DESC:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10, Rule 13]

A HIGH-SPEED VFFS PACKING MACHINE WITH DOUBLE TRANSVERSE SEALING HEAD, FOR LIQUID FILLING & PACKING

UFLEX LIMITED
(A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF INDIA)
305, III FLOOR, BHANOT CORNER, PAMPOSH ENCLAVE,
GK-1, NEW DELHI-110048, INDIA

THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED:

A HIGH-SPEED VFFS PACKING MACHINE WITH DOUBLE TRANSVERSE SEALING HEAD, FOR LIQUID FILLING & PACKING
FIELD OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[001] The present invention relates to a machine for producing packages filled with liquid products. More particularly the present invention relates to a continuous vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine for forming a film into three side seal packages, filled with liquid / viscous products, in particular oils, ghee etc., having a single vertical sealing head and a pair of transverse sealing heads for sealing the pouches vertically and transversally, each by an impulse sealing arrangement, respectively. The present invention also provides methods of operating the transverse sealing mechanism that optimizes the timing and coordination of the transverse sealing assembly movement, with no idle time as well as minimizing the energy consumption of the machine thereby improving the productivity of the packing machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[002] The vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine is the most preferred machine for oil packing, as the horizontal form fill seal mechanism is less efficient than VFFS. The VFFS oil pouch packing machines available in the market use moving vertical and transverse sealing mechanisms in single planes respectively, to seal filled pouches. Further, the vertical sealing mechanism may be fixed, and the transverse sealing may be moving. This mechanism offers satisfactory seal but due to the intermittent operation the production of sealed pouches is low.
[003] The market offers a wide variety of flexible pouches for filling liquid products like oil, ghee, shampoo, paints in pillow packages, flat packages, three sides sealed packages, four sides sealed packages and standing packages etc. Generally, these packages are made on a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine which forms a roll of a film or laminate into pouches filled online with product and sealed in sequence. The film unwinds from a web roll through unwinder that is formed into a tube with the side edges thereof held overlapped while the film is transferred downwards along a vertical transfer route. The overlapped side edges of the film from a forming assembly are bonded (lap, fin or pinch sealed for example) by a pair of vertical sealing jaws of a vertical sealing assembly to form a tube.
[004] After that, this tube is guided between a pair of transverse sealing jaws which laterally seal to close the open end of the tube. Then, each time the product to be packed is dropped in the tube in predefined quantity by a filling mechanism, the transverse sealing jaws perform a horizontal seal on the tube, above the filled product to form the pouch. The horizontal sealed band on the tube has the width equal to sealing band required on top of lower pouch and bottom of preceding pouch so that when the cutter moves forward through the sealing jaw to cut the sealed band in the middle, the bottom pouch is separated, and lower end of the preceding pouch remains closed. However, in some cases the cutter is designed to provide perforations in the middle of sealed band instead of through cut and a continuous strip of pouches comes out where pouches can be separated by tearing, each pouch having the product sealed therein, are produced in sequence. Pouches are either separated by transverse sealing cutter or perforated between the two consecutive pouches.
[005] However, these packing machines use a single pair of transverse sealing jaws to seal the pouches transversely after filling them. The vertical formed tube moves downwards intermittently and stops when the transverse sealing jaws close. Hence, this method has low efficiency because the jaws must move back and forth between sealing and cutting positions of bottom and top side of the filled pouches, creating an idle time during machine operation.
[006] The machine described above produces N number of pouches per hour and to increase production further, it is required to have at least two separate machines with power and all utilities individually provided to each machine. This idea is not very economical since it requires a large area to install multiple machines and provide multiple sets of power and utilities to operate the machines. Thus, there is a need for a packing machine which has a higher production rate, which significantly reduces manufacturing cost of machines, power consumption, save space and manpower.
[007] The conventional machine has a speed of approx. 25~30 packs / minute. Thus, a better solution is needed to improve the productivity of vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machines by minimizing the idle time in machine operation.
[008] The present invention provides a VFFS machine with an improved transverse sealing mechanism, which can seal the continuously downwards moving tube in transverse direction to achieve higher speed production maintaining desired seal integrity. The main advantage of the present invention is to provide a packing machine capable of producing approx. 65 packs/ minute without leakage while consuming less power and can save approx. 80% floor space.
[009] The present invention converts intermittent motion of vertically formed tube of film / laminate into a continuous movement to achieve more production without compromising on seal strength, thus achieving the hermetic seal. A secure seal ensures that there is no leakage of filled product and the content remains contamination free.
OBJECT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0010] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:
[0011] An object of the present invention is to ameliorate one or more of the problems of the prior art or at least provide a useful alternative.
[0012] Another object of the present invention is to provide a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine for liquid / viscous products having an improved transverse sealing assembly to seal and cut the packages transversely in continuously moving tube.
[0013] Another object of the present invention is to provide a VFFS packing machine having a vertical sealing head and a pair of transverse sealing heads to produce packages efficiently and accurately.
[0014] Another object of the present invention is to provide a VFFS packing machine that has a transverse sealing mechanism with a pair of transverse sealing assembly for sealing and cutting or perforating, where each pair of transverse sealing jaws alternately performs transverse sealing and cutting operations.
[0015] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of operating the transverse sealing assembly which eliminates the idle time of the machine during the transverse sealing and cutting.
[0016] Another object of the present invention is to provide methods of operating the transverse sealing mechanism that optimizes the timing and coordination of the jaws movements to achieve higher speed of operation and reduce effective energy consumption of the machine.
[0017] Another object of the present invention is to provide a vertically traversing vertical impulse sealing arrangement with cyclic synchronized opening and closing of a front vertical sealing jaw.
[0018] Another object of the present invention is to provide packages with high seal strength and reliability, for packing laminates or films.
[0019] Another object of the present invention is to provide a VFFS packing machine having an improved transverse sealing assembly to avoid burst opening of filled pouches by displacing some product out of pouch being formed and avoid ballooning of pouch.
[0020] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing three sides sealed pouches from a film of a packaging substrate fed along a film transfer path, each said pouch comprising a pair of transverse and one vertical sealing band of overlapping edges.
[0021] The present invention also aims to offer a high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) machine that operates in a continuous motion and is adequately designed to fill liquids, gels, and other similar products where sealing is difficult requiring more seal time and consistency.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0022] The present invention relates to a packing machine for producing three side sealed pouches filled with liquid / viscous products like oil, ghee, etc. The machine has a pair of covers to cover the sub-assemblies of the machine and a film loading frame assembly to provide support to sub-assemblies for film loading, unwinding. The machine comprises an unwinder, film joint / splicing-pasting assembly and dancer assembly driven by an AC motor. The unwinder assembly unwinds a film roll by an AC motor drive in a film transfer path. Along the path, the machine comprises a plurality of dancer rollers to guide, feed and maintain the film (F) buffer to the machine. The machine further comprises a film pulling assembly driven by a servo motor to pull the film from the dancer roller assembly. The film fed to a forming assembly along the path which folds the film into two equal halves with both the edges across the width of the web, meeting either on left side or right side. The machine further comprises a photocell assembly to detect the registration marks on the film and send a signal to a tube pulling assembly. The machine further comprises a vertical sealing assembly having a pair of vertical sealing jaws, in a direction parallel to the film transfer path configured for vertically traversing vertical sealing the folded moving film to form a tube with one side seal. The vertical sealing is performed by an impulse sealing arrangement.
[0023] Since the film tube pulling is continuous, the vertical sealing assembly with opening and closing of sealing jaws, also moves up-down along with the moving tube during the impulse sealing. The vertical sealing assembly is guided by a pair of guide rods, each guide rod having a guide block and guide bush to move on the respective guide rods, which are mounted on the main body of the machine, which helps the vertical sealing assembly to move up-down with the help of a servo motor, along the moving film tube. The film is vertically sealed by an impulse sealer configured on the front vertical sealing jaw of the vertical sealing assembly and a pad is provided in a back vertical jaw for support and cooling during the sealing. The single pair of vertical sealing jaws seals the film by impulse sealing along its length to form a long continuously moving tube. The vertical sealing assembly moves in up and down direction, driven by the servo motor and the front jaw of vertical sealing assembly opens and closes by actuating a pneumatic cylinder.
