阅读说明：本技术 一种包装袋封口装置 (Packaging bag sealing device ) 是由 徐永新 于 2021-09-09 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种包装袋封口装置,具体包括：底座,以及安装在所述支撑架板靠近所述输送装置一侧的限位凹板,且安装在所述限位凹板内腔底部的升降调柱,且安装在所述控温装置中间位置的封口装置,所述封口装置包括：导热架板,以及安装在所述条形板体远离所述控温装置的一侧安装有传热柱,以及安装在所述传热柱远离所述条形板体一侧的球面安装板,且安装在所述球面安装板位于所述传热柱外侧的隔热环,以及安装在所述球面安装板远离所述传热柱一侧的封口轮,本发明涉及包装机械技术领域。通过限位凹板的设置对设备构件的运行轨道进行限制,避免运动过程中产生错位偏移,对设备构件进行相互的保护,同时升降调柱的设置便于对构件的间距进行控制。(The invention discloses a packaging bag sealing device, which specifically comprises: the base, and install the support frame board is close to the spacing concave plate of conveyor one side, and install the lift of spacing concave plate inner chamber bottom transfers the post, and installs the closing device of temperature regulating device intermediate position, closing device includes: the invention relates to the technical field of packaging machinery, in particular to a heat-conducting frame plate, a heat-transfer column arranged on one side, far away from a temperature control device, of a strip plate body, a spherical mounting plate arranged on one side, far away from the strip plate body, of the heat-transfer column, a heat-insulating ring arranged on the spherical mounting plate and located on the outer side of the heat-transfer column, and a sealing wheel arranged on one side, far away from the heat-transfer column, of the spherical mounting plate. The setting through spacing concave plate restricts the orbit of equipment component, avoids producing the dislocation skew in the motion process, carries out mutual protection to the equipment component, and the setting of lift adjustment post is convenient for control the interval of component simultaneously.)

1. A packaging bag sealing device specifically comprises:

base (1), this base (1) has square bedplate, and installs conveyor (2) of square bedplate top intermediate position, and install support frame plate (3) of square bedplate both sides outer wall intermediate position, and install support frame plate (3) are close to spacing concave plate (4) of conveyor (2) one side, and install lift accent post (5) of spacing concave plate (4) inner chamber bottom, and install temperature regulating device (6) at lift accent post (5) top, and install closing device (7) of temperature regulating device (6) intermediate position, its characterized in that: the closure device (7) comprises:

the heat conduction frame plate (71) is provided with two strip-shaped plate bodies, the heat conduction frame plate (71) is mounted on one side, far away from the temperature control device (6), of each strip-shaped plate body, heat transfer columns (72) are mounted on one side, far away from the temperature control device (6), of each strip-shaped plate body, the heat transfer columns (72) are provided with six symmetrical and uniform distributed, spherical mounting plates (73) are mounted on one sides, far away from the strip-shaped plate bodies, of the heat transfer columns (72), heat insulation rings (74) are mounted on the spherical mounting plates (73) and located on the outer sides of the heat transfer columns (72), and sealing wheels (75) are mounted on one sides, far away from the heat transfer columns (72), of the spherical mounting plates (73);

the sealing wheel (75) comprises:

the weight ball (751) is provided with a spherical body, a wrapping ring (752) arranged on the outer surface of the weight ball (751), a heat sealing ring (753) arranged in the middle of the outer surface of the wrapping ring (752), and trapezoidal rubber pads (754) arranged on the outer surface of the wrapping ring (752) and positioned at two sides of the heat sealing ring (753), and a mounting ring plate (755) arranged at one side of the trapezoidal rubber pads (754) far away from the wrapping ring (752).

2. The package closure apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the side of the mounting ring plate (755) far away from the wrapping ring (752) is connected with the spherical mounting plate (73), and the outer surface of the weight ball (751) is connected with the spherical mounting plate (73).

