Fluted Bag Forming Apparatus for Coffee Container Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses for packing coffee in containers with fluted sidewalls fail to perfectly shape the bags, leading to poor sealing and quality issues, resulting in economic losses and complex maintenance.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus uncouples the bag-making and insertion steps, allowing for easier maintenance and precise formation of fluted sidewalls, with a multi-row design that minimizes waste and simplifies the cutting process using a conveyor belt system with separate units for making and inserting bags.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If prior art apparatuses use a single station for cutting and forming bags with fluted sidewalls, then the device structure is compact, but the manufacturing precision of the fluted sidewalls deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the bag making process into two separate stations: a cutting station that cuts circular portions from material and a forming station that forms the fluted sidewalls. This segmentation allows each station to specialize in one function, improving the precision of fluted sidewalls formation while maintaining reasonable device complexity through modular design.
2Ease of operation
If prior art apparatuses use complex devices for arranging bags inside external bodies, then the bag insertion is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the bag arranging function from the main forming station and implements it as a separate, simpler device that operates independently. This allows the forming station to focus on precision forming while the extracted arranging device handles positioning with minimal complexity.
3Productivity
If prior art machines use excessively complex devices for making and inserting bags, then the bag production is achieved, but the ease of repair deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the bag making and inserting operations into separate stations with distinct functions. Each station can be maintained independently, and the uncoupled design allows easier access to individual components for repair and maintenance while maintaining continuous production capability.
4Productivity
If prior art apparatuses use a single station for bag making and insertion, then the productivity is maintained, but the manufacturing precision of bags deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements separate cutting and forming stations that operate in sequence, allowing each station to optimize for its specific function. The cutting station prepares material efficiently while the forming station focuses on precise fluted sidewalls formation, achieving both high productivity and manufacturing precision through specialized division of labor.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for packing a food product in a container to be used in infusion machines, preferably to obtain a beverage such as coffee, includes a frame for supporting means for feeding an external body of the container and means for making and inserting a bag configured with fluted sidewalls in the external body. The means for making and inserting the bag has at least one operating unit with a bag making component, an insertion component, and a conveyance for transporting the bag between the making component and the insertion component.