[0024] The machine further comprises a tube pulling assembly to pull the tube downwards while maintaining the tension in the tube. Further it also corelates with the photocell assembly which sends a signal to the tube pulling assembly to match the registration mark and continuously feeds the tube to a transverse sealing assembly maintaining registration with the transverse seal. The tube pulling assembly comprises a servo motor to regulate the speed for pulling the tube downwards according to the positioning of the registration marks based on the photocell assembly signal. The machine further comprises a product filling assembly for filling the desired liquid / viscous products into the tube after the first transverse seal is performed by a transverse sealing assembly.
[0025] The transverse sealing assembly of the present invention is a double transverse sealing head assembly comprising a base mounting plate (801) to mount the sub-assemblies of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), a pair of transverse sealing head assemblies: LH (left hand) head sealing assembly and RH (right hand) head sealing assembly, each having a pair of transverse sealing jaws, alternating in loops of fixed paths for transverse sealing while moving with the tube to offer a longer seal time and cutting or perforating the tube to form three-sides sealed pouches and a pair of LH head drive assembly and RH head drive assembly provided for up-down drive of the LH head sealing assembly and the RH head sealing assembly of the double transverse sealing head assembly, respectively. Further, the LH head sealing assembly comprises a pair of LH transverse sealing jaws. Similarly, the RH head sealing assembly comprises a pair of RH transverse sealing jaws. The double transverse sealing head assembly seals the tube transversally by an impulse sealing arrangement. In LH and RH transverse sealing head assembly, the front transverse sealing jaw comprises a pad to support the sealing and the back transverse sealing jaw comprises an impulse sealer along with an impulse wire cutter to perform the impulse sealing and cutting or perforating simultaneously. Both the pair of LH and RH transverse sealing jaws of the LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly are movable sequentially and cyclically, to continue transverse sealing of the moving tube.
[0026] According to another embodiment, the LH and RH back transverse sealing jaw, each may comprise a pad to support the sealing and the LH and RH front transverse sealing jaw, each may comprise an impulse sealer along with an impulse wire cutter to perform the impulse sealing and cutting or perforating simultaneously.
[0027] The double transverse sealing head assembly is driven by, preferably but not limited to, a plurality of servo motors or pneumatic cylinders or a combination thereof. The LH head and RH head sealing assembly are guided on the main frame on a pair of two guide rods and clamped on a belt drive system of the LH head drive and RH head drive assembly respectively, at mirror position to each other. The LH head and RH head sealing assembly move up and down and cross each other in loop. To move LH head and RH head sealing assembly, preferably two servo motors are provided to give respective drive for the up-down movement.
[0028] According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pair of (front and back) transverse jaws of each LH head and RH head sealing assemblies open and close by the actuation of a geared servo motor attached with an eccentric wheel having an eccentric pin on the face of the eccentric wheel which is connected with a tie rod having rod ends that are provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end and the distal end. The proximal end is connected to the eccentric pins on the eccentric wheels and the distal end of the tie rod is connected to the LH and RH head front bodies, coupled with the front arms having transverse sealing jaws.
[0029] The machine is running continuously, and both the LH and RH transverse sealing jaws cross each other so the transverse sealing jaws of LH and RH head sealing assembly open and close in a close loop path.
[0030] The actuating means of the sealing jaw assembly may be mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, electric, rotary or any other actuating mechanism known in the art.
[0031] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the pair of (front and back) transverse jaws of each LH head and RH head sealing assemblies open and close by the actuation of a pneumatic cylinder assemblies, each assembly having a pneumatic cylinder, a cylinder holding pin provided to configure and hold the pneumatic cylinder, which is connected with a tie rod having rod end provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end and the distal end, connected to the LH and RH head front bodies, coupled with the front arms.
[0032] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the pair of (front and back) transverse jaws of each LH and RH head sealing assemblies may open and close by actuation of a servo motor with a belt drive mechanism, each for LH and RH sides. Two servo motors drive the timing belts which are linked with levers having rod ends provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end and the distal end. The proximal end is connected with the timing belt and distal end is connected to the LH and RH head back bodies, coupled with the back arms, to give drive for the LH and RH head sealing assemblies open-close, respectively.
[0033] Further, the LH and RH head sealing assembly of the double transverse sealing head assembly of the present invention moves up-down with a plurality of servo motors. The servo motors generate both the cyclic and sequential motion of the LH and RH transverse sealing assembly. The double transverse sealing head assembly seals the tube in a cyclic and sequential manner such that one pair of transverse sealing jaws seals and cut or perforates the lower end while the other pair of transverse sealing jaws seals the upper end of the tube against the product filling and cuts or perforated the packing pouches into an individual pouch or sequence of multiple pouches.
[0034] The up-down motion may be with servo, pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric or any other actuating mechanism known in the art.
[0035] The traversing of vertical sealing assembly and movement of LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly provides a longer seal time to ensure the sealing is proper without any leakage.
[0036] The present invention also provides a method of producing three sides sealed pouches from a film of a packaging substrate fed along a film transfer path, each said pouch comprising a pair of transverse and one vertical sealing band of overlapping edges.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0037] The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the appended schematic drawings, which show examples of presently non-limiting preferred embodiments of the present invention. In the drawings:
[0038] FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show isometric views of the front and back of the machine, respectively, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0039] FIGS. 3A-3C show isometric views of various sub-assemblies in accordance with exemplary embodiments and other embodiments of the present invention;
[0040] FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of an unwinder, a film joint / splicing-pasting assembly and a dancer assembly in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0041] FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of a film pulling assembly in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0042] FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of a vertical sealing assembly in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0043] FIG.7 shows an isometric view of a tube pulling assembly in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0044] FIGS. 8A-8C show isometric views of a double transverse sealing head assembly in accordance with an exemplary embodiment and other embodiments of the present invention;
[0045] FIG. 8D shows a side view of a double transverse sealing head assembly (in transverse sealing condition) in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;
[0046] FIG. 9 shows an isometric view of double transverse sealing heads up-down drive assemblies in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
[0047] FIGS. 10A-10C show exploded isometric views of a double transverse sealing head assembly in accordance with an exemplary and other embodiment of the present invention; and
[0048] FIGS. 11A-11B show a top and side views of a double transverse sealing head assembly (in transverse sealing condition) in accordance with an exemplary and another embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0049] For a thorough understanding of the invention, reference is to be made to the following description in connection with the above-mentioned drawings. Although the invention is described in connection with exemplary embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein. It is understood that various omissions and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstances may suggest or render expedient, but these are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Further, it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation in the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the figures and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, layout and procedures, and devices are omitted so, not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary detail. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. Further, reference herein to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, characteristic, or function described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Furthermore, the appearances of such phrase at various places herein are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. The terms "a" and "an" herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.
[0050] For reference purposes and to explain the preferred but not limited embodiment of the present invention, reference numerals are used to refer to the respective assemblies and parts of the LH head and RH head of the machine, performing the same mechanism in alternate manner. Further, for the sake of brevity, the preferred embodiment and the other embodiments will be explained with common reference numerals and avoiding the repetition of the explanation of the same assemblies. However, the major components of another embodiment are denoted by a different reference numeral.
[0051] In addition, it should be understood that any one or more of the disclosed embodiments, expressions of embodiments, and/or examples thereof, can be combined with any one or more of the other disclosed embodiments, expressions of embodiments, and/or examples thereof, without limitation.
[0052] Also, in the following description, it is to be understood that terms such as front, back, top, bottom and the like are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms. The terminology used herein is not meant to be limiting in so far as devices described herein, or portions thereof, may be attached or utilized in other orientations. The various embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.
[0053] The packaging substrate may be mono or multilayer film, laminate of different layers of polymers, or combination of polymers, paper, paper board, non-woven, metallization, metal foil etc., herein after referred as “film”.
[0054] Further, it may be contemplated that any transverse sealing head assembly, i.e., either LH (820a or 820b or 820c) or RH (860a or 860b or 860c) of a double transverse sealing head assembly (800), may start the transverse sealing process when the machine is started.
[0055] In various embodiments, the present invention described is related to a vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine (10) used for packing liquid and other pourable products. The packing machine (10) forms three side seal packages from packing substrate, filled with desired liquid / viscous products in calibrated quantity. The packing machine (10) includes various units and mechanisms to carry out the filling and packing processes.
