Filling machine

Abstract

The filling machine comprises a vertical annular conveying line, a plurality of carriers uniformly distributed on the vertical annular conveying line, a pushing device, a box entering device and a cover closing device arranged in sequence along the conveying direction of the vertical annular conveying line, and another pushing device arranged on the opposite side of the cover closing device, the carrier is provided with a placement area for placing a cigarette box after opening, and a positioning member and an oscillating member arranged at the edge of the placement area, the pushing device drives the positioning member to move or rotate through a pushing member to fix or release the cigarette box in the placement area, and drives the oscillating member to rotate through the pushing member to press and position or release the positioning of the lining paper and the cover of the cigarette box, the box entering device adsorbs and fixes the lining bag of the cigarette box through a bag opening mechanism, and inserts a certain number of groups of cigarettes into the cigarette box in an inclined manner through a filling mechanism arranged opposite to the bag opening mechanism, and the cover closing device is used for turning the cover towards the direction close to the box body to cover on the box body.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to packaging equipment, and more particularly to a filling machine that fills loose cigarettes in groups into opened cigarette boxes. Background Technology

[0002] For flip-top cigarette boxes, the process often involves filling the produced loose cigarettes into the corresponding boxes in a specific direction and quantity. While the box itself has a certain rigidity, the interior is often lined with relatively soft or thin pads, lining paper, protective film, or promotional paper. In traditional cigarette packaging machines, rows of cigarettes are first placed into the inner lining paper, and then the mold rolls the entire sheet of paper according to the stacked shape of the cigarettes using a preset motion. The paper is then folded and laminated to achieve packaging. However, for pre-formed flip-top cigarette boxes, during packaging, it is often necessary to first flip and open the box lid around the end connected to the box body, then flip and secure the inner lining paper, and also pull and secure the padding. Only after the box is fully and completely opened can the cigarettes be smoothly loaded.

[0003] However, once the lid and liner are opened, they often rotate around the connection point to the box body at a certain angle, making it impossible to maintain a fully open position. This affects the traction and fixation of the liner bag. Traditional cigarette packaging machines cannot adequately meet the operational requirements of directly placing cigarettes into the formed cigarette box. Therefore, currently, cigarettes are mostly filled into the formed cigarette box manually, which takes a long time, is relatively inefficient, and cannot guarantee the accuracy of placement. Although some devices use multiple cylinders or motors to drive multiple grippers or suction cups to fix the box body, liner, and liner bag separately from different directions, the multi-drive setup increases production costs, and the entire device is large, requiring more installation space, which cannot adequately meet the needs of automated production lines.

[0004] Therefore, a filling machine with a simple structure, small footprint, and high efficiency is needed to overcome the above problems. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a filling machine that is simple in structure, occupies little space, and is highly efficient.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention discloses a filling machine for filling cigarettes into the body of an opened cigarette box and flipping a lid connected to the left side of the box body to close it. The box body also contains a liner bag and a liner paper rotatably connected to the left side of the box body or the liner bag for covering the surface of the liner bag. The filling machine includes a vertical circular conveyor line, several carriers evenly distributed on the vertical circular conveyor line, and a pushing device, a box-infeeding device, and a lid-closing device arranged sequentially along the conveying direction of the vertical circular conveyor line, as well as another pushing device arranged on the opposite side of the lid-closing device. The carriers are provided with mounting brackets for placing the opened cigarette boxes. The cigarette box is positioned in a designated area and has a positioning and swinging component arranged at the edge of the designated area. The pushing device drives the positioning component to move or rotate to fix or release the cigarette box in the designated area, and drives the swinging component to rotate to press and position or release the liner and lid of the cigarette box. The box-inserting device uses an opening mechanism to adsorb and fix the liner of the cigarette box, and uses a filling mechanism arranged opposite to the opening mechanism to insert cigarettes in groups and at an angle into the cigarette box. The lid-closing device is used to flip the lid towards the box body to close the lid onto the box body.

[0007] Preferably, the vertical circular conveyor line transports the carriers in groups of at least two, and the number of pushing components, bag opening mechanisms, filling mechanisms, and cap closing devices in each pushing device corresponds to the number of carriers in each group.

[0008] Preferably, the vertical circular conveyor line includes a waist-shaped vertical plate, an annular guide rail wrapped around the periphery of the waist-shaped vertical plate, two sprockets arranged at the beginning and end of the waist-shaped vertical plate, a chain wrapped around the two sprockets, and a servo motor mounted on the waist-shaped vertical plate for driving the two sprockets to rotate. Each of the carriers is slidably mounted on the annular guide rail at equal intervals and is connected to the chain respectively.

[0009] Preferably, the carrier further includes a carrier plate, the carrier plate having a square placement area and two limiting blocks protruding from the edges of adjacent sides of the placement area, the positioning member including a first clamping plate and a second clamping plate slidably disposed at the edges of the other two adjacent sides of the placement area, the swinging member being rotatably mounted at the edge of the placement area and being connected to the second clamping plate through a gear and rack structure arranged at the bottom of the carrier plate, so as to rotate into or out of the placement area under the drive of the sliding second clamping plate.

