JP7548140B2 - Judgment method and discharge method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for determining the packaging condition of materials used to package contents in a package, and a method for discharging at least a portion of the package from a manufacturing line when the packaging condition is determined to be poor by this method.

One technology that is known to be applied to lines that manufacture packages is one that judges the packaging condition of the materials that wrap the contents of the packages. For example, a technology has been developed in which light is irradiated onto an inspection surface, including the folds, of a package in which the contents are packaged by folding the wrapping paper (the material that wraps the contents), and defects in the folds (packaging condition) are judged based on data obtained by capturing an image of the inspection surface that is irradiated with light (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2005-47570 A

However, with the technology described above that determines the packaging condition based on the detection results of manufactured packages, the manufacture of packages cannot be avoided in principle. In other words, because the data used to determine whether the packaging condition is defective is the detection result of the manufactured package, it is not possible to determine the packaging condition before the contents are packaged in materials. Therefore, there is room for improvement in determining the packaging condition before the contents are packaged in materials.

This invention was conceived in consideration of the above problems, and one of its objectives is to determine the packaging state before the contents are wrapped in materials. However, this objective is not the only objective. Another objective of this invention is to achieve actions and effects that cannot be obtained with conventional technology, which are derived from the configurations shown in the "Mode for carrying out the invention" described below.

The determination method disclosed here is applied to a line that manufactures packages in which contents are packaged in a material by folding the material to package the contents, and is a determination method for determining the packaging condition of the material that packages the contents of the package. This determination method includes a detection step of detecting the presence or absence of wrinkles in the material before packaging the contents by folding the material, and an estimation step of estimating that if the presence of wrinkles is detected by the detection step, the packaging condition will be poor if the contents are packaged in the wrinkled material.

The discharge method disclosed here comprises the above-mentioned determination method and an elimination or exclusion process. The exclusion process discharges from the line the package in which the contents are packaged with the material detected to have wrinkles in the detection process when the packaging condition is determined to be poor by the estimation process of the determination method. The exclusion process discharges from the line only the material detected to have wrinkles in the detection process when the packaging condition is determined to be poor by the estimation process of the determination method.

According to this method, the packaging condition can be determined before the contents are wrapped in materials.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a manufacturing line for packaging bodies together with a determination device for carrying out a determination method and a discharge device including the determination device; 11 is a flowchart illustrating a determination method and a discharge method.

Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the determination method and the discharge method will be described.
The determination method of this embodiment is applied to a manufacturing line for packaging. The manufacturing line for packaging is a line for manufacturing packaging in which contents are packaged in a material. This line is provided with a part for packaging the contents by folding the material. Examples of packages manufactured on this line include those containing various paper products such as toilet rolls and kitchen paper, and the contents are packaged in any material such as paper or film.

This determination method is a method for determining the packaging condition of materials used to package the contents of a package, and is carried out by a determination device provided in a production line for packages.
The ejection method of the present embodiment is a method for ejecting at least a part of a package from a production line for packages when the packaging condition is judged to be defective by the above-mentioned judgment method, and is performed by an ejection device attached to the production line for packages. The ejection device includes a judgment device, and the ejection device is a device that ejects a package whose packaging condition is judged to be defective by the judgment device from the production line.

In the description of this embodiment, the direction in which the manufacturing process of a package or its components progresses from upstream to downstream is referred to as MD (Machine Direction, indicated by a white arrow in the drawings).
In the following embodiment, an example is given in which wrapping paper (paper material) is folded and wrapped together (so-called caramel fold) as the material, and four (plural) toilet rolls are given as an example of the contents.

I. EMBODIMENT
In the following embodiment, the configuration related to the determination method is described in item [1]. In this item [1], the main configuration related to the determination method is first outlined for a line for manufacturing packages whose packaging state is determined by the determination method. Then, in subitem [1-1], the determination device and discharge device attached to the line for manufacturing packages are described, and in subitem [1-2], the determination method performed by the determination device and the discharge method performed by the discharge device are described.
Then, the actions and effects of the configuration of item [1] will be described in item [2].

