Title of Invention

A DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC HOT AIR SEALING OF CONTAINER

Abstract This invention relates to a device for heat sealing containers with heat shrinkable sealing members. The device consists of a base frame member for housing a plurality of containers, equal number of pneumatically actuable piston cylinders provided with sealing guns are positioned to move down and seal the caps. The frame has an inlet gate and an outlet gate sensing means are provided to sense cylinder-in and cylinder-out positions. Hot air supply is provided to the sealing gun which on impact, heat seals the member. The device is fully automatic and is controlled electrically and electronically.
Full Text

A DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC HOT AIR SEALING OF CONTAINER
This invention relates to a device for automatic sealing of containers which is particularly but not exclusively applicable in sealing L.P.G. cylinders with heat shrinkable sealing caps. The ensuing description though made with reference to a device for heat sealing of L.P.G. cylinders, its application and use in heat sealing other appropriate containers are not excluded.
Liquid petroleum is supplied to the consumers in pressure resistant containers with tamper proof sealings. Leak proof sealing of these cylinders must be ensured in view of the highly inflamable nature of pressurised liquid petroleum gas contained therein. Transportation of the cylinders from the bottling plant to the consumer includes rough handling. Stringent safety requirements are to be satisfied to ensure safety of life and property in view of the hazardous nature of liquid petroleum gas.
Heat shrinkable plastic cap closes the one way actuatable valve provided at the mouth of an LPG cylinder. Cylinders filled with L.P.G. with protective caps are transported to a sealing unit which seals the cap on to the cylinder. It is advantageous to seal as many cylinders as possible within a short period of time. Automatic sealing of plurality of cylinder is cost effective and efficient.

With this object in mind, the device for automatic hot air sealing of containers according to this invention has been developed. The device developed is fully automatic. The device is also applicable in sealing cylinders of different sizes, for instance, cylinders for household and industrial use can be effectively sealed by using the device according to this invention, Since the device is fully automatic and seals more than one cylinder at a time, it is possible to seal more than a thousand cylinder per hour.
The device consists of a frame member for mounting plurality of containers such as L.P.G cylinders. The frame is provided with pneumatically controlled inlet and outlet gates positioned on either side to open and close the frame member for entry and exit of the cylinders, A support frame disposed perpendicular to the cylinder mounting frame member houses a plurality of pneumatic cylinders connected to a pneumatical control box through a control panel to the air inlet means. Each pneumatic cylinder is provided with a movable sealing gun. Two hot air chambers are located on either side of the support frame and are provided with valve means to supply hot air to the sealing gun when required- Sensing means such as limit switches are provided to sense the movement and position of the sealing guns. These

hot air chambers are provided with air inlet means having non return valve means. Sealing gun may be provided with a centreing means to avoid tilting and to ensure its correct positioning on the cylinder unit to be sealed. The sealing guns have hot air receiving means and hot air releasing means.
The device has means for sensing cylinder-in and cylinder-out position. Pneumatic sealing timer connected to pneumatic control means controls the time of contact of the sealing gun with the heat shrinkable seals to be sealed and the signals emitted after the predetermined period enables the sealing gun to move up, The device is controlled by known electrical and pneumatic controllers.
The device for automatic hot air sealing of containers according to this invention comprises a base frame member for housing plurality of containers to be sealed, said frame member having inlet and outlet means, support members perpendicular to the base frame member housing plurality of pneumatically aotuatable pistons cylinder, each of the said piston cylinder being provided with a movable sealing gun, means to supply hot air to the said sealing gun, sensing means to sense the position of the gun on the container and to actuate the means to supply hot air thereto, indicating means to indicate container-in and container-out positions in the base frame and control means for controlling the operation of the device.

The device and its operation will now be described with reference to the figures in the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional view of the device housing four L P G cylinders or containers.
Fig. 1 represents the plan view of the device having four containers mounted thereon.
In Fig. 1 reference numeral 1 stands for the base frame member on which container 3, 3', 3", 3"* are mounted. Numerals 2 and 8 represent the inlet and outlet for the containers which are actuatable gate means. Support frame is indicated by reference numeral 11. Numerals 14 and 4 represent the pneumatic piston cylinder and the sealing gun respectively. Sensing means to sense the position of the sealing gun is shown by numerals 5 while the hot air supplying means is shown by reference number 12. Means to supply hot air consist of a one way rotary ball valve indicated by numeral 6. Container - in sensing means and container - out sensing means are shown by reference numeral 18 and 9 respectively. Limit switches may be conveniently used as these sensing means. A centering device to correctly position the sealing gun on the container is shown by numeral 7. Numeral 13 indicates hot air inlet provided with a non return valve.
The operation of the device will be described herein after. Initially the inlet means or gate will be in the open position and the outlet means or gate will be closed. The conveyer from