3. The package closure apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the conveying device (2) comprises:

fixed plate (21), this fixed plate (21) have the rectangular plate body, and install bottom plate (22) seal of rectangular plate body top intermediate position, and install rectangular plate body top just is located seal transport return pulley (23) of bottom plate (22) both sides, and install carry transport return pulley (24) directly over return pulley (23), and install rectangular plate body top just is located carry return pulley (23) to keep away from seal supplementary ball (25) of bottom plate (22) one side, and install rectangular plate body top just is located supplementary ball (25) are kept away from carry concave arc board (26) of return pulley (23) one side, and install rectangular plate body top just is located keep away from concave arc board (26) the convex arc board (27) of supplementary ball (25) one side.

4. The package closure apparatus of claim 2, wherein: concave arc board (26) top with protruding arc board (27) are connected, just protruding arc board (27) are kept away from one side of fixed plate (21) with carry crown wheel (24) to be connected, and install carry crown wheel (24) top and be located driver (28) of protruding arc board (27) both sides.

5. The package closure apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the temperature control device (6) comprises:

gravity piece (61), this gravity piece (61) have square block, and install loading board (62) of square block bottom, and install location baffle (63) of loading board (62) bottom intermediate position, and install loading board (62) bottom just is located protection swash plate (64) of location baffle (63) both sides, and install arc knee (65) of protection swash plate (64) bottom, and the cover is established arc knee (65) surface is located loading board (62) with heat up coil (66) between protection swash plate (64).

6. The package closure apparatus of claim 5, wherein: arc knee (65) are kept away from the one end of loading board (62) runs through respectively protection swash plate (64) with location baffle (63) and extend to location baffle (63) internal surface, just arc knee (65) are located the one end of location baffle (63) internal surface with closing device (7) are connected.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of packaging machinery, in particular to a packaging bag sealing device.

Background

The structure of the sealing operation part of the packaging bag sealing machine mainly comprises two beams which move in opposite directions, each beam is fixedly provided with an electric heating sealing clamp, each beam is connected with a transmission mechanism for driving the beam to move linearly back and forth, under the driving of the two groups of transmission mechanisms, the two electric heating sealing clamps are mutually clamped to seal the plastic packaging bag, and the electric heating sealing clamps clamp the seal and keep the temperature for a period of time, so that the seal is adhered together after being melted.

The existing packaging bag sealing device is easy to generate component position deviation in the using process, so that the sealing is inclined, the leakage sealing phenomenon is generated, the processing quality is easily influenced, the component position is accurate, the mutual abrasion is avoided, and the service life of equipment is shortened.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved

Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention provides a packaging bag sealing device, which solves the problems that the existing packaging bag sealing device is easy to generate component position deviation in the using process, the sealing is inclined, the sealing leakage phenomenon is generated, the processing quality is easy to be influenced, the component positions are accurate, the mutual abrasion is avoided, and the service life of equipment is shortened.

(II) technical scheme

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention is realized by the following technical scheme: a packaging bag sealing device specifically comprises:

the base, this base have square bedplate, and install the conveyor of square bedplate top intermediate position, and install the support frame plate of square bedplate both sides outer wall intermediate position, and install the support frame plate is close to the spacing concave plate of conveyor one side, and install the lift transfer post of spacing concave plate inner chamber bottom, and install the temperature regulating device at lift transfer post top, and install the closing device of temperature regulating device intermediate position limits the orbit of equipment component through the setting of spacing concave plate, avoids producing the dislocation skew in the motion process, carries out mutual protection to the equipment component, and the interval of component is convenient for to control in the setting of lift transfer post simultaneously, can be used to process different kinds of sealed bags, increases the use category of equipment. The sealing device comprises:

heat conduction frame plate, this heat conduction frame plate have the bar plate body, just the heat conduction frame plate is provided with two, and installs the bar plate body is kept away from heat transfer post is installed to one side of temperature regulating device, just the heat transfer post is provided with six and symmetrical evenly distributed, and installs the heat transfer post is kept away from the sphere mounting panel of bar plate body one side, and installs the sphere mounting panel is located the thermal-insulated ring in the heat transfer post outside, and installs the sphere mounting panel is kept away from the wheel that seals of heat transfer post one side. The direction of heat transfer is limited through the setting of heat insulating ring, avoids producing the influence to peripheral unnecessary component, reduces the thermal fatigue loss of peripheral component, and the sphere mounting panel keeps the inside heat of component simultaneously, realizes the utilization to the waste heat, reduces energy resource consumption.