[0010] Preferably, each of the first clamping plate and the second clamping plate is provided with a roller at its edge. The pushing member includes a pushing column and a pushing block arranged in a one-to-one correspondence with the two rollers and capable of moving linearly in the up-down direction. The pushing surfaces on the pushing column and the pushing block that abut against the corresponding rollers are both inclined surfaces or arc surfaces.

[0011] Preferably, the pushing device further includes a cam, a servo motor that drives the cam to rotate, a follower plate that is slidably connected to the cam, and a mounting frame that performs linear reciprocating motion in the up-down direction under the drive of the follower plate, with each of the pushing components being installed on the mounting frame at equal intervals.

[0012] Preferably, the bag opening mechanism includes a positioning plate and a vacuum suction cup arranged vertically above the vertical circular conveyor line. The positioning plate is used to move down to press and fix the cigarette box. The vacuum suction cup is located to the upper right of the positioning plate and is used to move down to adsorb and fix the liner bag. The vacuum suction cup can move synchronously with the positioning plate in the vertical direction, and can also move independently relative to the positioning plate.

[0013] Preferably, the bag opening mechanism further includes a support base, a mounting base slidably disposed on the lower side of the support base in a left-right direction, a rack disposed on the bottom of the mounting base, a gear meshing with the rack, and a lower lifting member and an upper lifting member slidably disposed on the upper left and upper right sides of the support base in a vertical direction. The mounting base has upper limit grooves and lower limit grooves of different shapes and arranged at different heights. The bottom sides of the lower lifting member and the upper lifting member are slidably engaged in the lower limit groove and the upper limit groove respectively by rollers. The positioning plate and the vacuum suction cup are respectively connected to the top sides of the lower lifting member and the upper lifting member.

[0014] Preferably, the front groove section of the lower limiting groove is an inclined groove and the rear groove section is a flat groove, and the upper limiting groove has a front groove section and a rear groove section with different inclination directions. The intersection of the front groove section and the rear groove section of the lower limiting groove and the upper limiting groove are located on the same axis.

[0015] Preferably, the filling mechanism includes a filling seat connected to the output end of the robotic arm, a first cylinder and a second cylinder mounted on the top and bottom opposite ends of the filling seat, a third cylinder connected to the output end of the first cylinder, a rear gripper connected to the output end of the second cylinder, a front gripper connected to the output end of the third cylinder, and a pusher plate connected to the bottom of the rear gripper or on the second cylinder and located on the opposite rear side of the rear gripper. The front gripper and the rear gripper open and close under the drive of the three cylinders and the second cylinder, respectively, to grip the front and rear ends of the assembled cigarette sticks. The front gripper also moves vertically under the drive of the first cylinder to make room. The pusher plate is used to push the cigarette sticks entering the cigarette box until they are fully inserted into the cigarette box.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the filling machine of the present invention uses a carrier that circulates on a vertical circular conveyor line to sequentially convey the opened cigarette boxes to a pushing device, a box-inserting device, a lid-closing device, and another pushing device. Positioning and swinging components are provided at the edges of the placement area on the carrier. At the beginning of the conveying process, the pushing component of the pushing device drives the positioning component on the carrier to move or rotate, ensuring the cigarette box is placed and positioned in the placement area, preventing displacement during transport. Simultaneously, the pushing component also drives the swinging component to rotate, pressing and positioning the liner paper and lid to prevent them from rotating back. This ensures the cigarette box is transported to the box-inserting device in a fully open state. The box-inserting device then uses an opening mechanism to open the liner paper of the cigarette box... The adsorption and fixation mechanism allows the filling mechanism, located on the opposite side of the opening mechanism, to smoothly insert cigarettes in groups and at an angle into the cigarette box, thus achieving the filling of all cigarettes in the cigarette box at once. After the cigarettes are filled, the pushing component of the pushing device at the rear end of the conveyor drives the swing component to rotate to release the pressure and positioning on the liner paper and the box lid. It also drives the positioning component to move or rotate to release the fixation on the cigarette box, so that the closing device of the closing device, located opposite to the pushing device, can flip the box lid towards the box body to close it. The filling machine of the present invention has a simple overall structure, reasonable and compact layout, effectively reduces the footprint, has high cigarette loading efficiency and high filling accuracy, and is suitable for meeting the needs of automated production lines. Attached Figure Description

[0017] Figure 1 This is a perspective view of the cigarette box of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 2 This is a perspective view of the filling machine of the present invention from one angle.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a perspective view of the filling machine of the present invention from another angle.

[0020] Figure 4 This is a top view of the filling machine of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 5 This is a top view of the vehicle of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 6 This is a bottom view of the vehicle of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 7 This is a perspective view of the pushing device of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 8 This is a plan view of the jacking device of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 9 This is a perspective view of the box-loading device of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 10 This is a side view of the bag-opening mechanism of the present invention.

