Description

An Apparatus and a Process for Forming Packs and for Stacking Pallets with Ceramic Tiles, especially large-format Ceramic Tiles.

Technical Field

The invention relates to an apparatus for forming packs of ceramic tiles and for stacking pallets of ceramic tiles following stages of control and selection of the tiles.

The invention also relates to a process for forming packs and stacking pallets with ceramic tiles.

Specifically, though not exclusively, the invention is usefully applied in the stacking of pallets of packs of large-format ceramic tiles.

Background Art

At present the selection and final packing of ceramic tiles is done using a conveyor line on which the tiles are laterally held by belts with the aid of elastic means. Suitable pressure extractors are used to free the tiles from the lateral grip and to cause them to be deposited in piles which are formed below the conveyor line. In the case of tiles of small-medium format, the piles are then packed simply by enveloping them with cardboard sheets, while, for large-format tiles this cannot be done as it is impossible to find sheets of cardboard of a sufficient length; for this reason a different and more complex packing modality is used, known as a tray, which among other things uses a much greater quantity of cardboard. This is due, among other things, to the need to limit, by law, the weight of a single pack to a maximum, at present 25 kg. Packs of large-format tiles, made up of a limited number of tiles, if

enveloped in sheets of cardboard, would not be compact enough to form sufficiently stable piles or stacks.

Apart from the above-mentioned greater packing difficulty, in the prior art large-format tiles are subject to further drawbacks. The most relevant of these is undoubtedly represented by the inefficiency of the sealing system of the tiles during transport thereof, which sealing system, as mentioned above, is obtained by lateral belts kept elastically pressed against the edges of the tiles, and which, as can easily be intuited, is insufficient due to the inevitable differences in calibre of the tiles which occurs during normal production cycles. It is obvious that as the format increases in size, with equal working tolerances, the absolute value of the difference between the real dimensions of the tile and the rated dimensions thereof also increases, so that a possible size difference between two successive tiles which difference is above a certain value (4-5mm), which from a production point of view is acceptable, causes a lowering of the lateral pressure on the smaller tile, therefore reducing the hold or grip thereon.

A further drawback is represented by the possibility of impacts between the tiles during the action of the extractors, which act while the tiles are being moved along the conveyor line; this, among other things, causes a dragging between the arriving tile and the already-deposited tile on the pile under formation.

Further, considering the difficulty and laboriousness of the operations connected with resetting the line, including the extractors, every time the production programme requires a tile format change, it is clear that there is a need to develop innovative solutions in the sector, and solutions which are reliable for tiles of various sizes.

The main aim of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for forming packs and for stacking pallets of ceramic tiles, following the stage of control and selection thereof, with which the drawbacks and problems as described above are obviated. A further aim of the invention is to provide a process for forming packs and for stacking pallets with ceramic tiles, suitable in particular for large-format tiles, which process is extremely rational and reliable. Brief Summary of the Invention. The above aims and more besides are all attained by an apparatus for forming packs and for stacking pallets with ceramic tiles, following on from the control and selection operations of the tiles, comprising at least a first plier group which collects a single tile from a relative conveyor belt, and piles the tile in a determined position on a support structure and transfers each pile or part of each pile of tiles to a packing station of the packs, and at least a second plier group for collecting the pack of packed tiles from the packing station, for rotating about a horizontal axis of the tile pack and depositing the tile pack on a specific transportation pallet.

The first and second plier groups are support by respective horizontal support and movement structures with respect to which the plier groups are vertically translatable.

The first plier group is advantageously composed of respective horizontal movement structures arranged parallel on two opposite sides with respect to the support structure of the pile of tiles. The packing station preferably comprises a first part in which the tiles to be packed are deposited by the first plier group, and a second part in which the wrapped packs are collected by the second plier group; the packing of the packs can be done at the first or the second part of the packing station.

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The pliers of the first plier group are provided with tile-detecting photocells used for controlling the vertical translation of the pliers. The pallets destined to receive the wrapped tile packs are provided with a vertical structure on which the tile packs are stably rested on a side thereof, the structure being preferably located in a central position in the pallet.

A process of the present invention for forming packs and stacking pallets of ceramic tiles, following a control and selection operation of the tiles themselves, includes a stage in with a single tile is removed from a respective conveyor belt, a stage of translating and depositing the tile in a given position on a support structure for forming piles of tiles, a stage of removing and transferring the piles, or parts of piles, of tiles towards a packing station, a stage of wrapping packs of tiles by laterally enveloping the piles with cardboard sheets or other means, a stage of removing single wrapped packs and rotating the single wrapped pack about a central horizontal axis thereof, a stage of depositing the pack, rotated into a vertical position, on a transport pallet.

The process advantageously includes, in the packing station, a translation operation on the pack or the pile of tiles from a depositing zone of the pile of tiles to a removal zone of the wrapped pack, the translation operation taking place before or after the wrapping operation.

The removal stages of the single tile from the conveyor belt, of translating the tile and forming the relative piles, of removing and transferring the piles of tiles towards a packing station, are done using at least two plier groups operating in parallel. From the above the advantages of the apparatus and process for forming packs and stacking pallets with tiles of the present invention are clear, in

relation both to reliability and rationality of the apparatus used and to the flexibility of the working process actuated.

Brief Description of the Drawings.

