US-12617573-B2 - Method for automatically maintaining a predetermined portion arrangement in a tray trough and packaging apparatus suitable therefor

Abstract

In order to ensure that portions are visually appealing, i.e., centered, have uniform slice spacing in a longitudinal direction and do not differ too much in a transverse direction, and in particular do not rest on a sealing edge of a trough belt in its trough, the corresponding portion arrangement on a packaging element is, as is known, determined directly in a packaging machine from above by means of a camera and if a deviation from a target arrangement is too great, production parameters in upstream units of the packaging machine are adjusted, i.e., across a gap between a portioning belt and the packaging machine. According to the disclosure, the actual arrangement of the portion is determined from below the packaging element, in particular the trough, and through said the packaging element by means of radar radiation.

Inventors

• Albert Hartmann
• Bernhard Klaus

Assignees

• MULTIVAC SEPP HAGGENMÜLLER SE & CO. KG

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20240707

Priority Date

20230707

Claims (19)

1. 1 . A method for automatically achieving a predetermined target portion arrangement of a portion of one or more slices deposited on a packaging element, the method comprising: automatically determining, from below the packaging element and without contact, an actual portion arrangement of the portion in a deposited state of the portion relative to a base frame or to the packaging element; automatically comparing the actual portion arrangement to a predetermined target portion arrangement; wherein, if the actual portion arrangement deviates from the target portion arrangement by more than a predetermined tolerance range, automatically changing at least one production parameter of an upstream portion production unit and/or portion delivery unit and/or a packaging delivery unit so that an actual portion arrangement of subsequent portions lies within all tolerance ranges around target portion arrangement values of the target portion arrangement; wherein the actual portion arrangement of the portion is determined through the packaging element.
2. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual portion arrangement of the portion is determined by irradiating or transirradiating the portion with electromagnetic radiation.
3. 3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the actual portion arrangement of the portion is determined by use of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength in a range not visible to the human eye.
4. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual portion arrangement of the portion is determined by transirradiating the packaging element with electromagnetic radiation.
5. 5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein an actual arrangement of the packaging element relative to the base frame is determined.
6. 6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual arrangement of the portion is determined by emitting electromagnetic radiation onto the portion from above the portion.
7. 7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the actual arrangement of the portion is determined by deflecting the electromagnetic radiation from a radiation source arranged below the packaging element, by at least one deflection element arranged laterally above the portion, onto an upper side of the portion.
8. 8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual portion arrangement of the portion is determined by irradiating or transirradiating the portion with electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength between 20 GHz and 6 THz.
9. 9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength in the radar range between 20 and 40 GHz.
10. 10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein automatically changing the at least one production parameter only takes place when a detected deviation has been identified as a repetitive error.
11. 11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein automatically determining the actual portion arrangement of the portion is performed using a scanner having at least one transmitter and at least one receiver as a sensor.
12. 12 . A packaging apparatus comprising: a packaging machine for packaging a portion of one or more slices deposited on a packaging element; a portion delivery unit configured to deliver the portion to the packaging machine; a portion production unit configured to produce the portion; a packaging delivery unit configured to deliver the packaging element to the packaging machine; a sensor for determining a portion arrangement of the portion relative to a base frame or to the packaging element by use of electromagnetic radiation; and a controller that is connected to the sensor and that is able to control production parameters of an upstream portion production unit and/or portion delivery unit and/or the packaging delivery unit depending on data supplied by the sensor; wherein the sensor is arranged either below the packaging element or laterally adjacent thereto, but at a vertical position above or below a movement path of the packaging element; wherein the sensor is configured to determine the actual portion arrangement of the portion through the packaging element.
13. 13 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the sensor comprises a transmitter and a receiver for electromagnetic radiation; and/or the sensor operates in a wavelength range between 20 GHz and 6 THz.
14. 14 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the sensor is part of a scanner that is designed such that it is capable of working with microwave radiation, or working with tera radiation at a frequency of 0.3 THz-6 THz.
15. 15 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the sensor is part of a scanner that is designed such that it is capable of operating with such a power that the electromagnetic radiation is suitable for determining at least a peripheral contour of the portion.