the bottling plant brings in the container to be sealed which enter the mounting frame in series. When all the required number of containers are positioned on the frame the inlet closes and the downward movement of the sealing guns start. At the end of the predetermined sealing time, say for example 3 seconds signals emitted from the pneumatic sealing timer activates the controllers whereby the sealing guns move up from the containers. Sensing means such as limit switches will activate and open both the inlet and outlet gates on the base frame member. When the sealed containers are removed from the base frame the outlet automatically closes the inlet gate opens to repeat the operation. When the sealing gun moves down and is located on a fresh batch of containers, the rotary ball valve on the hot air supply means opens and supplies hot air to seal the incoming containers with heat shrinkable seals placed thereon.
The pneumatic cylinders are mounted on an integrated cylinder mounting arrangement. The inlet and the outlet consists of two side stoppers or gates and are connected to the pneumatic piston cylinders to open and close with respect to its upward and downward movement.
The sealing gun consists of a hot air receiver and a hot air releaser. The hot air receiver receives hot air from the hot air chamber and is fixedly mounted to the disc of the centering means

(7). The hot air releaser has a plurality of holes equally spaced on its surface and is threaded inside the hot air receiver. The spray or hot air seals the cap to the container. Hot air supply chamber is provided with temperature sensing and control means.
Though this invention is described with reference to a particular embodiment, alterations and modifications known to persons skilled in the art are within its scope and that of the appended claims,





We claim:
1. A device for automatic hot air sealing of containers comprising a base frame member for housing plurality of containers to be sealed, the said frame member having inlet and outlet means, support members perpendicular to the base frame member housing plurality of pneumatically actuatable piston cylinders, each of the said piston cylinder being provided with a movable sealing gun, means to provide hot air to the said sealing gun, sensing means to sense the position of the said sealing gun on the container, and to actuate the supply of hot air thereto, sensing means to sense container-in and container-out positions in the base frame, and control means the controlling the operation of the said device.
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inlet and
outlet means are stoppers or gates connected to the piston
cylinders and are actuated thereby.
3. The device as claimed in claim 1 and 2 wherein the pneumatic
piston cylinders are mounted on the support members,
*
4. The device as claimed in claims 1 to 3, wherein the sealing
guns are provided with a hot air receiver and a hot air releaser.
5. The device as claimed in claim 4 wherein the hot air
releaser is provided with a plurality of openings which are
equally spaced.

6. The device as claimed in claim 5» wherein the hot air
releaser is threaded inside the hot air releaser which is fixedly
mounted to a centering means provided on the sealing gun.
7. The device as claimed in claims 1 to 6, wherein the means to provide hot air to the sealing gun consists of one or more hot air chambers provided with means to regulate hot air supply to the sealing gun.
8. The device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the said means to regulate hot air supply is a rotary ball valve.
9. The device as claimed in claims 1-8, wherein the sensing
means for sensing container-in and container-out positions
are limit switches.
10› The device as claimed in claims 1-9 wherein the sensing means for sensing container-in and container-out positions are provided with indicating means.
11. The device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the sensing means
for container-in and container-out positions are electrically or
electronically controlled.
12. The device as claimed in claims 1-11, wherein a timer is
provided for signalling the control means at predetermined time
intervals.

13. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the timer, and
the sensing means are electronically controlled.
14. The device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the sensing means for sensing the container-out is provided with a counting means for counting the cylinders coming out after sealing.
15. The device as claimed in claims 1-14, wherein the container is a liquid petroleum gas cylinder.
18, The device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the piston cylinders are pneumatically controlled.
17. The device as claimed in any of the preceding claims
wherein the hot air supply means is provided with a temperature
sensing and regulating means,
18. A device for automatic hot air sealing of containers
substantially as herein described with particular reference to
the accompanying drawings.


Documents:

2312-mas-1998-abstract.pdf

2312-mas-1998-claims filed.pdf

2312-mas-1998-claims granted.pdf

2312-mas-1998-correspondnece-others.pdf

2312-mas-1998-correspondnece-po.pdf

2312-mas-1998-description(complete)filed.pdf

2312-mas-1998-description(complete)granted.pdf

2312-mas-1998-drawings.pdf

2312-mas-1998-form 1.pdf

2312-mas-1998-form 19.pdf

2312-mas-1998-form 26.pdf


Patent Number 212449
Indian Patent Application Number 2312/MAS/1998
PG Journal Number 07/2008
Publication Date 15-Feb-2008
Grant Date 03-Dec-2007
Date of Filing 15-Oct-1998
Name of Patentee BALIGA LIGHTING EQUIPMENT (P) LIMITED
Applicant Address 46 C P RAMASWAMY ROAD, ALWARPET, CHENNAI-600 018,
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 BANTVAL RAMESH BALIGA 46 C P RAMASWAMY ROAD, ALWARPET, CHENNAI-600 018,
PCT International Classification Number B 65 D 53/02
PCT International Application Number N/A
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 NA