What is a Packaging Collation System?
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Primary packaging like pouches, bags, trays, and sachets are sometimes packed into secondary packaging in a regularly organized manner one alongside another instead of simply and irregularly grouped and stuffed into secondary or tertiary packaging like a carton or corrugated cardboard box.
Referred to as the collator, the racetrack collation system is a specific ancillary device set along a packaging end-of-line between different packaging machines to do the task of collating packages of materials in either stand-up or stacked position and feed them into the subsequent packaging in desired collation format.
What is a Collator?
The collator serves as a flexible automation and ancillary device for product handling and organizing the outflow from an upstream machine into a previously configured format and staking and feeding them toward the downstream machine. The racetrack collator is typically used in the packaging industry to collect products from usually a horizontal conveyor and arrange them in parallel and in a predetermined number and they can be either collected as “flat collation” or “on-edge-collation” with regard to the method and how packages of materials are fed to the collator.
Collator System
Credit: ELITER Packaging Machinery
A racetrack collator can be of single-axis or dual-axis with each mechanism mounted on a chain or timing belt and then a specific number of pockets or dividers adjacent to one another and moving one phase upon each indexing.
What is the operation sequence of a racetrack collator?
In the case of a dual-axis racetrack collator, the drive system is driven in such a manner that, as soon as the predetermined collation formats are reached, the elements will rush to the point of unloading while another set of racetrack elements will back around to the loading point to be ready to collect items without pause or interruption when another set of racetrack is finished for loading and on the way to the unloading station.
In the case of a single-axis collator, the collection, collation, loading, and unloading take place in the meanwhile without any interruption and the whole working procedure.
Exploded View of a Collator System
Credit: ELITER Packaging Machinery
What are the Applications of Collator?
The collator is designed with an intelligible pattern of working sequence to collect and group products though, it is actually such a versatile system that can be incorporated into a wide range of packaging end-of-line with different purposes and applications.
The most common application of a collator is to count and group products that should be regularly aligned to be packed in subsequent packaging, examples of which are coffee pouches in cartons, tea bags in cartons, and sometimes larger bag packaging such as instant noodles in RSC or wrap-around case.
In some circumstances, the collator is incorporated to meet the packaging end-of-line’s requirements that the products should be turned over from a flat position to be “on-the-edge” or stand-up position after they are fed by a smart conveyor system.
How about Our Experience with the Collation System?
The collation system is supposed to be customized with regard to your product’s shape and size.
ELITER Packaging Machinery provides the option to incorporate such a system into our packaging machines including automatic cartoning machines and wrap-around sleevers or to connect all of them as a packaging end-of-line.
To apply for further information and consult for a future automation solution for your EOL, please contact us by calling or sending an inquiry to our email.
