JPH06336229A - Pouch feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry a pouch easily and accurately while keeping its whole shape compact by a method wherein a belt-like moving body is provided which has held in contact therewith a continuous pouch body on which article-containing pouches are arranged continuously in the form of a strip and the belt-like moving body has a number of sucking holes formed in the contact surface with the continuous pouch body. CONSTITUTION:A belt-like moving body, i.e., transfer belt 12, having held in contact therewith a continuous pouch body 6 on which article-containing pouches 5 are arranged continuously in the form of a strip, is installed between driving and driven rollers 10 and 11. The transfer belt 12 has a number of sucking holes 13 formed in the contact surface with the continuous pouch body 6. Vacuum is applied to the continuous pouch body 6 closing each sucking hole 13, through each sucking hole 13, to produce sucking force. A pressure reducing box body 14 is provided. The continuous pouch body 6 is carried by the transfer belt 12 while being held on the belt by the sucking force produced by the pressure reducing box body 14 through each sucking hole 13. In this way the pouch 5 is carried easily and accurately while its whole shape is being kept compact.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used, for example, in the production of instant noodles for feeding a continuous sachet in the form of a strip formed by connecting sachets containing products such as powder and liquid soup. The present invention relates to a pouch feeder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the case of instant noodles, the noodles and a small bag containing powdered dashi stock, liquid soup, spices, dry foods, etc. are put in a product cup and packaged and sold on the market. . For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the sachets are put into the product cups as described above. The cup mounting surface 5 for intermittently feeding the product cups 51 ...
This is performed by combining the product cup transporting device including 2 and the pouch supply device 53.

The pouch feeder 53 has a function of separating the pouches one by one from a pouch continuum 54 formed by connecting the pouches in a strip shape and dropping the pouches downward, and a cutter 55 at the lower end side of the device. I have it. By the cutting operation of the cutter 55, the continuous body of sachets 54 shown by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure
The lowermost pouch 56 of the
Is guided by the chute 57 and falls, and is thrown into the product cup 51 located below the chute 57. And intermittent feeding of the product cups 51 and the pouches 5 in the pouch feeder 53.
By interlocking with the separate supply of 6, the individual sachets 56 are inserted into the respective product cups 51 ...

By the way, the above-mentioned pouch feeder 53 is provided with two opposing feed rollers 58, 58 as a pouch feeder for feeding the pouch continuum 54 downward, and between these feed rollers 58, 58. Pouch continuum 54
And the feed rollers 58 are rotated to feed the continuous pouch body 54 downward.

However, as described above, the pouch continuum 54
Feed roller 58.5 that holds the entire width from the front and back
In 8, if the shape of the contents of the pouch is uneven,
The feeding force tends not to sufficiently act, and when the contents of the pouch are easily damaged, the contents may be damaged.

As a means for solving this, for example, as shown in FIGS. 8 (a) and 8 (b), for example, the width of the side edge portion 59 of the continuous pouch bag 54 supplied by the feed rollers 60, 60 is set to The feed roller 60 is formed to be a little wider than the width of the side edge portion 59, and the side edge portion 59 is sandwiched by the feed rollers 60, 60, and the side edge portion 59 is moved, so that a stable feed force is applied. , The contents of the pouch can be prevented from being damaged.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional pouch feeder, it is necessary to form a relatively large side edge portion 59 on the side of the pouch continuum 54, so that the entire pouch is compact in shape. It has a problem that it cannot be made into something.

As a method for solving this problem, for example, there is a so-called belt feed method, which is a method of using two opposed belts instead of two rollers as a pouch feeder. That is, this belt feed method is a method of gripping and moving the continuous pouch body 54 between two opposing belts. The pouch feed device using this belt feed prevents damage to the contents of the pouch due to the elasticity when pressed by the belt, and increases the contact portion of the pouch due to the length of the belt to stabilize the pouch. The feeding force can be applied.

However, the pouch feeder using the two belts described above has a problem that the structure becomes complicated because it is necessary to adjust the gripping force of the opposing belts to the continuous pouch body. ing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is a pouch having a simple structure and capable of reliably feeding while maintaining the overall shape of the pouch compact. To provide a feeder.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the pouch feeder of the present invention is provided with a belt-shaped moving body which is in contact with a continuous pouch-shaped pouch in which pouches containing articles are connected. A suction hole is formed on the contact surface of the moving body with the continuous pouch, and suction means for applying a vacuum suction force to the continuous pouch body that closes the suction hole is provided. It has a feature.