[0056] FIGS. 1 & 2 show isometric front and back views of a high-speed VFFS packing machine with double transverse sealing head, for liquid filling & packing (10) in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The machine (10) has a pair of covers (10a, 10b) to cover the sub-assemblies of the machine. Further, the machine (10) has a film loading frame assembly (140) to provide support. FIGS. 3A-3C show isometric views of various sub-assemblies along with film path in accordance with an exemplary and other embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 1, 2 & 3A-3C, show the machine (10) of the present invention comprising an unwind assembly having an unwind shaft (101) to unwind a film (F) from a roll (R) of packaging substrate using an AC motor drive (950) having an AC motor (A1); a film splicing-pasting / joint assembly (130) provided to join a new roll of a film when the active film roll (R) is near end or to be exhausted; a dancer roller assembly (150) to guide, feed and maintain buffer length of the film (F) to the machine (10); a film pulling assembly (200) to pull the film (F) from the dancer roller assembly (150); a former assembly (300) to form and fold the film (F) in equal halves matching the film edges at either side for a tube (T) formation; a photocell assembly (400) to detect the registration mark on the printed film (F) and send a signal to a tube pulling assembly (600); a vertical sealing assembly (500) to vertically seal the moving film (F) to form a one side sealed tube (T) with both ends of the film (F) folded either left or right; a tube pulling assembly (600) for pulling the tube (T) in accordance with the registration mark with respect to the package length; a product filling assembly (700) for filling the desired product into a two side sealed tube (T); a double transverse sealing head assembly (800) to transversally seal and cut or perforate the tube (T) to form a three side sealed pouch (P); a pouch support assembly (900) to outfeed the formed pouches (P); a power supply (920) to energize impulse sealing wire (I) and cutting wire (W); an electrical panel (930) for the common electrical supply for the various assemblies by a control panel; and an HMI panel (940) for digitally setting up parameters and controlling the various assemblies of the present invention.
[0057] The transverse sealing head assembly of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C, is a double transverse sealing head assembly (800) comprising a base mounting plate (801) to mount the sub-assemblies of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), a pair of transverse sealing head assembly: LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c), alternating in loops of fixed paths provided for continuously transverse sealing with an impulse sealer (I) and cutting or perforating the tube (T) with an impulse wire cutter (W) to form three-side sealed pouches (P), sequentially and cyclically; and a pair of LH head drive assembly (810) and RH head drive assembly (850) provided for up-down drive of the LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and the RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c), of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), respectively.
[0058] The LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c) of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) move up-down by respective timing belts (815, 855) driven by the LH and RH up-down drive assembly (810, 850), respectively. The servo motor-based tube pulling system coupled with photocell assembly (400) having mark sensor, ensures registered and accurate pulling of the tube (T) by varying the speed of tube pulling downwards. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) will be explained later in detail.
[0059] It is seen from FIGS. 1, 2 & 3A-3C, a plurality of servo motors (S1-S5) are used to give drive to the respective assemblies. The servo motor (S1) is provided for the film (F) pulling, servo motor (S2) is provided to give drive for the vertical sealing assembly (500) up-down movement, servo motor (S3) is provided to pull the tube (T) and to regulate the speed of downwards tube pulling based on the registration mark / eye mark, servo motors (S4, S5) are provided for LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c) up-down motion with the help of the timing belts (815, 855) respectively.
[0060] FIG. 4 shows a combined isometric view of unwinder, film joint / splicing pasting and dancer assemblies (100) of the present invention. The unwinder comprises an unwinder shaft (101), onto which a roll (R) of film (F) is mounted. The film (F) unwinds with the help of the unwind assembly driven using the AC motor drive (950) having the AC motor (A1). The AC motor (A1) drives a pulley (117) to move the belt (119) to rotate unwind shaft (101) coupled with driven pulley (118). The film joint assembly (130) (hereinafter refer as pasting assembly) comprises a roller (103); a plate (104), a film gripping shaft (105), a plurality of O- rings (106) to hold the film from a new roll. It is used when the active roll is near the end and splicing needs to be performed with the web from a new roll. Further, an auto splicing system may be used to perform auto splicing.
[0061] Along with the film transfer, the machine (10) further comprises a dancer roller assembly (150) comprising a plurality of rollers (112, 113) to store and feed the film (F) to the former assembly (300). The rollers (112) in fixed frame and rollers (113) in up-down moving frame, routes the film (F) in loops over rollers (112) and (113). The dancer roller assembly (150) further comprises a pair of rod holding brackets (109) to hold a pair of guide rods (110) respectively on to which guide bushes (108) are mounted to guide and move the plurality of rollers (112, 113) up-down smoothly; a sensor mounting bracket (114) for mounting plurality of proximity sensors (115); a plurality of proximity sensors (115), preferably but not limited to four in numbers, which sense the level positioning of the moving rollers (113) to give signal to AC drive assembly (950) to give drive to unwind shaft (101) to feed the film (F) through rollers (112, 113) to maintain buffer of film (F) for continuous uninterrupted supply of the film (F). The vertically arranged proximity sensors (115) are configured such that the lowest sensor stops the unwind indicating that the buffer has max. length of film (F), and the topmost sensor moves the unwind shaft (101) at maximum speed to feed more film (F) in the dancing roller assembly (150) and maintain buffer. As the film (F) from buffer is used by the machine (10) the moving dancer rollers (113) move up and the second sensor senses and moves the unwind shaft (101) at slow speed but if the machine (10) is running at higher speed the film quickly reached third sensor which signals the unwind (101) to move at even higher speed to feed more film (F). This dynamic control keeps a close loop control in maintaining film buffer based on diameter of the roll and speed of the machine (10) performing pouching.
[0062] A batch coder (107) is provided under the dancer roller assembly (150) to print batch code, date etc. on the film (F) moving in front of the batch coder (107).
[0063] FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of a film pulling assembly (200) according to the present invention. The film pulling assembly (200) comprises a roller (206), a driven roller (205), a pulling roller (204) along with a belt pulley system having a timing pulley (201) and a timing belt (202). The film pulling assembly (200) further comprises a servo motor (S1) to give drive to the timing pulley (201) which rotates to pull the film (F) from the dancer roller assembly (150). The film pulling assembly (200) further comprises a pair a pneumatic cylinders (203, 203’) to press the film (F) to avoid film slippage from the film path; a pair of guide shafts (207) is mounted on the side plate (210) of the main frame of the machine (10), a pair of mounting brackets (208) are provided to mount a roller (not shown) onto it for smooth feeding of the film (F) to the former assembly (300).
[0064] The former assembly (300) is provided to fold the film (F) and form a tube (T) for a three-side seal pouch (P). The edges of the film are folded, overlapped and matched at one side i.e., either left or right, as per requirement and the vertical sealing assembly (500) shall be positioned accordingly.
[0065] FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of a vertical sealing assembly (500) of the present invention. The vertical sealing assembly (500) comprises a pair of vertical sealing jaws (front and back) (502a, 502b) for vertical side sealing on either left or right side, as per the requirement; a front vertical sealer mounting arm (501) is hinged on one side onto which the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) is mounted; a belt drive system which is equipped with two pullies (503, 514) on which the timing belt (512) is attached. The vertical sealing assembly (500) grips on this belt (512) of the drive system. Further, a base plate (510) of the vertical sealing assembly (500) is fixed to grip the timing belt (512). The rotary motion is transmitted from the driving pulley (514) to the driven timing pulley (503); and a servo motor (S2) to give drive for up and down movement of the vertical sealing assembly (500); and a pneumatic cylinder (507) to open and close the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) of the vertical sealing assembly (500) to perform the vertical sealing. The Pneumatic cylinder (507) applies optimum sealing pressure based on the film or laminate type, sealing jaws temperature and sealing time, to ensure leak proof sealing when sealing jaws (502a, 502b) are closed during sealing. The front vertical sealing jaw (502a) closes when the vertical sealing assembly (500) is in up position and remains closed during the downwards movement of the assembly with the tube (T) and opens in the down position of the vertical sealing assembly (500) to travel back to up position in open condition.
[0066] The front vertical sealing jaw (502a) comprises an impulse sealer (I) for vertically sealing the film and the back vertical jaw (502b) comprises a pad for the support and cooling. The impulse sealer (I) seals by heating through power from the power supply (920) to a metal wire, which gets hot and melts polymer of overlapping sides of the film and fuses together thereby performing vertical sealing. The vertical sealing assembly (500) of the present invention is guided on a pair of guide rods (511) which are mounted on the machine frame. Each guide rod (511) has a pair of guide blocks (509) and a pair of guide bushes (508) as a support to move vertical sealing assembly (500) on the respective guide rods (511).
