Packaging Machine Sealing Jaw Entrapment Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Packaging machines that use mechanisms other than servo motors to drive sealing members often cannot detect trapped articles based on force/moment exerted or positional information from the drive source, leading to incomplete seals.
Innovation Solution
A packaging machine with a pair of sealing members that uses a movement amount detector to measure the relative movement between support parts, allowing for the detection of trapped articles without relying on the drive source's ability to perceive force/moment or positional information, utilizing a fluid-pressure-utilizing pressing mechanism and rotary encoders to determine article presence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a mechanism other than servo motor is used as the drive source for sealing members, then the device complexity is reduced and cost is lowered, but the ability to detect trapped articles based on force/moment or positional information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
A movement amount detector is introduced as an intermediary device to measure the relative movement between the first and second support parts. This mediator captures the sealing process information that would otherwise be unavailable from simple drive mechanisms, enabling trapped article detection without requiring complex servo motors or force sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement amount detector provides feedback information about the relative movement between support parts during the sealing process. By monitoring this movement data, the system can detect anomalies indicating trapped articles, creating a closed-loop detection system that works with simple drive mechanisms.
2Ease of manufacture
If the drive source cannot perceive force/moment or positional information directly, then the manufacturing cost is reduced, but the measurement precision for detecting trapped articles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The movement amount detector serves as an intermediary measurement device that indirectly captures sealing process information. Instead of requiring the drive source itself to provide precise force or position data, the system uses this separate detector to measure relative movement, achieving accurate trapped article detection with simpler manufacturing requirements.
3Reliability
If relative movement measurement is implemented between support parts, then trapped article detection is enabled without complex drive sources, but the device complexity increases due to additional detection components
Solution Approach 1:
The movement amount detector serves multiple functions: it measures the relative movement between support parts, provides data for trapped article detection, and can potentially be used for other process monitoring purposes. This multi-functionality justifies the added component by maximizing its utility across different detection and control needs.
Data Source
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AI summary
To provide a packaging machine which uses sealing members to sandwich and seal a packaging material, wherein the presence of articles trapped in the sealed portions can be detected even when using, as the drive source of the sealing members, a mechanism that is incapable of perceiving the force/moment exerted on the packaging material by the drive source, and positional information pertaining to the drive source, directly from information obtained from the drive source. In this packaging machine, a pair of sealing jaws (51) sandwiches and seals a sealed portion of a tubular film (Fc). The packaging machine is provided with a first rotating shaft (53a) for supporting one sealing jaw (51 a), a second rotating shaft (53b) for supporting the other sealing jaw (51 b), a rotary encoder (40), and an entrapment determination part. When the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft approach or move away, the rotary encoder measures the movement amount of the first rotating shaft in relation to the second rotating shaft in an approaching direction or a moving away direction. The entrapment determination part determines whether or not articles are present in the sealed portion based on the movement amount.