[0012]

In the pouch feeder having the above structure, when the strip-shaped pouch continuous body is supplied to the surface of the belt-shaped moving body and comes into contact with the moving body, the pouch continuous body moves the suction holes formed in the moving body. Blocking, whereby the continuous body of sachets is sucked and adsorbed.
Then, in this suction state, the belt-shaped moving body travels, so that the continuous pouch body is sent as the moving body travels. At this time, one side of the continuous body of sachets is a contact surface with the moving body. For example, even if the shape of the product enclosed in the sachet is not uniform, the contacting portion with the moving body is small. Is
Since it is a smooth sheet, the continuous body of sachets is easily adsorbed,
This allows reliable feeding.

Further, since the belt-shaped moving body can come into contact with the entire width of the continuous sachet, it does not depend on the size of the side edge portion of the continuous sachet. Therefore, the side edge portion of the continuous pouch can be formed small, so that the overall shape of the pouch can be kept compact.

Further, the belt-shaped moving body only needs to adsorb on one side when it comes into contact with the continuous pouch, and does not require adjustment of the gripping force on the continuous pouch as in the conventional belt feed method. This simplifies the structure of the device.

[0015]

【Example】

[Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 to FIG.
The explanation is based on the following. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pouch feeder 1 according to the present embodiment is assembled to the pouch feeder 3 used in combination with the product cup transport device (only the cup transport surface 2 is shown). There is. Product cups 4 with open tops, for example, which store noodles and the like, respectively, are placed side by side at a predetermined interval in a line on the cup transport surface 2 and are horizontally moved to the right in the figure. It is like this.

The above-mentioned pouch supply device 3 has a function of separating the pouches 5 one by one from the pouch continuum 6 (indicated by a chain line in FIG. 3) formed by connecting the pouches 5 in a strip shape and dropping the pouches 5 downward. With a guide roller 7 at the top of the device.
... and a cutter 8 at the lower end of the device and this cutter 8
The pouch feeder 1 and the like for feeding the tip side of the continuous pouch body 6 is provided at the cutting site by.

By operating the cutter 8, the pouch 5 at the lower end of the pouch continuum 6 is separated, and the separated pouches 5 are guided by the chute 9 to drop downward one by one. , The horizontally moving product cup 4 ...

As shown in FIG. 1, the pouch feeder 1 is a drive roller 10 having the same outer diameter and arranged at a predetermined distance along the feeding direction A of the continuous pouch body 6.
And a driven roller 11, and these rollers 10 and
A conveyor belt 12 as a moving body is wound around 11 in a closed loop shape. The drive roller 10 located on the front end side (lower side in the drawing) of the feeding direction A is rotated counterclockwise by a drive motor (not shown) as indicated by an arrow B in FIG. 1. The conveyor belt 12 travels in the vertical direction, which is the same direction as the feeding direction A, on the contact side of the continuous pouch body 6.

As shown in FIG. 2, the surface of the conveyor belt 12 has a plurality of suction holes 13 penetrating the conveyor belt 12.
Are arranged in parallel in the feed direction A at predetermined intervals, for example, in five rows. The shape, the arrangement, the position interval, and the like of the suction holes 13 are not necessarily limited to these, and in order to surely suck the continuous pouch body 6, for example, a slit shape or the like can be used. Other numbers of columns are possible. Furthermore, it is possible to appropriately adjust the position interval.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Inside, is provided a decompression box body (suction means) 14 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and a hollow interior, supported by a supply device body 15 (see FIG. 2). This decompression box 14
Has a dimension such that the outer dimension in the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction A substantially abuts on the conveyor belt 12. Further, it is preferable that the inner size of the depressurizing box body 14 in the feeding direction A is substantially equal to or more than the length of two small pouches 5 in order to ensure the suction.

Further, the decompression box body 14 is formed with a rectangular belt side opening 16 on the contact side of the continuous pouch body 6. The belt-side opening 16 is formed such that the length in the feeding direction A is the same as the inner dimension of the depressurizing box body 14 in the feeding direction A, and the length in the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction A is as shown in FIG. As shown in, the size is slightly smaller than the width of the continuous pouch body 6.

A suction opening 17 is provided in the supply device main body 15 at a substantially central position of the mounting surface of the decompression box body 14. The suction opening 17 includes:
A duct 19 in which a suction blower 18 is provided is connected.

In the above structure, the conveyor belt 12 wound around the driven roller 11 and the drive roller 10.
Runs while the back surface of the belt is in sliding contact with the decompression box body 14. As a result, when the inside of the depressurizing box 14 is in a depressurized state, the suction force acts on the front surface side of the conveyor belt 12 through the suction holes 13 of the conveyor belt 12 located in the belt side opening 16 described above. .

