JP7692741B2 - vacuum packaging machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vacuum packaging machine that vacuum packages food and other products.

Vacuum packaging is a method of packaging in which the air is removed from a bag containing the packaged product and then the bag is sealed. Vacuum packaging can prevent the packaged product from deteriorating, and is widely used in the food and industrial sectors, for example.

A vacuum packaging machine has a reduced pressure chamber formed by an upper chamber and a lower chamber divided into upper and lower parts. A vacuum packaging bag (hereinafter simply referred to as a packaging bag) containing the packaged item is placed in the lower chamber. The upper chamber (lid) is formed in a dome or flat shape and opens upwards by a hinge mechanism provided on the rear side of the device. Inside the vacuum packaging machine, a seal block is provided to close the opening of the degassed packaging bag. The seal block is divided into a lower seal block (also called a lower closing block) and an upper seal block (also called an upper closing block), and the opening of the packaging bag is placed on the lower seal block.

Then, with the main body of the packaging bag placed on the bottom of the lower chamber and the opening of the packaging bag placed on the lower seal block, the upper chamber is closed and the air inside the vacuum packaging machine is evacuated using a vacuum pump, which simultaneously evacuates the air inside the packaging bag. Once the air inside the packaging bag has been evacuated, the lower seal block is pressed against the upper seal block, and a heater installed in the lower seal block is energized to close the opening of the evacuated packaging bag. The lower seal block is then returned to its original position, completing the vacuum packaging process.

In a vacuum packaging machine, when a packaging bag is set in the chamber, the opening of the packaging bag is placed on the lower seal block. A guide section is provided on the chamber side of the lower seal block. An easily removable adhesive seal is attached to the upper surface of the guide section to prevent the opening of the packaging bag from easily moving when the packaging bag is placed on it. Such adhesive seals deteriorate over time, so they need to be replaced depending on the number of times or months of use. In addition, wrinkles are easily formed at the opening of the packaging bag, and the opening may also be slightly misaligned above and below.

As an alternative to adhesive seals, it is known to provide an expansion mechanism that expands the opening of a packaging bag (for example, see Patent Document 1). However, the expansion mechanism in Patent Document 1 requires a forward and backward moving support member. That is, when the expansion mechanism is positioned in front of the sealing mechanism (on the storage bag side), it stretches the opening of the storage bag horizontally so that the opening overlaps the top and bottom and maintains it in a taut state without rippling (slack). The movable widening member is then moved backward by the forward and backward moving support member to perform the sealing operation. Therefore, the expansion mechanism in Patent Document 1 has a complex structure that requires a forward and backward moving support mechanism, and therefore requires regular maintenance.

JP 2000-335516 A

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a vacuum packaging machine that can prevent wrinkles from forming at the opening of the packaging bag and seal it neatly by pulling both ends of the opening of the packaging bag in the expansion direction using a simple pulling mechanism.

In one embodiment, a vacuum packaging machine vacuum packages an item to be packaged by reducing the pressure inside a chamber while a packaging bag for containing the item is housed therein, degassing the air inside the packaging bag, and then closing the chamber to seal the opening of the packaging bag. The vacuum packaging machine has a pulling mechanism located outside a lower seal block that seals the opening of the packaging bag, with pulling parts attached symmetrically to both sides of a rail having a guide groove, and capable of pulling the opening of the packaging bag in the horizontal direction of the rail without slack using the pulling parts, mounting legs provided near the center of the rail, and a flat part that is provided on the mounting legs across the rail and on which the center of the opening of the packaging bag can be placed, the left and right pulling parts are provided with bag hook parts to which both ends of the opening of the packaging bag are attached, the height of the flat part is the same as the height of a line connecting the tops of the left and right bag hook parts, and the opening is supported in a wrinkle-free state .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of a top view of a vacuum packaging machine having a pulling mechanism that pulls both ends of an opening of a packaging bag according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the tension mechanism shown in FIG. 1 . 3A and 3B are top and side views of the tensioning mechanism shown in FIG. 2; 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3 and a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating a configuration of a slider portion of a tension mechanism. 6 is a rear view of the slider portion shown in FIG. 5 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a packaging bag is attached to the pulling mechanism of the vacuum packaging machine of FIG. 1 . 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a usage example of a vacuum packaging machine according to an embodiment;

Hereinafter, a vacuum packaging machine according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of a top view of a vacuum packaging machine having a pulling mechanism for pulling both ends of an opening of a packaging bag. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the pulling mechanism shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a top view and a side view of the pulling mechanism shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines A-A and B-B in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a slider part of the pulling mechanism. FIG. 6 is a rear view of the slider part shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a packaging bag is attached to the pulling mechanism of the vacuum packaging machine shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of use of a vacuum packaging machine according to an embodiment. In addition, the same reference numerals are used for the same members in FIG. 1 to FIG. 8.

