Apparatus for manufacturing packaging units

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing packaging units in a tubular bag forming, filling and sealing machine, having a horizontal conveyor installation for transferring separated products ( 14 ) to a portioning appliance ( 15 ) for manufacturing portion units ( 12 ) with a defined arrangement and number of products, and having a vertical conveyor installation ( 22 ) for conveying the portion units, which are enveloped by a film web ( 11 ), to a separating appliance for separating the packaging units, wherein the vertical conveyor installation has two parallel strap conveyors ( 34, 35 ), each having a multiplicity of support appliances arranged in the conveying direction ( 17 ) for supporting the conveying straps along the conveying channel.

1 . An apparatus for manufacturing packaging units in a tubular bag forming, filling and sealing machine, having a horizontal conveyor installation for transferring separated products to a portioning appliance for manufacturing portion units with a defined arrangement and number of products, said apparatus comprising:
 a vertical conveyor installation for conveying the portion units enveloped by a film web, wherein the vertical conveyor installation has two parallel strap conveyors including circulating conveying straps with conveying sides arranged so as to be opposed to each other, said conveying straps defining a conveying channel for conveying the portion units enveloped by the film web;   a plurality of support appliances arranged in a conveying direction and supporting the conveying straps along the conveying channel;   a pivoting lever borne at a framework of the strap conveyor and exposed to a pretensioning force against the conveying direction; and   a contact appliance resting against a rear side of the conveying straps in a supporting fashion at a free lever end of the pivoting lever.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , in which the contact appliance of the pivoting lever has a contact roller borne at the lever end. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus according to  claim 2 , in which in each instance, two contact rollers arranged in a common horizontal plane on opposite sides of the conveying channel form a contact roller pair having a left contact roller and a right contact roller, wherein the contact rollers define a front conveying gap in a front conveying channel cross-section, said gap being laterally offset relative to a rear conveying gap defined in a rear conveying channel cross-section. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus according to  claim 3 , in which the contact rollers are flanged rollers, each flanged roller having a first roller section having a diameter d 1  and a second roller section having a diameter d 2 , wherein d 1  is smaller than d 2 . 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus according to  claim 3 , in which contact roller pairs arranged so as to be adjacent in the conveying direction have an alternating arrangement of the right and of the left contact roller, in such a manner that the conveying gap, both in a front conveying channel plane and in a rear conveying channel plane, in the transition from one pair of contact rollers to the adjacent pair of contact rollers, has an alternating lateral conveying gap shift. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , in which the pretensioning force is provided by a swivel pin spring arranged on a swing shaft so as to be coaxial with respect to a longitudinal axis of the swing shaft of the pivoting lever. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , in which, the distance between the frameworks of the strap conveyors is adjustable for setting the conveying channel width.