Method of loading and loading station for filling tobacco industry trays

Abstract

This application discloses a loading station (4) for filling tobacco industry trays (10) with rod-like articles (3), comprising a hopper (6) that is supplied with a mass flow of the rod-like articles (3), for receiving and temporarily storing the rod-like articles (3), being arranged to cooperate with the tray (10) such that the walls of the tray (10) encompass the hopper (6), and a blocking valve (7) for interrupting the mass flow of rod-like articles (3), located in the lower part of the hopper (6), arranged to alternately open and close the mass flow of the rod-like articles (3) in order to fill the tray (10) with the rod-like articles (3). The loading station (4) is characterized in that it is provided with an industrial robot (9) having a gripper (12) arranged to move the tobacco industry trays (10) in a cycle that comprises the following stages: moving empty trays (10) from a storage location to the hopper (6) in the filling area, moving the trays (10) while filling in a filling area, and moving the filled trays (10) from the hopper (6) out of the filling area to the storage location.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a method of loading and a loading station for filling trays in the tobacco industry. The invention is applicable in the tobacco industry, in systems that convey rod-like articles in tobacco-industry production lines, such as semi-finished products in the form of multi-segment filter rods of multiple or single length, as well as finished tobacco industry products delivered to subsequent stages of production or packaging.

[0002] Tray loaders are known in the prior art. Tray loaders are devices typically dedicated to performing a single operation of filling a tray with rod-like articles. Tray loaders are supplied with rod-like articles by a transporter that delivers a mass flow of rod-like articles to a hopper, from which portions of these articles are put in a tray, the flow of the articles into the tray being alternately interrupted by a shut-off valve. The loaders are also provided with a set of transporters, namely a transporter that feeds an empty tray to the filling assembly, a transporter that retrieves a filled tray after filling, and a lift responsible for handling the tray's movement during the filling process.

[0003] From publication WO2011PL50048A1 is known a filling station for filling trays, provided with a hopper, a movable shut-off valve, a lift that lowers trays during filling, and a transporter that delivers empty trays and a transporter that removes filled trays. This station is operated manually by an operator who provides empty trays and retrieves trays filled with rod-like articles.

[0004] From publication EP2100834A1 is known another filling station for filling trays, provided with a hopper, a shut-off valve, a lift that lowers the tray during filling, and two transporters: a first transporter that delivers empty trays and a second transporter that retrieves filled trays. This station is operated by an industrial robot, which places empty trays on the first empty-tray transporter and retrieves trays filled with rod-like articles from the second transporter.

[0005] A problem common to known loading stations is the high complexity of the system, which comprises many mutually cooperating assemblies, as well as the need for precise handover of trays between these assemblies, which affects the stability of the location of rod-like articles in the tray. This structural complexity of known loaders also entails a need to monitor the tray's position relative to the system assemblies. Moreover, known loaders require a highly complex control process, necessitating numerous sensors for monitoring the positions of both the transporters and the tray itself and they also occupy a large footprint area, making their use impossible in older factories with limited production space.

[0006] The essence of the present disclosure is a loading station according to claim 1.

[0007] The essence of the invention is a loading station for filling tobacco industry trays with rod-like articles, comprising a hopper that is supplied with a mass flow of rod-like articles for receiving and temporarily storing the rod-like articles, arranged to cooperate with a tray such that the walls of the tray encompass the hopper. Moreover, the station comprises a blocking valve for interrupting the mass flow of rod-like articles, located in the lower part of the hopper, arranged for alternately opening and closing the mass flow of rod-like articles in order to fill the tray with these articles. The loading station is characterized in that it is provided with an industrial robot having a gripper arranged to move tobacco industry trays in a cycle that comprises: moving empty trays from a storage location to the hopper in the filling area, moving trays while filling in the filling area, and moving filled trays from the hopper in the filling area to the storage location.

[0008] Advantageously, the loading station is provided with an industrial robot having a gripper arranged to move the tray solely by means of the industrial robot, in a single gripping position on the tray.

