Squeezing and cutting device with controllable squeezing time and shape-changing

Abstract

The present invention related to a squeezing and cutting device with controllable squeezing time and shape-changing with a stirring and squeezing assembly and a cutter which can move upwardly and downwards. The stirring and squeezing assembly used to squeezing the continuous strip-shaped dough. The cutter has several squeezing and cutting elements which can spread or close simultaneously. The squeezing and cutting elements can squeeze or cut the dough when closing. The squeezing and cutting elements would close at least two times during the downward process of the cutter to make the cut dough has different shapes.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a kneading and cutting mechanism capable of controlling kneading time and shape change, and is a food manufacturing and processing machine. Prior Art

[0002] One existing food forming machine has an extrusion mechanism that continuously extrudes raw materials into long food balls. Below the extrusion mechanism is a vertically movable cutting mechanism that cuts the long food balls into individual balls. For example, Chinese invention patent No. I347832, "Food Forming Device," is an example.

[0003] However, the aforementioned food forming machines can only form spherical food balls and are unable to form food balls with more varied shapes.

[0004] In view of the above shortcomings, the inventors believed that corrections were necessary. Therefore, drawing on their many years of experience in related technologies and product design and manufacturing, and adhering to the concept of excellent design, they conducted research and innovation to address the above shortcomings. After continuous efforts, they finally launched the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change of the kneading and cutting mechanism, in order to correct the product structure and enhance the product's excellent performance. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The main purpose of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention which can control the kneading time and shape change is to provide a food manufacturing machine which can produce food dough with different shapes.

[0006] To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the present invention is a kneading and cutting mechanism capable of controlling kneading time and shape change, comprising:

[0007] A stirring and extruding assembly;

[0008] A kneading and cutting assembly having a lifting drive connected to a lifting base via a lifting transmission assembly, the lifting base being provided with a cutting drive and a cutter, the cutting drive being connected to the cutter via a cutting transmission assembly, the cutter being located below the stirring and extruding assembly;

[0009] A receiving and conveying assembly includes a conveyor belt and a vertically movable receiving device provided next to the conveyor belt. The receiving device can also drive the conveyor belt to rise and fall when it moves up and down. The conveyor belt and the receiving device are both located below the cutter.

[0010] A control assembly is electrically connected to the stirring and extruding assembly, the lifting drive, the cutting drive and the adapter.

[0011] When the present invention is in operation, the stirring and extruding assembly stirs the raw materials and then extrudes them into a continuous long strip of food. The cutter can move up and down and has multiple kneading and cutting bodies that can synchronously contract inward or expand outward. When the kneading and cutting bodies contract, they can pinch or cut the food ball according to the degree of contraction. The cut food ball then falls onto the conveyor belt.

[0012] The key point of the present invention is that the cutter retracts inward at least twice as it descends from its highest point to its lowest point, with the final retraction being to cut the food ball. The remaining retractions squeeze the food ball. As the cutter continues to move downward and the receiver abuts against the end of the food ball, the food ball between the cutter and receiver expands radially due to the compression from both sides. This allows the cut food ball to have a waistline, creating shapes such as a gourd.

[0013] Compared to previous food forming machines that can only produce spherical food balls, the present invention has a control assembly that can control the condensation of the kneading body at least twice, thereby forming food balls with different shapes, thereby increasing their appeal to consumers when they are sold. Simple diagram description

[0014] FIG1 is a perspective view of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention that can control the kneading time and shape change. FIG2 is a side view of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention that can control kneading time and shape change. FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention that can control the kneading time and shape change. FIG4 is a first schematic diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change, when in operation. FIG5 is a second schematic diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change, when in operation. FIG6 is a third schematic diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change, when in operation. FIG7 is a fourth schematic diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change, when in operation. FIG8 is a fifth schematic diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change, when in operation. FIG9 is a timing diagram of the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention that can control the kneading time and shape change when it is in operation. FIG10 is an illustration of a food dough that can be formed by the kneading and cutting mechanism of the present invention, which can control the kneading time and shape change. Implementation Method

[0015] [Please refer to Figures 1 to 4] The present invention relates to a kneading and cutting mechanism capable of controlling kneading time and shape change, which includes:

[0016] A stirring and extruding assembly (1);

[0017] A kneading and cutting assembly (2) has a lifting drive (21), the lifting drive (21) is connected to a lifting seat (23) via a lifting transmission component (22), the lifting seat (23) is provided with a cutting drive (24) and a cutter (26), the cutting drive (24) is connected to the cutter (26) via a cutting transmission component (25), the cutter (26) is located below the stirring and extruding assembly (1), and the lifting seat (23) is fixed with two position sensors (27);

[0018] A receiving and conveying assembly (3) has a conveyor belt (31). A vertically movable adapter (32) is provided beside the conveyor belt (31). When the adapter (32) moves up and down, it can also drive the conveyor belt (31) to rise and fall. Both the conveyor belt (31) and the adapter (32) correspond to the lower side of the cutter (26).

