Conveyor-Integrated Box Flap Closure for Side Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing box closing systems, particularly top-load systems, are complex and require separate machines for erection, loading, and sealing, while side-load systems often struggle with maintaining product integrity during flap closure.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for closing box flaps using a conveyor with integrated rail sections and mechanisms that provide relative motion to guide flaps into slots, allowing simultaneous side-loading and flap closure without the need for separate machines, ensuring product integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If top-load systems are used to close box flaps, then product integrity is maintained, but device complexity increases due to requiring separate machines for erection, loading, and sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the flap closing mechanism with the existing conveyor system by integrating rail sections and slots directly into the conveyor structure. This allows the conveyor to perform both transportation and flap closing functions, eliminating the need for separate closing machines and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining product integrity through controlled flap closure.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a transportation device and as a flap closing mechanism. The rail sections and slots are integrated into the conveyor to provide closing action, allowing the same system to perform multiple operations (conveying and closing) without requiring additional dedicated equipment.
2Device complexity
If side-load systems are used to close box flaps, then device complexity is reduced, but product integrity deteriorates due to product egress during closure
Solution Approach 1:
The flap closing mechanism uses dynamic motion through the conveyor's movement to guide flaps into the slots. The relative motion between the conveyor and the box causes the flaps to be received into the slots progressively, providing controlled closure that prevents product egress while maintaining system simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The rail sections with slots act as intermediary elements that mediate between the moving conveyor and the box flaps. These slots guide and control the flap closure process, ensuring that flaps are properly received and closed without causing product displacement, thus protecting product integrity during the closing operation.
3Manufacturing precision
If separate machines are used for erection, loading, and sealing, then manufacturing precision is improved, but productivity decreases due to multiple separate operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple operations (conveying and flap closing) into a single integrated system. The conveyor performs both transportation and closing functions simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate machines and their associated transfer operations, thereby increasing productivity while maintaining closing precision through the integrated rail and slot mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables continuous operation by performing flap closing during the conveyor's normal operation without requiring separate stopping or transfer steps. The useful action of conveying continues uninterrupted while the closing function is performed simultaneously through the integrated mechanism, maximizing productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for closing a flap on an open end of a box may include a device having a slot and a mechanism operable to provide a relative motion between the slot and the flap. The relative motion may cause the flap to be received into the slot and the flap to be reoriented to a closed position. A method of closing an open end of a box being conveyed downstream, with the open end facing transversely, may include two operations. With a trailing minor flap on the open end being held in a substantially upstream-pointing open position, the opposing leading minor flap on the open end may be closed from a substantially downstream-pointing open position to a substantially upstream-pointing closed position. With the leading minor flap being held in the closed position, the trailing minor flap may be closed from the open position to a substantially downstream-pointing closed position.