Procedure for the disposal of rejects and suitable transport unit

Abstract

Method for removing waste (A) from food pieces (S) or portions (P) consisting of them, transported in one or more lanes along a transport route (50) by means of a transport unit (21) consisting of several conveyors (21A, 21B, 21C) arranged one behind the other, by means of - stopping at least one conveyor (21A, 21B, 21C), - Removal, usually manual removal, of the rejects (A) from the transport unit (21), characterized by - realistic or symbolic representation of the food pieces (S) or portions (P) consisting of them located in or downstream of a monitoring area (4) of the transport route (50) on the display (19) of an operating unit (20), - Marking a portion (P) or a piece of food (S) thereof on the display (19) as rejects (A), in particular by touching on a touch display (19) or clicking with a cursor on a non-touch-sensitive display (19), - then automatically changing the representation of the rejects (A) or removing the representation of the rejects (A) on the display (19), whereby food pieces (S) or portions (P) visible on the display (19) are individually marked as deleted, which are then automatically displayed differently or deleted on the display (19) by a control (21*) of the transport unit (21), - automatic removal of the rejects (A) from a memory of the control (21*) of the transport unit (21), in which the food pieces (S) or portions (P) located in the transport unit (21) are stored, in particular also with regard to their position.

Description

I. Area of ​​application

[0001] The invention relates to the food industry, in which the produced food pieces often have to be transported over a transport route and in the process, waste food pieces have to be removed from the flow of food pieces.

[0002] Waste does not necessarily mean low-quality food, but also underweight pieces or portions or simply pieces of food that are incorrectly arranged for subsequent operations such as packaging.

[0003] The food pieces can in particular be slices of sausage or cheese, which are cut upstream from long product calibers of this food by a so-called slicer. II. Technical background

[0004] Such transport units often consist of several conveyors arranged one behind the other in the transport direction, the direction of flow through a system, and / or the products can be transported in one or more lanes, or even distributed randomly on the conveyors.

[0005] Especially in the case of portions consisting of several slices of sausage or cheese laid out in a shingled, partially overlapping manner, the subsequent processing step often involves packaging.

[0006] The shingled portions, for example, are usually produced on the so-called portioning belt by its intermittent drive. The portioning belt is usually part of a discharge unit consisting of several, usually three, discharge conveyors arranged in series, which are usually also part of the slicer and controlled by its control system.

[0007] The so-called inserter is connected to this and extends to the insertion point of the packaging machine, but can also already include the conveyor belts immediately behind the portioning belt.

[0008] The transport unit can be this insert, with the only or last conveyor of this transport unit dropping the portion into the trough of a troughed belt running underneath or placing it on a flat packaging carton.

[0009] This requires very precise positioning of the portion on the packaging element or in the tray, and if it is foreseeable in advance that the actual arrangement on the transport unit deviates too much from the target arrangement, so that it can no longer be corrected, or if there are errors within the portion that can no longer be corrected, the portion must be removed, if possible before being placed on or in the packaging element, in order to avoid defective packages.

[0010] The removal of one or more pieces of food is preferably done manually, but can also be done automatically, e.g. by means of gripping robots or switching flaps to redirect the piece of food, although the latter are not very suitable for portions of sausage or cheese slices.

[0011] The following describes the problem and solution primarily based on the slices and portions that are produced by a slicer and are to be placed in a trough conveyor, but which can also occur with other pieces of food: The current solution is for the operator to observe the portions produced in the slicer - usually in four lanes next to each other - either directly at the point of origin, i.e. on the portioning belt or one of the subsequent belts of the slicer's discharge unit, or visually displayed on the display of his operating unit.

[0012] Certain product pieces or portions may already be marked as rejects on the display, for example because an upstream scale connected to the control system has determined an incorrect, usually too low, weight of the product piece or portion.

