Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automated system
and a method for applying viscous liquids including
adhesive/cohesive bonding solutions to a surface of a
package or a container to be palletized.
Previously, liquid adhesive solutions had been applied
to packages and containers using spray nozzles with air-
actuated valves. The spray nozzles were typically supported
above a conveyor on which the packages/containers travel. A
pair of photocells are mounted adjacent the conveyor to
indicate the presence of the package and initiate and
terminate a flow sequence.
These systems while useful are cumbersome in that all
adjustments are mechanical in nature and must be made
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'! 15 manually. For example, the nozzles have to be manually
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adjusted for individual package types. Similarly, if one
~ wants to change the length of the cohesive or adhesive
`~ material being applied to the package/container, the
photocells have to be manually repositioned.
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~j 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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" Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention
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to provide an automated system for applying an
adhesive/cohesive solution to an object such as a package or
a container.
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It is a further object of the present invention to
provide a system as above which allows better control of the
adhesive/cohesive solution being applied to the package.
~; It is yet a further object of the present invention to
provide a system as above which can store settings for
particular package types for later retrieval.
It is still a further object of the present invention
i to provide an improved method for applying an
' adhesive/cohesive solution to an object such as a package or
a container.
The foregoing objects and advantages are attained by
the system and the method of the present invention.
In accordance with the present invention, an automated
1 system is provided for applying an adhesive/cohesive
;~ 15 solution to a surface of an object such as a package orcontainer to be palletized. The system comprises means for
~l applying the adhesive/cohesive solution to a surface of the
package or container and computer means for automatically
controlling the amount of and the pattern of the
adhesive/cohesive material being applied to the surface of
the package or container.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the
means for applying the adhesive/cohesive solution comprises
` a source of adhesive/cohesive solution, a flow control unit
connected to the source, and at least one spray head
communicating with the flow control unit. Each spray head
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has a single nozzle opening and a solenoid operated valve
; which is actuate~ by the computer means. A photocell is
mounted to at least one spray head to transmit a signal to
the computer means indicating the presence of the package.
The computer means preferably includes a keyboard, a
` central processing unit and a display device. Through the
keyboard, an operator can select the amount of
adhesive/cohesive solution to be applied to the package and
the pattern in which that adhesive/cohesive solution is to
be applied. The central processîng unit stores the inputted
information for later retrieval and initiates the commands
for actuating the solenoid valve(s) in the spray head(s).
The keyboard may also be used to specify the amount of time
the solenoid valve is open and the number of times it is
cycled for a single application.
The method of the present invention broadly comprises
the steps of: providing a central processing unit and a
manual input station; inputting into the central processing
~ unit via the manual input station information about a
i;; 20 desired amount of and a desired pattern for the material to
`!` be applied to the surface of the package; providing at least
~ one spray head communicating with a supply of the material
t to be applied; sensing the presence of the object beneath
~` the at least one spray head and transmitting a first signal
'i~ 25 indicating the presence of the object to the central
~, processing unit; and transmitting a second signal to the at
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least one spray head in response to the first signal to
initiate flow of the material through the at least one spray
head and onto the surface of the package.
Still other details of the system and method of the
present invention, as well as other objects and advantages
of the present invention, are set out in the following
description and drawings wherein like reference numerals
depict like elements.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a first
embodiment of a system in accordance with the present
invention;
Fig. 2 is a view of the bracket mounting a spray head
used in the system of Fig. 1 to its support arm;
Fig. 3 is a view of the bracket mounting the support
arm of Fig. 2 to a vertical support arm;
,' Fig. 4 is an alternative approach for mounting the
i', support arm of Fig. 2 to a vertical support arm;
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'~ Fig. S is an exploded view of a spray head used in the
system of Fig. l;
Fig. 6 is a schematic representation of the flow
~ control unit used in the system of Fig. l; and
`~, Fig. 7 is a schematic representation of an alternative
embodiment of an automated system in accordance with the
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present lnventlon.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT~Sl
Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates the
automated system 10 of the present invention. The system
may be used to apply an adhesive/cohesive solution material
to a surface of an object 12 such as a package or container
to be palletized.
The system includes a source or supply 14 of
adhesive/cohesive solution, a flow control unit 16 connected
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, to the source 14 and at least one spray head 18 for applying
- 10 the adhesive/cohesive solution to a surface 20 of a package
12. The system further includes a central processing unit
22 for controlling the application of the adhesive/cohesive
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~- solution to the surface 20, a keyboard 24 for inputting
instructions, and a device 26 for displaying the information
inputted into the central processing unit and/or the
` operating parameters of the system.
~j As shown in Figure 1, the spray head 18 is supported by
a mounting bracket having a first arm 28 which extends in a
direction substantially perpendicular to the surface 20 and
; 20 a second arm 30 arranged substantially perpendicular to the
first arm. As shown in Fig. 2, the spray head is mounted to
the arm 30 by a substantially U-shaped bracket 32. The
;~ bracket has at least one threaded opening 34 into which a
wing screw 36 can be inserted. The spray head with the
~, 25 bracket 32 is slid over the arm 30 and is fixed in position
by inserting the threaded end of the screw into the opening
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34 and tightening the screw against the arm 30. By using
such an arrangement, the spray head is movable along the arm
- 30 and along an axis substantially parallel to a plane
containing the surface 20.
To permit adjustment of the spray head along an axis
substantially perpendicular to the surface 20, as shown in
, Fig. 3, the arm 30 is mounted to the arm 28 by a
substantially U-shaped bracket and knob with screw
arrangement 31. The arm 28 may have one or more holes
adjacent a lower end to mount it to a support structure such
` as a rail of a conveyor.
Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative approach for mounting
the arm 30 to the arm 28 in which the arm 28 is provided
with a machined slot 38 along which the arm 30 can move. As
`~ 15 shown therein, a screw mechanism 40 is provided to lock the
arm 30 in a desired position.
By raising or lowering the spray head 18, one can
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~ change the width of the stripe 19 of adhesive/cohesive
J solution being applied to the surface 20.
As shown in Fig. 5, the spray head 18 contains a
solenoid operated valve 42 in communication with an inlet
~` port connected to an outlet of the flow control unit 16 via -
a flow line 66. The valve 42 receives open and close
signals from the central processing unit 22 via the cable
54. The spray head also includes a single nozzle outlet 44
with an arcuate surface 46 for creating a fan-type spray of
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said adhesive/cohesive solution. The solenoid valve may be
any conventional 24 volt solenoid operated valve with a
rating of about 0.42 amps. Such a valve is necessary
because of the relatively high viscosity with which the
system will be operating.
A photocell 48 is attached to a side 50 of the spray
head. The photocell detects the presence of the package or
container 12 and transmits a signal to the central
processing unit via the cable 52.
As shown in Fig. 6, the flow control unit 16 has an
input port 56 through which adhesive/cohesive solution
; enters the flow control unit. After entering the flow
; control unit, the adhesive/cohesive solution passes through
a filter 58 and into a pump 62. The filter 58 may be any
suitable filter known in the art although it is preferred to
use a 120 micron stainless steel filter. The pump 62 pumps
adhesive/cohesive solution from the source to the reservoir
60 and then to the spray head via fluid outlet(s) 64 and
fluid line(s) 66. The pump 62 may comprise any suitable
pump known in the art. For example, it may be a pump rated
at 115 psi and 115 volts. As shown in Fig. 6, the pump 62
may be in communication with three or more fluid outlets 64.
When not in use, the outlet(s) 64 are blocked off or closed
`~, by a quick disconnect seal 70 such as a quick disconnect
plug.
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As previously mentioned, a keyboard 24 is provided to
! input a desired spray pattern for the adhesive/cohesiVe
material to be applied to the surface 20. The operator may
enter the spray pattern in the form of letters A through Z.
Gaps in the pattern can be entered with the digits 1 through
9. The computer may be programmed so that the letter Z
instructs the computer to emit 26 times the amount of
adhesive/cohesive as the letter A. By using such a system,
useful spray patterns can be designed. If desired, a
different pattern can be specified for each spray head
`!'. attached to the central processing unit.
The use of the keyboard to specify the desired spray
~ pattern is a marked improvement over the prior art systems.
!: If a pattern is found to be unsuitable, it can be changed
merely by using the keyboard to issue new instructions to
; -
i-' the central processing unit. As a result, there is no need
~i to make the manual adjustments required by the prior art
systems.
Other information which may be inputted through the
keyboard includes: (1) product delay; (2) aspect ratio; (3)
character width and dot size; and (4) direction. When the
product delay is zero, spraying of the adhesive/cohesive
bonding agent will start immediately after the photocell
detects the presence of the package and transmits a signal
to the central processing unit. Since this is often
undesirable, an operator can specify a desired time delay
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through the keyboard.
The aspect ratio information inputted through the
keyboard increases the space within adhesive patterns which
; is normally zero. Setting the aspect ratio to a higher
number spaces out the entire pattern.
^-~ The character width and the dot size specifications are
the fundamental spray pattern characteristics for the
system. Character width is the fastest rate at which
adhesive will be emitted ~y the spray head. Thus, if one
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inputs a character width of about 2 milliseconds,
'~r,' adhesive/cohesive material will be emitted 500 times persecond. Dot size controls the size of the adhesive/cohesive
blob. The larger the dot size, the longer the valve is held
open and the more adhesive/cohesive is sprayed.
:j 15 Specification of the direction tells the computer
whether the pattern will be outputted forwards or backwards.
The foregoing information can be inputted into the
,~ central processing unit through the keyboard by using any
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desired combination of the alphanumeric keys and/or special
function keys on the keyboard. Obviously, the program
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within the central processing unit will determine which keys
~,l are used for which function.
~` The central processing unit 22 may be any computer
known in the art. Additionally, it may be programmed in any
language known in the art to carry out the various functions
set out herein. Preferably, the central processing unit 22
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either has an internal memory storage device (not shown) or
an additional memory storage device (not shown) which can be
used to store the inputted spray pattern for a particular
package for later retrieval.
The terminal or display unit 26 may also co~prise any
; suitable unit known in the art. For example, a Qume mode
QVT-101 terminal may be used. The various parameters being
inputted through the keyboard may be displayed on the
terminal. Additionally, status information about the system
may be displayed. For example, an indication of the number
of packages which have been treated may be shown on the
-,
display unit along with a spray count.
In operation, an operator of the system first inputs a
desired spray pattern into the central processing unit 22
~ 15 using the keyboard 24. Additionally, he turns on the power
', to the flow control unit 16 and causes adhesive/cohesive
solution from the source 14 to be pumped to the spray head
18. Since the solenoid valve 42 in the spray head is in a
closed position, the adhesive/cohesive remains in the line
~, 20 66 under pressure. Thereafter, a conveyor (not shown) is
operated so that a package 12 is caused to pass beneath the
~ spray head 18. The photocell 48 mounted to the spray head
!~- senses the presence of the package 12 and transmits a flow
`~ start signal to the central processing unit 22. The central
processing unit then issues a signal to the valve 42 in
' accordance with the inputted spray pattern. The solenoid
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valve then open and closes until a desired quantity of
adhesive/cohesive material is applied to a surface 20 of the
package 12 in a desired pattern. If desired, more than one
stripe 19 of adhesive/cohesive material may be applied to
the surface 20. After the spray cycle has been completed,
the valve 42 closes until the photocell senses the presence
of the next package.
After the adhesive/cohesive material has been applied
to the package surface 20, the package is conveyed to a
palletizing system (not shown) where it is formed into a
layer of packages to be placed on a pallet. One of the
advantages of the present invention is that the presence of
the adhesive/cohesive material on the package surface
eliminates the need to wrap the packages on the pallet in a
plastic material.
The spray head is provided with a manually actuated
purge button 72 to check flow of the adhesive/cohesive
solution. The purge button 72 when pushed sends a signal to
the central processing unit 22 which causes the central
processing unit to transmit a valve open signal to the valve
42. As a result, adhesive/cohesive material in the spray
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head 18 and the fluid line 66 can be drained or purged.
Referring now to Fig. 7, a spray station 74' is
illustrated having two spray heads 18'. Each spray head is
`~ 25 connected to a respective fluid outlet 64' of the flow
I control unit 16'. Additionally, each spray head is
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connected to the central processing unit by a cable 54'.
A photocell 48' is mounted to only one of the spray
heads 18'. When it senses the presence of a package, it
transmits a start signal to the central processing unit 22.
The central processing unit, in accordance with the inputted
instructions then transmits a signal to each of the spray
i, heads to initiate the application of the adhesive/cohesive
" material.
If desired, an operator could input commands into the -
central processing unit through the keyboard which would
, cause the spray heads 18' to dispense adhesive/cohesive
materials at different times or at different points along
the surface 20 of the package 12.
As previously mentioned, the flow control unit 16 may
have three or more fluid outlets to which three or more
spray heads could be attached. If desired, a series of
spray stations 74 may be set up in conjunction with a
plurality of different conveyor lines. For example, one
~ spray station having three spray heads could be arranged on
; 20 three different conveyor lines to simultaneously apply
adhesive/cohesive material to packages travelling along the
`1 conveyor lines. One of the advantages of the present
invention is that only one operator station with one central
~` processing unit, one keyboard and one display unit is
required to operate such an arrangement of spray stations.
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While the present invention has been described with a
keyboard and a display device for inputting information into
the central processing unit, it should be recognized that
these components of the system could be replaced by a
handheld unit 76 having a Xeypad and a display screen.
There will be instances of use of the automated system
` of the present invention where there will be a great
distance between the source 14 of adhesive/cohesive material
and the flow control unit 16. In such instances, an
optional pump 80 may be installed in the system as shown in
Fig. 1 to pump adhesive/cohesive material from the source 14
to the flow control unit 16. Such a pump may be required
when the distance between the source and the flow control
`` unit is greater than about ten feet. While any conventional
pump known in the art may be used for the pump 80, an air
'!
diaphragm pump is preferred. If desired, a filter (not
;~ shown) may be placed between the source of adhesive/cohesive
; material and the inlet to the pump 80 to remove undesirable
impurities from the adhesive/cohesive material.
As can be seen from the foregoing description, an
~! automated system for applying an adhesive/cohesive material
to a surface of a package to be palletized has been
described. The system is quite advantageous in that it
offers better control of the manner in which the .
adhesive/cohesive material is applied to an object such as a
~`!
package or container to be palletized. It is also
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advantageous in that it can accommodate the processing of a
wide variety of packages and containers without the need to
make numerous mechanical adjustments to the system. In
fact, in many cases, it can accommodate the processing of a
wide variety of packages and containers without any
mechanical adjustment at all. The system of the present
invention allows numerous spray patterns to be inputted into
a central processing unit and stored for later retrieval.
The system is also user friendly.
Still another advantage of the system of the present
invention is that is controls the sequence of spraying the
containers. For example, if forty containers are to be
included in a pallet load, with four layers and ten
- containers in each layer, the inventive system can be
programmed to spray thirty containers and then skip the next
ten. The last tem containers, forming the top layer of the
palletized load, do not require spraying with the
` adhesive/cohesive bonding agent.
It is apparent that there has been provided in
accordance with this invention a jet spray applicator for
` viscous liquids including adhesive/cohesive solutions which
fully satisfies the objects, means, and advantages set forth
hereinbefore. While the invention has been described in
combination with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident
that many alternatives, modifications, and variations will
~" be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the
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: foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to
: embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations
as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended
claims.
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