[0019] A control assembly (not shown) is electrically connected to the stirring and extruding assembly (1), the lifting drive (21), the cutting drive (24), the two position sensors (27) and the adapter (32).

[0020] [Please refer to the first to fourth figures] The lifting drive (21) and the cutting drive (24) can both use servo motors. The cutter (26) has a ring-shaped ring seat (261). The ring seat (261) is pivotally provided with a plurality of kneading bodies (262) arranged in an evenly annular shape relative to the central opening of the ring seat (261). Each of the kneading bodies (262) is set to a synchronously rotatable state so that each of the kneading bodies (262) can simultaneously shrink inward or expand outward. One of the kneading bodies (262) is connected to the cutting transmission component (25), and two position sensors (27) can sense the position of the cutting transmission component (25). One of the position sensors (27) is used to sense whether each of the kneading bodies (262) has expanded outward to an extreme position, and the other position sensor (27) is used to sense whether each of the kneading bodies (262) has shrunk inward to an extreme position.

[0021] The stirring and extruding assembly (1) can stir the input food raw materials and then continuously extrude them into long food balls. The long food balls are aligned with the central opening of the cutter (26), and the lifting driver (21) also drives the cutter (26) to move up and down. During the downward movement, the control assembly controls the cutter driver (24) to drive each kneading and cutting body (262) to condense inward synchronously at a predetermined position, and the food ball can be squeezed or cut according to the degree of condensation. The control assembly also controls the receiver (32) to move up and down, and the cut food ball falls onto the conveyor belt (31).

[0022] [Please refer to Figures 4 to 8] The key point of the present invention is that when the cutter (26) is moving downward from the highest point to the lowest point, the control assembly will control it to condense inward at least twice, and the last condensation is to cut the food ball, and the remaining condensation actions are all to knead the food ball, and during the kneading, the cutter (26) also continues to move downward and the adapter (32) is pressed against the end of the food ball. The food ball between the cutter (26) and the adapter (32) will expand radially into a swollen shape due to being squeezed from top to bottom, so that the cut food ball can have a waist and present different shapes such as peanuts or gourds;

[0023] As shown in Figures 4 to 8, there are diagrams showing the production sequence of a gourd-shaped food ball that can be formed by the present invention. In the fourth figure, the cutter (26) has just cut off the previous food ball and returned to the highest point. Then, as shown in Figure 5, the cutter (26) will start to move downward, and the adapter (32) will also move upward to lift the conveyor belt (31). When the cutter (26) reaches the predetermined position, each pinching body (262) will begin to shrink inward and squeeze the food ball without cutting it. The food ball will extend downward due to squeezing until it touches the raised conveyor belt (31). After squeezing, the cutter (26) continues to move downward, and the food ball between the cutter (26) and the adapter (32) will expand radially into a swollen shape due to being squeezed from top to bottom, thereby making the food ball have thickness changes. The food is shaped like a waist. The sixth figure shows that after the waist is squeezed out, the kneading bodies (262) of the cutter (26) will expand outwards and continue to move downwards. Then, when the cutter (26) reaches a predetermined position, which is shown here as between two waists, the kneading bodies (262) will shrink inwards to cut the food ball, and the food ball will fall onto the conveyor belt (31). The seventh figure shows that after cutting, the kneading bodies (262) will expand outwards, and the cutter (26) will also rise back to the highest position. The eighth figure shows that when the cutter (26) rises, the conveyor belt will also start to convey the food ball forward. When the cutter (26) is about to move down again to cut out the next food ball, the conveyor belt (31) will stop again to prevent the food ball from being deformed due to the friction of the lateral movement when the conveyor belt (31) contacts the food ball.