Figure 1 shows a portion of a top view of a vacuum packaging machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 illustrates a lower chamber 30 provided within the housing 20 of the vacuum packaging machine 10, an inclined guide section 40 that guides packaging bags into the lower chamber 30, a lower seal block 50 which is one of the seal blocks, an operation panel 60 provided on the outside of the housing 20, and a tension mechanism 100. The tension mechanism 100 of the embodiment is installed within the housing 20 outside the lower seal block 50 (between the operation panel 60 and the lower seal block 50).

The vacuum packaging machine 10 reduces the pressure in a chamber while a packaging bag containing the packaged item is housed therein, evacuates the air in the packaging bag, and then closes the chamber to seal the opening of the packaging bag, thereby vacuum packaging the packaged item. Note that FIG. 1 omits components of the vacuum packaging machine that are not directly related to the present invention (e.g., vacuum pump, valve mechanisms, control circuit, etc.).

Figure 2 shows the overall configuration of the pulling mechanism 100. In Figure 2, the pulling mechanism 100 is configured symmetrically with pulling units 120a, 120b provided on both sides of a rail 110 having a guide groove. The pulling units 120a, 120b can move their mounting positions on the rail 110 in the horizontal direction depending on the packaging bag to be vacuum packaged. During vacuum packaging, when the openings on both sides of the packaging bag are attached in contact with the pulling units 120a, 120b, the openings on both sides are biased outward by a spring, which will be described later.

A flat portion 130 is provided near the center of the rail 110, on which part of the opening of the packaging bag (near the center) is placed. The height of the upper surface of the flat portion 130 is approximately the same as the height of a line connecting the tops of the bag hook portions 122a, 122b (see Figure 3 or Figure 4) of the pulling portions 120a, 120b, which will be described later. In addition, a mounting leg 140 is provided on the rail 110 on the opposite side of the flat portion 130. The mounting leg 140 is installed on the outside of the lower seal block 50 in the lower chamber of Figure 1. The height h (see Figure 3) formed by the mounting leg 140 and the flat portion 130 is approximately the same as (slightly lower than) the height of the lower seal block 50.

Figure 3 shows a top view and a side view of the pulling mechanism 100 shown in Figure 2, and Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines A-A and B-B in Figure 3. Figure 5 shows an enlarged view of the pulling section 120a on the left side. Figure 6 shows a rear view of the pulling section 120a in Figure 5. The configuration of the pulling mechanism 100 will be described below with reference to these figures.

Mounting blocks 121a, 121b are provided on the symmetrical pulling sections 120a, 120b. Mounting block 121a has bag hook section 122a attached to the outside and operation block 123a attached to the inside. Similarly, mounting block 121b has bag hook section 122b attached to the outside and operation block 123b attached to the inside. Bag hook sections 122a, 122b are attached so that both ends of the opening of the packaging bag come into contact when vacuum packaging. Bag hook sections 122a, 122b are coated with silicone rubber or the like to prevent the packaging bag from slipping. Alternatively, they may be attached by inserting a member made of silicone rubber or the like. The operation blocks 123a and 123b are used by the fingers to move the mounting blocks 121a and 121b (bag hook parts 122a and 122b), which have an outward biasing force (by a spring, described below), inward along the guide groove of the rail 110 when attaching both ends of the opening of the packaging bag to the bag hook parts 122a and 122b.

In other words, if the distance between the bag hooking parts 122a and 122b is not positioned so that it is the same as or slightly wider than the width (distance) of the opening of the packaging bag, slack will occur at the opening. Therefore, in order to attach the opening of the packaging bag without slack, the distance between the bag hooking parts 122a and 122b is set exactly according to the size of the packaging bag. When attaching both ends of the opening of the packaging bag to the bag hooking parts 122a and 122b, the width is too tight as it is, so it can be easily attached by moving the operation block 123a or 123b slightly inward (moving the bag hooking part 122a or 122b at the same time).

