EP3073009A1 - Method and device for supplying laundry items - Google Patents

Abstract

In laundries, the feeding of laundry items (21) to a laundry treatment machine is predominantly carried out by a belt conveyor (16) serving as a feed conveyor. Laundry items (21) are placed on a laying area (25) of the belt conveyor (16). This deposition of the laundry item (21) often leads to wrinkles. The invention provides a method and apparatus for feeding laundry articles (21) in which wrinkling is avoided. If necessary, a contact region of the item of laundry (21) with at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) when placing a front edge region (20) of the item of laundry (21) on the laying area (25) of the belt conveyor (16) is reduced.

Description

The invention relates to a method for feeding items of laundry to a laundry treating machine or a treatment area of a laundry treating machine according to the preamble of claim 1. Furthermore, the invention relates to an apparatus for feeding laundry items to a laundry treating machine or a treatment area of a laundry treating machine according to the preamble of claim 7.

In laundries, the feeding of laundry items to a laundry treatment machine or to a treatment area of a laundry treatment machine takes place predominantly via feed conveyors. In this case, individual items of laundry are placed in a spread state on, for example, designed as a belt conveyor feed conveyor or stored. The laundry items are then transported by the at least one feed conveyor to the laundry treating machine or to the treatment area of the laundry treating machine. Such laundry treatment machines may be, for example, a folding device or a defect.

In known devices, the laundry items are stored manually or mechanized on a laying area of the feed conveyor or belt conveyor. This placement of the laundry item on the laying area often leads to unwanted wrinkling of the laundry. By the wrinkling of the deposited laundry is it the subsequent treatment to quality loss. For example, if the subsequent laundry treating machine is a defect, it happens that the laundry is fed the wrinkle with wrinkles and mangled accordingly. The same applies to folding devices. If the laundry item with wrinkles of the folding device is supplied, it comes to the subsequent folding also affect the Faltergebnisses.

The invention has for its object to provide a method and an apparatus, whereby a wrinkling when feeding laundry is avoided or at least reduced.

A method for achieving this object comprises the measures of claim 1. Accordingly, if necessary, a piece of laundry is brought into contact only with a part of its front edge region with the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor. As a result, depending on the item of laundry or other influencing factors, the area of the direct support of the item of laundry on the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor can be reduced or varied. It is envisaged that the process will extend to both single-lane or multi-lane laundry laundry machines. As a result of this adaptation or reduction of the contact of the respective item of laundry, wrinkling during feeding is at least reduced.

It is further provided according to the invention that when a part of the front edge region of the laundry article is spaced from at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor, only a remaining, other part of the front edge region of the laundry article remains in contact with the belt conveyor. In this case, the laundry item is spread out manually or by machine along the front edge region and fed to the conveyor belt or deposited on the conveyor belt. In the case of automatic feeding, opposite corners of a leading edge of the laundry items are usually held on staples and fed out to the belt conveyor. In this case, a front edge region of the item of laundry emanating from the front edge is deposited on the belt conveyor. In principle the same, only without staples, the manual feeding and depositing of laundry on the belt conveyor runs off. In this case, the front edge region is fed in particular only to the flat feed plane of the conveyor belt and the remaining part of the laundry item is drawn to this level. The necessary tightening force of the belt conveyor is transmitted to the laundry by the frictional resistance of the surface of the conveyor belts. Preferably, it is also conceivable that the belt conveyor Are associated with suction, which fix the laundry by a suction pressure.

Preferably, the invention further provides that when placing the laundry article on the belt conveyor, the coming into contact with the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor part of the front edge region of the laundry article, as well as with the conveyor belt of the belt conveyor may not come into contact part of the front Edge region of the laundry item in the transport direction of the belt conveyor are behind each other, wherein the coming into contact with the belt conveyor part of the laundry is located in front of the not coming into contact with the belt conveyor part of the laundry article. As a result, the part of the item of laundry lying behind this part is drawn onto the belt conveyor by the contact of the part of the item of laundry initially deposited on the belt conveyor. It is thus avoided that a rear part of the item of laundry seen in the feed direction comes into contact with the belt conveyor in front of a part of the item of laundry which is seen to be in the feed direction and forms folds. Thus, when placing the laundry article on the belt conveyor, only a narrow portion or part of the front edge region of the laundry article is brought into contact with the belt conveyor. In this way, the geometry of the spread laundry article when mounting on the belt conveyor does not change or at least only slightly.