Next, the operating state of the pouch feeder 1 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the continuous pouch body 6 is wrapped around the guide rollers 7 on the upper part of the pouch supply device 3 and hung down along the side of the conveyor belt 12 of the pouch feeder device 1. The tip position is the pouch feeder 1
Is set so as to be in the vicinity of the drive roller 10 at the lower part of.

Next, the drive roller 10 is driven by a drive motor (not shown), which causes the conveyor belt 1 to move.
2 runs at a constant speed at a predetermined speed. At this time, the suction blower 18 shown in FIG. 2 is actuated, and the inside of the decompression box 14 is in a decompressed state.

As a result, as described above, the conveyor belt 1
Since the suction force acts on the front surface side of 2, the continuous pouch body 6 is adsorbed to the conveyor belt 12 as shown in FIG. Then, since the conveyor belt 12 moves downward in the adsorbed state, the continuous pouch body 6 also moves downward with the downward movement of the conveyor belt 12, whereby the continuous pouch body 6 is sequentially sent downward. To be

Then, the adsorbing action on the continuous pouch body 6 disappears after passing through the belt side opening 16 of the decompression box body 14, and the continuous pouch body 6 moves vertically downward as it is, as shown in FIG. Further, the cutter 8 provided at the lower end of the pouch feeder 3 cuts the pouch 5 at the lowermost end from the pouch continuum 6 and is guided by the chute 9 to be conveyed on the lower cup conveying surface 2 ... One by one is thrown into each.

As described above, in the pouch feeder 1 of the present embodiment, when the belt-shaped pouch continuum 6 is supplied to the surface of the conveyor belt 12 and abuts against the conveyor belt 12, the pouch continuum 6 is conveyed. The suction holes 13 formed in 12 are closed, whereby the continuous pouch body 6 is suctioned and sucked. Then, in this suction state, the transport belt 12 travels, so that the continuous pouch body 6 is sent as the transport belt 12 travels. At this time, one side of the continuous body of sachets 6 is a contact surface with the conveyor belt 12, and even if the shape of the product enclosed in the sachet 5 is not uniform, the continuous body of the sachets 6 is transferred to the conveyor belt 12. Since the abutting portion of is a smooth sheet, the continuous pouch body 6 is easily adsorbed, whereby reliable feeding can be performed. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as the product to be enclosed in the pouch 5, the pouch 9 in which the product such as powdered dashi stock, liquid soup / spice or dry foods is enclosed has been taken as an example. It can also be applied to other items such as bag ramen and bag toys.

Further, since the conveyor belt 12 contacts the entire width of the continuous pouch body 6, it does not depend on the size of the side edge portion 6a (see FIG. 2) which is the margin of the continuous pouch body 6. Therefore, since the side edge portion 6a of the continuous pouch body 6 can be formed small, the overall shape of the pouch 5 can be kept compact.

Further, the conveyor belt 12 is a continuous body of pouches 6.
At the time of contact with the continuous pouch, it is sufficient to adsorb one side of the continuous pouch 6 and the continuous pouch 6 as in the conventional belt feed method.
Since it is not necessary to adjust the holding force to the
The structure of the pouch feeder 1 can be simplified.

In this embodiment, the pouch feeder 1 is attached to the pouch feeder 3 as an application example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the pouch feeder 1 is attached to the pouch folding device. It is also possible to do so.

As shown in FIG. 5, the above-mentioned pouch folding device 30 has the pouch feeding device 1 at approximately the center of the device main body 31.
And the crease parts 32 and 33 are provided on the lower side thereof. Below the crease parts 32 and 33, for example, a cardboard box 34 for accommodating the continuous sachet 6 is stored.
A drive mounting table 35 on which is mounted is provided. The drive table 35 is movable left and right and front and rear, and the computer device (not shown) automatically moves the piston to the left and right by the width dimension of the cardboard box 34 while moving the cardboard box 34 forward and backward. The piston moves back and forth by the width dimension.

In order to operate the pouch folding device 30, the driving belt 10 of the pouch feeder 1 is driven to rotate the conveyor belt 12 and at the same time the pouch continuum 6
By adsorbing the pouch continuum 6 to the pouch feeder 1
Send below. Then, the sachet continuum 6 moving downward is
When passing through the respective crease parts 32 and 33, left folds or right folds are formed in the respective crease parts 32 and 33 for each preset number of the pouches 5. .

