CONVEYOR AND POSITIONING DEVICE FOR POUCH-PACKAGED PRODUCTS

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TECHNICAL FIELD

This inventions concerns a conveyor and positioning device designed for pouch-packaged products, in particular food products such as snacks including bar- type snacks .

More specifically, this invention refers to a conveyor and positioning device designed in such a way as to allow a succession of packages, coming from a packaging machine, to be individually rotated so as to move from a transverse position to a longitudinal position with respect to the infeed direction.

The device according to the invention consists of a system that can rotate each package by 90 degrees on the flat so that the packages can be transferred parallel to one another to a grouping machine.

This invention can be applied in the applied mechanics sector to packaging machines, in particular to automatic in-line packaging machines of food products.

BACKGROUND ART

The use of packaging machines forming part of a system able to pouch-package and box food products of various kinds, by means of automatic packaging lines, is

known in the packaging sector.

The food products of various kinds coming out of the tunnel ovens or cooling tunnels (snacks, pastries, covered bars, croissants and other products) are automatically transferred towards packaging lines which foresee the use of horizontal or vertical packaging machines, for example flow pack machines, which form closed packages, generally with three seals, starting from a reel of hot or cold-sealing wrapping material. The various packaging machines can be very different from each other, but they all have in common the purpose of packaging the products, starting from a reel of heat- sealing wrapping material, and of conveying them towards the boxing sector. One of the problems encountered with the use of these packaging machines concerns the packaged products which are transferred to the infeed line in a longitudinal direction, typically in the case of snacks and bars. This device, which is extremely common above all in the case of classic snacks or bars, takes up a considerable amount of space and above all prevents the infeed time from reaching a satisfactory production rhythm. This is due to the fact that the products move forward with their largest side, that is to say their length, taking up the space on the conveyer belt, with the consequence that the automatic line has excessively large dimensions and the product is boxed in an irrational way, often making it necessary for personnel to intervene manually, with all the negative consequences

that derive from this drawback.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention proposes to provide a conveyor and positioning device that can eliminate or at least reduce the drawbacks described above.

The invention also proposes to provide a conveyor and positioning device that is very simple to produce so as not to increase production costs, and which provides the packaging plant with a series of substantial advantages, the first of which is the automatic alignment of the packages in a transverse direction, these packages entering in a longitudinal direction with respect to the infeed line.

This is achieved by means of a conveyor and positioning device whose features are described in the main claim.

The dependent claims describe advantageous embodiments of the invention.

The main advantages of this solution, in addition to those deriving from its construction simplicity, concern the fact that after the pouch-packaged products have been rotated, they can be conveyed side by side, parallel to each other along their longest side, in a direction that is transverse to the infeed direction.

The packages will thus reach the boxing station already positioned alongside each other, thus taking up all the space available, and at the same time the production speed is increased.

The device according to the invention therefore

substantially consists of a machine for positioning the packages, located between an infeed station of the products already packaged and sealed by the packaging machine and a station for the collection and transfer of the packages towards the boxes which form the outer packaging ready to be sent to the distribution system.

The machine for positioning the packages consists of a line of adjustable forks hinged in a vertical direction on an infeed line located above the product infeed line. The product passes along a route which first slopes upwards and then down, so that at the top each package can be gripped by the relative fork, rotated 90° and then released and transferred towards the conveyor machine and the boxing station. Each package, which enters in a longitudinal direction, is thus automatically positioned in a transverse direction, in order to take up as little space as possible and to be boxed in the most appropriate manner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the invention will become evident on reading the following description of one embodiment of the invention, given as a non-binding example, with the help of the accompanying drawings, in which: figure 1 represents a schematic side view of the conveyor and positioning device according to the invention and designed for pouch-packaged products ; figure 2 represents a schematic plan view;

figure 3 shows a detailed view of sector A of figure 1; figure 4 represents a detail of the product infeed line on a sloping route and of the respective line of adjustable forks; figure 5 represents a detailed schematic plan view of the infeed line and of the respective line of forks.

With reference to the accompanying figures, the reference number 10 indicates the overall machine.

DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the accompanying figures, and first of all to figure 1, the conveyor and positioning device, indicated overall with 10, is located between an infeed station 11 of the products already packaged and sealed by the packaging machine and a station for the collection and transfer 12 of the packages towards the boxes which form the outer packaging ready to be sent to the distribution system.

The conveyor and positioning device 10, for pouch- packaged products, substantially consists of a line of adjustable forks 13, which are hinged in a vertical direction on an infeed line 14 located above the product infeed line 15.

More specifically, the adjustable forks 13 consist of an inverted "U" shaped section 16 whose base is fixed at its centre to the lower end of a respective rotating vertical shaft 17.

A certain number of rotating shafts 17, on which the

respective sections are mounted, are positioned at regular intervals on the infeed line 14, which is fitted between two gears 18 and 19 at least one of which is power-driven . In turn, the upper end of each rotating shaft 17 is connected to a rotation device 20 which consists of a connecting rod inserted together with its extremity, equipped with a bearing, a pad or similar, in a cam track 21, positioned on the infeed line 14, in such a way that the shaft and the relative section turn by 90 degrees in the predetermined sector, as will be better explained below.

Below the positioning device 10 is the product infeed line 15, consisting of a conveyor belt stretched between two gears 22 and driven by a motor 23. The belt 15, on whose upper surface the products are conveyed, presents a curved shape, that is to say it first slopes upwards and then downwards, as is clearly visible in figure 4. The curvature of the product infeed zone is obtained by using a curved surface, and in such a way that the top of the curve is approximately in the centre of the positioning line 10 comprising the forks 13.

The conveyor belt 15 presents regularly space holes 24 to allow the passage of air aspirated from inside the chamber 25 on which the conveyor belt is positioned.

The curved surface on which the belt 15 is positioned forms the upper surface of the chamber 25 in which a vacuum is created by suction means not shown as they are already known.

The holes 24 are positioned along the belt 15 at

regular intervals corresponding to the distance between the infed products, this distance being in turn equal to the distance between the forks 13.

This suction system on the belt 15, through the holes 24, ensures that the infed products remain perfectly adherent in the position where they are gripped by the respective fork and turned 90° degrees to a transverse position.

The suction system prevents the products from moving on their own while allowing their angular movement by means of the forks to a transverse position.

The product entering from the infeed sector 11 passes along a route that first slopes upwards and then down so that at the top of the slope each package C, while remaining adherent to the conveyor belt 15 by means of the suction system activated through the holes 24, can be gripped by the respective fork 13, rotated 90 degrees and then released for transfer to the conveyor machine 12 and then to the boxing station. Each package C, arriving in a longitudinal direction from the infeed device 11, is therefore rotated and automatically positioned in a transverse direction, thus taking up less space and being boxed in the most appropriate manner. The conveyor unit 12, located downstream of the positioning device, is also equipped with an infeed belt, in this case fitted with dividers that form compartments into each of which a package C is inserted in a transverse direction with respect to the infeed line. An example of how the positioning device according to the invention functions will now be described.

Each of the product packages C, arranged longitudinally one after the other on the infeed device

11, is transferred to the belt of the infeed line 15 which carries them along on the first upward section of the route.

While the longitudinally arranged packages move up the slope, they encounter the respective forks 13 which, in this sector, are also arranged longitudinally. The distance between the forks 13 is obviously calculated to be synchronised with the packages moving forward on the belt.

When the packages reach the highest part of the curve they are totally inserted in the fork and precisely at this point the pawl of the connecting rod 20 moves outwards, causing the fork to rotate by 90 degrees.

Continuing to move forwards on the belt 15, packages rotated by 90° start to move downwards until they reach the end of the line and are transferred to the subsequent line 12 , where the belt is fitted with dividers which improve the infeed of the products.

It can be noted that the transversally positioned packages are now much closer to each other, since their long sides are parallel to each other, with the result that they take up much less space. The transverse position also allows the packages to be inserted in the boxes in a more rational way, using all the space available.

As can be seen, the device according to the invention allows considerable advantages from the production point of view, since by rationalising the use of space, the production capacity of the plant is

increased.

The invention is described above with reference to a preferred embodiment. It is nevertheless clear that the invention is susceptible to numerous variations that lie within its sphere, within the framework of technical equivalents