[0067] According to another embodiment the back vertical sealing jaw (502b) may comprise an impulse sealer (I) for vertically sealing the film and the front vertical jaw (502a) may comprise a pad for the support and cooling.
[0068] Since the film tube (T) is continuously pulled downwards so the vertical sealing assembly (500) also moves up and down direction with a servo motor (S2) along with the moving film tube (T) in a fixed path with the help of pair of guide bushes (508) and guide blocks (509) provided on the guide rods (511) for smooth movement of the vertical sealing assembly (500). The pair of vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) move in a direction parallel to the film moving path, is configured for sealing the folded edges either left or right, of the film (F) in the vertical direction thereby forming a tube (T) that moves downward.
[0069] The formed tube (T) is sealed along the length when it is between the vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b), in closed condition and moving downwards with the tube (T). The length of jaws (502a, 502b) is always kept longer than the stroke length of the vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) so that there is always an overlap in sealing to ensure no unsealed portion on the tube (T). The length of jaws (502a, 502b) is preferably 1.5 times of the stroke length of the vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b). The timing belt (512) moves clockwise and anti-clockwise for the up and down movement of the vertical sealing assembly (500) respectively. The vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) takes the closing position (anti-clockwise direction) for vertically sealing the overlapped folded film. After sealing and reaching the down position, the vertical sealing jaw (502a) opens and the vertical sealing assembly (500) starts moving upwards till up position when the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) closes again for the next sealing cycle.
[0070] Since the tube (T) pulling is continuous, the vertical sealing assembly (500) moves up-down during the impulse sealing and again moves upwards to seal the next portion of the tube (T) based on pouch length. The movement of the vertical sealing assembly (500) provides a large sealing dwell time and sealing pressure to ensure the vertical sealing is proper without any leakage. The optimum sealing temperature of the impulse sealer (I) is based on film or laminate used for viscous products like oil pouch packing.
[0071] FIG. 7 shows an isometric view of a tube pulling assembly (600) according to the present invention. The tube pulling assembly (600) comprises a plurality of pulling rollers (606) which grips the edges of the tube (T) across its width to avoid misalignment; a pouch guide (607) to guide the tube (T); a servo motor (S3) for tube pulling in accordance with the photocell assembly (400) signal; a belt pulley system is provided to give drive to a timing pulley (602) to drive a timing belt (603) to move in anticlockwise direction to pull the tube (T) downwards for transverse sealing, a servo motor (S3) is provided to adjust the speed of downwards tube pulling to match the registration mark in transverse seal in accordance with the signal sent by the photocell assembly (400); and a drive shaft (604) to drive a driven shaft (605) to rotate the rollers (606). The tube (T) moves downwards gripped between these pairs of the pulling rollers (606). The tube (T) moves downward and comes to a double transverse sealing head assembly (800) of the present invention.
[0072] FIGS. 8A-8D show isometric side and back views of a double transverse sealing head assembly (800) in accordance with the preferred (FIG. 8A) and other embodiments (FIGS. 8B-8D) of the present invention. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) of the present invention comprising a base mounting plate (801) to mount the sub-assemblies of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800); a pair of the transverse sealing head assembly: LH (left hand) head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH (right hand) head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c) alternating in loops of fixed paths for transverse sealing while moving with the tube (T) to offer a longer seal time and cutting or perforating the tube (T) to form a three-sides sealed pouch (P); and a pair of LH head drive assembly (810) and RH head drive assembly (850) for up-down drive of the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively. Each LH and RH transverse sealing head assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a, 860b or 860c) comprises a pair of transverse sealing jaws: a front and back transverse jaw (825a and 825b) and (865a and 865b) for LH (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH (860a, 860b or 860c) head sealing assembly, respectively.
[0073] FIG. 8A shows that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a and 825b) and (865a and 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a, 860a), respectively of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), alternating in loops of fixed paths, operates by a pair of servo motor (S6, S7) with eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism for performing the continuous transverse sealing on the tube (T), sequentially and cyclically.
[0074] FIG. 8B shows that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a and 825b) and (865a and 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820b, 860b), respectively, of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), alternating in loops of fixed paths, operates by a pair of pneumatic cylinders (PN1, PN2) for performing the continuous transverse sealing and cutting or perforation on the tube (T), sequentially and cyclically.
[0075] FIGS. 8C-8D show that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a and 825b) and (865a and 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820c, 860c) of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) alternating in loops of fixed paths, operates by a pair of servo motor (S6, S7) with belt drive system linked with a lever (829, 869) for performing the continuous transverse sealing and cutting or perforation on the tube (T), sequentially and cyclically.
[0076] FIG. 9 shows that the LH and RH head drive assembly (810, 850) comprises a pair of belt drive system each having a gear box (833 , 873-not shown) provided for speed reduction and increase in the torque; a drive timing pulley (816, 856); a driven timing pulley (817, 857); a timing belt (815, 855), a left and right support (811, 851) to support the LH and RH head drive assembly (810, 850) respectively; a pair of two parallel guide rods (819, 859) to guide the LH (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH (860a or 860b or 860c) sealing assemblies; a cam mounting plate (813, 853) to mount a LH and RH guide cam (812, 852); a LH and RH head guide cam (812, 852) through which both the LH and RH followers (812f, 852f) at both the ends of LH and RH front and back head arms (821, 822) and (861, 862) of the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively, enter so that both the arms (821, 822) and (861, 862) press the sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), equally in every cycle without any deflection, being cantilever arms; and a servo motor (S4, S5) provided for the up-down movement of the LH and RH head assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively to obtain maximum sealing time, resulting in better sealing quality and strength. Both the LH and RH sealing assemblies (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) are guided in main frame mounted on a pair of two parallel guide rods (819, 859) and clamped on the timing belt (815, 855) of the LH and RH head drive assembly (810, 850), respectively at mirror position to each other.
[0077] FIGS. 10A-10C show the open-close mechanism of the pair of transverse sealing jaws of the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) of the present invention. The LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) comprise a pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), respectively actuated by a servo motor with eccentric wheel mechanism or a pneumatic cylinder assembly or a servo motor with belt drive mechanism.
[0078] According to the preferred embodiment, FIG. 10A shows that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a) and (860a), respectively, actuated by a servo motor with eccentric wheel mechanism in which a geared servo motor (S6, S7) attached with an eccentric wheel (830, 870) having an eccentric pin (832, 872) on the face of the eccentric wheel (830, 870) which is connected with a tie rod (831, 871) having rod ends (834, 834’) and (874, 874’), respectively, are provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end (834, 874) and the distal end (834’, 874’). The proximal end (834, 874) is connected to the eccentric pin (832, 872) on the eccentric wheels (830, 870) and the distal end (834’, 874’) of the tie rod (831, 871) is connected to the LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), respectively, coupled with the LH and RH front arms (821, 861), respectively.
[0079] According to another embodiment, FIG. 10B shows that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820b) and (860b), respectively, actuated by a pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2), a cylinder holding pin (827, 867) provided to configure and hold the pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2), which is connected with a tie rod having rod end (828, 868) respectively, provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end and the distal end, connected to LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), respectively, coupled with the LH and RH front arms (821, 861), respectively.
[0080] According to another embodiment, FIG. 10 C shows that the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820c) and (860c), respectively, actuated by a servo motor with a belt drive mechanism, each for LH (820c) and RH (860c) sides. Two servo motors (S6, S7) drive the timing belts (842, 882) which are linked with levers (829, 869) having rod ends (848, 888), respectively, provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end and the distal end. The proximal end (848, 888) is clamped on the timing belt (842, 882) and distal end (848’-not shown, 888’) is connected with the LH and RH head back bodies (824, 864), coupled with the LH and RH head back arms (822, 862), to give drive for the LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820c and 860c) open-close, respectively, in sequential and cyclical manner.
[0081] The LH back transverse sealing jaw (825a) and RH back transverse sealing jaw (865a) of LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) respectively, each comprises an impulse sealer (I) provided for impulse sealing along with impulse wire cutter (W) for cutting between the transverse sealed band, to separate the pouches, are attached on the LH and RH head back arm (822, 862) which is mounted on the LH and RH head back body (824, 864) respectively and the LH front transverse sealing jaw (825a) and the RH front transverse sealing jaw (865a), each comprises a sealing backup pad, for support and cooling during the impulse sealing, attached on the LH and RH head front arm (821, 861) which is mounted on LH and RH head front body (823, 863), respectively. The power supply (920) to impulse sealer (I) and impulse wire cutter (W) are provided through separate channels which can be timed in such a manner that the impulse sealer (I) is charged first and after the sealing initiation the impulse wire cutter (W) is charged for cutting or perforating.
