Station for sealing thermoformed containers for packaging lines

A method of continuously sealing containers by way of closing seals, the method including the following steps:

• continuously rotating a sealing carousel about a central axis, said sealing carousel having a plurality of sealing heads which are radially spaced apart from said central axis,
• at a second, input, peripheral region, which is outside the sealing carousel, feeding a closing seal to said sealing heads, so that each sealing head that passes through said second region receives a respective closing seal,
• at a first, input, peripheral region, which is outside the sealing carousel, feeding a container to be sealed to said sealing heads, so that each sealing head that passes through said first region receives a respective container,
• during said rotation of the sealing carousel, holding and coupling the closing seal with the container;
• releasing said containers, sealed with the closing seal, to a third region which is outside the sealing carousel and is angularly spaced apart from the first and from the second region,
• wherein each sealing head comprises gripping and positioning means, picking up and sealing means, and an abutment means, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• supporting and moving, at various movements during operation, the container and the closing seal which arrive from the respective first and second region using the gripping and positioning means;
• picking up the closing seal and performing the operation of mutually coupling this closing seal and the container using the picking up and sealing means, the picking up and sealing means having at least a pickup piston adapted to pick up the closing seal, movement means configured to move the piston toward/away from the abutment means, activation means configured to activate a piston grip condition in which the piston couples temporarily with the closing seal, and sealing means;
• supporting the closing seal and the container and cooperating with the picking up and sealing means during an operation of mutual coupling and fixing between the closing seal and the container using the abutment means.