[1. Configuration]
As shown in FIG. 1, a manufacturing line 1 for manufacturing a package 2 is provided with the following four parts 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D.
Feeding part 1A: A part that transports and supplies toilet roll 2A. Paper feeding part 1B: A part that unwinds and supplies wrapping paper 2B. Wrapping part 1C: A part that wraps toilet roll 2A in wrapping paper 2B. Transporting part 1D: A part that transports wrapping body 2 downstream.

The supply of the toilet roll 2A by the feeding part 1A is carried out in parallel with the supply of the wrapping paper 2B by the paper feeding part 1B.
A packaging part 1C is provided downstream of the feeding part 1A and the paper feeding part 1B, and the toilet roll 2A from the feeding part 1A and the wrapping paper 2B from the paper feeding part 1B are supplied to the packaging part 1C. A conveying part 1D is provided downstream of the packaging part 1C.

In the feeding part 1A, the toilet rolls 2A are transported in units of the number of rolls to be packaged in one package 2 (four rolls in this embodiment), and are transported toward the packaging part 1C.
The paper feed part 1B is provided with a roll B1 of continuous wrapping paper 2B (hereinafter also referred to as "strip wrapping paper 2W") wound thereon, and also with a cutter B2 (FIG. 1 shows the area cut by the cutter B2 with a dashed line) that cuts the strip wrapping paper 2W unwound from the roll B1 into sheet-shaped wrapping paper 2B (hereinafter also referred to as "sheet wrapping paper 2S"). The sheet wrapping paper 2S is sequentially cut into pieces of a size for packaging toilet rolls 2A in one packaging body 2. The sheet wrapping paper 2S cut by the cutter B2 is transported toward the packaging part 1C.

The wrapping of the toilet roll 2A with the wrapping paper 2B (i.e., the production of the wrapping body 2) is not completed in the feeding part 1A and the paper feeding part 1B, but is completed in the wrapping part 1C described below.
In the packaging part 1C, the wrapping paper sheet 2S is folded to package the four toilet rolls 2A. This packaging part 1C can use a mechanism in which the wrapping paper sheet 2S is mechanically folded to package the toilet rolls 2A, as shown in JP-A-57-86412, but is not limited to this mechanism and various known packaging devices can also be applied.

In the transport part 1D, the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrapping paper 2B in the packaging part 1C is transported toward a downstream part where post-processing such as packaging and shipping is carried out.
The production line 1 in which the packages 2 are successively produced by the above-mentioned parts 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D is provided with a discharge device 3 and a judgment device 4, which will be described next.

[1-1. Apparatus]
The ejection device 3 is equipped with a determination device 4 that determines whether the packaging condition of the package 2 is defective, and is a device that ejects the package 2 whose packaging condition is determined to be defective by this determination device 4 from the production line.
This discharge device 3 is provided with the following input system and control system (judgment system, calculation system) configuration as a judgment device 4 that judges the packaging state, and is provided with the following output system configuration as a configuration for discharging the packaging body 2 from the production line 1.

- Input system: A configuration that detects information necessary for judgment and inputs the detected information to the control system. - Control system: A configuration that generates a control signal in response to the judgment result based on the detection information from the input system. - Output system: A configuration that operates based on the control signal generated by the control system. The control system configuration is the control entity in response to the judgment result based on the detection signal by the input system configuration, and the output system configuration is the controlled object by the control system configuration.

<Input system>
The input system is configured with a detector 4P for detecting the presence or absence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B.
This detection section 4P is provided with a sensor 4S that detects whether or not there are wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B before the wrapping paper 2B is folded to wrap the toilet roll 2A.

A variety of known devices can be used for the sensor 4S as long as they are capable of detecting the presence or absence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B. For example, a sensor 4S can be used that detects the presence or absence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B without contacting the wrapping paper 2B using an optical device such as a camera (imaging device) or a line sensor. Alternatively, a known device such as a displacement sensor, pressure sensor, or vibration sensor that detects the presence or absence of wrinkles by contacting the wrapping paper 2B can also be used as the sensor 4S.