[0009] Advantageously, the hopper of the loading station has an upper portion in the form of a chamber arranged to receive rod-like articles from a conveyor that supplies these articles in the form of a mass flow, and a lower portion connected thereto in the form of channels through which the rod-like articles move downward under the force of gravity.

[0010] Advantageously, the hopper of the loading station has an upper portion in the form of a chamber arranged to receive rod-like articles from a conveyor that supplies these articles in a mass flow, and a lower portion connected thereto in the form of a downward-widening funnel, through which the rod-like articles move downward under the force of gravity.

[0011] Advantageously, in the loading station gripper is arranged to grip one lateral wall of the tray.

[0012] Advantageously, in the loading station the gripper is arranged to grip both lateral walls of the tray.

[0013] Advantageously, in the loading station the gripper is arranged to grip one lateral wall of the tray and the bottom of the tray.

[0014] The essence of the invention is also a method for filling trays with rod-like tobacco industry articles in a loading station according to the invention, comprising the steps of: supplying a stream of rod-like articles in the form of a mass flow, accumulating these rod-like articles in the hopper, retrieving an empty tray from a storage location by means of an industrial robot provided with a gripper, setting down the tray in the filling area by means of the robot so that the tray walls encompass the hopper, opening the blocking valve, lowering the tray by means of the robot to fill the tray with the rod-like tobacco industry articles, then closing the blocking valve, and finally transferring the filled tray from the filling area to the storage location by means of the robot.

[0015] An advantage of the invention is the significant simplification the structure of the loader's, achieved by providing a loading station that does not require transporters or a lift for moving a tray, and by eliminating the need for manual operation of the loader. This substantial simplification of the structure reduces the footprint of the loading station according to the invention, which enables placement of an automated loading station in areas where traditional loaders cannot fit, regardless of whether they are operated by human operators or by robots.

[0016] The object of the invention is illustrated in more detail in an advantageous embodiment shown in the drawings, in which: Fig. 1shows a perspective view of a loading station and a storage unit, Fig. 2shows the same view as Fig. 1, the robot retrieving an empty tray from the storage unit, Fig. 3shows an empty single-chamber tray positioned at the hopper in a filling position, Fig. 4shows the lower portion of the hopper and the blocking valve before the beginning of filling, Fig. 5shows a fragment of the blocking valve in an open position, Fig. 6shows the lower portion of the hopper, the blocking valve being in the closed position, Fig. 7shows a view of the loading system, with the robot moving a filled tray to the storage unit, Fig. 8shows an empty segment tray positioned at the hopper in a filling position, Fig. 9shows, in another embodiment, the hopper of the loading station according to the invention in another embodiment.

[0017] Presented in Fig. 1, a loading system 1 for filling tobacco industry trays 10 with rod-like articles 3 (the rod-like articles 3 are visible in subsequent figures) comprises a loading station 4 and a storage unit 5. The loading station 4 comprises a hopper 6, at least one blocking valve 7, a conveyor 8 and an industrial robot 9. The hopper 6 for the tobacco industry articles 3 comprises an upper portion 6A and a lower portion 6B. The upper portion 6A takes the form of a chamber in which the rod-like articles 3 are temporarily accumulated. The upper portion 6A is arranged to receive the rod-like articles 3, whereas the quantity of accumulated articles may vary during operation of the loading station 4. The lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 may take the form of vertically oriented channels or a downward-widening chamber. The lower portion 6B is arranged to deliver rod-like articles to the tray 10. Directly beneath the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 there is at least one blocking valve 7, in other words, the blocking valve 7 is situated at the outlet 6C of the hopper 6. An embodiment is possible in which one blocking valve 7 will control the entire mass flow of rod-like articles fed into the tray, as well as a solution in which multiple blocking valves 7 will be used, each controlling a partial mass flow of rod-like articles, e.g. flowing out of channel 6D. The blocking valve 7 is arranged to take either an open position or a closed position. In the closed position, the mass flow of rod-like articles 3 is blocked, in the open position, the rod-like articles 3 may flow as a mass flow from the hopper 6 into the tray 10, which is positioned so that the walls of the tray 10 at least partially encompass the hopper 6. The term "partial encompassing of the hopper 6 by the tray 10" refers to a position of the tray in which at least the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 is situated at least partially inside the tray 10. The rod-like articles 3 may be delivered to the hopper 6 in the form of a mass flow, that is, a multi-layer stream. In the presented embodiment, the hopper 6 is fed with a stream S of rod-like articles delivered by the conveyor 8. In the presented embodiment, the conveyor 8 moves the stream S of rod-like articles 3 (shown with dashed arrows) from the right side of the hopper 6. The hopper 6 may be supplied with the rod-like articles 3 by any suitable means, also be means of a channel in which the rod-like articles 3 are moved under the force of gravity.