In particular, the present invention further provides that when the laundry article is placed on the belt conveyor, the size, in particular the length of the part of the laundry which may not come into contact with the belt conveyor in the transport direction, is changed as required. This length of the non-contacting with the belt conveyor portion of the laundry article may be determined by the nature of the item of laundry.

Furthermore, it is provided according to the invention that the item of laundry is placed on a laying area located at the front end of the belt conveyor, preferably in the front deflection area of the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor. For ergonomic reasons, it is particularly advantageous if an operator stands in front of the front end of the belt conveyor or the deflection area and feeds the laundry items directly to the laying area there.

Another particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention provides that at least over a part of the front deflection region, preferably where the at least one conveyor belt wraps around the front drum of the belt conveyor, the front edge region of the item of laundry is at least partially spaced from the belt conveyor. Preferably, it is possible that that part of the front edge region of the item of laundry, which is possibly spaced from the same in the front deflection region of the belt conveyor of at least one conveyor belt, in the size, preferably length, can be changed. Such a spacing of the front edge region of the item of laundry from the belt conveyor in the front deflection region causes the item of laundry not to wrap around the drum and to be drawn onto the belt conveyor in a fold-forming state. In particular, it is thus prevented that, before depositing a leading part of the front edge region of the item of laundry onto the belt conveyor, a rear part of the item of laundry already in contact with the drum comes in contact with the drum and is pushed by the conveyor belt to form transverse folds. This spacing of the front edge region of the item of laundry can be varied insofar as the distance relative to the drum can be changed, and the relative position to the drum can be changed.

An apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problem has the features of claim 7. Accordingly, it is provided that at least the laying region of the belt conveyor is associated with at least one separating element, which is positioned between the respective laundry article and the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor as needed to reject part of the front edge region of the laundry article of at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor and / or to space. This at least one separating element can also be a one-piece or multi-part deflector. This separating element or this deflector extends in one-line laundry treatment machines over the entire working width, in particular of the belt conveyor. In multi-lane laundry treating machines, a plurality of dividers or deflectors are provided which extend across the width of the respective web.

Furthermore, it is inventively provided that the separating element is movable, in particular pivotable or displaceable, preferably the at least one separating element can be brought into an active position and an inactive position. It is provided, for example, that the separating element can be guided around the drum of the conveyor belt on a circular segment-like section with a, in particular the same radius of curvature as the drum. In this case, the active position is formed when the separating element is positioned such that at least a part of the laundry item when placed on the conveyor belt comes into contact with the separating element or is deposited on the separating element. By this bringing-in or placing the laundry in particular the friction between the item of laundry and the conveyor belt during winding is reduced on the separating element. By this spacing of the laundry article from the conveyor belt, furthermore, wrinkling can be reduced. Depending on the relative position of the separating element to the drum or to the conveyor belt, the overlap of the laundry with the at least one conveyor belt can be varied or reduced. When the separator is completely moved out of the area between the conveyor belt and the laundry, it is in the inactive position and has no further influence on the pulling up of the laundry on the belt conveyor.

The separating element can be moved manually or automatically from one position to another. In a multi-lane feed conveyor, which has a plurality of, in particular individually associated separating elements, the individual separating elements can be brought independently of each other in different positions.

Preferably, the present invention further provides that the separating element is assigned to a laying area for placing the laundry items on the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor. Thus, it is also conceivable that a feed conveyor with multiple conveyor belts or belt conveyors is assigned a single separating element, which can be assigned to all laying areas equally.

