Pouch Conditioner With Adjustable Rollers For Uniform Thickness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible packaging containers, such as pouches filled with granular or particulate products, often lack uniform thickness, making them unsuitable for efficient stacking or palletization.
Innovation Solution
A pouch conditioner system featuring a conveyor with top and bottom conditioning belts and adjustable rollers that form a variable conditioning gap, allowing for the imposition of a uniform thickness on flexible product containers as they pass through, ensuring consistent and high-speed processing without damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If flexible pouches are filled with granular or particulate product, then the packaging capacity is increased, but the uniformity of thickness and shape is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The pouch conditioner applies preliminary flattening action to the flexible pouches before they enter the packaging or palletizing system. The conditioning belts and rollers pre-compress and flatten the pouches, removing thickness variations caused by granular or particulate fill, thereby preparing them for uniform stacking and palletization.
2Productivity
If multiple pouches are stacked or palletized together, then storage and shipment efficiency is improved, but the lack of uniform thickness causes instability and wasted space
Solution Approach 1:
The pouch conditioner performs preliminary flattening and thickness uniforming on pouches before they are stacked or palletized. By pre-conditioning the pouches to have uniform thickness, the system enables stable stacking and efficient palletization without the instability and wasted space that would result from variable thickness.
3Device complexity
If conventional conditioning methods are used, then the structure is simple, but the speed and efficiency of conditioning is insufficient for high-speed production lines
Solution Approach 1:
The pouch conditioner employs continuous conditioning belts that move pouches through the conditioning zone without interruption. The top and bottom conditioning belts operate simultaneously and continuously, maintaining constant contact with the pouches throughout the conditioning process, thereby achieving high-speed operation suitable for modern production lines.
Solution Approach 2:
The conditioning system uses adjustable rollers and variable speed belts that can dynamically adapt to different pouch sizes, shapes, and fill levels. The rollers can be positioned at different heights and the belt speeds can be varied, allowing the system to maintain effective conditioning across a range of operating conditions while running at high speeds.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system efficiently and uniformly conditions flexible packaging containers, enabling them to be stacked or palletized with consistent thickness, enhancing storage and shipment efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The FPCs are advanced through the gap via the co-directional movement of the bottom conditioning belt and the top conditioning belt
Implementation Method 2
The conditioning assembly is comprised of a housing containing a belt drive, and a series of rollers about which a top conditioning belt is disposed
Data Source
AI summary
A pouch conditioner having a roller frame positioned over a bottom conditioning belt is disclosed. The roller frame includes a housing that has a pair of opposed guide plates, between which are positioned a plurality of conditioning rollers, a top conditioning belt, and a top conditioning belt drive. The top conditioning belt is disposed about the conditioning rollers. Each of the conditioning rollers is coupled to the guide plates by a pair of actuators that provide each roller with independent articulation and individual compressive force. The distance between the bottom conditioning belt and the top conditioning belt defines a conditioning gap through which product containers are advanced. The height of the conditioning rollers relative to the bottom conditioning belt may be varied to provide a graduated conditioning gap.