Apparatus and process for making supports or packages, and packaging apparatus and process

1. An apparatus comprising:

a supplying station comprising a roll support configured to receive a feed roll and to rotate the feed roll around an unwinding axis to unroll consecutive portions of plastic film;

a cutting station configured to perform a cutting procedure comprising separating, from an unrolled portion of plastic film coming from the feed roll, at least one of:

a strip of plastic film having a width, measured parallel to the unwinding axis, and a length, measured perpendicular to the unwinding axis, wherein the width of said strip is larger than the length of the strip; or

a plurality of distinct film sheets obtained from a same strip shaped portion of plastic film, said strip shaped portion having a width, measured parallel to the unwinding axis, and a length, measured perpendicular to the unwinding axis, wherein the width of said strip shaped portion is larger than the length of the same strip shaped portion;

a thermoforming station comprising a plurality of adjacent molds configured to:

receive the strips or the plurality of distinct film sheets, and

thermoform said strips or said plurality of distinct film sheets in order to form a plurality of plastic supports; and

a packaging station configured to close in a package at least one product positioned on at least one between said strips, film sheets or plastic supports;

wherein the packaging station is arranged downstream with respect to the thermoforming station along a machine direction of transportation of the plastic supports to the packaging station;

wherein the unwinding axis of the feed roll is parallel to the machine direction; and

wherein the cutting station is configured to make, on the unrolled portion, one or more cuts or notches perpendicular to the unwinding axis of the feed roll to form a plurality of ribbons.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said width is larger than the radius of the feed roll.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the thermoforming station is provided with the plurality of molds sequentially arranged to form at least one line of molds positioned along a thermoforming direction, which is oriented parallel to the feed roll unwinding axis.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the cutting procedure, which the cutting station is configured to execute, is designed such that:

the width of the strips of plastic film is sized to completely cover the longitudinal extension, in the thermoforming direction, of said line of molds; and

the length of the strips of plastic film is sized to completely cover the lateral extension, perpendicularly to the thermoforming direction, of said line of molds.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one conveyor configured to move the strips or the plurality of distinct film sheets from the cutting station to at least one between:

the thermoforming station, and

the packaging station.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:

a packaging station configured for closing in a package at least one product positioned on at least one between said strips, film sheets or plastic supports;

wherein the conveyor comprises a second conveying line, arranged between the thermoforming station and the packaging station, configured to move the plastic support from the thermoforming station to the packaging station, wherein said second conveying line is configured to move the plastic supports parallel to the machine direction.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an additional supplying station, arranged between the thermoforming station and the packaging station, said additional supplying station being configured to provide consecutive portions of top plastic film to the packaging station to package the at least one product.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the additional supplying station comprises a feed roll configured to rotate around a respective unwinding axis to unroll consecutive portions of plastic film in the form of a continuous web, said continuous web being configured to engage with the plastic supports to define a sealed package containing the at least one product, the plastic film of the additional supplying station having a thickness lower than the one of the plastic film provided by the supplying station; or

wherein the additional supplying station is configured to provide consecutive portions of plastic film in the form of distinct film sheets, said distinct film sheets being configured to engage with the plastic supports to define a sealed package containing the at least one product, the plastic film of the additional supplying station having a thickness lower than the one of the plastic film provided by the supplying station.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cutting procedure, performed by the cutting station, comprises making, on the unrolled portion, at least one cut or notch parallel to the unwinding axis of the feed roll,

said cut or notch extending along the entire width of the unrolled portion of plastic film to define said strip.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cutting procedure performed by the cutting station comprises first making, on the unrolled portion, at least one cut or notch parallel to the unwinding axis of the feed roll, said cut or notch extending along the entire width of the unrolled portion of plastic film to define said strip, and then making on said strip, one or more further cuts or notches having a major part perpendicular to the unwinding axis of the feed roll.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said further cuts or notches define said plurality of film sheets on each strip, and wherein the shape of each one of said further cuts or notches is that of a straight line or that of a straight line with terminal portions which are either inclined or rounded such that each of the film sheets presents one of:

a shape of a rectangle,

a shape of a square,

a shape of a rectangle with rounded corners or with corners formed by a joining edge at an angle relative to two adjacent sides the film sheet, or

a shape of a square with rounded corners or with corners formed by a joining edge at an angle relative to two adjacent sides the film sheet.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the further cuts or notches are obtained using:

a blade or a cutter having straight conformation or operative along a straight line; or

a blade or cutter having a central straight major portion and, at each end portion two diverging inclined or curved cutting portions to thereby form at each cut the curved of inclined corner regions of adjacent film sheets.

13. A method of manufacturing supports or packages using the apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:

unrolling consecutive portions of plastic film by rotating the feed roll around the respective unwinding axis;

performing the cutting procedure at the cutting station for separating, from a portion of plastic film unrolled by the feed roll either:

a strip of plastic film having a width, measured parallel to the unwinding axis, and a length, measured perpendicular to the unwinding axis, wherein the width of said strip is larger than the length of the same strip; or

a plurality of distinct film sheets obtained from a same strip shaped portion of plastic film, said strip shaped portion having a width, measured parallel to the unwinding axis, and a length, measured perpendicular to the unwinding axis, wherein the width of said strip shaped portion is larger than the length of the same strip shaped portion;

thermoforming said strip or said plurality of distinct film sheets by means of the plurality of molds of the thermoforming station, to define a plurality of plastic supports;

wherein the cutting procedure performed by the cutting station comprises making, on the unrolled portion, one or more cuts or notches perpendicular to the unwinding axis of the feed roll to form a plurality of ribbons.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:

the cutting procedure performed by the cutting station further comprises making, on the unrolled portion, at least:

on said plurality of ribbons, one or more further cuts or notches having a major part parallel to the unwinding axis of the feed roll, said cuts or notches extending along the entire width of the unrolled portion of plastic film to define said plurality of film sheets.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said further cuts or notches are achieved using a blade or cutter having a central straight major portion forming a straight cutting segment and opposite end portions forming inclined or curved cutting lines to thereby obtain film sheets in the form of rectangles or squares with rounded or inclined corner regions.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of unrolling consecutive portions of plastic film comprises advancing plastic film by a length equal to the length of the strips or of the strip shaped portion.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

moving the strips or the plurality of distinct film sheets from the cutting station to the thermoforming station along first conveying line arranged between the cutting station and the thermoforming station;

extracting the plastic supports from each of the molds of the thermoforming station;

placing at least one product on the plastic support;

moving, according to the machine direction, the plastic supports from the thermoforming station to a packaging station along second conveying line arranged between the thermoforming station and the packaging station.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the packaging procedure comprises:

providing a continuous web of plastic film unrolled from feed roll or distinct plastic film sheets by additional supplying station;

engaging the plastic supports or the strips or the distinct film sheets with said continuous web of plastic film or distinct plastic film sheets provided by the additional supplying station, in order to form a sealed package,

the step of engaging following the step of placing the at least one product on the plastic support.