emkon. packaging machinery: robot solutions

Tchibo Qbo – the coffee capsule packer emkon. CAPS LINE
The emkon. CAPS line is a packaging machine which we have built for company Tchibo GmbH from Hamburg. Simply put, the Tchibo Qbo coffee capsules are inserted into their cardboard boxes:

The emkon. CAPS line takes up, up to 1000 capsules per minute from the manufacturing machine. The capsules are scanned, oriented, transported, pre-grouped and placed via robots placed in layers into the cardboard boxes. The cardboard boxes are erected simultaneously. Afterwards, the filled cardboard boxes are transported, in circulation closed and subsequently coded and labeled. The finished capsules are put into a tray and further transported to palletizing. The machine is equipped with three ABB FlexPicker of the type IRB 360.

FlexPicker guarantees faultless processes
After the transfer from the upstream machine to our machine, the first FlexPicker ensures that ejected capsules are newly added. This is necessary if the upstream machine is reporting errors during the filling and closing processes of the single capsules. These capsules will be ejected. Gaps within the pocket chain are recognized by a camera system and refilled by the FlexPicker. The space-saving ceiling installation as well as the high-speed requirement were the decisive factors for a Delta-robot. If a sealing tool should fail the demand is to supplement up to 70 capsules per minute. The correct orientation of the new capsules is again checked by a camera system.

The applied Delta FlexPicker is equipped with an extra soft sucker. The sucker must adapt to the slightly rounded and embossed cover surface and may not reorient the capsule from its initial position – the gentle product handling was a key challenge in this project.

Two different cardboard sizes
Subsequent two more FlexPicker go into action. After the capsules are oriented, the IRB 360 FlexPicker pushes the coffee capsules in layers together, takes them up and places them into the pre-erected cardboard boxes. The combination of high speed and precision of the pick & place tasks are the main advantages of the used delta FlexPicker. The two FlexPicker divide the arriving mass flow of capsules, thus guarantees a completeness of boxes.

The emkon. CAPS line fills two different sizes of cardboard boxes: the small version is filled with 8 coffee capsules and the big one with 27 coffee capsules. In close collaboration with Tchibo, we developed a packaging solution for highest demands. All sorts of Qbo capsules are packed by the CAPS LINE today – from the feeding up to the filling of differently-sized trays.