EP0525802A1 - Method and apparatus for applying separator sheets to product layers - Google Patents

Abstract

Method for positioning separator sheets between the individual slices of a foodstuff product, in which the separator sheets are forcibly inserted between two slices, the separator sheets being bent about at least one axis extending in the direction of insertion. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a method for positioning separating sheets between individual at least partially superimposed product layers, in particular between individual slices of a food product.

It is known to place separating sheets between stacked slices of a food product in order to prevent the individual slices from sticking together. In this way, the disks can be easily removed from a product stack.

The object on which the invention is based is to create a method of the type mentioned at the outset with which the economic outlay for positioning separating sheets between individual product layers is minimized and which can in particular be carried out mechanically.

This object is achieved in that the separating sheets are held in a firing position against constantly acting acceleration forces, released in a predeterminable sequence, accelerated and curved around at least one axis running in the firing direction into the respective target position between two product layers.

With such a method, separator sheets can advantageously be shot in rapid succession at high speed in a precise position between individual slices of a product, which, for example, by means of a slicing device, e.g. B. a slicer is cut open.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the acceleration forces are applied to the top and bottom of the separating sheets in the form of grinding friction forces, for example by means of rollers or belts running over rollers.

The release sheets, which triggers the acceleration process, can be released, for example, by cutting off the separation sheets from an endless web.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, both the time of release and the weft path of the separating sheets can be selected or set. In this way it is achieved that the separator sheets can be shot in different positions between the individual product layers. The separator sheets can be aligned with the product layers or positioned laterally or alternately projecting laterally between the product layers.

When separating sheets are shot between individual slices of a food product that is currently in the slicing process, the separating sheets are preferably shot from the area of the slicing device located on the product discharge side between the product layers, the knife drive of the slicing device being located on the product feed side in relation to the knife.

The separator sheets can be shot against product layers that have not yet or have not yet been completely cut off from a product. Furthermore, it is also possible to shoot the separating sheets against product layers which have already been cut off from a product and which just fall onto a storage surface.

The separating sheets are preferably passed through an air stream before or after their acceleration.

Particularly advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention and of devices for carrying out this method are specified in the subclaims.

A device for carrying out the method according to the invention described in the subclaims can be positioned in a particularly advantageous manner between the discharge belt of a slicing device and its cutting knife in a free space located on the product discharge side in relation to the cutting knife.

• Fig. 1 eine Seitenansicht einer bevorzugten Vorrichtung zur Durchführung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens,
• Fig. 2 einen Schnitt A-B gemäß Fig. 1,
• Fig. 3 einen Schnitt E-F gemäß Fig. 1,
• Fig. 4 einen schnitt C-D gemäß Fig. 1,
• Fig. 5 einen Schnitt sowie eine Draufsicht des beweglichen Teils einer Tänzerrollenanordnung gemäß Fig. 1,
• Fig. 6 eine Draufsicht der bevorzugten Vorrichtung zur Durchführung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens gemaß Fig. 1,
• Fig. 7 ein Antriebsschema für die in Fig. 1 gezeigten Förder- und Führungswalzen, und
• Fig. 8 ein Antriebsschema für die in Fig. 1 gezeigte Abschneidevorrichtung.

The invention is explained below with reference to the drawing; it shows:

• 1 is a side view of a preferred device for performing the method according to the invention,
• 2 shows a section AB according to FIG. 1,
• 3 shows a section EF according to FIG. 1,
• 4 shows a section CD according to FIG. 1,
• 5 shows a section and a top view of the movable part of a dancer roll arrangement according to FIG. 1,
• 6 shows a top view of the preferred device for carrying out the method according to the invention according to FIG. 1,
• Fig. 7 is a drive diagram for the conveyor and guide rollers shown in Fig. 1, and
• Fig. 8 is a drive diagram for the cutting device shown in Fig. 1.

The device shown in Fig. 1 has an endless web storage in the form of a carrier roll 1, on which the endless web 2 is wound.

The continuous web 2 unwound from the carrier roll 1 runs over a dancer roll arrangement which consists of a fixed roll 3 and two rolls 5 mounted on a swivel arm 4. The swivel arm 4 is rotatably mounted about the axis of the carrier roller 1 and is biased in the direction of arrow A by a spring force.

The carrier roll 1 can be braked by means of a short stroke cylinder 7.

At the upper end of the swivel arm 4 is a Arranged bracket 6, which extends perpendicular to the swivel arm 4 and by means of which the movable dancer rollers 5 are mounted on both sides.

The stationary dancer roll 3 is mounted on both sides in a housing 8, the housing 8 being fixedly connected to the axis of the carrier roll 1 via a rigid web 9.

