This application is a National Stage under 35 U.S.C. ยง 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2020/025087, filed on Feb. 24, 2020, which claims priority to French Patent Application No. 1901940, filed on Feb. 26, 2019, the contents of all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The invention relates to a station for receiving sheet-form elements and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements for a packaging manufacturing machine. The invention relates also to a machine for manufacturing packaging from sheet-form elements, comprising a station for receiving, stacking and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements. The invention relates also to a method for receiving sheet-form elements for a packaging manufacturing machine.
A packaging manufacturing machine is commonly employed in order to handle the making of boxes or cases of cardboard from sheet-form elements, for example in the form of sheets of corrugated cardboard. The sheet-form elements are introduced successively into the machine, advance continuously from upstream to downstream in the longitudinal drive direction. They are automatically printed by flexography, cut and scored, so as to form case layups. At the output of the machine, the sheet-form elements are received and stacked, and the bundles obtained are then discharged. A receiving station is responsible for receiving the sheet-form elements and for making up bundles of sheet-form elements.
The document EP0666234 describes a station for stacking, separating and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements. The station comprises a vertically mobile lift table, receiving sheet-form elements that drop to be stacked. The table descends progressively to the level of an output conveyor, recovering and discharging a bundle of sheet-form elements after the formation thereof. A separator is displaced vertically and horizontally. After the formation of a bundle, the separator comes above the lift table and then is interposed to support the sheet-form elements of the next bundle. The lift table then transfers the bundle that has just been formed, to the output conveyor which discharges the bundle. The separator is then retracted and the lift table can then recover the sheet-form elements of the next bundle.
Such a station presents drawbacks. First of all, the sheet-form element at the bottom of the bundle is very often damaged when the separator is retracted. Furthermore, the separator exhibits a certain inertia. Its displacement during a cycle proves difficult to perform at a speed compatible with the rates of stacking necessary for the sheet-form elements. Such a separator can also prove incompatible with some modes of transverse alignment of the sheet-form elements.
The document EP 0501213 describes a station for stacking, separating and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements. The station comprises means for feeding sheet-form elements, retractable supports forming a temporary stacking store, placed above a bundle discharging device.
Such a station presents drawbacks. In particular, the first sheet-form element arriving in the stacking store will be in contact with, and be damaged by, the retractable supports. Furthermore, because of the heightwise-fixed position of the retractable supports, the temporary stacking store will be more rapidly saturated with sheet-form elements arriving at high rate, which limits the general productivity of the printing or transformation line.
The invention aims to resolve one or more of these drawbacks. A main objective of the present invention consists in developing a station for receiving sheet-form elements that makes it possible to avoid the dropping of sheet-form elements and of bundles. A second objective is to produce a packaging manufacturing machine comprising a station for receiving sheet-form elements and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements, installed at the downstream output of the machine. Yet another objective is that of succeeding in implementing a method for receiving sheet-form elements for a packaging manufacturing machine.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a station for receiving sheet-form elements and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements for a packaging manufacturing machine is characterized in that it comprises:
In other words, with the separator, the bundle is received transiently and transferred without dropping from the separator to the lift table by virtue of the vertical crossing thereof. The conveyor belts of the lift table are disposed alternately, so as to be able to cross with the arms of the separator. The arms of the separator constitute a grid for receiving the bundle currently being formed, and are capable of passing between the conveyor belts of the lift table. The bundle is thus transferred seamlessly and without being dropped from the arms of the separator to the belts of the lift table, by virtue of the vertical crossing thereof.
A sheet-form element is defined, by way of non-exhaustive example, as being made of a material such as paper, flat cardboard, corrugated cardboard, laminated corrugated cardboard, flexible plastic, or even other materials.
According to a particular feature, the arms of the separator can be capable of being displaced in the longitudinal horizontal direction, from downstream to upstream, so as to be able to position them above the lift table, and from upstream to downstream, so as to be able to retract them out of the travel of the lift table.
According to a particular feature, the separator can preferentially comprise:
According to a particular feature, the separator thus comprises first of all a vertically mobile support. And, the reception arms of the separator are driven by a longitudinal horizontal translational movement, separately from the movement of the support.
According to a particular feature, and favourably, the lift table can be mobile between a high position under the arrangement for feeding the sheet-form elements and a low position in a plane similar to the plane of the bundle-discharging output conveyor. Given that the lift table is situated in its position of maximum height directly under the arrangement for feeding the sheet-form elements, the sheet-form elements will arrive and descend directly onto the lift table.
