JP7651809B2 - Packaging Equipment - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a packaging device.

In the field of heat shrink packaging, where products are tightly wrapped in heat shrink film (shrink film), a method is known in which a rolled heat shrink film is pulled out in half, the packaged item is placed between the folded film, and the three open sides (front, back, and one end) of the film are thermally cut with an L-shaped sealing member to form a bag (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The L-shaped sealing member welds or cuts one end of the film with a first sealing part that extends in the conveying direction of a conveyor that transports the packaged item, and cuts the front and back parts of the film in the conveying direction with a second sealing part that extends in the width direction of the conveyor and in a direction approximately perpendicular to the first sealing part.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-130021

With the conventional L-seal method, the length of the bag in the conveying direction can be adjusted freely according to the size of the packaged items by changing the melt-cutting position in the conveyor's direction of travel. However, the melt-cutting position in the conveyor's width direction cannot be freely changed.

The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a packaging device that can package items with appropriate dimensions according to the size of the items to be packaged.

A packaging device according to one aspect of an embodiment of the present invention is a packaging device that pulls out a rolled sheet folded in half, places an item to be packaged between the folded sheets, and forms a bag by joining and cutting three open sides of the sheet with an L-shaped sealing member that is L-shaped in a plan view, and is equipped with a feed position adjustment conveyor that adjusts the position of the item to be packaged in the width direction so that the item to be packaged is placed between the folded sheets at a reference position that is a predetermined distance from a folded part that is an end of the folded sheet on one side in a width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the item to be packaged, and the L-shaped sealing member includes a first sealing part that extends in the conveying direction of the item to be packaged and joins and cuts one end of the sheet on the opposite side in the width direction to the folded part while sandwiching the item to be packaged, and a second sealing part that extends in the width direction perpendicular to the first sealing part and joins and cuts one end of the sheet on the opposite side in the width direction to the folded part in the width direction and a second sealing portion which joins and cuts the film, the second sealing portion is fixedly positioned at a predetermined position in the conveying direction, the first sealing portion is movable along the width direction relative to the second sealing portion, the sheet is a plastic film, the L-shaped sealing member welds and cuts the film, the one end of the sheet is a portion that includes the other end of the sheet in the width direction opposite the folded portion which is the end on one side of the width direction of the sheet in the folded state, where the two sheets are overlapped and not connected to each other, the first sealing portion has a welding portion which welds the film and a welding portion which is arranged parallel to the welding portion and welds the film, the welding portion is arranged closer to the end of the other side of the film than the welding portion, and the welding portion and the welding portion are movable individually along the width direction relative to the second sealing portion .

This disclosure provides a packaging device that can package items with appropriate dimensions according to the size of the items to be packaged.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a packaging device according to an embodiment; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an L-shaped seal member; A diagram explaining film melt-cutting by an L-shaped seal member in the case of a small-sized workpiece. Diagram showing the difference in melting position depending on the size of the workpiece FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a moving structure of a side seal; Flowchart of packaging control of workpieces by the packaging device of the embodiment Diagram showing an example of adjusting the height of the seal position

The following describes the embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. To facilitate understanding of the description, the same components in each drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.

In the following description, the x, y, and z directions are perpendicular to each other. The x and y directions are horizontal, and the z direction is vertical. The x direction is the direction in which the workpiece W is transported by the transport unit 30. The y direction is the width direction of the belt of the belt conveyor that constitutes the transport unit 30. For ease of explanation, the positive z direction may be referred to as the upper side and the negative z direction may be referred to as the lower side.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the schematic configuration of a packaging device 1 according to an embodiment. The packaging device 1 shown in Figure 1 pulls out a rolled film 12 (sheet) folded in half, places a workpiece W (packaged item) between the folded film, and forms a bag by thermally cutting the three open sides of the film 12 with an L-shaped sealing member 40. The packaging device 1 can also perform heat shrink packaging by applying a heat shrinkable film to the film 12, fusing the heat shrinkable film to create a bag body to house the workpiece W inside, and then heating the bag body to thermally shrink it and tightly packing the workpiece W.

In this embodiment, a plastic film is used as an example of a sheet used by the packaging device 1, but the sheet is not limited to this. The sheet only needs to be thin enough to be deformable to fit the three-dimensional shape of the workpiece W. Sheets include plastic sheets and paper sheets. The plastic film 12 shown in this embodiment is an example of a plastic sheet.