[0082] According to another embodiment, the LH front transverse sealing jaw (825a) and RH front transverse sealing jaw (865a), each may comprise an impulse sealer (I) along with impulse wire cutter (W) and the LH back transverse sealing jaw (825b) and the RH back transverse sealing jaw (865b), each may comprise a sealing backup pad, for support and cooling during the impulse sealing, respectively.
[0083] When the tube (T) reaches the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), a three-sides sealed pouch (P) is formed by performing the transverse sealing by the impulse sealer (I) and cutting or perforating by the impulse wire cutter (W). As shown in FIGS. 10A-10C, the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) of the present invention has a pair of LH head (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c), having a pair of LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), respectively, each pair of the LH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) comprises an impulse sealing means for transversally sealing the pouch (T) in a sequential and cyclic manner. Thus, to ensure a proper seal strength by arresting the deflection of the LH and RH transverse front and back arms (821, 822) and (861, 862), a plurality of LH and RH followers (812f, 852f), preferably but not limited to four on each pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), are provided on both the ends of each LH and RH transverse front and back arm (821, 822) and (861, 862), respectively.
[0084] The LH and RH followers (812f, 852f) are configured to move in such a way that the pair of LH followers (812f) of each front and back arms (821, 822) move simultaneously into the LH and RH head guide cams (812, 852) which are mounted on a cam mounting plate (813, 853 not shown), respectively and the pair of RH followers (852f) of each front and back arms (861, 862) move simultaneously into both LH and RH head guide cams (812, 852) which are mounted on a cam mounting plate (813, 853-not shown), respectively such that pair of front and back arms (821, 822) and (861, 862) of LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively, press the front and back transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) equally in every cycle without any deflection being cantilever arms. The LH and RH followers (812f, 852f) arrest any deflection once they enter both the LH and RH head guide cam (812, 852) during impulse sealing and cutting, or perforating, thus providing a positive sealing.
[0085] Further, the pair of front and back transverse jaw (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively each may comprise a clamp under the jaws to avoid burst opening of filled pouches (P) by displacing some product out of pouch being formed and avoid ballooning of pouch (P).
[0086] According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 8A, the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) comprising a pair of transverse sealing head – LH head sealing assembly (820a) and RH head sealing assembly (860a) and a pair of LH drive assembly (810) and RH drive assembly (850) provided for up-down drive of the LH (820a) and RH (860a) head sealing assembly, respectively. Further, the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a, 860a), each comprises a pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) respectively; a geared servo motor (S6, S7) with cam mechanism attached with an eccentric wheel (830, 870) having an eccentric pin (832, 872) on the face of the eccentric wheel (830, 870) which is connected with a tie rod (831, 871) having rod ends (834-834’, 874-874’) provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end (834, 874) and the distal end (834’, 874’). The proximal ends (834, 874) are connected to the eccentric pins (832, 872) on the eccentric wheels (830, 870) and the distal ends (834’, 874’) of the tie rods (831, 871) are connected to the LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), coupled with the front arms (821, 861) having transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) (865a, 865b), respectively, a servo motor (S6, S7) for transverse sealing jaw (825a, 825b), (865a, 865b) open-close respectively; a gear box (833, 873); an eccentric wheel (830, 870) which is connected to the geared servo motor (S6, S7); and an eccentric pin (832, 872) on the face of the eccentric wheel (830, 870) which is connected with a tie rod (831, 871) having a pair of rod ends (834, 834’) and (874, 874’) are provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end (834, 874) and the distal end (834’, 874’). The proximal end (834, 874) is connected to the eccentric pins (832, 872) on the eccentric wheels (830, 870) and the distal end (834’, 874’) of the tie rod (831, 871) is connected to the LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), coupled with the LH and RH front arms (821, 861) having LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), respectively, adapted to seal the pouches (P), each by an impulse sealing arrangement. The geared servo motor (S6, S7) with eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism actuates the pair of the transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a, 860a) for open- close positioning for transverse sealing in sequential manner thus to ensure a continuous transverse sealing and cutting or perforating of the pouches (P).
[0087] As shown in FIGS. 10A & 11A, when the eccentric wheel (830, 870) rotates on its axis, the distal end (834’, 874’) of the tie rod (831, 871) moves forward to push and backwards to pull the front body (823, 863) on LH and RH sealing assembly (820a, 860a) while proximal end (834, 874) moves over the eccentric pin (832, 872), causing the LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), respectively, to open and close in cyclic and sequential manner such that when the distal end (834’) of the LH front body (823) is moving forward and LH sealing head assembly (820a) moving upwards, the distal end (874’) of RH head front bodies (863) is moving backwards with RH sealing head assembly (860a) moving downwards.
[0088] The LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a, 860a) is guided over the pair of two parallel guide rods (819, 859) of LH and RH up-down drive assembly (810, 850), respectively, to make a linear movement in up and down direction with the help of the servo motor (S4, S5) respectively. This causes the LH and RH head transverse sealing device (820a, 860a) to make an up and down reciprocating movement, in the direction parallel to the axis of moving film tube (T). As described earlier, the LH transverse sealing jaw (825a, 825b) moves horizontally by the servo motor (S6) with eccentric wheel (830) mechanism. Similarly, the RH transverse sealing jaw (865a, 865b) also moves horizontally by the servo motor (S7) with eccentric wheel (870) mechanism. The LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a, 860a) moves up and down in alternative manner.
[0089] The present invention also provides an improved transverse sealing mechanism. The LH head sealing assembly (820a) with front and back arms (821, 822) in closed condition moves along with the sealed tube (T) downwards, driven by the servo motor (S4) with its LH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) in a closed condition actuated by the servo motor (S6) during the impulse sealing and then moving upward driven by the servo motor (S4) its transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) in open condition, which is actuated by the servo motor (S6) with eccentric wheel (830) mechanism during the non-sealing condition (820’a), as shown in FIG. 11A along the film tube transfer path. The opening and closing of LH (821, 822) and RH (861, 862) sealing arms and up-down movement of LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820a, 860a) are synchronized and happen in loops.
[0090] When the LH transverse sealing assembly (820a) moves downwards driven by the servo motor (S4) during closing of the LH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and transverse seals the tube (T) by the impulse sealing wire (I). At the same time, the RH transverse sealing assembly (860a) moves upwards driven by the servo motor (S5) during opening of RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) to reach open condition which is actuated by the servo motor (S7) with eccentric wheel (870) mechanism during the non-sealing condition and then presses the tube (T) by closing the RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) actuated by the servo motor (S7) with eccentric wheel (870) mechanism as shown (860’a) in FIG. 11 A. Then the RH transverse sealing assembly (860a) moves downwards driven by the servo motor (S5) with its RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) in a closed condition actuated by the servo motor (S7) with eccentric wheel (870) mechanism during the impulse sealing and transverse seals the pouch (P’) by the impulse sealing means and cut the pouches (P) in between the sealed bands by the impulse cutter (W), simultaneously.
[0091] The present invention may include a toggle locking arrangement operated by servo motor with eccentric wheel mechanism where the tie rods open or close the toggle attached to the front LH and RH head body (823 and 863) to ensure equal pressure on sealing jaws in each cycle.
[0092] According to another embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 8B & 10B, the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) may comprise a pair of transverse sealing head – LH head sealing assembly (820b) and RH head sealing assembly (860b) and a pair of LH drive assembly (810) and RH drive assembly (850) provided for up-down drive of the LH (820b) and RH (860b) head sealing assembly. The LH and RH sealing head assembly (820b, 860b) comprises a pneumatic cylinder (PN1) having a cylinder holding pin (827, 867) provided to configure and hold a pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2); a rod end (828, 868) is provided to avoid misalignment; and a pair of guide brackets (826, 866) to guide the pneumatic cylinders (PN1, PN2), provided for actuating the pair the LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH transverse sealing head (820b, 860b), respectively for sealing and cutting or perforating of pouches (P). Further, the pneumatic cylinders (PN1, PN2) are configured at the front side of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) to actuates the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH transverse sealing head (820b, 860b), respectively for the open-close movement to perform the transverse sealing by the impulse sealing arrangement. Further, at the back sides of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), two servo motors (S4, S5) are configured to give respective drive for the up-down movement of the LH and RH transverse sealing head assembly (820b, 860b), respectively.
