阅读说明：本技术 容器预切割系统 (Container pre-cutting system ) 是由 马努埃尔·冈萨雷斯 于 2020-12-15 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种容器预切割系统,适用于具有层状材料(3)的容器成型机器(4),所述容器成型机器(4)根据其步进距离为所述层状材料(3)提供一定长度的间歇前进；所述系统适于在层状材料(3)的下表面上制作下预切割(31)以及在其上表面上制作上预切割(32)。该系统包括使用激光的带有至少一个激光头(11)的下预切割装置(1),以及使用刀片或激光的上预切割装置(2)。该预切割装置(1,2)在层状材料(3)的前进方向上由一段间隔分开,该间隔的长度等于所述机器的步进距离的倍数。(The present invention relates to a container pre-cutting system, suitable for a container forming machine (4) with a laminar material (3), said container forming machine (4) providing an intermittent advance of a certain length for said laminar material (3) according to its step distance; the system is suitable for making a lower pre-cut (31) on the lower surface of the laminar material (3) and an upper pre-cut (32) on the upper surface thereof. The system comprises a lower pre-cutting device (1) with at least one laser head (11) using a laser, and an upper pre-cutting device (2) using a blade or a laser. The pre-cutting means (1, 2) are separated in the direction of advance of the laminar material (3) by an interval having a length equal to a multiple of the step distance of the machine.)

1. A container pre-cutting system, suitable for a container forming machine (4) with a multilayer, double-layer or single-layer laminar material (3), which container forming machine (4) provides an intermittent advance of a length of said laminar material (3) according to its step distance, said system comprising lower pre-cutting means (1) and upper pre-cutting means (2) suitable for making lower pre-cuts (31) and upper pre-cuts (32) respectively in the laminar material (3); characterized in that said lower pre-cutting means (1) comprise at least one laser head (11), the emission laser beam (12) of said laser head (11) passing from a lower zone through the space between successive containers (4) of the plurality of containers assembled and defining a lower pre-cut line in the zone of said multilayer material (3) forming a bridge connecting said containers (4).

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that said upper pre-cutting means (2) comprise: an upper blade (21) vertically movable between an inactive upper position and an active lower position, said upper blade (21) performing an upper pre-cut in the laminar material (3).

3. The system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the upper pre-cutting means (2) and the lower pre-cutting means (1) are separated in the advancement direction of the laminar material (3) by a space having a length equal to a multiple of the step distance of the container forming machine (4).

4. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said lower pre-cutting means (1) comprise at least one laser head (11) for cutting.

Technical Field

The invention is applicable to container forming machines with multi-layer, double-layer or single-layer laminar material and intermittently advances the laminar material by a length according to the stepping distance of the machine; the system is pre-cut on the lower and upper surfaces of the laminar material, respectively, to facilitate the subsequent separation of the single packaging containers.

Background

When manufacturing containers, in particular packaging containers for the food industry, it is common to make pre-cut lines in the bridges between the containers, which pre-cut lines affect part of the thickness of the laminar material, with the aim of facilitating subsequent manual tearing and separation of the packaging container by the end consumer.

In containers made of certain laminar materials, it is sufficient to make a pre-cut line in the upper surface of the laminar material to allow the user to subsequently tear open and separate the packaging container.

When using certain laminar materials, the upper pre-cut line is not sufficient to ensure a proper separation of the packaging container without creating defects in the torn area.

In order to prevent the above drawbacks, in the national patent application P201830445, the same holder of the present invention has developed a solution consisting of a container pre-cutting device comprising: a male die provided with an upper blade for making the upper pre-cut lines, and a female die comprising a lower blade facing the upper blade, are provided, so that, when the male die is closed on the female die, the upper blade and the lower blade simultaneously define upper and lower pre-cut lines on opposite sides of the multilayer material of the container, thus ensuring proper tearing of the multilayer material along these pre-cut lines.

This solution is effective for simultaneously performing the upper pre-cut and the lower pre-cut; however, depending on the shape of the container, there may be the following: the lower pre-cutting is not possible without sufficient space between the bodies of the multiple containers combined for mechanically driving the lower pre-cutting means.

Another drawback of these pre-cutting means with blades is that, depending on the mechanical characteristics of the laminar material used, and in particular of the layer or layers forming the laminar material, the simultaneity of the up-and-down pre-cutting in very close zones of the laminar material, causes neither the up-nor the down-pre-cut zones to be cut, with consequent undesired tearing of the multilayer material of said zones before or during the separation of the container.

Disclosure of Invention

The container pre-cutting system of the present invention is suitable for use with container forming machines having one or more layers of layered material that intermittently advance the layered material a length according to its step distance.

The container pre-cutting system of the present invention has suitable technical features for performing the lower pre-cutting and the upper pre-cutting in the opposite or near zones of the lower surface and the upper surface of the laminar material, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in particular in the case where a plurality of containers combined together cannot allow the lower pre-cutting means with blades to be mechanically driven at the bottom.

To this end, and according to the invention, at least the lower pre-cutting means comprise at least one laser head conveniently arranged so that the projected laser beam passes from the lower region through the space existing between successive containers of the plurality of containers combined and defines a lower pre-cut line on the lower surface of the laminar material forming the bridge connecting said containers.