[0018] The term "industrial robot" refers to a programmable mechanical device provided with at least one movable arm, intended to perform automated tasks such as gripping, transferring, and setting down objects. The movable arm consists of segments joined by articulations, enabling multi-axis motion that is controlled by an electronic system. The robot may operate autonomously or be controlled externally, and its design is arranged to the specific requirements of the tobacco industry.

[0019] Fig. 2 presents the beginning of the stage in which the empty tray 10 is transferred from a storage location to the hopper. The storage location is essentially any location within the storage unit that Is within reach of the industrial robot 9. The robot 9 retrieves a tray 10 from the storage unit 5, the retrieving point being a shelf 11 of the storage unit 5. The robot 9 is provided with a gripper 12 arranged to grip one lateral wall of the tray 10. After retrieving the tray 10, the industrial robot 9 transfers the empty tray 10 to the loading station 4, namely the tray is positioned and set down so that it takes its place at the hopper 6, movement of the tray is shown schematically with continuous bold arrows, specifically closely adjacent to the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 so that the walls 10A, 10B of the tray encompass the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6, this final position of the tray 10 relative to the hopper 6 enables a smooth flow of rod-like articles from the hopper 6 into the tray 10. The distance between the bottom of the tray 10 and the valve 7 depends on the type of tray 10. For single-chamber trays, that distance is small namely, smaller than or close to the diameter of the rod-like article 3. For segment-type trays, the distance between the bottom of the tray 10 and the valve 7 may be somewhat greater, due to the preliminary positioning of the rod-like articles 3 in the channels of the hopper 6 and the presence of partitions in the segment tray 10 that prevent the rod-like articles 3 from crossing over one another as they flow from the hopper 6 into the tray 10. Thus, the industrial robot 9 moves the empty trays 10 from the storage location to the hopper 6 in a position that enables a smooth flow of rod-like articles from the hopper 6 into the tray 10.

[0020] In other advantageous embodiments, the gripper 12 is arranged to grip two walls of the tray 10, or to grip one or both lateral walls of the tray 10 and the bottom 10C of the tray.

[0021] The lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 in the loading station 4 has outside dimensions adapted to the inside dimensions of the tray 10. The width of the lower portion 6B of the hopper is smaller than the inside width of the tray 10, that is, the distance between the walls 10A and 10B. While filling, the tray 10 is positioned so that the lateral walls 10A, 10B encompass the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6 (Fig. 3), and the bottom 10C of the tray 10 is located underneath the blocking valve 7. Advantageously, the bottom 10C of the tray is placed as close as possible to the blocking valve 7. In every embodiment, the space in which the industrial robot 9 fills the tray 10 is referred to as the filling area.

[0022] Fig. 4 shows the lower portion 6B of the hopper, with channels 6D filled with rod-like articles 3 and the blocking valve 7 in the closed position. The tray 10 (in the presented example, a single-chamber tray) is shown in simplified form with bold lines, namely the lateral walls 10A, 10B and the bottom 10C are shown. The tray 10 is being held by the gripper 12 in a single grip, the same grip as used during the transfer of the empty tray 10 from the storage location to the hopper 6.

[0023] Fig. 5 shows the blocking valve 7 in the open position, with the blocking elements 7A, 7B moved so that they are retracted into recesses 13, 14 in the walls 15, 16 of the hopper's lower portion 6B. The walls 15, 16 form the channel 6D. During the downward movement of the tray 10, the rod-like articles 3 will move downward along the channels 6D into the interior of the tray 10 under the force of gravity. In the presented embodiment of the blocking valve 7, the blocking elements 7A, 7B take the form of curved plates mounted so that they can swing. The blocking valve 7 may take any other form that ensures that, in the closed position, the flow of rod-like articles 3 is completely blocked while in the open position, the rod-like articles 3 may move along the channels 6D of the hopper's lower portion 6B.

[0024] Fig. 6 shows the end moment of the filling stage of the tray 10, in which the blocking valve 7 is in the closed position, the blocking elements 7A, 7B support the rod-like articles 3, and they disable further flow of the rod-like articles 3 down along the channels 6D. At this point in the filling process, the tray 10 essentially no longer encompasses the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6. It is also possible to fill the tray 10 is not filled up to the brim with rod-like articles 3. This may be caused, for instance, by the filling requirements defined by the manufacturer or a near-depletion of the available rod-like articles. In such cases, the filling stage ends when the hopper's lower portion 6B is still partially inside the tray 10. The blocking valve 7 is arranged to alternately open and close the mass flow in order to fill the tray 10 with the rod-like articles 3.

[0025] Fig. 7 presents the stage of transferring the filled tray 10 to the storage location, where the storage location is a shelf 11 in the storage unit 5. It is likewise possible for the robot 9 to retrieve the tray 10 from the shelf 11 of a first storage unit 5 and set the filled tray 10 onto a shelf in a second storage unit. The tray 10 is held in the same, unchanged grip applied in the transfer of the empty tray 10 from the storage location to the hopper 6, as well as during the filling stage. More specifically, the tray 10 does not change its orientation relative to the gripper 12 of the robot 9 from the moment it is gripped by the gripper 12, through the filling process, until it is placed on the shelf 11. All filling stages for the tray 10 are carried out exclusively by means of the industrial robot 9 in an unchanged gripping position on the tray 10. The movement of the filled tray 10 is shown by bold solid arrows.

[0026] In the presented embodiment, the industrial robot 9 is provided with a gripper 12 that grips the tray 10 by one lateral wall 10A or 10B. The robot 9 may alternatively be provided with a gripper that grips both lateral walls 10A and 10B, or one or both lateral walls 10A or 10B along with the bottom 10C. In further advantageous embodiments, the robot 9 may fill trays 10 alternately with two different types of rod-like articles from two different hoppers 6, each of which is supplied with a separate mass flow of rod-like articles 3. In that case, the robot 9 may retrieve an empty tray 10, fill it with the first type of rod-like articles 3, and place it on the shelf 11 of the first storage unit. Upon completing that cycle, it may retrieve another tray from the second storage unit, fill it with the second type of rod-like articles 3, and set it on a shelf in the second storage unit.

[0027] Fig. 8 shows a segment tray 20 held by the robot's gripper 12, the segment tray 20 being positioned for filling. The segment tray 20 has partitions 21 (indicated by dashed lines) that are inserted into slots 22 in the lower portion 6B of the hopper 6. While filling, the segment tray 20 is placed in the hopper's lower portion 6B so that the hopper's channels 6D lie between two adjacent partitions 21 of the tray 20. The rest of the filling process for the segment tray 20 is analogous to that for tray 10.

[0028] Fig. 9 presents another embodiment of the hopper 17, whose upper portion 17A is configured as a chamber similar to the first embodiment, while its lower portion 17B is shaped as a funnel that widens downward toward the blocking valve 18. In this embodiment, the lower portion 17B of the hopper 17 is devoid of channels.