In this embodiment, a camera is exemplified as the sensor 4S.
This sensor 4S detects the presence or absence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B (i.e., the sheet-like wrapping paper 2S) after the continuous strip-shaped wrapping paper 2B (i.e., the strip-shaped wrapping paper 2W) is cut into sheets. That is, the object for which the presence or absence of wrinkles is detected by the sensor 4S is each of the sheet-like wrapping paper 2S obtained by cutting the strip-shaped wrapping paper 2W into sheets.

In this embodiment, the detection unit 4P is also provided with a light 4L (illumination device) and a tensioning mechanism 4W as auxiliary components that improve the detection environment of the area 4R where the presence or absence of wrinkles is detected by the sensor 4S (hereinafter abbreviated as the "detection area"). The light 4L (illumination device) and tensioning mechanism 4W are components of an auxiliary input system (auxiliary input system), while the sensor 4S is a component of the main input system (main input system).

The light 4L is a device that irradiates the detection area 4R with light. Various known irradiation devices can be used for the light 4L. By irradiating the detection area 4R with light from the light 4L, if there is a wrinkle in the detection area 4R, it becomes easier for the camera as the sensor 4S to detect the presence of the wrinkle (the detection accuracy improves as the detection environment improves).
The tensioning mechanism 4W is a mechanism that tugs the wrapping paper 2B in the detection area 4R (put simply, makes it taut). An example of the tensioning mechanism 4W is a mechanism that clamps the downstream and upstream parts of the wrapping paper sheet 2S including the detection area 4R and pulls them in the MD direction. By tensioning the wrapping paper 2B in the detection area 4R by the tensioning mechanism 4W, it is possible to suppress erroneous detection of twists or slackness in the detection area 4R as wrinkles when there are no wrinkles in the detection area 4R.

When the sensor 4S, whose detection accuracy has been improved by the light 4L and tension mechanism 4W, detects that the wrapping paper 2B has wrinkles, it outputs a detection signal indicating that the wrapping paper 2B has wrinkles (hereinafter referred to as a "present signal") to the control system configuration. When the sensor 4S detects that the wrapping paper 2B does not have wrinkles, it also outputs a detection signal indicating that the wrapping paper 2B does not have wrinkles (hereinafter referred to as a "not present signal") to the control system configuration.

<Control system>
The control system is configured to include an estimation unit 4E that judges the packaging state based on the information detected by the detection unit 4P. The estimation unit 4E is configured as a computer (arithmetic unit) that includes a processor (central processing unit), storage devices such as memory and storage, an interface device, and the like, all of which are connected to each other via an internal bus.

The estimation unit 4E estimates and judges the packaging state based on the presence or absence signal input from the sensor 4S.
When a "present" signal is input from sensor 4S (when detection unit 4P detects the presence of wrinkles), this estimation unit 4E estimates and judges that if the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrinkled wrapping paper 2B, the wrapping condition will be poor. Also, when a "not present" signal is input from sensor 4S (when detection unit 4P detects the absence of wrinkles), this estimation unit 4E estimates and judges that if the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrinkle-free wrapping paper 2B, the wrapping condition will be good.

The judgment algorithm by the estimation unit 4E is based on the knowledge that wrapping toilet roll 2A in wrinkled wrapping paper 2B leads to a poor wrapping condition.
In other words, this is a judgment algorithm that estimates that wrinkles will cause poor packaging conditions before wrapping the toilet roll 2A in the wrapping paper 2B, and uses this estimate as a judgment result for the packaging condition.

This judgment algorithm was found based on the assumption that wrapping toilet roll 2A in wrinkled wrapping paper 2B may result in folding at a position other than the predesigned fold, resulting in a poorly wrapped state. Such a poorly wrapped state is supported by the empirical rule that a poorly wrapped package 2 is actually produced when toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrinkled wrapping paper 2B.
The estimation unit 4E does not output a control signal when it judges that the package is in a good condition, and outputs a control signal to an output system configuration described next when it judges that the package is in a bad condition.