[0093] According to another embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 8C-8D show a back and an isometric view of left and right double transverse sealing head assembly (800). The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as shown in FIGS. 8C-8D, the servo motor (S6, S7) with eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism used for actuating the transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) (865a, 865b) as shown in FIG. 8A may be replaced by a servo motor (S6, S7) with belt (842, 882) drive mechanism for actuating the pair of LH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) of LH head and RH head sealing assembly (820c, 860c), respectively for sealing and cutting or perforating of pouches (P).
[0094] The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as shown in FIGS. 8C-8D may comprise a pair of transverse sealing head – LH head sealing assembly (820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860c), and a pair of LH drive assembly (810) and RH drive assembly (850) provided for up-down drive of the LH (820c) and RH (860c) head sealing assembly. The LH head sealing assembly (820c) comprise a servo motor (S6) linked with a lever (829) to give drive for the LH head sealing assembly (820c) to open-close and the RH head sealing assembly (860c) comprises another servo motor (S7) linked with a lever (869) to give drive for the RH head sealing assembly (860c) to open-close. Further, the back sides of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), two servo motors (S6, S7) are configured to give respective drive for an open-close movement of the pair of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH transverse sealing head (820c, 860c), respectively.
[0095] The LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820c) and (860c) open-close by respective servo motors (S6, S7). The LH and RH servo motors with belt drive mechanism, for actuating the pair of transverse sealing assembly jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of the LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820c) and (860c), respectively, each comprises a belt pulley system having a drive timing pulley (840, 880), a driven timing pulley (841, 881), a timing belt (842, 882); a gear box (835, 875-not shown) provided for speed reduction and increase in the torque, a linear guide (not shown) for enabling smooth, precise, and controlled linear motion to the LM block (837, 877) configured with the clamp on the timing belt (842, 882) for enhanced stability and repeatability; a lever (829, 869) with a pair of rod ends (848-848’, 888-888’) coupled at the ends of the lever (829, 869) to transfer motion; and a servo motor (S6, S7) linked with the lever (829, 869) to give drive for the pair of LH and RH head transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b), respectively, to open and close, respectively.
[0096] The linear guides are essential components. A key feature of using the linear guides is their ability to maintain steady, consistent and guided movement without rattling, thereby significantly reducing mechanical errors and increasing overall operational efficiency. A belt tightening bracket is provided to adjust the center distance between pullies (840, 841 & 880, 881) to avoid slippage of the timing belt (842, 882).
[0097] Thus, the pair of the LH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) of LH transverse sealing assembly (820c) open and close by the servo motor (S6) drive and linked with the lever (829) and the pair of the RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) of the RH transverse sealing assembly (860c) open and close by the servo motor (S7) drive and linked with the lever (869). Further, each transverse sealing assembly (820c, 860c) has levers (829, 869) to transfer the motion to the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820c) and (860c), respectively. The two servo motors (S6, S7) drive the timing belts (842, 882) which are clamped with levers (829, 869) having rod ends (848, 888), respectively, provided to avoid misalignment at its proximal end (848, 888) and the distal end (848’, 888’). The proximal end (848, 888) is clamped on the timing belt (842, 882) and distal end (848’-not shown, 888’) is connected with the LH and RH head back bodies (824, 864), coupled with the back arms (822, 862), to give drive for the LH and RH head sealing assemblies (820c and 860c) open-close, respectively.
[0098] The transverse sealing mechanism, according to the another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 8C-8D, when the transverse sealing jaw (825a, 825b) of LH head sealing assembly (820c) closes for the impulse sealing and move downwards driven by a servo motor (S4) with its closed transverse jaws (825a, 825b), actuated by a servo motor (S6) during the transverse sealing by the impulse sealer (I), at the same time, the RH head sealing assembly (860c) goes upwards driven by servo motor (S5) with its open RH transverse sealing jaw (865a, 865b) actuated by a servo motor (S7). Once the sealing is done, the LH transverse sealing jaw (825a, 825b) of the LH head sealing assembly (820c) reaches downward position and opens as shown (820’’c) by the servo motor (S6) and LH head sealing assembly (820c) moves upwards driven by the servo motor (S4) and at the same time the RH head sealing assembly (860c) moves downwards driven by servo motor (S5) while gripping the tube (T) by closing RH transverse sealing jaws (865a, 865b) for the transverse sealing as shown by position (860’’c). The clockwise rotation of the drive pulley (840) by the servo motor (S6) moves the LM block (837) connected with lever (829), backwards opening the LH back arm (822) and front arm (821), as shown in (820”c). Similarly, when the drive pulley (840) is rotated anticlockwise by the servo motor (S6) moving the LM block (837) connected with lever (829) forwards closing the LH back and front arms (822, 821). Similar operation is performed by servo motor (S7) for RH head sealing assembly (860c) but with opposite directions of the drive pulley (880) rotation.
[0099] Further, FIGS. 8C- 8D show the pouch (P) in sealing condition by RH front and back sealing arms (861, 862) in the topmost position. The RH transverse sealing jaw (865a, 865b) of RH head sealing assembly (860c) closes, as shown (860’’c) during the transverse sealing by the impulse sealing arrangement and the RH transverse sealing jaw (865a, 865b) of RH head sealing assembly (860c) opens after the impulse sealing and impulse cutting when the RH head sealing assembly (860c) reaches the downmost position. The same cycle is performed by the LH front and back arms (821, 822). Thus, the LH head sealing assembly (820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860c) move up and down with front and back arms (821, 822) (861, 862) opening and closing in fixed elliptical paths that cross each other in cyclic and sequential manner, programmed to move such that arms do not collide with each other. The machine (10) is running continuously and both LH (821, 822) and RH (861, 862) arms cross each other and the LH and RH transverse jaws (825a, 825b) (865a, 865b) of LH and RH heads sealing assembly (820c, 860c) open and close in a close loop system.
[00100] This open and close motion of LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) of LH and RH heads sealing assembly (820c, 860c), actuated by the respective LH and RH servo drive (S6, S7) enables continuous downwards movement of tube (T) for maximum pouching speed of the machine based on film type and product being fed.
[00101] FIG. 11B show a top and side view of left and right double transverse sealing head assembly (800) in a sealing condition in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. When the tube (T) comes to the double transverse sealing head assembly (800), the two transverse sealing heads assembly- LH head sealing assembly (820b) and RH head sealing assembly (860b) with the pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2) assembly works in a sequential and cyclic manner which allows for faster and more reliable sealing of the pouches (P). The side view shows LH head front and back sealing arms (821, 822) of the LH head sealing assembly (820b) in open and downwards position (820’b) while RH head front and back sealing arms (861, 862) of the RH head sealing assembly (860b) in closed and upwards position (860’b) where the bottom of the pouch (P) is seen sealed and sealing on top of the same pouch is in progress as shown (P’).
[00102] The product filling assembly (700) as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C of the present invention with positive cutoff mechanism fills the desired product in precise measured dosing into the tube (T) after the first transverse seal is done. Transvers sealing is done by the LH or RH head sealing assembly (820a, 820b, 820c) or (860a, 860b, 860c) as per the cycle, soon after the product is poured into the tube to form the three-side sealed pouch (P) as shown in FIGS. 8A-8D.
[00103] According to the present invention, either the LH or RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) seals one end of an open tube and another end of the two-side sealed tube to close the open end respectively thereby forming a three-sides seal pouch (P) in sequentially and cyclically manner.
[00104] In another embodiment the product filling assembly (700) may feed the product continuously always keeping the tube (T) filled with product. The LH & RH sealing jaws (825a, 825b & 865a, 865b) while closing on the tube (T) for sealing displace the product from the sealing band.
[00105] The actuating means to drive various assemblies / movements explained here by using servo motors may also be replaced by mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, electric or any other actuating mechanism known in the art such as stepper motor, linear motor, pneumatic motor or a combination thereof, at one or more places.
[00106] Thus, the present invention provides an improved high speed transverse sealing mechanism. The LH and RH transverse sealing assembly (820a, 820b, 820c and 860a, 860b, 860c) of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) moves up and down along with the continuously moving tube (T), so that the pouch (P’) which is between the LH and RH transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) during each impulse sealing gets a longer dwell time to ensure a reliable seal thereby achieving a three-sides sealed pouch (P) with no leakage. The final pouches (P) are collected through the pouch support assembly (900) which comprises a plurality of support rollers (910) to support the pouches (P). An operator can collect the pouches (P) from the pouch support assembly (900) or pouches (P) can be taken on a conveyor.