One type of plastic film 12 is a heat-shrinkable film. Examples of materials for the plastic sheet (film) include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), polyamide (PA), and low-density polyethylene (LPDE). The thickness of the plastic film is, for example, about 0.020 mm to 0.100 mm. In this embodiment, for example, a film 12 made of LPDE and having a thickness of 0.030 mm is used.

The packaging device 1 wraps the workpiece W transported on the transport section 30 in a film 12, and then welds and cuts the open end of the film 12 to accommodate the workpiece W inside a sealed bag. The packaging device 1 also attaches a label 53 to the surface of the bag B created by welding and cutting the film 12.

The packaging device 1 includes a film supply unit 10, a film reversal opening 20, a conveying unit 30, an L-shaped sealing member 40, a label application unit 50, and a control unit 60.

The film supply unit 10 supplies the film 12 to the film inversion opening 20. In the film supply unit 10, the roll film 11, which is the folded film 12 wound around a paper tube or the like, is supported horizontally and placed on a fixed part such as a frame (not shown), and a guide roller 13 is provided on the frame (not shown) between the roll film 11 and the film inversion opening 20. The folded film 12 pulled out from the roll film 11 reaches the film inversion opening 20 via the guide roller 13.

In the example of FIG. 1, the film supply section 10 is positioned on the left side (negative y side) when viewed from the downstream side in the transport direction (positive x side) relative to the film reversal opening 20 and the transport section 30, and is positioned so as to pull out the film 12 in the positive y direction. In the section from the roll film 11 to the film reversal opening 20, the folded film 12 has two ends in the width direction (short direction), with the end 12A on the upstream side in the transport direction (negative x side) being a folded section. At the end 12B on the opposite side (positive x side), the two films overlap and are not connected to each other.

The film inversion opening 20 changes the moving direction (longitudinal direction) of the folded film 12 supplied from the film supply unit 10 to the conveying direction. The film inversion opening 20 has two plate-shaped formers 21 formed in the shape of an approximately right-angled isosceles triangle. The two formers 21 are fixed horizontally on a frame body (not shown) so that they are arranged facing each other with a predetermined distance in the vertical direction. Each former 21 is arranged so that one side 21A that sandwiches the right angle is the base side extending in the conveyor width direction, and the other side 21B that sandwiches the right angle faces the guide roller 13 with an appropriate distance. The folded film 12 is folded inward from the top and bottom at the oblique side portion 21C of the former 21, so that the cross section becomes U-shaped, and the direction is changed by 90 degrees so that it is supplied in the same direction as the transport direction of the work W.

At the film reversal opening 20, the folding direction of the end 12A of the folded part side of the folded film 12 is reversed, and the movement direction is changed so that the left side (negative y direction side) of both ends in the conveyor width direction extends in the conveying direction when viewed from the downstream side (positive x direction side) of the conveying direction. In addition, the two overlapping films of the folded film 12 are separated by the former 21 so as to have a predetermined distance in the vertical direction (z direction). As a result, the folded film 12 opens in the vertical direction between the two formers 21 when viewed from the upstream side (negative x direction side) of the conveying direction, and the work W can be introduced inside the folded film 12. Note that a driving means may be attached to the former 21, and the height (i.e., the vertical distance between the two formers 21) may be dynamically changed depending on the height of the work W (particularly the type of article to be packaged).

The conveying unit 30 conveys the workpiece W in the conveying direction (x-positive direction). The conveying unit 30 is composed of multiple belt conveyors, for example as shown in FIG. 1, and has a feed position adjustment conveyor 31, a supply conveyor 32, a fusing conveyor 33, and a labeling conveyor 34.

The feed position adjustment conveyor 31 adjusts the widthwise position of the workpiece W introduced from the previous process so that it is at a specified workpiece reference position.

The supply conveyor 32 feeds the work W into the opening of the film reversal opening 20 and places the work W between the film 12 folded in half. The supply conveyor 32 also operates intermittently in accordance with the operation of the L-shaped seal member 40 to send out the work W.

The fusing conveyor 33 receives the workpiece W whose opening in the film 12 is to be fusing and fusing-cut by the L-shaped sealing member 40, and sends the resulting bag body B to the label application section 50.

The labeling conveyor 34 receives the bag body B to which the label 53 is to be affixed in the labeling section 50, and sends the bag body B with the label 53 affixed to it to the next process.

