Claims:1. A device for storing and/or conveying plurality of rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths, wherein said apparatus comprising:
at least one module to module transfer point means having one or more conveyor belts with an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means, wherein said conveyor belts enables conveying said plurality of articles along said transfer means;
at least one aligning and position controlling mechanism mechanically mounted on said module to module transfer point means, comprises one or more aligning bands adapted to align said plurality of articles to make it concentric with said infeed conveyor means and said outfeed conveyor means, to enable seamless transfer of said plurality of articles;
Wherein, said aligning bands is linearly adjustable with respect to predefined length of said articles to enable zero relative motion between said articles and said alignment device during transmission of said articles from one or more upstream machinery to one or more downstream machinery.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rod-shaped articles having varying lengths is selected from cigarettes, cigars, filter rods, and the like.

3. The device as claimed in claims 2, wherein said rod-shaped articles adapted to transfer from said infeed conveyor to said outfeed conveyor by means of one or more transport belts over a bridge plate.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said aligning bands driven by means of at least one aligning band drive gear drive mechanism comprises an arrangement of one or more gears driven through a driven pulley and a drive belt assembly, and one or more Aligning Band Drive Motor for driving said drive mechanism.

5. The device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said aligning and position controlling mechanism adapted to linearly adjust said aligning bands by means of one or more position adjusting link means.

6. The device as claimed in claim 5, wherein aligning and position controlling mechanism further comprises at least one electronic control module, flexible coupling means, adapted for adjusting position of said adjusting link means to adjust said aligning bands with respect to predefined length of said articles.

7. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said aligning and position controlling mechanism further comprises at least one quick size change assembly triggered to actuate said electronic control module.

8. An aligning and position controlling mechanism to allow centered alignment of rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths during transmission from an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means using a device as claimed in claims 1 to 7, wherein said aligning and position controlling mechanism comprising:
one or more aligning bands driven by means of aligning band drive gear drive mechanism having an arrangement of one or more gears driven through a driven pulley and a drive belt assembly, and one or more aligning band drive motor for driving said drive mechanism;
one or more adjusting link means operably coupled to said aligning band drive gear drive mechanism, wherein said adjusting link when actuated by said gears, enable concurrent perpendicular alignment of said articles with respect to said aligning bands throughout said transmission of said articles;
wherein, said alignment device further comprises at least one electronic control module configured to receive input to enable size changeover of said aligning bands;
wherein size of said aligning bands adjusted according to predefined length of said articles, to allow said articles of said length to convey concurrently without lateral movement of said articles during said transmission.
9. A method for storing and/or conveying rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths using a device as claimed in claims 1-7, wherein said method comprising:
placing said articles onto a module to module transfer point means during transmission of said cylindrical articles from an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means;
enabling, by means of conveyor belts in said module to module transfer point means using a linking assembly of transport belts and a bridge plate, transmission of said articles from said infeed conveyor means to said outfeed conveyor means;
linearly aligning, by means of an aligning and position controlling mechanism, aligning bands with respect to a predefined length of said articles for enabling said articles to transmit perpendicularly with respect to aligning bands and prevent lateral movement of said articles during said conveying motion; and thereby
delivering, through said transfer means, said articles to an upstream to a downstream machinery.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said linear aligning of said aligning bands according to said predefined length of said cigarettes articles by using said aligning and position controlling mechanism, comprises:
actuating, by means of a quick size change assembly, said electronic control module to detect previous length selection of said articles;
determining, by means of said electronic control module, if current article length is equal to said previous length selection of said articles;
if yes, then actuating, by said electronic control module, said transfer means and said upstream machinery in a running condition;
else, enabling, by a pulse generator in said electronic control module, counterclockwise rotation of said stepper motor drive to bring said aligning bands into a home position; and thereby calculating, by said pulse generator, pulse for said current article length for enabling clockwise rotation of said stepper motor drive;
adjusting, by said clockwise rotation of said stepper drive, said aligning bands according to said current article length; and thereby
synchronizing said aligning bands speed with said transfer means to enable concurrent perpendicular transmission of said articles with respect to said aligning bands.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to a conveyor devices suitable for conveying rod-like articles, such as cigarettes paper feed mechanism in cigarette makers, and more particularly relates to a method and device for conveying cigarette articles of varied lengths.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[002] The manufacture of cigarettes involves use of cigarette making and packing machines. The cigarette making machine uses raw materials that includes cut tobacco, paper, filter, tipping paper and glue to prepare cigarette sticks. And the cigarette packing machine takes these cigarette sticks, bundles them and then packs them in packets of appropriate sizes in intended Pack Styles.

