Shortening the molding tube reduces the risk of product damage, especially for heavy weights of 5 kg. Here we introduce the improved form-fill-seal machine to seal the big bag more robust and open up new market areas.
Perhaps you have noticed that recently, in supermarkets, whether it is high-priced fresh potatoes, or ordinary potatoes of 2 kg and 5 kg, the packaging has begun to use the pillow-type packaging made by the vertical molding-filling-sealing machine. Maybe you will disagree with this because after all this packaging machine has been around for decades, there is nothing new about pillow packaging, and many foreign companies have been using it to package all types of products from potato chips to potatoes. The real question, however, is: Why has such a long time passed that a highly efficient and low-cost vertical form-fill-seal machine really entered the packaging plant's production line? There are two answers to this question: First, until recently, vertical form-fill-seal machines have been working hard to encapsulate at a given speed with sufficient strength to withstand the weight of potatoes; second, a standard vertical molding process. - The distance between the top of the molding tube of the filling-sealing machine and the sealing jaws is too long, which can easily damage the bottom of the package when the potatoes fall. For many years, packaging plants have been using prefabricated bags, plastic pallets, and filming machines to minimize the drop.
Nowadays, the latest vertical form-fill-seal technology has broken through these two difficulties. It can achieve sufficient strength of the seal, shorten the distance of fall, and handle the humble potatoes more carefully, as well as other heavier products. . It is worth mentioning that these new technologies are not limited to one type of manufacturer. Manufacturers in different fields can use it to deal with related packaging problems in different ways, and this new generation of machines is not limited to packaging potatoes, because lowering the gap facilitates the handling of all easy-to-collapsible items.
Vertical form-filling-sealing machine solution to reduce drop
The vertical molding-filling-sealing machine is running at a high speed, so increasing its sealing strength becomes a challenge, which is what all manufacturers are trying to solve. Sandiacre's TG350-RC has made a breakthrough in this regard. It uses a conveyor belt to move the plastic film at a uniform speed so that the horizontal sealing jaws that move with the plastic film can capture the best sealing time. This machine can normally produce 50 packages weighing 5 kgs per minute. It has a specially designed low-drop forming device with a collector, which can unload the specified weight once. This not only guarantees gentle access to items but also minimizes the possibility of breakage.
The Irish potato supplier Country Crest of Lusk recently installed a TG350-RC bagging machine. This machine uses a weighing machine supplied by Newtec to feed 15 tons of 2 kg, 2.5 kg, and 5 kg of packaging each day, and no more prefabricated bags are used.
The design of the TG350-RC bagging machine proved to be successful. Now, Sandiacre has adopted the same technology and is the first to introduce a larger TG450-RC bagging machine. The latest TG250-RC bagging machine, which retains continuous braking devices, has also entered the market. The TG250-RC bagging machine can be used for fresh-keeping products such as carrots, potatoes and lettuce slices. It is also suitable for packaging foods such as sweets and snacks. The device can produce 160 standard 150mm long bag bags per minute.
At the same time, Hastamat also introduced bags and packaging equipment that can reduce the drop height of packaged products. This model, the RX 220, does not require a reduction in the belt speed, but uses servo-driven two sets of complementary sealing jaws to alternately actuate, ie grab, seal, and pull off the plastic film. The sealer uses ultrasonic welding, which reduces the length of the sealing table, typically up to 400 mm, to only 50 mm. Therefore, Hastamat was able to abandon the conventional forming tube and attached a short ring underneath the shoulder of the former, thus reducing the normal 1000 mm drop height to only 350 mm. The advantage of this design is that it reduces the time it takes for the bag to be pulled and inflated, making the sealing time more abundant. Each movement of the plastic seals of the two sets of sealing jaws has earned a sufficient residence time for the heat-sealing of the heat-sealable material and the polyethylene to achieve the effect of the airtight seal. For example, for 200 bags per minute, each 200-mm bag has a dwell time of 300 microseconds.
Hastamat also pointed out that because the movement path of the sealing jaw is a combination of rotation and straight line, the time interval between the two actions can directly peel the product off the sealing area without additional tool assistance. The delivery of the plastic film can be done from the front or rear end of the device for conventional pillow pouches, and from the left or right end for sealing of side or upright bags. Therefore, for all vertical form-fill-seal machine manufacturers, the key to successful processing of potatoes or other fragile products is to reduce the height of the molded tube.
High-volume machine solutions
In fact, it is not just vertical form-fill-seal machines that are trying to reduce the drop height. The German manufacturer T2 Packaging has developed a new high-volume machine. It is said that for the first time, this large-scale machine has many features of a small-scale vertical form-fill-seal machine, including not only the shorter ones, but also Continuous film and automatic tension control make production faster.
This machine also uses horizontal sealing rods, cutters, and reinforcement tools that are independently driven by the servo system. They move with the plastic film, and the two sets of load cells in the capstan drive can precisely control the pressure of the sealing jaws. Typical speeds for dry products (such as pet food and ingredients) are 25 kg, 18 bags/minute; 15 kg, 4 bags/minute; 3 kg, 8 bags/minute.
However, the faster production speed does not mean that it needs to speed up the delivery speed or the feed rate. Toyo Machine's solution is to use multiple vertical form-fill-seal machines to increase production so that there is no need to speed up online transmission. Toyo Machine's packaging equipment can be used to pack powders, granules, and liquids. It uses a sliding tray on each wire or a single servo-driven screw feed to handle different products from a specific feed system.
Create different packaging style solutions
Bosch Packaging has also developed a low pitch, as well as packaging equipment for complementary cross-sealing machines. The equipment has a high production speed and high sealing quality, and it also expands the performance of vertical form-filling-sealing machines and can produce more types of packaging bags. For example, the new Bosch SVE 2510DR packaging machine can produce standard pillow bags, square bottom bags, and vertical bags. The fastest production speed can reach 180 standard bags per minute or 100 oval bottom vertical bags. In addition, shortened molding tubes also greatly reduce product damage.
Shaped bag packaging is now very popular in the market, but past vertical form-fill-seal machines have made product filling and bag shape very limited. Now, Bosch's SVE 2510AR bag packaging equipment can overcome this obstacle. The device can be continuously braked and can produce 80 captive standing pouches per minute. When vertically cutting a corner, the printed pattern on the back of the bag will not be affected, and the corner will make the bag more stable. The normal angle sealing machine can complete the sealing of the four corners, while the SVE2510AR only performs the sealing of the three corners when the plastic film moves horizontally. In this way, not only is the drop distance shortened (this is particularly important for those products that are afraid of bumping), it is also possible to replace non-square shaped tubes with round shaped tubes so that the screw has a larger diameter for faster feeding.
Forming-filling-sealing equipment not only has the advantages of high speed, complex packaging components, and the ability to make unique packaging styles, so the demand for such machines with standard speed pillows for conventional production is also high.
Whitefields Produce packs thousands of tons of carrots every year. Now it has abandoned prefabricated bags and switched to the Etna Hi-Tec vertical form-fill-seal machine from Ulma Packaging. The servo-driven machine reached 80 bags per minute and the performance was satisfactory from the beginning. According to the relevant person in charge of Whitefields, this machine has demonstrated 100% reliability since the moment of installation.
Source: Huayin Media