JP2020007001A - Ultrasonic film packaging equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a film wrapping device using ultrasonic waves, which solves a problem that a film packaged by a conventional film wrapping machine using an electric heater or an electric heating plate for sealing / cutting a film has poor dehiscence. .. SOLUTION: This is an ultrasonic film welding device provided with a welding horn that vibrates ultrasonically and a film welding portion by an anvil 7 facing the welding horn as a base, and the welding horn so as to sandwich a film between the welding horn and the anvil. The left and right widths of the anvil that advances and retreats relatively along the length direction of the contact surface 71 with the welding horn (hereinafter referred to as the contact line) are formed in the narrow width portion w1 and the wide width portion w2, and the ultrasonic film is packaged. Applied to the device. [Selection diagram] FIG. 5

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for packaging a packaging object such as a cake (hereinafter simply referred to as “cake”) with a plastic film for food packaging (hereinafter simply referred to as “film”) using a welding horn that vibrates ultrasonically. .

  Patent Documents 1 to 4 and the like disclose a packaging form in which the outer peripheral side surface of a cake is covered with a film as a cake packaging form, and a device for this packaging is marketed by a plurality of manufacturers under the name of a cake packaging machine or the like. Provided.

  Conventional cake wrapping machines use the viscosity of fresh cream or dough used for cake to hold the film that is wound around the cake, and cut the film that is wound and held by the cake by the electrothermal fusing seal method. The packaging process is being implemented.

  However, the above-mentioned cake packaging uses the viscosity of the cake to wrap the film temporarily on the outer peripheral side of the cake, so that if the cake surface is frozen and has no viscosity, for example, like a frozen cake, The film cannot be held due to the viscosity of the cake. For this reason, the conventional cake wrapping machine has a problem in that the frozen cake cannot be packaged neatly or neatly.

  In addition, conventional film wrapping machines and other film wrapping machines employ a heat fusing and sealing method using an electric heater or an electric heating plate, so that the welding between the films tends to be too strong. When the outer diameter of the heater is reduced, there is a problem that the durability of the heater is reduced.

  Further, in the conventional packaging method, there is a problem that the melted film adheres to the heating element, and in order to solve this problem, there is a problem that a releasable surface treatment must be performed using Teflon (registered trademark) material. . In addition, there is a problem that the temperature control of the heater is troublesome due to the difference between the preheating and the ambient temperature, or there is a problem that smoke and smell generated by heating the heater at the time of fusing the film are not preferable in the working environment.

JP-A-10-16915 JP-A-6-80666 JP-A-1-308713 JP-A-63-203517

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a film packaging apparatus utilizing ultrasonic waves, which solves the problem that the conventional film packaging machine using an electric heater or an electric heating plate for sealing and cutting a film does not have good tearing properties of a packaging film. The task is to provide

  The configuration of the ultrasonic film packaging apparatus of the present invention made for the purpose of solving the above problems includes a conveyor for mounting and conveying an object to be packaged such as a cake (hereinafter, simply referred to as “cake”); A film supply mechanism that is arranged in a direction crossing the conveying direction of the conveyor and supplies the cake on the conveyor so as to wind a film for packaging, and that sandwiches the conveyor so as to advance and retreat in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction of the conveyor. An ultrasonic film welding apparatus comprising, on a base, a welding horn that is ultrasonically vibrated and supported by an advance / retreat mechanism and a film welding portion formed by an anvil facing the welding horn, wherein the welding horn sandwiches the film. At least one of the contact surface at the tip of the anvil and the contact surface at the tip of the anvil differs in the length direction of the contact surface. Characterized in that it is formed to have a lateral width. The tip of the contact surface has a flat cross-sectional shape formed into a curved surface, for example, an arc.

  The lateral width of the contact surface of the welding horn or the anvil is formed by a wide portion and a narrow portion along the length direction of the contact surface. Since the welding strength of the narrow portion can be made smaller than the welding strength of the wide portion, when the film wrapping the cake is torn, the welding portion on the side where the welding strength is weak can be easily split.

  In the present invention, instead of changing the width of the contact surface of the anvil in the length direction of the contact surface and changing the width of the contact surface of the welding horn in the length direction, the width of the contact surface of the welding horn is changed. It may be formed. In the present invention, changing the right and left width of the contact surface in the length direction of the contact surface is applied to both the contact surfaces of the welding horn and the anvil, or to one of the contact surfaces. It is optional to apply.