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will better emerge from the detailed description that follows of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the invention, illustrated purely by way of non- limiting example in the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view from above of an apparatus of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic lateral view in elevation of the apparatus of figure 1; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the apparatus, relating in particular to a plier group destined to form piles of the ceramic tiles;

Figure 4 is a further front view of the apparatus, relating to a plier group destined to supply the pallets;

Figures 5 and 6 are lateral and front views of details relating to the depositing of the tiles on the relative piles;

Figures 7 and 8 are lateral and front views of details relating to the removal of the piles of tiles;

Figures 9 and 10 are lateral and front views of details relating to the transfer and depositing of the wrapped packs onto pallets. Disclosure of Invention

With reference to figure 1, 10 denotes in its entirety an apparatus for forming packs and for stacking pallets with ceramic tiles following an operation of control and selection of the tiles which takes place in a special station schematically denoted by 11. The selected tiles 12 emerge from the station 11 lying on a conveyor belt 13 up until they reach a striker 14. Two plier groups 15, 16, illustrated in detail in figure 3, are used in this embodiment of the invention, for transferring a

single tile from the conveyor belt 13 to a structure 18, on which the tile is piled with others to form side-by-side piles 19, and to transfer the piles to a pack wrapping station 20.

The wrapping station 20 is in particular made up of two parts 20a, 20b, respectively destined to depositing piles 19 of tiles coming from the support structure 18, and for removing the wrapped packs 21 for transfer thereof onto pallets 22. This is done with the help of a further plier group 23, which, as illustrated clearly in figure 4, is slidably constrained to a support and movement structure 24 along a horizontal sliding guide 25, which develops in the tract 26 comprised between the station 20 and the final pallet 22 destined to load the wrapped tile packs 21.

The wrapped tile packs 21 are stacked on pallets in the position illustrated in detail in figure 10; i.e. they are rotated into a vertical position by the plier group 23 which removes them from the station 20 and are then arranged on the pallets, where for reasons of safety they are rested on a central vertical structure 36 of the pallets. The plier group 23 performs the above-mentioned rotation by means of an actuator 27 which acts on the two pairs of pliers 28, such as to produce a rotation by 90° about the axis of symmetry thereof. Note that the pack 21 is illustrated in figure 4 between the pliers 28 and the tiles, made, in an embodiment of the invention, using wrappings made from sheets of cardboard. The wrapping is not illustrated in figures 9 and 10, for reasons of simplicity of representation.

The operations relating to the removal of the tiles exiting from the station 11, to the forming of the piles 19 and the transfer of the piles, or parts of the piles, to the wrapping station 20, are performed, in the present embodiment of the invention, by two plier groups 15, 16, which, as illustrated in figure 3, are vertically slidably supported by respective support structures 30, 31, which

move horizontally on guides 32, 33 arranged parallel on opposite sides of the support structure 18 of the piles of tiles, and more precisely along the tract 34 comprised between the outlet of the selection station 11 and the packing station 20. The distance between the pairs of pliers of each plier group is adjustable according to the tile 12 format; the plier group further comprises, associated to the plier pair, a photocell sensor 35 for detecting the presence of a tile. The process of the present invention for forming packs and stacking pallets with ceramic tiles, which can be actuated with the above-described apparatus, includes, following the tile control and selection operation, a stage of removing a single tile 12 from the conveyor belt 13 using, for example, the plier group 15; a stage of transferring the tile, by moving the structure 20 on the guide 32 towards one of the piles 19 being formed on the structure 18, for example in the position where the group 15' is illustrated; a stage of depositing the tile on the pile 19 using the photocell 35 in the way schematically indicated in figure 5; a stage of removing a pile, or a part of a pile 19, in the way which is schematically indicated in figure 7, using, for example, the plier group 16, from the position where the group 16' is illustrated; a stage of transferring the pile, or the part of the pile, by moving the structure 31 on the guide 33 towards the wrapping station 20 and more precisely towards the part 20a of the station; a stage of depositing the pile, or part of the pile, on the part 20a of the station; a stage of wrapping the tile pack 21 by laterally enveloping the tiles using cardboard sheets 29; a stage of removing the wrapped pack 21, using the plier group 23, from the position denoted by 23'; a stage of transferring and contemporaneously rotating the pack 21 about the horizontal axis thereof towards one of the pallets 22; a

stage of depositing the pack 21, rotated into a vertical position, on the pallet

22.

The process further includes a stage of displacing the pile or the pack of tiles from part 20a to part 20b of the station 20, which displacement can take place before or after the pack wrapping operation; in each case the advantages connected to the performing of the process of the invention are safeguarded.

Obviously other variations or modifications can be brought to the apparatus or the process of the present invention.

For example, the number and conformation of the plier groups in the apparatus could be varied, as could the length of the support structure of the piles of tiles being formed.

The wrapping of the tile packs could certainly be done using various and diverse means instead of the simple cardboard sheets. The apparatus and relative process can be used for forming packs and stacking pallets with ceramic tiles of any size, consequently varying the sizes of the pliers, the relative actuators or the movement structures.

The means for moving the support structures of the plier groups destined for making up the tile packs are obviously suitable for ensuring the power and precision of positioning required. The same can be said for the means for moving the structure used for transferring the packs onto the final pallets. The electric actuators used for the purpose can, obviously, be of various types.