Description

The present invention relates to a conveyor assembly for orienting and grouping together flat baking products for the purpose of packaging stacks or rolls of flat baking products by a packaging machine.

A conveyor assembly for orienting and grouping together flat baking products is known from the prior art. Such a device is used for three things in particular. Firstly, individual flat baking products are oriented correctly. That is to say that they may emerge from the oven, for example, substantially horizontally or straight and have to be brought to a substantially vertical, upright orientation before they can be packaged. Secondly, the flat baking products have to be at the correct intermediate distance, so that the packaging machine packages the baking products in the correct way. Thirdly, the flat baking products have to be grouped together, that is to say that such flat baking products are generally packaged in batches of, for example 2, 4, 8, 12 or more products per package.

The way in which the flat baking products emerge from the ovens usually does not satisfy any of the above requirements with regard to orientation, positioning and grouping together. To this end, devices such as industrial robots such as SCARA robots, delta robots, cartesian coordinate robots, articulated robots, etc. exist. Depending on the type of robot used, each individual product or flat baking product can be lifted up, displaced or oriented differently and grouped together. Such robots are relatively expensive and are limited with regard to speed and flexibility. After all, as soon as the production line has to be changed over, for example because rolls of flat baking products are to be formed instead of stacks, then these robots often have to be adapted in a complicated way. In addition, such robots have a footprint which increases the use of the floor area of the entire orientation device. Also, such robots may hamper each other’s movements, resulting in a further increase in the footprint. Changing over the production line according to such known implementations is not straightforward. When the type of flat baking product, the intermediate distance, the supply velocity, the orientation, the group composition and the group orientation change, it is not easy to adapt the line thereto.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved orientation device which does not have at least some of the abovementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved orientation device in which flat baking products can be oriented, positioned and grouped together into different types of packaging for rolls or stacks of flat baking products in a simple, quick and reliable way, in which the change-over of the product line between different types of packagings is simplified.

The object is achieved by a conveyor assembly for orienting and grouping together flat baking products for the purpose of packaging stacks or rolls of flat baking products by a packaging machine, the conveyor assembly at least comprising a first conveying device, a first transfer device, a forming plate and a second conveying device, wherein the first conveying device is configured to receive the plurality of flat baking products from a supply in a supply pattern, wherein the flat baking products, in the supply pattern, have a flat orientation with regard to the conveying plane of the first conveying device, and wherein the first conveying device is configured to form partial stacks of flat baking products from the plurality of flat baking products; the first transfer device is configured to simultaneously transfer a group of partial stacks into the forming plate; the forming plate comprises a number of parallel grooves which corresponds to the groups of partial stacks and is configured to form one or more stacks or rolls of flat baking products by moving the groups of partial stacks through the grooves; the second conveying device is configured to receive the stacks or rolls of flat baking products from the forming plate and transport the stacks or rolls of flat baking products to the packaging machine, and wherein the second conveying device is furthermore configured to adjust the intermediate distance and speed of stacks or rolls of flat baking products, wherein the intermediate distance and speed are determined by the packaging machine.

According to the first aspect, the conveyor assembly comprises various components or parts and consists at least of a first and second conveying device and also of a transfer device and a forming plate. The first conveying device is situated at the receiving or arrival side of the assembly and receives the flat baking products which come from the ovens. The first conveying device is therefore positioned against, next to or near the main feed belt which supplies the flat baking products to the assembly.

The second conveying device is situated on the dispensing or output side of the assembly and transfers the baking products to a packaging machine. This packaging machine is preferably of the flow wrapper type, but other types of packaging machines may also be used. This packaging machine preferably does not form part of the assembly, but may, in this case, partly be integrated therewith in an alternative embodiment. That is to say that the second conveying device forms the supply belt for the packer or packaging machine. In this way, it is not necessary to transfer the flat baking products to the feed chain of the packaging machine. The packaging machine or flow wrapper wraps the flat baking products in groups of several flat products which are oriented as stacks or rolls.

