Film transport device and film transportation method

Abstract

To provide a film transport device and a film transportation method capable of suppressing variation in a folding position of a film folding part with a simple structure.SOLUTION: In a film transport device 10 for transportation of a film material F for a pouch P having a film folding part F1 along a guide roll 20, 30 including a pressing component 40, the film transport device 10 is characterized by that, when a short direction dimension (mm) of the film folding part F1 is regulated as W and a push-in amount (mm) of a film material F by the pressing component 40 is regulated as V, the pressing component 40 is installed in a manner that V / W is 0 or over and 1 or under.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a film transport device and a film transport method for transporting a film material for a pouch, the film material having a film fold formed by folding the film material in a Z-shape in the short side direction, along a transport path. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, pouches having film folds formed by folding a film in a Z-shape have been known as packaging containers for packaging various fluid contents such as foodstuffs (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] It is also known that when producing such pouches, the film material constituting the pouch is transported using a film transport device having a plurality of guide rolls arranged along a transport path. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2008-302983 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, when the applicant attempted to transport a film material having a film fold formed therein by the above-mentioned film transport device, it was confirmed that the fold position of the film fold changed.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention is devised to solve these problems, and has an object to provide a film transport device and a film transport method that are simply configured and suppress the fluctuation of the fold position of the film folding portion. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The film transport device of the present invention is a film transport device that transports film material for pouches, having a film fold portion formed by folding in its short side direction, along a guide roll, and is provided with a pressing member that is installed at a position adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of at least one of the guide rolls so as to press the film material in the film thickness direction, and when the short side dimension (mm) of the film fold portion is defined as W and the amount (mm) of the film material pressed by the pressing member is defined as V, the pressing member is installed so that V / W is greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1, thereby solving the above problem. The film transport method of the present invention is a film transport method in which film material for a pouch having a film fold portion formed by folding it in its short side direction is transported along a guide roll, and the transport path is provided with a pressure member installed at a position adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of at least one of the guide rolls so as to press the film material in the film thickness direction, and when the short side dimension (mm) of the film fold portion is defined as W and the amount (mm) of the film material pressed by the pressure member is defined as V, the pressure member is installed so that V / W is greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1, thereby solving the above problem.

[0008] In any of the above-mentioned film conveying devices or film conveying methods, the guide rolls may include an outer surface guide roll arranged on the outer surface side of the film material, and the pressing member may be installed in a position adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of at least one of the outer surface guide rolls. In any of the above-described film transport devices or film transport methods, the pressing member may be disposed adjacent to the upstream side of the outer surface side guide roll. In any of the above-described film transport devices or film transport methods, the pressing member may be disposed on an outer surface side of the film material. In any of the above-described film transport devices or film transport methods, the pressing member may be configured as a rotatably installed driven roll. In any of the above-mentioned film transport devices or film transport methods, the pressing member may be installed adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of the guide roll, which has a wrap angle at which it contacts the film material of 135° or more. In any of the above-described film transport devices or film transport methods, the pressing member may be disposed adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of the guide roll, the outer diameter of the outer peripheral surface of which is 50 mm or less. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress fluctuations in the fold position of the film folding portion with a simple configuration. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a film transport device and a film material according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an arrangement of a pressing member. [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a problem of the film transport device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a pouch to be produced. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the film material. [Figure 6] FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A film transport device 10 and a film transport method according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The terms "upstream" and "downstream" used in this specification mean the upstream and downstream in the film transport direction.

[0012] First, the film transport device 10 is incorporated in a pouch manufacturing device that manufactures pouches P, and transports a film material F for the pouches P having a film folding portion F1 along guide rolls 20, 30.

[0013] The pouch manufacturing apparatus merges and overlaps a long film material F having a film fold portion F1 transported along a conveying path (film material F that will become the first film P1 of the pouch P after cutting) with another film material (not shown, film material that will become the second film P2 of the pouch P after cutting) transported along another conveying path (not shown), and then performs various processes such as a heat welding process to heat-seal predetermined locations of the overlapped film material and a cutting process to cut the film material, thereby producing a pouch P as shown in Figure 4. The pouch manufacturing apparatus includes a film transport device 10 shown in FIG.