Preferably, the present invention further provides that the separating element is assigned a region of a front drum seen in the transport direction of the belt conveyor for deflecting the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor. Thus, the laundry items can be fed directly to the lay-up area. However, it is also conceivable that the separating elements are assigned to the belt conveyors at other positions along the conveyor.

A particular embodiment of the invention further provides that the separating element is designed as a separating plate extending preferably only over part of the laying area, which can be positioned at a small distance above the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor. The separating plate may for example be rod-shaped, planar or preferably slightly curved. A slightly curved separating plate preferably has a radius of curvature adapted to the drum, so that it is pivoted about the same at a constant distance from the drum or can be pivoted from one position into another position. The distance between the separating plate and the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor or the drum is chosen so that they just do not touch, on the other hand, the transition from the partition to the belt conveyor is kept low, so that the piece of laundry, which pulled from the conveyor belt on the partition is, in turn, no wrinkles. The separating element or separating plate is preferably made of a plastic with a smooth surface, a polished sheet metal or a coated sheet metal in order to keep the frictional resistance between the separating element or separating sheet and the laundry as low as possible.

It is furthermore preferably provided that the separating element extends from the outside around at least part of the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor deflected by the front drum, preferably the separating element in the area of the at least one conveyor belt of the belt conveyor deflected by the drum, a curved, preferably arcuate one or part-circular course. By this, the drum adapted course of the separating element, the separating element can be well combined with the drum and thus simplifies the relative movement between the separating element and the drum, in particular from an active position to an inactive and vice versa. Characterized in that the separating plate is positioned in front of the drum, the laundry article is pulled over this separating plate and thus spaced from the conveyor belt, before it is supplied to the influence of the belt conveyor. Thus, the garment does not come in contact with the curved portion of the conveyor belt or the drum when placed on the drum. Since this has hitherto led to the formation of wrinkles, the use of the separating plate leads to an avoidance of wrinkles and thus to an increased quality of treatment of the item of laundry.

In particular, the invention further provides that the separating element is movable relative to the belt conveyor, in particular pivotable or displaceable, preferably by an adjustment drive associated with the separating element. This adjusting drive can be controlled by a control unit, depending on the requirement or nature of the treatment machine and the laundry items to be treated. The control unit can work manually or in a preprogrammed mode. However, it is also conceivable that the adjustment drive is operated directly manually.

Fig. 1

eine Faltmaschine in einer Prinzipdarstellung,

Fig. 2

einen Teil einer Eingabemaschine zum Zuführen von Wäschestücke zu einer Mangel in einer Prinzipdarstellung,

Fig. 3

einen vergrößerten Endbereich eines Gurtförderers der in den Fig. 1 und 2 gezeigten Maschinen mit einem Trennelement in einer inaktiven Stellung,

Fig. 4

den Endbereich der Fig. 3 in einer aktiven Stellung des Trennelements, und

Fig. 5

den Endbereich in einer Zwischenstellung des Trennelements.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing. In this show:

Fig. 1

a folding machine in a schematic representation,

Fig. 2

a part of an input machine for supplying laundry items to a defect in a schematic representation,

Fig. 3

an enlarged end portion of a belt conveyor in the Fig. 1 and 2 shown machines with a separating element in an inactive position,

Fig. 4

the end of the Fig. 3 in an active position of the separating element, and

Fig. 5

the end region in an intermediate position of the separating element.

The Fig. 1 schematically shows a folding machine 11 designed as a laundry treatment machine. In the folding machine 11 are in the Fig. 1 Laundry items not shown folded several times in succession, both longitudinally and transversely folded.

At the beginning, the folding machine 11 has a belt conveyor 16, which serves as a feed conveyor for feeding the laundry items to be folded to the treatment area, namely folding area 13, of the folding machine 11. The laundry items are thus transported by the belt conveyor 16 in the direction of passage 14 to the folding area 13 and also in the direction of passage 14 through the folding area 13 and thereby provided with longitudinal and / or transverse folds.