[0027] Figure 11 This is a perspective view of the filling mechanism of the present invention.

[0028] Figure 12 This is a side view of the filling mechanism of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 13 This is a perspective view of the lid device of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0030] To illustrate the technical content, structural features, objectives, and effects of the present invention in detail, the following description is provided in conjunction with the embodiments and accompanying drawings.

[0031] See Figure 1 This invention relates to a flip-top cigarette case 200. The case body 201 of the cigarette case 200 has a certain degree of rigidity and an internal storage space. Cigarettes 300 can be arranged in a certain number within the storage space. The storage space is roughly square in shape and can generally hold 20 loose cigarettes 300. Specifically, the cigarettes 300 are arranged in two rows of 10 each. A lid 202 with a certain degree of rigidity is connected to the opposite left end of the case body 201. The lid 202 can be flipped around the connecting end of the case body 201 to engage with the upper end of the case body 201, thereby encapsulating the cigarettes 300 between them. Specifically, a liner 203 is also arranged in the storage space of the case body 201 for further positioning and protection of the cigarettes 300. In addition, the box body 201 is also provided with a liner paper 204 for covering the surface of the liner bag 203 and the cigarette 300, thereby providing good isolation, protection, and aesthetics. The liner paper 204 is foldably connected to the opposite left side of the box body 201 or the liner bag 203, allowing it to be flipped over to cover the liner bag 203 and the cigarette 300. The liner paper 204 and the liner bag 203 can be made of kraft paper, making them relatively thin and lightweight.

[0032] See Figures 1 to 13 The filling machine 100 provided by this invention is mainly used to fill cigarette sticks 300 into the box body 201 of the opened cigarette box 200, and to flip the lid 202 connected to the left side of the box body 201 to close the lid on the box body 201. Specifically, cigarette sticks 300 are filled into the cigarette box 200 in groups of a certain quantity each time, specifically 20 cigarette sticks 300 arranged in two rows are filled each time. It should be noted that, in this application, the cigarette box 200 delivered to the machine on the production line has already completed the opening process, and the cigarette box 200 is in a state where the lid 202 and the liner paper 204 have been flipped open relative to the box body 201, and the liner bag 203 is fully exposed. Overall, the filling machine 100 provided in the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a vertical circular conveyor line 10 mounted on a bracket 101, a plurality of carriers 20 evenly distributed on the vertical circular conveyor line 10, and a pushing device 30, a box-loading device 40, and a lid-closing device 50 arranged sequentially along the conveying direction of the vertical circular conveyor line 10, as well as another pushing device 30 arranged on the opposite side of the lid-closing device 50. The carriers 20 are provided with a placement area 20a for placing the opened cigarette box 200, and a positioning member 21 and a swinging member 22 arranged at the edge of the placement area 20a. The pushing device 30 drives the positioning member 21 to move or rotate via the pushing member 31 to fix or release the cigarette box 200 placed in the placement area 20a, and also drives the swinging member 22 to rotate via the pushing member 31 to press and position or release the positioning of the liner paper 204 and the lid 202 of the cigarette box 200. The cigarette inserting device 40 uses the opening mechanism 41 to suction and fix the liner 203 of the cigarette box 200, and the filling mechanism 42, which is arranged opposite to the opening mechanism 41, inserts the cigarettes 300 in groups and at an angle into the cigarette box 200. The closing device 50 is used to flip the lid 202 toward the box body 201 to close it on the box body 201, thereby completing the corresponding cigarette inserting operation.

[0033] It should be noted that the loading and unloading of cigarette boxes 200 on the vertical circular conveyor line 10 can be automatically achieved by robotic arms 400. Specifically, a robotic arm 400 can be installed at each end of the vertical circular conveyor line 10. The robotic arm 400 at the front end is used for automatically loading cigarette boxes 200 that have been opened before cigarette filling, and the robotic arm at the rear end is used for automatically unloading cigarette boxes 200 that have been closed after cigarette filling.

[0034] See Figures 2 to 4In some embodiments, the vertical circular conveyor line 10 conveys carriers 20 in groups of at least two. The number of pushing components 31, opening mechanisms 41, filling mechanisms 42, and closing devices 50 in each pushing device 30 corresponds to the number of carriers 20 in each group. This allows at least two carriers 20 to be conveyed to the corresponding pushing device 30, box-filling device 40, and closing device 50 each time, enabling each device to operate on at least two cigarette boxes 200 simultaneously, effectively improving production efficiency. Specifically, the vertical circular conveyor line 10 conveys carriers 20 in groups of four. Each pushing device 30 performs positioning operations on the cigarette boxes 200, the liner paper 204, and the lid 202 on the four carriers 20. Each box-filling device 40 performs the box-filling operation on the four cigarette boxes 200, and each closing device 50 performs the lid operation on the four cigarette boxes 200.