<Output system>
The output system is configured to include a rejection section 5 (rejection section) that ejects the package 2 from the production line 1 in response to a control signal input from the estimation section 4E.
When a control signal is input from the estimation unit 4E (i.e., when wrinkles are detected and the packaging condition is determined to be poor), the main removal unit 5 discharges the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is packaged in the packaging paper 2B detected by the sensor 4S to be wrinkled from the production line 1. Furthermore, when a control signal is not input from the estimation unit 4E (i.e., when wrinkles are detected and the packaging condition is determined to be good), the main removal unit 5 maintains transport in the MD direction of the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is packaged in the packaging paper 2B detected by the sensor 4S to be wrinkle-free.

A branch conveyor having a conveying path in the MD direction and a conveying path branching off from the conveying path in the MD direction can be used as this removal unit 5. An example of the operation of the removal unit 5 using a branch conveyor is a momentary operation that operates only when a control signal is input to switch the conveying path for the packages 2 to a conveying path branching off from the conveying path in the MD direction.
However, the removal section 5 is not limited to the branch conveyor, and may be any known device that can remove the packages 2 from the transport path in the MD direction.
Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the removal unit 5 is attached to the packaging part 1C, the removal unit 5 can be disposed at any position after the packaging body 2 is manufactured.

[1-2. Method]
Next, a method for discharging the package 2 by the above-mentioned discharging device 3 will be described with reference to the flow chart of Fig. 2. This discharging method includes a method for determining the packaging state by the above-mentioned determining device 4.
In the discharge method, the above-mentioned detection unit 4P, estimation unit 4E, and exclusion unit 5, which are components of the discharge device 3, perform processes in which the word "part" in the name is replaced with "process." In detail, the detection unit 4P performs a detection process, the estimation unit 4E performs an estimation process, and the exclusion unit 5 performs a removal process (discharge process).

First, before wrapping the toilet roll 2A by folding the wrapping paper 2B, a detection step is carried out to detect whether or not there are wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B (step S1).
If the detection process detects the presence of wrinkles, an estimation process is carried out in which it is estimated that if the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrinkled wrapping paper 2B, the packaging condition will be poor (positive judgment in step S2 and step S3).

When the estimation process determines that the packaging condition will be poor, a removal process is carried out in which the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is packaged in the packaging paper 2B detected as having wrinkles in the detection process is discharged from the production line 1 (step S4).
The method cycle then ends (return).
After the cycle of this method is completed, the detection step is carried out again to detect whether or not there are wrinkles in the adjacent wrapping paper 2S on the upstream side of the wrapping paper 2S for which the presence or absence of wrinkles has been detected in the detection step.

On the other hand, if the detection step detects that there are no wrinkles, an estimation step is carried out to estimate that the packaging condition will be good if the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrinkle-free wrapping paper 2B (negative determination in step S2 and step S5). If the estimation step determines that the packaging condition is good, the removal step is not carried out, and transport in the MD direction of the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in wrapping paper 2B detected as wrinkle-free in the detection step is continued.
The method cycle then ends (return).

2. Actions and Effects
Since the determination method and discharge method of the present embodiment are configured as described above, the following actions and effects can be obtained.
According to this determination method, if the detection step detects the presence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper 2B before wrapping the toilet roll 2A, the estimation step estimates and determines that the wrapping condition will be poor if the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in the wrinkled wrapping paper 2B. Since the wrapping condition is determined based on the wrinkles detected before wrapping the toilet roll 2A in the wrapping paper 2B in this way, the wrapping condition can be determined in advance before wrapping the toilet roll 2A in the wrapping paper 2B.

According to the detection process of this embodiment, the presence or absence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper sheets 2S after the wrapping paper strip 2W is cut into sheets is detected, so that not only wrinkles that exist in the wrapping paper strip 2W but also wrinkles that appear after the wrapping paper strip 2W is cut into sheets can be detected. This improves the accuracy of estimating the quality of the packaging condition, and increases the accuracy of determining the quality of the packaging condition.

