Feeding unit for feeding sealed packs of pourable food products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9919873-B2
Application number	US-201415106986-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2014
Priority date	Dec 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

There is described a feeding unit for feeding at least one sealed pack of pourable food products to a folding unit configured to form folded packages from relative pack; feeding unit comprising: a feeding conveyor; at least one push member movable cyclically along path and comprising, in turn, a wall adapted to contact pack; and a support for supporting push member on feeding conveyor; path comprising an inlet station at which push member receives, in use, pack, and an outlet station, at which push member discharges, in use, pack; path comprises a first curved stretch which defines outlet station; push member is connected to support in such a way that the movement of support along first portion causes the movement of wall towards feeding conveyor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A feeding unit for feeding at least one sealed pack of pourable food products to a folding unit configured to form folded packages from said pack; said feeding unit comprising:
an endless belt possessing a surface on which the at least one sealed pack is positioned during the feeding of the sealed pack;
a motor operatively connected to the endless belt to move the endless belt along a closed path to advance, in an advancing direction, the at least one sealed pack positioned on the surface of the endless belt;
at least one push member carried by said endless belt, movable cyclically along the closed path, and comprising, in turn, a wall adapted to contact said pack; and
support means mounted on the endless belt and movable together with the endless belt for supporting said push member on said endless belt so that the push member moves together with the endless belt;
said closed path comprising an inlet station at which said push member receives, in use, said pack, and an outlet station, at which said push member discharges, in use, said pack;
said closed path comprising a curved first stretch, which defines said outlet station;
wherein said push member is connected to said support means in such a way that the movement of said support means along said curved first stretch causes the movement of said wall towards said endless belt.

2. The feeding unit of claim 1 , wherein said support means comprise a first support member and a second support member;
said push member being articulated with respect to said first support member and being connected in a slidable way with respect to said second support member.

3. The feeding unit of claim 2 , wherein one of said push member and said second support member defines a slot, and the other one of said push member and said second support member defines a pin slidable inside said slot.

4. The feeding unit of claim 3 , wherein said slot is elongated along a direction and said pin is slidable inside said slot parallel to said direction.

5. The feeding unit of claim 4 , wherein said pin is rotatable with respect to said slot about a first axis transversal to said direction.

6. The feeding unit of claim 4 , wherein said direction is sloped with respect to said path.

7. The feeding unit of claim 4 , wherein said push member is hinged to said first support member about a second axis transversal to said direction.

8. The feeding unit of claim 4 , wherein said slot has a first end and a second end opposite to each other along said direction;
said first end being arranged upstream of said second end, proceeding along said path according to the advancing direction of said push member;
said first end being engaged by said second pin, when said push member moves along a rectilinear second stretch of said path;
said second end being engaged by said second pin, when said push member moves along said curved first stretch.

9. The feeding unit of claim 3 , wherein said push member comprises said slot and said second support member comprises said pin.

10. The feeding unit of claim 2 , wherein said second support member is arranged downstream of said first support member, proceeding according to the advancing direction of said first support and second support member along said closed path.

11. The feeding unit of claim 1 , wherein said closed path comprises a rectilinear second stretch, which is arranged upstream of said first stretch.

12. The feeding unit of claim 2 , wherein said first support member and said second support member are carried by said endless belt independently from each other.

13. The feeding unit of claim 12 , the distance between points of said first support member and said second support member being constant along said curved first stretch of said path and being increasing along a second rectilinear stretch, proceeding according to the advancing direction of said push member towards said outlet station.

14. The feeding unit of claim 1 , wherein said closed path lies, in use, in a vertical plane.

15. The feeding unit of claim 1 , wherein said wall is flat.

16. A packaging machine comprising:
a feeding unit according to claim 1 ; and
a folding unit adapted to receive said pack at said outlet station of said feeding unit and configured to form a folded package from said pack.

17. A feeding unit for feeding at least one sealed pack of pourable food product to a folding unit configured to form folded packages from the pack, the feeding unit comprising:
a belt that moves along a path, the path including a rectilinear stretch and a curved stretch;
a push member comprising a first wall;
a base connected to the belt so that the base moves together with the belt along the path, and a body movable with the base and extending from the base in a direction away from the belt;
a pin projecting away from the body;
the first wall including no more than one non-circular slot, the pin being positioned in the non-circular slot so that the pin is rotatable relative to the first wall and is movable relative to the first wall along the non-circular slot;
the push member being movable together with the belt along the path, the push member including a second wall configured to contact the sealed pack of pourable food product and move the sealed pack of pourable food product along the rectilinear stretch of the path; and
the second wall of the push member moving towards the belt as the base moves along the curved stretch of the path.

18. The feeding unit according to claim 17 , wherein the base is a first base, the body is a first body and the pin is a first pin, further comprising a second base connected to the belt so that the second base moves together with the belt along the path, a second body movable with the second base and extending from the second base in a direction away from the belt, and a second pin projecting away from the second body, the first wall of the push member including no more than one circular hole spaced from the non-circular slot, the second pin being positioned in the circular hole.

19. The feeding unit according to claim 17 , wherein the second wall is flat and is at a forward end of the push member relative to a direction of movement of the push member.

20. The feeding unit according to claim 17 , wherein the second pin possesses an axis, the push member rotating about the axis as the first base moves along the curve section of the path.

21. A feeding unit for feeding a plurality of individual sealed packs of pourable food products to a folding unit configured to form individual folded packages from the individual sealed packs, the feeding unit comprising:
an endless belt possessing a surface on which the sealed packs are positioned during the feeding of the sealed packs;
a motor operatively connected to the endless belt to move the endless belt along a closed path to advance, in an advancing direction, the sealed packs positioned on the surface of the endless belt;
a plurality of spaced-apart first support members fixed to the endless belt so that the first support members move together with the endless belt during movement of the endless belt along the closed path;
a plurality of second support members fixed to the endless belt so that the second support members move together with the endless belt during movement of the endless belt along the closed path;
a plurality of push members each connected to a respective one of the first support members and a respective one of the second support members by

Assignees

• Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance

Inventors

• Santi Franco
• Mattioli Giorgio
• Galata Alessandro

Classifications

• B65G19/02

  for articles, e.g. for containers · CPC title

• B65G19/245

  for article conveyors, e.g. for container conveyors (B65G19/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65G19/265 Primary

  for article conveyors, e.g. for container conveyors · CPC title

• B65B61/28

  for discharging completed packages from machines · CPC title

• B65B61/24 Primary

  for shaping or reshaping completed packages · CPC title