Rotation angle-based wrapping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10005580-B2
Application number	US-201314062929-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2013
Priority date	Oct 25, 2012
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A wrapping apparatus and method utilize a corner rotation angle-based wrap control that controls the rate at which packaging material is dispensed based on the rotational position of one or more corners of the load during relative rotation established between the load and a packaging material dispenser. The locations of one or more corners on a load may be sensed or otherwise calculated, and when combined with a sensed or calculated rotational position of the load relative to a packaging material dispenser, the locations of the corners relative to the packaging material dispenser may be determined and utilized to control the dispense rate of the packaging material dispenser, e.g., by determining which corner is currently driving an effective consumption rate of the load and/or determining when to apply a controlled intervention to the load.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wrapping a load with packaging material, the apparatus comprising:
a packaging material dispenser for dispensing packaging material to the load;
a load support for supporting the load during wrapping, wherein the packaging material dispenser and the load support are adapted for rotation relative to one other about a center of rotation;
an angle sensor that senses an angular relationship between the load and the packaging material dispenser about the center of rotation; and
a controller coupled to the angle sensor and the packaging material dispenser and that calculates a location of at least one corner of the load within a plane perpendicular to the center of rotation and controls a dispense rate of the packaging material dispenser during the relative rotation using the calculated location of the at least one corner and based at least in part on a rotation angle that is the center of rotation and that is for the at least one corner of the load during the relative rotation, the rotation angle determined by the controller using the sensed angular relationship.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotation angle is a corner location angle.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotation angle is a corner contact angle representing an angle at which packaging material first comes into contact with the at least one corner during the relative rotation between the load support and the packaging material dispenser.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rotation angle is relative to a predetermined angular position about the center of rotation.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined angular position is a fixed angular position.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined angular position is a home angular position.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to control the dispense rate of the packaging material dispenser during the relative rotation based at least in part on a rotation angle associated with each corner of the load during the relative rotation.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the dispense rate of the packaging material dispenser during the relative rotation based at least in part on a corner radial for the corner of the load, wherein the corner radial has a length and extends substantially between the corner and the center of rotation.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to calculate the location of the at least one corner by determining a polar or Cartesian coordinate for the corner of the load relative to the center of rotation.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the angle sensor comprises an encoder configured to sense rotation of the load support or of the packaging material dispenser about the center of rotation, and wherein the angle sensor senses the angular relationship in terms of degrees or fractions of degrees about the center of rotation.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a film angle sensor configured to sense an angle of a portion of the packaging material extending between a first point proximate to where the packaging material exits the packaging material dispenser and a second point proximate to where the packaging material engages the load, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the rotation angle from the sensed angle.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a load distance sensor configured to sense a distance between a reference point and a surface of the load along a radius of the center of rotation, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the rotation angle using the sensed distance.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a speed sensor configured to sense a rate at which the packaging material exits the packaging material dispenser, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the rotation angle using the sensed rate.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a dimensional sensor configured to sense a length, width and offset of the load from the center of rotation, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the rotation angle using the sensed length, width and offset.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to receive input data including of a length, width and offset of the load from the center of rotation, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the rotation angle using the length, width and offset included in input data.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the input data comprises user input data.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the angle sensor is coupled to the load support or the packaging material dispenser to sense movement of the load support or packaging material dispenser about the center of rotation.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to initiate a controlled intervention based at least in part on the rotation angle.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controlled intervention decreases the dispensing rate below a predicted demand immediately in advance of contact between the packaging material and the corner during the relative rotation to increase a wrap force captured by the corner.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controlled intervention increases the dispensing rate above a predicted demand immediately subsequent to contact between the packaging material and the corner during the relative rotation to reduce a wrap force incurred by the corner.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controlled intervention decreases the dispensing rate below a predicted demand proximate contact between the packaging material and the corner during the relative rotation to produce a force spike in the packaging material proximate the contact.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the controlled intervention decreases the dispensing rate below a predicted demand immediately in advance of contact between the packaging material and the corner and increases the dispensing rate above a predicted demand immediately subsequent to contact between the packaging material and the corner to increase a containment force while mitigating any increase in maximum wrap force.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to compensate for system lag by rotationally shifting collected data based at least in part on the rotation angle.

24. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to control the dispense rate of the packaging material dispenser during the relative rotation by:
tracking rotation angles for both a current corner and a next corner during the relative rotation;
controlling the dispense rate based at least in part on the rotation angle for the current corner;
detecting contact between the packaging material and the next corner while controlling the dispense rate based at least in part on the tracked rotation angles for the current corner and the next corner; and
in response to detecting the contact, controlling the dispense rate based at least in part on the rotation angle for the next corner.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotation angle is determined by the controller after initiating relative rotation between the packaging material dispenser and the load support.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rotation

Assignees

• Lantech Com Llc

Inventors

• Lancaster Iii Patrick R
• Mitchell Michael P
• Mccray Jeremy D
• Johnson Richard L

Classifications

• B65B57/04 Primary

  and operating to control, or to stop, the feed of such material, containers, or packages · CPC title

• B65B11/045 Primary

  by rotating platforms supporting the articles · CPC title

• B65B11/025

  by webs revolving around stationary articles · CPC title