[0035] See Figures 2 to 4 Specifically, the vertical circular conveyor line 10 includes a waist-shaped vertical plate 11 mounted on a bracket 101, an annular guide rail 12 surrounding the periphery of the waist-shaped vertical plate 11, two sprockets 13 arranged at both ends of the waist-shaped vertical plate 11, a chain 14 wound around the two sprockets 13, and a servo motor 15 mounted on the waist-shaped vertical plate 11 for driving the two sprockets 13 to rotate. Each carrier 20 is slidably mounted on the annular guide rail 12 at equal intervals and is connected to the chain 14. When the two sprockets 13 rotate under the drive of the servo motor 15 to drive the chain 14 to rotate, each carrier 20 slides on the annular guide rail 12 accordingly.

[0036] See Figure 5 and Figure 6 In some embodiments, the carrier 20 further includes a carrier plate 23, which has a square placement area 20a and two limiting blocks 24 protruding from the edges of adjacent sides of the placement area 20a. The positioning member 21 includes a first clamping plate 211 and a second clamping plate 212 slidably disposed at the edges of the other two adjacent sides of the placement area 20a. When the first clamping plate 211 and the second clamping plate 212 slide on the carrier plate 23 under the drive of the pushing member 31 to move closer to or away from the two limiting blocks 24 on the opposite sides, the cigarette box 200 in the placement area 20a can be clamped and fixed or released. The swing member 22 is rotatably mounted at the edge of the placement area 20a and is connected to the second clamping plate 212 through a gear and rack structure arranged at the bottom of the carrier plate 23, so that it can rotate into or out of the placement area 20a under the drive of the sliding second clamping plate 212.

[0037] Combination Figures 5 to 8The first clamping plate 211 is provided with a roller 2111 at its edge, and the second clamping plate 212 is provided with a roller 2121 at its edge. Correspondingly, the pusher 31 includes a pusher column 311 and a pusher block 312 that can move linearly in the up and down direction. The pusher column 311 and the pusher block 312 are respectively arranged corresponding to the roller 2111 and the roller 2121. The pusher surface 3111 on the pusher column 311 that abuts against the roller 2111 is an inclined surface or an arc surface. Similarly, the pusher surface 3121 on the pusher block 312 that abuts against the roller 2121 is also an inclined surface or an arc surface. When the pusher column 311 and the pusher block 312 move in a straight line in the up and down direction, the first clamping plate 211 and the second clamping plate 212 slide on the carrier plate 23 simply and efficiently by the pushing surface 3111 against the roller 2111 and the pushing surface 3121 against the roller 2121.

[0038] Specifically, the bottom of the carrier plate 23 is provided with a longitudinal linear guide rail 231, and the carrier 20 also includes a first sliding plate 25 slidably mounted on the longitudinal linear guide rail 231. Rollers 2111 and the first clamping plate 211 are spaced apart on the first sliding plate 25, and a through hole 251 is provided on the first sliding plate 25 between the rollers 2111 and the first clamping plate 211. A pusher 311 can pass through this through hole 251 to push the rollers 2111, allowing the first clamping plate 211 to slide smoothly along the longitudinal direction of the carrier plate 23 under the drive of the first sliding plate 25. Furthermore, a reset spring 26 is arranged between the first clamping plate 211 and the carrier plate 23. The spring 26 constantly drives the first clamping plate 211 to move linearly towards the placement area 20a to reset. When the cigarette box 200 is placed on the carrier 20, the first clamping plate 211 of the initial work position needs to move away from the placement area 20a to make room for the placement of the cigarette box 200. Then, it is reset under the restoring force of the spring 26 to clamp and fix the cigarette box 200 longitudinally.

[0039] Specifically, the bottom of the carrier plate 23 is also provided with a transverse linear guide rail 232, and the carrier 20 also includes a second slide plate 27 that slides on the transverse linear guide rail 232. A roller 2121 protrudes from the outer side wall of the second slide plate 27, and a second clamping plate 212 is installed at the edge of the top side wall of the second slide plate 27. When the push block 312 moves in the up and down direction to push the roller 2121, the second clamping plate 212 slides smoothly along the transverse width direction of the carrier plate 23 under the drive of the second slide plate 27. In addition, the swing member 22 is rotatably mounted on the carrier plate 23, and a gear 221 is sleeved on the bottom end of the swing member 22. The second slide plate 27 is provided with a rack 271 that meshes with the gear 221. When the second clamping plate 212 slides under the drive of the second slide plate 27, the swing member 22 rotates accordingly under the action of the gear 221 and the rack 271. Furthermore, a reset spring 28 is arranged between the second clamping plate 212 and the carrier plate 23. The spring 28 constantly drives the second clamping plate 212 to move linearly towards the placement area 20a to reset, and the swinging member 22 also resets to its initial position within the placement area 20a. When the cigarette box 200 to be filled is placed on the carrier 20, the second clamping plate 212 and the swinging member 22 at the initial position need to move and rotate away from the placement area 20a to make room for the placement of the cigarette box 200. Then, the second clamping plate 212 resets under the restoring force of the spring 28 to clamp and fix the cigarette box 200 laterally, while the swinging member 22 resets to above the placement area 20a to press against the liner 204, effectively preventing the liner 204 and the lid 202 from rotating.

