METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INSERTING PACKAGES INTO CARTONS

• US 20150013277A1
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Published: 01/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Focke & Company
• Original Assignee: Focke & Company
• Inventors: Sachs, Frank, Brandhorst, Bjorn, Neufeld, Andreas
• Granted Patent: US 9,789,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/475
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/18 by suction-operated grippers
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/52 building-up the stack from the bottom
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/105 by grippers B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence

Abstract

For the automatic insertion of packs (11) into a large-volume carton (10), two work tools are used, namely, a pack robot (33) with carton holder (30) for holding the cartons (10) ready and a pack robot (33) with head (37) for inserting the individual packs (11) one after another into the carton (10) in the region of a packing station (33). Through relative movement of carton (10) and pack (11), different pack formations are created within the carton (10).

Claims

1. A method for inserting items into a container, in particular for inserting (foil or soft) packs (11) into a carton (10) to create an orderly formation of items or packs (11) within the container or the carton (10), wherein the items or packs (11) are fed one after another or in groups to a packing station (23) and are inserted by at least one handling member into the container or carton (10), and the carton (10) is movable into different filling positions by a handling device—

carton robot (26)—

which grasps said carton, that wherein a pack holder—

head (37)—

of the handling member—

pack robot (33)—

is displaceable, in coordination with the movements of the carton robot (26), along a plurality of, in particular along three coordinates (39, 40), and is pivotable about a plurality of, in particular along three axes (double arrows 41), such that, by rotation and/or tilting and/or linear movement of the carton (10), on the one hand, and by lifting and lowering movement of the packs (11) and/or rotary movement or by insertion of these same, on the other hand, the carton (10) is filled with different packing formations.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the packs (11) are grasped by the thereto assigned handling member—

pack robot (33), in particular by means of suction air, and are transported into the carton (10) by lifting and lowering or alternatively are inserted into the carton (10) by pushing, wherein the head (37) of the pack robot (33) serves as a driver or as a slide for the packs (10).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

a) cartons (10) erected by folding are transported with open top side along a carton supply (21) to a carton station (24),

b) empty cartons (10) are grasped in the region of the carton station (24) by the carton robot (26), fed to a packing station (23) and held ready in the latter for the reception of the packs (11),

c) packs (11) supplied by a pack conveyor (32) are grasped by the pack robot (33) in the region of the packing station (23) and inserted into the carton (10) to the point of filling of the same,

d) the filled carton (10) is then delivered by the carton robot (26) to a removal conveyor (70).

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the (empty) cartons (10) are inserted by (linear) transport into an open carton holder (30) of the carton robot (26) and are fixed through closure of the carton holder (30) by mechanical and/or pneumatic holding members (46, 47), wherein, preferably, when an empty carton (10) is introduced into the region of the carton holder (30), a (filled) carton (10) is—

at the same time—

conveyed out of the region of the carton holder (30), wherein, in particular, the filled carton (10) is conveyed by pushing and the following carton (10) is conveyed preferably by pulling respectively out of the region and into the region of the carton holder (30).

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cartons (10) are grasped and held by the carton robot (26), in particular by the carton holder (30), in the region of longitudinal walls (13, 14) extending in the direction of conveyance, preferably in a region facing a bottom wall (12), and on a bottom wall (12) of the carton (10), preferably by suction cups (54, 55) which act on the pack walls.

6. An apparatus for inserting items into a container, in particular for filling (foil or soft) packs (11) into a carton (10) to create an orderly formation within the container or the carton (10), wherein the container or carton (10) can be grasped by a handling device—

carton robot (26)—

and is held in the packing station (23) for the reception of the packs (11), the relative position being altered during the packing process, and wherein the packs (11) can be inserted, preferably individually, following one upon the other, by a filling unit—

pack robot (33)—

into the carton (10) to create the formation, comprising a pack holder—

head (37)—

which transports the packs (11), in coordination with movements of the carton robot (26), by virtue of linear mobility, along a plurality of coordinates (40) and/or, by virtue of rotatability, about a plurality of axes (42), preferably involving take-up in the packing station (23) and delivery to a carton (10) held ready by the carton robot (26).

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the carton robot (26) has a carton holder (30) for grasping a carton (10) with the aid of movable holding members (46, 47), which preferably grasp the carton (10) in the region of a bottom wall (12) and in the region of side walls—

longitudinal walls (13, 14)—

adjacent to the bottom wall (12), wherein the holding members (46, 47) preferably have suction cups (54, 55) for grasping a carton (10) by means of vacuum in the region of side walls (13, 14) and in the region of the bottom wall (12).

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the carton holder (30) has guides, in particular lateral, angular guide profiles (57), for supporting a carton (10) upon insertion into the carton holder (30), in continuation of the direction of conveyance for empty cartons (10).

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein empty cartons (10) can be grasped by the carton robot (26) in a carton station (24), can be fed to the packing station (23), and filled cartons (10) can be conveyed by the carton robot (26) back into the carton station (24), wherein the filled carton (10) can be pushed by a slide or pusher (75) out of the carton station (24), in particular out of the carton holder (30), to a removal conveyor (70).

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, by further comprising a carton conveyor (43) for transporting the (empty) cartons (10) to the carton station (24) and by a delivery member for introducing a carton (10) into the region of a carton holder (30) adjoining the carton conveyor (43), preferably by means of a pusher (75), which, when a filled carton (10) is pushed off from the region of the carton holder (30), at the same time introduces a following empty carton (10) into the region of the carton holder (30).

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the pusher (75) has an arm (76), preferably with support profile (77), for pushing off a (filled) carton (10), and on the rear side suction members (79) for grasping a front side of a following empty carton (10).

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the head (37) of the pack robot (33) is movable as a slide for the insertion of a pack (11) into the carton (10), wherein the head (37), in the region of a bearing plate (62), preferably has a laterally fitted push bar (61) for grasping a pack (11) in the insertion movement.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when packs (11) are inserted into a carton (10) by the head (37) of the pack robot (33), a bridging member can be extended, in particular a sliding plate (49) for bridging the distance between pack conveyor (32) and carton (10).

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising tab holders (65), which operate at least in the region of the packing station (23), for fixing folding tabs (13, 14;

15, 16) of the carton (10) in the opening position, wherein the tab holder (65) has at least one holding bar (67) for grasping an, in the filling position of the carton (10), upper folding tab (19, 20), and transversely movable support bars (68) for, in the filling position of the carton (10), lateral folding tabs (17, 18).

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the filled carton (10), subsequent to the carton station (24), in continuation of the direction of feed of the empty cartons (10), can be pushed onto a plate-like underpass (74) of the removal conveyor (70) and can be fed by a transversely movable slide (72) on the underpass (74) to a discharge belt (71) directed transversely to the removal conveyor (70).