Adjustable Blade Orientation for Angled Carcass Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mechanized meat processing systems face challenges in cutting carcasses efficiently at varying angles due to fixed blade orientations, leading to increased resistance, lateral forces, and wastage of meat.
Innovation Solution
A meat processing system that includes a blade configured to cut carcasses, a blade movement assembly, a controller, and a conveyor. The controller rotates the blade or a portion of it to vary the angle between the blade plane and the conveyor axis, allowing for precise cutting at different angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a fixed blade orientation is used in mechanized processing, then the system is simpler and more stable, but cutting efficiency decreases and meat wastage increases due to increased resistance and lateral forces
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is made dynamically adjustable through a blade movement assembly that can rotate the blade about an axis transverse to the conveying direction. This allows the blade orientation to be changed during operation to optimize cutting efficiency for different carcass positions and orientations, resolving the contradiction between fixed simplicity and dynamic efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the blade orientation parameter by rotating the blade to different angles relative to the conveying direction. The controller adjusts the blade orientation based on detected carcass characteristics, enabling optimal cutting parameters to be applied for each specific cutting task, thereby improving productivity without requiring complete system redesign.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the blade orientation is fixed perpendicular to the conveying direction, then the cutting path is straightforward, but the system cannot adapt to carcasses at different positions and orientations
Solution Approach 1:
A detection system (camera or other sensing means) monitors the position and orientation of carcasses on the conveyor. This feedback information is sent to the controller, which automatically adjusts the blade orientation to match the detected carcass characteristics. This closed-loop feedback system enables the system to adapt to different carcass orientations without requiring complex manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical positioning of the entire cutting apparatus with a simpler rotational adjustment of the blade itself. By substituting a full mechanical repositioning system with a targeted blade rotation mechanism, the system achieves high adaptability while maintaining ease of operation through automated control.
3Productivity
If manual processing is used to achieve high control over cut position and shape, then cutting precision is high, but processing speed is slow and scaling to commercial volumes is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces manual mechanical cutting with an automated blade system that uses detection and control mechanisms to achieve precise cuts. The automated system maintains the precision of manual cutting by using sensors to detect carcass features and controllers to position and orient the blade accurately, while simultaneously achieving commercial-scale processing speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection system creates a digital representation or model of the carcass position and orientation, which the controller then uses to replicate the precision of manual cutting decisions. By copying the information-gathering function of a manual operator's visual inspection and translating it into automated blade positioning, the system achieves both speed and precision.
Data Source
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AI summary
A meat processing system comprising a blade, a blade movement assembly and a conveyor. The blade is configured to cut a carcass into pieces and lies substantially in a blade plane. The conveyor is configured to move the carcass along a first axis. The blade movement assembly is configured to rotate the blade or a portion of the blade to vary an angle between the blade plane and the first axis. The blade movement assembly may also be configured to translate the blade to move the blade transverse to the first axis. A method of operating a meat processing system is also disclosed. The method includes conveying a carcass or section of carcass along a first axis, rotating a blade or a portion of a blade to vary the angle between a blade plane and the first axis, and cutting the carcass or section of carcass into pieces.