[0040] See Figure 7 and Figure 8 The pushing device 30 also includes a cam 32, a servo motor 33 that drives the cam 32 to rotate, a follower plate 34 that is slidably connected to the cam 32, and a mounting frame 35 that reciprocates linearly in the up-down direction under the drive of the follower plate 34. Each pushing component 31 is equally spaced on the mounting frame 35. When the cam 32 rotates under the drive of the servo motor 33, it drives the follower plate 34 to reciprocate in the up-down direction, causing each pushing component 31 to move up and down accordingly. More specifically, the jacking device 30 also includes a vertical plate 36 mounted on the waist-shaped vertical plate 11, a cam 32 and a servo motor 33 arranged on two opposite sides of the vertical plate 36, a mounting bracket 35 slidably mounted on the vertical plate 36 in the vertical direction, a follower plate 34 connected to the mounting bracket 35, and a waist-shaped sliding groove 341 provided on the follower plate 34. A roller 321 is protruding from the edge of the side opposite to the follower plate 34 of the cam 32, and the roller 321 is slidably engaged in the waist-shaped sliding groove 341.

[0041] See Figure 9 and Figure 10The bag opening mechanism 41 includes a positioning plate 417 and a vacuum suction cup 418 arranged vertically above the vertical circular conveyor line 10. The positioning plate 417 is used to press and fix the cigarette box 200 from above. The vacuum suction cup 418 located on the upper right of the positioning plate 417 is used to adsorb and fix the liner bag 203 from above. The vacuum suction cup 418 can move synchronously with the positioning plate 417 in the vertical direction, so that when the positioning plate 417 approaches the box body 201, it also approaches the liner bag 203. It can also move independently relative to the positioning plate 417, so that the liner bag 203 can be pulled upward when the box body 201 is fixed. The positioning plate 417 is roughly U-shaped, corresponding to the shape of the box body 201. When the positioning plate 417 moves downward, the box body 201 can be completely placed within its U-shaped space. The box body 201 is then pressed and fixed by the peripheral walls of the U-shaped space. Furthermore, a guide structure is provided at the opening of this space to guide the cigarette 300 into the box. The vacuum suction cup 418 uses a vacuum nozzle 4181 to adhere and fix the liner 203. Additionally, to improve safety, a safety light curtain is provided at the top of the vacuum suction cup 418.

[0042] like Figure 10 As shown, specifically, the bag opening mechanism 41 also includes a support base 411, a mounting base 412 that slides along the left and right direction on the lower side of the support base 411, a rack 413 installed at the bottom of the mounting base 412, a gear 414 that meshes with the rack 413, and a lower lifting member 415 and an upper lifting member 416 that slide along the upper left and upper right of the support base 411 respectively. The mounting base 412 has an upper limit groove 412a and a lower limit groove 412b with different shapes and arranged at different heights. The bottom sides of the lower lifting member 415 and the upper lifting member 416 are slidably engaged in the lower limit groove 412b and the upper limit groove 412a respectively by rollers 419. The positioning plate 417 is connected to the top side of the lower lifting member 415, and the vacuum suction cup 418 is connected to the top side of the upper lifting member 416. The top of the lower lifting member 415 is higher than the top of the support base 411 but lower than the top of the upper lifting member 416, allowing the vertically moving positioning plate 417 to contact the cigarette box 200 before the vacuum suction cup 418. Additionally, upper limit grooves 412a and lower limit grooves 412b are respectively arranged on the two side plates of the mounting base 412. The upper lifting member 415 and the lower lifting member 416 are respectively slidably positioned in the two upper limit grooves 412a and two lower limit grooves 412b on both sides via two rollers 419 arranged at the bottom end. This allows the lower lifting member 415 and the upper lifting member 416 to slide smoothly on the support base 411 without interfering with each other, while also making more efficient use of space.

[0043] More specifically, the lower limiting groove 412b has a front groove section 4121 that is an inclined groove and a rear groove section 4122 that is a flat groove. The upper limiting groove 412a has a front groove section 4123 and a rear groove section 4124 with different inclination directions. The intersection of the front groove section 4121 and the rear groove section 4122 of the lower limiting groove 412b and the intersection of the front groove section 4123 and the rear groove section 4124 of the upper limiting groove 412a are located on the same axis, thereby allowing the upper limiting groove 412a to provide a guiding force in an additional direction. The included angle between the front groove section 4123 and the rear groove section 4124 of the upper limiting groove 412a is smaller than the included angle between the front groove section 4121 and the rear groove section 4122 of the lower limiting groove 412b.