Since the above-mentioned folds are set in advance so as to come to the left and right ends of the lower cardboard box 34, the pouch continuum 6 is moved into the cardboard box 34 as the left and right pistons of the cardboard box 34 move. It will bend at both left and right ends. In addition, the cardboard box 34 includes a drive mounting table 35.
When the sachet continuum 6 comes to both the front and rear end positions of the cardboard box 34, the cardboard box 34 moves in the opposite direction, whereby the sachet continuum 6 is sequentially arranged. It is designed to be stacked.

In this way, the pouch feeder 1 of this embodiment
Can be applied to various devices involving feeding of the continuous pouch body 6.

[Second Embodiment] The following will describe another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. For convenience of explanation, members having the same functions as those shown in the drawings of the above-described embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, the pouch feeder 21 of the present embodiment is provided inside the pouch feeder 3 such that the conveyor belt 12 moves horizontally. That is,
The continuous pouch body 6 is fed by the traveling of the conveyor belt 12 while being placed on the upper surface of the conveyor belt 12.

In this embodiment, the duct 19 is the decompression box 1
4, and a suction blower 18 is also provided below the decompression box body 14. The other structure of the pouch feeder 21 is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment.

Further, in the pouch supply device 3, the guide roller 2 having a large outer diameter is provided on the supply side of the continuous pouch body 6.
2 is provided, and the structure is simple in that one guide roller is provided for the plurality of guide rollers 7 in the first embodiment.

Further, a belt conveyor 23 is provided in the discharge direction of the pouch 5 separated into individual pieces by the cutter 8, so that the pouch 5 can be conveyed to the next process section.

As described above, the pouch feeder 21 of this embodiment
Since the conveyor belt 12 can be held horizontally, the continuous pouch body 6 can be moved horizontally.

Further, since the pouch feeding device 21 is constituted by the belt-shaped conveyor belt 12, the pouch continuum 6 can be easily held horizontally when the pouch continuum 6 is moved horizontally. Therefore, in the conventional case, the pouch feeder 2
It was necessary to provide a guide member such as a guide roller or a guide plate in front of 1 to hold the continuous pouch body 6 in the horizontal direction, but the pouch feeder 21 of this embodiment also has a horizontal holding function. So that is no longer necessary.

Further, since it is possible to dispose the pouch feeding device 21 by freely changing the inclination angle of the conveyor belt 12, it is possible to further reduce the installation space required for installing this device. Become.

[0044]

As described above, the pouch feeder of the present invention is provided with a belt-shaped moving body on which a strip-shaped pouch continuous body in which a plurality of pouches containing articles are connected is brought into contact. Adsorption holes are formed on the contact surface with the continuum, and
A suction means for applying a vacuum suction force through the suction holes is provided in the continuous pouch that closes the suction holes.

As a result, even if the shape of the product enclosed in the pouch is not uniform, the contact portion with the moving body is a smooth sheet, so that the continuous pouch is easily adsorbed. With this, reliable feeding can be performed.

Further, since the belt-shaped moving body can come into contact with the entire width of the continuous sachet, it does not depend on the size of the side edge portion of the continuous sachet. Therefore, the side edge portion of the continuous pouch can be formed small, so that the overall shape of the pouch can be kept compact.

Further, the belt-shaped moving body only needs to adsorb one surface when it comes into contact with the continuous body of pouches, and it is not necessary to adjust the gripping force to the continuous body of pouches unlike the conventional belt feed method. Therefore, this has an effect that the structure of the device can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of a pouch feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view showing a configuration of a main part of the pouch feeder when viewed from the side.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the overall configuration of a pouch feeder including the pouch feeder.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the sachet supply device when viewed from the side.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing an overall configuration of a pouch folding device including the pouch feeding device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic front view showing a pouch feeder according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a conventional pouch feeder is provided with a pouch feeder and a pouch is loaded into a product cup.

FIG. 8 shows the structure of a conventional continuous sachet body,
(A) is a side view of the continuous sachet, and (b) is a front schematic view showing a state in which a side edge of the continuous sachet is held by a feed roller.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Pouch Feeder 5 Pouch 6 Pouch Continuum 10 Driving Roller 11 Driven Roller 12 Conveyor Belt (Movable Body) 13 Adsorption Port 14 Decompression Box (Suction Means) 13 Adsorption Hole 21 Pouch Folding Device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A belt-shaped moving body is provided which is in contact with a continuous body of pouches formed by connecting a plurality of pouches enclosing the product, and a suction hole is formed on a contact surface of the moving body with the continuous pouch bag. Further, the pouch feeding device is characterized in that suction means for applying a vacuum suction force through the suction holes is provided in the continuous pouch body that closes the suction holes.