  The welding horn and the anvil of the packaging device of the present invention perform an operation of approaching and an operation of separating from each other. In order for both members to move forward and backward, the sliding horn mechanism supports the supporting portion of the welding horn and the supporting portion of the anvil. In the sliding advance / retreat mechanism, each sliding base provided with each of the two support portions floats on the base of the packaging device via a spring, rubber, or another member having an elastic function. (Floating) state.

  This is to make the contact line when the front end surface (contact surface) of the welding horn comes into contact with the front end surface (contact surface) of the anvil facing this front end surface almost completely. is there. By the way, if there is an error (error such as manufacturing error or assembly error) in the sliding forward / backward mechanism of the welding horn and the anvil, if it is not in the floating state, the contact line (welding line) cannot be in close contact with the entire length, This causes poor film welding.

  In the above, the arrangement in the floating state is sufficient if both the sliding bases of the welding horn and the support portion of the anvil, or any one of the sliding bases.

The advancing speed of the welding horn and the anvil, which advances toward the film by the action of the sliding advance / retreat mechanism to weld the film wrapping the cake, is the welding point (the contact point) at which the film is welded. Is controlled so as to become slower as approaching.
Also, the speed of the conveyor is controlled so that the cake conveying speed, as viewed from the feeding direction, becomes slower as the rear end of the cake approaches the welding horn and the anvil which are arranged opposite to each other.
By this control, for example, when packaging a square cake, the film can be welded to the cake in a substantially close state, so that clean and neat packaging without wasting the film can be realized. By the way, when the cake is conveyed at a constant speed, the film wrapping around the rear end of the cake is extraly pulled out (extended), leaving behind the rear end of the cake, so that the welding wire is located away from the rear end of the cake. The appearance is not good. On the other hand, in order to seal and cut the film surrounding the square cake with an electric heater, it is necessary to unwind the film more so that the electric heater does not approach the cake, etc. Actually, neat film packaging was not possible.

  A film in which the welding horn and the anvil are advanced to face each other and a packaging film to be welded is sandwiched between the welding horn and the anvil which are ultrasonically vibrated, and the film is welded and cut by the action of the welding horn and the anvil which are in contact with each other. In the packaging device, the welding horn and the left and right widths of the contact surface at the tip of the anvil are formed to have different widths in the length direction of the contact surface, so that the welding portion of the film is welded along the length direction. The strength can be differentiated. Therefore, the film can be easily cleaved from the welded portion on the side where the welding strength is weak.

The top view showing the schematic structure of the important section of the ultrasonic film packaging device concerning the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing a form and a correspondence between a welding horn and an anvil in the ultrasonic film packaging apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an arrangement relationship between a cake and a film in the ultrasonic film packaging apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken along line AA of FIG. 1 for explaining an outline of an arrangement relationship between a welding horn and an anvil in the ultrasonic film packaging apparatus of FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the anvil in FIG. 4 taken along line BB. The right view of FIG. The top view of FIG.

  Next, an example of an ultrasonic film packaging apparatus according to the present invention (hereinafter, also simply referred to as the present apparatus) will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a schematic configuration of the device of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a film packaging object such as cake C (hereinafter referred to as cake C) disposed at substantially the center of a base MB serving as a base of the apparatus of the present invention for transporting from left to right in FIG. As an example, a conveyor by a flat belt is used. Some conveyors 1 use belts other than flat belts, chains, or the like.

  Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote a first film F1 and a second film F2 disposed near the front side (left side in FIG. 1) of the base MB when viewed from the feed direction of the conveyor 1 so as to sandwich the conveyor 1 therebetween. Are a first film roll and a second film roll wound respectively.

  4, 5 guide the feeding of the first film F1 and the second film F2 from the first film roll 2 and the second film roll 3 and support the film feeding toward the feeding direction of the conveyor 1; A first film sending unit and a second film sending unit mainly formed of a group of rolls such as guide rolls 4a and 5a, guide rolls 4c and 5c, and drive rolls 4b and 5b for guiding. The first film roll 2, the second film roll 3, the first film delivery unit 4, and the second film delivery unit 5 form an example of a film supply mechanism. Reference numerals 4d and 5d denote film holders disposed near the first film roll 2 and the second film roll 3, respectively.

