FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of packaging industry, more particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems for manufacturing and sealing packaging units.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The packaging industry has been in place for long and is segmented by product type, material type, and end user industry. The demand for packaging is growing with the growth of population, increase in income levels, everchanging lifestyles, and growing economies. Further, the packaging industry is one of the strongest growing sectors worldwide. The manufacturers of packaging cartons have been working all this time to keep the workflow of the packaging industry consistent for most essential products like food and other consumer products, medical and pharmaceutical products, tissue, and hygiene products, etc.

Blisters and cartoning are one of the most used packaging means and are manufactured using blister manufacturing and cartoning systems. However, the conventional blister manufacturing and cartoning systems have two separate lines for manufacturing a blister and cartoning the product in cartons. This utilizes more space as individual stations are involved in the manufacturing process and the packaging process is quite big. Further, such conventional systems require more maintenance at the time of changeover. Further, two separate lines for manufacturing the blister and cartoning create delays in terms of speed.

The blister manufacturing section employed in conventional systems is operated using either a mechanical cam mechanism or through servos or combinations of both. The movement of blister foil through various stages happens with various loops, puller mechanism etc. Conventional blister manufacturing systems are a combination of intermittent and continuous motion, leading to elaborate foil path, bigger forming and sealing stations. These sizes and weight limit the speed of a blister machine, or it results into heavy and bigger footprint systems. Therefore, there is a requirement of compact and high-speed systems for manufacturing and sealing packaging units, which is easy to install and maintain, thereby having low maintenance costs and being more operator friendly.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simplified format, that are further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the invention nor intended for determining the scope of the invention.

The present disclosure related to a system for manufacturing and sealing a plurality of blister leaflets. The system includes a blister manufacturing section adapted to manufacture the plurality of blister leaflets. The blister manufacturing section includes a plurality of processing stations located on a transfer belt. Each of the plurality of processing stations are adapted to perform a preassigned task for manufacturing of the plurality of blister leaflets. A cartoning section is located downstream to the blister manufacturing section and is adapted to carton the plurality of blister leaflets simultaneously with manufacturing of the plurality of blister leaflets in the blister manufacturing section. A transfer unit is located between the blister manufacturing system and the cartoning section. The transfer unit is adapted to transfer the plurality of blister leaflets from the blister manufacturing section to the cartoning section.

The present disclosure further discloses a packaging system including a system for manufacturing and sealing a plurality of blister leaflets. The system includes a blister manufacturing section adapted to manufacture the plurality of blister leaflets. The blister manufacturing section includes a plurality of processing stations located on a transfer belt. Each of the plurality of processing stations are adapted to perform a preassigned task for manufacturing of the plurality of blister leaflets. A cartoning is section located downstream to the blister manufacturing section. The cartoning section is adapted to carton the plurality of blister leaflets simultaneously with manufacturing of the plurality of blister leaflets in the blister manufacturing section. A transfer unit is located between the blister manufacturing system and the cartoning section. The transfer unit is adapted to transfer the plurality of blister leaflets from the blister manufacturing section to the cartoning section.

The blister manufacturing and cartoning system disclosed herein includes blister manufacturing section and cartoning section which function simultaneously. This helps in providing a compact and high-speed blister manufacturing and cartoning system. Further, the blister manufacturing and cartoning system is easy to install and maintain due to its less complex nature, thereby having low maintenance costs and being more operator friendly. As the blister manufacturing section is quite compact, it is also possible to install multi belts within the blister manufacturing section, thereby reducing the time for manufacturing as various processes can be taken up simultaneously.

To further clarify advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which is illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a blister manufacturing and cartoning system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 2 illustrates a blister manufacturing section, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 3 illustrates the blister manufacturing section including a dual transfer belt, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure; and Figure 4 illustrates a blister manufacturing section including a planar motor on which various stations may be randomly placed, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

For example, the term “some” as used herein may be understood as “none” or “one” or “more than one” or “all.” Therefore, the terms “none,” “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would fall under the definition of “some.” It should be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the terminology and structure employed herein is for describing, teaching, and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and therefore, should not be construed to limit, restrict or reduce the spirit and scope of the present disclosure in any way.