[0014] The conveying path of the film conveying device 10 includes guide rolls 20, 30, as shown in FIG. 1, which are arranged on the inner side, which is the heat seal layer side, of the film material F (i.e., the side that faces the other film material and is heat-sealed when it is overlapped with another film material that will become the second film P2 after cutting processing), and a plurality of outer guide rolls 30 that are arranged on the outer side of the film material F.

[0015] The film material F supplied to the film conveying device 10 is guided by being wrapped around guide rolls 20 and 30 as shown in FIG. 1, and is conveyed (pulled and sent) downstream by a feed mechanism (not shown) installed at least downstream of the conveying path shown in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, the film material F transported by the film transport device 10 is a film material that has not been subjected to thermal welding or the like.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1, the guide rolls 20 and 30 have a cylindrical outer peripheral surface, are rotatably installed around an axis extending in a direction perpendicular to the film transport direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, a horizontal direction), and are configured as driven rolls that rotate in conjunction with the movement of the film material F being transported.

[0017] In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1, some of the outer surface side guide rolls 30 are configured as dancer rolls 30a, and the other guide rolls 20, 30 are configured as rolls with fixed rotation shafts. However, whether each guide roll 20, 30 is configured as a dancer roll or a roll with a fixed rotation shaft may be arbitrarily set depending on the embodiment. The dancer roll 30a is intended to control (adjust) tension fluctuations occurring in the film material F, and is provided so as to be capable of swinging back and forth in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1, and is driven to swing by a driving source such as an actuator or a motor (not shown).

[0018] In addition to the above-mentioned guide rolls 20, 30, the film conveying device 10 is equipped with at least one (in this embodiment, multiple) pressing member 40 that is installed so as to press the film material F in the film thickness direction at a position adjacent to and spaced apart from the upstream or downstream side of at least one (in this embodiment, multiple) outer guide roll 30 or inner guide roll 20 (i.e., an adjacent position without intervening members that contact the film material F, such as other guide rolls), as shown in FIG. 1.

[0019] The pressing members 40 are provided for the purpose of varying the positions of the folds F2, F3 of the film fold portion F1 of the film material F, and in this embodiment, are provided rotatably about an axis extending in a direction perpendicular to the film transport direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, a horizontal direction), and are configured as driven rolls that rotate with the movement of the transported film material F. Also, in this embodiment, all of the pressing members 40 are provided on the outer surface side of the film material F so as to press the film material F from the outer surface during transport.

[0020] A specific arrangement of the pressing member 40 will be described below.

[0021] First, the film material F to be transported by the film transport device 10 of this embodiment has a film fold portion F1 that is folded in a Z-shape in the short direction and extends along the long direction, as shown in FIG. 1. When the film material F having such a film fold portion F1 is wound around the guide rolls 20, 30 and transported, as shown in Figure 3, a bulge occurs in the film fold portion F1 (a gap occurs between the overlapping films in the film fold portion F1) on the upstream side of the guide rolls 20, 30 (for example, the location indicated by symbol M in Figure 3), where the wrap angle Θ (i.e., the angular range Θ at which the film material F is wound around the guide rolls 20, 30, as shown in Figure 2) is set large, and due to the bulge of the film fold portion F1, a positional shift (a change in position in the short direction of the film material F) may occur in the folds F2, F3 of the film fold portion F1 on the downstream side of the guide rolls 20, 30.

[0022] Such bulging of the film fold F1 is likely to occur in guide rolls 20, 30 that are configured so that the embrace angle Θ is 135° or more, and is likely to occur in small-diameter guide rolls 20, 30 whose outer diameter (diameter) of the outer circumferential surface is 50 mm or less.

