Method for verifying and improving the position of rod-like elements in cartridges or intermediate storehouses and the device for verifying and improving proper position of rod-like elements and ruling of their face surfaces in cartridges or intermediate storehouses

Description of the invention

The subject of the invention is a method of verifying the correct positioning of bar-like elements with simultaneous correction of their arrangement in cassettes or intermediate magazines, used in the tobacco industry, and a device enabling verification of the correct positioning of bar-like elements in cassettes or intermediate magazines and the alignment of their front surface.

In the tobacco industry, cassettes are often used both for transporting cigarettes or cigars from the manufacturing machine to the packing machine and for transporting and / or temporarily storing the filters in the production process. Traditional cassettes are in the form of a cuboid without a front wall and a top wall. Also known are multi-segmented cassettes, the interior of which is segmented by vertical inner walls. Such a cassette is disclosed in DE 1,915,446. Intermediate warehouses are used in the production lines of the tobacco industry to unload traditional or segmented cassettes. One of such magazines is presented in European Patent No. EP 2,079,327 A1, owned by the owner of the present invention, where the rod-like elements are transferred from the cassette to a plurality of segments separated by vertical partition walls, which are then emptied independently of each other by a throat formed by at the base of the warehouse, both an intermediate warehouse, and the base and the throat independently of each other reciprocating along the receiving conveyor, so as to allow the successive segments to meet the throat, and the sequence of emptying the segments is opposite to the direction of receiving the elements on the conveyor. Said elements are fed to the conveyor via a chute permanently connected to the throat, the throat having an area corresponding to the area of ​​the horizontal section of the intermediate store segment receives the elements each time from one successive segment, and the complete emptying of the segment is monitored by a sensor. In production practice, there are times when the cassette filling unit may get stuck, which will result in not all segments being properly filled with rod-like elements. Similarly, during emptying the intermediate store, the arrangement of the rod-like elements may be deformed, resulting in their suspension and, as a result, disruption of the unloading process. In such cases, the production process must be interrupted as soon as possible in order to remove any irregularities, and to detect them, sensors placed in various places in the cassette or magazine are used. In the US publication no. US 2008/0181754 A1 a device for unloading cassettes, especially multi-segment ones, has been presented, in which sensors are placed above the bottom of the inverted cassette in the number corresponding to the number of segments, and holes are made in the bottom of the cassette in the axis of operation of said sensors by the empty state of the cassette is checked. Another US publication no. US 2008/0213072 A1 presents a device for unloading multi-segment cassettes, which uses sensors arranged axially in relation to the rod-like elements in a number corresponding to the number of segments, the sensors being located in one row in the lower part of the cassette, its reversed. On the other hand, in the international publication no. WO 2008/110390 A1, an unloading magazine for emptying cassettes from rod-like elements was presented, which, alternatively, apart from sensors placed as in the aforementioned publication no. US 2008/0181754 A1, also the use of sensors positioned axially in relation to the elements rod-like in two rows - lower and higher, in the central part of the cassette, two sensors are assigned to each segment of the cassette. US Patent No. 7,609,393 B2 shows a method and device for checking the correct orientation of rod-like elements in a traditional cassette by means of a scanner checking the top layer of elements or the side layer of elements, as well as laser inspection of the cassette after its emptying. A device for filling traditional cassettes with cigarettes is known from the German patent no. DE 1.066.118, the interior of a single-chamber cassette being divided into channels by pivotally fixed partition walls arranged vertically for the time of filling. After the cassette is completely filled, it is placed on the conveyor of full cassettes, while the partitions are removed from the inside of the cassette, and the cigarettes collected in the vertical channels are brought together. In order to prevent the axial movement of the cigarettes during the removal of the partition walls, the cassettes are moved to the receiving station by means of a reciprocating pusher on which a vertical wall with an area corresponding to the face of the cassette is fitted, provided with

Into vertical grooves corresponding to the partition walls of the device. In the prior art, there is no known solution that would allow simultaneous filling control and improving the positioning of rod-like elements in cassettes or intermediate magazines used in the production lines of the tobacco industry.

According to the invention, the method of verifying and improving the positioning of rod-like elements in cassettes or intermediate magazines used in the production lines of the tobacco industry, where the positioning of the elements is verified by means of sensors, and the improvement of the positioning of the elements takes place by aligning the plane of the ends of the elements, verification and improvement of the positioning of the rod-like elements takes place simultaneously with the use of one liner, equipped with sensors, the sensors detecting the correct filling and / or arrangement of the rod-like elements, and the alignment device aligns the plane of the ends of the elements correctly filling the interior of the cassette or intermediate magazine. This method ensures that the filled cassettes have a verified and corrected positioning of the elements, so that the unloading of the cassette will not be disturbed by improper arrangement of the faces of the elements. If an incorrect filling and / or orientation of the rod-like elements is detected by the sensors, the operation of the liner is turned off and the operation of the unit on which the liner is installed is interrupted. In this way, the supply of items to the cassette is interrupted, which will later be rejected from production, thereby reducing the amount of full-blown rod-like elements rejected from production as each poorly filled cassette is removed from production. This is particularly important in a modern production line, where on average the cassettes contain 4,000 items, and the production capacity is over 16,000 items per minute, so the loading or emptying cycle of one cassette takes about 15 seconds. The above information applies equally to intermediate warehouses.