According to the rejection process of this embodiment, the package 2 in which the toilet roll 2A is wrapped in the wrapping paper 2B detected as having wrinkles in the detection process is discharged from the production line 1. This makes it possible to prevent poorly packaged packages 2 from being mixed in and shipped.
The present determination device 4 can obtain the same functions and effects as the present determination method, and the present exclusion device 3 can obtain the same functions and effects as the present exclusion method.

II. Modifications
The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and is not intended to exclude various modifications and application of techniques not explicitly stated in the embodiment. Each configuration of the present embodiment can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the embodiment. In addition, the configurations can be selected as necessary, and can be combined appropriately.

For example, the object for which the presence or absence of wrinkles is detected by the detection process is not limited to the above-mentioned sheet-like wrapping paper in one embodiment, but may also be a strip-like wrapping paper. In other words, the presence or absence of wrinkles in a continuous strip-like wrapping paper before it is cut into sheets may be detected. In this case, a detection unit such as a sensor that detects the presence or absence of wrinkles, as well as a light and a tensioning mechanism, is provided upstream of the cutter that cuts the strip-like wrapping paper into sheets of wrapping paper. Therefore, in one embodiment, it is possible to detect the presence of wrinkles in the wrapping paper upstream of the above-mentioned judgment, and the packaging condition can be determined earlier. In addition, for a production line in which there is insufficient space to place the detection unit around the sheets of wrapping paper cut into sheets, but space to place the detection unit around the sheets of wrapping paper is secured, it is possible to ensure the layout freedom of the detection unit.

Furthermore, the object to be discharged from the production line is not limited to the packaging body described above in one embodiment, but may be only a sheet of wrapping paper (a material that forms part of the packaging body). In other words, instead of a removal process in which the entire packaging body is discharged from the production line, an exclusion process (discharge process) may be performed in which only wrapping paper that is detected to have wrinkles is discharged from the production line. This exclusion process is performed by an exclusion section (discharge section) that removes the wrapping paper from the production line before the toilet roll is packaged in the packaging part, instead of the removal section (discharge section) in one embodiment. In this case, only the wrapping paper is discharged without discharging the toilet roll from the production line, which reduces the waste of toilet roll and contributes to improving production efficiency.

In addition, in this determination method, it is sufficient to determine that the packaging condition is poor when at least wrinkles are detected, and the determination when at least no wrinkles are detected may be omitted. By simplifying the determination algorithm in this way, the calculation load on the estimation unit can be reduced.
In addition, auxiliary input systems such as lights and tension mechanisms in the detection unit may be omitted, and a determination method and discharge method may be implemented with a simple configuration.

1 Manufacturing line 1A Feeding part 1B Paper feeding part 1C Packaging part 1D Transport part 2 Package 2A Toilet roll (contents)
2B Wrapping paper (materials)
2S: Sheet of wrapping paper 2W: Strip of wrapping paper 3: Discharge device 4: Determination device 4E: Estimation unit 4L: Irradiation device 4P: Detection unit 4R: Detection area 4S: Sensor 4W: Tension mechanism 5: Removal unit B1: Roll B2: Cutter

Claims (3)

A method for determining a packaging condition of the material that packages the contents of the package, the method being applied to a line that manufactures packages in which the contents are packaged in the material by folding the material and that is applied to the line that cuts the continuous strip-shaped material into sheets, the method comprising:
a detection step of detecting whether or not the material has wrinkles before folding the material to package the contents;
and an estimation step of estimating that if the wrinkles are detected by the detection step, the packaging state will be poor if the content is packaged in the material having the wrinkles ,
The detection step detects the presence or absence of wrinkles in the stretched material, the detection area being an area where the presence of wrinkles is detected after the continuous belt-like material is cut into the sheet-like material.
A determination method comprising : A determination method according to claim 1 ;
and a removal process of removing the package, the contents of which are packaged in the material detected to have wrinkles in the detection process, from the line when the packaging condition is determined to be poor by the estimation process of the determination method. A determination method according to claim 1 ;
and an exclusion process for discharging from the line only the material that is detected to have wrinkles in the detection process when the packaging condition is determined to be poor in the estimation process of the determination method.

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