[0024] [Please refer to Figure 9] Figure 9 is a timing diagram of the process of the cutter (26) moving from the highest point to the lowest point, wherein M1 and M2 represent the lifting driver (21) and the cutting driver (24) respectively, 1, 0, and -1 of M1 and M2 respectively represent that the driver currently receives the control signal of the control assembly for forward rotation, stop, and reverse rotation, and S1 represents the position sensor (27) for sensing whether each kneading body (262) expands outward to the limit position, and S2 represents the position sensor (27) for sensing whether each kneading body (262) shrinks inward to the limit position, and 1 and 0 respectively represent Whether the sensor senses that the pinching and cutting body (262) is at the desired limit position, therefore, in conjunction with the process description of Figures 4 to 8, M1 is in a state of receiving the positive signal during the descent process, S1 changes from signal 1 to signal 0 when the cutter (26) descends to the pinching and cutting body (262) and begins to shrink, and M2 performs a pinching waist and a cut during the descent process, so its signal line will have two square waves corresponding to the positive signal, and there is a reverse signal segment between the two square waves, which represents the pinching and cutting body (262) expanding outward. S2 will only have signal 1 when it is cut;

[0025] Figures 4 to 9 are only one of the control settings for illustration. The parameters that can be changed by the control assembly are, for example, the extent to which the kneading and cutting body (262) is expanded between kneading and cutting the waist, thereby changing the width of the waist of the food ball, or the time for the kneading and cutting body (262) to remain in this position during kneading and cutting. A longer time can ensure that the seal is truly kneaded when using highly elastic materials such as mochi skin, bun skin or frozen dough. Alternatively, the cutter (26) can add at least one additional kneading waist action during the process of descending from the highest point to the lowest point to increase the number of waists of the food ball. [Please also refer to Figure 10] In this way, a food ball with a meatball shape as the rightmost meatball in Figure 10 is formed. Figure 10 is an example of various food ball shapes that can be formed by this mechanism. The control method of the control assembly can be a control module with a program type or a physical part type, thereby accurately controlling the speed, acceleration and rotation angle of the lifting drive (21) and the cutting drive (24).

[0026] However, the above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. In other words, all equivalent changes and modifications made within the scope of the patent application should still fall within the scope of this invention patent.

[0027] In summary, it should be known that the present invention is novel and progressive, and since the present invention has not been published in any publication, it should comply with the provisions of Article 22 of the Patent Law.

[0028] 1: Stirring and extruding assembly 2: Kneading and cutting assembly 21: Lifting drive 22: Lifting transmission assembly 23: Lifting seat 24: Cut off the drive 25: Cut off the transmission components 26: Cut-off 261: Ring seat 262:Knead and cut the body 27: Position sensor 3: Undertake the conveying assembly 31: Conveyor belt 32: Adapter

[0029] none

Claims

1. A kneading and cutting mechanism capable of controlling kneading time and shape change, comprising: A stirring and extruding assembly for extruding a continuous long strip of food mass; a kneading and cutting assembly having a lifting drive using a servo motor, the lifting drive being connected to a lifting seat via a lifting transmission component, the lifting seat being provided with a cutting drive using a servo motor and a cutter, the cutter having an annular ring seat, the ring seat being pivotally provided with a plurality of kneading and cutting bodies evenly arranged in an annular shape relative to a central opening of the ring seat, each of the kneading and cutting bodies being configured to rotate synchronously so that each of the kneading and cutting bodies can simultaneously contract inwardly or expand outwardly, the cutting drive being connected to one of the kneading and cutting bodies via a cutting transmission component, the cutter corresponding to the bottom of the stirring and extruding assembly, and the lifting seat being fixed with two position sensors; a receiving and conveying assembly having a conveyor belt, a connector being provided next to the conveyor belt that can move up and down to drive the conveyor belt to be lifted and lowered, the conveyor belt and the connector both corresponding to the bottom of the cutter; A control assembly is electrically connected to the stirring and extruding assembly, the lifting drive, the cutting drive, the two position sensors and the adapter. The control assembly is used to control each kneading and cutting body to condense inward at least twice during the downward movement of the cutter, wherein the last condensation is to condense the food ball, and the remaining condensation actions are all to squeeze the food ball, thereby forming a food ball with a waist.

2. The kneading and cutting mechanism capable of controlling kneading time and shape change as described in claim 1, wherein: The control assembly has a control module for controlling the speed, acceleration and rotation angle of the lifting drive and the cutting drive.

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