The essence of the invention is also the construction of a device that allows for the verification of the correct positioning of rod-like elements and the alignment of their front surface in cassettes or intermediate magazines used in production lines of the tobacco industry, the verification being carried out by sensors controlling the degree of filling of the cassette or intermediate magazine, and the alignment consists in aligning the plane of the ends of the rod-like elements by their axial displacement. According to the invention, the liner is a plate that contacts the ends of the rod-like elements and is provided with at least one sensor for checking the filling of the cassette or intermediate magazine. Said plate may consist of a plurality of pushers, the number of which corresponds to the number of segments of a multi-segment cassette or an intermediate magazine, and the distance between the pushers corresponds to the thickness of the partition between the segments, each pusher being provided with at least one sensor. The sensors can be an optical element operating in the range of visible or invisible radiation, or they can be an ultrasonic element. In the case of using traditional cassettes or intermediate magazines with one chamber, adjustable valves are placed between the pushers to eliminate the gap. The advantage of the device according to the invention is the possibility of checking the correct filling of cassettes or intermediate magazines with rod-like elements, while at the same time the front of the entire layer of elements is lined to one plane, and in the event of incorrect arrangement or filling, filling or emptying can be interrupted and eliminated from the production line.

The subject of the invention has been shown in the embodiment in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a device in the form of a liner in a position for handling multi-segment cassettes or intermediate magazines, Fig. 2 - perspective view of the device of Fig. 1 during loading of a multi-segment cassette Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the device of Fig. 1 during loading or emptying of a multi-segment intermediate store, Fig. 4 perspective view of the device of fig. 1 while emptying the multi-segment cassette, fig. 5 perspective view of the device in the form of a liner in a position for handling conventional cassettes or intermediate magazines with one compartment, fig. 6 - perspective view of the device of fig. 5 during loading of the traditional cassette, Fig. 7 - perspective view of the device of Fig. 5 during loading or emptying of an intermediate magazine with one chamber, Fig. 8 - perspective view of the device of fig. 5 during emptying of the conventional cassette, fig. 9 - incorrectly filled multi-segment cassette in vertical section using a verifying device equipped with optical sensors, and fig. 10 - incorrectly filled multi-segment cassette in top view using a verification device equipped with ultrasonic sensors.

PL 216 616 B1

The device is a liner 1 having a face plate 2 in contact with the ends of the rod-like elements 3. The plate 2 is divided into a plurality of pushers 4, the number of which corresponds to the number of segments 5 of the multi-segment cassette 6 or intermediate magazine 7, the distance 8 between the pushers 4 corresponds to partition thickness 9 between segments 5. Each of the pushers 4 of the plate 2 has an oblique wall 10 at the top, which facilitates the alignment of the axially extended rod-like elements 3 during vertical movement in the loaded or emptied cassette 6 or magazine 7. In the spaces 8 between the pushers 4 of the plate 2 there are adjustable valves 11 connected by a common bar 12 horizontally displaced by actuator 13, the tumblers 11 having a shape corresponding to the vertical cross section of the plate 2. When using traditional cassettes 61 or intermediate magazines 71 with one compartment, the bar 12 is moved forward so that the valves 11 fill the gap 8 between the pushers 4, making the plate 2 a monolith. In the plate 2 there are sensors 14 with an axis perpendicular to the alignment plane, preferably each pusher 4 is equipped with at least one sensor 14. The sensors 14 can be an optical element operating in the range of visible or invisible radiation, which detect the absence of rod-like elements 3 in the cassette 6 or 61, or in the intermediate magazine 7 or 71, while ultrasonic sensors 14 are used to locate the rod-like elements 3 misaligned. It is obvious that each pusher 4 can be equipped with both types of sensors 14 simultaneously.

The operation of the device in the form of a liner 1, provided with sensors 14 and placed in the assembly line of the tobacco industry, is as follows: the device 1 is positioned horizontally, preferably in the upper part of the assembly for loading elements 3 for cassettes 6 or 61, or for magazines 7 or 71 and may also be located in the lower portion of the discharge unit of cassettes 6 or 61, or magazines 7 or 71. During the movement of the rod-like elements 3, the alignment device 1, which performs a constant and even reciprocating movement in a plane parallel to the axis of the elements 3, initially aligns the front side of the successive layers of the rod-like elements 3 with the help of the plate 2 by means of the diagonal wall 10. At the same time, sensors 14 check the correct filling or positioning of the elements 3, and in the event of incorrect positioning or filling, the operation of the assembly is stopped.