  6 and 7 are disposed on the downstream side of the first film sending section 4 and the second film sending section 5 so as to face each other with the transport conveyor 1 interposed therebetween, and advance and retreat in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the transport conveyor 1. And a welding horn and an anvil that are ultrasonically vibrated so as to form a welded / cut portion between the first film F1 and the second film F2 (see FIG. 2).

  The welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 forming the welding cut portion of the first film F1 and the second film F2 are arranged on the base MB of the apparatus of the present invention in a manner shown in FIG. 4 as an example. The rear end of the welding horn 6 is coupled to the tip of the ultrasonic vibrator 6a, and the ultrasonic vibrator 6a is supported by the support 6b. The rear end of the anvil 7 is supported by the support portion 7a.

  The two support portions 6b, 7a are respectively disposed on a slide 6c and a slide 7b, and these slides 6c, 7b are mounted on base mounts 6d, 7c, respectively. . The slide bases 6c and 7b are formed so as to move forward and backward (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4) on the base mounts 6d and 7c by a driving force of a cylinder, a feed screw, or the like (not shown).

  The base mounts 6d and 7c are supported in a floating state on the base MB by floating members 8 and 9 selected from elastic members such as rubber insulators and springs. This is because both surfaces of the contact surface 61 at the tip of the welding horn 6 and the contact surface 71 at the tip of the anvil 7 are in close contact with each other even if there are manufacturing errors and assembly errors. This is to ensure that

  In the apparatus of the present invention provided with the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 arranged on the base MB as described above, the arrangement relationship of the cake C and the first film F1 and the second film F2 for packaging the cake C with respect to the cake C Is schematically shown in FIG.

  That is, in FIG. 1, the cake C1 placed on the near side of the conveyor 1 (to the left of the conveyor 1 in FIG. 1) is transported by the conveyor 1 to the position of the cake C2. During the transport, before the cake C1 passes through the welding / cutting section of the film by the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7, the first film F1 and the second film delivery section 5 respectively send the first film F1. And the second film F2 are sent forward from the front surface of the cake C1 in the transport direction of the cake C1.

  The welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 advance with respect to the fed first film F1 and second film F2, and the first film F1 and the second film F2 are welded We1 and protrude from the portion of the weld We1. A portion of the first film F1 and the second film F2 is cut, and the positional relationship between the cake C1 and the first film F1 and the second film F2 welded We1 is brought to a state shown in FIG. When the first welding We1 and the cutting are completed, the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 retreat to their original positions and return. Hereinafter, We1 is also referred to as a first welded portion.

When the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 return to their original positions after the first welding We1, the cake C1 is further transported by the transport conveyor 1, and the first film F1 and the second film F1 integrated with the first welding We1 are integrated. The film F2 is in the mode shown in FIG. Then, the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 advance again with respect to the first film F1 and the second film F2, and the first film F1 and the second film F2 are subjected to the second welding We2 at the rear end side of the cake C2. Then, the first film F1 and the second film F2 are cut (see cake C2 in FIG. 1). Hereinafter, We2 is also referred to as a second welded portion.
In the above description, the feeding speed of the first film F1 and the second film F2 is substantially synchronized with the feeding speed of the cake C2, but as the rear end of the cake C2 approaches the facing line of the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7, Control is performed so that the payout speed becomes low. On the other hand, the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7, which are advanced for the second welding We2, are also controlled so that their speeds decrease as they approach the welding portion. Thereby, the first film F1 and the second film F2 can be subjected to the second welding We2 at a position closer to the rear end of the cake C2.

  When the first film F1 and the second film F2 have been cut after the second welding We2 has been cut, the cake C2 wrapped with the first film F1 and the second film F2 is further conveyed to the conveyor 1 of FIG. The state of the cake C3 in which the film packaging drawn on the right end side is completed is obtained. In the cake C3 on the conveyor 1, Fp is a packaging completed film (see FIG. 1).

  As described above, the cake C is transported by the transport conveyor 1 to the positions of the first film transport unit 4 and the second film transport unit 5. Then, the first film F1 and the second film F2 are applied, and are conveyed as they are, and the first film F1 and the second film F2 are welded and cut at the welding / cut portion by the action of the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 to form the first welding We1. By performing the second welding We2, the film packaging of the cake C is completed. In the present invention, a unique technical measure of the present invention is applied to the welded / cut portion of the film. This will be described below with reference to FIG.

