Apparatus and process for packaging a product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10065755-B2
Application number	US-201414889766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2014
Priority date	May 7, 2013
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A process of packaging a product (P) comprising driving at least the precursor body in a machine direction along the operating path, forming into it one or more longitudinal rows of adjacent tray-shaped elements (8), loading one or more of said products (P) into a respective cavity of said tray-shaped elements; forming a through opening at the corner regions of the tray-elements; tightly fixing a plastic film (11) to close the top opening of said tray-shaped elements (8); transversely separating the closed tray-shaped elements forming closed trays. An apparatus (1) for performing the above process is also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for packaging a product (P) in a tray said apparatus comprising:
a support frame defining an operating path;
a web supply assembly associated to the support frame and configured to supply a plastic precursor body in the form of a plastic web;
a driving assembly carried by the support frame and configured for moving at least the precursor body in a machine direction (MD) along the operating path;
a forming station positioned on the operating path and configured to receive the precursor body in said form of plastic web and form into it a number of cavities such that, downstream from the forming station, the precursor body comprises:
one or more longitudinal rows of adjacent tray-shaped elements,
longitudinal bands transversally delimiting each row of tray-shaped elements,
transverse bands longitudinally delimiting and consecutively joining adjacent tray-shaped elements of a same longitudinal row, the transverse bands and the longitudinal bands also delimiting top openings of the tray-shaped elements and crossing each other at a plurality of cross regions; and

a film supply assembly configured to supply a plastic film,
a packaging assembly also positioned along said operating path and configured to receive said plastic film and said precursor body, wherein the packaging assembly is also configured for tightly fixing the plastic film to close the top opening of said tray-shaped elements and includes:
a lower tool comprising a prefixed number of seats each designed for receiving at least one of said tray-shaped elements, and
an upper tool facing the lower tool and configured for cooperating with the lower tool to fix said plastic film to at least one tray-shaped element positioned in said seat and sealingly close the respective top opening forming one or more closed tray-shaped elements;

a separating assembly positioned along said path downstream from the packaging assembly and configured for at least transversely separating the closed tray-shaped elements and form closed trays;
a cutting tool acting on the precursor body in correspondence of a zone of the operating path comprised between the web supply assembly and the packaging assembly, the cutting tool being configured for forming a through opening located in correspondence of at least one of:
a side wall of each of said tray-shaped elements and
a plurality of said cross regions between the longitudinal and the transverse bands; and

a control unit configured and connected to operate at least said driving assembly, said forming station, said packaging assembly and said cutting tool.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the forming station is configured for forming said plastic precursor body with two or more parallel rows of tray-shaped elements, wherein:
each of said tray-shaped elements has a substantially rectangular top opening defined by two longitudinal side walls and two transverse side walls of the tray-shaped elements, and
the transverse bands perpendicularly cross the longitudinal bands delimiting said rectangular top openings such that said cross regions are located in correspondence of corner zones of the tray-shaped elements.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cutting tool is positioned for acting on said plastic precursor body and is configured for forming said through opening at a plurality of said cross regions, further wherein the cutting tool is configured to shape said through opening in the form of a cutout portion removed from the plastic precursor body, wherein the cutting tool is configured for forming each cutout portion by removing a part of a transverse band in correspondence of a median line between two longitudinally adjacent tray-shaped elements of a same row.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the cutting tool is positioned immediately upstream the packaging assembly and is configured such that:
each of said cutout portions is symmetrically located between two adjacent tray-shaped supports, and
each of said cutout portions is in the shape of one of:
a triangular aperture delimited by three—straight or arc shaped—sides, and
a quadrangular aperture delimited by four—straight or arc shaped—sides.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the packaging assembly comprises at least one main actuator operated by the control unit and active on at least one of said upper and lower tools, the control unit being configured to operate the main actuator such that the upper and the lower tool are displaced between an open position, where the upper tool is spaced apart from the lower tool and forms a gap which allows positioning of the tray-shaped elements in the seats and of the plastic film above the tray-shaped elements, and a closure position, where the upper tool and the lower tool are in close proximity and act one against the other such as to sealingly fix the plastic film above the one or more tray-shaped elements located in the packaging assembly.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the upper tool comprises means for holding a portion of the plastic film in correspondence of an active surface of the upper tool facing the lower tool, optionally wherein said means for holding comprises a vacuum source controlled by the control unit, the control unit being configured for activating the means for holding and causing the active surface to receive and hold said portion of the plastic film,
and wherein the upper tool presents a flat active or dome shaped surface facing the lower tool and configured for receiving a portion of the plastic film that needs to be fixed onto the tray-shaped elements hosted in the lower tool, and wherein heating means is associated to the upper tool and controlled by the control unit, the control unit being configured for controlling the heating means such that the active surface of the upper tool is brought at least to a temperature comprised between 150° C. and 260° C., optionally between 180-240° C., more optionally between 200-220° C.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said lower tool presents a number of base wall portions and a number of side wall portions emerging from respective of said base wall portions to define said number of seats and wherein one of said side wall portions carries at least a protrusion which is positioned and configured such that, when the tray-shaped elements are positioned in the respective seats of the lower tool, each protrusion is inserted into a respective through opening located in one of said cross regions and protrudes above the tray-shaped elements in direction of said dome shaped active surface.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising at least one of:
a vacuum arrangement connected to the lower tool and configured for removing gas from an interior of said tray-shaped elements, the vacuum arrangement comprising at least one vacuum source and at least one evacuation line connecting said through opening to the vacuum source, said control unit being further configured to control the vacuum arrangement to withdraw gas at least when the upper and lower tools are in said closed position; and
a controlled atmosphere arrangement connected to the lower tool and configured for injecting a gas stream into the interior of said tray-shaped elements, the controlled atmosphere arrangement comprising at least one injection device and at least one injection line connecting the through opening to the injection device, said control unit being further configured to control said controlled atmosphere arrangement to inject said stream of gas at least when the upper and lower tools are in said closed position;
wherein the controlled atmosphere arrangement is configured to inject gas or gas mixtures including a quantity of one or more of N 2 , O 2 and CO 2 which is dif

Assignees

• Cryovac Inc

Inventors

• Palumbo Riccardo

Classifications

• B65B9/04

  one or both webs being formed with pockets for the reception of the articles, or of the quantities of material · CPC title

• B65B31/021

  the containers or wrappers being interconnected · CPC title

• B65B61/06

  by cutting · CPC title

• B65B65/02

  Driving gear · CPC title

• B65B61/005

  for removing material by cutting · CPC title