According to a particular feature, the belts of the lift table can advantageously be capable of driving the bundle from upstream to downstream on the output conveyor.
According to a particular feature, and preferably, the output conveyor can comprise at least one belt, which is capable of driving the bundle from upstream from the lift table to downstream.
According to another aspect of the invention, a packaging manufacturing machine is characterized in that it comprises a station for receiving sheet-form elements and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements, installed at the downstream output of the machine, and having one or more technical features described and claimed hereinbelow.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method for receiving sheet-form elements for a packaging manufacturing machine is characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
By virtue of the dynamic operation of the vertically mobile table and of the vertically mobile separator, the bundle is thus transferred seamlessly from the vertically mobile separator which descends to the vertically mobile table which rises.
According to a particular feature, the step of bringing in the vertically mobile separator can preferably be done in the longitudinal horizontal direction from downstream to upstream above the plane of circulation of the sheet-form elements, then in the vertical direction from above the plane of circulation, to below the plane of circulation.
According to a particular feature, the step of taking the vertically mobile separator out can be done favourably in the longitudinal horizontal direction from upstream to downstream.
The invention relates also to the following variants. The person skilled in the art will understand that each of the features of the following variants can be combined independently of the above features, without in any way constituting an intermediate generalization.
Other features and advantages of the invention will clearly emerge from the description which is given thereof hereinbelow, in an indicative and nonlimiting manner, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
The longitudinal direction is defined as referring to the direction of progress or of driving of the sheet-form elements in the packaging manufacturing machine, in the station for receiving sheet-form elements, along their median longitudinal axis. The transverse direction is defined as being the right-angled direction in a plane horizontal to the direction of progress of the sheet-form elements. The upstream and downstream directions are defined with reference to the direction of displacement of the sheet-form elements, according to the longitudinal direction throughout the packaging manufacturing machine, from the input of the machine to the machine output and the station for receiving sheet-form elements.
As
The station 3 comprises a frame 6 with vertical side uprights 7. The station 3 comprises an arrangement for feeding the sheets 8, mounted in the upper part of the frame 6. The arrangement 8 includes notably a suction to create a vacuum 9. The arrangement 8 also comprises conveyor belts 11 and a grid provided with longitudinal bars, the top face of the sheets 2 being in contact with the conveyor belts 11. The sheets 2 which are printed arrive one after the other from upstream to downstream in a plane of circulation by being driven upstream of the station 3 by rollers and a vacuum suction (not visible), referred to as ceiling-mounted, then they are released at the arrangement 8.
The arrangement 8 comprises a sheet precipitating device 12 mounted on the grid to separate the sheets 2 from the conveyor belts 11 and have them drop (see
The station 3 comprises an output conveyor 14 in the form of a belt or one or more conveyor belts 15, transporting the final bundle form the upstream of the station 3 to the downstream output.
The station 3 comprises a lift table 16 that is mobile in the vertical direction. The table 16 comprises several continuous conveyor belts 17 extending in a longitudinal horizontal direction. The belts 17 are driven by an appropriate motor and transport the final bundle 18 from upstream to the output conveyor 14. The table 16 rises and descends by being driven using a motor and chains 19.
The station 3 comprises a separator 21, which comprises several reception arms 22 being deployed in the longitudinal horizontal direction. The arms 22 are longitudinally mobile from upstream to downstream and vice versa. Some arms 22 can remain in retracted position in downstream position, this for example being dependent on the dimension of the sheets 2 forming the bundle 18. The separator 21 rises and descends in the vertical direction by being driven using a motor and toothed belts.
According to the invention, when the table 16 crosses the separator 21, the reception arms 22 are inserted between the belts 17, without their being any interaction between the arms 22 and belts 17 (see
The method for receiving sheet-form elements 2 and discharging bundles of sheet-form elements 18 for the packaging manufacturing machine is illustrated in
In a first step of the method (
In a second step of the method (
In a third step of the method (
In a fourth step of the method (
In a fifth step of the method (
In a sixth step of the method (
In a seventh step of the method (
In an eighth step of the method (
In a ninth step of the method (
In another step of the method (
In a last step of the method (
The cycle can thus recommence.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1901940 | Feb 2019 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2020/025087 | 2/24/2020 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2020/173604 | 9/3/2020 | WO | A |
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Entry |
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International Search Report dated Jun. 4, 2020 in counterpart International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2020/025087 (2 pages in English, 2 pages in French). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20220089400 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |