Feeding unit for feeding sealed packs of pourable food products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087008-B2
Application number	US-201515317622-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2015
Priority date	Jun 10, 2014
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A feeding unit for feeding sealed packs of pourable food products to a folding unit arranged to form folded packages from said packs, said feeding unit comprising a feeding conveyor having a carrying arrangement movable cyclically along an advancing path to carry said packs towards said folding unit, wherein said feeding unit further comprises a push arrangement arranged to push said packs towards said advancing path.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A feeding unit for feeding sealed packs of pourable food products to a folding unit arranged to form folded packages from said packs, said feeding unit comprising:
a feeding conveyor having a carrying arrangement movable cyclically along an advancing path to carry said packs towards said folding unit;
a push arrangement arranged to push said packs towards said advancing path, said push arrangement pushing said packs to said carrying arrangement of said feeding conveyor; and
a chute element providing a curved conveyance path for said packs upstream of said feeding conveyor, said push arrangement pushing said packs towards said feeding conveyor while said packs are within said chute element.

2. A feeding unit according to claim 1 , wherein said push arrangement comprises a driving body and at least one push element driven by said driving body.

3. A feeding unit according to claim 2 , wherein said push arrangement comprises a plurality of push elements and said driving body comprises a rotatable body, said push elements protruding from said rotatable body and being rotated by said rotatable body.

4. A feeding unit according to claim 1 , wherein said feeding conveyor comprises a flexible conveying element and said carrying arrangement comprises at least one carrying element moved along said advancing path by said flexible conveying element.

5. A feeding unit according to claim 4 , wherein said carrying arrangement comprises a plurality of carrying elements protruding from said flexible conveying element.

6. A feeding unit according to claim 4 , wherein said push arrangement comprises a driving body and at least a push element driven by said driving body, and
wherein said flexible conveying element is actuated by said driving body.

7. A feeding unit according to claim 6 , wherein
said push arrangement comprises a plurality of push elements and said driving body comprises a rotatable body, said push elements protruding from said rotatable body and being rotated by said rotatable body, and
wherein said flexible conveying element is actuated by said rotatable body.

8. A feeding unit according to claim 7 , wherein said carrying elements are equally spaced on said flexible conveying element at a first distance and said push elements are equally spaced on said rotatable body at a second distance, said first distance being equal to said second distance.

9. A feeding unit according to claim 8 , wherein said flexible carrying element has the shape of a loop and is partially wound on said rotatable body, the carrying elements protruding from a portion of said flexible carrying element that is wound on said rotatable body being aligned with corresponding push elements protruding from said rotatable body.

10. A feeding unit according to claim 1 , wherein said push arrangement comprises a driving body and at least a push element driven by said driving body, and
wherein said chute is arranged on a side of said driving body, said chute and said driving body defining a channel for the packs and said at least one push element extending into said channel to interact with said packs.

11. A feeding unit according to claim 1 , wherein said feeding conveyor comprises a guide arrangement for receiving said packs and guiding said packs along said advancing path, said carrying arrangement being positioned above said guide arrangement along said advancing path.

12. A feeding unit for feeding sealed packs of pourable food products to a folding unit, said feeding unit comprising:
a feeding conveyor having a carrying arrangement movable cyclically along an advancing path to carry said packs towards said folding unit;
a push arrangement arranged to push said packs towards said advancing path;
said feeding conveyor comprising a flexible conveying element and said carrying arrangement comprising at least one carrying element moved along said advancing path by said flexible conveying element;
said push arrangement comprising a driving body and at least one push element driven by said driving body; and
said flexible conveying element being actuated by said driving body.

13. A system comprising:
a forming unit configured to fill and seal a packaging material into a sealed pack of pourable food products;
a final folding unit configured to form finished packages of the pourable food products; and
a feeding unit positioned to receive the sealed pack output from the forming unit and to transfer the sealed pack to the final folding unit for final folding, the feeding unit comprising:
a feeding conveyor having a carrying arrangement movable cyclically along an advancing path to carry the sealed pack towards the folding unit, and
a push arrangement comprising at least one push element to push the sealed pack to the carrying arrangement of the feeding conveyor before the sealed pack reaches the carrying arrangement of the feeding conveyor.

14. The system according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a rotatable driving body that rotates to simultaneously drive both the feeding conveyor and the at least one push element of the push arrangement.

15. The system according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a chute element positioned downstream of the output of the forming unit and upstream of the feeding conveyor, the chute element being a curved conveyance path to transfer the sealed pack from the forming unit to the feeding conveyor, and
the at least one push element of the push arrangement pushing the sealed pack towards the feeding conveyor while the sealed pack is within the chute element.

Assignees

• Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance
• Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance

Inventors

• Mattioli Giorgio
• Pedretti Richard John
• Neri Dino

Classifications

• B65G19/02 Primary

  for articles, e.g. for containers · CPC title

• B65G15/44

  for impelling the loads · CPC title

• B65B61/28

  for discharging completed packages from machines · CPC title

• B65B61/24

  for shaping or reshaping completed packages · CPC title

• B65B43/52

  using roller-ways or endless conveyors · CPC title