In the context of this document, a “flat baking product” is understood to mean a product which substantially relates to a bakery product, such as a biscuit, cookie or cracker. Such baking products may round, square, oval, rectangular or have other shapes, but are preferably substantially provided with flat main surfaces on two opposite sides.

As has already been mentioned, the first conveying device receives the flat baking products in a supply pattern. This pattern may be arbitrary or sorted, ordered and aligned in one or two (orthogonal) directions. In any case, the flat baking products are always supplied in a flat orientation, irrespective of the supply pattern, which means that they are flat on the conveyor belt and thus the flat main surface rests on this conveyor belt.

The first conveying device is configured to form the flat baking products into partial stacks which consist of one, two, three, four, five or more (but preferably 2 or 3) flat baking products which are stacked right on top of each other. These flat baking products are transported to the transfer device by the conveying device where they are placed into forming plate in order there to form the final product groups. The transfer device transfers the partial stacks of flat baking products from the first conveying device, through the forming plate, to the second conveying device in order to then transport them to the packaging machine.

This transfer device may be of single or double design, which is to say that one transfer device may be provided which either only simultaneously introduces a plurality of partial stacks into the forming plate. In this embodiment, the forming plate may be arranged at an incline, as a result of which the partial stacks slide through the forming plate on account of the force of gravity and end up in the second conveying device. Alternatively, the partial stacks may also fall into the forming plate by the force of gravity or be transferred to the latter by the first conveying device, following which a single transfer device ensures that the partial stacks are pushed or transported through the forming plate. In this case, it is not necessary to place the forming plate at an incline. As has been mentioned above, the transfer device may also be of a double design, in which case a first transfer device actively places the partial stacks into the forming plate, and the second transfer device removes them therefrom and places them in the second conveying device. In this case, the forming plate may be placed at an incline, so that the partial stacks move in the direction of the exit of the forming plate on account of the force of gravity or because the first or second transfer device actively moves them through the forming plate.

Several grooves are present in the forming plate. These grooves run from a first side which faces the first conveying device to a second side which faces the second conveying device. The grooves are parallel to each other and are equal in number to the number of parallel partial stacks arranged in front of the first side. As soon as the partial stacks have passed through the grooves, the orientation and intermediate positioning will correspond or at least largely correspond to the desired orientation and intermediate positioning such as they are packaged by the packaging machine. That is to say that the orientation may be adjusted because the flat baking products no longer maintain a flat or horizontal orientation, but have been brought from this horizontal orientation to a vertical or upright orientation. In this way, rolls are formed of a group consisting of several flat baking products which adjoin each other in main surface. However, the orientation may also remain the same, in which case the flat baking products thus maintain their horizontal orientation. In this case, only the intermediate positioning is adjusted. The individual rolls or stacks of flat baking products are now in a correct orientation and intermediate positioning, but it is not yet sure if the distance between the rolls or stacks matches the desired distance as are required for the packaging machine. In addition, the packaging machine will operate at a certain fixed speed, which means that not only will the distance between the rolls or stacks, but also the speed at which these are supplied, have to be adapted to the packaging machine. To this end, the conveying device will be configured to adjust this intermediate distance and to control it individually with regard to distance and speed. To this end, the second conveying device is preferably configured as a conveying device which is driven by a linear motor and is provided with a plurality of individually driven conveying fingers or carrier members, wherein a roll or stack of flat baking products can be conveyed individually with regard to speed and intermediate distance to the packaging machine by one finger or between two fingers.

On the one hand, such an assembly provides a sturdy system in which many flat baking products can be conveyed to the packaging machine at high speed and in a great yield, wherein in addition a high packaging speed is possible and wherein the assembly can adjust the supply of rolls or stacks thereto. In addition, change-over between rolls or stacks or other groups of flat baking products or packaging methods is very straightforward by replacing the forming plate. Even if a new configuration is desired, for example because more flat baking products have to be packaged in one roll, this can be solved in a simple way by just a structural adjustment of the forming plate. Such a change-over of the line is thus simple, quick, reliable and inexpensive, without this compromising the speed of the line.

Embodiments or examples according to the present invention will be described below.