[00107] The preferred mode of actuating the pairs of transverse sealing jaws (825a, 825b) (865a, 865b) for open and close movement is to utilize the servo motor (S6, S7) with eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism but other alternative options may utilize pneumatic cylinders, servo motors with belt drive system etc. The servo controlled continuous sealing mechanism provides maximum seal time resulting in better sealing quality and strength.
[00108] According to the present invention, the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) opens and closes by actuating a pneumatic cylinder (507) in the preferred and other embodiments of the present invention. Further the preferred mode of operation to drive the LH and RH transverse sealing assembly (820a, 820b, 820c and 860a, 860b, 860c) up and down is by servo motors (S4, S5).
[00109] According to the present embodiment, the electrical panel (930) for the common electrical supply comprises all essential components along with a voltage controller which is a programmable controller for controlling various functions and parameters of the various assemblies of the high speed VFFS packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10). Further, the HMI panel (940) allows the operator to set parameters and control the machine (10) digitally.
[00110] In an exemplary embodiment, the invention is used for packing liquid / viscous products like Oil, Ghee etc. The machine in the present invention is capable of producing different width and length of pouches with different volumes of filled product. By changing a few components and machine program the same machine (10) may be used for filling of different volume sizes in the capacity of 200ml, 500ml, and 1000ml as shown in Table-1. Further, the pouch (P) capacity depends on film material and thickness.
TABLE -1
Quantity Output
200 ml / 500ml / 1000 ml Up to 65 packs / min.
[00111] A preferred embodiment of the present invention uses a maximum web width of film (F) 325mm with maximum vertical repeat length of transverse sealing 260mm which is adjustable and can be reduced. Further, the machine (10) size can be scaled down or up to use desired web width and repeat length without deviating from the scope of this invention.
[00112] According to an exemplary embodiment the packaging substrate i.e. film (F) can be a combination of suitable single or multilayer polymeric films, or laminate in various combinations of layers of single or multilayer polymeric films having at least one or in combinations of Polyethylene (PE), Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET), Biaxially-Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) film, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) film, Cast Polypropylene (CPP) film, Polyamide (PA) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or any other polymer, fibrous substrates, non-woven etc. The fibrous substrate can be at least one of a natural fiber substrate like paper (coated or uncoated), paper board, non-woven and woven substrate of synthetic fibers.
[00113] The film (F) may be unprinted or printed with or without at least one of holograms, optical patterns, latent images, Fresnel lenses or any other security or aesthetic enhancing feature.
[00114] According to the present embodiment, the advantages of the present invention include high-speed production, energy efficiency, easy operation, compact design with small footprint, low maintenance, easy roll change without stopping the machine, servo pulling method for registration mark to registration mark uniform and accurate pulling, continuous sealing mechanism to obtain maximum sealing time, resulting in better sealing quality and strength and ability to pack a calibrated quantity of various liquid / viscous products. It is suitable for liquid and viscous pourable product packing, and it can be adapted for different package sizes, volumes, and products to be filled, with some modifications and change in parameters.
[00115] The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present disclosure. Further, the present invention comprises various electronics components but for the sake of brevity, conventional components of the systems and units may not be described in detail herein. It is also understood that various omission and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but such are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
10 High-Speed VFFS Packing Machine with Double Transverse Sealing Head
10a, 10b Machine Front Covers
100 Unwinder, Pasting, Dancer Assembly
200 Film Pulling Assembly
300 Former Assembly
400 Photocell Assembly
500 Vertical Sealing Assembly
600 Tube Pulling Assembly
700 Product Filling Assembly
800 Double Transverse Sealing Head Assembly
900 Pouch Support Assembly
910 Plurality of rollers of (900)
920 Power supply for Impulse sealer and Wire Cutter
930 Electrical Panel
940 HMI Panel
950 AC motor Drive
150 Dancer Roller Assembly
140 Film Loading Frame Assembly
130 Film Joint Assembly
101 Unwinder Shaft
103 Roller
104 Plate
105 Film Gripping Shaft
106 O-Rings
107 Batch Coder
108 Plurality of Guide Bushes
109 Rod Holding Brackets
110 Pair of Guide Rods
111 Collar
112 Roller
113 Moving rollers
114 Sensor Mounting Bracket
115 Proximity Sensor
116 Gear Box
117 Drive Pulley
118 Driven Pulley
119 Belt
120 Side frame
201 Timing Pulley of Film Pulling Assembly
202 Timing Belt of Film Pulling Assembly
203-203’ Pair of Pneumatic Cylinders of Film Pulling Assembly
204 Pulling Roller of Film Pulling Assembly
205 Driven Roller of Film Pulling Assembly
206 Roller of Film Pulling Assembly
207 Pair of Guide shafts of Film Pulling Assembly
208 Pair of Mounting Brackets of Film Pulling Assembly
210 Side Plate of Film Pulling Assembly
501 Sealer Mounting Arm of Vertical Sealing Assembly
502a Front Vertical Jaw with Impulse Sealer
502b Back Vertical Jaw with Pad
503 Driven Timing Pulley of Vertical Sealing Assembly
505 Pneumatic Cylinder Mounting Bracket
507 Pneumatic Cylinder of Vertical Sealing Assembly
508 Guide Bushes of Vertical Sealing Assembly
509 Guide Blocks of Vertical Sealing Assembly
510 Base Plate of Vertical Sealing Assembly
511 Guide Rods of Vertical Sealing Assembly
512 Timing Belt of Vertical Sealing Assembly
513 Brackets of Vertical Sealing Assembly
514 Drive Timing Pulley of Vertical Sealing Assembly
602 Timing Pulley of Tube Pulling Assembly
603 Timing Belt of Tube Pulling Assembly
604 Drive Shaft of Tube Pulling Assembly
605 Driven Shaft of Tube Pulling Assembly
606 Pulling Rollers of Tube Pulling Assembly
607 Pouch Guide of Tube Pulling Assembly
801 Base Mounting Plates
810, 850 LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
811, 851 Left and Right Support of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
812, 852 Guide Cam of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
812f, 852f LH & RH Head Followers
813, 853-not shown Cam Mounting Plate of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
815, 855 Timing Belt of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
816, 856 Drive Timing Pulley of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
817, 857 Driven Timing Pulley of LH & RH Head Drive Assemblies
819, 859 Guide Rod of LH & RH Heads Drive Assemblies
831, 871 Gear Box of LH & RH Heads Drive Assemblies
(820a, 820b, 820c) & (860a, 860b, 860c) LH & RH Heads Sealing Assemblies with various actuating mechanism
821, 861 LH & RH Head Front Arms
822, 862 LH & RH Head Back Arms
823, 863 LH & RH Head Front Body
824, 864 LH & RH Head Back Body
825b, 865b LH & RH Head Back Transverse Jaw with Impulse Sealer & Cutter
825a, 865a LH & RH Head Front Transverse Jaw with Sealing backup Pad
830, 870 Eccentric wheel of LH & RH Heads Sealing Assemblies (820a, 860a)
831, 871 Tie rod of LH & RH Heads Sealing Assemblies (820a, 860a)
832, 872 Pin of LH & RH Heads Sealing Assemblies (820a, 860a)
833, 873 Gearbox of LH & RH Heads Sealing Assemblies (820a, 860a)
834 - 834’ and 874 - 874’ Rod ends of Tie rod (831 and 871) of (820a and 860a)
826, 866 Pair of Guide brackets of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820b & 860b)
827, 867 Cylinder Holding Pin of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820b & 860b)
828, 868 Rod Ends of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820b & 860b)
820’a LH Head (820a) Open with Servo Motor S6 linked with Eccentric wheel
860’a RH Head (860a) Close with Servo Motor S7 linked with Eccentric wheel
820’b LH Head (820b) Open by actuating a PN-1
860’b RH Head (860b) Close by actuating a PN-2
820’’c LH Head (820c) Open with Servo Motor S6 linked with belt drive
860’’c RH Head (860c) Close with Servo Motor S7 linked with belt drive
829, 869 Levers of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820c & 860c)
835, 875 Gearbox for LH & RH Head Open-Close with Servo Motor
837, 877 LM Block of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820c & 860c)
840, 880 Drive Timing Pulley of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820c & 860c)
841, 881
Driven Timing Pulley of LH & RH Head Sealing Assembly (820c & 860c)

842, 882 Timing Belt for LH & RH Head Open-Close with Servo Motor
847, 887 Tie Rod for LH & RH Head Open-Close with Servo Motor
848, 888 Rod End Bearing for LH & RH Head Open-Close with Servo Motor
848-848’ Proximal and Distal ends of LH rod end
888-888’ Proximal and Distal ends of RH rod end
A1 AC Motor
S1 Servo Motor for Film Pulling
S2 Servo Motor for Vertical Sealing Assembly Up-Down
S3 Servo Motor for Tube Pulling
S4 and S5 Servo Motor for LH and RH Head sealing assembly UP-Down
S6 and S7 Servo Motor for LH and RH Head sealing assembly Open-Close
PN1 & PN2 Pneumatic Cylinder for LH & RH Head sealing assembly Open-Close
R Roll of a film
F Film
T Tube
P’ Pouch in Sealing
P Pouch
I Impulse Sealer
W Impulse Cutting Wire