Preferably, the capping wheel comprises:

the weight ball has globular main part, and sets up the parcel ring of weight ball surface, and install the heat-seal ring of parcel ring surface intermediate position, and install the parcel encircles the surface and is located the trapezoidal cushion of heat-seal ring both sides, and install trapezoidal cushion is kept away from the installation ring board of parcel ring one side. Keep apart parcel ring and installation crown plate through the setting of trapezoidal cushion, avoid the component to contact each other and produce wearing and tearing and lead to component life to reduce, reduce the transmission area of contact of temperature simultaneously, reduce the loss speed of temperature to concentrate the temperature and seal on the heat-seal ring, improve the quality and the speed of sealing.

Preferably, one side of the mounting ring plate, which is far away from the wrapping ring, is connected with the spherical mounting plate, and the outer surface of the weight ball is connected with the spherical mounting plate.

Preferably, the conveying device includes:

the fixed plate, this fixed plate have the rectangular plate body, and install the bottom plate that seals of rectangular plate body top intermediate position, and install rectangular plate body top just is located seal the transport return pulley of bottom plate both sides, and install carry the transport top pulley directly over the return pulley, and install rectangular plate body top just is located carry the return pulley to keep away from seal the supplementary ball of bottom plate one side, and install rectangular plate body top just is located supplementary ball is kept away from carry the concave arc board of return pulley one side, and installs rectangular plate body top just is located the concave arc board is kept away from the convex arc board of supplementary ball one side. The setting through concave arc board is to the direction of the weight spare gravity of wrapping bag, and then with gravity dispersion apply the convex arc board on, pressurize the transport crown wheel, keep the stability to the wrapping bag transportation, the concave surface of concave arc board carries out the reduction of frictional force to the wrapping bag simultaneously, the transportation of the wrapping bag of being convenient for is smooth and easy.

Preferably, the top of the concave arc plate is connected with the convex arc plate, one side of the convex arc plate, which is far away from the fixed plate, is connected with the conveying top wheel, and the drivers are arranged at the top of the conveying top wheel and positioned on two sides of the convex arc plate. Carry through the setting of convex arc board to carrying the top wheel and carry, avoid carrying the top wheel to carry the return pulley and excessively extrude, protect the safety of carrying the return pulley, the convex surface of convex arc board disperses external impact simultaneously, and the stability of effective component self protects and avoids inside wrapping bag to suffer the damage.

Preferably, the temperature control device comprises:

the gravity block is provided with a square block body and is installed on the bearing plate at the bottom of the square block body, the positioning partition plate at the middle position of the bottom of the bearing plate is installed on the protection inclined plate at the two sides of the positioning partition plate, and the arc-shaped bent rod is installed at the bottom of the protection inclined plate, and the arc-shaped bent rod is sleeved with the heating coil, wherein the outer surface of the arc-shaped bent rod is located between the bearing plate and the protection inclined plate. Carry out rapid heating up to the arc knee through the coil setting that heaies up, improve the lifting speed of temperature, increase equipment is to sealing the reaction rate of processing, and the barrel type design of the coil that heaies up simultaneously concentrates the temperature, avoids the heat production to heat and looses outward, protects peripheral article.

Preferably, the arc knee is kept away from the one end of loading board runs through respectively protection swash plate with the location baffle extends to location baffle internal surface, just the arc knee is located the one end of location baffle internal surface with closing device connects.

