Formloada Automatic Bag Forming & Loading
The Formloada20 is a system to automatically produce a bag from a roll of tubular material, to open the formed bag and present it for automatic filling with a 20 kg cheese block from the Blockformer. One Formloada20 is provided for each Blockformer. Each Formloada20 is fully integrated into the main block transfer conveyor with all major components being housed below the conveyor surface.
The system can produce both flat or gusset bags, depending on the material source.
The benefits of the Formloada20 system include:
- Presents both flat and gusseted bags
- Reduction in the bag cost by using roll material
- Ability to select bag type to match market requirements
- Reduction in labour cost by eliminating the manual application of the bag and the preparation of the filled bag for vacuum sealing
- High integrity seal applied as part of bag forming process
- Bag material handling and storage volume reduced
- Each roll of bag material represents many hours of production thereby increasing line efficiency
- Bag length can be adjusted on demand to suit product type
- Loading system reliability improved because bag material is never released
- Compact design - integrated into conveyor system
- Manual application of bags possible if required
- Ability to reduce Blockformer spacing if required
- Clear space maintained for cleaning of Blockformer door area
The Formloada20 system is integrated into the main Blockformer conveyor.
Each Formloada20 comprises a number of functions and assemblies for the production and presentation of the cheese bag for automatic filling with cheese.
The system uses tubular bag material in roll format. This can be either flat or pre gusseted film. The maximum roll diameter is 500 mm.
The heat-sealing system provides a high integrity single or double seal. The sealing process is variable to suit the bag material type..
For maintenance and line optimisation, the Formloada20 can be removed from its working position to allow routine maintenance to be undertaken with ease. This removable module includes the pneumatic valves and the plc control, but excludes the bag trays. The bag spreader remains in front of the Blockformer to allow manual bag loading to continue if required.
Automatic Bag Preparation System
The bag preparation system is designed to locate the open end of the bag and prepare it for subsequent vacuum sealing, removing the need for operator contact with the open bag mouth.
The system will prepare both flat and gusset bags.
The system comprises three conveyors in series. The first conveyor marshals and aligns the cheese block, the second conveyor correctly locates and positions the cheese block for bag mouth preparation, and spot welds the folded bag to ensure that is remains in the correctly folded position. The third conveyor buffers the prepared blocks prior to vacuum sealing.
The system has a non-intrusive, non-contact bag mouth opening device and a set of 6 fingers that fold the bag in the desired manner. Once the bag mouth has been prepared it is held whilst the fingers retract before allowing the block to proceed to the vacuum sealing machine. In situations where the vacuum sealing system is remote, the prepared bag mouth can be spot welded to hold securely during transportation.
In operation, the cheese block is sensed on the marshalling conveyor. The bag is pre-opened. If the preparation conveyor is empty, the cheese block will be transferred and positioned correctly for the "preparation" process.