[003] However, currently there is an increased focus on cigarette quality and machine throughput, the transfer from the making machine to the packing machine becomes critical. In earlier implementations, the use of cigarette buffer trays was prevalent. However, this process was largely manual and often resulted in significant damage to the cigarette sticks. Also, the manual Handling of Cigarettes also threatens Product Hygiene and Product Integrity to a great extent.

[004] In order to effectively deal with issues stemming from manual handling of cigarettes, modern cigarette manufacturers developed automated cigarette buffer systems to establish a link between the making and packing machine. The buffer system takes in cigarette sticks, stores them and dispenses them to the packer at the required throughput.

[005] Reference is made to some Prior arts such as GB2386357A, WO9944446A1, GB1430237A and FR2204553A1 that teach such methods of transporting cigarettes using conveyor belts, guides and other means of support. Reference is also made to French patent no. 2414459 that teaches a method of batch transport of cigarettes. And the US patent no. 4856958 discloses of using elevators, trays, magazines and the like for cigarette transportation.

[006] However, conventionally available automated cigarette buffer system suffers from an inherent flaw. They are generally inflexible in their operation and aimed at a particular size of cigarette sticks. This means that cigarettes of only a particular length can be conveyed on them. In case the length is to be changed, the following rather elaborate process is involved:
• Sampling Link
i. Conveyor Band width Reduction – Chain Replacement;
ii. Change in Pulley Dimension for reduced Chain width;
iii. Support Pillar change to reduce gap between Front Guard and Back Plate
• In-Feed Hopper
i. Conveyor Band width Reduction – Chain Replacement;
ii. Change in Pulley Dimension for reduced Chain width;
iii. Support Pillar change to reduce gap between Front Guard and Back Plate.
• Out-Feed Split Hopper
i. Conveyor Band width Reduction – Chain Replacement;
ii. Change in Pulley Dimension for reduced Chain width;
iii. Support Pillar change to reduce gap between Front Guard and Back Plate
• Out-Feed Rejection Hopper
i. Conveyor Band width Reduction – Chain Replacement;
ii. Change in Pulley Dimension for reduced Chain width;
iii. Support Pillar change to reduce gap between Front Guard and Back Plate

[007] In terms of feasibility, this changeover process as mentioned above, translates to significant cost and time implications as it requires a significant amount of spare parts and skills. Therefore, attempts are being made to enable easy changeover of the cigarette buffer for between various cigarette lengths.

[008] Accordingly, there was a dire need to provide a method and device to enable easy changeover of the cigarette buffer for between various cigarette lengths.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[009] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

[0010] An object of the present invention is to provide an device and method to ensure continuous conveying of rod-shaped objects such as cigarettes of varied lengths using a single conveying system.

[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide cigarette articles of multiple lengths to be conveyed concurrently through single a conveying system from an upstream machinery to a downstream machinery without any lateral movement of the cigarette articles.

[0012] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an alignment device to adjust aligning bands according to the length of cigarette articles so as to ensure centered arrangement of cigarette articles throughout the conveying system.

[0013] Still another object of the present invention is to an improved mechanism for conveying cigarette articles by ensuring retention of cigarette quality through elimination of relative motion between the cigarette articles and the alignment device.