The Fig. 2 schematically shows another laundry treating machine, namely an input machine 18 for supplying spread laundry 21 to a subsequent defect 12. The input machine is in the Fig. 2 only partially shown. Shown are in the Fig. 2 only one as a feed conveyor belt conveyor 16 and in the embodiment shown subsequent input conveyor. The belt conveyor 16 transports the spread laundry article 21 in the direction of passage to the input conveyor 19, from which the laundry article 21 is fed the defect 12.

The belt conveyors 16 of the folding machine 11 shown here and the input machine 18 have a plurality of closely spaced, narrow circumferentially driven conveyor belts 17 (FIG. Fig. 2 ). However, the belt conveyors 16 can also have only one over their entire working width continuous conveyor belt 17.

The belt conveyors 16 shown are deflected by two spaced cylindrical drums 22 and 23. One of these drums 22 and 23 is rotationally driven. The axes of rotation the drums 22, 23 extend transversely to the passage direction 14. A front drum 22 is located at the beginning of the belt conveyor 16 and a rear drum 23 at the end of the belt conveyor 16th

In the Fig. 1 and 2 single-lane belt conveyors 16 are shown. These extend over the entire working width of the folding machine 11 and the input machine 18. However, the invention is also suitable for multi-lane folding machines 11 and input machines 18. Then, a plurality of belt conveyors 16 are arranged side by side, by each of a belt conveyor 16, a web is formed. In multi-lane operation, the belt conveyor 16 are operated independently. It is also conceivable to make a switch to one-lane operation. Then all adjacent belt conveyor 16 are simultaneously operated synchronously.

The respective item of laundry 21 is placed either manually or mechanized or automatically at spread front edge portion 20 on a front laying area 25 in the front drum 22 of the belt conveyor 16. In this case, at least a part of the front edge region 20 of the laundry article 21 is brought into contact with the upper run of the conveyor belt 17 or the adjacent conveyor belts 17 of the belt conveyor 16. When automatically hanging up the laundry item 21 hangs with adjacent corners of a transversely to the direction of passage 14 extending leading edge of staples. Of these brackets, the laundry item 21 is placed on the upper run of the belt conveyor 16 with the front edge region 20 adjoining the spread front edge in the laying area 25.

The Fig. 3 to 5 show an enlarged detail A shown in the Fig. 1 and 2 , as a side view of the front drum 21 and the laying area.

A front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 is deposited on the deposit area 25 of the top tower of the belt conveyor 16.

According to the invention, it is provided to bring a separating element 26 when placing the front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 on the belt conveyor 16 between the item of laundry 21 and the conveyor belts 17. In the in the FIGS. 3 to 5 shown examples of the separating element 26, this is formed as a sheet-metal sheet, which is adapted to the curvature of the drum 21 curvature over an angular range of z. B. 90 ° is arranged around the drum 22. Furthermore, it may preferably be provided that the separating element 26 is parallel over the entire length of the drum 22 extends. However, it is also conceivable that the separating element 26 has a different shape or is associated with the feed conveyor 16 only over a partial area of the drum 22 or over a restricted area. In Fig. 3 the partition 26 is shown in an inactive position in which it does not contact the garment 21.

The designed as an arcuate, in particular quarter-circular, plate member 26 is associated with the drum 22 of the belt conveyor 16 so that it is about the axis of rotation of the front drum 22 from the inactive position ( Fig. 3 ) into the active position ( Fig. 4 ). In the active position, the separating element 26 is swiveled by 90 ° in the direction of rotation of the drum 22, so that it covers an upper, front quarter of the shell of the drum 22 with a slight distance. In the active position, the thin sheet-like separator 26 spaces the front edge portion 20 of the laundry 21 from the conveyor belts 17 of the belt conveyor 16. With the active separator 26, the laundry 21 thus slides along the stationary separator 26, but does not depart from that portion of the belt conveyor 16 or its conveyor belts 17 taken away, which is covered by the separating element 26 ( Fig. 4 ).