  The operations of welding and cutting the film by the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 forming the welding / cutting portion are as follows. That is, the first film F1 and the second film F2 are sandwiched between the contact surface 61 at the tip of the welding horn 6 and the contact surface 71 at the tip of the anvil 7, and the welding horn 6 is ultrasonically vibrated in this state. Then, the portions of the two first films F1 and second films F2 sandwiched between the contact surfaces 61 and 71 at the tips of the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 generate heat and are integrated (bonded). When the tip of the anvil 7 which is further sharpened from the state is pressed against the welding horn 6, the first film F1 and the second film F2 which have been fused and integrated are cut at that portion. The tip of the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7 has a substantially circular arc shape in a flat section.

  The welding action of the two first films F1 and the second film F2 by the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 is based on the first and second films F1 and F2, which are located between the contact surface 61 of the welding horn 6 and the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7. It is obtained by melting the inside of the first film F1 and the second film F2 and integrating the first film F1 and the second film F2.

In this case, the welding state of the first film F1 and the second film F2 is such that the contact area (the lateral width of the contact surface) between the contact surface 61 of the welding horn 6 and the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7 is equal to the contact area. The total length L in the length direction of the contact surfaces 61 and 71 (hereinafter, the lengths of the two welding portions We1 and We2 of the first film F1 and the second film F2 are also substantially uniform at the welding line L for convenience of description). If there is, the welding strength becomes substantially uniform in the length direction of the welding line L. The welding strength is large when the width of the welding line L (width in the direction orthogonal to the welding line L = lateral width) is large, but the welding strength is small when the width of the welding line L is small. A difference in welding strength occurs.
In the above description, the total length L in the length direction of the contact surfaces 61 and 71 and the welding line L of the first film F1 and the second film F2 are indicated by the same reference numeral L for convenience of explanation, but actually, The length of the contact surfaces 61 and 71 is set to be equal to the vertical width (substantially the same as the length of the welding line L) of the first film F1 and the second film F2 to be ultrasonically welded. An anvil 7 is formed.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the left and right widths of the welding line L in the first welding portion We1 and the second welding portion We2 are changed in the length direction of the welding line L, and the welding strength in the length direction of the welding portion is changed. I made it. Specifically, in the anvil 7 of FIG. 5, about 20 to 30% of the total length of the length L of the contact surface 71 is formed in a small width (narrow width w1), and the remaining width is 80 to 70. %, The left and right widths are formed to be a large width (wide width w2), so that the welding strength in the length direction of the welding line L in each of the first welding portion We1 and the second welding portion We2 is improved. I made a difference. This makes it possible to easily and cleanly tear the package completed film Fp by using the side of the two welded portions We1 and We2 where the welding strength is small (the side of the small width w1) as the starting point of the tearing.

In the present invention, the following method is employed as an example in order to control the welding strength of the welded portions We1 and We2 to the above-described mode. That is, FIG. 5 is a view in which the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7 is viewed from the front side. In this example, the contact surface 71 is about 20% above the total length of the contact surface 71 (the total length L in the height direction of the anvil 7 in FIG. 5). The left-right width up to the contact surface 71a of the narrow width w1 and the remaining length of about 80% were formed on the contact surface 71b of the wide width w2. The ratio of the left and right widths of the contact surface 71a having the narrow width w1 and the contact surface 71b having the wide width w2 is substantially 1: 2, but the ratio of the left and right widths is not limited to this.
The ratio of the length of the contact surface 71a having the narrow width w1 and the contact surface 71b having the wide width w2 to the total length L of the contact surface 71 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this ratio. Not something. In the present invention, the ratio of the wide contact surface 71b to the narrow contact surface 71a is, for example, 9.5 to 6.0: 0.5 to 4.0, or any ratio other than the above numerical values. Can be set to

In the above example, the planar cross-sectional shapes of the two contact surfaces 71a and 71b having the narrow width w1 and the wide width w2 are also substantially arc shapes (see FIG. 7). Further, when the planar shape on the distal end side of the anvil 7 is as shown in FIG. 7, the abutting surface 71a having a narrow width w1 has an apex angle of a flat cross section and the abutting surface 71b having a wide width w2 has an apex angle. Becomes an obtuse angle.
When the two contact surfaces 71a and 71b having different left and right widths in the anvil 7 are configured as in the above example, the contact surface 61 of the welding horn 6 is not shown, but the entire region has a substantially uniform left and right width. What is formed on the contact surface 61 is sufficient.