[0014] Accordingly to one aspect, the present invention provides a device for storing and/or conveying plurality of rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths, wherein said apparatus comprising: at least one module to module transfer point means having one or more conveyor belts with an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means, wherein said conveyor belts enables conveying said plurality of articles along said transfer means; at least one aligning and position controlling mechanism mechanically mounted on said module to module transfer point means, comprises one or more aligning bands adapted to align said plurality of articles to make it concentric with said infeed conveyor means and said outfeed conveyor means, to enable seamless transfer of said plurality of articles; Wherein, said aligning bands is linearly adjustable with respect to predefined length of said articles to enable zero relative motion between said articles and said alignment device during transmission of said articles from one or more upstream machinery to one or more downstream machinery.

[0015] In second aspect, there is provided an aligning and position controlling mechanism to allow centered alignment of rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths during transmission from an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means using the device, wherein said aligning and position controlling mechanism comprising:
one or more aligning bands driven by means of aligning band drive gear drive mechanism having an arrangement of one or more gears driven through a driven pulley and a drive belt assembly, and one or more aligning band drive motor for driving said drive mechanism;
one or more adjusting link means operably coupled to said aligning band drive gear drive mechanism, wherein said adjusting link when actuated by said gears enable concurrent perpendicular alignment of said articles with respect to said aligning bands throughout said transmission of said articles;
wherein, said alignment device further comprises at least one electronic control module configured to receive input to enable size changeover of said aligning bands;
wherein size of said aligning bands adjusted according to predefined length of said articles, to allow said articles of said length to convey concurrently without lateral movement of said articles during said transmission.

[0016] In third aspect, there is provided a method for storing and/or conveying rod-shaped articles of multiple lengths using the device, wherein said method comprising:
• placing said articles onto a module to module transfer point means during transmission of said cylindrical articles from an infeed conveyor means and an outfeed conveyor means;
• enabling, by means of conveyor belts in said module to module transfer point means using a linking assembly of transport belts and a bridge plate, transmission of said articles from said infeed conveyor means to said outfeed conveyor means;
• linearly aligning, by means of an aligning and position controlling mechanism, aligning bands with respect to a predefined length of said articles for enabling said articles to transmit perpendicularly with respect to aligning bands and prevent lateral movement of said articles during said conveying motion; and thereby
• delivering, through said transfer means, said articles to an upstream to a downstream machinery.

[0017] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[0018] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0019] Figure 1 illustrates the schematic of the alignment device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 2 illustrates the schematic of the Module to Module Transfer points for transfer of cigarettes, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 3 illustrates the schematic of the shows the Automated Aligning Mechanism, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 4 illustrates the Top View of the Module to Module Transfer Points, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 5 illustrates the Front View of the Module to Module Transfer Points, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 6 illustrates the schematic of the circuit diagram according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 7 illustrates the process flowchart of working of the cigarette alignment device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0027] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

[0028] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0029] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0030] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0031] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0032] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0033] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

[0034] Herein, the rod-shaped articles refers to the continuous rod of tobacco overwrapped in cigarette paper and sealed with glue, selected as cigarette articles, cigars, filter rods, and the like, wherein the rod-shaped articles is having multiple length size. The term “transfer means” refers to cigarette buffer system which forms a link between the upstream machinery and the downstream machinery. Further, the term “upstream machinery” refers to the cigarette maker device and the term “downstream machinery” refers to the cigarette packing device.

[0035] In one implementation, the conveying apparatus for storing and/or conveying of cigarette articles of multiple lengths. The apparatus comprising the following elements:
• a module to module transfer point means is provided with one or more conveyor belts to establish a link between a cigarette maker device and cigarette packing device. The conveyor belts provide a conveyor for conveying cigarettes along the transfer means. The transfer means can be alternatively used as a storage for the cigarette articles.
• A aligning and position controlling mechanism comprises of adjustable aligning bands, aligning band drive gear drive mechanism, stepper motor drive, electronic control module, adjusting link means. The alignment device can be modified to change between varying lengths of the cigarette articles.

[0036] In one implementation, referring to figure 1, the present invention provides an aligning and position controlling mechanism comprising of alignment bands to manage the arrangement of cigarette articles on the cigarette buffer system. The aligning and position controlling mechanism can be adapted to enable the cigarettes to be aligned perpendicularly with respect to the aligning bands throughout the length of the cigarette buffer system during its transmission. This will ensure preservation of cigarette quality and prevents jamming. This can be achieved by using the aligning and position controlling mechanism to center the cigarettes and prevent any lateral movement.

[0037] In one implementation, figure 2 shows the Module to Module Transfer point means. Plurality of rod-shaped articles get transferred from an infeed Conveyor means (1) to an outfeed conveyor means (2) by means of a Transport Belts (3) over the Bridge Plate (4). The term “linking assembly” used herein refers to the assembly consists of Transfer Belts and Bridge Plate.

[0038] In one implementation, figure 3 shows the Automated Aligning Mechanism wherein Aligning Band Drive Gear (1) drives the Aligning Bands. The Gear can be driven through Driven Pulley (2) and Drive Belt (3) Assembly. The aligning band drive motor (4) drives the entire Mechanism. Based on the length of the product to be run, position of Aligning Band Changes which gets performed by the Position Adjusting Links (5), Aligning Band Position Controller Motor (6), Flexible Coupling (7), Nut (8) and the Lead Screw (9). The Aligning Bands (5) adapted to align the cigarettes and make then concentric with Conveyor 1 and 2 to enable seamless transfer over the Bridge Plate (4) and through Transfer Belts (3).

[0039] In one implementation, as shown in figure 3, the aligning bands driven by means of the aligning band drive gear drive mechanism comprises an arrangement of one or more gears driven through a driven pulley (2) and a drive belt assembly (3), and one or more Aligning Band Drive Motor (4) for driving the aligning and position controlling drive mechanism. The aligning band drive motor having an arrangement of a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) and stepper motor drive. The aligning band drive gear drive mechanism can be adjustable so as to ensure that cigarettes of various size lengths can be run on the cigarette buffer system. This feature also allows for quick changeover between sizes.

[0040] In one implementation, figure 4 shows the Top View of the Module to Module Transfer Points wherein the linear movement of the product of desired length happens to make it perfectly centralized with the Conveyors.

[0041] In one implementation, figure 5 Shows the Front View of the Module to Module Transfer Points wherein the linear movement of the product of desired length happens to make it perfectly centralized with the Conveyors (1) and (2).

[0042] In one implementation, the aligning and position controlling mechanism can be mechanically mounted on the Module to Module Transfer points wherein the Transfer Belts and Bridge Plates are located.

[0043] In one implementation, the transfer means adapted to operate in synchronization with the upstream and downstream machinery.

[0044] In one implementation, the alignment device comprises an electronic control module configured to adjust the aligning bands according to the predefined length of the cigarettes so as to prevent lateral movement of the cigarettes during the transmission.

[0045] In one implementation, the alignment device further comprises of a quick size change assembly which can be triggered to actuate the electronic control module to initiate adjustment of the aligning bands so as to enable the cigarettes articles of predefined length to convey through the transfer means.

[0046] In one implementation, the aligning bands can be adjustable through stepper motor drive with respect to predefined length of the cigarette articles to ensure zero relative motion between the cigarettes and alignment device during transmission of cigarettes from the upstream machinery to said downstream machinery.

[0047] In one implementation, the aligning device cannot detect the length of the cylindrical article on its own. The cylindrical article needs to be fed to the device and it acts upon the feedback provided. There can be two or more buttons located on operating console for selection of length of the cylindrical article. To run varied length, the desired length button needs to be pressed on operating console so as to communicate PLC on the length it needs to accommodate thereon.

[0048] In one implementation, there can be two or more buttons located on operating console for selection of length of the aligning bands. To run varied length, the desired length button needs to be pressed on operating console so as to communicate PLC on the length it needs to accommodate thereon. The steps that the position controller motor has to run is predefined in PLC.

[0049] Referring to figure 7, the circuit diagram of the electronic control module is illustrated. In one implementation, L & N is 230 Volt Power Supply for Frequency drive, DIN1 and DIN2 is for Start and Stop signal for Frequency drive once cigarette come to conveyor and ADC+/- is signal speed synchronization feedback from cigarette Maker.