[0044] In specific operation: when the gear 414 rotates, it drives the rack 413 to move left and right, so as to drive the mounting base 412 to slide left and right on the support base 411. The upper lifting member 415 and the lower lifting member 416 slide on the support base 411 under the guiding force of the upper limit groove 412a and the lower limit groove 412b, thereby driving the positioning plate 417 and the vacuum suction cup 418 to perform lifting and lowering actions, so as to move closer to or away from the cigarette box 200 on the carrier 20. When the mounting base 412 moves to the left, the positioning plate 417 moves down to press against the body 201 of the cigarette box 200 on the carrier 20. The vacuum suction cup 418 also moves down synchronously to adsorb the liner 204. Then, as the mounting base 412 continues to move to the left, under the guiding force of the lower limit groove 412b and the upper limit groove 412a with different shapes, the positioning plate 417 can remain in the pressing position, while the vacuum suction cup 418 can move up in the opposite direction to pull the adsorbed liner 204 upward and keep it in a fully open state, so as to facilitate the insertion of the cigarette 300. Then, as the mounting base 412 moves to the right in the opposite direction, the vacuum suction cup 418 first moves down to release the pull on the liner 204. When the mounting base 412 continues to move to the right and resets, the vacuum suction cup 418 and the positioning plate 417 move up synchronously to reset, thereby releasing the pressing and fixing of the body 201.

[0045] In addition, such as Figure 9 As shown, gear 418 is arranged sideways, facilitating the insertion of the output shaft 431 of the servo motor 43 that drives its rotation. The servo motor 431 and gear 418 can be arranged in a one-to-one correspondence to drive each bag opening mechanism 41 in the box-loading device 40. Alternatively, each bag opening mechanism 41 in the box-loading device 40 can be driven by the same servo motor 43. In this case, at least two gears 414 are equally spaced on the output shaft 431 of the servo motor 43 to mesh with the racks 413 at the bottom of each mounting base 413, thereby simplifying the structure, reducing costs, and effectively increasing production capacity.

[0046] See Figure 11 and Figure 12The filling mechanism 42 includes a robotic arm 421, a filling seat 422 connected to the output end of the robotic arm 421, a first cylinder 423 and a second cylinder 424 mounted on opposite ends of the top and bottom of the filling seat 422, a third cylinder 425 connected to the output end of the first cylinder 423, a rear gripper 426 connected to the output end of the second cylinder 424, a front gripper 427 connected to the output end of the third cylinder 425, and a pusher plate 428 connected to the bottom of the rear gripper 426 or on the second cylinder 424 and located on the opposite rear side of the lower gripper 4232. The front gripper 427 and the rear gripper 426 open and close under the drive of the third cylinder 425 and the second cylinder 424, respectively, to grip the front and rear ends of the assembled cigarette sticks 300. The front gripper 427 also moves vertically under the drive of the first cylinder 423 to move closer to or away from the cigarette sticks 300. The front gripper 427 clamps the grouped cigarettes 300 from opposite left and right sides in a wraparound manner. The rear gripper 426 clamps the rear end of the cigarettes 300 from opposite upper and lower sides, and includes an upper gripper 4261 and a lower gripper 4232 that are parallel and spaced apart and connected to the output end of the second cylinder 424. The pusher plate 428 is used to push the rear end of the cigarettes 300, which are basically inserted into the cigarette case 200, so as to push the cigarettes 300 until they are fully inserted into the cigarette case 200.

[0047] Specifically, the pushing surface of the push plate 428 is a plane, and the lower end face of the lower clamp 4232 has a clearance slope, which facilitates the pushing operation of the push plate 428. When retrieving cigarettes, under the action of the robotic arm 421, the third cylinder 425, and the second cylinder 424, the front gripper 427 and the rear gripper 426 clamp the front and rear ends of the assembled cigarette sticks 300. When loading cigarettes, driven by the robotic arm 421, the cigarette sticks 300 enter the cigarette box 200 at an angle. As the cigarette sticks 300 continue to enter, the front gripper 427 releases its grip on the cigarette sticks 300 and moves upward under the drive of the first cylinder 423 to make room. At this time, driven by the robotic arm 421, the rear gripper 426 continues to insert the cigarette sticks 300 into the cigarette box 200. When only the tail end of the cigarette sticks 300 is not fully inserted, the rear gripper 426 correspondingly releases its grip on the cigarette sticks 300 and makes room, and the pusher plate 428 pushes the cigarette sticks 300 completely into the cigarette box 200.

[0048] See Figure 13The lid-closing device 50 includes a base 51, a motor 52 mounted on the base 51, and a flipping rod 53 connected to the output end of the motor 52. The flipping rod 52 rotates under the drive of the motor 52 to flip the lid 202 onto the box body 201. At least two lid-closing devices 50 are arranged at equal intervals on opposite right sides of the vertical circular conveyor line 10. After the pusher device 30, which is arranged on opposite left sides of the vertical circular conveyor line 10, releases the fixing of the cigarette boxes 200 and the liner paper 204 on each carrier 20, the lid-closing devices 50 operate synchronously to achieve the lid-closing operation of the cigarette boxes 200 on each carrier 200 in the same group of conveyors, effectively improving efficiency.

