Rotating Tool Holder for M-Folded Package Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for producing collapsible packages from M-folded material webs face limitations in high-capacity production and flexibility in package shaping, requiring precise tool configuration for liquid-tight and gas-tight connections while maintaining sterility for aseptic filling systems.
Innovation Solution
A device with a rotatable tool holder and pivotable tools that move along a work path to engage and disengage with the material web, allowing each tool to participate in the production of multiple packages, and supporting tool profiles of different types to create interconnected packages without intermediate waste, with features like lateral transverse seals and top closures for ensuring liquid-tight and gas-tight seals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If tools are configured with great accuracy to procure liquid-tight and gas-tight packages, then package sealing quality is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tool is divided into multiple independent sealing sections (first section, second section, third section) that can be configured differently. Each section can be independently adjusted to create different connecting portion configurations, allowing complex sealing patterns without requiring the entire tool to be redesigned. This segmentation enables high sealing quality while managing tool complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool is designed with multi-functional capability to produce different package configurations (liquid-tight, gas-tight, handle portions) using the same basic tool structure. By incorporating multiple sealing sections that can be selectively activated or configured, the tool achieves versatility in producing various package types without requiring separate specialized tools for each configuration.
2Productivity
If a rotatable tool holder with peripherally arranged tools is used for continuous high-capacity production, then productivity is improved, but flexibility in package shaping is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The tool holder is designed to be rotatable, allowing the tools to dynamically engage and disengage from the material web during rotation. This dynamic configuration enables the same tool setup to produce different package shapes by adjusting engagement timing and positioning, thereby maintaining production flexibility while achieving continuous high-capacity production through rotational motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows changes in operational parameters (rotation speed, engagement timing, tool positioning) to achieve different package configurations without physically reconfiguring the entire tool holder. By varying these parameters, the system maintains both high productivity through continuous rotation and flexibility in package shaping through parameter adjustment.
3Productivity
If each tool participates in the production of multiple packages with joint production by adjacent tools, then productivity is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Adjacent tools are designed to work in combination for joint production of packages, merging their sealing actions to create complete connecting portions. This combining approach distributes the precision requirements across multiple tools working together, where each tool contributes a portion of the sealing task, reducing the burden on any single tool while maintaining overall high precision through coordinated operation.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
The invention relates to a device for producing packages (2) from an M-folded material web (3), comprising a rotatable tool holder (4) supporting a plurality of peripherally arranged tools (5). The tools (5) each comprise a base element (6) and an engagement element (7) which is arranged such that it is pivotable relative to this base element, which base elements (6) form a circumferential outer surface (8) of the tool holder (4), over which circumferential outer surface (8) the said material web (3) can be passed. The tool holder (4) is arranged, upon rotation, to move the tools (5) along a work path (WP) along which they can be brought into engagement with the material web (3) by lowering of the said engagement element (7) for the connection of mutually facing wall portions of the material web (3) along connecting portions (10) which define the said packages (2), and a return path (RP) along which the tools (5) can be brought out of engagement with the material web (3) by raising of the said engagement element (7). Each tool (5) is arranged to be moved together with the material web (3) when it is moved along the said work path (WP), and each tool, when engaging with the said material web (3), is arranged to participate in the production of at least two packages (2). Each pair of adjacent tools (5) are arranged for the joint production of one package (2). The invention also relates to a filling machine which is arranged to fill a package produced in such a device.