A using method of a packaging bag sealing device comprises the following steps,

the method comprises the following steps: starting a driver to enable the conveying top wheel to obtain power to rotate and convey, and attaching the conveying top wheel to the conveying bottom wheel by utilizing the self gravity of the conveying top wheel;

step two: starting a temperature-rising coil in the temperature control device, so that the temperature-rising coil heats the arc-shaped bent rod;

step three: starting the lifting adjusting column to enable the bearing plate of the temperature control device to descend and drive the positioning partition plate to move downwards until the mounting ring plate in the sealing wheel is contacted with the sealing bottom plate in the conveying device;

step four: placing the bag opening of the packaging bag between a conveying top wheel and a conveying bottom wheel, and conveying by using extrusion force and friction force of the conveying top wheel and the conveying bottom wheel;

step five: the bag opening of the packaging bag slides on the surface of the sealing bottom plate and is in mutual contact with the sealing wheel;

step six: the heat generated by the arc-shaped bent rod is transmitted to the heat conducting frame plate of the sealing device and then transmitted to the spherical surface mounting plate, and is transmitted to the weight ball of the sealing wheel through the spherical surface mounting plate;

step seven: the mounting ring plate and the packaging bag are in mutual friction rotation to drive the wrapping ring to rotate and change the position, the wrapping ring is pressed by the weight of the weight ball, so that the wrapping ring is shifted downwards in position to drive the heat-sealing ring to be in contact with the packaging bag;

step eight: the heat transfer of weight ball is to the parcel ring and then to the heat-seal ring, encapsulates the wrapping bag sack.

(III) advantageous effects

The invention provides a packaging bag sealing device. The method has the following beneficial effects:

(one), this wrapping bag closing device, the orbit to the equipment component is restricted through the setting of spacing concave plate, avoids producing the dislocation skew in the motion process, carries out mutual protection to the equipment component, and the setting of lift adjustment post is convenient for control the interval of component simultaneously, can be used to process different kinds of sealed bags, increases the use category of equipment.

(II), this wrapping bag closing device, the setting through heat insulating ring is injectd heat transfer's direction, avoids producing the influence to peripheral unnecessary component, reduces the thermal fatigue loss of peripheral component, and the sphere mounting panel keeps the inside heat of component simultaneously, realizes the utilization to the waste heat, reduces energy resource consumption.

(III), this wrapping bag closing device keeps apart parcel ring and installation crown plate through the setting of trapezoidal cushion, avoids the component to contact each other and produces wearing and tearing and lead to component life to reduce, reduces the transmission area of contact of temperature simultaneously, reduces the loss speed of temperature to concentrate the temperature and seal on the heat-seal ring, improve the quality and the speed of sealing.

(IV), this wrapping bag closing device, through the direction of the weight spare gravity of concave arc board to the wrapping bag of setting up, and then apply the convex arc board with the gravity dispersion on, pressurize the transport crown wheel, keep the stability to the wrapping bag transportation, the concave surface of concave arc board carries out the reduction of frictional force to the wrapping bag simultaneously, and the transportation of the wrapping bag of being convenient for is smooth and easy.

(V), this wrapping bag closing device, carry the transmission top wheel through the setting of protruding arc board and carry, avoid carrying the top wheel to carry the return pulley and carry excessive extrusion, protect the safety of carrying the return pulley, the convex surface of protruding arc board disperses external impact simultaneously, and the stability of effective component self is protected and is avoided inside wrapping bag to suffer the damage.

(six), this wrapping bag closing device carries out rapid heating up to the arc knee through the coil setting that heaies up, and the promotion speed of raising the temperature increases the equipment and to sealing the reaction rate of processing, and the tubular design of coil that heaies up simultaneously concentrates the temperature, avoids the heat production to heat and looses outward, protects peripheral article.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of the present invention as a whole;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the closure of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the sealing wheel of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural view of the conveying apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a temperature control device according to the present invention;

in the figure: the device comprises a base 1, a conveying device 2, a fixing plate 21, a sealing bottom plate 22, a conveying bottom wheel 23, a conveying top wheel 24, an auxiliary ball 25, a concave arc plate 26, a convex arc plate 27, a driver 28, a supporting frame plate 3, a limiting concave plate 4, a lifting adjusting column 5, a temperature control device 6, a gravity block 61, a bearing plate 62, a positioning partition plate 63, a protective inclined plate 64, an arc-shaped bent rod 65, a heating coil 66, a sealing device 7, a heat conducting frame plate 71, a heat conducting column 72, a spherical mounting plate 73, a heat insulating ring 74, a sealing wheel 75, a weight ball 751, a packaging ring 752, a heat sealing ring 753, a trapezoidal rubber pad 754 and a mounting ring plate 755.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The first embodiment is as follows:

