Semiautomatic luggage wrapper and safe process of wrapping of this latter

Abstract

A luggage (100) wrapper (1) comprising a frame (2), a reel (3) of plastic material film, a support device (4) carrying the reel (3), and configured for releasing the plastic film by unwinding the reel (3), a platform (5) rotatingly movable around an axis (Y) with respect to the frame, configured for abuttingly receiving an article of luggage (100) and rotating it around axis (Y): platform (5) rotation with plastic film release enables to cover the luggage (100) by the plastic film. The wrapper comprises an actuator (6) configured for enabling the rotation of platform (5), and a control unit (7) configured for commanding the actuator (6) to manage platform (5) rotation; control unit (7) is configured for sending a command signal to the actuator (6) and arranging this latter in an operative condition wherein it rotates platform (5), sending a blocking signal (6) for arranging this latter in a stop condition wherein it prevents the platform (5) from rotating, the wrapper (1) comprises a sensor (8) configured for monitoring a predetermined area at platform (5) and generating a safety signal indicating the presence or not of one or more persons and / or objects inside the predetermined area; the control unit (7) is configured for processing the signal and establishing the presence of a risk condition and being further configured for modifying the operative condition of the wrapper (1) as a function of the received safety signal.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention refers to a luggage wrapper and to a process of wrapping luggage. The wrapper and associated process find their main, but not exclusive, application in the field of airport services for protectively wrapping any type of luggage.PRIOR ART[0002]As it is known in the airport field, bags and luggage are taken aboard an aircraft after being handed in the check-in step. Further, at the landing destination, the luggage are unloaded by airport personnel and are returned to the passengers. The luggage owner cannot directly control his / her own luggage from when the luggage are handed when boarding to their collection at the destination. Unfortunately, despite the safety measures implemented by the authorities managing the airports, there were and there are thefts or tampering of the luggage, which sometimes are opened by unauthorized personnel. Therefore, it is very difficult to verify an effective theft / tampering because generally the article...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]A first object of the invention consists of providing a wrapper configured for operating under a total safe condition for the airport users and operators responsible for the operation of the same. A further main object of the invention consists of providing a wrapping machine enabling to wrap an article of luggage by minimizing the manual intervention of an operator; particularly, the operator will act in an initial, central and final wrapping steps for loading the article, starting wrapping (initial step), rotating the article after a first cycle (central step) and completing the wrapping (final step, for example picking up the article). It is a further object of the invention to provide a wrapper having short processing times (at least proportional to the actual ones), for completely wrapping an article of luggage. Then, it is an object of the invention to provide a wrapper capable of ensuring a correct operation independently from the type and size of the article of luggage; particularly also capable of effectively wrapping the article for protecting it from shocks, rubbing, weather, dust, and of ensuring the article closure along the path to a destination. Therefore, a general object of the present invention consists of providing a luggage wrapping process, which is fast and safe also in a public environment and which requires a minimum intervention by an operator.

[0024]a stop condition in which the rotation of platform (5) is prevented.

Problems solved by technology

The luggage owner cannot directly control his / her own luggage from when the luggage are handed when boarding to their collection at the destination.

Unfortunately, despite the safety measures implemented by the authorities managing the airports, there were and there are thefts or tampering of the luggage, which sometimes are opened by unauthorized personnel.

Therefore, it is very difficult to verify an effective theft / tampering because generally the article of luggage does not clearly show any tampering when is picked up.

Further, there is the problem of protecting the luggage from humidity, not just from the rain, during the manual loading / unloading steps of the same from an aircraft in the presence of bad weather conditions.

Moreover, the sanitary condition of an article of luggage, contacting a plurality of further articles of luggage and airport conveying apparatuses, is subjected to a clear detriment.

An encountered problem is represented by the fact that, to date, no one of the known wrapping machines is capable of operating by completely complying to safety requirements: the encountered problem is due to the fact that, to date, does not exist any specific regulation about wrapping machines operating in a public environment.

Such machines operate in unprotected environments and have elements operating at high rotation velocities: the essential element of a wrapper for obtaining the objects of service cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction consists of ensuring short wrapping times. For this reason, the nowadays known wrappers operated in an environment easily accessible from the people, are not very safe; it is noted that wrappers are stopped by the operators whose task consists of monitoring the environment adjacent the machine and possibly stopping the process if people come near or in contact with the rotating platform.

The problem regarding the safety does not only regard the people but also the operator in charge of the machine operation.

Such conditions determine a high risk for the operator, which is the only one in charge of stopping the wrapper.

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