In this embodiment, each of the conveyors 31-34 of the transport unit 30 is a belt conveyor in which an endless belt is driven as the transport surface, as shown in FIG. 1, for example. A chain, a roll conveyor, a slide table, etc. may be applied to each of the conveyors 31-34 of the transport unit 30. Furthermore, the division of each of the conveyors 31-34 of the transport unit 30 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, and for example, the multiple conveyors shown in FIG. 1 may be combined into one, or may be further subdivided.

The L-shaped sealing member 40 is formed in an L-shape when viewed from above. The L-shaped sealing member 40 welds and cuts the downstream side of the film 12 in the conveying direction and the open end in the conveyor width direction to form a bag body B that hermetically packages the workpiece W with the film 12. The configuration of the L-shaped sealing member 40 will be described later with reference to Figures 2 to 5.

The label application unit 50 applies a label 53 to the surface of the bag body B. The label application unit 50 has, for example, a label printer 51 and a label receiving belt 52. The label printer 51 prints a label 53 according to various information such as the type of work W contained inside the bag body B, and applies the printed label 53 to a predetermined application position (label application portion L). The label receiving belt 52 has the label application portion L of the bag body B placed on it, and drives in synchronization with the label application conveyor 34.

In addition, a detection unit 35 that detects the width of the workpiece W is provided upstream of the fusing position of the transport unit 30 (on the feed position adjustment conveyor 31 or the supply conveyor 32). The detection unit 35 is, for example, a line sensor arranged along the width of the belt conveyor.

The control unit 60 controls the operation of each element of the packaging device 1. In particular, in this embodiment, the control unit 60 controls the adjustment of the melt-cut position of the L-shaped sealing member 40 in the width direction so that the bag body B is an appropriate size according to the size of the work W detected by the detection unit 35.

The control unit 60 can be physically configured as a computer system including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory) as main storage devices, a communication module, an auxiliary storage device, and the like. Each function of the control unit 60 according to this embodiment is realized by loading specific computer software into the CPU, RAM, etc., operating various hardware under the control of the CPU, and reading and writing data in the RAM.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the schematic configuration of the L-shaped sealing member 40. The L-shaped sealing member 40 has a movable part 40A arranged on the top and a fixed part 40B arranged on the bottom. The fixed part 40B receives the fused portion of the film 12 surrounding the workpiece W transported on the fusing conveyor 33. The movement of the fixed part 40B in the vertical direction is restricted. The movable part 40A can move relative to the fixed part 40B in the vertical direction as shown by the arrow A in Figure 2, and the distance from the movable part 40A can be changed as desired.

When changing the vertical distance between the two formers 21 as described above, the fixed part 40B may also be movable in the vertical direction, and the distance between the movable part 40A and the fixed part 40B may be changed according to the distance between the formers 21.

The lower end surface of the movable part 40A is provided with a side seal 41 and an end seal 42, which will be described later. When the film 12 is introduced between the movable part 40A and the fixed part 40B, the movable part 40A comes into contact with the fixed part 40B, and the part of the film 12 on the fixed part 40B can be welded or cut by the side seal 41 and the end seal 42.

The side seal 41 (first seal portion) extends in the conveying direction (x direction) and welds and melts one end of the film 12 on the positive y direction side. The end seal 42 (second seal portion) extends in the width direction (y direction) perpendicular to the side seal 41 and melts the upstream portion of the film 12 in the conveying direction.

The end seal 42 is restricted in its movement in the x and y directions (horizontal directions) and welds and cuts the film 12 at a predetermined position in the conveying direction. The downstream leading edge of the film 12 conveyed on the fusing conveyor 33 is welded and cut by the end seal 42 during the film fusing process of the previous work W, and is the part that is conveyed downstream and separated from the bag body B in which the previous work is packaged. Therefore, when focusing on one bag body B, the end seal 42 welds and cuts the front and rear parts in the conveying direction. These fusing parts D by the end seal 42 are shown by dashed lines on the bag body B1 in Figure 4.

