MACHINE FOR APPLYING THREADED CAPS TO CONTAINERS

• US 20150033667A1
• Filed: 01/29/2014
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arol S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Arol S.p.A.
• Inventors: CIRIO, Sergio
• Granted Patent: US 9,623,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 53/329
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 7/2842 Securing closures on containers in general B65B51/00
• CPC Class Codes: B67B 3/2033 comprising carousel co-rotating capping heads
• CPC Class Codes: B67B 3/264 positioning of the caps

Abstract

Machine for applying threaded caps to containers, comprising: gripping means configured to hold the respective containers, at least one screwing head including a respective gripping member configured to hold a respective cap; at least one electric motor associated with said screwing head and configured to control a rotational movement of said gripping member about a longitudinal axis and a translational movement of said gripping member along said longitudinal axis, the translational movement and the rotational movement being synchronized with each other so as to move said gripping member along a screwing path.

Claims

1. Machine for applying threaded caps to containers, comprising:

a holding device configured for holding a respective container having a threaded end;

at least one screwing head including a gripping member configured for holding a respective cap having an inner thread;

at least one electric motor associated with said screwing head and configured to control a rotational movement of said gripping member about a longitudinal axis, wherein said gripping member is equipped with a translational movement along said longitudinal axis synchronized with the rotational movement so that during operation, said gripping member moves along a screwing path;

at least one vision system configured for detecting images of the threads of the containers and of the threads of the caps held by said gripping member; and

an electronic control unit configured to process the images of said threads and to determine the angular position of the start point of the thread of the containers and the angular position of the start point of the thread of the caps and for controlling an adjustment of the angular position of the caps so as to carry out the screwing of the caps onto the respective container with the respective threads arranged in a preset relative position.

2. Machine according to claim 1, comprising a first vision device for detecting images of the threads of the containers and a second vision device for detecting images of the threads of the caps.

3. Machine according to claim 2, wherein said vision devices are associated with respective illuminators arranged to illuminate the respective vision zones of said vision devices.

4. Machine according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control unit is configured to process the images detected by said vision device in order to determine the angular position of the start point of the thread of a container and the angular position of the start point of the thread of a respective cap with respect to a common reference system.

5. Machine according to claim 1, wherein said electronic control unit is also configured to control said electric motor of said screwing head according to the information on the screwing torque.