For example, any terms used herein such as, “includes,” “comprises,” “has,” “consists,” and similar grammatical variants do not specify an exact limitation or restriction, and certainly do not exclude the possible addition of one or more features or elements, unless otherwise stated. Further, such terms must not be taken to exclude the possible removal of one or more of the listed features and elements, unless otherwise stated, for example, by using the limiting language including, but not limited to, “must comprise” or “needs to include.”

Whether or not a certain feature or element was limited to being used only once, it may still be referred to as “one or more features” or “one or more elements” or “at least one feature” or “at least one element.” Furthermore, the use of the terms “one or more” or “at least one” feature or element do not preclude there being none of that feature or element, unless otherwise specified by limiting language including, but not limited to, “there needs to be one or more...” or “one or more elements is required.”

Unless otherwise defined, all terms and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person ordinarily skilled in the art.

Reference is made herein to some “embodiments.” It should be understood that an embodiment is an example of a possible implementation of any features and/or elements of the present disclosure. Some embodiments have been described for the purpose of explaining one or more of the potential ways in which the specific features and/or elements of the proposed disclosure fulfil the requirements of uniqueness, utility, and non-obviousness.

Use of the phrases and/or terms including, but not limited to, “a first embodiment,” “a further embodiment,” “an alternate embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “multiple embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “other embodiments,” “further embodiment”, “furthermore embodiment”, “additional embodiment” or other variants thereof do not necessarily refer to the same embodiments. Unless otherwise specified, one or more particular features and/or elements described in connection with one or more embodiments may be found in one embodiment, or may be found in more than one embodiment, or may be found in all embodiments, or may be found in no embodiments. Although one or more features and/or elements may be described herein in the context of only a single embodiment, or in the context of more than one embodiment, or in the context of all embodiments, the features and/or elements may instead be provided separately or in any appropriate combination or not at all. Conversely, any features and/or elements described in the context of separate embodiments may alternatively be realized as existing together in the context of a single embodiment.

Any particular and all details set forth herein are used in the context of some embodiments and therefore should not necessarily be taken as limiting factors to the proposed disclosure.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present disclosure relates to a system for manufacturing and sealing packaging units. The system includes a blister manufacturing and cartoning system including two separate lines for manufacturing a blister and then cartoning the blisters so manufactured, respectively. Once the blister manufacturing is complete, a final blister will be further transferred to a cartoning section, using a transfer mechanism.

The present disclosure further relates to a packaging system 100 including a blister manufacturing section 200 and cartoning system 500, as depicted in Figure 1. The blister manufacturing section 200 is adapted to manufacture the plurality of blister leaflets, which are adapted to store different products 126, for example, pharmaceutical products, cosmetic products, stationery products, food items, etc. The processing of the plurality of blister leaflets and storage of such products into the plurality of blister leaflets requires processing through a plurality of processing stations. The plurality of processing stations is located on a transfer belt 128. Each of the plurality of processing stations is adapted to perform a preassigned task for manufacturing the plurality of the plurality of blister leaflets. The preassigned task includes either one of heating, forming, punching, feeding, sealing, embossing, and perforation and cutting of a forming foil 122. The plurality of blister leaflets so manufacturers are required to be appropriately distributed based on the type of products 126 contained therein. In one example, the distribution of the plurality of blister leaflets may be done by cartoning them based on the type of the product 126. The cartoning section 500 is employed for cartoning of the plurality of blister leaflets and is located downstream to the blister manufacturing section 200.