  In the present invention, the contact surface 61 of the welding horn 6 may have a difference in left and right width along the welding line L, similarly to the left and right width of the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7. In the present invention, it is optional whether the configuration for providing a difference between the left and right widths of the contact surfaces 61 and 71 is applied to one or both of the contact surfaces 61 and 71.

As in the above-described embodiment, the packaging completed film Fp ultrasonically welded by the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 having the left and right widths different in the entire length in the length direction of the contact surface 71 of the anvil 7 has a narrow width of the welding line L. It can be easily cleaved at the site of w1.
By the way, in the conventional film packaging that performs welding using a heating wire or an electric heating plate, it was not possible to change the welding strength along the welding wire L. You can't get it.

  The above description is an example of the film packaging by the film packaging apparatus using the two films, the first film F1 and the second film F2, for packaging the cake C. The same effect as in the above example can be obtained by applying to the welding horn 6 and the anvil 7 of the known ultrasonic film packaging apparatus for packaging the cake C using the method.

  Since the present invention is as described above, especially for frozen cakes, the film packaging of the target that cannot temporarily hold the film due to the viscosity of the packaging object, is clean and neat without causing useless use of the film. It can be carried out. The present invention can of course be applied not only to the frozen cake of the above-described embodiment but also to film packaging of room temperature cakes or other frozen foods and room temperature foods.

C Cake (frozen cake, packaging object)
C1 to C3 Cake MB on the conveyor 1 The base F1 of the packaging device of the present invention F1 First film F2 Second film 1 Conveyor 2 First film roll 3 Second film roll 4 First film delivery unit 5 Second film delivery Part 6 Welding horn 6a Ultrasonic vibrator 6b Support part 6c Slide base 6d Base mount 7 Anvil 7a Support part 7b Slide base 7c Base mount 61 Contact surface 71 of welding horn 6 Contact surface 71a of anvil 7 Narrow width w1 Contact surface 71b Contact surface 8, 9 of wide width w2 Floating member We1 First welding (first welding portion)
We2 Second weld (second weld)
Fp Packaging Completed Film L Full Length of Contact Surface 71 of Anvil 7 (Welding Wire of Welding Parts We1 and We2)

Claims (8)

  A conveyor for placing and transporting an object to be packaged such as a cake, and a film supply mechanism disposed in a direction crossing the transport direction of the conveyor and supplying the packaging film around the object on the conveyor. Welding and cutting of a film by an ultrasonically vibrating welding horn and an anvil opposed to the welding horn, which are supported by an advancing and retreating mechanism so as to advance and retreat in a direction substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor with the conveyor interposed therebetween. And an ultrasonic film packaging apparatus having a base on a base, wherein at least one contact surface at the tip of the welding horn and the anvil sandwiching the film has different lateral widths in the length direction of the contact surface. An ultrasonic film packaging apparatus characterized by having:   The contact surface of the welding horn is formed to have a substantially uniform left and right width when the contact surface of the anvil is formed with a wide portion and a narrow portion on the contact surface of the anvil. Ultrasonic film packaging equipment.   3. The welding horn according to claim 2, wherein the distal end of the welding horn is an abutting surface having left and right widths formed at the wide portion and the narrow portion, instead of the abutting surface formed at the wide portion and the narrow portion at the tip of the anvil. Sonic film packaging equipment.   In the wide part and the narrow part provided in the contact surface, the ratio of the wide part to the narrow part of the welding line formed on the film is in the range of 9.5 to 6.0: 0.5 to 4.0. The ultrasonic film packaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic film packaging apparatus is formed so that:   The ultrasonic film packaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the width of the wide portion of the contact surface is at least 2 when the width of the narrow portion is 1.   The ultrasonic film packaging according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the two reciprocating mechanisms respectively supporting the welding horn and the anvil are installed in a floating state on at least one or both of the reciprocating mechanisms. apparatus.   The conveyor on which the object is placed conveys the object at a predetermined speed when the first half side of the object passes through the welding part by the welding horn and the anvil, and the rear end of the object approaches the welding part. The ultrasonic film packaging apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the apparatus is controlled to convey the object at a speed lower than the predetermined speed.   The ultrasonic film packaging apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the welding horn and the anvil that advance to the welding portion are controlled so that the advance speed decreases as approaching the welding portion.

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