16. 16 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the sensor is part of a scanner, and a scanning direction of the scanner is arranged transverse to a plane spanned in a direction of travel of the packaging apparatus and a first transverse direction.
17. 17 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the sensor is part of a scanner, and wherein the scanner has at least one receiver and at least one transmitter, and positions of the at least one receiver and/or the at least one transmitter are known, and/or the scanner has a plurality of receivers and/or a plurality of transmitters, and receiving regions of adjacent receivers overlap each other on or in the portion.
18. 18 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein in each case an emission direction of the at least one transmitter or a reception direction of the at least one receiver is known, and/or an emission power of the transmitters is known.
19. 19 . The packaging apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the scanner comprises the plurality of receivers, and the receivers of the plurality of receivers are, with respect to a reference plane, all approximately equally spaced therefrom, and/or are arranged one behind the other in a direction of a scan line.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims foreign priority benefits under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (a)-(d) to German patent application number DE 102023117964.0 filed, Jul. 7, 2023, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates to the arrangement of a portion consisting of a plurality of slices, in particular shingled slices, on a packaging element, in particular in a trough of a deep-drawn trough belt. BACKGROUND The portion placed on such a packaging element, in particular in the trough, should have the correct size and shape and be placed in the trough in the correct position, for example, so that a visually appealing appearance is achieved, for example lying centrally in the trough, and above all not lying on the sealing edge surrounding the trough, as this prevents the sealing film that tightly seals the trough from being sealed. The portions to be packaged in the packaging machine, i.e., to be deposited and sealed, are usually cut upstream of the machine by means of a high-performance slicing machine, referred to as a slicer, from rod-shaped product strands, referred to as logs, usually in multiple tracks next to each other by the same blade, for example a rotating sickle blade. Each separated slice falls onto a discharge unit, which usually consists of three conveyor belts arranged one behind the other in the conveying direction, of which in particular the first, referred to as the portioning belt, is usually adjustable in many ways and, above all, can be driven in a stepwise manner, and on which the slices of a track land one after the other at a certain distance, so that, for example, a shingled portion is created. From this discharge unit, which can be an independent unit, but is usually part of the slicer, because in order to produce correct positions, the discharge unit, in particular the portioning belt, must be controlled in exact temporal and spatial coordination with the movement of the blade, the portions transported away from the slicer in multiple tracks are usually not fed or inserted directly into the packaging machine, but there is an insertion belt in between, usually a conveyor belt that runs across the width of all the tracks. This inserter, as it is called, is usually inclined downward in the conveying direction and deposits the transported portions, usually in formats that cover more than one portion track, into the troughs formed in a plurality of rows next to each other in a trough belt according to the number of tracks, which trough belt passes under the inserter. Due to a variety of influencing factors, such as the centrifugal force generated by the rapidly rotating blade,the adhesion of the slices to the blade,the non-constant accelerations of all tracks of the discharge unit in the case of track-specific discharge units,the different weight and cross section of the logs when different types of logs are sliced on the different tracks for mixed portions,the portions already on the portioning belt are not in the desired, predetermined shape or size or relative position of the portions with respect to each other. For example, the portion may be too long or too short, the longitudinal spacing of the slices within the portion may be uneven, or the slices may not be in exactly one row in the longitudinal direction, but may be offset too far from each other laterally. Attempts have already been made to correct this in part within the discharge unit or on the portioning belt, or only on the inserter. It is known, for example, to use a camera aimed at the portions or formats from above to record the position of the portions and their individual slices, either on the portioning belt, sometimes while the portion is still being produced, or only on the inserter or packaging element, and to improve the design of the portion at least for subsequent portions by adjusting the production parameters, for example by transverse displacement of the individual tracks or the entire portioning belt between the landing of two successive slices. However, a camera positioned in this way does not always have a clear field of view, for example because an operator moves into the field of view over the portions. However, even if the portion produced on the portioning belt corresponds to the target specifications there, the subsequent movements of the portion up to the packaging element, for example the transfers between individual conveyors, in particular to the downwardly inclined inserter, and possibly further transfers between the discharge unit of the slicer and the buffer arranged on the inserter, can lead to further undesirable changes in the shape and position of the portions, which is why determining the actual arrangement of the portion only on or in the packaging element is the preferred solution. SUMMARY It is therefore an object of the disclosure to provide a method with which portions having a predetermined arrangement, in particular wi