PRODUCTS DESCRIPTION

The present invention concerns an automatic packaging machine, in particular an automatic machine for packaging textile reels and similar products.

In recent years in the textile industry the use of machines for packaging reels of fabric and similar in plastic film, generally polyethylene, has become widespread.

Said machines normally entail unwinding and winding of an appropriate length of a packaging film on the reels of textile material. The film is then cut and heat-sealed, thus providing a protective packaging for the reel.

Said operation therefore comprises an unwinding phase of the film from a roll appropriately positioned on the machine and winding of the film around the reel, followed by a heat-sealing phase. Both phases can be performed manually by operators or in partially or totally automatic mode.

Normally the width of the film is greater than the width of the reel of textile material, in order to guarantee both complete surface coverage and lateral closing of the film on the reel. The latter operation can be performed by heat shrinking the portion of protruding film by means of appropriate machines.

One of the most important problems encountered in the machines of known type derives from the fact that the reels of textile material can have different widths and diameters, and this difference can be significant. This means that when switching from a production batch with reels of a certain width/diameter to a subsequent batch with different width, for example wider, the roll of film has to be changed in order to guarantee adequate coverage of the larger reel. This operation is obviously time-consuming as it involves interruption of the packaging operations to allow the roll of film to be changed and it is particularly inconvenient when the roll change is performed manually. With small production batches of reels of textile material of different widths and/or diameters, the use of machines of this type is even more inconvenient, as the roll of packaging film has to be changed too frequently.

Alternatively, it is possible to use rolls of film oversized in terms of width with respect to the width of the reels, in order to cover a certain reel width range. This, however, entails an excessive use of packaging material as there are cases in which the width of the film is greatly oversized with respect to the width of the reel with consequent high wastage of packaging material. Furthermore, although less frequently than in the previous case, the roll of film has to be changed from time to time, since it would be counter-productive in economic terms always to use packaging film of maximum width, i.e. able to cover all reel widths.

On the basis of these considerations, the need clearly emerges to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which is more efficient than the current ones, in terms of performance and flexibility and in terms of production, assembly and running costs.

The aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which overcomes the problems of the machines of known type.

In particular, in the context of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which allows minimisation of the manual operations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which is highly flexible and allows minimisation of the packaging film roll changing operations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which allows efficient management also of small production batches.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which minimises the wastage of packaging material.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which is compact in terms of dimensions.

Last but not least, a further object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine, in particular for textile reels and similar products, which is highly dependable and easy to produce at competitive costs.

The present invention therefore provides automatic machine for packaging textile reels and similar according to the following claim 1.

The automatic machine, according to the invention comprises: a supporting structure, a reel loading station, a reel winding station, a first station for supporting and unwinding a first roll of packaging film positioned above the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies, a second station for supporting and unwinding a second roll of packaging film positioned below the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies, a unit for heat-sealing said packaging films, a reel discharge station, said first and second roll of packaging film being of different width and being joined by means of heat-sealing to form a continuous film. In this way the roll change operations are minimised when the reel width changes. In practice, by positioning on the machine two rolls of film of different width above and below the work surface (i.e. the station for winding the reel in the film) and joining them, a continuous film is created which covers, with very little wastage of material, at least two reel widths, as better described below.

Advantageously, in order to further increase the application flexibility of the machine, it is possible to provide further reels of film of different width, which are positioned above and below the work surface and can be joined as required to create continuous films with two different widths.

For example, the automatic packaging machine according to the invention can comprise a third station for supporting and unwinding a third roll of packaging film positioned above the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies and a fourth station for supporting and unwinding a fourth roll of packaging film positioned below the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies.

Preferably said first roll of packaging film is wider than said second and/or fourth roll of packaging film.

In the same way also said third roll of packaging film is preferably wider than said second and/or fourth roll of packaging film.

Alternatively, said first and third roll of packaging film can be narrower than said second and fourth roll of packaging film.

In order to increase the compactness of the machine, the loading station can coincide with the winding station of said reel.

The automatic packaging machine according to the invention can be provided with automatic means for control of the packaging operations. For example the machine according to the invention can comprise automatic means for selecting the roll of film to be used for packaging said reel.

Furthermore the automatic packaging machine according to the invention can advantageously comprise automatic means for heat-sealing a portion of one of said packaging films on said reel and heat-sealing the end of said first or third roll of film to the end of said second or fourth roll of film. Alternatively said operations can also be performed manually, since relatively little labour is required for these operations.

Preferably, in order to improve the lateral closing of the film on the reel, the automatic packaging machine according to the invention can comprise a station for trimming the ends of said film wound on said reel positioned downstream of said winding station.

Furthermore, to improve the total compactness of the system and concentrate the operations in one single machine, the machine can be provided with a closing station by heat shrinking of said film wound on said reel, said closing station being positioned upstream of said discharge station.

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from a description of the non-limiting examples of embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a lateral view of a possible embodiment of a packaging machine according to the present invention;

figure 2 is a frontal view of a first embodiment of a packaging machine according to the present invention, illustrated in a first operating configuration;

figure 3 is a frontal view of the embodiment of figure 2, illustrated in a second operating configuration;

figure 4 is a frontal view of a second embodiment of a packaging machine according to the present invention, illustrated in a first operating configuration;

figure 5 is a frontal view of the embodiment of figure 4, illustrated in a second operating configuration.

With reference to the attached figures, an automatic machine according to the invention, designated overall by reference number 1, for packaging textile reels 2, in its most general embodiment comprises a supporting structure 10.

