Login| Sign Up| Help| Contact|

Patent Searching and Data


Title:
AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR TREATING AND CONVERTING PAPER BY COMPRESSION WITH HOT MOULDING AND COLD MATERIAL
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2024/052946
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
An automatic machine (1) is described for the treatment and transformation of paper by compression with a hot moulding and with cold material, the machine (1) comprising: a reel- unwinding element (3), for a reel or roll of paper (4); a humidifier element (5) of the paper roll (4); a first driving system (7); a forming press (9); a cutting press (16) for the perimeter cut of the previously formed objects; a stacker element (20) for detaching the products from the scrap and 15 stacking them in the form of a pile; and a scrap winder element (24) which rewinds the production waste scrap and rewinds it preparing it to be withdrawn.

Inventors:
FRETTA ROBERTO (IT)
Application Number:
PCT/IT2023/050157
Publication Date:
March 14, 2024
Filing Date:
June 30, 2023
Export Citation:
Click for automatic bibliography generation   Help
Assignee:
OMG S R L (IT)
International Classes:
B31F1/00; B31B50/00; B31B50/59; B31B50/74; B31F1/36; B31B100/00
Domestic Patent References:
WO2020261198A12020-12-30
Foreign References:
DE4334364A11994-05-11
CN113400714A2021-09-17
US20220251785A12022-08-11
US20160176145A12016-06-23
DE4334364A11994-05-11
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
GARAVELLI, Paolo (IT)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS 1. Automatic machine (1) for the treatment and transformation of paper by compression with hot moulding and cold material, said machine (1) comprising: - at least one reel-unwinding element (3), which is a piece of equipment that supports and unrolls a reel or roll of paper (4); – at least one humidifier element (5) of the paper reel (4), placed downstream and operatively connected to the reel-unwinding element (3); – at least one first drive system (7), located downstream and operatively connected to the humidifier element (5), said first drive system (7) being a drive system that translates the unrolled and humidified paper reel (4) from the humidification zone to the forming zone; – at least one forming press (9), placed downstream and operatively connected to the first driving system (7); – at least one cutting press (16), placed downstream of the second drive system (13), said cutting press (16) being an electromechanical press designed to cut the perimeter of the previously formed objects; – at least one stacker element (20), placed downstream of a third drive system (22), said stacker element (20) being a piece of equipment which allows the products to be detached from the scrap and stacked in the form of a pile; and – at least one scrap winder element (24), located downstream and operatively connected to the stacker element (20), said scrap winder element (24) being a piece of equipment which rewinds the production scrap and rewinds it preparing it to be retired, characterized in that: - said first driving system (7) is a preliminary driving system; and in that the automatic machine (1) also includes: - a trimming equipment (11), located downstream and operationally connected to the forming press (9), designed to re-establish the parallelism between the two edges of the reel (4) by trimming the original edges; – at least one second drive system (13), placed downstream and operatively connected to the trimming equipment (11), said second drive system (13) being designed to move the semi-finished product from the forming area to the perimeter cutting area; – at least one third drive system (22), located downstream and operationally connected to the cutting press (16), said third drive system (22) being located between the perimeter cutting press (16) and the scrap outlet; wherein: - said cutting press (16) is operatively connected to the second driving system (13); - said stacker element (20) is operatively connected to the third driving system (22); and - the stacked products are taken out of the line on a rotating belt. 2. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that it is also equipped with a control panel (18), consisting of a man/machine video interface which allows setting, programming and controlling the line during the various steps of the production process. 3. Machine (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said humidifier element (5) is an equipment equipped with sprinklers (6) which spray a solution of water and glycerin at each drag step, moistening it and preparing it for moulding. 4. Machine (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that, when the paper material (4) is made up of several layers, in order to have an optimal humidification, said sprinklers (6) are placed both below and above the roll of paper (4), while, when the reel is made up of a large number of layers, these layers are divided before being humidified to be sure of moistening the paper (4) even in its deepest layers. 5. Machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said forming press (9) is an electromechanical press with horizontal movement which presses the two male/female halves of a heated mould, housed respectively on the upper and on the lower one of the press (9) which shape the moistened paper (4) giving it a volume and giving it a constant and lasting shape over time. 6. Machine (1) according to claim 5, characterized in that, during the compression step, a vacuum is applied to the two upper and lower halves of the mould to eliminate excess humidity, the mould being heated to about 280° C and the press (9) compresses the material (4) with variable pressure up to a maximum of 250 tons. 7. Machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said trimming equipment (11) trims the original edges by means of rotating circular knives. 8. Machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said second drive system (13) moves the semi-finished product through the use of a small pneumatic press (14) which grips the formed material by milled shapes and performs programmed feed steps via a brushless motor (15). 9. Machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, in said cutting press (16), the cut takes place by means of punches which have small discontinuities on the wire in which they do not cut, leaving a "witness" which will allow the shapes to remain attached to the scrap up to the stacker element (20). 10. Machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, in said third driving system (22), the translation of the material takes place by means of two chains (23) with hooks driven by a brushless motor, which chains (23) pierce and drag the material on both sides.
Description:
AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR TREATING AND CONVERTING PAPER BY COMPRESSION WITH HOT MOULDING AND COLD MATERIAL The present invention relates to an automatic machine for the treatment and transformation of paper by compression with hot moulding and cold material, in particular in which the paper is transformed into products with a common-use volume such as trays, transport packaging, technical components, etc. having a durable consistency and endowed with high mechanical properties of resistance to blows and torsion. For this reason, these products can often replace the same products made of plastic material by means of thermoforming and/or injection. Machines of this type, which allow carrying out a process by which paper is transformed into mechanically resistant products, are not known from DE-A1-43 34 364, which discloses a machine according to the preamble of Claim 1. Object of the present invention is solving the aforesaid prior art problems by providing an automatic machine for treating and converting paper which allows to produce a commonly used final product, as indicated above, which is mechanically resistant and has a durable consistency. The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are achieved with an automatic paper treatment and converting machine such as the one described in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variants of the present invention form the object of dependent claims. It is understood that all attached claims form an integral part of the present description. It will be immediately obvious that innumerable variations and modifications may be made to what is described (for example relating to shape, dimensions, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) without departing from the scope of protection of the invention as appears from the attached claims. The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which the only Figure 1 shows a side schematic view of according to the present invention. Referring to Figure 1, the automatic machine 1 of the invention is used to process paper and convert it by hot moulding and cold material compression into products with a common-use volume such as trays, transport packaging, technical components, etc. having a durable consistency and endowed with high mechanical properties of resistance to blows and torsion. This machine 1 substantially comprises, in the direction from left to right with respect to the sheet, which is the direction of unwinding and processing: - at least one reel-unwinding element 3, which is a piece of equipment that supports and unrolls a reel or roll of paper 4; – at least one humidifier element 5, located downstream and operatively connected to the reel- unwinder element 3, this humidifier element 5 being an equipment equipped with sprinklers 6 which spray a solution of water and glycerine at each step onto the flat roll of paper 4 being dragged, moistening it and preparing it for moulding; – at least one first drive system 7, placed downstream and operatively connected to the humidifier element 5: this first drive system 7 is a preliminary drive system which moves the unrolled and humidified paper reel 4 from the humidification zone to the forming zone; – at least one forming press 9, placed downstream and operatively connected to the first driving system 7: this forming press 9 is an electromechanical press with horizontal movement which presses the two halves (male/female, not illustrated) of a heated mould (housed respectively on the upper and lower planes of the press 9) which shape the moistened paper 4 giving it a volume and giving it a constant and lasting shape over time; – a trimming equipment 11, located downstream and operatively connected to the forming press 9, which re-establishes the parallelism between the two edges of the reel 4 by trimming ("straightening") the original edges (which already have the desired final shapes at their inside) by means of rotating circular knives (not shown); – at least one second dragging system 13, located downstream and operatively connected to the trimming equipment 11: this is the dragging system that transfers the semi-finished product (formed products and still bound to the trimmed scrap) from the shaping area to the perimeter cut. In fact, this system translates the semi-finished product up to the entrance of the two motorized point-guided chain guides 23 which constitute the third dragging system 22. The movement described above takes place through the use of a small pneumatic press 14 which clamps the material formed by milled shapes (which copy the geometry of the formed parts) and performs advance steps programmed by means of a brushless motor 15; – at least one cutting press 16, placed downstream and operatively connected to the second driving system 13: this is an electromechanical press assigned to the perimeter cutting of the previously formed objects. The cut takes place by means of punches which have small discontinuities on the wire in which they do not cut, leaving a "witness" which will allow the forms to remain attached to the scrap up to the stacker element 20; – at least one third drive system 22, placed downstream and operatively connected to the cutting press 16: it is the drive system which is located between the perimeter cutting press 16 and the scrap outlet, and carries out the translation of the material by means of two chains with hooks 23 driven by a brushless motor (not shown), which chains 23 pierce and drag the material on both sides; – at least one stacker element 20, placed downstream and operatively connected to the third drive system 22: this stacker element 20 is an equipment which allows detaching the products from the scrap and stacking them in the form of a pile making them leave the line on a carpet rotating; and – at least one scrap winder element 24, placed downstream and operatively connected to the stacker element 20: this scrap winder element 24 is a piece of equipment which rewinds the scrap (production waste) and rewinds it (on 25) preparing it to be withdrawn. The machine 1 of the invention is also equipped with a control panel 18, consisting of a man/machine video interface which allows the setting, programming and control of the line during the various steps of the production process. The machine 1 described above is the first machine capable of transforming a dry reel of paper into a functional, stable, pleasing to the eye and durable product. The most innovative parts are those in which the dragging of the material takes place, in which the material is moistened and in which the mould works by thermocompression in order to create the desired shapes/geometries. In particular, as regards the part in which the dragging of the material takes place, the translation of the dragging material takes place by means of the pneumatic press/plier 14 which crushes the paper material on an "idle" rubber belt: the propelled with a brushless motor programmed to perform a pre-programmed amount of travel. As regards the part where the material is moistened, given that the paper material 4 is made up of several layers of variable number (8, 16, 32), in order to obtain optimal humidification, the sprinklers 6 are placed both below and above the roll of paper 4. Furthermore, when the roll consists of a large number of layers, these layers are divided before being humidified to ensure that the paper 4 is also moistened in its deeper layers. As regards the part in which the mould works by thermocompression in order to create the desired shapes/geometries, during the compression step, a vacuum is applied in the two halves of the mould (upper and lower) to eliminate excess humidity. The mould is heated to about 280°C and the press 9 compresses the material 4 with variable pressure up to a maximum of 250 tons.