Food cutting machine

Abstract

Cutting machine (1), in particular a high-performance slicer, with a housing (11) which holds a feed device (18) and a cutting blade (4) for separating slices from a supplied food bar, and has a collecting surface (31) which is vertically movable via a lifting drive (32) for collecting the separated slices and a scale (3) which determines the weight of the separated slices and transmits it to a control device (2) which controls the lifting drive (32) and the feed device (18), wherein the scale (3) is controllable and the control device (2) releases or blocks the scale (3) for determining the weight depending on an operating state, characterized in that the collecting surface (31) is designed as a load plate of the scale (3) and has a conveyor drive (33) for horizontally transporting the slices, wherein the conveyor drive (33) comprises a conveyor motor (34) which drives a roller over which a conveyor belt,which serves as a support for the slices, is guided in a rotating manner, wherein the slices are deposited in shingles at a low conveyor belt speed and are transported away at a higher conveyor belt speed and transferred to another conveyor belt (14) for removal, wherein a target weight can be specified via the control device (2) and the control device (2) first locks the scales (3) after the target weight has been reached and then controls the conveyor drive (33) to remove the cut material.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a cutting machine for food according to the features of the preamble of claim 1.

[0002] DE 21 49 208 A discloses a food cutting machine. Slices are cut from a food product and collected on a platform. The platform is slowly lowered during cutting and is connected to a scale to determine the weight of the cut slices.

[0003] DE 36 12 996 C3 shows another food cutting machine in which slices are cut from a food product and collected on a product collection surface. The product collection surface is continuously lowered during cutting to ensure a constant drop height of the slices.

[0004] Another food cutting machine is shown in US 4 794 996 A. This cutting machine has two integrated scales, a first scale is arranged in the cutting area below the knife and a second scale is arranged on a conveyor belt away from the cutting area. The first scale determines the weight of the cut slices and the second scale determines the weight of the cut portion. A controller is connected to the two scales and uses the weight information to adjust the thickness of the slices to the desired weight. The measured value from the first scale is averaged over several measurements, since in the direct cutting area an accurate weight measurement is difficult due to the influence of falling slices and the vibrations of the drive.

[0005] EP 0 216 754 A1 shows a food cutting machine with a carriage and a depositing device with a beater which moves cut slices onto a depositing tray, the slices being weighed on the depositing tray by a load cell.

[0006] The invention is based on the object of creating a cutting machine which enables the weight of the cut slices to be determined as accurately as possible.

[0007] This object is achieved according to the invention by a cutting machine having the features of claim 1.

[0008] The cutting machine has a controllable scale that is enabled or disabled by a control device to determine the weight of the cut slices. Enabling or disabling the scale means that the detection of a weight signal is enabled or prevented. This can be done, for example, via an electronic filter or a switchable gate that enables or disables the measured values. The scale can also be provided with switchable damping, so that high damping is switched to lock the scale and low damping to unlock the scale. The damping can be provided in an electronic filter or by means of a switchable damper component that mechanically dampens the scale. Such a damper component can be, for example, a hydraulic damper that is connected to a load sensor of the scale and has a damping characteristic that can be switched via a valve.A coil, which in conjunction with a magnet limits the deflection of the scale or a load sensor of the scale, can also be used as a damper component.

[0009] The scale is located in a housing of the cutting machine, which also contains a cutting blade and a feed device for cutting slices from a fed food bar. The scale is located in the cutting area, i.e. in the area below the cutting blade, and has a collecting surface for collecting the cut slices. When the slices are placed on the collecting surface, a stack is created so that the drop height would be reduced slice by slice if the collecting surface were stationary. The height of the collecting surface can be adjusted using a lifting drive, preferably so that the slices fall a constant height from the cutting blade to the collecting surface. The weight of the cut slices is determined by the scale and transmitted to a control device.Advantageously, this can be used to control the lifting drive and / or the feed device based on the determined weight signal to achieve a specified slice thickness and / or a specified slice weight. A structurally simple solution provides for the collecting surface to be designed as the scale's load plate.

[0010] To achieve a decorative storage of the sliced ​​material, the invention provides that the collecting surface has a conveyor drive for horizontally transporting the slices. The conveyor drive can move the slices in the transport direction and transversely to the transport direction to create a two-dimensional storage pattern for the sliced ​​material. The slices can thus be deposited in a shingled pattern, i.e., partially overlapping one another and / or in a circle.