In one example, the conveyor assembly furthermore comprises a second transfer device which is configured to simultaneously transfer a group of partial stacks from the forming plate into the second conveying device.

The assembly may consist of one or two transfer devices, with the transfer devices in particular being robots, including industrial robots such as SCARA robots, delta robots, cartesian coordinate robots, articulated robots, gentry robots, etc. There is at least a transfer devices or robot involved for the transportation from, to or through the forming plate. However, in a preferred embodiment there are two robots, one for transferring the partial stacks into the forming plate and one for removing the stacks or rolls of flat baking products such as these will be packaged by the packer from the forming plate.

In one example, the forming plate comprises several straight parallel grooves which are formed along the length of the forming plate. The forming plate comprises several grooves or upright edges in order to separate the partial stacks from each other. These grooves partly or preferably run along the entire length of the forming plate from the inlet side to the outlet side. These grooves preferably run parallel along part of or along their entire length. In an alternative embodiment, the grooves run parallel for approximately the first 100 mm after which they end, so that the partial stacks are able to touch and can be combined.

In one example, the forming plate comprises several parallel grooves which converge along the length of the forming plate.

The grooves may converge, which not only makes it possible to form a roll, but which also reduces the intermediate lateral distance between the partial stacks and brings it closer to the desired positioning required for packaging.

In one example, the forming plate comprises several parallel grooves which are formed in such a way that the partial stacks are gradually taken from a horizontal orientation near a first side of the first conveying device to a vertical orientation near a second side of the second conveying device.

The forming plate is preferably provided with grooves or upright edges which are formed in such a way that the partial stacks over gradually during transportation through the forming plate change from a horizontal to a vertical orientation. This may take place gradually and thus linearly along the entire length, but may also take place in a non-linear way, in which for example the degree of inclination of the groove for changing the orientation of the flat baking products increases exponentially.

In one example, the forming plate comprises several grooves which have a depth which corresponds to a part of the height of the flat baking products, and in particular between 10% and 90%, more particularly between 20% and 80%, between 30% and 70% and most particularly between 40% and 60% of the height of the flat baking products in horizontal or vertical orientation.

Due to the fact that the grooves have a depth which preferably only relates to a part of the height of the flat baking products conveyed through the grooves, use may be made of a conveying element, such as a push rod, which pushes the flat baking products along part of or along the entire length of the forming plate.

In one example, the second conveying device is provided with an endless conveyor belt which is provided with several carrier members which are individually controllable with regard to speed and intermediate distance.

In one example, the first and/or second conveying device is provided with an endless conveyor belt which is provided with several carrier members which are individually controllable with regard to speed and intermediate distance and wherein the second conveying device is configured to convey a roll or stack of flat baking products to the packaging machine using one carrier member.

The first, the second or both conveying devices are provided with conveying systems which comprise several conveyors or carrier members. These carrier members are formed by a first side of a linear motor system which makes it possible for each carrier member to be controlled individually by the system. In this way, the speed and thus the intermediate distance of every carrier member can be controlled individually. This allows the system to adapt the speed and/or intermediate distance of stacks or rolls of flat products to be conveyed to the next device of the assembly.

In one example, the first and/or second conveying device is provided with an endless conveyor belt which is provided with several carrier members which are individually controllable with regard to speed and intermediate distance and wherein the second conveying device is configured to convey a roll or stack of flat baking products to the packaging machine between two carrier members, and wherein the two carrier members are configured to move towards each other, after receiving the roll or stack, in order to reduce the intermediate distance between the flat baking products of the roll or stack.

By moving towards each other, the intermediate distance between the flat baking products is reduced. This also reduces the risk of damage to the baking products by transportation and makes it possible to transport items at higher speeds.

In one example, the conveyor assembly comprises several forming plates which are arranged transversely to the conveying direction of the flat baking products of the first conveying device next to each other arranged.

There may be one forming plate, but also several forming plates arranged next to each other. This makes it possible to achieve higher throughput rates or to package in a different way, for example several trays in one packaging, with one forming plate being used for each tray.

In one example, the second conveying device is configured to pick up and transport trays between one or two carrier members in order to receive the rolls or stacks of flat baking products in the trays from the forming plate.

In one example, the first conveying device is configured to receive the plurality of flat baking products from a supply in a first supply pattern, wherein the flat baking products in the first supply pattern are ordered in two orthogonal directions and have a flat orientation with respect to the conveying plane of the first conveying device, and wherein the first conveying device is furthermore configured to be positioned over a main feed belt for the flat baking products, and wherein the conveyor assembly preferably comprises a row of gantry robots for picking up a row of flat baking products from the main feed belt and placing them onto the first conveying device.

In one example, the first conveying device is configured to receive the plurality of flat baking products from a supply in a second supply pattern, wherein the flat baking products in the second supply pattern are ordered arbitrarily in two directions and have a flat orientation with respect to the conveying plane of the first conveying device, and wherein the first conveying device is configured to be positioned in front of the forming plate in such a way that the forming plate is situated in line with the conveying direction of the first conveying device, and wherein the conveyor assembly preferably comprises a row of delta robots for picking up partial stacks of flat baking products from the main feed belt and placing them onto the first conveying device.

In one example, a first and/or a second transfer device is provided with one or more of a push rod, vacuum gripper and clamping gripper.

In one example, the second conveying device is integrated with the packaging machine in such a way that the conveying device forms the feed chain of the packaging machine.

By integrating the second conveying device with the packaging machine, for example a flow wrapper or flow packer, the feed chain of the packaging machine becomes superfluous. This is advantageous for the required feed area, but this also renders additional transfers and thus synchronization between the second conveying device and the packaging machine superfluous. Description of the figures

The present invention will be described below by means of the figures.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a conveyor assembly according to a first aspect of the present description;

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a detail of the conveyor assembly with the associated parts;

Fig. 3 shows a top view of the conveyor assembly in which the flat products are supplied in a first supply pattern;

Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of the conveyor assembly in which the flat products are supplied in a second supply pattern;

Fig. 5 shows a detail view of an embodiment of a forming plate which is configured to form stacks of flat products;

Fig. 6 shows a detail view of an embodiment of a forming plate which is configured to form rolls of flat products;

Fig. 7 shows a detail view of an embodiment of a forming plate which is configured to form rolls of flat products which are transferred into trays;

Fig. 8 shows a detail view of an embodiment of a forming plate which is configured to form rolls of flat products which are transferred into multi-cell trays.

Fig. 1 shows a conveyor assembly 100 for orienting and grouping together and flat baking products 101. The flat baking products 101 are packaged at the end 102 of the conveyor assembly 100 by a packaging machine 103. The packaging machine is a film-packaging machine, such as a flow wrapper. By means of the packaging machine 103, rolls or stacks of flat products are packaged. These flat baking products are mainly bakery products which originate from one or more ovens which are situated upstream in the line. The baking products are in particular biscuits, cookies, crackers or the like and may have various shapes, such as round, square, rectangular, oval, etc. Defined with regard to their content, the flat baking products have two opposite main surfaces which are completely or at least partly flat. Lying on these main surfaces, the baking products are supplied in the direction of the assembly 100 in a certain supply arrangement or a supply pattern. This pattern may consist of several rows, of several columns and the rows. In this case, the flat baking products may be aligned in rows, in columns or both and the intermediate distance in rows and/or in columns is preferably substantially equal. The conveyor assembly 100 as shown in Fig. 1 comprises at least a first conveying device 104, a first transfer device 105, a second transfer device 106, a forming plate 107 and a second conveying device 108.

The first conveying device 104 is preferably, as in the example illustrated, a conveying system which is driven by a linear electric motor. This mechatronic system consists of a rail which goes around and is completely modular in which several carrier members or movers move over the rail and are controlled separately with regard to speed, positioning and thus intermediate distance. The first conveying device may also be configured as a flat conveyor belt in which the intermediate distance of the supplied products cannot be adjusted by the conveyor belt itself. Additional devices may be provided to this end, such as one or more robots or a push rod which slows down a row of products in the conveying direction in a relative sense or causes it to accelerate.

As is shown in the example of Fig. 1 , the second conveying device 108 is also a conveying system which is driven by a linear electric motor. This has the advantage that this makes it possible to synchronize the products to be packaged on the packaging machine 103, since, after all, here the flat baking products have already been formed into rolls or stacks in such a way that they are ready to be packaged. The packaging machine determines the speed and the pitch (intermediate distance between the products to be packaged) at which the products have to be supplied. This preferably causes the device which is situated upstream in the line of the packaging machine to be configured to supply the products at a pitch and speed which is synchronized with the packaging machine.

In Fig. 1 , the flat baking products are supplied to the first conveying device 104 in a first supply pattern in a supply direction A. The conveyor assembly 100 receives the flat baking products at right angles, in this case in three 100A, 100B, 100C conveyor assemblies which are arranged in parallel. The supply pattern shown in Fig. 1 consists of flat baking products which are aligned in two orthogonal direct. That is to say that the flat baking products form rows and columns. The first conveyor assembly 100A receives a first row of products from the first supply device 104. The the first supply device 104 of the second conveyor assembly 100B then receives a subsequent row of flat baking products from the supply pattern of the supply belt and, finally, the first supply device 104 of the third conveyor assembly 100C receives the last rows of flat baking products. By increasing the width of the supply belt and concomitantly increasing the number of conveyor assemblies arranged in parallel, the capacity of the line can be increased without having to adjust the conveying speeds.

As soon as the flat baking products in the first supply device have been transferred, they consist of partial stacks. These partial stacks consist of 2, 3, 4, 5 or more stacked individual flat baking products. In the case of the supply pattern as shown in Fig. 1 , these partial stacks will be formed because a robot or preferably several robots are provided which remove the products from the supply belt and stack them to form predetermined partial stacks. These are conveyed along in the direction of a first transfer device 105. This is configured to simultaneously transfer a group of partial stacks into the forming plate. As is shown in Fig. 1, this embodiment comprises two transfer devices 105, 106 in which the first transfer device 105 places several partial stacks into the forming plate. In this case, the number of partial stacks is preferably equal to the number of grooves or channels in the forming plate. The second transfer device 106 then removes the row or stack formed by the partial stacks from the forming plate and transfers it to the second conveying device 108. The latter conveys the rolls or stacks to the packaging machine 103, so that they can be transferred there to the feed chain of the packaging machine 103, or the second conveying device replaces the feed chain of the packaging machine 103.

As can be seen in Fig. 1 , the flat baking products are supplied in a supply direction A. These are then transferred onto first supply devices 104 of the various parallel conveyor assemblies 100A, 100B, 100C which are arranged transversely to this supply device A. At the end or near the end of the first supply devices 104, first transfer devices 105 are arranged transversely to the conveying direction of the supply devices. They are therefore arranged next thereto. In line therewith, and thus transversely to the conveying directions, the forming plate or plates 107 are is arranged. In line with and at the end of the forming plate, the second transfer devices 106 are arranged to transfer the rolls or stacks of flat baking products transversely to the conveying direction of the forming plate and thus parallel to the first supply devices 104. The packaging machine is arranged in line with the supply devices 104, which facilitates transfer or integration. The second conveying device 108 is thus configured to receive the stacks or rolls of flat baking products from the forming plate and to convey the stacks or rolls of flat baking products to the packaging machine. The second conveying device 108 is furthermore configured to adapt and synchronize the intermediate distance and speed stacks or rolls of flat baking products with the intermediate distance and speed as determined by the packaging machine.

The forming plate is either configured to form rolls or to form stacks. Therefore, the line can easily be changed over by replacing the forming plate. In addition, by using different forming plates, it is easy to change between the various kinds of packaging in which one, two, three or more rolls, stacks or trays are packaged in a packaging.

Fig. 2 shows the various parts of the system in more detail, in which case it is emphasized that this embodiment of the conveyor assembly 100 is designed and configured to supply products in a first non-arbitrary supply pattern. This pattern and the way in which the products are supplied can clearly be seen in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the conveyor assembly in which a different supply pattern is used in which the flat baking products are supplied in an entirely arbitrary way.