[0023] If the folds F2, F3 become misaligned due to the bulging of the film fold F1 as described above, the product performance (particularly the steam release performance in the case of the pouch P shown in Figure 4) and appearance of the pouch P will be impaired. In particular, if the fold F2, which is located on the outside when the pouch P is in the state where the two folds F2, F3 formed in the film fold F1 are misaligned, the deterioration in product performance and appearance described above will be more noticeable. In particular, in the outer surface guide roll 30, the air present between the films in the expanded film folds F1 is pushed out, and thus the position of the fold F2 is likely to shift during this process as well.

[0024] Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to suppress misalignment of the creases F2, F3 caused by the bulge of the film fold portion F1, a pressing member 40 is installed adjacent to and spaced apart on the upstream or downstream side of the outer guide roll 30 or the inner guide roll 20 (specifically, the outer guide roll 30 or the inner guide roll 20 having a wrap angle Θ of 135° or more and an outer diameter of the outer circumferential surface of 50 mm or less) where misalignment of the creases F2, F3 is likely to occur. Here, with regard to the above-mentioned spacing, i.e., the separation distance D in the film transport direction between the contact area of ​​the pressing member 40 with respect to the film material F and the contact area of ​​the outer guide roll 30 or the inner guide roll 20 with respect to the film material F, where misalignment of the above-mentioned folds F2 and F3 is likely to occur (the distance indicated by the symbol D in Figure 2), it is preferable to set D / W to 3.7 to 4.8, where W is the short-side dimension (mm) of the film folding portion F1. Moreover, when the amount (mm) of pressing the film material F by the pressing member 40 is defined as V, the separation distance D is preferably set so that V / D is 0 to 0.2.

[0025] A specific embodiment of the installation of the pressing member 40 is as follows.

[0026] First, in this embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, if the short-side dimension (mm) of the film folding portion F1 is defined as W and the amount (mm) of the film material F pressed by the pressing member 40 is defined as V, it is more preferable to install the pressing member 40 so that V / W is 0 or more and 1 or less (more preferably, 0 or more and 2 / 3 or less), in which case, the positional misalignment of the folds F2, F3 of the film folding portion F1 can be more effectively suppressed. Here, the pressing amount V means the distance in the film thickness direction from the virtual position L of the film material F when the film material F is wound around the front and rear guide rolls 20, 30 without the pressing member 40 being installed, as shown in Figure 2, to the position where the pressing member 40 contacts the film material F when the pressing member 40 is installed (more specifically, the position farthest from the virtual position L).

[0027] Here, a test conducted to confirm the effect of suppressing the misalignment of the folds F2 and F3 by the above V / W setting will be described below with reference to Figs.

[0028] First, in this test, a test specimen (film material) of the same configuration as the film material F shown in Figure 1 and a test device (film conveying device) of the same configuration as the film conveying device 10 shown in Figures 1 and 2 were prepared, and the position of the pressing member 40 (40a) shown in an enlarged view in Figure 2 was adjusted to set the pressing amount V (mm) to 0 mm, 1 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, and 16 mm. For each setting, the presence or absence (and the degree of misalignment) of the fold F2 (and fold F3) was confirmed at the downstream position (position indicated by symbol P in Figure 2) of the outer surface guide roll 30 (30a) located downstream of the pressing member 40 (40a).

[0029] Other conditions in this test are as follows: Distance D (mm) in the film conveying direction between the contact area of ​​the pressing member 40 with the film material and the contact area of ​​the outer surface guide roll 30 (30a) with the film material F, which is installed adjacent to the pressing member 40 (upstream or downstream): 73 mm The outer guide roll 30 (30a) that is installed adjacent to the pressing member 40 (on the upstream or downstream side) has an embrace angle Θ that contacts the film material: 135° Outer diameter of the outer peripheral surface of the outer guide roll 30 (30a) installed adjacent to the (upstream or) downstream side of the pressing member 40: 50 mm The short-side dimension W (mm) of the film fold F1 of the film material F used in this test: 15 mm

[0030] Furthermore, the test results shown in Figure 6 show that when V / W is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1 (more preferably, greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 2 / 3), the positional misalignment of the fold F2 (and fold F3) in the film fold portion F1 can be further effectively suppressed. In addition, when V / W was large (i.e., when the pressing amount V was set to 16 mm), a large misalignment of the fold F2 was observed. This is thought to be due to a bulge occurring in the film fold portion F1 caused by contact of the pressing member 40 (40a) with the film material F. In addition, good results were obtained when V / W was 0 because if a bulge occurs in the film fold-in portion F1 (if a gap occurs between the overlapping films in the film fold-in portion F1), the pressing member 40 will press the film material F even if V / W is 0.