[0011] To achieve the most accurate measurement result possible, the control device is designed to lock the scale if vibrations or forces from the machine are expected that could distort the measurement result. Such operating conditions include, for example, acceleration or deceleration phases, during which the cutting blade, a conveyor belt drive, or any other drive of the cutting machine is accelerated or decelerated.

[0012] For example, at the start of a cutting process, the control device can lock the scale, then accelerate the cutting blade to cutting speed and move the collecting platform to its highest position. The collecting platform is then accelerated downward until the desired lowering speed and / or cutting speed is reached, which is determined by the desired slice thickness and the cutting speed. Once this speed is reached, the control device releases the scale. The uppermost position of the collecting platform is higher than the average drop height of the slices to provide sufficient acceleration travel.

[0013] It is advantageous to increase the damping of the scale during such an acceleration phase of a drive, as this suppresses mechanical vibrations of the scale. The control device can release the scale when the cutting machine reaches an operating state in which vibrations typically no longer occur, especially when all drives are running at a constant speed.

[0014] According to the invention, the slices are removed from the scale's collecting surface when the control device determines that the target weight of the portion or the desired number of slices has been reached. The control device then first locks the scale and then activates the conveyor drive to remove the sliced ​​product. The portion is then transferred to another conveyor belt, which transports it further.

[0015] An application of the cutting machine according to the invention is particularly intended in the food processing industry for cutting food products such as sausage or cheese.

[0016] Further embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the figures and described in the associated description.

[0017] It shows Fig. 1: A schematic 3D representation of a cutting machine according to the invention Fig. 2: A schematic sectional view of the cutting blade with drive installed in the cutting machine Fig. 3: A schematic 3D representation of a scale installed in the cutting machine Fig. 4: A schematic representation of the structure of the cutting machine Fig. 5: A schematic representation of the cutting area of ​​the cutting machine

[0018] A cutting machine 1 is arranged with its housing 11 in the Fig. 1. The housing 11 of the cutting machine 1 is mounted on height-adjustable feet 15 and has rollers 16 attached to the underside of the housing 11 for easier transport of the cutting machine 1. The housing 11 holds a cutting blade 4 with the associated blade drive 41 under a pivotable cover 13, which is Fig. 2 is shown in more detail with the blade cover removed.

[0019] The slicer's product can be fed to a cutting area 44 via a product feed 12 pivotally mounted on the housing 11. The pivoting mounting of the product feed 12 allows convenient loading of the slicer 1 by folding down the product feed 12 for loading with fresh sliced ​​product, so that the product support is essentially horizontal, and after the product has been inserted, the product feed 12 is pivoted back upward into a cutting position. The sliced ​​product is primarily intended to be food bars such as sausage bars or cheese bars, from which individual slices are cut off by the cutting blade 4 in the cutting area 44.

[0020] The separated slices are collected on a collecting surface 31 in the cutting area 44 below the cutting blade 4. The slices are collected on the collecting surface 31 and transferred as portions to a conveyor belt 14 for removal. The conveyor belt 14 is arranged horizontally within the housing 11 and transports the cut portions out of the cutting machine 1.

[0021] A control device 2 located in the housing 11 controls the cutting process. The control device 2 has a display 21 for displaying data and a keyboard 22 for entering data.

[0022] The cutting blade 4 is designed as a circular blade and is driven by a blade drive 41. The structure of the blade drive 41 is shown in the Fig. 2. It has an electric motor 43, which is connected to the cutting blade 4 via a gear with a belt drive and drives it. The movement of the cutting blade 4 is in the Fig. 5. The movement of the cutting blade 4 is indicated by arrows. The cutting blade 4 is held by a lever arm 42 and rotates planetarily on a circular path. It rotates at high speed around its center point, which in turn moves on the circular path. To stop the cutting blade 4, it is moved to a parking position. The parking position corresponds to the uppermost point of the circular path, the 12 o'clock position, so to speak. In this parking position, the cutting blade 4 is completely arranged behind a cover and does not engage with the cutting area 44. Accidental contact with the cutting blade 4 is therefore not possible, thus preventing any injuries when the cutting blade 4 is at a standstill.

[0023] The schematic structure of the cutting machine 1 is shown in the Fig. 4. The product to be cut rests on the product support 17 and is fed to the cutting blade 4 for cutting slices via a feed device 18. The feed device 18 is motor-driven and its feed rate can be adjusted, allowing the thickness of the cut slices to be varied.

