Continuous vertical form-fill-seal packaging machine with synchronized product clamp

A method of feeding, clamping and sealing a tube of film to form a bag to be filled with a product in a form, fill and seal packaging operation by a pair of sealing jaws comprising the steps of:

• feeding a length of film/tube corresponding to the bag length in a longitudinal direction between said pair of sealing jaws;
• driving said sealing jaws in said longitudinal direction along a length of the film/tube;
• varying the feed of the film to coordinate the relative movement of said film/tube and said sealing jaws for forming the bag;
• moving said sealing jaws in a first direction to engage and seal on opposite sides of the film/tube;
• moving said sealing jaws in a second direction toward the open position to release the formed bag;
• driving said sealing jaws in the direction opposite to that of bag forming along the length of said film/tube to provide a new bag length;
• clamping said film/tube by a clamp for staging of the product above said sealing jaws to form a product batch prior to entering the bag being formed;
• moving said clamp in said longitudinal direction during the formation of said product batch;
• and
• controlling the film/tube feeding, clamping and the bag sealing in a precise and synchronized manner to provide the product batch staging to maintain a clear seal area and for maximizing the packaging operation speed.

A method of packaging a product batch in a bag formed from a continuous tube of film in a form, fill and seal packaging operation including feeding of the film and driving and moving sealing jaws to form each bag in succession, the improvement comprising:

• clamping the film/tube above the sealing jaws by a clamp to form the product batch for staging prior to entering the bag being formed;
• performing the step of clamping during the time of feeding the film/tube in the longitudinal direction while moving the clamp in the same direction;
• and
• releasing the clamp to allow the product batch to enter said bag,
• whereby the film/tube feeding and bag sealing operation is performed in a precise and synchronized manner to provide the product batch staging for maintaining a clear seal area and for maximizing the packaging operation speed.