CM 400 - Combined machines up to 40 ppm

1. In the machine infeed zone, a group of guides accurately lines up the loose containers carried by a conveyour belt featuring low-friction chains made of thermoplastic material. In the pack formation zone, the containers are clustered in the required format through electronically synchronized combs and dividing bars, operating in continuous motion.
2. A corrugated cardboard blank is picked from the blanks magazine by a vacuum-free picker with rubberized chains; it moves along the blank climb and places itself underneath the group of products in transit. The products move on with the short side leading (wrap-around case) or with the long side leading (tray).
3. In the tray/case former, the cardboard blank is folded and wrapped around the products by special guides. Then the flap folding devices fold the blank’s side flaps and finally the upper/lower flaps of both the front and back side of the pack. The hot melt glue sealing ensures an excellent resistance of the pack.
4. If requested, the film can be wrapped around the tray and superposed at the pack base; the pack finally enters the shrinking tunnel. The unwinding of the film reels, situated in the lower part of the machine, is controlled by brushless motors, in order to ensure a constant tension of the film.

* The stated values are not binding, as they have to be confirmed by SMI according to the user’s production conditions.

• Machine bearing frame made of sand-blasted and powder-painted steel
• Safety sliding doors made of aluminium and trasparent guards of shock-resistant polycarbonate, which let an easy access to every section of the machine and a large visibility on the entire process of packaging.
• Absence of gearboxes and prevailing employment of ICOS brushless motors equipped with digital servo-driver integrated into the motor
• Continuous motion product grouping device, with electronically synchronized fingers made of plastic material
• For life lubricated pads
• Infeed conveyor with chains made of thermoplastic material featuring low friction coefficient and a motorized system of oscillanting laning guides
• Cardboard magazine situated beneath the infeed conveyour, adjustable according to the blank size
• Cardboard blank picker with rubberized chains
• Film reel unwinding electronically controlled by brushless motors
• Compact knife group with film cutting blade driven by a direct drive brushless motorisation
• Automatic centring system for printed film provided with marks
• Brush antistatic bars with carbon fibre
• Machine electrical cabinet with air conditioner
• The shrink tunnel features state-of-the-art technical solutions reducing energy consumption and ensuring an eco-friendly working process.
  The tunnel conveyor belt is made up of fibreglass bars, driven by side chains (®SMI).
  Thanks to the precise analysis of thermodynamic phenomena generated by the shrink process, the tunnel distributes hot air flows in an efficient and homogeneous way on the pack, thus ensuring its excellent quality at the end of the process.
  Shrink resistances are positioned on the side walls of the tunnel
• Tunnel automatic cleansing system (optional for SK 400)
• Heat-shrinking tunnel with forced air ventilation
• POSYC® control panel mounted man-high and running the whole length of the machine (fixed on LSK ERGON models)
• Power supply: from 380 to 480V (±5% max.) 50/60 Hz 3PH + PE
• Power supply equal to 230 or 575V: with autotransformer

* The stated values are not binding, as they have to be confirmed by SMI according to the user’s production conditions.

Modular structure

SMI machines are designed according to advanced principles of module assembly and feature interchangeable mechanical and electronic components, which ensure a reduction of the down-times during technical interventions or programmed maintenance and the optimization of the use of spare parts on stock.

Operational flexibility

SMI machines can package a wide range of products in several pack collations, so as to effectively meet the end user’s current and future requirements. Moreover, each machine can be equipped with additional devices, which increase its basic functions and ensure a high level of customization of the final package.

Motors directly connected to the drive shafts

SMI machines do not include gearboxes: the motors are directly connected to the drive shafts. The consequent advantage is the reduction of maintenance, energy consumption and noise.

Continuous motion pack formation

The continuous motion packaging system ensures a fluid production process and protects the containers from strokes, thus granting more reliability, a better quality of the pack and a reduction of mechanical wear.

Thermoplastic material dividing pins

In the pack formation zone, the use of dividing pins made of thermoplastic material, which last longer than those made of metal, reduces the machine noise and protects the fragile containers (such as glass containers) and their labels.

Multi-pitch configuration

SMI machines are pre-arranged to control up to three different machine pitches, without replacing the mechanical components. Therefore, it has been possible to increase the product dimensions range of almost 20%, as compared to the previous machines generation. The working parameters of each pitch are stored in the POSYC® control pc; the operator can select the required machine pitch directly from the touch screen.