[0013] If unacceptable irregularities occur, it classifies them as rejects and brings the conveyor line between the point of origin of the slice or portions and the insertion point, i.e. in the area of ​​the conveyor line, to a standstill by pressing a stop switch.

[0014] Given the cycle frequency of approximately 40 consecutive slices produced per second and a number of usually less than 10 slices per portion, this requires a high level of attention from the operator.

[0015] He then removes the one or more portions identified by him or the control system as rejects from the transport unit, closes the protective covers of the machine again and starts the machine on the operating unit.

[0016] The problem is that the slices or portions passing through the transport section are usually recorded by an optical sensor, be it a line scanner or a camera, across the entire width of the transport unit, so that the control system at least knows which portions are present, at which longitudinal position - which is taken into account with the movement of the transport unit - and, if applicable, on which track.

[0017] As soon as the operator manually changes something in this constellation of slices or portions on the insert, such as removing the rejects, the stored content of the portions no longer corresponds to reality.

[0018] However, such a parallel adjustment of the stored content to portions in the control system was not previously provided for or was very difficult to implement, which is why operators, under time pressure, omit this, resulting in sealed reject packages that can be handled further by mistake, but at least have to be sorted out at a later stage.

[0019] Already on the portioning belt, the portions may not be in the desired, specified shape or size or relative position of the portions to each other, for example due to a variety of influencing factors such as - the centrifugal force generated by the rapidly rotating blade, - the sticking of the slices to the knife, - the non-constant accelerations of all tracks of the discharge unit in the case of track-individually designed discharge units.

[0020] For example, the portion may be too long or too short, the longitudinal spacing of the slices within the portion may be uneven, or the slices may not be in exactly the same row lengthwise but may have too great a lateral offset from one another, which has so far been attempted to be corrected in some cases within the discharge unit or on the portioning belt.

[0021] It is known, for example, to use a camera to record the position of the portions and their individual slices on the portioning belt, sometimes while the portion is still being produced, and to improve the design of the portion at least for subsequent portions by adjusting the production parameters, for example by moving the individual tracks or the entire portioning belt across between the impact of two successive slices.

[0022] However, even if the portion produced on the portioning belt corresponds to the target specifications, the subsequent movements of the portion up to the packaging element, for example the transfers between individual conveyors, in particular to the inclined feeder, and possibly further transfers due to the buffer arranged between the discharge unit of the slicer and the feeder, can lead to further undesirable changes in the size, shape and position of the portions.

[0023] DE 69 715 876 ​​T2 shows a method for removing rejects from containers transported in multiple lanes along a transport route by means of a transport unit consisting of several conveyors arranged one behind the other by stopping at least one conveyor, manually removing the rejects from the transport unit, displaying the containers located in a monitoring area of ​​the transport route on the display of an operating unit, marking a container on the display as rejects, and then removing the display of the rejects from the display. III. Description of the inventiona) Technical problem

[0024] The object of the invention is therefore to provide a method for removing waste food pieces on a transport unit, in which, despite manual removal of slices or portions as waste in the controller's memory, the inventory of slices or portions present in the transport unit is adjusted according to reality, and the portions removed from the transport unit are also removed from the controller's memory. Furthermore, the object is to provide a transport unit suitable for this purpose. b) Solution to the task

[0025] To achieve the object, a method according to claim 1 and a transport unit according to claim 9 are specified. Advantageous embodiments emerge from the subclaims.

[0026] With regard to the method for removing waste from a transport unit, the problem is solved by permanently displaying the monitoring area of ​​the transport route along which the transport unit extends, which is monitored by a contactless, usually optical sensor, in particular a camera, on the display of an operating unit, so that the passing pieces or portions of the food are displayed realistically - in the case of a camera - or symbolically.

[0027] The representation on the display can also be delayed in time from the passage of the corresponding pieces or portions through the observation area, i.e. the representation area currently visible on the display can be a different area along the transport unit than the observation area observed by the sensor or camera.

