Valve Bag Mounting with Independent Servo Drives for Higher Cadence

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing bag-attachment devices for valve bags on filling machines face challenges in achieving high throughput without compromising durability, reliability, and complexity due to the need for increased speeds, which leads to higher stress on components and increased costs.

Innovation Solution

A bag-mounting device with separate position-controlled servo drives for the bag lifter and pressure unit, allowing for asynchronous and synchronous motion control, eliminating mechanical coupling, and enabling overlapping motion sequences to enhance cadence and operational reliability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the bag-feeding rate is increased to boost throughput, then productivity is improved, but stress on the crankshaft and driven components increases leading to reduced durability and reliability

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebag-feeding rateVSAvoiddurability of crankshaft and components
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the drive system into separate drives for the bag lifter and pressure unit, each designed as a position-controlled servo drive. This segmentation eliminates the mechanical coupling and high stress concentrations on a single crankshaft, allowing each component to operate independently at optimized speeds that maintain reliability while achieving high throughput.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the traditional mechanically coupled crankshaft-driven system with electronically controlled servo drives. This substitution eliminates the mechanical stress transmission through a single crankshaft, allowing for higher bag-feeding rates without compromising the durability of individual components through electronic control rather than mechanical coupling.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Reliability

If more robust components made of thicker materials are used to handle higher speeds, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecomponent durabilityVSAvoidmechanical system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs position-controlled servo drives that can dynamically adjust speed and position of the bag lifter and pressure unit. This dynamic control allows the system to operate at high speeds without requiring overly robust mechanical components, as the electronic control optimizes the motion profiles to minimize stress on components while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Productivity

If higher crankshaft rotation speed is used to achieve higher bag-feeding rate, then productivity is improved, but stress on crankshaft increases leading to compromised durability

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebag-feeding rateVSAvoidcrankshaft durability
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the drive system into independent servo-driven units, eliminating the need for a high-speed crankshaft. Each unit (bag lifter and pressure unit) can be controlled independently to achieve the required bag-feeding rate without subjecting a single mechanical component to excessive rotational stress, thereby maintaining component strength and durability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP4699944A1Bag insertion device with bag lifter and pressure unit for a valve bag filling machine
Publication Date: 2026.02.25 CLAUDIUS PETERS PROJECTS
  • EP4699944A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4699944A1 patent drawingFigure 2~4
  • EP4699944A1 patent drawingFigure 5A)~6E)

AI summary

A bag-mounting device for mounting valve bags onto a valve bag filling machine comprises a bag lifter (3) for lifting the valve bag, which is vertically movable between a lower receiving position (I) and an upper staging position (II), a pressure unit (5) with an openable and closeable pressure bar (52) for the received valve bag, and a mounting device (6) for accelerating the valve bag (90) fed from the pressure unit onto a filling nozzle of the filling machine. According to the invention, separate drives are provided for the bag lifter (3) and the pressure unit (5). The drive unit (39) for the bag lifter (5) and the pressure drive (59) are each designed as a position-controlled servo drive. The separate drives with the position-controlled servo drive enhance the motion control, as the individual processes no longer have to occur strictly sequentially, but can overlap variably.Furthermore, the respective speed range can be expanded. The cadence and operational reliability of the machine are increased.