[0024] Below the cutting area, a scale 3 is arranged, which has a collecting surface 31 on which the cut slices are collected. The scale 3 is also in the Fig.3. A weight sensor 35 is connected to the collecting surface 31 and determines the weight of the separated slices. The height of the collecting surface 31 can be adjusted using a lifting drive 32 to ensure that the drop height of the separated slices is always constant. This is important for achieving an exact deposit pattern of the slices or a neat product stack. On the other hand, the falling of the slices and their subsequent impact on the collecting surface 31 introduces an interference pulse into the scale 3, which varies with the drop height. In order to achieve a good measurement result here, a constant drop height of the slices is important in order to obtain a largely constant interference pulse, which can then be easily filtered out.

[0025] The collecting surface 31 is designed as a load plate of the scale 3 and has a conveyor drive 33 that transports the slices horizontally. A conveyor motor 34 drives a roller over which a conveyor belt is guided. The conveyor belt serves as a support for the slices. Depending on the speed of the conveyor belt, the slices are deposited in shingles at a low speed and transported away at a higher speed and transferred to the conveyor belt 14.

[0026] The control device 2 is connected to individual components of the cutting machine to control the cutting process. The components are the scale 3, the lifting drive 32, the conveyor drive 33, the knife drive 43, and the feed device 18. The control device 2 controls all drives of the cutting machine 1 and either enables or disables the scale 3 for weight determination. This allows the control device 2 to disable the scale 3 whenever a drive, such as the knife drive 41, the lifting drive 32, or the conveyor drive 33, accelerates. When a drive accelerates, vibrations or forces occur that could falsify the measurement result of the scale 3 during the acceleration process. The measurement result is improved by the control device 2 disabling the scale 3 in operating states with acceleration and enabling it in operating states without acceleration, i.e., when the drives are running at a constant speed or are at a standstill.

[0027] The scale directly determines the weight of the cut slices and transmits this information to the control device 2. Based on the actual measured weight of the slice, the control device 2 can control the feed device 18 to set a desired target weight or to set a desired slice thickness. At a given cutting speed, the control device 2 can increase the thickness of the slices, for example, by increasing the feed speed of the feed device 18. Decreasing the feed speed, however, results in thinner slices.

[0028] By directly feeding back the weight of the cut slices from the scale 3 to the control device 2, it is possible to precisely set a desired target weight of a portion for a specific number of slices.

Claims

[1] Cutting machine (1), in particular a high-performance slicer, with a housing (11) which holds a feeding device (18) and a cutting blade (4) for separating slices of a fed food bar, and has a collecting surface (31) which is vertically movable via a lifting drive (32) for collecting the separated slices and a scale (3) which determines the weight of the separated slices and transmits it to a control device (2) which controls the lifting drive (32) and the feeding device (18), wherein the scale (3) is controllable and the control device (2) enables or blocks the scale (3) for determining the weight depending on an operating state characterized byin that the collecting surface (31) is designed as a load plate of the scale (3) and has a conveyor drive (33) for the horizontal transport of the slices, wherein the conveyor drive (33) comprises a conveyor motor (34) which drives a roller over which a conveyor belt, which serves as a support for the slices, is guided in a rotating manner, wherein the slices are laid down in shingles at a low speed of the conveyor belt and are transported away at a higher speed of the conveyor belt and transferred to a further conveyor belt (14) for removal, wherein a target weight can be specified via the control device (2) and the control device (2) first locks the scale (3) after the target weight has been reached and then controls the conveyor drive (33) to remove the cut material. [2] Cutting machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized bythat the control device (2) locks the scale (3) when the cutting blade (4) or the lifting drive (32) accelerates. [3] Cutting machine (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the control device (2) controls the feed device (18) for adjusting the slice thickness of the slices based on the weight signal of the scale (3). [4] Cutting machine (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the control device (2) controls the lifting drive (32) for raising and / or lowering the collecting surface (31) by determining the speed of the lifting movement from the slice thickness and the cutting speed in such a way that the fall height of the separated slices is constant. [5] Cutting machine (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized bythat the conveyor drive (33) conveys the discs on the collecting surface (31) horizontally in the conveying direction and / or perpendicular to the conveying direction and the control device (2) controls the conveyor drive (33) for transporting the discs, in particular for shingling or depositing two-dimensional figures. [6] Cutting machine (1) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the control device (2) only releases the scale (3) when the lifting drive (32) and / or the conveyor drive (33) is running at a constant speed.

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