[0028] If rejects are detected in the passing pieces or portions, preferably by the operator - who observes this directly on the transport unit or on the display - the at least one conveyor of the transport unit is stopped, preferably by the operator, and the corresponding portion or piece is selected as rejects, preferably by the operator, and marked as rejects on the display of the operating unit, which the operator typically does in the case of a touch-sensitive display by touching the corresponding piece or portion on the touch display or in the case of a non-touch-sensitive screen by clicking on the piece or portion with the cursor on the display.

[0029] By selecting a piece or portion as rejects, the control system automatically changes the representation of this reject on the display either only to show the selection, or the corresponding representation is immediately deleted from the display.

[0030] Before or after marking, the rejects are removed from the transport unit, preferably manually by the operator or by a clearing device controlled by the control system.

[0031] Similarly, the waste, i.e. the portion or piece of food, is automatically deleted from the controller's memory, which is always done, but preferably only after confirmation by the operator that he has actually removed this waste - after stopping the transport unit.

[0032] This can be done in particular by the operator selecting the reject that has already been marked and whose display has been changed, i.e. by clicking or touching it, and only after this second step is the display removed from the screen and this piece or portion is also removed from the controller's memory.

[0033] To make the operator's work easier, the control system can include an image recognition system that continuously analyses the images from the sensor, particularly the camera, and, if a suspected reject is detected, gives the operator a corresponding visual indication on the display.

[0034] If the image recognition is good enough, the classification and selection as scrap can also be left entirely to the control system, which then automatically marks a specific piece or product as scrap and stops the belt so that the operator can remove the marked scrap.

[0035] If he discovers that the control selection was incorrect and the portion is not a reject, he can reset the selection as a reject via the control before restarting the machine.

[0036] The control system can also indicate to the operator on the display that a portion or piece of food is rejected for reasons other than its position or arrangement, for example, because an upstream scale connected to the control system has classified this portion or piece as incorrectly weighted. The operator will then remove this reject from the transport unit.

[0037] Once the operator has selected a reject, the conveyor either stops automatically—depending on the control system configuration—or the operator must also press a stop button. Automatic stop is more effective because the control system can then stop the transport unit in such a position that the piece or portion selected as reject is located in a specific area, particularly suitable for removal by the operator, in the direction of travel, for example, one that is easily accessible.

[0038] If you also press a stop button, this means a loss of time and, on the other hand, this advantage is usually not available.

[0039] If the machine is running very fast and a very quick stop is necessary to remove the rejects, the process can also be designed so that the operator first presses a stop switch when a reject is detected and only then, without any time pressure, selects and marks the corresponding piece or product as rejects.

[0040] As soon as the transport unit is stopped and any protective devices have been opened, the operator removes the rejects from the transport unit.

[0041] He shall inform the control system of the corresponding gaps as described above, in particular by confirming the removal of the piece or product previously marked as reject to the control system, preferably individually.

[0042] The operator can then manually activate a start switch, which causes the control system to restart the transport unit and, usually, the upstream processing unit such as a slicer – which, if there is insufficient buffer space between the slicer and the conveyor unit, must also be shut down. The control system generally only does this if all pieces or portions previously marked as rejects have been confirmed as removed by the operator.

[0043] In a simpler version, after removing the rejects, the operator simply presses the start button and the control system restarts the transport unit and usually also the upstream processing unit, trusting that the operator has actually removed all products or pieces previously classified as rejects.

[0044] Whether the removal of the rejects from the transport route, i.e. from the transport unit, takes place before or after the selection of the corresponding piece or product on the screen as rejects is up to the operator; for reasons of time, it is usually done afterwards.

[0045] If a reject portion is not detected on all, for example only one, tracks of a multi-track machine, this does not mean that all pieces or portions located next to each other at the same transport position on the other tracks must also be rejects, so that the selection and / or removal of the reject from the transport path can only take place on one track, on several tracks or across all tracks next to each other at the same time.

