Method and apparatus for filling packs with products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10124920-B2
Application number	US-201314435401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2013
Priority date	Nov 23, 2012
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A method for filling packs with products, in particular for filling boxes with multipacks of cigarette packs in which several products are put together to form a product group. The completeness of the product group is detected by a first control device. Several product groups are put together by a handling device to form a group of product groups and are inserted into the pack, wherein the presence of the group in the pack and/or the completeness of the group of product groups is detected by a second control device. The feeding of groups to the pack is repeated where necessary until a provided number of groups have been filled into the pack, which corresponds to a required quantity of groups or product groups in the pack, and the presence of the groups in the pack is detected or documented by a control device, in particular the second control device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for filling a pack with products, the method comprising:
a) putting together several products to form a product group and detecting the completeness of the product group by a first control device;
b) putting together several product groups by means of a handling device to form a group of product groups that is inserted into the pack, and detecting the presence of the group of product groups in the pack and/or the completeness of the group of product groups by means of a second control device;
c) repeating the inserting of the group of product groups into the pack as necessary until a provided number of groups of product groups have been inserted into the pack which corresponds to a required quantity of the groups of product groups or of the product groups in the pack, and detecting or documenting the presence of each group of product groups or of each product group in the pack in each case by means of the second control device; and
d) testing the completeness of each group of product groups or of each product group in a region of the handling device, wherein the presence of individual products inside the group of product groups or the product group is tested by both pneumatically operating means and by mechanically operating means.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the pneumatically operating means and the mechanically operating means are associated with the handling device, wherein for testing for the presence of each product inside the product group in a pneumatic manner, said product is acted upon with a negative pressure by means of a negative pressure source, wherein the negative pressure is exerted onto the products in each case through a porous material by a suction element.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second control device is positioned in a region of a conveying path of the group of product groups into the pack and once the group of product groups has been inserted into the pack, the second control device detects said group of product groups, wherein the second control device is arranged in a region of a conveying track for the products and, after the group of product groups has been conveyed into the pack, is moved out of a waiting position and into a detecting position for detecting the group of product groups in the pack, and wherein the second control device is then moved back into the waiting position for feeding a further group of product groups into the pack.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second control device is associated with the handling device, in a region of an arm of a robot for displacing the group of product groups into the pack, wherein the group of product groups inserted into the pack is detected when the handling device is withdrawn from the pack.

5. An apparatus for filling a pack with products, the apparatus comprising:
a) a first control device for detecting the completeness of a product group comprising several products;
b) a handling device for putting together several product groups to form a group of product groups and for inserting the group of product groups into the pack; and
c) a second control device for detecting the presence of the group of product groups in the pack and/or the completeness of the group of product groups,
wherein the first control device is associated with the handling device, and
wherein the handling device comprises both pneumatically operating means and mechanically operating means for testing the completeness of the group of product groups.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the handling device is a robot, wherein the robot comprises a head for handling the product groups or the group of product groups and the pneumatically operating means and the mechanically operating means are associated with the head.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the pneumatically operating means is realized for transferring a negative pressure to the product groups, wherein the negative pressure is exertable onto the product groups through a porous material by a suction element which is arranged in a region of the head.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the head is arranged on an arm of the robot, and wherein the second control device is arranged on the arm in such a manner that each product group or each group of product groups is detectable through a recess in the head.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the group of product groups rests on a conveying track and is displaceable along said conveying track by the handling device into the pack, wherein the second control device is arranged in a region of the conveying track in such a manner that the second control device, once the group of product groups has been conveyed into the pack, is movable from a waiting position to a detecting position for detecting the group of product groups in the pack, and wherein the second control device is then movable back into the waiting position for feeding a further group of product groups into the pack.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the second control device is arranged outside a conveying path of the group of product groups into the pack, in a fixed position below a conveying track on which the group of products groups rests, and wherein the group of product groups is detectable in the pack by means of a reflector which is also arranged in a fixed position outside the conveying path of the group of product groups into the pack.

Assignees

• Focke & Co

Inventors

• Kern Wolfgang
• Böger Falko

Classifications

• B65B5/105

  by grippers (B65B5/12 and B65B5/108 take precedence) · CPC title

• B65B35/38

  by suction-operated grippers · CPC title

• B65B57/20 Primary

  Applications of counting devices for controlling the feed of articles (other applications B65B65/08) · CPC title

• B65B57/10

  responsive to absence, presence, abnormal feed, or misplacement of articles or materials to be packaged · CPC title

• B65B35/50 Primary

  Stacking one article, or group of articles, upon another before packaging · CPC title