Adjustable Spray Bar for Slicing Machine Anticaking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Slicing machines face challenges in minimizing slice adhesion and facilitating easy separation of slices, particularly in multi-track configurations where slices often stick together, requiring additional measures like interleavers or anticaking agents, and existing spray systems are not easily adaptable to different configurations.
Innovation Solution
A spray unit with adjustable nozzle units and a spray bar that can be easily configured to match the number and spacing of tracks, allowing for precise application of anticaking agents, featuring independent adjustment of nozzle positions and spray directions, and the ability to deactivate or replace nozzles as needed, with a distribution system for media supply and a holding device for flexible mounting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple nozzle units are attached to a support beam for multi-track slicing machines, then slice adhesion is reduced through anticaking agent application, but the device complexity increases and adaptability to different track configurations decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The spray system is divided into multiple independent nozzle units, each capable of being independently adjusted and deactivated. Each nozzle unit can be individually positioned and angled to target specific tracks, allowing the system to handle variable track configurations without requiring complete reconfiguration of the entire spray system.
Solution Approach 2:
The nozzle units are made adjustable in multiple degrees of freedom (positioning along the support beam, angular orientation, and height adjustment). This dynamic capability allows the spray system to adapt to different track spacings, numbers, and configurations, transforming a static complex system into a flexible one that can be easily reconfigured.
2Device complexity
If the spray unit is fixed for a specific track configuration, then device complexity is minimized, but adaptability to different work orders and track configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The support beam structure serves multiple functions: it supports the nozzle units, provides a track for their longitudinal adjustment, and acts as a reference for angular orientation. The system is designed to handle various track configurations (different numbers of tracks, different spacings) with the same basic structure, making it universal across different work orders.
Solution Approach 2:
The nozzle units incorporate multiple adjustment mechanisms that allow them to be dynamically repositioned. Each nozzle can be moved along the support beam, angled independently, and positioned at different heights, enabling the same physical device to adapt to various track configurations without requiring multiple specialized systems.
3Adaptability or versatility
If nozzle units are made independently adjustable, then adaptability to different tracks is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple adjustment functions (longitudinal positioning, angular orientation, height adjustment) are combined into a coordinated system where adjustments in one degree of freedom can compensate for or simplify adjustments in others. The support beam structure itself provides guidance and reference for the nozzle positioning, reducing the operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system includes features that facilitate self-adjustment and self-alignment. The support beam structure provides natural reference points and guidance for nozzle positioning, and the adjustable mechanisms are designed to be intuitively operable, reducing the skill level and time required for configuration changes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient and adaptable application of anticaking agents, reducing slice adhesion and simplifying the operation of slicing machines by allowing quick reconfiguration for different work orders, ensuring optimal spray patterns and minimizing waste or misapplication of agents.
Implementation Method 1
a spray unit with at least one nozzle unit, each comprising at least one spray nozzle for applying the anticaking agent
Data Source
AI summary
In order to avoid that, in a spray unit for applying liquid or powdered anticaking agent between shingled or stacked slices, free-running supply lines to each individual nozzle in a contamination-intensive area of a slicing machine run freely and are also difficult to clean, the spray nozzles and shut-off valves, which are usually also provided for each nozzle, on the other hand, as well as corresponding sections of the supply lines, are protected and tightly arranged inside a hollow, pressure-tight spray bar which extends over all tracks of the slicing machine and is held at one end by means of a flexible and adjustable holding device and is supported relative to a base frame of the slicing machine.