[0046] A transport unit for transporting food pieces or portions thereof over a transport route usually comprises - one or several controllable conveyors one behind the other in the direction of transport, which pass the pieces conveyed on them to one another in the direction of transport, in particular belt conveyors, - a controller for controlling moving parts of the transport unit, which also stores a memory for storing the presence and / or position of the pieces or portions along the transport route, preferably together with the running speed and running times of the transport unit, so that the position of the pieces or portions is known to the controller at all times, - an operating unit with a display and at least one operating element for the input of data or commands by the operator via the operating unit into the control system and - a non-contact, in particular optical sensor, in particular a camera, above the transport section, the monitoring area of ​​which scans a monitoring area preferably located in the upstream half of the transport section with regard to products or portions present there, preferably over the entire width of the transport unit, and which is connected in terms of data technology to the control system which receives this information.

[0047] According to the invention, the operating unit, in particular its display, is designed to realistically or symbolically display a display area of ​​the transport unit with pieces or portions lying thereon in a top view, in particular to display the monitoring area of ​​the transport unit monitored by the sensor in a top view. However, due to a time offset between scanning by the sensor and display on the display, the display area may be offset downstream of the observation area.

[0048] The control system, in particular its operating elements, are designed to mark individual pieces of food or portions visible on the display as deleted, which are then deleted from the display and deleted from the control system's memory as no longer present, or by initially simply displaying them differently when marked as deleted and only deleting them from the control system's memory after further confirmation.

[0049] This allows the operator to easily enter the actual loading status of the transport unit into the control system via the display, the memory content of which can then be kept consistent with the actual content of the transport unit in terms of food items or products.

[0050] Preferably, the transport unit is designed to carry out the method as described above.

[0051] A typical application is that the transport unit is the so-called inserter, which is functionally, usually also locally, arranged downstream of a food processing unit such as a slicer - which cuts food calibers into slices - and another handling machine arranged downstream, such as a packaging machine, and with its downstream end specifically drops the pieces or portions lying on it into the troughs of a trough belt, for example, which is usually fed below the transport unit for this purpose. c) Examples of implementation

[0052] Embodiments according to the invention are described in more detail below by way of example. They show: Fig. 1a: a packaging device consisting of a slicer and a packaging machine arranged downstream in the longitudinal direction, the direction of passage through the machine, with an insert, viewed in the side view, the width direction of the packaging device, Fig. 2a: in the top view of the area of ​​the inserter and the downstream part of the trough belt with the portions already inserted into the troughs in this part of the trough belt, Fig. 1b, Fig. 2b: a single filled trough in side view and top view as enlargements from Fig. 1a or 2a, where the slices of the portion are in the ideal position in the trough, i.e. in the desired arrangement, Fig. 3a1, Fig. 3a2: a view analogous to Fig. 2a with a 1st reject situation, with the reject marked in the display or already removed in the display, Fig. 3b, c: Views analogous to Fig. 2a, with other reject situations with the reject marked in the display, Fig. 4: a flow chart for removing rejects from the packaging machine.

[0053] Fig. 1a shows a side view of a packaging unit 500 with - in the direction of flow 10 through the entire unit - a slicer 1, a feeder 21 with several conveyors 21A, 21B, 21C one behind the other in the direction of flow 10, as well as a packaging machine 100 and an operating unit 20 with a display 19 and a controller which, as controller 21*, controls at least the feeder 21 or, as controller 500*, the entire packaging unit 500.

[0054] From the slicer 1, which is only partially shown, the cutting unit 7 is visible, as well as from the feed for the calibers K the upper product guide 8 and the lower product guide 9, between which the calibers K are held and fed to the cutting unit 7 in a feed direction 10' which is at an angle to the horizontal flow direction 10 through the machine.