On the other hand, the side seal 41 can move in the width direction relative to the end seal 42, as shown by arrow B in Figure 2.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating film cutting by the L-shaped seal member 40 in the case of a small-sized work W. In conventional L-shaped seal members, the L-shaped cutting position is fixed. Therefore, if the width dimension of the work W is sufficiently small relative to the width direction of the cutting conveyor 33, the cutting position in the width direction may be far from the work W, and the excess portion of the bag body may increase, making it impossible to package the work W at an appropriate size. In contrast, in this embodiment, the side seal 41 is movable in the width direction, so that in the case of a small-sized work W, as shown by arrow C in Figure 3, the side seal 41 is moved in the negative y direction to bring the side seal 41 sufficiently close to the work W before cutting one end of the film 12. This makes it possible to reduce the excess portion of the bag body B relative to the work W.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the difference in the melting position depending on the size of the workpiece W. When the size of the workpiece W is large, the bag body B1 is located at the furthest side in the y-positive direction in the width direction, and the bag body B1 is also the largest size. On the other hand, when the size of the workpiece W is small, the bag body B2 is located at the furthest side in the y-negative direction in the width direction, and the bag body B2 is also the smallest size. When the size of the workpiece W is medium, the bag body B3 is located at an intermediate position in the width direction between the large and small cases, and the bag body B3 is also of medium size.

In Figure 4, the fused portion E of the side seal 41 is shown by a two-dot chain line on the bag body B1. Figure 4 also shows the edge portion (remaining portion) 12C of the film 12 after the bag bodies B1, B2, and B3 have been fused, and the shape of the edge portion 12C shows that the fusion position in the width direction has been changed.

By allowing the end seal 42 to move in the width direction in this manner, it is possible to melt-cut the film 12 at an appropriate position according to the width direction size of the workpiece W. Also, although the horizontal movement of the end seal 42 is restricted, by adjusting the amount of movement in the transport direction of the workpiece W, it is possible to weld and melt-cut the film 12 at an appropriate position according to the size of the workpiece W in the transport direction. Therefore, the L-shaped sealing member 40 of the packaging device 1 of this embodiment is capable of packaging with appropriate dimensions according to the size of the workpiece W.

2 and the like, the side seal 41 has a welding portion 43 and a melting portion 44. The welding portion 43 and the melting portion 44 are both provided extending in the conveying direction (x direction) and arranged in parallel. The melting portion 44 is arranged on one end side of the film 12 in the y positive direction from the welding portion 43. The melting portion 44 melts the film 12. The welding portion 43 melts and welds the film 12. In this embodiment, "welding" means that two opposing films 12 are melted and fixed by heating. "Melt-cutting" means that two opposing films 12 are melted and cut by heating. "Welding and melt-cutting" means that two opposing films are welded with a predetermined width along the extension direction and cut along the extension direction within the predetermined width of the welded portion. In the "welding and cutting" method, the two films 12 are welded together to maintain a sealed state of the internal space, while the excess part outside the welded part can be cut off.

"Welding" is an example of "joining," and "melting" is an example of "cutting." Joining includes welding using heat as well as adhesion using adhesives. Cutting includes melting using heat as well as cutting with a blade or laser.

If the welding portion 43 can reliably weld the film 12, the fusing portion 44 may be configured to only perform fusing instead of welding and fusing.

As shown in FIG. 3, the receiving portion 40B1 of the fixed portion 40B, which receives the welding portion 43 and the fusion portion 44 of the side seal 41, is configured to be movable in the width direction, similar to the side seal 41. When the side seal 41 moves in the width direction, the receiving portion 40B1 also moves in the width direction in accordance with the movement of the side seal 41, and can maintain the state of receiving the welding portion 43 and the fusion portion 44.

By providing the welding portion 43 and the fusion-cut portion 44 in this manner, a rectangular flat portion can be formed on the y-positive side of the bag body B, which is separated from the space in which the work W is housed. This flat portion can be used as the label attachment portion L described above. In FIG. 4, the fusion-cut portion E of the side seal 41 caused by the fusion-cut portion 44 is shown by a two-dot chain line on the bag body B1, and the fusion-cut portion F caused by the welding portion 43 is shown by a dotted line on the bag body B1.

The welded portion 43 and the fusion-cut portion 44 can be moved together along the width direction (y direction) relative to the end seal 42. For example, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, even when the fusion-cut position is changed, the side seal 41 moves while keeping the distance in the y direction between the welded portion 43 and the fusion-cut portion 44 constant.

