Device and method for moving transport elements in a container treatment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10167143-B2
Application number	US-201414913224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2014
Priority date	Sep 13, 2013
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A method for adapting motion profiles of a plurality of individually controllable transport elements for transporting containers in a container treatment system along a transport path, wherein the plurality of transport elements are movably arranged along the transport path, the method includes the following steps: determining a treatment state of at least one container carried along by a first transport element, and/or determining an operational state of at least one first container treatment unit which is arranged downstream with respect to a position of the first transport element along the transport path, wherein the first transport element is moved by an open- and/or closed-loop control unit of the container treatment system as part of a stream of transport elements, and wherein the motion profile of the first transport element is adapted by the open- and/or closed-loop control unit in response to the determined treatment state and/or the determined operational state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for adapting motion profiles of a plurality of individually controllable transport elements for transporting containers in a container treatment system along a transport path, wherein the plurality of transport elements are movably arranged on the transport path, comprising:
determining a treatment state of at least one container carried along by a first transport element among the plurality of transport elements,
wherein the first transport element is moved by means of at least one of an open- or closed-loop control unit of the container treatment system as part of a stream of transport elements,
wherein a motion profile of the first transport element is adapted by means of the open- or closed-loop control unit in response to the determined treatment state, the motion profile being one of the motion profiles of the plurality of individually controllable transport elements,
wherein determining the treatment state of the container carried along by the first transport element comprises comparing the determined treatment state with a predetermined desired treatment state, and
wherein the motion profile of the first transport element in case of a deviation of the determined treatment state from the predetermined desired treatment state is adapted such that a distance of the first transport element from a second transport element directly preceding the first transport element in the stream is reduced to a predetermined distance.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the movement of the plurality of transport elements takes place at least in part by magnetic interaction of the respective transport element with the transport path.

3. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the predetermined distance corresponds to half of a predetermined division of the stream of transport elements along at least a part of the transport path.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising unloading the first transport element from the container carried along upon deviation of the determined treatment state from the predetermined desired treatment state.

5. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the treatment state of the container carried along by the first transport element is determined in an infeed to at least one container treatment unit, and
wherein the predetermined desired treatment state is predetermined in response to a position of the first transport element along the transport path.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the motion profile of the first transport element is not adapted in case of no deviation of the determined treatment state from the predetermined desired treatment state.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a position of the first transport element is determined by means of a plurality of sensors, which are arranged along the transport path.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein in determining the position of the first transport element, the plurality of sensors includes magnetic field sensors.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an operational state of at least one first container treatment unit which is arranged downstream with respect to a position of the first transport element along the transport path,
wherein determining the operational state of the first container treatment unit comprises comparing the determined operational state with a predetermined desired operational state, and
wherein the motion profile of the first transport element upon deviation of the determined operational state from the predetermined desired operational state is adapted such that the first transport element bypasses the first container treatment unit along a bypass section of the transport path.

10. The method according to claim 9 ,
wherein the motion profile of the first transport element is further adapted such that the first transport element after bypassing the first container treatment unit is supplied to a second container treatment unit arranged along the transport path downstream of the first container treatment unit.

11. The method according to claim 9 ,
wherein the motion profile of the first transport element is further adapted such that the first transport element is buffered at least temporarily along the bypass section.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
determining again an operational state of the first container treatment unit and comparing the operational state determined again with the predetermined desired operational state, and
returning the first transport element to an infeed of the first container treatment unit if the operational state determined again corresponds to the predetermined desired operational state.

13. A method for adapting motion profiles of a plurality of individually controllable transport elements for transporting containers in a container treatment system along a transport path, wherein the plurality of transport elements are movably arranged on the transport path, comprising:
determining a treatment state of at least one container carried along by a first transport element among the plurality of transport elements,
wherein the first transport element is moved by means of at least one of an open- or closed-loop control unit of the container treatment system as part of a stream of transport elements,
wherein a motion profile of the first transport element is adapted by means of at least one of the open- or closed-loop control unit in response to the determined treatment state, the motion profile being one of the motion profiles of the plurality of individually controllable transport elements,
wherein determining the treatment state of the container carried along by the first transport element comprises comparing the determined treatment state with a predetermined desired treatment state,
wherein adapting the motion profile of the first transport element upon deviation of the determined treatment state from the predetermined desired treatment state comprises ejecting the first transport element out of the stream of transport elements, and
wherein the method further comprises adapting a motion profile of at least one of a second transport element directly preceding the first transport element in the stream before ejection of the first transport element, and a third transport element directly succeeding the first transport element in the stream before ejection of the first transport element, in such a manner that a distance of the third transport element from the second transport element is reduced to a predetermined distance.

14. The method according to claim 13 ,
wherein the predetermined distance corresponds to a predetermined division of the stream of transport elements along at least a part of the transport path.

15. A method for adapting motion profiles of a plurality of individually controllable transport elements for transporting containers in a container treatment system along a transport path, wherein the plurality of transport elements are movably arranged on the transport path, comprising:
determining a treatment state of at least one container carried along by a first transport element among the plurality of transport elements,
wherein the first transport element is moved by means of at least one of an open- or closed-loop control unit of the container treatment system as part of a stream of transport elements,
wherein a motion profile of the first transport element is adapted by means of the open- or closed-loop control unit in response to the determined treatment state, the motion profile being one of the motion profiles

Assignees

• Krones Ag

Inventors

• Senn Konrad
• Wahl Matthias
• Hifinger Toni
• Walter Ralf

Classifications

• B41J3/40733

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• B65G37/02 Primary

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• B65G2811/0673

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