[0055] The knife 3, whose sharply ground cutting edge 3a defines the cutting plane 3", lies at a very short distance parallel to the underside of the plate-shaped cutting glasses 5, in which for the usually several in the direction of view of the Fig. 1a, one behind the other and simultaneously cut calibers K1, K2 ... each have a spectacle opening 6, only indicated here, through which the calibers K fit very precisely, so that the peripheral edge of the cutting spectacles 5 and their spectacle openings 6 form the fixed counter-cutting edge to the cutting edge 3a of the knife 3.

[0056] Not only the cutting unit 7 and the feed for the calibers K are attached to the base frame 2 of the slicer 1, but usually also a discharge unit 17, which consists of three discharge conveyors 17a, b, c arranged one behind the other in the direction of flow 10, of which the rearmost one in the direction of flow 10, the portioning belt 17a, can be pivoted in many ways in its inclined position by an angle in the direction of view of the Fig. 1a, so that the angle of impact, trajectory, and distance at which the slices S cut by the caliber K hit the portioning belt 17a can be controlled. Since the portioning belt 17a can also be driven in a stepwise controlled manner in the direction of travel 10, shingled portions P, for example, can be produced thereon.

[0057] A trough belt 22, also running from right to left in the throughput direction 10, is often fed under the slicer 1, in whose troughs M a portion P from several slices S is to be deposited.

[0058] In order to compensate for the height offset and also the distance between the trough belt 22 and the end of the generally horizontally positioned discharge unit 17, a so-called inserter 21 is connected to the last discharge conveyor 17c of the discharge unit 17. This also involves at least one, in this case three, conveyor belts 21A, 21B, 21C arranged one behind the other in the direction of flow 10, of which in this case the first two 21A, 21B run horizontally and the last conveyor belt 21C is directed diagonally downwards and ends just above the trough belt 22 and discharges the portions P into the troughs M.

[0059] For this purpose, the inserter 21, at least its last, discharging conveyor belt 21C, and the trough belt 22 are driven at the same speed to prevent the portions P from folding into the trough M when depositing, or rather discharging, the portions P. Between the insertion of the individual portions P, the trough belt 22 and / or the inserter 21 can be stopped.

[0060] The insert 21 can also be used as a buffer.

[0061] In order to prevent faulty portions P, i.e. rejects A, from entering the troughs M of the trough belt 22, the portions P transported on the feeder 21 are already checked.

[0062] For this purpose, a monitoring area 4 of a camera 13 is aligned at least over a part of the transport path 50, in this case extending over the two horizontally running conveyor belts 21A, 21B in the longitudinal direction and extending over the entire width of the inserter 21 in the transverse direction, and the video permanently recorded by this camera 13 is displayed on the display 19 of an operating unit 20.

[0063] In the display 19, the viewing area 23 can be seen, which also extends longitudinally over a certain part of the transport path 50 and transversely over the entire width of the insert 21, as shown in the Fig. 3a1 to 3c.

[0064] The representation can be realistic - i.e. with recognizable individual slices and their position within the portion, especially if the sensor is a camera 13 and the control system has sufficient computing power - as in Fig. 3a1 in the tracks SP 1 and SP2 as well as in the other Fig. 3a2 to 3c on all tracks or only a symbolic representation, for example, where a portion is only shown as a rectangle, as in Fig. 3a1 on the track SP 3, which is particularly the case if the sensor 13 is, for example, only a light barrier or a line scanner.

[0065] In the case of a just-in-time display on the display 19, the observation area 4 also corresponds to the viewing area 23.1 - as in Fig. 1a - in the case of a time offset of the representation on the display, the viewing area 23.2 visible on the display can be partially or completely downstream of the observation area 4.

[0066] As a rule, the operator checks the video running on the display 19 or the actual portions P on the feeder 21 to determine whether the portions P passing through there are faulty, i.e. rejects, or not.