With this configuration, even if the size of the bag body B is changed according to the size of the work W, the label attachment portion L can always be formed with the same width as shown in FIG. 4. If the label attachment portion L can be made with the same width, the label attachment unit 50 can use labels 53 of the same size, and since it is not necessary to change the labels 53 created by the label printer 51 according to the size of the bag body B, the configuration of the label attachment unit 50 can be simplified.

Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the moving structure of the side seal 41. As shown in Figure 5, the movable part 40A of the L-shaped seal member 40 has an electric slider 45, a slide table 46, a base 47, and a pair of arms 48, 49. The base 47 is a member that extends in the y direction like the end seal 42, and the end seal 42 is installed below (z negative direction). The electric slider 45 is installed on the surface of the base 47 on the x positive direction side, and connects the slide table 46 so that it can slide in the y direction. The slide table 46 is configured to be able to move in the y direction by the driving force output by the electric slider 45.

A pair of arms 48, 49 are installed on the slide table 46 so as to extend in the positive x direction. The arms 48, 49 are, for example, plate-shaped members with their main surfaces in the y direction, and are arranged substantially parallel with their main surfaces facing each other. The electric slider 45, slide table 46, base 47, and arms 48, 49 are part of the movable part 40A, and are configured to be movable in the up and down direction integrally with the movable part 40A, as shown by arrow A in FIG. 5.

The welding portion 43 and the melting portion 44 of the side seal 41 are fixedly provided below the arm portions 48 and 49 (negative z direction). As a result, the welding portion 43 and the melting portion 44 are controlled so that they can be positioned at any position in the y direction by moving in the y direction together with the slide table 46 and the arm portions 48 and 49 by the driving force of the electric slider 45, as shown by arrow B in FIG. 5.

Figure 6 is a flowchart of the packaging control of the workpiece W by the packaging device 1 of the embodiment. The control unit 60 controls the operation of each element of the packaging device 1, which is the subject of each process in the flowchart of Figure 6, and transmits and receives information to and from each element.

In step S01, the detection unit 35 detects the work width (dimension in the y direction) of the work W that has been transported from the previous process to the transport unit 30 by the packaging device 1. The detection unit 35 outputs the obtained work width information to the control unit 60.

In step S02, the workpiece W is adjusted to a reference position in the width direction by the feed position adjustment conveyor 31. The reference position is a position that is a predetermined distance from the end of the conveyor of the transport section 30 on the negative y side in the width direction, as shown in FIG. 1 for example. This keeps the distance from the end 12A of the folded portion side of the folded film 12 to the end of the workpiece W on the negative y side constant regardless of the size of the workpiece W.

Any method can be applied for positioning the workpiece W using the feed position adjustment conveyor 31. For example, the feed position adjustment conveyor 31 can be configured to have a sensor that measures the position of the y-negative end of the workpiece W and the above-mentioned reference position, and a positioning mechanism that presses the workpiece W toward the y-negative side to position the workpiece W. In this configuration, the widthwise position of the workpiece W can be adjusted by operating the positioning mechanism based on the position information of the sensor. Alternatively, a well-known alignment conveyor that can align the widthwise position of the workpiece W may be applied as the feed position adjustment conveyor 31. Alternatively, a guide member that can align the widthwise position of the workpiece W to the above-mentioned reference position may be installed on the transport path of the feed position adjustment conveyor 31.

The feed position adjustment conveyor 31 transports the workpiece W whose position has been adjusted to the supply conveyor 32.

In step S03, the workpiece W positioned at the workpiece reference position is introduced by the supply conveyor 32 between the folded film 12 opened by the film reversal opening 20, and is transported to the fusing conveyor 33.

In step S04, the fusing conveyor 33 determines whether the workpiece W has reached the fusing position. If the workpiece W has not reached the fusing position (No in step S04), the conveyance continues. If the workpiece W has reached the fusing position (Yes in step S04), the process proceeds to step S05.

In step S05, the electric slider 45 and slide table 46 adjust the widthwise position of the side seal 41 of the L-shaped seal member 40 to match the work width. For example, based on the information on the work width of the work W acquired by the detection unit 35 in step S01, the control unit 60 determines that the position located a distance of the work width in the positive y direction from the work reference position is the position of the end of the work W on the positive y direction side. Then, the side seal 41 is moved so that the welding and cutting position by the side seal 41 is located further in the positive y direction than this end position.

In step S06, the L-shaped sealing member 40 is lowered to weld and cut the film 12, forming a bag body B with the workpiece W sealed inside. The fusing conveyor 33 transports the bag body B to the labeling conveyor 34.

