Valve Bag Alignment Device Using Upward Air Blast
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible valve bags, made of materials like fabric or foil, pose challenges for automatic attachment to rotating packaging machines due to their flexibility, leading to inaccurate positioning and reduced attachment rates.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising a gripping mechanism, an alignment device with a blowing system to orient the bag vertically, and an acceleration mechanism to ensure precise and reproducible attachment, utilizing air blasts and pivotable components for accurate alignment and transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If valve bags made of flexible materials (fabric or foil) are used, then production cost is reduced and resilience is increased, but positioning precision and attachment reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning and pre-aligning the valve bag using a guide device before the actual attachment process. The guide device ensures that the bag is correctly positioned and oriented in advance, which compensates for the flexibility-induced positioning difficulties. This preliminary alignment step is crucial for achieving reliable attachment of flexible bags without requiring complex real-time adjustment mechanisms during high-speed operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a guide device as an intermediary between the bag stacking mechanism and the attachment mechanism. This guide device acts as a mediator that temporarily holds and aligns the flexible valve bags, providing a stable intermediate state that facilitates precise positioning. The guide device translates the random orientation of flexible bags into a controlled, predetermined position, enabling subsequent accurate attachment.
2Productivity
If high filling rates are achieved (one bag per second), then productivity is increased, but the impact of positioning inaccuracies is amplified, leading to more incorrectly attached bags
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device performs preliminary alignment and positioning of each valve bag before it enters the attachment zone. This pre-positioning ensures that even at high speeds of one bag per second, each bag is correctly oriented and positioned, preventing attachment errors. The preliminary action taken by the guide device maintains reliability despite the increased pace of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical positioning systems with a simpler guide device that uses aerodynamic principles (air streams) to orient and position the flexible bags. This substitution allows for rapid, contactless alignment that can keep up with high filling rates while maintaining consistent positioning accuracy, thereby preserving attachment reliability at high productivity levels.
3Adaptability or versatility
If flexible valve bags are processed, then material versatility is increased, but alignment and positioning difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device serves as an intermediary that handles the alignment task, allowing the attachment mechanism to focus on the attachment function. The guide device's aerodynamic design works effectively with various flexible materials (fabric, foil) without requiring material-specific adjustments, thus maintaining ease of operation across different materials while enabling processing of versatile bag types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs pneumatic principles using air streams to align and position the flexible valve bags. This pneumatic approach is particularly effective for flexible materials as it provides contactless, gentle force that can orient bags made of various materials (fabric, foil, plastic) without causing damage or requiring material-specific mechanical clamps or grips, thereby maintaining ease of operation across material types.
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 solution significantly enhances the attachment rate of flexible valve bags by ensuring defined spatial orientation, allowing for reliable and efficient automatic attachment to packaging machines, even with high-speed operation.
Implementation Method 1
At least one alignment device is provided, which includes at least one blowing device. The blowing device is designed and set up to emit an air blast that is at least partially directed upwards in order to ensure a defined spatial orientation of the valve bag to be attached upwards.
Data Source
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AI summary
A fitting device and method for fitting valve bags onto a filling nozzle of a packaging machine, comprising at least one gripping device and at least one fitting device for grasping a valve bag and transferring it to the fitting device in an at least partially suspended position for fitting. At least one alignment device is provided, which includes at least one blowing device, wherein the blowing device is configured to emit a blast of air directed at least partially upwards to ensure a defined spatial orientation of the bag to be fitted.