[0067] Only correct portions P are allowed through and only with correct portions P can it be achieved that these are subsequently arranged in a desired arrangement in each trough M of the trough belt 22, as shown in the Fig. 1b, Fig. 2b, i.e. with a predetermined target portion length 13, a predetermined target portion width 14, a predetermined left and right target edge distance 15R, 15L to the left and right edge of the trough M and a front and rear target longitudinal distance 16A, 16B to the front and rear end of the trough M.

[0068] Of course, the operator can adjust these distances to the trough edge in his observation area 4 on the upstream insert 21 according to Fig. 2a or only if they deviate significantly from the target value, but he would notice noticeable errors, especially within the portion, including the portion length.

[0069] The operator then presses a stop button, usually in the form of one of the operating elements 18 on the operating unit 20, whereupon at least the conveyor belts 21A, B located in the observation area 4 and / or in the display area 23, usually all conveyor belts of the feeder 21, are stopped, and the operator can remove the reject portions A from the feeder 21.

[0070] Since he has the portions P - according to the Fig. 3a to 3c - on the display 19 of the operating unit 20, he can also mark the reject portions as reject A - by tapping on a touch-sensitive screen 19 or by clicking using a mouse-controlled cursor on a non-touch-sensitive screen 19 - which he then physically removes from the feeder 21.

[0071] The portions P marked by the operator or the control 21* as rejects A on the display 19 are displayed by the control after marking there either differently than the correct portions - in the Fig. 3a1, Fig. 3b, Fig. 3c shown dashed - or deleted from the marking on the display 19 as analogous to Fig. 3a1 in Fig. 3a2, in any case at the latest when it is no longer displayed on the display 19, preferably already from the marking, also in the memory of the control 21* of the insert 21 or the control 500* of the entire packaging device 500, which includes this.

[0072] Thus, the control system 21* is able to automatically refill the gaps on the feeder 21 caused by the removed reject A, if necessary, so that at the discharge point for each trough M there is also a - correct - portion P.

[0073] Instead of the operator, the control system 21* or 500* can also automatically detect and mark rejects, provided that it includes sufficiently effective image processing, particularly supported by artificial intelligence, for visually recognizable reject situations. The control system then marks the rejects on the screen and stops at least the conveyor belts visible on the display 19, i.e., those located in the display area 23 and / or those located in the monitoring area 4, so that the operator knows which reject A is the one they need to remove from the feeder 21.

[0074] The control system 21* can also mark portions P as rejects A which do not represent a visually recognizable reject situation, but were detected by other previous monitoring measures on the part of the control system 21*, for example a portion of incorrect weight detected by previous automatic weighing or slices in which an excessive fat content was detected due to scanning, for example, of the cutting surface of the caliber.

[0075] The visually recognizable defects that lead to rejects can vary greatly: This shows Fig. 3a1 a reject situation in which the portions P on the top track SP1 are obviously reject A, because in comparison to the correct portions on the tracks SP2 and SP3 below, the distances between the discs within the portions on the track SP1 are uneven and the portions P are also located too far forward in the direction of travel 10 compared to the portions P on the other parallel tracks.

[0076] Fig. 3a2 shows a representation analogous to Fig. 3a1 the representation on the display 19, if by marking portions as rejects the control system no longer displays these portions on the display 19 from the time of marking.

[0077] Such a scrap A which is only present on one track and which leaves a gap after its removal can only be closed automatically by the control system - or also by manual input from the operator on the control unit 20 - if the upstream slicer 1 can be controlled individually for each track, i.e. with the help of empty cuts on the other tracks, only portions can be supplied to track SP1 in order to fill the gaps there after the scrap A has been removed, before the depositing of portions in the trough belt 22 is started again.

[0078] Of course, the cause of this system error on track SP1 should be sought and rectified beforehand - since obviously all portions arriving on track SP1 currently have this error - so that correct portions P can be delivered in the correct position on insert 21 to fill the gaps on track SP1.