[0050] In one implementation, there can be a predefined Home Position for the Position Adjusting Stepper Motor. During length change requirement whenever the length change button is pressed, the stepper motor goes to its home position and thereafter mover to the desired position.

[0051] In one implementation, the method for storing and/or conveying cylindrical articles of multiple lengths, comprising:
• placing of said cylindrical articles onto said transfer means from upstream machinery,
• transport of said cylindrical articles through said conveyor belts in said transfer means using the linking means,
• aligning the cylindrical articles concurrently to said transfer means using the aligning device which can be driven by the driving means, and thereby
• delivering the cylindrical articles to downstream machinery.

[0052] In one implementation, referring to the figure 3, the flowchart for adjusting the size of aligning bands according to the predefined length of the cigarettes articles by using a logic system in an electronic control module within the alignment device is illustrates. The steps of adjustment comprises:
• actuating, by means of a quick size change assembly, the electronic control module to detect a previous length selection of the articles;
• determining if the transfer means (conveying system) is in a running condition and if yes then putting the conveying system and the cigarette maker system in a waiting state;
• determining if current article length is equal to the previous length selection of cigarette;
if yes, then actuating, the transfer means (conveying system) and the upstream machinery to be in a running condition, i.e., to continue the transmission of the cigarette from the cigarette maker system to the cigarette packer system;
else, enabling, by a pulse generator in the electronic control module, counterclockwise rotation of the stepper motor drive to bring said aligning bands into a home position first and then stop the rotation of the stepper motor drive; and thereby
• calculating, by the pulse generator, pulses for new cigarette length for enabling clockwise rotation of said stepper drive;
• adjusting, by using the clockwise rotation of the stepper motor drive, the aligning bands according to the current cigarette length, if the direction pulse is equal to the calculated pulse;
• disabling the pulse generator and stop stepper motor drive to enable aligning bands; and thereby
• synchronizing the aligning bands speed with the transfer means to enable concurrent perpendicular transmission of the cigarettes with respect to the aligning bands.

[0053] In one exemplary implementation, there are a frequency controller (VFD) which can be selected as 0.25KW, stepper motor drive 4P 90W, Pulse Generator, Stepper Controller. The Logical unit of auto size change over system in the electronic control module:
• Command from programmable logic controller (PLC I/O) controls stepper controller for size change over and for synchronization of band speed motor in respect of cigarette speed.
• One inductive sensor adapted to detect cigarette size aligner arrangement home position. Whenever there is power recycle or there is a command for size change, PLC will give command to the stepper controller to automatically align itself at predefined size.
• Start/Stop selector will enable/disable the whole system with desired size selected.
• For size change, the system will stop first to stop the transmission of the cigarettes and then to select the size.
• Once the logic detects the required size from selection, the system recognizes there is a size change from previous selection it will first bring the aligning bands in home position and will then move to its required position for desired size. And then only it will allow the cigarette flow in the aligning bands.

[0054] Some of the advantages of the present invention, are as follows:
• In the present invention, the VFD ensures zero relative motion between the aligning device and the cigarettes articles and thus zero impact of cigarettes quality.
• In the present invention, the aligning device actuates with a press of a button so as to adjust the size according to the size length of the cigarette articles. It does not require any manual settings to be performed on the aligning device. The aligning device converts sizes of the machines with click of a button.
• The aligning device has a Stepper motor driven aligning mechanism which adjusts the aligning bands to the required size thus enables conversion according to the size length of the cigarette articles. It automatically adjusts on its own once desired Length Button pressed on the operating console. It takes almost 4 mins so as to ensure accurate gap between the aligning bands.
• The present invention allows manufacture of cigarettes of multiple lengths on the same cigarette buffer system.
• The present invention achieves the objective with a very limited spare procurement and set up time and cost.
• The present invention ensures retention of product quality through Elimination of Relative Motion between the aligning device and the Product.

[0055] Although a method and device for conveying rod-shaped articles of varied lengths has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the above section are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods or devices described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations of method and device for conveying rod-shaped articles of varied lengths.