System and method for automatically packaging items varying in size and number for shipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10287048-B2
Application number	US-201515329042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2015
Priority date	Oct 16, 2014
Publication date	May 14, 2019
Grant date	May 14, 2019

Abstract

System ( 10 ) for automatically packaging items varying in size and number for shipment, comprising a unit ( 32 ) for acquiring size information of one or more item(s) to be packaged, an inner packaging material feeding unit ( 24 ) for feeding an inner packaging material, an outer packaging material feeding unit ( 26 ) for feeding an outer packaging material, a first wrapping station ( 16 ) for wrapping said inner packaging material around one or more item(s) to be packaged to create an inner packing surrounding the item(s) in a first direction and a second wrapping station ( 18 ) for wrapping said outer packaging material around said inner packing to create an outer packing surrounding the inner packing in a second direction, said second direction being substantially perpendicular to said first direction, wherein the first and the second wrapping stations are adapted to form said inner packing and said outer packing such that the inner and the outer packing form a combined package enclosing the packaged item(s) from all sides.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for automatically packaging items varying in size and number for shipment, the system comprising:
a unit for acquiring size information of one or more item(s) to be packaged,
an inner packaging material feeding unit for feeding an inner packaging material,
an outer packaging material feeding unit for feeding an outer packaging material, wherein the system is adapted for stacking the inner packaging material fed by the inner packaging material feeding unit on top of the outer packaging material fed by the outer packaging material feeding unit for providing a stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material, wherein the system is further adapted for placing the item(s) to be packaged on top of the inner packaging material of the stack,
a first wrapping station for wrapping said inner packaging material of the stack around the one or more item(s) to be packaged to create an inner packing completely surrounding the item(s) in a first direction, wherein a first free end portion and a second free end portion of the inner packing of the stack are fixedly attached to each other for closing the inner packing,
a second wrapping station for wrapping said outer packaging material of the stack around said inner packing of the stack to create an outer packing completely surrounding the inner packing of the stack in a second direction, said second direction being perpendicular to said first direction, and
a transportation direction changing means arranged after the first wrapping station and before the second wrapping station and adapted to change a direction of transportation of the stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material provided with the item(s) to be packaged by 90°,
wherein the first wrapping station is adapted to form said inner packing such that the inner packing is open at two sides and encloses the item(s) at four sides,
wherein the second wrapping station is adapted to form said outer packing such that the outer packing is open at two sides and encloses the inner packing at four sides, and
wherein the first and the second wrapping stations are adapted to form said inner packing and said outer packing such that the inner and outer packings form a combined package completely enclosing the item(s) from all sides.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a scanning station that determines size information of the item(s) to be packaged.

3. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a joining unit for attaching a portion of the outer packaging material forming the outer packing to a portion of the inner packaging material forming the inner packing.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one further packaging material feeding unit and at least one further wrapping station, wherein one of the inner packaging material feeding unit, the outer packaging material unit and the at least one further packaging material feeding unit is a cardboard blank supply unit adapted to provide cardboard blanks of different sizes and/or different designs to at least one of the first wrapping station, the second wrapping station, and the at least one further wrapping station.

5. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one cardboard cutting unit adapted to provide customized cardboard blanks to at least one of the first and the second wrapping stations.

6. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one further packaging material feeding unit for feeding a further packaging material and at least one further wrapping station for wrapping said further packaging material around said item(s) to be packaged, said at least one further wrapping station being arranged before the second wrapping station.

7. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a document feeder for feeding documents to the item(s) to be packaged before closing the outer packing.

8. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a subsystem for supervising a packaging process performed by the system, wherein the subsystem including at least one of a scanning station, a weighing station, and one or more cameras to document the packaging process.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system comprises a first transportation means for transporting the stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material provided with the item(s) to be packaged in the direction of transportation to the first wrapping station.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the system comprises a second transportation means for transporting the stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material to the second wrapping station.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein a direction of transportation of the second transportation means is perpendicular to a direction of transportation of the first transportation means.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the transportation direction changing means comprises guiding means adapted to guide the stack from the first transportation means onto the second transportation means.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system comprises a first transportation means for transporting the stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material provided with the item(s) to be packaged in the direction of transportation to the first wrapping station, and
wherein the transportation direction changing means comprises a turning means adapted to turn the stack on the first transportation means by 90° after the first wrapping station and before the second wrapping station.

14. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the first transportation means is a first conveyor belt.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the first transportation means is a first conveyor belt.

16. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the second transportation means is a second conveyor belt.

17. A method for automatically packaging items varying in size and/or number for shipment, the method comprising:
acquiring size information of one or more item(s) to be packaged;
providing an inner packaging material and an outer packaging material;
stacking the inner packaging material on top of the outer packaging material to form a stack;
placing the item(s) to be packaged on top of the inner packaging material;
wrapping the inner packaging material of the stack around the item(s) to create an inner packing completely surrounding the item(s) in a first direction, such that the inner packing is open at two sides and completely encloses the item(s) at four sides, wherein a first free end portion and a second free end portion of the inner packaging of the stack are fixedly attached to each other to close the inner packing;
changing a direction of transportation of the stack of the inner packaging material and the outer packaging material by 90°, after creating the inner packing and before creating an outer packing; and
wrapping the outer packaging material of the stack around the inner inner packing to create the outer packing completely surrounding the inner packing in a second direction, such that the outer packing is open at two sides and completely encloses the inner packing at four sides,
wherein said second direction is perpendicular to the first direction, such that the inner and outer packings form a combined package completely enclosing the item(s) from all sides.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising:
attaching a rectangular shee

Assignees

• Neopost Tech

Inventors

• Sytema Herman
• Bosveld Frank
• Zeilstra Joost

Classifications

• B65B43/126

  Feeding carton blanks in flat or collapsed state · CPC title

• B65B59/003

  Arrangements to enable adjustments related to the packaging material · CPC title

• B65B49/00

  Devices for folding or bending wrappers around contents · CPC title

• B65B43/145

  Feeding carton blanks from piles or magazines · CPC title

• B65B11/004

  in blanks, e.g. sheets precut and creased for folding · CPC title