In step S07, the label attachment unit 50 attaches a label 53 to the label attachment portion L of the bag body B. When the process of step S07 is completed, this control flow ends, and the workpiece W packaged in the bag body B is transported to the subsequent process.

Here, the label 53 used in this embodiment contains, for example, information for identifying each individual package. The specific structure of the label 53 is, for example, an RFID tag, and the above-mentioned information is stored in the IC chip of the RFID tag. Furthermore, "information for identifying each individual package" includes, for example, information for identifying the contents of the package, the shipping destination, and the orderer.

As described above, the packaging device 1 of this embodiment includes a control unit 60 that controls the movement of the side seal 41 of the L-shaped sealing member 40, and a detection unit 35 that detects the widthwise size of the work W. The control unit 60 adjusts the widthwise position of the side seal 41 according to the size of the work W detected by the detection unit 35.

This configuration allows the position of the side seal 41 of the L-shaped sealing member 40 to be automatically adjusted to match the width dimension of each workpiece W being brought into the conveying section 30 of the packaging device 1, making it possible to more accurately and easily package the workpiece W with appropriate dimensions according to its size.

In addition, even if multiple workpieces W of various types and sizes are mixed and continuously fed through the conveying section 30, the packaging device 1 can automatically package each workpiece W according to its own requirements, improving the versatility of the packaging device 1. In particular, in cases where a large amount of the same or multiple types of items are divided into predetermined or various quantities and individually packaged, the shape of the workpieces W is relatively small, and if the packaging size can be changed arbitrarily in both the conveying direction and the width direction, packaging in a more appropriate size is possible, so application of the packaging device 1 of this embodiment is particularly effective.

In addition, when multiple small workpieces are packaged (wrapped) in one bag body B, if there are large gaps in the packaging, there is a risk that the workpieces inside may collide with each other during transport and be damaged, so it is preferable to optimize the packaging. In this embodiment, by appropriately adjusting the widthwise position of the side seal 41, it is possible to package the multiple workpieces contained in one bag body B in such a way that their relative positions do not shift during transport, and this allows the packaging to be optimized according to the workpieces W.

In addition, in a typical distribution system, products of various sizes, such as small, medium, and large, are sorted from a common line to individual size conveying lines, and each conveying line individually packages the products according to their size and number. In a conventional packaging device that cannot adjust the widthwise position of the side seal 41, when applying the device to such a distribution system, it is necessary to install an L-shaped seal member with a different widthwise seal position for each packaging device installed on the conveying line based on the size of the products on each conveying line. However, in this embodiment, if the same packaging device 1 is applied to each of these multiple conveying lines, the widthwise position of the side seal 41 of the L-shaped seal member 40 can be appropriately adjusted based on the size of the products on each conveying line, making it possible to perform appropriate packaging for each line without prior work such as part replacement. The advantage of being able to individually package a wide variety of items using a single conveying device 1 in this way is ideal for distribution applications.

In this embodiment, as shown in steps S01 and S05 of the flowchart in FIG. 6, the control unit 60 performs control to adjust the widthwise fusing position of the L-shaped seal member 40 so that the bag body B has an appropriate size according to the work width of the work W detected by the detection unit 35. However, the method of realization is not limited to this control, as long as the widthwise fusing position of the L-shaped seal member 40 can be appropriately adjusted. For example, the control unit 60 may obtain information regarding the widthwise position in advance from a higher-level device such as a management device that manages the entire conveying system including the packaging device 1, and adjust the widthwise position of the L-shaped seal member 40 in advance based on this obtained information before the work W reaches the fusing position.

Similarly, in this embodiment, as shown in step S04 of the flowchart in FIG. 6, the control unit 60 performs the fusing after confirming that the workpiece W has reached the fusing position, but the timing of the fusing is not limited to this. For example, the control unit 60 may acquire information on the feed amount in advance from a higher-level device such as the management device described above, and based on this acquired information on the feed amount, the conveyor moves the workpiece W a predetermined feed amount, so that the workpiece W is automatically sent to the fusing position. In this case, fusing is performed when the conveyor has operated a predetermined amount, without detecting the presence or absence of the workpiece W.

