US 6,896,474 B2Granted

Process and device for conveying products, for instance for automatic packaging installations

AssigneeCavanna S.p.A.

InventorDario Guidetti

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Abstract

Associated to the first product of each group or slug of products being formed is a first engagement element which follows the movement of advance of said first product, preventing it from falling forwards in the direction of advance. In such conditions, the products are made to advance according to a stacking path that is substantially horizontal, setting them up against the first product, and thus determining the formation of groups or slugs of products and counting the number of products stacked. When the number of products stacked reaches the desired value, the last product in the group is engaged by a second engagement element which exerts an action of thrust in a forward direction on the slug of products thus formed, so causing separation thereof from the first product of a new slug being formed in the stacking structure. The stacking operation is performed on the products, which are set on edge after being tipped starting from a previous substantially horizontal position of advance. Preferably, the first retention element and the second retention element are inserted in the flow of the products in a position corresponding to the region in which the aforesaid movement of tipping the products into the on-edge position is performed. A preferential application is for plants for automatic packaging of products, such as foodstuffs.

Claims32

Dependent claims

A process for forming, starting from a flow of products being fed forwards, groups or slugs of products comprising a given number of products set on edge, each slug comprising, in the direction of advance, a first product and a last product, said process comprising the operations of:

associating, to the first product of each group, at least one first engagement element which is able to withhold said first product, preventing it from falling forwards in the direction of advance;
causing said products to advance according to a substantially horizontal stacking path, bringing about the formation of said groups or slugs as a result of stacking of the products themselves up against said first product;
upon reaching, by said stacked products, said given number, associating, to the last product of the slug that has been formed, at least one second engagement element;
by means of said at least one second engagement element, exerting an action of thrust in the direction of advance so as to separate the slug of products thus formed from a new slug of products being formed along said stacking path;
ordering said products according to at least one first flow and at least one second flow;
monitoring the number of products included in said first flow and said second flow;
detecting the occurrence of situations of imbalance in which one of said flows is richer than the other by a given number of products;
and
intervening on said first flow and said second flow in the presence of said situations of imbalance by transferring at least one product from said richer flow to said poorer flow.

6 more elements

A device for forming, starting from a flow of advancing products, groups or slugs comprising a given number of products set on edge, each slug comprising, in the direction of advance, a first product and a last product, said device comprising:

at least one first engagement element which is able to follow the movement of advance of the products and to withhold the first product of said slug of products, preventing it from falling forwards in the direction of advance;
a stacking structure which is substantially horizontal and in which said advancing products pile up against said first product, forming said slug;
at least one second engagement element which is able to co-operate with the last product in said slug and to exert a thrust on said last product in said direction of advance in such a way as to separate it from the first product of a next slug being formed in said stacking structure;
conveying means for forming at least one first flow and one second flow of said products;
sensing means for monitoring the number of products comprised in said first flow and said second flow and for detecting the occurrence of situations of imbalance in which one of said flows is richer than the other by a given number of products;
and
transfer means which are able to intervene on said first flow and said second flow in the presence of said situations of imbalance in order to transfer at least one product from said richer flow to said poorer flow.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/004,903Filed 2 Nov 2001
Priority: EP 008307282 Nov 2000
Published: US 2002/0050125 A12 May 2002
Granted: 24 May 2005
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

B65B 23/14
Arranging, feeding or orientating the biscuits to be packaged: forming groups of biscuits
B65B 57/14
Responsive to absence, presence, abnormal feed, or misplacement of articles or materials to be packaged: and operating to control, or stop, the…
B65G 57/20
Stacking of articles of particular shape: three-dimensional [3D], e.g. cubiform or cylindrical
B65G 57/28
Stacking of articles: by assembling the articles and tilting the assembled articles to a stacked position