In the Fig. 4 and 5 is a gap 27 shown for better visibility and clarification of the representation between the separating element 26 and the laundry article 21. In practice, this gap 27 is absent, so that the laundry article 21 comes into direct contact with the active separator 26.

In the active separating element 26 (FIG. Fig. 4 ), the laundry item 21 is placed only with the front part of the edge region 20 just behind the front drum 22 on the upper run of the belt conveyor 16, namely the conveyor belts 17, wherein the spreading, transversely to the direction of passage 14 extending front edge of the laundry article 21 in the direction of passage 14th seen behind the front drum 22 is located. In this case, only a front part of the front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 running transversely to the passage direction 14 lies on the upper run of the belt conveyor 16. The other, subsequent part of the front edge portion 20 of the garment 21, however, is not active on the belt conveyor 16, but on the separating element 26 with active separating element 26. In this way, the laundry item 21 slides on further transporting in the direction of passage 14 on the quarter-circle in the embodiment shown separating element 26 along.

In order to reduce the friction between the garment 21 and the separating element 26, at least the garment 21 dressed surface of the separating element 26 with low coefficient of friction provided by, for example, this surface is polished or provided with a coating of smooth plastic or ceramic.

Between the active and the inactive position, the separating element 26 can be brought continuously into any intermediate positions. An intermediate position shows the Fig. 5 , In this, a front part of the front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 is already in the area of the front drum 22 on the upper run of the belt conveyor 16. The designed as a quarter-circular plate separating element 26 is for this purpose approximately at 45 ° relative to the representation in the Fig. 4 pivoted back. The partition 26 is thereby located approximately in the middle between the inactive and the active position. This ensures that a large part of the front edge region 20 of the laundry item 21 rests on the conveyor belts 17, while a small rear part of the front edge region 20 is spaced from the conveyor belts 17 by the separating element 26 and thus when placing the laundry article 21 on the loading area 25th the belt conveyor 16 does not come into contact with the belt conveyor 16, in particular the conveyor belts 17.

As a result of the change in the position of the separating element 26, a more or less large part of the front edge region 20 of the laundry article 21 may be in contact with the application region 25 of the belt conveyor 16, depending on the type or material of the item of laundry 21 to be folded or mangled be brought, in particular if the garment 21 is placed manually or by hand in the front portion 20 on the laying area 25 of the belt conveyor 16.

For certain items of laundry, it is difficult to store the front edge region 20 sufficiently spread on the laying area 25 of the belt conveyor 16. The front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 is then laid down with folds on the laying area 25 of the belt conveyor 16. These folds cause the subsequent part 24 of the laundry item 21 is also wrinkled mounted on the belt conveyor 16. In such laundry 21, it provides the invention, the separator 26 in the in the Fig. 4 shown fully active position or in the in the Fig. 5 shown to be partially active position. As a result, only a narrow front part of the front edge region 20 of the item of laundry 21 comes into contact with and / or to rest on the upper run of the belt conveyor 16 when placing the front edge region 20 of the item of laundry onto the loading area 25 of the belt conveyor 16. Contact Bringens only a narrow front part of the edge portion 20 of the garment 21 with the conveyor belts 17 of the belt conveyor 16 can be especially a difficult Auflegeverhalten containing laundry items 21 almost wrinkle-free on the belt conveyor 16, because the rear part of the front edge portion 20 of the laundry item 21 is kept away from the separating element 26, in particular in the front drum 22 of the belt conveyor 16 of the conveyor belts 17. Upon further transport of the item of laundry 21, the subsequent part 24 of the item of laundry 21 slides along the smooth dividing element 26, which leads to a stripping of the item of laundry 21 and the reduction or at least reduction of the risk of wrinkling. The risk of wrinkling can be further reduced by providing the outside of the separating element 26 which comes into contact with the garment 21 with arrow-like projections diverging in the direction of passage 14.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