referring to fig. 1-5, the present invention provides a technical solution: a packaging bag sealing device specifically comprises:

base 1, this base 1 has square bedplate, and install the conveyor 2 at square bedplate top intermediate position, and install the support frame plate 3 at square bedplate both sides outer wall intermediate position, and install the spacing notch board 4 that support frame plate 3 is close to conveyor 2 one side, and install the lift transfer post 5 in 4 inner chambers of spacing notch board bottom, and install the temperature regulating device 6 at lift transfer post 5 top, and install the closing means 7 at temperature regulating device 6 intermediate position, set up through spacing notch board 4 and restrict the orbit of equipment component, avoid producing the dislocation skew in the motion process, carry out mutual protection to the equipment component, the interval to the component is convenient for to control in the setting of lift transfer post 5 simultaneously, can be used to process different kinds of sealed bags, increase the use category of equipment. The sealing device 7 includes:

the heat conduction frame plate 71, this heat conduction frame plate 71 has the strip plate body, and heat conduction frame plate 71 is provided with two, and install the heat transfer post 72 in the one side that the strip plate body kept away from temperature regulating device 6, and heat transfer post 72 is provided with six and symmetrical evenly distributed, and install the sphere mounting panel 73 who keeps away from strip plate body one side at heat transfer post 72, and install the thermal-insulated ring 74 that sphere mounting panel 73 is located the heat transfer post 72 outside, and install the sealing wheel 75 who keeps away from heat transfer post 72 one side at sphere mounting panel 73. The direction of heat transfer is limited by the arrangement of the heat insulation ring 74, so that the influence on peripheral unnecessary components is avoided, the thermal fatigue loss of the peripheral components is reduced, meanwhile, the spherical mounting plate 73 retains the heat inside the components, the utilization of waste heat is realized, and the energy consumption is reduced.

The sealing wheel 75 includes:

the weight ball 751, this weight ball 751 has the globular body, and set up the parcel ring 752 on the external surface of weight ball 751, and install the heat-seal ring 753 in the middle position of the external surface of parcel ring 752, and install the trapezoidal cushion 754 on the external surface of parcel ring 752 and lie in the both sides of heat-seal ring 753, and install the collar plate 755 on the side far away from parcel ring 752 of trapezoidal cushion 754. Set up through trapezoidal cushion 754 and keep apart parcel ring 752 and installation crown plate 755, avoid the component to contact each other and produce wearing and tearing and lead to component life to reduce, reduce the transmission area of contact of temperature simultaneously, reduce the loss speed of temperature to concentrate the temperature and seal on heat-seal ring 753, improve the quality and the speed of sealing.

The side of the mounting ring plate 755 remote from the wrap ring 752 is attached to the spherical mounting plate 73 and the outer surface of the weight balls 751 are attached to the spherical mounting plate 73.

The conveying device 2 includes:

fixed plate 21, this fixed plate 21 has the rectangular plate body, and install the bottom plate 22 that seals at the rectangular plate body top intermediate position, and install at the rectangular plate body top and be located the transport return pulley 23 that seals bottom plate 22 both sides, and install the transport top wheel 24 directly over transport return pulley 23, and install at the rectangular plate body top and be located transport return pulley 23 and keep away from the supplementary ball 25 that seals bottom plate 22 one side, and install at the rectangular plate body top and be located supplementary ball 25 and keep away from the concave arc board 26 that carries return pulley 23 one side, and install at the rectangular plate body top and be located concave arc board 27 that supplementary ball 25 one side was kept away from to concave arc board 26. The setting through concave arc board 26 is to the direction of the weight piece gravity of wrapping bag, and then with gravity dispersion apply convex arc board 27 on, pressurize transport top wheel 24, keep the stability to the wrapping bag transportation, concave surface concave arc board 26 carries out the reduction of frictional force to the wrapping bag simultaneously, the transportation of the wrapping bag of being convenient for is smooth and easy.