[0049] See below. Figures 1 to 13 The working principle of the filling machine 100 of the present invention will be explained as follows:

[0050] During operation, the vertical circular conveyor line 10 transports each carrier 20 in groups of four. When a group of four carriers 20 is transported to the front pusher 30, the four pushers 31 of the pusher 30 move upward, driving the positioning members 21 in each carrier 20 to move to make way, and driving the swinging members 22 to rotate to make way, so that the front robot arm 400 can place the four opened cigarette boxes 200 onto the four carriers 20. After that, the four pushers 31 move downward, and the positioning members 21 and the swinging members 22 reset accordingly to clamp the cigarette box 200 and press the liner paper 204.

[0051] Next, a group of four carriers 20 carrying cigarette boxes 200 are conveyed to the box-loading device 40. The four opening mechanisms 41 are activated to press and fix the box body 201 of each cigarette box 200 and to absorb and fix the liner 204. Then, the four filling mechanisms 42 are activated to insert each group of 20 cigarettes 300 into each cigarette box 200 at an angle. After each group of cigarettes 300 is completely loaded into the cigarette box 202, the filling mechanism 42 and the opening mechanism 41 move in opposite directions to reset.

[0052] Then, a set of four carriers 20 carrying cigarette boxes 200 are conveyed to four box cover devices 50. The pusher 30 located there is activated, and the four pushers 31 move upward. While driving the positioning member 21 in each carrier 20 to move, they also drive the swing member 22 to rotate, so as to release the positioning of the cigarette box 200 and the liner paper 204. The four box cover devices 50 are activated at the same time, flipping the box cover 202 of the cigarette box 200 on each carrier 20 upward to close on the box body 201, thereby realizing the filling operation of the group of cigarettes 300 in the opened cigarette box 200. The four cigarette boxes 200 with the cigarettes filled can be removed from the corresponding carriers 20 by the robot arm 400 on this side. Finally, the four pushers 31 move downward, and the positioning member 21 and the swing member 22 on each carrier 20 are reset.

[0053] By repeatedly performing the above operations, the cigarette sticks 300 can be filled into the box body 201 of the opened cigarette box 200 in a certain number of groups, and the box lid 202 connected to the side of the box body 201 can be flipped to close the box body 201 in an automated production line.

[0054] Compared with the prior art, the filling machine 100 of the present invention uses a carrier 20 circulating on a vertical circular conveyor line 10 to sequentially convey the opened cigarette box 200 to the pushing device 30, the box-in device 40, the lid-closing device 50, and another pushing device 30. A positioning element 21 and a swinging element 22 are provided at the edge of the placement area of ​​the carrier 20. At the beginning of the conveying process, the pushing element 31 of the front pushing device 30 drives the positioning element 21 on the carrier 20 to move or rotate, thus making way for the cigarette box 200 to be placed in the placement area, and then positioning the cigarette box 200. This effectively prevents the cigarette box 200 from shifting during the transfer process, ensuring the accuracy of subsequent cigarette insertion. Furthermore, the pushing element 31 can also drive the swinging element 22 to rotate, pressing and positioning the liner paper 204 and the lid 202, effectively preventing them from rotating back. This ensures that the cigarette box 200 is conveyed to the box-in device 40 while remaining fully open. The box-in device 40 then... The opening mechanism 41 adsorbs and fixes the liner 204 of the cigarette box 200, allowing the filling mechanism 42, located on the opposite side of the opening mechanism 41, to smoothly insert cigarettes 300 in groups and at an angle into the cigarette box 200. This achieves accurate and efficient filling of all cigarettes 300 into the cigarette box 200 in one go. After the cigarettes 300 are placed in the box, the pushing component 31 of the pushing device 30 at the rear end of the conveyor drives the swing component 22 to rotate to release the liner. When the paper 204 and the box lid 202 are pressed and positioned, the positioning member 21 is also driven to move or rotate to release the fixation on the cigarette box 200, so that the closing device 50 arranged opposite to the pushing device 30 can flip the box lid 202 toward the box body 201 to close the box body 201. The filling machine 100 of the present invention has a simple overall structure, reasonable and compact layout, effectively reduces the footprint, has high efficiency in cigarette insertion and high filling accuracy, and is suitable for the needs of automated production lines.