The plurality of blister leaflets are required to be transferred to the cartoning section 500 for cartoning. Cartoning is the process of packaging the plurality of blister leaflets into separate cartons, based on the type of products 126. The plurality of blister leaflets are transferred to the cartoning section 500 by a transfer unit (not shown). The transfer unit is located between the blister manufacturing system and the cartoning section 500. The transfer unit is adapted to transfer the plurality of blister leaflets from the blister manufacturing section 200 to the cartoning section 500. The cartoning section 500 is adapted to receive the plurality of blister leaflets from the transfer mechanism, and carton the plurality of blister leaflets simultaneously with the manufacturing of the plurality of blister leaflets in the blister manufacturing section 200.

In one embodiment, the plurality of processing stations of the blister manufacturing section 200 includes a forming foil station 130, a heating station 120, a forming station 118, a punching station 114, a feeding station 112, a sealing station 106, an embossing station 104, and a perforation station 102. The forming foil station 130 is adapted to receive and deploy the forming foil 122 in the blister manufacturing section 200 at a starting point of the traversing system. The forming foil 122 is adapted to pass through various stations with help of the transfer belt 128. In one embodiment, the forming foil moves on the transfer belt 128 with the help of a plurality of shuttles 124 positioned on the transfer belt 128. In one example, the forming foil 122 may be made up of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) or Aluminum. In another example, the forming foil 122 may be made up of any material as per requirement and application. Optionally, the forming foil 122 may pass through the heating station 120, which is adapted to heat and soften the forming foil 122 to ease punching cavities into the forming foil 122.

The forming foil 122 then passes through the forming station 118 which is adapted to form a plurality of cavities into the forming foil 122. In one embodiment, the cavities in the forming foil 122 may be formed by using a cold forming process. The forming foil 122 passes through the forming foil path 116. After the forming station 118, the forming foil 122 passes through the punching station 114, located downstream to the forming station 118. The punching station 114 is adapted to punch the forming foil 122 having the plurality of cavities to form punch marks on the forming foil 122 to differentiate the forming foil 122 into a plurality of leaflets. Once punching is complete, the cavities are required to be filled with the product 126. The forming foil 122 with cavities passes through the feeding station 112 located downstream to the punching station 114. The feeding station 112 includes a feeding unit adapted to feed a product into the plurality of cavities of the leaflets. In one example, the feeding unit may include a feeder, a hopper or any other feeding mechanism which may be appropriate based on the dimensions, size and weight of the product 126.

Once the cavities of the forming foil 122 are filled, the cavities are required to be sealed to prevent the product 126 from falling out of the cavities. The forming foil 122 with cavities passes through the sealing station 106 located downstream to the feeding station 112. The sealing station 106 includes a leading foil placed inside the sealing station 106, and a sealing unit (not shown) adapted to seal the leaflets with the leading foil to close the plurality of cavities. In one example, the leading foil 110 may be made up of aluminium or paper, or any other material, based on requirement and application. In one example, the sealing unit may include a plurality of rollers (not shown) adapted to seal the leaflets with the leading foil to close the plurality of cavities by a rolling operation. In another example, the sealing unit may include a flat sealing unit (not shown) adapted to seal the leaflets with the leading foil to close the plurality of cavities by a flat sealing process.

The leading foil 110 is punched together with the cavities in the forming foil 122 at the second punching station 108. Movement of the leading foil 110 along with the forming foil 122 through various stations may be assisted by the plurality of shuttles 124 mounted on electromagnetic linear motors in the blister manufacturing section 200. Once the cavities are sealed, the forming foil 122 with multiple sealed cavities is produced. The forming foil 122 with the cavities is then transferred to the embossing station 104 located downstream to the sealing station 106, for embossing an identification mark onto the forming foil. The embossing station is adapted to emboss onto the forming foil 122 having filled cavities. Now, the forming foil is required to be cut into the plurality of blister leaflets, which is done by the perforation and cutting station 102. The embossed forming foil 122 is traversed to the perforation and cutting station 102 located downstream to the embossing station 104 and adapted to make perforations in the forming foil 122 having filled cavities and cutting the forming foil 122 to produce the plurality of blister leaflets thereafter.