The dancer roll arrangement 3, 4, 5 serves as an endless web intermediate storage device, with which the starting and braking times of the carrier roll 1 caused by inertia can be compensated. When the carrier roller 1 starts up, the swivel arm 4 moves in the direction of the arrow B, when the carrier roller 1 is braked in the direction of the arrow A.

The process of unwinding the endless web 2 from the carrier roll 1 is brought about by a conveyor roller pair 10 which promotes the endless web 2 in clamping engagement. The surface of the pair of conveyor rollers 10 can be made of rubber or a similar material, for example.

Behind the pair of conveying rollers 10, a cutting device is provided which has an elongated cutting member 11 which extends at least over the separating sheet width and which rotates in the direction of the arrow about an axis lying perpendicular to the conveying direction of the endless web 2 and perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. The cutting edge of the cutting member 11 is in accordance with the principle known from lawnmowers in the imaginary outer surface of a cylinder extending around the axis of rotation of the cutting member 11, the cutting edge cutting a jacket line of the cylinder at least at one point.

The rotating cutting element 11 shears over a stationary shear web 12, which enables individual separating sheets to be cut off from the continuous web.

The rotating cutting member 11 and the shear web 12 together with a frame 13 form a unit which can be inserted into the housing 8 via a gap 14 and can be exchanged in this way without difficulty. The frame 13 has at its lower end a wedge-shaped incision, which is supported on a bolt 15 which is fixedly connected to the housing, in order to fix the cutting device in the housing 8 in this way in a precisely positioned manner.

The shear web 12 is provided with an adjusting device 16.

An acceleration device is connected to the cutting device 11, 12, the distance between the cutting device and the acceleration device being smaller than the separating sheet length.

The acceleration device has four guide rollers 17, 18, the peripheral speed of which is above the conveying speed of the conveying rollers 10.

Two guide rollers 17, 18 spaced apart from one another in the weft direction are connected to one another by circumferential belts (not shown in FIG. 1). With such an acceleration device, the separating sheets to be accelerated are slidably guided between the belts. The belts continuously exert acceleration forces in the form of grinding frictional forces on the endless web 2 or the cut separator sheets, these forces acting on the top and bottom of the endless web 2 or the separator sheets.

Several guide roller belt arrangements (not shown) arranged one behind the other perpendicular to the plane of the drawing are offset from one another in such a way that the separating sheets are curved (see FIGS. 2 and 3). In addition, stationary guide elements supporting the curvature, for example in the form of guide plates, can be provided in the area of the acceleration device (not shown).

Furthermore, air nozzles (not shown) can be provided, which additionally guide the endless web or the accelerated separating sheets in the areas of the device located behind the conveyor rollers 10. The nozzles causing this air flow can be arranged both below and above the transport plane of the endless web or the separating sheets.

• Eine über dem Elektromotor 19 zwischen der Tänzerrolle 3 und der Förderwalze 10 angeordnete Umlenkrolle 21, über eine zwischen den Führungsrollen 17 und 18 angeordnete und gegen eine Federkraft vorgespannte Spannrolle 22, über zwei die beiden Führungsrollen 17 antreibende Antriebsrollen und über zwei die beiden Förderwalzen 10 antreibende Antriebsrollen.

1, the conveying device, the cutting device and the accelerating device are driven together by an electric motor 19 fed via two contacts 20. In the embodiment shown, a toothed belt 26 is used as the drive means, which runs over the following deflection and drive rollers:

• A deflection roller 21 arranged above the electric motor 19 between the dancer roller 3 and the conveyor roller 10, via a tension roller 22 arranged between the guide rollers 17 and 18 and biased against a spring force, via two drive rollers driving the two guide rollers 17 and via two driving the two conveyor rollers 10 Drive rollers.

The mentioned deflection, tensioning and drive rollers are all located on one side of the housing 8. The axis of the deflection roller 21 extends horizontally through the housing 8 and has an elliptical roller 23 on the side opposite the deflection roller 21, which has an additional toothed belt 28 (see FIG. 8) is coupled to a second elliptical roller 24, which in turn is connected to the axis of the rotating cutting element 11 and drives it.

The two elliptical rollers 23 and 24 have same number of teeth a phase shift to ensure in this way that the cutting member 11 rotates at the time of separation of a separating sheet from the endless web 2 at a higher speed than during its remaining orbital period. This drive ensures a clean cut and prevents paper jams.

Furthermore, the elliptical design of the rollers 23 and 24 ensures that the rotational speed of the elliptical rollers 23, 24 is reduced immediately after the cutting process, thereby ensuring that the separating sheet to be removed is not caught by the rotating cutting member 11.

