Filling apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11396390-B2
Application number	US-201916449299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2019
Priority date	Jun 27, 2018
Publication date	Jul 26, 2022
Grant date	Jul 26, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a filling apparatus including: a conveyor line configured to intermittently convey spout-equipped bags, which are suspended so that spouts protruding from one side of the spout-equipped bags, the bags being flat, are located on an upper side and the bags are located on a lower side, in a width direction of the suspended spout-equipped bags on a movement straight line; a printing apparatus disposed in the middle of the conveyor line and configured to print manufacturing information on the suspended spout-equipped bags; and nozzles configured to fill the suspended spout-equipped bags with a liquid material through the spouts. The conveyor line is further configured to convey the spout-equipped bags so that fronts of the spout-equipped bags directly face the printing apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A filling apparatus for filling a liquid material into spout-equipped bags each comprising a bag and a spout protruding from one side of the bag, the filling apparatus comprising:
a conveyor line configured to intermittently convey the spout-equipped bags on a movement straight line in a state that the spout-equipped bags are suspended so that the spouts are located on an upper side and the bags are located on a lower side;
a printing apparatus disposed in a first portion of the conveyor line and configured to print manufacturing information on the suspended spout-equipped bags; and
nozzles arranged in a second portion of the conveyor line and configured to fill the suspended spout-equipped bags with the liquid material through the spouts, wherein
the conveyor line is further configured to convey the spout-equipped bags so that fronts of the spout-equipped bags directly face the printing apparatus,
the spout-equipped bags are flat before the liquid material is filled and expand in a thickness direction by being filled with the liquid material,
a width direction of the suspended spout-equipped bags is perpendicular to a protruding direction of the spouts and the thickness direction,
at least the movement straight line of the first portion of the conveyor line is parallel to the width direction,
the conveyor line comprises:
a multi-hook comprising a straight main body and a plurality of hooks provided at equal intervals along a longitudinal side of the straight main body, the multi-hook being configured to move along the movement straight line by a distance by which the spout-equipped bags are intermittently conveyed, thereafter, depart from the movement straight line, bypass the movement straight line and then return to an original position along the movement straight line; and
a pair of hold bars provided parallel to a direction of the longitudinal side of the straight main body and vertically displaced from the multi-hook, the pair of hold bars being configured to sandwich the spout-equipped bags by narrowing an interval between the pair of hold bars and release the spout-equipped bags by opening the interval between the pair of hold bars, and

the spout-equipped bags are intermittently conveyed along the movement straight line by the following operations:
the multi-hook moves along the movement straight line while the spout-equipped bags are suspended by the plurality of hooks and released from the pair of hold bars;
when the spout-equipped bags stop in the intermittent movement, the pair of hold bars narrow the interval between the pair of hold bars to sandwich the spout-equipped bags, then the multi-hook departs from the movement straight line; and then
the multi-hook bypasses the movement straight line and then returns to the original position along the movement straight line while the pair of hold bars sandwich the spout-equipped bags.

2. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising drivers configured to seal with screw caps the spouts of the filled spout-equipped bags.

3. The filling apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the driver comprises a first driver for pre-tightening the screw cap, and a second driver for final tightening, and
the multi-hook is configured to stop the spout-equipped bag at a position in which the first driver is disposed and a position in which the second driver is disposed.

4. The filling apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a controller configured to detect a rotation angle until a mark provided on the screw cap reaches a predetermined rotational position after torque of the second driver reaches a predetermined value.

5. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a camera to check whether printing is normally performed, wherein
the conveyor line is configured to convey the spout-equipped bags so that the fronts of the spout-equipped bags directly face the camera.

6. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a weighing scale measuring weights of the spout-equipped bags filled with the liquid material, wherein
the filling apparatus is configured to correct a flow rate of the liquid material from the nozzle based on the weight measured by the weighing scale.

7. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the multi-hook is configured to intermittently convey the spout-equipped bags suspended by the hooks by a distance n times of the interval, depart from the movement straight line after the spout-equipped bags suspended by the hooks are intermittently conveyed by the distance n times of the interval, bypass the movement straight line, and then return to the original position along the movement straight line,
the n is a positive integer, and
holds provided on the hold bars are respectively arranged at positions in which the intermittently conveyed spout-equipped bags stop, and are configured to obtain the spout-equipped bags from the multi-hook holding the stopping spout-equipped bags prior to the multi-hook departing from the movement straight line.

8. The filling apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the conveyor line comprises n×m pieces of the holds, n×m pieces of transfer rails, and delivery devices,
the m is a positive integer and a number of an intermittent conveyance of the spout-equipped bags by the conveyor line,
the transfer rails are arranged at positions corresponding to the holds,
the delivery device is configured to deliver the spout-equipped bags obtained by the n×m pieces of holds to the n×m pieces of transfer rails after the spout-equipped bags suspended by the multi-hook are intermittently conveyed m times, and
the nozzles are arranged at positions corresponding to the n×m pieces of transfer rails.

9. The filling apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the spout has three radially extending flanges including an uppermost flange, a middle flange and a lowermost flange,
the multi-hook fits onto an upper neck formed between the uppermost flange and the middle flange, and
the hold bars fit onto a lower neck provided between the middle flange and the lowermost flange.

10. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a direction conversion portion disposed between the printing apparatus and the nozzle and configured to convert a direction of the movement straight line from a direction parallel to the width direction of the spout-equipped bag to a direction parallel to the thickness direction of the spout-equipped bag.

11. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the bag of the spout-equipped bag is formed by a gusset film folded inward from both sides of a front and back pair of exterior films.

12. The filling apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
drivers configured to seal with screw caps the spouts of the filled spout-equipped bags; and
a weighing scale measuring weights of the spout-equipped bags filled with the liquid material,
wherein the conveyor line is configured to convey the spout-equipped bags in front of the printing apparatus, the nozzles, the drivers and the weighing scale in the width direction so that the fronts of the spout-equipped bags directly face the printing apparatus and the weighing scale.

Assignees

• Hosokawa Yoko Kk

Inventors

• Hiramoto Shinichi
• Miyoshi Hiroyuki

Classifications

• B65B57/145

  for fluent material · CPC title

• B65B61/26

  for marking or coding completed packages · CPC title

• B65B43/14

  Feeding individual bags or carton blanks from piles or magazines · CPC title

• B65B3/17

  for filling valve bags · CPC title

• B65B43/123

  Feeding flat bags connected to form a series or chain · CPC title