For better clarity, the blister manufacturing and sealing section 200 has been separately depicted in Figure 2. The blister manufacturing system as illustrated by Figure 2, includes forming foil 122, a heating station 120, a forming station 118, a first punching station 114, a feeding station 112, a leading foil 110, a second punching station 108, a sealing station 106, an embossing station 104, and a perforation station 102. Once all the processes related to blister manufacturing and sealing are complete via these stations, final blister leaflets 124 will be further transferred to a cartoning section 500, using a transfer belt 128 which is supported by side rails 126. The cartoning section 500 also includes different stations and is adapted to receive the plurality of blister leaflets. The cartoning section 500 is further adapted to perform functions via the plurality of blister leaflets 124 are packaged into cartons. In one embodiment, the blister manufacturing and sealing section 300 may include a dual transfer belt 328. The forming foil 322 is adapted to traverse to the plurality of processing stations between the pair of belts of the dual transfer belt 328, as illustrated by Figure 3. In this scenario, the forming foil 322 is supported by the dual transfer belt 328, and the plurality of processing stations is arranged in a series configuration. The movement of a plurality of shuttles (not shown) may be one of a synchronous nature and an asynchronous nature. The dual transfer belt 328 may be helpful in scenarios where the product 326 has heavy weight or is large sized. The blister manufacturing section 300 includes a heating station 320, a forming station 318, a feeding station 312, a sealing station 306, an embossing station 304 and a perforation station (not shown), that are structurally and functionally similar to the corresponding processing stations explained with respect to Figure 1.

The forming foil 322 moves through various stations including the plurality of stations as mentioned above. In this case, the punching station 314 is in the last stage, where the forming foil 322 is punched into separate blister leaflets. Once all the processes related to blister manufacturing and sealing are complete via these stations, final blister leaflets (not shown) will be further transferred to the cartoning section 500, using the dual transfer belt 328 which is supported by side rails 326, and may include a planar motor 428 using additional transfer mechanism.

In another embodiment, a blister manufacturing section 400 may include a planar motor 428 and multiple shuttles 424, and a plurality of processing stations is arranged in a random configuration with respect to the planar motor 428, as illustrated in Figure 4. In this scenario, movement of multiple shuttles 424 is of an asynchronous nature. The planar motor and the multiple shuttles do away with the need of a transfer belt for conveying the forming foil to the plurality of stations, as in the previous embodiments. The multiple shuttles 424 are adapted to levitate on the planar motor 428. Further, the forming foil 422 moves through various stations including a heating and forming station 420, a first punching station 412, a feeding station 406, a second punching station 408, a sealing station 404, an embossing station 414, and a perforation station 418, each station being similar to the corresponding stations explained with respect to Figure 1. In the blister manufacturing section 400, the forming foil 422 is first punched via the first punching station 412 and a leading foil 410 is punched with the blister leaflets at the second punching station 408, and then the blister leaflets travel through further stations in a manner explained above with respect to Figure 1. Once all the processes related to blister manufacturing are complete, final blister leaflets (not shown) will be further transferred to the cartoning section 500, using the planar motor 428. The advantage of planar motor 428 is that the multiple shuttles 424 may return to any station at any point during the blister manufacturing cycle. This also allows a single punching station, either the first punching station 412 or, the second punching station 408 to be used for separate punching tasks.

The blister manufacturing and cartoning system 100 disclosed herein includes blister manufacturing section 200, 300, 400 and cartoning section 500 which function simultaneously. This helps in providing a compact and high-speed blister manufacturing and cartoning system. Further, the blister manufacturing and cartoning system 100 is easy to install and maintain due to its less complex nature, thereby having low maintenance costs and being more operator friendly. As the blister manufacturing and sealing system is quite compact, it is possible to install multi belts within the blister manufacturing and sealing system, thereby reducing the time for manufacturing as various processes can be taken up simultaneously.

While specific language has been used to describe the present disclosure, any limitations arising on account thereto, are not intended. As would be apparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein. The drawings and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment.