The present invention relates to a layer former unit capable to arrange products, for example to place containers in a programmable pattern. In a second embodiment, the invention concerns transport means by which products to be picked up are transported in lanes, a layer former manipulator and a top loader manipulator.

Case packers known m the art need a pre-formed layer presented to the stage where the products are merged with the packaging material. Layer formers presently known all work on the principle of buffer forming followed by layer forming by separating part of the buffer. Said known system is not very well suited for products without well defined shape such as pouches, pieces of meat, and the like, or w th an odd shape

(triangle, cone) . For this kind of products, the system is often replaced by manual packaging. The system furthermore has the drawback of damaging weak products, such as ice creams, tubs, and the like. Moreover, the reliability of the known packaging devices is not very high, and flexibility to switch to any other type of containers s considered to be low

The layer former of the present invention does not have any of these drawbacks, and concerns a layer former unit comprising at least two end effectors, which can move in horizontal and vertical direction, and a driving means which allows controlled horizontal and/or vertical movement of the end effector means, each of the end effector means comprising a tool capable of holding products. In a highly preferred embodiment, there is more than one tool present per end effector, whereby it is considered a further preferrered embodiment in which each of the said tools within the end effector can move independently from the other tools The end effectors are preferably mounted onto a manipulator, m such a manner that each end effector can move withm said

manipulator. More preferably, there are at least two end effectors present per manipulator, whereby the end effectors can move independently.

The tool can be a gripper, or a vacuum head, or any other type of tool capable of holding products. The layer forming part rearranges products and so can put them in any configuration desired for packaging. The packaging into the packaging means can be done by use of any method known in the art. For example, a case packer known in the art can be used, and so an automatic rearranging and packaging process can be obtained. Accordingly, the present invention also concerns a case packer machine, comprising a layer former unit aε described above. In a further preferred embodiment, the case packer also comprises a top loader manipulator which is capable of picking up more than one product simultaneously.

The layer former of the present invention can be used for intermittent motion and for continuous motion. The cycle time can easily be less than one second. By the rearranging, a so called footprint or layer pattern is obtained, i.e. a particular pattern desired for filling cases. The footprint can be of any arrangement. For large products, it may be desired to have 6 or less products per lane . For other products, for example for tubes, the number of products per lane to be arranged may be between 8 and 12 products .

The layer former can furthermore be used for locating, holding and rearranging goods which are transported on a production line.

An example of such a production process wherein a layer former can be used is one where the products are transported intermittently or continuously down in lanes, e.g. from a filler, the products thus being located at known positions. In this embodiment, a manipulator optionally orientates then, and rearranges them row by row. Orienting and rearranging per two rows or more is possible as well, although three or more

rows seems rather difficult in practice.

E.g., when producing consumer goods, or filling and closing containers such as tubs, bottles, bags or the like, it is often desired to pack a specified number of such containers into a case. The containers of en are arranged in a number of parallel lanes at the production line. For the automatic packing into cases, it is needed that the products are arranged in a specified configuration, which is then picked up and put into the case, which can be repeated several times to obtain a specified number of layers in the case until it is filled. Said number may be 1 or more. In such processes, the transport velocity can be rather high.

The layer former of our invention is very useful for locating, holding and rearranging of such fast moving consumer goods transported in a number of parallel lanes so as to obtain layers of a desired, particular configuration. Said configuration will depend on product size and shape, and on size and shape of the cases the layers are to be packed into.

It is not always required to have a locating means present . For example, in a production process where products are offered at a regular timing, the layer former apparatus may be synchronized with the timing of the products offered for packaging, so that no locating means would be needed. For reliability, however, it is desired to have such a locating means present. Suitable locating means are light controllers such as infra red light beam controllers, or mechanical locating means known to the man skilled in the art.

The present invention further concerns a method for moving containers from a surface into a packaging means, the method comprising the locating of at least one container per cycle, holding the container by a tool, rearranging the position by use of an end effector comprising said tool, and release of the container from the tool, and the packaging of the so repositioned container into a packaging means. The containers

are preferably rearranged simultaneously by use of one or more end effector means comprising a separate tool for each container to be rearranged simultaneously per cycle, and whereby the tools preferably are capable of moving independently of eachother, to ensure flexibility in the layer pattern to be obtained. The method advantageously comprises the use of one layer former device to obtain a layer pattern desired for packaging, since it will not be needed to have more than one device for such rearranging. In another embodiment, the layer pattern desired for packaging is picked up from a surface by a top loader manipulator and is moved while being lifted by a lifting means being part of the top loader manipulator.

During the transfer from the start position to the end position of the layer former while operating, the products are rearranged to form one or more rows as desired of the layer. Optionally, where the layer former is used in an automatic packaging line or the like, the products may be synchronised in position and velocity with the operating speed of the previous and/or next apparatus.

The number of end effectors can easily be adapted to the number of products to be rearranged per cycle, for example to the number of products transported in a row. If the size of the tools so allows, variation of the number of products which are rearranged can also be obtained by variation of the number of products offered and not altering the number of tools present. The size and shape of products that can be rearranged can be varied by changing the tools, or by adjusting the control program. The tools can be of any suitable shape, and can for example comprise at least two gripping fingers, or a vacuum head.

The total system of the invention provides flexibility in the process of layer forming and case packing. The size of the products, the shape and configuration, and the size of the

cases to be filled can be chosen as desired. As a result, a modular system is obtained which can be configured for arbitrary numbers of lanes using various numbers of tools. Examples of containers that can be rearranged by the use of the present invention can be a bottle, tin, can, carton, bag, tube, tub, wrapper, sachet and the like. In another preferred embodiment, the layer former is operated through a controller which manipulates the speed and timing of operating in such a manner that a correct timing of products arriving and the end effector means moving towards the products is obtained. With the layer former of the present invention, the products need not touch eachother and provides a very high flexibility in product size and shape. In addition, the layer patterns can be chosen such that these require a minimum of floor space, and the position of each product can be ensured.

In a second embodiment, the invention is a layer forming unit according to any one of the above described embodiments, and wherein said layer forming unit is part of a case packer unit machine, which in a further preferred embodiment may comprise a top loader manipulator which can optionally comprise a number of tools capable of picking up products simultaneously and transporting them over a particular distance as desired. If this top loader manipulator is applied as the apparatus following the layer former apparatus, it will suitably be a top loader manipulator for picking up and transporting and releasing at least four products per cycle.

This top loader manipulator can pick up the containers from their position and put them in preerected cases. In one embodiment, the layer former and top loader are the same. In a preferred embodiment, however, the layer former and top loader are different devices, as faster speed and increased flexibility of the total packaging line may be obtained. The top loader comprises a number of tools capable of picking up the total number of products desired per layer.

The footprints can be picked up by manipulators and top

loaded into preerected cases. The minimum cycle time needed can be similar to that of the layer former, but as in a highly preferred embodiment, the footprint consist of several rows of products, the cycle time needed can be longer than that of the layer former.

Synchronising with the layer former can be obtained by use of a computer steered layer former and top loader. Each footprint is loaded into a preerected case, whereby each case may be filled up with one or more layers. The number of footprint layers will depend on the height of the cases to be filled.

In a further preferred embodiment, the packaging machine also comprises a case erector, to which unfolded carton cases can be fed, and whereby the cases are erected, then a case conveyor system can transport the so erected cases to the loading position, from where the loaded case may be transported to a case closing means. The case erector and case closing means used can be devices well known in the art. In a suitable embodiment, the cases are transported to the position were being loaded, and are kept at the loading position, for the minimum time needed to fill said cases. The case transport means can be any suitable conveyor, and by the use of generic conveyor types, flexibility with respect to case types, case dimensions and interface with the closing and/or erecting device is obtained. The infeed and/or outfeed to and/or from the loading part can be any one, and, accordingly, its design of layout is flexible. In a further preferred embodiment described above, the layout is modular in relation to factory space and the number of filler lanes. In another embodiment, the packaging machine can comprise another conveyor which receives all filled cases from the loading part and transports the filled cases to a case closer. By using a conveyor that can transport cases of all dimension and types, the high flexibility is maintained.

In a further preferred embodiment, at least one of the

product feeding transport means, layer former, top loader and case erector has a programmable logic controller. The control systems further may be all linked via a network or direct input/output signals to a central controller and user interface, which can be based on a supervision software package, which monitors the entire line, can make reports, and can be connected to the host factory system and can control each of the single modules.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a packaging machine for a continuous packaging process, and which can be applied for the packaging of various items, including boxes, bottles, tubs, etcetera.

The present invention further comprises a method for moving containers from a surface into a packaging means such as a tray or carton box in a continuous process, the method comprising the handling of at least two containers at the same time by a set of end effector means, each container being lifted by a separate end effector means, positioning and rearranging the individual containers while being held so that these are arranged in the layer pattern required for packaging. In a further preferred embodiment, the method includes the placing of the so arranged layer pattern of containers onto another surface means the floor and lifting at least one layer group of so arranged containers and the picked up containers being placed into the packaging means by the lifting means.

The layer former unit can very well be part of a packaging machine unit for putting containers into boxes, which packaging machine unit can be part of a packaging line comprising other units, e.g. for filling, closing, and/or sealing of the containers, and/or for folding and assembling the boxes the containers are to be put in.