Method of operating a packaging line and packaging line suitable therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12454380-B2
Application number	US-202318511013-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2023
Priority date	Nov 16, 2022
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

In order to avoid a decrease of cycle frequency of a packaging machine within a packaging line caused by a previous interruption of a slicer's on-slice operation, e.g. during its loading, special residual buffers for additional buffering of portions compared to normal operation may be released by a controller shortly before the interruption. For example, non-buffer positions for portions on buffer bands may be released, or portion positions on non-buffer bands may be released.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a packaging line comprising:
a packaging machine having an infeed station in which a portion is stored on or in a package;
a single-track or multi-track slicing machine for cutting slices from a product calibre, including a discharge unit with a plurality of conveyor belts one behind the other for the slices, wherein the discharge unit is operable to form portions that each include a plurality of the slices placed at least partially on top of one another; and
a horizontal infeed unit downstream of the slicing machine in a direction of travel for buffering and feeding the portions to the infeed station by a plurality of conveyor bands, wherein, of the plurality of conveyor bands, those arranged within a buffer route and equipped with controllable servo drives comprise buffer bands;
wherein the discharge unit and the infeed unit together form a transport route for the portions, and where the method comprises: providing a controller configured to perform the following steps: operating the slicing machine in normal operation in which a cutting capacity is such that per track a number of portions present on the transport route corresponds at most to a number of deposit positions present in the buffer route for one portion each, the deposit positions being buffer positions; and
in a case of a foreseeable interruption of cutting operation of the slicing machine, in a preliminary period before the interruption, temporarily operating the slicing machine with a cutting capacity which is higher in comparison to the cutting capacity during the normal operation, that per track a number of portions present in the transport route reaches a special number which is higher by a predetermined special difference than the number of buffer positions on the buffer route.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the preliminary period is placed immediately before the interruption of the cutting operation.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein a length of the preliminary period is selected in such a manner that the special number is reached with a last cutting process before the interruption of the cutting operation.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the special number per track corresponds to a maximum total number of storage positions for portions available in the transport route.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the preliminary period is selected in such a manner that the special number is reached with a last cutting process before the interruption of the cutting operation.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the special number per track corresponds to a maximum total number of storage positions for portions available in the transport route.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the special number per track corresponds to a maximum total number of storage positions for portions available in the transport route.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the preliminary period is started so late that the special number can just be built up until the cutting operation is interrupted.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
packages are moved forward step by step in the packaging machine while receiving a format comprising several portions per track,
with help of the infeed unit, portions are assembled into formats, and
the special number per track corresponds at most to a portion number per track of two formats.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
packages are moved forward step by step in the packaging machine while receiving a format comprising several portions per track,
with help of the infeed unit, portions are assembled into formats, and
the special number per track corresponds at most to a portion number per track of one format.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein upon a standstill of the discharge unit and/or the infeed unit, the portions located on non-buffer bands are discharged from the packaging line when the packaging line is restarted.

12. A packaging line for production and packaging of portions, each comprising one or more slices separated from a product calibre, the packaging line comprising:
a packaging machine having an infeed station in which a portion can be stored on or in a package;
a single-track or multi-track slicing machine for cutting slices from the product calibre, including a discharge unit with multiple conveyor bands for the slices, the conveyor bands comprising a portioning band, which is configured to receive several slices at least partially on top of one another to form a portion;
a horizontal infeed unit downstream of the slicing machine in a direction of travel for buffering and feeding the portions to the infeed station by a plurality of conveyor bands, wherein, of the plurality of conveyor bands of the infeed unit, those arranged within a buffer route and equipped with controllable servo drives comprise buffer bands, and wherein the discharge unit and the infeed unit together form a transport route for the portions; and
a controller configured to:
operate the slicing machine in normal operation in which a cutting capacity is such that per track a number of portions present on the transport route corresponds at most to a number of deposit positions present in the buffer route for one portion each, the deposit positions being buffer positions; and
in a case of a foreseeable interruption of cutting operation of the slicing machine, in a preliminary period before the interruption, temporarily operate the slicing machine with a cutting capacity which is higher in comparison to the cutting capacity during the normal operation, so that per track a number of portions present in the transport route reaches a special number which is higher by a predetermined special difference than the number of buffer positions on the buffer route.

13. The packaging line according to claim 12 , wherein the conveyor bands of the discharge unit further comprise, in addition to the portioning band
a subsequent discharge band for transporting the portion away from the portioning band,
and/or
a transfer band for transferring a portion to the infeed unit.

14. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising:
a weighing band with a scale for weighing a portion.

15. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising a discharge band for discharging a portion.

16. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising a distribution band or spreader band to bring portions running side by side to track spacing of the packaging machine.

17. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising a balancing band to bring portions running side by side in the direction of travel to a same position.

18. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising a format band for assembling portions into at least one format with positional accuracy.

19. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising at least one buffer band for buffering at least one format.

20. The packaging line according to claim 12 , comprising an infeed band for transferring a format onto at least one package.

Assignees

• Multivac Haggenmueller Kg

Inventors

• Gropper Daniel
• Schilling Pascal

Classifications

• B65B63/00

  Auxiliary devices, not otherwise provided for, for operating on articles or materials to be packaged · CPC title

• B65B35/50

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

• B26D7/32 Primary

  for conveying or stacking cut product (means for removing cut-out material or waste B26D7/18) · CPC title

• G05B2219/45048

  Packaging · CPC title

• B65B9/04

  one or both webs being formed with pockets for the reception of the articles, or of the quantities of material · CPC title