the second heat sealing device 21, and the cooling sealing device 22) in such a manner that in a case where the evaluation results indicate that the condition of a bag B accommodating contents C is not good, the mouth portion B0 of the bag B is not sealed.
The control device 24 may, for example, evaluate the condition of a bag B as defective if the determination results of the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b indicate that contents C accommodated in the bag B are protruding outside of the bag B.
The control device 24 in the present example evaluates the condition of a bag B accommodating contents C not only according to the determination results of the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b, but also according to the determination results of the third determination sensor 19c. For example, in a case where the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c indicates that contents C are located inside a bag B near the mouth portion B0, the control device 24 may evaluate that the bag B is placed in a defective condition, even if the determination results of the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b do not indicate that contents C protrude outside the bag B. On the other hand, if the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c does not indicate that contents C are located inside a bag B in the vicinity of the mouth portion B0, the control device 24 may evaluate that the bag B is placed in a good condition. As an example, if the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c indicates that contents C in a bag B are at the same height position or higher than the height position of a planned seal part of the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, it may be possible to evaluate that the bag B is placed in a defective condition. On the other hand, if the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c indicates that contents C in a bag B are at a lower position than the height position of a planned seal part of the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, it may be possible to evaluate that the bag B is placed in a good condition.
Even if the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c indicates that contents C are located inside a bag B near the mouth portion B0, the control device 24 may evaluate that the bag B is placed in a good condition as long as the determination results of the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b do not indicate that the contents C protrude outside the bag B.
As explained above, according to the present embodiment, it can be selectively determined by the content determination device 19 whether contents C protrude to the outside of a bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B accommodating the contents C, and the condition of the bag B accommodating the contents C can be evaluated according to the results of the determination. By deciding the contents of the processing on a bag B, such as a sealing treatment, or deciding whether to execute the the processing on a bag B according to the evaluation of the condition of the bag B thus obtained from the selective determination results of an abnormal condition of the bag B, it is possible to adaptively perform processing on a bag B based on actual conditions.
For example, if there is an abnormality in the accommodation condition of contents C in a bag B but the degree of the abnormality is within the permissible range from the standpoint of performing the sealing treatment, the sealing treatment on the bag B may be performed, and only if the degree of the abnormality is outside the permissible range, the sealing treatment on the bag B may be rejected and not be carried out. This makes it possible to improve the yield rate of the packaging process while effectively reducing the occurrence of seal defects.
Further, by determining the accommodation condition of contents C in a bag B with the content determination device 19 during the intermittent conveyance of the bag B, there is no need to provide a station for such determination and accordingly the packaging apparatus 10 can be compactly configured as a whole.
In the embodiment described above, the first determination device, which determines whether contents C protrude to the outside of a bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, and the second determination device, which detects contents C located inside a bag B near the mouth portion B0, are configured by separate devices (i.e., the first determination sensor 19a, the second determination sensor 19b and the third determination sensor 19c), but the first determination device and the second determination device may be configured by a common device. For example, in a case where a sensor with very high determination accuracy is used as the third determination sensor 19c, it is possible to determine both “whether contents C protrude to the outside of a bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B” and “whether contents C are located inside a bag B near the mouth portion B0” based on the “distance from the third determination sensor 19c to the contents C inside the bag B” derived from the determination result of the third determination sensor 19c.
Further, regardless of the condition of contents C inside a bag B, if the contents C protrude to the outside of the bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, the bag B may be evaluated as being in a defective condition, and if the contents C do not protrude to the outside of the bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B, the bag B may be evaluated as being in a good condition. In this case, the third determination sensor 19c for determining the condition of contents C inside a bag B may not be provided, and only the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b (i.e., the first determination device) that determines whether contents C protrude to the outside of the bag B through the mouth portion B0 of the bag B may be provided as the content determination device 19.
Further, an optical-type content determination device 19 is used in the above-described embodiment, the content determination device 19 may adopt any determination method. For instance, the first determination device (i.e., the first determination sensor 19a and the second determination sensor 19b) is provided as a transmission-type optical sensor in the embodiment described above, but may be provided as a reflection-type optical sensor where a light generation unit (i.e., an emitter) and a light receiving unit (i.e., a receiver) are provided on the same side with respect to a bag B in the horizontal direction. Further, the content determination device 19 may be configured by another contact-type sensor or another non-contact-type sensor such as a camera.
Further, regarding a bag B that has been evaluated to be in a defective condition, control is performed in such a manner that a sealing treatment on the defective bag B is not performed in the above-mentioned embodiment, but another control processing may be performed. For instance, if a bag B accommodating contents C is evaluated to be in a defective condition, the control device 24 may control various devices to stop the packaging processing of the packaging apparatus 10 and inform the operator of the occurrence of the defective condition of the bag B. Alternatively, if a bag B accommodating contents C is evaluated to be in a defective condition, the control device 24 may perform control in such a manner that the bag B (i.e., a defective bag) is released from a corresponding pair of support grippers 32 at an upstream point compared to the stations where the sealing treatments are performed (i.e., the seventh station S7 through the ninth station S9).
Further, a device of performing processing for reducing stacking of contents C in a bag B (e.g., processing of tapping a bag B and/or processing of vibrate a bag B, processing of pushing contents C into a bag B, etc.) may be provided after the content introduction process performed by the content introduction device 15 and before the content condition determination process performed by the content determination device 19 (e.g., between the fourth station S4 and the sixth station S6).
The present disclosure may adopt the following aspects.
A packaging method including the steps of:
The packaging method as defined in aspect 1, including the step of sealing the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content,
The packaging method as defined in aspect 1 or 2,
The packaging method as defined in any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the content contains a solid material only.
The packaging method as defined in any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein a content determination device that determines whether the content protrudes to an outside of the bag through the mouth portion of the bag accommodating the content, is positioned higher than the bag.
The packaging method as defined in any one of aspects 1 to 5,
A packaging apparatus comprising:
The packaging apparatus as defined in aspect 7, comprising:
The packaging apparatus as defined in aspect 7 or 8,
The packaging apparatus as defined in any one of aspects 7 to 9, wherein the content includes a plurality of solid materials.
The packaging apparatus as defined in any one aspects 7 to 10, wherein the content determination device is positioned higher than the bag.
It should be noted that the embodiments and the variant examples disclosed in the present specification are shown merely as examples in all respects and are not to be construed as limiting. Regarding the above-described embodiments and variant examples, omissions, replacements and modifications are possible in various forms without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims. For instance, the embodiments and variant examples described above may be combined in whole or in part, and embodiments other than those described above may be combined with the embodiments or variant examples described above. Further, the effects of the present disclosure described in the present specification are shown merely as examples, and other effects may be brought about.
Technical categories embodying the technical ideas described above are not limited. For instance, the above-described technical ideas may be embodied by computer programs causing a computer to execute one or more procedures (steps) included in a method for manufacturing or using the devices described above. Further, the above technical ideas may also be embodied by a computer-readable non-transitory recording medium in which such computer programs are recorded.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-188557 | Nov 2022 | JP | national |