11

folding machine

12

defect

13

fold area

14

Throughput direction

16

Belt conveyors

17

conveyor belt

18

Feeding machine

19

input conveyor

20

front edge area

21

laundry

22

front drum

23

rear drum

24

subsequent part

25

placing area

26

separating element

27

gap

Claims (13)

Method for feeding items of laundry (21) to a laundry treatment machine or a treatment area of a laundry treatment machine, wherein the items of laundry (21) in the extended state with a front edge region (20) on a laying area (25) of a belt conveyor (16) and laid by the belt conveyor (16 ) are transported in the direction of the laundry treatment machine or the treatment area of a laundry treatment machine, characterized in that when placing the front edge region (20) of the laundry article (21) on the laying area (25) of the belt conveyor (16) only part of the front edge area (16). 20) of the laundry article (21) is brought into contact with the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16). A method according to claim 1, characterized in that , when only a part of the front edge region (20) of the laundry item (21) is brought into contact with the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16), a remaining, other part of the Front edge region (20) of the laundry article (21) from the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) is temporarily spaced. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when placing the laundry article (21) on the belt conveyor (16) of the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) coming into contact part of the front Randbereich (20) of the laundry article (21) and the optionally with the conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) not coming into contact, spaced part of the front edge region (20) of the laundry article (21) in the transport direction (14) of the belt conveyor (16 ) lie one behind the other, the part of the item of laundry (21) coming into contact with the belt conveyor (16) being located in front of the part of the item of laundry (21) not coming into contact with the belt conveyor (16). Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the size, in particular in the transport direction (14) extending length of the belt conveyor (16) optionally not coming into contact part of the laundry item (21), if necessary, is changed. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the item of laundry (21) is placed on a laying area (25) located at the front end of the belt conveyor (16), preferably in the front deflection area of the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16 ). A method according to claim 5, characterized in that at least over a part of the front deflection region, preferably where the at least one conveyor belt (17) wraps around the front drum (22) of the belt conveyor (16), the front edge region (20) of the laundry article (16). 21) is spaced from the belt conveyor (16), preferably that part of the front edge region (20) of the laundry article (21) which is optionally spaced in the front deflection region of the belt conveyor (16) by at least one conveyor belt (17) thereof, in size, preferably length, can be changed. Apparatus (10) for feeding laundry items (21) to a laundry treating machine or a treatment area of a laundry treating machine, comprising a belt conveyor (16) from which the laundry items (21) are transportable towards the laundry treating machine or treatment area of the laundry treating machine, and preferably one Front laying area (25) of the belt conveyor (16) on which the laundry items (21) in the extended state with a front edge region (20) can be placed, characterized in that at least the laying area (25) of the belt conveyor (16) at least one separating element ( 26), which is positionable as needed between the respective item of laundry (21) and the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) to a part of the front edge region (20) of the To reject laundry item (21) from at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) and / or to space. Device (10) according to claim 7, characterized in that the separating element (26) is movable, in particular pivotable or displaceable, preferably the at least one separating element (26) can be brought into an active position and an inactive position. Device (10) according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the separating element (26) is associated with a laying area (25) for placing the laundry items (21) on the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16). Device (10) according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the separating element (26) a region of a transport direction (14) of the belt conveyor (16) seen front drum (22) for deflecting the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the Belt conveyor (16) is assigned. Device (10) according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the separating element (26) is formed as a preferably only over a part of the laying area (25) extending separating plate, which at a small distance above the at least one conveyor belt ( 17) of the belt conveyor (16) is positionable. Device (10) according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that the separating element (26) extends from outside around at least part of the at least one of the front drum (22) deflected conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) , Preferably, the separating element (26) in the deflected by the drum (22) region of the at least one conveyor belt (17) of the belt conveyor (16) has a curved, preferably arcuate course. Device (10) according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that the separating element (26) relative to the belt conveyor (16) is movable, in particular pivotable or displaceable, preferably by an adjusting element associated with the separating element (26).

Images