[0079] Filling the gaps on the inserter 21 is only possible if the inserter 21, i.e., its conveyor belts, are also divided into individual tracks that can be controlled separately and independently of one another. If this is not the case, either the three adjacent troughs M in the trough belt 22 are filled, possibly in several steps, or unfilled troughs M in the trough belt 22 are accepted.

[0080] In contrast, Fig. 3b a reject situation in which, from a certain point in time, only faulty reject portions A are delivered on all tracks SP1, SP2, SP3. Then, a system error exists on all tracks of the slicer or its discharge unit 17, which must be identified and corrected so that correct portions can be produced again on all tracks.

[0081] The gaps on the inserter 21 resulting from the removal of the reject A can be closed more easily when the reject A extends across the entire width of the inserter 21 by keeping the conveyor belt, here 21C, on which the last correct portions lie, stopped or at least driven more slowly, and by refilling the one or more conveyor belts 21A, 21B upstream in the direction of travel 10 with correct portions P by subsequently produced correct portions, before the filling of the trough belt 22 is started again.

[0082] Fig. Figure 3c, on the other hand, shows a reject situation in which only a single portion P on only one track SP1 was defective and even on this track not several times in a row, thus representing reject A.

[0083] The operator or the control system then also stops the feeder 21 and removes this individual reject portion A and also marks it as removed on the display 21, but usually no error correction measures are carried out on the slicer 1 or its discharge unit 17, in particular its portioning belt 17a, since it was obviously not a system error, but the reject A was caused by a one-time event and obviously will not occur again.

[0084] Fig. 4 shows a flow chart of the previously described processes: First, the reject A must be recognized as such, then the feeder 21 must be stopped and then the reject A must be marked as such on the display 19.

[0085] These three steps can be carried out by the operator or by the control system if it has sufficiently good automatic reject detection, for example by means of image processing connected to the camera 13.

[0086] However, the control system can only mark a portion that it suspects to be rejects on the display 19 as a hint to the operator - then preferably in a different display format than the portions that have already been definitely marked as rejects - and leave the final decision to the operator, who must confirm this hint marking by touching or clicking again with the cursor.

[0087] Subsequently, the reject A, which was marked in the display 19, must be removed from the feeder 21, i.e. cleared away, which is usually carried out by the operator, since automatic, mechanical removal by means of, for example, a robot or a pusher is complex and carries the risk of leaving residues on the feeder 21.

[0088] The operator then confirms that the reject A has been completely cleared, i.e. all rejects marked on the display 19 have been removed from the feeder 21.

[0089] The feeder 21 can then be started again, the time being either determined by the operator, for example by pressing a separate start button, or the feeder is started automatically by the control system, usually immediately after or at a specified time delay after the confirmation of the complete removal of the rejects A has been entered into the control unit 20. LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS 1 slicing machine, slicer 1* Control 2 base frame 3 knives 3' rotation axis 3" knife plane, cutting plane 3a Cutting edge 4 Monitoring area 5 cutting goggles 6 Glasses opening 7 Cutting unit 8 upper product guide, upper guide belt 9 lower product guide, lower guide belt 10 Direction of passage through machine, longitudinal direction 10' feed direction 11 1. Transverse direction (width of transport unit) 12 2. Transverse direction, vertical 13 Target portion length 14 Target portion width 15L, 15R nominal edge distance 16 Target longitudinal distance 17 Discharge unit 17a, b, c portioning belt, discharge conveyor 18 Control element 19 Display 20 Control unit 21 inserts 21A, B, C conveyors 22 Troughed belt 23.1, 23.2 Display area 100 packaging machines 500 packaging device A Committee K caliber M trough, packaging trough P Portion R edge S disc