Fig. 2 shows the conveyor assembly 100 a first conveying device 104, a second conveying device 107, a first transfer device 105 and a second transfer device 106. The supply line or supply belt is located upstream from the conveyor assembly 100 and comprises an additional third transfer device 109 which transfers the flat baking products from the supply belt 110 and places them onto the a first conveying device 104. The packaging machine is arranged downstream from the conveyor assembly 100 (not shown), at the end of the second conveying device 108. Fig. 3 shows the same embodiment again, but in a top view. In this case, there are two laterally arranged forming plates 107 and the packaging machine 103 is also shown. The first conveying device 104 is preferably placed above the supply belt 110 and an entire row of products is picked up from the supply belt 110 and placed between the carrier members of the first conveying device 104 by means of one or more gantry robots 109. If there are products missing in the row, the carrier members are placed in such a way that there are no missing positions in the subsequent carrier members. When both making rolls or stack packagings, the stacks are assembled in the first conveying device 104 by the gantry robot in the chain of the first conveying device 104 placing several rows of product above one another. As soon as the required stack has been formed, the filled carrier members move sideways and empty carrier member positions come to stand on the supply belt again. Fig. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the conveyor assembly 200 in which the products 101 are supplied in an arbitrary pattern. In this embodiment, the first conveying device 204 is a flat belt and this is situated in front of the forming plate, and thus in line therewith. In particular, the belt is between 5 and 25 meters, but more preferably between 10 and 15 meters long and is filled by robots (cookie bots) 209 with rows of products (also small stacks) in a pattern. This corresponds to the pattern which is required to produce rolls or to pass stacks through by means of the forming plate and is therefore preferably identical to the number of grooves in the forming plate.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 show various embodiments of the forming plate. The forming plate is provided with a number of grooves or channels. The number of grooves is preferably 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 , 12, 13, 14 or 15. On the input side , these adjoin the carrier members of the first conveying device 104 and on the output side adjoining the carrier members of second conveying device 108 (or the tray situated there between the carrier members of the second conveying device 108). The forming plate forms a 3D-modelled surface with tracks/grooves or channels in the length direction having a shape such that products are either tilted and formed into a small roll or remain flat and are pushed to the second conveying device 108 as a small stack. Preferably, the forming plates are positioned at, for example, with a supply of 30 small stacks (with a height of 2 products) and rolls to be formed of 14 pieces. However, in one example there are 3 forming plates which each have 7 grooves (thus leaving 2 carrier members which are not emptied, but this is done during the next cycle). The material of the forming plates is designed for transport at low resistance and is thus preferably smooth and made of plastic and comprises a size of approximately 500x500 mm.

Fig. 5 shows two forming plates 107A in an embodiment in which stacks are formed. Here, the channels or grooves out of the forming plate thus consist of parallel uninterrupted grooves.

Fig. 6 shows two other forming plates 107B by means of which rolls can be formed. The channels or grooves are thus also formed differently and partly consist of parallel channels which converge and run to a point, wherein the flat baking products are moved from a horizontal to a vertical orientation due to the shape of the forming plate and in particular the shape of the grooves. Figs. 7 and 8 show variants by means of which rolls are loaded into trays 211. In Fig. 7, rolls are loaded into a few trays 211 and either second transfer device 106 or robot pushes a roll from a forming plate 107C which ends slightly higher into the waiting tray which is conveyed along to the packaging machine by the second conveying device. Alternatively, the robot 106 may also pick up products in a specific formation and load them into the tray. This in case of shapes which cannot be rolled, such as square flat baking products.

Finally, Fig. 8 shows a variant in which several trays are arranged next to each other. In the illustrated example, these multi-cell trays are packaged in groups of three trays and are therefore as such conveyed by the carrier member(s) of the second conveying device.

It will be clear to the person skilled in the art that only a few possible embodiments of a device according to the invention have been shown in the drawings and described above, but that many modifications may be made without departing from the inventive application as determined by the scope of protection of the following claims.