The top of the concave arc plate 26 is connected with a convex arc plate 27, one side of the convex arc plate 27 far away from the fixed plate 21 is connected with the conveying top wheel 24, and a driver 28 is arranged on the top of the conveying top wheel 24 and positioned at two sides of the convex arc plate 27. Carry the top wheel 24 to carry through setting up of protruding arc board 27 and carry, avoid carrying top wheel 24 to carry the return pulley 23 and excessively extrude, protect the safety of carrying the return pulley 23, the protruding of protruding arc board 27 disperses external impact simultaneously, and the stability of effective component self is protected and is avoided inside wrapping bag to suffer the damage.

The temperature control device 6 includes:

the gravity block 61, this gravity block 61 has square block to and install the loading board 62 in square block bottom, and install the location baffle 63 at loading board 62 bottom intermediate position, and install the protection swash plate 64 that just is located location baffle 63 both sides in loading board 62 bottom, and install the arc knee 65 in protection swash plate 64 bottom, and the cover is established and is located the intensification coil 66 between loading board 62 and the protection swash plate 64 at arc knee 65 surface. Set up through rising temperature coil 66 and carry out rapid heating up to arc knee 65, improve the lifting speed of temperature, increase equipment is to sealing the reaction rate of processing, and the cartridge type design of rising temperature coil 66 simultaneously concentrates the temperature, avoids the heat production to heat and looses outward, protects peripheral article.

One end of the arc-shaped bent rod 65, which is far away from the bearing plate 62, penetrates through the protection sloping plate 64 and the positioning partition plate 63 respectively and extends to the inner surface of the positioning partition plate 63, and one end of the arc-shaped bent rod 65, which is located on the inner surface of the positioning partition plate 63, is connected with the sealing device 7.

Example two:

referring to fig. 1-5, on the basis of the first embodiment, the present invention provides a technical solution: a using method of a packaging bag sealing device comprises the following steps,

the method comprises the following steps: starting a driver 28 to enable the conveying top wheel 24 to obtain power to rotate and convey, and utilizing the self gravity of the conveying top wheel 24 to be attached to the conveying bottom wheel 23;

step two: starting a temperature-increasing coil 66 in the temperature control device 6, so that the temperature-increasing coil 66 heats the arc-shaped bent rod 65;

step three: starting the lifting adjusting column 5 to enable the bearing plate 62 of the temperature control device 6 to descend and drive the positioning partition plate 63 to move downwards until the mounting ring plate 755 in the sealing wheel 75 is in contact with the sealing bottom plate 22 in the conveying device 2;

step four: placing the bag opening of the packaging bag between a conveying top wheel 24 and a conveying bottom wheel 23, and conveying by using the extrusion force and the friction force of the conveying top wheel 24 and the conveying bottom wheel 23;

step five: the bag opening of the packaging bag slides on the surface of the sealing bottom plate 22 and is in mutual contact with the sealing wheel 75;

step six: the heat generated by the arc-shaped bent rod 65 is transmitted to the heat conducting frame plate 71 of the sealing device 7, further transmitted to the spherical mounting plate 73, and transmitted to the weight balls 751 of the sealing wheel 75 through the spherical mounting plate 73;

step seven: the mounting ring plate 755 rubs and rotates with the wrapping bag each other, drive the wrapping ring 752 to rotate and change the position, utilize the weight of the weight ball 751 to press the wrapping ring 752, make the wrapping ring 752 produce the downward offset of position, drive the heat-seal ring 753 to contact with wrapping bag;

step eight: the heat from the weight balls 751 is transferred to the wrap ring 752 and thence to the heat seal ring 753 to seal the bag mouth.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. The term "comprising", without further limitation, means that the element so defined is not excluded from the group consisting of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.