Easy and low-cost maintenance

The interchangeability of the mechanical and electronic components and the diagnosis functions on the control panel make the technical interventions and the programmed maintenance quicker and easier; moreover, they optimize the resources, in order to preserve the machines efficiency for long.

Versatile packs

Besides the cases with traditional sealing, the CM and WP models can realize cases with superposed or joining flaps. As a consequence, the cases can be easily customized with printed images on the 5 visible sides, with obvious advantages for marketing and promotion, as well as better protection of the case content.

User-friendly man-machine interface

The POSYC® control panel, sliding on a boom running the whole length the machine (fixed on LSK ERGON models), enables even less expert operators to easily and effectively run the packaging machine, thanks to an intuitive interface, a touch screen display and diagnosis functions and real-time technical support available on the POSYC®.

* The stated values are not binding, as they have to be confirmed by SMI according to the user’s production conditions.

TS – TRAY STACKER

The NEW TS (Tray Stacker) stacks on two or more layers clusters of plastic, metal , cardboard or glass containers both clustered in cardboard trays or pad and loose (this latter solution solely for fit-in type cans). This device can be installed on SK shrinkwrappers, on WP casepackers and on CM combined packers.

It consists of an electronic stacking device operating in continuous motion, which achieves an output rate up to 60 packs per minute according to the machine model and to the product handled.

Pack collations can vary according to the container shape, capacity and size; in general, the most requested collations are: 4×3 and 6×4. It is available both for single and for double lane production.

After coming out of the trayformer, two or more packs are stacked by means of a Cartesian coordinate system.

Before the pack enters the shrinking tunnel, the film is wrapped around the products and overlapped at the base of the pack.

PID SBP

The PID SBP® inserts stretched board pre-assembled partitions into cardboard boxes, in order to protect fragile products (such as glass containers) and save their labels from abrasions.

This device can be installed on the WP wrap-around casepackers and on the CM combined packers.

Compared with the traditional inserting systems of non-preassembled partitions, the PID SBP® allows to:

• reduce the partitions purchasing cost by about 20% and their storage volume by at least 60%;
• have a more compact machine, since both the partition magazine and the Partition Inserting Device are mounted on top of the machine; in this way, the machine dimensions are the same as those of a conventional casepacker;
• speed up the partition insertion operation and the loading times of the relevant magazine, since partitions are already pre-assembled;
• reduce the sensitivity of partitions to humidity and climate changes.

The PID SBP® and the pre-assembled partitions magazine are mounted at the machine inlet, on top of the pack-forming section. The maximum operating speed is 45 packs/minute.

A mechanical arm equipped with vacuum suckers picks a stretched board pre-assembled partition from the partition magazine, opens it and lowers it between the products that have just been grouped in the required pack collation.

Finally a cardboard blank is wrapped around the products by means of special guides, thus forming a case.

EASY-OPEN

The Easy-Open system can be installed both on the SK shrinkwrappers and on the CM combined packers. It consists of a device piercing the film during the cutting operation, in order to create the required mark.

It can pierce two types of marks, “X”-shaped and “H”-shaped, and is available both for single and double lane production. Thanks to the Easy Open system, the customer’s level of satisfaction is definitely improved, because of the easier opening of the pack.

Moreover, this application does not require any specific packaging materials and, therefore, allows to obtain eye-catching packs without additional costs.

FILM WELDING DEVICE BY HEATED BLADE

SMI customers can now upgrade their SK and CM packers with an innovative film welding device. The “film welding device by heated blade” joins the edge of the film reel about to end with the beginning of the new reel while the machine is running, with no need to stop production. The machine slows down and the film (printed or neutral with reference mark) is automatically joined; the machine is immediately back to running at full pace.

The new system allows dramatic cuts on energy and maintenance costs compared to traditional hot sealing method, as there are no more sealing rollers to be kept at a consistent temperature. The sealing precision of printed film or neutral film with reference mark is higher, with +/-10mm margin from the reference mark. The “film welding device by heated blade” can handle also no-collant film.

* The stated values are not binding, as they have to be confirmed by SMI according to the user’s production conditions.