The described configuration of the elliptical rollers 23 and 24 also makes it possible to keep the toothed belt 28 rotating around the two rollers constantly taut without the need for an additional tensioning wheel.

After the cutting process, the rotating cutting member 11 serves to support and guide the section of the continuous web following a cut separating sheet.

The guide rollers 18 are driven via the belts 27 (see FIG. 6), by means of which they are connected to the guide rollers 17.

The conveyor rollers 10, which convey the endless web 2 in clamping engagement, cause the endless web 2 to unwind from the carrier roller 1 when the device is in operation the front area of the endless web 2, which causes tensioning of the endless web 2. The area of the endless web 2 located in the acceleration device is not yet accelerated at this point in time, since it is still directly connected to the section of the endless web 2 located in the area of the conveyor rollers 10 and only the rotational speed of the conveyor rollers 10 determines the conveying speed of the entire endless web 2 .

If a cutting sheet is now cut off from the continuous web 2 by the rotating cutting member 11, the cut cutting sheet can be accelerated in the accelerating device, since it is no longer retained as before by its connection to the section of the continuous web 2 located between the conveyor rollers 10 .

The cut-off separating sheet is curved in the accelerating device and finally shot in the direction of the arrow from the accelerating device into its desired position.

A sensor (not shown) in the form of a photocell or a capacitive sensor can be arranged in front of the guide rollers 18 and, for example, stops the transport of the endless web when making empty cuts. In this way, separator sheets are only made available when there is actually a need.

By changing drive means, in particular drive rollers of the conveying, cutting and accelerating device, both different separator sheet lengths and different shot speeds can be set.

The endless web can consist of any type of film, e.g. Paper, plastic, metal or in particular aluminum foils. For the use of different materials, only the cutting device has to be replaced, which is very quick and easy.

The device according to FIG. 1 is preferably controlled by the slicing device, i. H. the slicer specifies when a separator sheet should be shot.

In FIG. 2, the guide rollers 18 of the guide roller pair 17, 18 spaced apart from one another in the weft direction are shown in each case according to the section line A-B. The guide rollers 17, 18 are connected via belts, not shown, to the guide rollers 17 lying in front of the cutting plane, the diameter of which is larger than that of the guide rollers 18.

The upper and lower guide rollers 18 are staggered in such a way that the belts of the upper and lower guide rollers do not touch and a curvature of a separating sheet transported between the belts is caused.

In FIG. 3, according to the section line E-F, the guide rollers 17 of the guide roller pair 17, 18, which are spaced apart in the weft direction, are shown in the weft direction.

The upper and lower guide rollers 17 are also offset from one another in such a way that the belts of the upper and lower guide rollers do not touch and a curvature of a separating sheet transported between the belts is brought about.

This offset arrangement of the guide rollers 17 and 18 according to FIGS. 2 and 3 thus ensures that a separating sheet is transported or accelerated by the belts running over the guide rollers not in clamping but in sliding engagement, as a result of which acceleration forces constantly acting on the separating sheet in the weft direction in the form of grinding frictional forces. By the described sliding engagement between the mentioned belt and the separating sheet, it is possible that the separating sheet is already in the Accelerator is inserted if it has not yet been cut from the endless web without the risk of tearing the endless web. In this way, the separating sheet is curved in a shot position before it is accelerated. As soon as the separating sheet is cut off from the continuous web, there are no longer any holding forces counteracting the acceleration forces applied by the belts, as a result of which the separating sheet is then accelerated to the rotational speed of the belts. Due to the offset arrangement of the guide rollers 17, 18, the curvature of the separating sheet is maintained during its acceleration.

FIG. 4 shows a section through the tensioning roller 22 according to the section line C-D in FIG. 1. The tensioning roller 22 is connected to the housing 8 by means of an arm 25 preloaded by a spring. The task of the tension roller 22 is to tension the toothed belt 26.

FIG. 5 shows a partial view from FIG. 1 with the dancer rollers 5 mounted on the swivel arm 4 and a top view of the dancer rollers 5, which are supported on both sides by means of a bow-shaped element 6 on the swivel arm 4.

FIG. 6 shows a horizontal section through the arrangement according to the invention according to FIG. 1 in a top view.

The reference symbols used in FIG. 6 correspond to the reference symbols from FIG. 1. For better clarity, the endless web 2 and the toothed belts running over the deflection, tensioning, drive and elliptical rollers are not shown in FIG. 6.

The belts 27 running over the guide rollers 17 and 18 are shown schematically in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 shows the drive diagram of the deflection roller 23, the tensioning roller 22, the drive rollers of the guide rollers 17 and the drive rollers of the conveyor rollers 10. This drive diagram has already been explained in the description of FIG. 1. The roles mentioned are all arranged on one side of the housing 8. 7 also shows the elliptical rollers 23 and 24 arranged on the other side of the housing.