A fixing screw (knurled knob) 124a and a connecting screw 125a are provided at one end of the rail 110 (the left end in the figure). Similarly, a fixing screw 124b (knurled knob) and a connecting screw 125b are provided at the other end of the rail 110 (the right end in the figure). As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, a first spring mounting member 126a is provided on the rear side of the fixing screw 124a and the connecting screw 125a. Similarly, a first spring mounting member 126b is provided on the rear side of the fixing screw 124b and the connecting screw 125b. The first spring mounting members 126a and 126b are fixed to the rail 110 and therefore serve as fixed parts.

As shown in the A-A cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, the fixing screw 124a has a function of fixing the guide groove of the rail 110 in a shape that sandwiches it, so the positions of the fixing screw 124a and the connecting screw 125a can be changed by loosening the fixing screw 124a. The pulling part 120b also has the same shape. Therefore, the fixing screw 124b has a function of fixing the rail 110 in a shape that sandwiches it, so the positions of the fixing screw 124b and the connecting screw 125b can be changed by loosening the fixing screw 124b. The vacuum packaging machine 10 can vacuum package a plurality of types of packaging bags of different sizes. To do this, the positions of the fixing screws 124a and 124b can be changed according to the size of the packaging bag.
By stamping or affixing marks on the rail 110 according to the width of the opening of the packaging bag (for example, 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm, 900 mm), the movement position can be immediately determined and the user can easily move the bag.

As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, a second spring mounting member 127a is provided on the back side of operation block 123a. Similarly, a second spring mounting member 127b is provided on the back side of operation block 123b. Since the second spring mounting members 127a and 127b are connected to operation blocks 126a and 123b, they also have a slider function that slides on the guide groove of rail 110. In other words, in response to the sliding operation of operation block 123a or 123b, the second spring mounting member 127a or 127b slides (shifts) slightly inward on the guide groove of rail 110.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a spring 128a is attached between the first spring mounting member 126a and the second spring mounting member 127a. As described above, since the first spring mounting member 126a is fixed to the left end of the rail 110, the spring 128a exerts a force to bias the second spring mounting member 127a outward (toward the left in Fig. 3). Similarly, a spring 128b is attached between the first spring mounting member 126b and the second spring mounting member 127b. Similarly, since the first spring mounting member 126b is fixed to the right end of the rail 110, the spring 128b exerts a force to bias the second spring mounting member 127b outward (toward the right in Fig. 3).

As described above, the tensioning parts 120a and 120b are provided on the opposite side (top surface) of the second spring mounting members 127a and 127b. The operation blocks 123a and 123b and the bag hooking parts 122a and 122b are attached to the tensioning parts 120a and 120b. For example, when the right end of the opening of the packaging bag is hooked on the bag hooking part 122b, the operation block 123a is moved toward the inside of the horizontal direction of the rail 110 with a finger, the distance between the bag hooking part 122a and the bag hooking part 122b is shortened, so that the left end of the opening of the packaging bag can be easily attached. When the finger is removed from the operation block 123a, the bag hooking part 122a returns to its original position by the spring 128a, so that the opening of the packaging bag can be supported without wrinkles. For example, when the left end of the opening of the packaging bag is hooked onto the bag hook portion 122a, the opening of the packaging bag can be supported in a wrinkle-free manner by moving the operation block 123b with a finger toward the inside of the rail 110 in the horizontal direction.

7 and 8 show an example of a state in which a packaging bag 200 for vacuum packaging is attached to the bag hooking parts 122a, 122b of the pulling parts 120a, 120b. As is clear from FIG. 7, the opening of the packaging bag attached to the bag hooking parts 122a, 122b is pulled toward the horizontal outside of the rail 110 by the springs 128a, 128b, so that wrinkles disappear at the opening. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, during the vacuum packaging operation, the air in the packaging bag is degassed, and the opening of the packaging bag is sandwiched between the upper seal block 70 and the lower seal block 50, and the opening can be sealed by, for example, passing electricity through the lower seal block 50. As a result, during the vacuum packaging operation, wrinkles can be eliminated at the opening (sealed part) of the packaging bag. In addition, there is no misalignment of the opening of the packaging bag, so a beautiful product can be created.