[0055] The above-disclosed embodiments are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. Therefore, any equivalent variations made in accordance with the claims of the present invention are still within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A filling machine for filling cigarettes into the body of an opened cigarette box and flipping a lid attached to the left side of the box body to close it on the box body, wherein the box body also contains a liner bag and a liner paper foldably attached to the left side of the box body or the liner bag for covering the surface of the liner bag, characterized in that, The filling machine comprises a vertical annular conveying line, a plurality of carriers uniformly distributed on the vertical annular conveying line, a pushing device, a box entering device and a cover closing device arranged in sequence along the conveying direction of the vertical annular conveying line, and another pushing device arranged on the opposite side of the cover closing device, the carrier is provided with a placement area for placing a box after opening and a positioning member and an oscillating member arranged at the edge of the placement area, the pushing device drives the positioning member to move or rotate through a pushing member to fix or release the box in the placement area, and drives the oscillating member to rotate through the pushing member to press and position or release the lining paper and the cover of the box, the box entering device adsorbs and fixes the lining bag of the box through a bag opening mechanism, and inserts a certain number of cigarettes into the box in groups and obliquely through a filling mechanism arranged opposite to the bag opening mechanism, the cover closing device is used to turn the cover towards the box body to close on the box body; the bag opening mechanism comprises a positioning plate arranged above the vertical annular conveying line in a lifting manner and a vacuum suction cup, the positioning plate is used to move downward to press and fix the box, the vacuum suction cup is located above the right of the positioning plate and is used to move downward to adsorb and fix the lining bag, and the vacuum suction cup can move synchronously with the positioning plate or independently relative to the positioning plate in the up-down direction to pull the adsorbed lining bag upward when the box is fixed.

2. The filling machine of claim 1, wherein The vertical annular conveying line conveys the carriers in groups of at least two, the number of pushing members in each pushing device, the number of bag opening mechanisms, the number of filling mechanisms and the number of cover closing devices correspond to the number of carriers in each group.

3. The filling machine of claim 1, wherein The vertical annular conveying line comprises a waist-shaped vertical plate, an annular guide rail arranged around the circumferential end of the waist-shaped vertical plate, two chain wheels arranged at the head and tail ends of the waist-shaped vertical plate, a chain arranged around the two chain wheels, and a servo motor arranged on the waist-shaped vertical plate to drive the two chain wheels to rotate, each carrier is slid on the annular guide rail at equal intervals and is connected with the chain.

4. The filling machine of claim 1, wherein The carrier further comprises a carrier plate, the carrier plate is provided with a square placement area and two limiting blocks protruding from the edges of two adjacent sides of the placement area, the positioning member comprises a first clamping plate and a second clamping plate slid on the edges of the other two adjacent sides of the placement area, and the oscillating member is rotatably arranged at the edge of the placement area and is connected with the second clamping plate through a gear and rack structure arranged at the bottom of the carrier plate to rotate into or out of the placement area under the driving of the sliding second clamping plate.

5. The filling machine of claim 4, wherein The edges of the first clamping plate and the second clamping plate are respectively provided with a roller, the pushing member comprises a pushing column and a pushing block corresponding to the two rollers and capable of moving linearly in the up-down direction, and the abutting surfaces of the pushing column and the pushing block abutting against the corresponding rollers are inclined surfaces or arc surfaces.

6. The filling machine of claim 5, wherein The pushing device further comprises a cam, a servo motor for driving the cam to rotate, a follower plate in sliding connection with the cam, and a mounting frame for linear reciprocating movement in the up-down direction under the drive of the follower plate, and the pushing pieces are arranged at equal intervals on the mounting frame.

7. The filling machine of claim 1, wherein The bag opening mechanism further comprises a support seat, a mounting seat slidingly arranged on the opposite lower end of the support seat, a rack arranged on the bottom of the mounting seat, a gear in meshing connection with the rack, a lower lifting piece and an upper lifting piece slidingly arranged on the opposite left upper end and the opposite right upper end of the support seat in the up-down direction, the mounting seat has upper and lower limit grooves with different shapes and arranged at different heights, the bottom end of the lower lifting piece and the upper lifting piece are respectively slidably connected to the lower limit groove and the upper limit groove through rollers, and the positioning plate and the vacuum suction cup are respectively connected to the top end of the lower lifting piece and the upper lifting piece.

8. The filling machine of claim 7, wherein The front groove section of the lower limit groove is an inclined groove, and the rear groove section is a flat groove, the upper limit groove has front and rear groove sections with different inclination directions, and the intersection ends of the front and rear groove sections of the lower limit groove and the upper limit groove are located on the same axis.

9. The filling machine of claim 1, wherein The filling mechanism comprises a filling seat connected to the output end of the manipulator, a first air cylinder and a second air cylinder arranged at the opposite top and bottom ends of the filling seat, a third air cylinder connected to the output end of the first air cylinder, a rear clamping jaw connected to the output end of the second air cylinder, a front clamping jaw connected to the output end of the third air cylinder, and a pushing plate connected to the bottom of the rear clamping jaw or the second air cylinder and located at the opposite rear side of the rear clamping jaw, the front and rear clamping jaws are respectively driven by the third and second air cylinders to open and close, thereby clamping the front and rear ends of the corresponding group of cigarettes, the front clamping jaw is also driven by the first air cylinder to move up and down to make room, and the pushing plate is used to push the cigarettes entering the cigarette case to completely insert into the cigarette case.

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