The height of the sealing position of the L-shaped sealing member 40 may also be adjusted according to the vertical thickness of the workpiece W. Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of adjusting the height of the sealing position. Figure 7 (A) shows the height position when the vertical thickness of the workpiece W1 is small (thin), and Figure 7 (B) shows the height position when the vertical thickness of the workpiece W2 is large (thick).

In this case, the fixed part 40B of the L-shaped seal member 40 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction, just like the movable part 40A. The sealing positions S1 and S2 of the workpieces W1 and W2 can be set to a height that is approximately half the vertical thickness of the workpieces W1 and W2. The control unit 60 acquires information on the height of the sealing positions S1 and S2 in advance from a higher-level device, such as the above-mentioned management device. Alternatively, the control unit 60 may be configured to measure the vertical thickness of the workpiece W moving on the conveyor using a sensor or the like, and calculate the sealing positions S1 and S2 based on the measured thickness information. Then, the control unit 60 moves the fixed part 40B of the L-shaped seal member 40 to the height of the acquired or calculated sealing positions S1 and S2.

As shown in FIG. 7(A), in the case of a thin workpiece W1, the height position of the fixing part 40B is close to the conveyor transport surface, and the sealing position S1 is set relatively low. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7(B), in the case of a thick workpiece W2, the height position of the fixing part 40B is located above the conveyor transport surface, and the sealing position S2 is set relatively high.

The present embodiment has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific examples. Design modifications to these specific examples made by a person skilled in the art are also included within the scope of the present disclosure as long as they have the features of the present disclosure. The elements of each of the above-mentioned specific examples, as well as their arrangement, conditions, shape, etc., are not limited to those exemplified and can be modified as appropriate. The elements of each of the above-mentioned specific examples can be combined in different ways as appropriate, as long as no technical contradictions arise.

In the above embodiment, the welding portion 43 and the fusion portion 44 of the side seal 41 are configured to be movable together in the width direction (y direction) relative to the end seal 42, but they may be configured to be movable individually in the width direction relative to the end seal 42. This allows the width dimension of the label attachment portion L provided on the positive y direction side of the bag body B to be any size, improving the versatility of the packaging device 1.

In the above embodiment, the side seal 41 is illustrated as having a welding portion 43 that welds the film 12 and a fusing portion 44 that fusing the film 12, but it may be configured to have only one of these. In other words, the side seal 41 may be configured to weld or fusing the film 12.

1 Packaging device 12 Film (sheet)
35 Detection section 40 L-shaped seal member 41 Side seal (first seal section)
42 End seal (second seal portion)
43 Welding part 44 Melting part 60 Control part W Work (packaged item)
B. Bag body

Claims (2)

A packaging device that pulls out a rolled sheet in a folded state, places an item to be packaged between the folded sheet, and forms a bag by joining and cutting three opening sides of the sheet with an L-shaped sealing member that is L-shaped in a plan view,
a feed position adjustment conveyor that adjusts the widthwise position of the packaged item so that the packaged item is placed between the folded-in-half sheet at a reference position that is a predetermined distance from a folded-in-half portion that is an end portion of the folded-in-half sheet on one side in a width direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the packaged item;
The L-shaped sealing member includes a first sealing portion that extends in the conveying direction of the packaged item and that sandwiches the packaged item between the folded portion and joins and cuts one end of the sheet on the opposite side in the width direction to the folded portion, and a second sealing portion that extends in the width direction perpendicular to the first sealing portion and joins and cuts front and rear portions of the sheet in the conveying direction,
The second seal portion is fixedly disposed at a predetermined position in the conveying direction,
The first seal portion is movable along the width direction relative to the second seal portion,
the sheet is a plastic film,
The L-shaped seal member welds and cuts the film,
the one end of the sheet is a portion including an end portion on the other side in the width direction where two sheets overlap and are not connected to each other, the end portion being opposite to the folded portion which is an end portion on one side in the width direction of the sheet in the folded state,
the first sealing portion has a welding portion that welds the film, and a fusing portion that is arranged parallel to the welding portion and that fusingly cuts the film,
the fusion portion is disposed closer to the other end of the film than the welding portion is,
The welding portion and the fusing portion are individually movable along the width direction relative to the second seal portion.
Packaging equipment. A control unit that controls the movement of the first seal portion;
A detection unit that detects the size of the packaged item in the width direction,
The control unit adjusts the position of the first seal portion in the width direction according to the size of the packaged item detected by the detection unit.
2. The packaging device of claim 1 .

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