Claims

[1] Method for removing waste (A) from food pieces (S) or portions (P) consisting of them, transported in one or more lanes along a transport route (50) by means of a transport unit (21) consisting of several conveyors (21A, 21B, 21C) arranged one behind the other, by means of - stopping at least one conveyor (21A, 21B, 21C), - Removal, usually manual removal, of the rejects (A) from the transport unit (21), characterized by - realistic or symbolic representation of the food pieces (S) or portions (P) consisting of them located in or downstream of a monitoring area (4) of the transport route (50) on the display (19) of an operating unit (20), - Marking a portion (P) or a piece of food (S) thereof on the display (19) as rejects (A), in particular by touching on a touch display (19) or clicking with a cursor on a non-touch-sensitive display (19), - then automatically changing the representation of the rejects (A) or removing the representation of the rejects (A) on the display (19), whereby food pieces (S) or portions (P) visible on the display (19) are individually marked as deleted, which are then automatically displayed differently or deleted on the display (19) by a control (21*) of the transport unit (21), - automatic removal of the rejects (A) from a memory of the control (21*) of the transport unit (21), in which the food pieces (S) or portions (P) located in the transport unit (21) are stored, in particular also with regard to their position. [2] Method according to claim 1, characterized by that the removal of the rejects (A) from the transport unit (21) takes place before or after marking. [3] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the removal of the rejects (A) from the transport unit (21) is confirmed by the operator on the control unit (20). [4] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by , that - after marking and changing the representation of the reject (A) on the display (19), - in order to remove the representation of the reject (A) on the display (19), a further input must be made, in particular a renewed selection of the same reject (A). [5] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the marking and / or removal of the rejects (A) from the transport unit (21) - only on one lane (SP1) - or across all tracks next to each other. [6] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that stopping the conveyors (21A, 21B, 21C) for removing the rejects (A) - either after marking the reject (A) on the display (19) automatically with the reject (A) at a fixed, easily accessible longitudinal position - or by the operator pressing a stop switch and only then marking the rejects (A) on the display (19). [7] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that the conveyor (21A, 21B, 21C) is started - either by manual input of the operator on the control unit (20) - or automatically, as soon as the removal of all rejects (A) from the transport unit (21) is confirmed by the operator on the control unit (20). [8] Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by that for the removal of the committee (A) - either a notice of possible rejects (A) is shown to the operator on the display (19) and the operator marks the rejected parts (A) verified or detected by him - or the control system (21*) itself selects the reject (A) and marks the reject (A) on the display (19). [9] Transport unit (21) for transporting food pieces (S) or portions (P) consisting thereof over a transport path (50), with - one or several controllable conveyors (21A, 21B, 21C) arranged one behind the other in the transport direction (10*), in particular belt conveyors (21A, 21B, 21C), - a controller (21 *) for controlling moving parts of the transport unit (21), which also stores the presence and / or position of each food piece (S) or portion (P) along the transport unit (21), - an operating unit (20) with a display (19) and at least one operating element (18) for the input of data or commands by the operator into the control (21*), - a non-contact sensor (13), in particular an optical sensor (13), in particular a camera (13), above the transport unit (21), the monitoring area (4) of which scans a particularly upstream length region of the transport path (50) of the transport unit (21), in particular over its entire width, and which is connected to the controller (21*) for data purposes, characterized by , that - the operating unit (20), in particular its display (19), is designed to represent at least the monitoring area (4) of the transport unit (21) monitored by the sensor (13) in a real or symbolic view from above, - the control unit (21*) is designed to mark individually as deleted food pieces (S) or portions (P) visible on the display (19), which are then automatically displayed differently on the display (19) by the control unit (21*) or deleted and stored in a memory of the control unit (21*) as no longer present, - in particular the transport unit (21) is designed to carry out the method according to one of the preceding claims, in particular its control (21*) and operating unit (20). [10] Transport unit (21) according to claim 9, characterized bythat the transport unit (21) is a so-called insert (21), in particular of a packaging device (500), which is functionally, in particular also locally, - is arranged downstream of a food processing unit (1), in particular a slicer (1), for cutting food calibres (K) into slices (S), - in particular upstream of a packaging machine (100), in particular a tray sealer (100), for packaging the at least one food piece (S), in particular the slices (S).

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