[0031] From the viewpoint of preventing a large force from being applied from the film material F to the pressing member 40, it is preferable to set the pressing amount V (mm) small. That is, one possible installation mode for the presser member 40 is to additionally attach the presser member 40 to existing equipment (film transport device) where the presser member 40 is not installed, for example, by clamping (by clamping a clamp member fixed to the presser member 40 to a part of the existing equipment), but in such a case, it is considered that the attachment (clamp) of the presser member 40 to the existing equipment will become loose due to the force applied to the presser member 40 from the film material F. Therefore, from the viewpoint of avoiding such adverse effects, it is preferable to set the pressing amount V (mm) small.

[0032] In Figure 2, the installation mode of the pressing member 40 (V / W is 0 or more and 1 or less) is explained using one of the multiple pressing members 40 as an example, but in this embodiment, all pressing members 40 are installed so that V / W is 0 or more and 1 or less (more preferably, 0 or more and 2 / 3 or less).

[0033] Next, the pouch P manufactured by the pouch manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment will be described below.

[0034] As shown in Figure 4, the pouch P has a first film P1 having a film fold portion P4 formed by folding the film into a Z shape, and a second film P2, and is formed into a bag shape by heat welding the first film P1 and the second film P2 at a predetermined location (a bag-making seal portion P3 where the films P1 and P2 are heat-welded at their outer peripheries). The first film P1 is formed by cutting the film material F conveyed by the film conveying device 10 through the above-mentioned cutting process, and the film folding portion P4 is a portion corresponding to the film folding portion F1. Each film constituting the pouch P, that is, the first film P1 (film material F) and the second film P2, is formed as a flexible resin film having a heat seal layer.

[0035] The pouch P shown in FIG. 4 has a steam release seal portion P5 and a slit-shaped or hole-shaped steam release portion P6 formed in the film fold portion P4, and is configured as a pouch in such a manner that when heated in a microwave oven or the like, steam generated within the pouch causes the steam release seal portion P5 to peel off, allowing steam within the pouch P to be discharged through the steam release portion P6. However, the specific form of the pouch P manufactured by the pouch manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment may be any form provided that it comprises a first film P1 having at least one film fold portion P4, such as, for example, one in which the change in shape of the first film P1 caused at the film fold portion P4 by steam generated within the pouch when heated is utilized as a stand.

[0036] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various design modifications can be made without departing from the present invention described in the claims, such as configuring a film conveying device 10 and a film conveying method by arbitrarily combining each configuration of the above or following embodiments and modified examples.

[0037] For example, in the above-described embodiment, the pressing member 40 has been described as being configured as a driven roll that rotates as the film material F moves, but the specific form of the pressing member 40 may be any that is configured to press the film material F in the film thickness direction, and for example, the pressing member 40 may be configured as a member (e.g., a sliding plate) that is provided in a fixed state and has a sliding portion that slides the pressed film material F.

[0038] Furthermore, the film conveying device 10 in the above-described embodiment includes both a pressure member 40 arranged adjacent to the upstream side of the outer guide roll 30, and a pressure member 40 arranged adjacent to the downstream side of the outer guide roll 30, but it is also possible to install in the conveying path only at least one pressure member 40 arranged adjacent to the upstream side of the outer guide roll 30 (or the inner guide roll 20), or only at least one pressure member 40 arranged adjacent to the downstream side of the outer guide roll 30 (or the inner guide roll 20). As described above, of the folds F2 and F3, the fold F2 is located on the outer surface side of the film material F, and (as can be seen from Figure 4) if misalignment occurs, the fold F2 will have a more significant impact on deterioration of product performance and appearance, so in order to suppress misalignment, it is preferable to install the pressing member 40 in a position adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of the outer surface guide roll 30, where misalignment of the fold F2 is likely to occur.

[0039] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, all of the outer guide rolls 30 (or inner guide rolls 20) arranged adjacent to the pressure members 40 on the upstream or downstream side are described as being configured so that the embrace angle at which they contact the film material is 135° or more and the outer diameter of their outer peripheral surface is 50 mm or less; however, at least one of the outer guide rolls 30 (or inner guide rolls 20) may be configured with an embrace angle and outer diameter other than those described above.

[0040] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, all of the pressing members 40 are described as being installed on the outer surface side of the film material F, but at least some of the pressing members 40 may be installed on the inner surface side of the film material F so as to press the film material F from the inner surface side during transport. Moreover, the number of pressing members 40 to be provided may be one or more and may be arbitrarily set according to the embodiment.

[0041] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the film conveying device 10 is described as having a plurality of inner guide rolls 20 and a plurality of outer guide rolls, but the number of inner guide rolls 20 and outer guide rolls may be one or more.

[0042] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the film fold portion F1 of the film material F is described as being formed by folding it in a Z-shape in its short side direction, as shown in FIG. 1. However, the specific form of the film fold portion F1 is not limited to being Z-shaped, and may be any shape as long as it is formed by folding the film material F in its short side direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 5(a), the film material F may be folded in an M-shape in its short side direction so that three creases F2 to F4 are formed.

[0043] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the film material F has been described as having one film fold portion F1 in its short side direction as shown in FIG. 1, but the specific form of the film material F may be any form having at least one film fold portion F1, and may, for example, have multiple film fold portions F1 in its short side direction as shown in FIG. 5(b). The film material F shown in FIG. 5(b) is divided into three in the short side direction by cutting processing, that is, three portions to become pouches P in an uncut state are arranged in the short side direction. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] 10 Film transport device 20 Inner guide roll 30 Outer guide roll 30a ··· Dancer Roll 40 .... Holding member P··· Pouch P1: First film P2: Second film P3: Bag making and sealing section P4: Film fold P5: Steam release seal P6 Steam release section F...Film material F1: Film folding section F2: Fold F3: Fold F4: Crease

Claims

1. A film conveying device that conveys a film material for a pouch having a film folding portion formed by folding in the short side direction along a guide roll, a pressing member disposed adjacent to at least one of the guide rolls on the upstream side or downstream side so as to press the film material in a film thickness direction; When the short-side dimension (mm) of the film folding portion is defined as W and the pressing amount (mm) of the film material by the pressing member is defined as V, 13. A film transport device, comprising: a pressing member arranged so that V / W is 0 or more and 1 or less.

2. The guide roll includes an outer surface guide roll disposed on the outer surface side of the film material, 2. The film transport device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is disposed adjacent to at least one of the outer surface side guide rolls on the upstream side or downstream side.

3. 3. The film transport device according to claim 2, wherein the pressing member is disposed adjacent to the upstream side of the outer surface side guide roll.

4. 2. The film transport device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is disposed on an outer surface side of the film material.

5. 2. The film transport device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is configured as a rotatably mounted driven roll.

6. 2. The film transport device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is disposed adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of the guide roll, which contacts the film material at a wrap angle of 135 degrees or more.

7. 2. The film transport device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is disposed adjacent to the upstream or downstream side of the guide roll, the outer diameter of the outer circumferential surface of which is 50 mm or less.

8. A film conveying method for conveying a film material for a pouch having a film fold formed by folding in a short side direction along a guide roll, comprising: a pressing member is disposed in the conveying path at a position adjacent to at least one of the guide rolls on the upstream side or downstream side so as to press the film material in a film thickness direction; When the short-side dimension (mm) of the film folding portion is defined as W and the pressing amount (mm) of the film material by the pressing member is defined as V, The film transport method according to the present invention, wherein the pressing member is disposed so that V / W is 0 or more and 1 or less.

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