[0029] A method of filling the tray 10 with rod-like tobacco industry articles 3 in the loading station 4 comprises the following steps: the conveyor 8 supplies a stream S of the rod-like articles 3 as a mass flow. The rod-like articles 3 are accumulated in the hopper 6 of the loading station 4. Then the step of transferring the empty tray 10 from the storage location to the hopper 6 is carried out, in which the industrial robot 9 provided with the gripper 12 retrieves the empty tray 10 from the storage location in the storage unit 5. Next, the industrial robot 9 positions the tray 10 beneath the hopper 6 so that the tray 10 encompasses the hopper 6 with its walls, and the tray bottom lies below the blocking valve 7, and the blocking valve 7 is opened. Then during the filling stage the tray 10 is moved by means of the industrial robot 9, so that the industrial robot 9 lowers the tray 10 while the rod-like articles 3 move downward in the hopper 6. Once the tray 10 is filled, the blocking valve 7 is closed. The filled tray 10 is then transferred to the storage location by means of the industrial robot 9, which carries the filled tray 10 from the hopper 6 to a storage location in the storage unit 5. Advantageously, all the steps involving moving the tray 10 by the robot 9 are carried out in a single gripping position of the gripper 12 on the tray 10.

[0030] The industrial robot 9 moves the empty trays 10 from the storage location to the hopper 6 in a position that enables a smooth flow of rod-like articles from the hopper 6 into the tray 10.

Claims

1. A loading station (4) for filling tobacco industry trays (10) with rod-like articles (3), comprising: a hopper (6) supplied with a mass flow of the rod-like articles (3), for receiving and temporarily storing the rod-like articles (3), the hopper (6) arranged to cooperate with the tray (10) such that walls of the tray (10) encompass the hopper (6), a blocking valve (7) for interrupting the mass flow of the rod-like articles (3), located in a lower portion of the hopper (6) and arranged to alternately open and close the mass flow of the rod-like articles (3) to fill the tray (10) with the rod-like articles (3), characterized in that the loading station (4) is provided with an industrial robot (9) having a gripper (12) arranged to move tobacco industry trays (10) in a cycle that comprises the successive stages: moving empty trays (10) from a storage location to the hopper (6) in a filling area, moving the trays (10) while filling in the filling area, moving the filled trays (10) from the hopper (6) out of the filling area to the storage location.

2. The loading station (4) according to claim 1, characterized in that the station (4) is provided with an industrial robot (9) having a gripper (12) arranged to move the tray (10) exclusively by means of the industrial robot (9) in a single gripping position on the tray (10).

3. The loading station (4) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the hopper (6) comprises an upper portion 6A in the form of a chamber arranged to receive the rod-like articles (3) from a conveyor that supplies the rod-like articles (3) in the form of a mass flow, and a lower portion (6B) connected thereto in the form of channels, through which the rod-like articles (3) move downward under the force of gravity.

4. The loading station (4) according to any claim 1 to 3, characterized in that the hopper (6) comprises an upper portion (17A) in the form of a chamber arranged to receive the rod-like articles (3) from a conveyor that supplies the rod-like articles (3) in the form of a mass flow, and a lower portion (17B) connected thereto in the form of a downward-widening funnel, through which the rod-like articles (3) move downward under the force of gravity.

5. The loading station (4) according to any claim 1 to 4, characterized in that the gripper (12) is arranged to grip one lateral wall of the tray (10).

6. The loading station (4) according to any claim 1 to 5, characterized in that the gripper (12) is arranged to grip both lateral walls of the tray (10).

7. The loading station (4) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the gripper (12) is arranged to grip one lateral wall of the tray (10) and the bottom (10C) of the tray (10).

8. A method of filling trays (10) with rod-like tobacco industry articles (3) in the loading station (4) according to any claim 1 to 7, comprising the steps of: supplying a stream of rod-like articles (3) in the form of a mass flow, accumulating the rod-like articles (3) in a hopper (6), retrieving an empty tray (10) from a storage location by means of an industrial robot (9) provided with a gripper (12), placing the tray (10) in a filling area by means of the industrial robot (9) so that the walls of the tray (10) encompass the hopper (6), opening the blocking valve (7), lowering the tray (10) by means of the industrial robot (9), thereby filling the tray (10) with the rod-like tobacco industry articles (3), closing the blocking valve (7), transferring the filled tray (10) from the filling area to a storage location by means of the industrial robot (9).

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