8 shows the manner in which the two elliptical rollers 23 and 24 are connected to one another via a toothed belt 28 in order to drive the cutting member 11 in this way. This drive was also already explained in the description of FIG. 1.

Claims (10)

1. Method for positioning separating sheets between individual at least partially superimposed product layers, in particular between individual slices of a food product,
characterized,
that the separator sheets are held in a firing position against constantly acting acceleration forces, released in a predeterminable sequence, accelerated and curved around at least one axis running in the firing direction into the respective target position between two product layers. 2. The method according to claim 1,
characterized,
that the acceleration forces are applied to the separating sheets in the form of grinding frictional forces, the grinding frictional forces being applied in particular to the top and / or bottom of the separating sheets. 3. The method according to any one of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the separating sheets are already curved in the firing position and are held in this position at least during acceleration, and / or that the separating sheets are cut off by an endless web (2) before their acceleration, the release of the separating sheets in particular by cutting off the endless web ( 2) is done. 4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the grinding frictional forces are applied in the firing position to the front section of the separating sheets in the firing direction, and / or that the holding forces in the firing position are applied to the rear section of the separating sheets in the firing direction, and / or that the respective time of release is freely selectable is, and / or that the weft path of the separating sheets is adjustable, and / or that the separating sheets are shot between the product layers from the free space of a slicing device on the product discharge side, in which the knife drive is located in relation to the knife on the product supply side. 5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the separator sheets are positioned aligned with the product layers between them, or that the separator sheets are positioned laterally projecting between the product layers that, or that the separating sheets are alternately positioned laterally projecting between the product layers, and / or that the separating sheets are fired against product layers not yet or not completely cut off from a product, or that the separating sheets against those cut off from a product and falling onto a storage surface Product layers are shot, and / or that the separating sheets are passed through an air stream before and / or after their acceleration. 6. Device for performing the method according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized by an endless web storage device, a conveyor device guiding the endless web, a cutting device for forming individual separating sheets and an accelerating device, the distance between the cutting and accelerating device in particular being smaller than the separating sheet length and / or the endless web storage device being designed as a carrier roller (1) , on which the endless web (2) is wound, the carrier roll (1) being able to be braked in particular by means of a short-stroke cylinder (7). 7. The device according to claim 6,
characterized,
that the conveying device consists of at least one conveyor roller pair (10) which promotes the endless web (2) in clamping engagement, and / or that between the carrier roller (1) and the conveying device (10) a dancer roller arrangement (3,4,5) serving as an endless web buffer and / or that the accelerating device has means for curving the separating sheets to be shot, and / or that the accelerating device has a number of driven guide rollers (17, 18) which slidely engage the endless track (2), the peripheral speed of the guide rollers (17, 18) lies above the conveying speed of the conveyor rollers (10), the guide rollers (17, 18) in particular being offset from one another in such a way that a curvature of the leaf is brought about and / or two guide rollers (17, 18) are connected to one another by a circumferential belt (27). 8. Device according to one of claims 6 and 7,
characterized in that in the area of the acceleration device, the curvature-supporting, stationary guide elements, in particular in the form of guide lamellae, are provided, and / or in that the cutting device has an elongated cutting element (11) which extends at least over the width of the separating sheet and which extends parallel to the plane of the Endless web rotates essentially perpendicular to the conveying direction, the cutting edge of the cutting member (11) in particular lying in the imaginary surface area of a cylinder extending around the axis of rotation of the cutting member and intersecting a surface line of the cylinder at least at one point, and / or the rotating cutting member (11) is driven by an elliptical drive (23, 24, 28) in such a way that the rotational angular velocity of the cutting member (11) is increased at the time when a separating sheet is cut off from the endless web (2), the cutting member (11) in particular m by means of two elliptical rollers (23, 24) connected to one another via a toothed belt (28) and out of phase with one another, the elliptical rollers (23, 24) preferably having a different number of teeth. 9. Device according to one of claims 6 to 8,
characterized,
that the conveying, cutting and accelerating device are driven by at least one drive (19) by means of drive means, in particular toothed belts (26, 27, 28), in particular the conveying and cutting device being driven by a common drive (19) or the conveying, cutting and accelerating device are driven by a common drive (19). 10. The device according to claim 9,
characterized,
that different separating sheet lengths can be set by replacing drive means, in particular drive rollers of the conveying and cutting device, and / or that different insertion speeds can be set by changing drive means, in particular drive rollers of the accelerating device.

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