,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) for forming a film (F) into a series of three-sides seal pouches (P) filled with liquid or viscous product, in calibrated quantity, the packing machine (10) comprising:
a. an unwind assembly having an unwind shaft (101) to unwind a film (F) from a roll (R) of packaging substrate using an AC motor drive (950) having an AC motor (A1);
b. a dancer roller assembly (150) to guide, feed and maintain the film (F) buffer length to the machine (10);
c. a film pulling assembly (200) to pull the film (F) from the dancer roller assembly (150);
d. a former assembly (300) to form and fold the film (F) in equal halves matching the film edges at either side for a tube (T) formation;
e. a photocell assembly (400) to detect the registration mark on the printed film (F) and send a signal to a tube pulling assembly (600);
f. a vertical sealing assembly (500) to vertically seal the folded moving film (F) to form a one side sealed tube (T) with both ends of the film folded either at left or right;
g. a tube pulling assembly (600) for pulling the tube (T) in accordance with the registration mark with respect to the package length;
h. a product filling assembly (700) for filling the desired product into the two-sides sealed tube (T);
i. a double transverse sealing head assembly (800) to transversally seal and cut or perforate the tube (T) to form a three-sides sealed pouch (P);
j. a pouch support assembly (900) to outfeed the formed pouches (P);
k. a power supply (920) to energize an impulse sealer (I) and wire cutter (W);
l. an electrical panel (930) for the common electrical supply for the various assemblies by a control panel;
m. an HMI panel (940) for digitally setting up parameters and controlling the various assemblies of the VFFS machine (10); and
n. a film splicing-pasting / joint assembly (130) provided to join a new roll of a film when the active film roll (R) is to be exhausted;
wherein the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) comprising:
- a base mounting plate (801) to mount the sub-assemblies of the double sealing head transverse sealing assembly (800);
- a pair of LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c) alternating in loops of fixed paths provided for continuously transverse sealing with an impulse sealer (I) and cutting or perforating the tube (T) with an impulse wire cutter (W), in sequential and cyclic manner to form a three-side sealed pouch (P); and
- a pair of LH head drive assembly (810) and RH head drive assembly (850) provided for up-down drive of the LH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and the RH head sealing assembly (860a or 860b or 860c), respectively.
2. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) are mounted on a pair of two parallel guide rods (819, 859) respectively and clamped on a timing belt (815, 855) of the LH and RH head drive assembly (810, 850) respectively, at mirror position to each other, for up and down movement.
3. The double sealing head transverse sealing assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LH and RH head sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) each comprise a pair of transverse sealing jaws (front: 825a, back: 825b) and (front: 865a, back: 865b), respectively, which are actuated by a servo motor (S6, S7) with an eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism or a pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2) or a servo motor (S6, S7) with belt (842, 882) drive mechanism, for continuous transverse sealing while moving with the tube (T) and cutting or perforating the tube (T), sequentially and cyclically.
4. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein the servo motor (S6, S7) with eccentric wheel (830, 870) mechanism comprises of a pair of geared servo motor (S6, S7) attached with an eccentric wheel (830, 870) having an eccentric pin (832, 872) on its face, wherein eccentric pin (832, 872) is connected with proximal end (834, 874) of a tie rod (831, 871) and distal end (834’, 874’) of a tie rod is connected to the LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), coupled with the LH and RH front arms (821, 861) respectively.
5. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein the pneumatic cylinder (PN1, PN2) mechanism comprises of a cylinder holding pin (827, 867), which is connected with a tie rod having rod ends (828, 868) respectively, , connected to LH and RH head front bodies (823, 863), respectively, coupled with the LH and RH front arms (821, 861), respectively.
6. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein the servo motor (S6, S7) with belt drive mechanism comprises of a belt pulley system having a drive timing pulley (840, 880), a driven timing pulley (841, 881), a timing belt (842, 882); a gear box (835, 875), a linear guide for enabling smooth, precise, and controlled linear motion to a LM block (837, 877) configured with a clamp on the timing belt (842, 882); a lever (829, 869); wherein the proximal end (848, 888) of the lever (829, 869) is clamped on the timing belt (842, 882) and distal end (848’, 888’) of the lever (829, 869) is connected with the LH and RH head back bodies (824, 864), coupled with the back arms (822, 862); and a servo motor (S6, S7) linked with the lever (829, 869).
7. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein the LH back transverse sealing jaw (825b) and RH back transverse sealing jaw (865b), each comprises an impulse sealer (I) along with impulse wire cutter (W) and the LH front transverse sealing jaw (825a) and the RH front transverse sealing jaw (865a), each comprises a sealing backup pad.
8. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein the LH front transverse sealing jaw (825a) and RH front transverse sealing jaw (865a), each comprises an impulse sealer (I) along with impulse wire cutter (W) and the LH back transverse sealing jaw (825b) and the RH back transverse sealing jaw (865b), each comprises a sealing backup pad.
9. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1 and 3, wherein both the pair of LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) are movable sequentially and cyclically.
10. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c) move up and down direction along with the moving tube (T), driven by a servo motor (S4, S5) of the LH and RH head drive assemblies (810, 850), respectively.
11. The double transverse sealing head assembly (800) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LH and RH transverse sealing arms (821, 822) and (861, 862) of the LH and RH head transverse sealing assembly (820a or 820b or 820c) and (860a or 860b or 860c), each comprises a pair of LH and RH followers (812f) and (852f) at the ends of the arms (821, 822) and (861, 862), respectively, which move simultaneously into a LH and RH head guide cams (812, 852), which are mounted on a cam mounting plate (813, 853).
12. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical sealing assembly (500) comprises a pair of front and back vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b); an impulse sealer (I) provided in the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) and a pad configured in the back vertical sealing jaw (502b).
13. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the impulse sealer (I) provided in the back vertical sealing jaw (502b) and a pad is configured in the front vertical sealing jaw (502a) of the vertical sealing assembly (500).
14. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical sealing assembly (500) moves in up and down direction along with the moving tube (T), driven by a servo motor (S2).
15. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the length of the pair of vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) is longer than the stroke length of the vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) for an overlap in vertical sealing.
16. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the length of the pair of vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) is preferably 1.5 times of the stroke length of the vertical sealing jaws (502a, 502b) of the vertical sealing assembly (500).
17. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical sealing assembly (500) further comprises a pneumatic cylinder (507) to open and close the front vertical sealing jaw (502a).
18. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein one side of a front vertical sealer mounting arm (501) of the vertical sealing assembly (500) is hinged.
19. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tube pulling assembly (600) uses a belt pulley system driven by a servo motor (S3) in accordance with photocell assembly (400) signal.
20. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) moves up -down with a plurality of servo motors.
21. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the up-down motion of the double transverse sealing head assembly (800) is with any of pneumatic, hydraulic mechanism or a combination thereof.
22. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sealing jaw assembly actuation is by one of mechanical, pneumatic, rotary, electric mechanism, hydraulic means or a combination thereof.
23. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drivers are one of a servo motor, stepper motor, linear motor, pneumatic motor or a combination thereof.
24. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the product filling assembly (700) comprises a positive cut-off mechanism or a continuous product filling mechanism.
25. The high-speed vertical form-fill-seal (VFFS) packing machine with double transverse sealing head (10) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pair of front and back transverse jaw (825a, 825b) and (865a, 865b) comprise of a clamp under the jaws to avoid burst opening of filled pouches.
Dated this 29th day of October 2024.
For UFLEX LIMITED

Digitally Signed :: Filed via e-Filing-
RACHANA SONI [IN/PA-4162]
AGENT FOR THE APPLICANT