Said supporting structure is combined with a loading station 11 of said reel 2, on which a reel 2 to be wound in a packaging film is positioned, automatically or manually. For this purpose, the packaging machine 1 according to the invention is provided with a winding station of said reel 2; to increase the compactness of the machine, said winding station preferably coincides with said loading station 11. It is possible, however, for the loading station 11 to be separate from the winding station, creating for example a loading buffer for more efficient management of variable load flows.

One of the particular characteristics of the packaging machine 1 according to the invention is the fact that it features a first station 21 for supporting and unwinding a first roll 31 of packaging film positioned above the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies, and a second station 22 for supporting and unwinding a second roll 32 of packaging film positioned below the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies. The packaging films are of known type and are normally made of heat-sealable material, for example polyethylene, ordinary or recycled, or of biodegradable polymeric material. Any material suitable for the purpose can be used, however. The system is also provided with a heat-sealing unit 12 of said packaging films and a discharge station 13 of said reel 2 which, in the simpler version, can also coincide with the loading and winding station 11.

A further distinguishing feature of the automatic packaging machine 1 according to the invention is given by the fact that said first 31 and second 32 roll of packaging film are of different widths and are joined by heat-sealing to form a continuous film.

In practice, the machine 1 according to the invention is provided on board with at least two rolls of film of different widths, joined to form a continuous film. According to the width of the reel to be packaged, said continuous film is unwound and wound on the respective rolls in order to obtain, at the winding station, a film of appropriate width for the specific reel to be packaged. Once the reel has been wound in a portion of appropriate length, the film is cut and the terminal ends are joined again by means of heat-sealing to re-produce the continuous structure of the film with two different widths.

Advantageously, in order to further increase the application flexibility of the machine it is possible to provide further reels of film of different widths, which are positioned above and below the work surface and can be joined as required to produce a series of continuous films, each having two different widths.

In particular, with reference to the accompanying figures, a preferred embodiment of the packaging machine 1 according to the invention comprises a third station 23 for supporting and unwinding a third roll 33 of packaging film positioned above the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies and a fourth station 24 for supporting and unwinding a fourth roll 34 of packaging film positioned below the middle horizontal plane on which said winding station lies.

Using four rolls of film with different widths, defined generically as A, B, C and D for the first, second, third and fourth roll respectively, four different combinations of the working film be produced. By joining the first and the second roll, the combination AB is produced, by joining the first and the fourth roll the combination AD is produced, by joining the third and the second roll the combination CB is produced, and by joining the third and the fourth roll the combination CD is produced.

The very high operational flexibility of the machine thus conceived is immediately evident. With a relatively low number of rolls of film on board the machine it is possible to cover a very wide range of widths of the reels to be packaged, avoiding or minimising the roll change operations.

With reference to figures 2 and 3, said first roll 31 of packaging film is preferably wider than said second 32 and/or fourth 34 roll of packaging film. In the same way, said third roll 33 of packaging film is preferably wider than said second 32 and/or fourth 34 roll of packaging film.

Alternatively, with reference to figures 4 and 5, said first 31 and third 33 roll of packaging film are narrower than said second 32 and fourth 34 roll of packaging film.

The configuration of figure 2 and 3 is preferable to the configuration of figure 4 and 5, since the lower films 32 and 34 are wider than the upper films 31 and 33, and therefore the outer portion of the terminal ends of the lower films 32 and 34 tends to fold over on itself complicating the winding operation of the reel 2.

In the configuration of figure 2, the first roll of film 31 is joined to the second roll of film 32, while in the configuration of figure 3 the third roll of film 33 is joined to the fourth roll of film 34. It is obviously also possible to join the first roll of film 31 to the fourth roll of film 34 and the third roll of film 33 to the second roll of film 32, thus producing the entire range of width combinations AB, AD, CB, CD described previously.

Obviously the same considerations also apply to the configurations of figures 4 and 5.

The rolls of film to be used can be selected manually by an operator. It is nevertheless possible to provide automatic means for selection of the roll of film 31,32,33,34 to be used for packaging said reel 2. For example, appropriate sensors can be provided which detect the height of the reel 2 to be packaged and send the relative information to a command and control unit which, in turn, sends a command signal to the means for actuation of the appropriate rolls of film, selected according to the width of the reel 2.

Preferably, the automatic packaging machine 1 according to the invention also comprises automatic means for heat-sealing a portion of one of said packaging films 31,32,33,34 on said reel 2 and heat-sealing of the terminal end of said first 31 or third 33 roll of film to the terminal end of said second 32 or fourth 34 roll of film.

In other words, both winding and closing of the selected film on the reel 2, and joining of two films of different width can be performed automatically. Alternatively said operations can also be performed manually.

The automatic packaging machine 1 according to the invention can furthermore comprise a station 14 for trimming the ends of said film wound on said reel 2, said trimming station 14 being positioned downstream of said winding station.

Furthermore it is possible to provide a station 15 for closing by heat-shrinking said film wound on said reel 2 positioned upstream of said discharge station 13, thus producing an extremely compact machine which allows all the typical functions of a packaging system to be performed in an extremely compact space.

The technical solutions adopted for the packaging machine according to the present invention fully achieve the set aims and objects. The packaging machine thus conceived has an extremely simple structure but at the same time is extremely flexible in application terms, eliminating, or minimising, the operations for changing the packaging film roll.

This allows very efficient management also of production batches having a small number of pieces to be packaged since, as previously explained, the roll change operation is no longer necessary in practice (unless the roll of film has run out).

Furthermore, the possibility of choosing the roll of film of the most appropriate width for winding the reel allows minimisation of wastage of material, at the same time ensuring perfect packaging of the reel.

Given the low labour requirement and the limited or zero wastage of material, the running costs of the packaging machine according to the invention are greatly reduced.

The packaging machine is further characterised by its simple, extremely compact and easy to produce configuration which advantageously results in limitation of both the production and assembly costs.