The vacuum packaging machine according to the embodiment reduces the pressure inside the chamber while a packaging bag containing the packaged item is housed therein, and then closes the bag to seal the opening of the packaging bag after degassing the air inside the bag. The vacuum packaging machine 10 vacuum packages the packaged item. The machine is located outside the lower sealing block 50 that seals the package, and has tensioning parts (120a, 120b) symmetrically attached to both sides of the rail 110. The tensioning parts (120a, 120b) are attached to the outside of the lower sealing block 50, and the tensioning mechanism 100 can pull the opening of the packaging bag horizontally of the rail 110 without slackening. Pulling the opening of the packaging bag horizontally eliminates wrinkles at the opening. Therefore, wrinkles can also be eliminated at the sealed part when sealing the vacuum packaging operation.

The pulling section of the vacuum packaging machine 10 according to the embodiment has bag hook sections (122a, 122b) to which both ends of the opening of the packaging bag are attached, operation blocks (123a, 123b) that are slidably installed on the rail 110, mounting blocks (121a, 121b) to which the bag hook sections (122a, 122b) and operation blocks (123a, 123b) are attached, and springs (128a, 128b) that bias the mounting blocks (121a, 121b) outward from the rail 110. Therefore, by pulling the opening of the packaging bag 200 attached to the bag hook sections (122a, 122b) toward the horizontal outside of the rail 110 with the springs (128a, 128b), it is possible to eliminate wrinkles at the opening. Therefore, there is no misalignment of the opening of the packaging bag 200, and a beautiful product can be created.

The vacuum packaging machine 10 according to the embodiment further includes a first spring mounting member (126a, 126b) to which one end of the spring (128a, 128b) is attached and which is fixed to the end of the rail 110, and a second spring mounting member (127a, 127b) to which the other end of the spring (128a, 128b) is attached and which is attached to the opposite side of the operation block (123a, 123b). Therefore, the opening of the packaging bag 200 attached to the bag hook portion (122a, 122b) can be pulled horizontally along the rail 110 by the spring (128a, 128b).

In the embodiment of the vacuum packaging machine 10, the first spring mounting members (126a, 126b) are fixed at a predetermined position on the rail 110 according to the width of the opening of the packaging bag, so that the opening of the packaging bag 200 can be pulled horizontally along the rail 110 with optimal tension according to the width of the opening of the packaging bag 200.

The vacuum packaging machine 10 in the embodiment is installed near the center of the rail 110 and has a flat portion 130 on which a part of the opening of the packaging bag can be placed. The height of the upper surface of the flat portion 130 is approximately the same as the height of the line connecting the tops of the left and right bag hook portions (122a, 122b), so that the center of the opening of the packaging bag 200 is placed on the flat portion 130, and the opening of the packaging bag 200 can be kept wrinkle-free.

The vacuum packaging machine 10 according to the embodiment further has a mounting leg 140 provided near the center on the opposite side of the rail 110, and the height formed by the mounting leg 140 and the flat portion 130 is approximately the same as the height of the lower seal block 50, so that wrinkles can be eliminated from the opening (sealed portion) of the packaging bag 200 even during sealing in the vacuum packaging operation.

The embodiments of the present invention are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims.

10... vacuum packaging machine, 20... housing, 30... lower chamber 40... guide inclined portion, 50... lower seal block 60... operation panel, 70... upper seal block 100... hinge mechanism, 110... rail, 120a, 120b... pulling portion 121a, 121b... mounting block, 122a, 122b... bag hook portion 123a, 123b... operation block 124a, 124b... fixing screw (knurled knob)
125a, 125b...connecting screws; 126a, 126b...first spring mounting members; 127a, 127b...second spring mounting members; 128a, 128b...springs; 130...flat portions; 140...mounting legs

Claims (1)

A vacuum packaging machine that vacuum packages an item to be packaged by reducing the pressure inside a chamber while a packaging bag containing the item is housed therein, degassing the air inside the packaging bag, and then closing the chamber to seal an opening of the packaging bag,
a tension mechanism that is located outside a lower seal block that seals an opening of the packaging bag, has tension parts symmetrically attached to both sides of a rail having a guide groove, and can pull the opening of the packaging bag in the horizontal direction of the rail without slack by the tension parts;
A mounting leg provided near a center portion of the rail;
a flat portion that is provided on the mounting legs across the rail and on which a center portion of an opening of the packaging bag can be placed;
having
The left and right pulling sections are provided with bag hook sections to which both ends of the opening of the packaging bag are attached, the height of the flat section is the same as the height of a line connecting the tops of the left and right bag hook sections, and the opening is supported in a wrinkle-free state .