Such a sub-cutting device using a laser solves the technical problem well, since the space necessary between the containers for the passage of the laser beam and the making of the sub-cut is very small.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper pre-cutting means comprise an upper blade vertically movable between an inactive upper position and an active lower position, which performs an upper pre-cutting in the laminar material, although it is not excluded that the upper pre-cutting means perform the appropriate upper pre-cutting using laser heads as the lower pre-cutting means.

Whatever type of upper pre-cutting means is used, the upper pre-cutting means and the lower pre-cutting means with laser are separated in the advancement direction of the laminar material by a space having a length equal to a multiple of the step distance of the container-forming machine.

Therefore, the upper and lower precuts in a certain area of the laminar material are not carried out simultaneously, both being carried out in advance of a predetermined length of the laminar material, and sufficient time has elapsed to eliminate the stresses generated by the lower precut before the upper precut is made.

The system is therefore particularly suitable for pre-cutting multiple containers in a pack made of different materials (PET, PP, PLA and PS).

In both cases, the lower and upper pre-cutting means are separated from each other by an interval corresponding to a multiple of the length of the stepping distance of the machine.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the order of the upper pre-cutting means and the lower pre-cutting means with respect to the advancing direction of the laminar material is not important, and that the system can perform the lower pre-cutting first and the upper pre-cutting later, and vice versa, without affecting the essence of the invention.

Drawings

To supplement the description made and to help make the characteristics of the invention easier to understand, the present description is accompanied by a set of drawings that represent the following by way of illustration and not of limitation.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic front view of an exemplary embodiment of a container pre-cutting system according to the present invention, in which it can be seen that the lower pre-cutting means are provided with a laser head, while the upper pre-cutting means are equipped with cutting blades and are longitudinally separated in the advancing direction of the containers formed of multilayer, double-layer or single-layer material.

Fig. 2 shows a front view of a variant embodiment of the lower pre-cutting means provided with two laser heads.

Fig. 3 shows a detailed enlargement of a section of the laminar material when the lower precut is performed with a laser.

Fig. 4 shows a front view of the upper pre-cutting means when the upper pre-cutting is performed, and a detailed enlargement of the laminar material, wherein the lower pre-cutting previously made and the upper pre-cutting being made can be seen.

Detailed Description

In fig. 1, the container pre-cutting system comprises a lower pre-cutting device (1) and an upper pre-cutting device (2) to be mounted on a container forming machine (4), the container forming machine (4) making containers from multilayer, double-layer or single-layer material (3), the container pre-cutting system being activated to pre-cut both the lower and upper surfaces of the laminar material (3).

It must be pointed out that in the above-mentioned fig. 1, the lower pre-cutting means (1) and the upper pre-cutting means (2) are arranged in the illustrated order in the advancing direction of the laminar material (3), but it is also possible to reverse the order, since this order does not affect the operation of the system.

The lower pre-cutting means (1) and the upper pre-cutting means (2) are longitudinally spaced in the advancing direction of the laminar material (3) by a length equal to a multiple of the step distance of the container forming machine, so that the lower pre-cut line and the upper pre-cut line corresponding to the same zone of the laminar material (3) are not formed simultaneously, but in two successive stages.

In said fig. 1, said lower pre-cutting device (1) comprises: a laser head (11) emitting a laser beam (12) that passes from a lower zone through the space present between successive containers (4) of the plurality of containers assembled and defines a lower pre-cut line in the zone of the laminar material forming a bridge connecting said containers.

In this embodiment, the upper pre-cutting means has a vertically movable blade, as described below.

In order to perform an upper pre-cut of the material in the same area where the lower pre-cut has been made, it is necessary to move the laminar material a certain number of steps according to the step distance of the machine until the area reaches the upper pre-cutting means (2), so that sufficient time has elapsed to relieve the stresses generated in the laminar material.

In a variant embodiment shown in fig. 2, the lower pre-cutting means comprise two laser heads (11) for making the lower pre-cut line (31), as shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows an embodiment of the upper pre-cutting device (2) shown in fig. 1, which comprises, as shown in fig. 4: a lower die (20) and an upper blade (21), the upper blade (21) being mounted for vertical movement relative to a floating stop (22), the floating stop (22) being capable of limited vertical movement relative to a punch (24); the upper blade (21) is mounted on a calibrated spring (23).

When the upper pre-cutting means (2) is activated, the floating stop (22) presses the laminar material (3) against the lower die (20) and the upper blade (21) penetrates the upper surface of the laminar material (3), defining an upper pre-cut (32) thereon.

As can be seen in the detailed enlargement of fig. 4, in the advancing direction of the laminar material (3), the lower pre-cut (31) and the upper pre-cut (32) are slightly separated, the lower die (20) having a recess (25) in the region facing the upper blade (21), this recess (25) allowing a certain elastic deformation of the multilayer sheet (3) when making the upper pre-cut (32), which contributes to reducing the stresses of the material in the pre-cut region.

Having fully described the essence of the invention, it is stated herein that the materials, shapes, dimensions and arrangement of the elements described may be modified for the related purposes, in addition to the examples of preferred embodiments, provided that this does not imply a change in the essential characteristics of the invention claimed below.