Angled Circular Knife for Fish Fillet Trimming
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing meat processing devices with cutting devices, such as trimming machines for fish fillets, face issues with complex designs, high reject rates, and impaired throughput due to the need for multiple conveyor belts and sensors, resulting in blunt cut surfaces and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A cutting device with a rotating, driven circular knife that can be angled relative to the conveying direction, correlated with the conveying speed, producing a bevel cut surface that acts as a threading aid for skin separation, utilizing a simple and conventional mechanical control system without interrupting the transport surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a fly knife aligned at right angles to the conveying direction is used, then separating cuts can be performed, but the transport surface must be interrupted requiring two conveyor belts and complex control systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the cutting function with the continuous conveyor belt system by positioning the circular knife above the uninterrupted belt. The cutting head moves transversely across the conveying direction while the belt continues transporting meat parts without interruption, merging the cutting operation with continuous transport.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of aligning the cutting knife parallel to the conveying direction (traditional fly knife approach), the patent positions the circular knife perpendicular to the conveying direction, rotating about a vertical axis. This inverted orientation allows cutting without interrupting the transport surface.
2Productivity
If a fly cutter is operated to produce separating cuts, then meat parts can be separated, but the cut surfaces become blunt requiring special measures and accepting reject rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a rotating circular knife that can dynamically adjust its cutting angle and position. The knife rotates about a vertical axis while maintaining a fixed inclined guide angle, creating dynamic cutting action that produces sloping or transversely curved cut surfaces rather than blunt cuts, improving cut surface quality while maintaining high throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the cutting parameters by using a circular knife with variable rotation speed and adjustable inclined guide angle. By correlating the speed component of the cutting head in the conveying direction with the conveying speed of meat parts, the system optimizes both throughput and cut surface quality, producing acute-angled receding meat sections.
3Manufacturing precision
If water or laser beam cutting devices are used instead of fly cutters, then cutting can be performed, but the design and control become relatively complex and blunt cut surfaces are still produced
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating circular knife generates its own cutting action through rotation, eliminating the need for complex water delivery systems or laser beam control mechanisms. The mechanical rotation of the knife itself provides the cutting force and precision, simplifying the overall device design while producing quality cut surfaces.
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
The solution enables efficient, high-throughput processing with acutely angled, receding cut surfaces that facilitate skin separation, reducing reject rates and operational complexity while maintaining a simple mechanical design.
Implementation Method 1
a cutting element which is formed by a rotating, driven circular knife
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6B
AI summary
The invention relates to a device (1) for automatically and mechanically processing pieces of meat (6) conveyed in a row, comprising a transporting apparatus (2), a cutting apparatus (3) having a cutting head (31), and a control apparatus (5). The cutting apparatus (3) has a retaining and guiding apparatus (4), on which the cutting head (31) is movably arranged in order to carry out separating cuts at an angle from the straight conveying direction (20) along a straight movement path (40) at a fixed guiding tilt angle (a). A conveyor belt (21), which forms a component of the transporting apparatus (2) and which transports the pieces of meat (6) while said pieces of meat lie on the conveyor belt, continuously passes by the retaining/guiding apparatus (4). The cutting element (32) is formed by a rotationally driven circular blade (321) that is limited in order to cut at the height position thereof over the conveyor belt (21). While the separating cuts are being made, the control apparatus (5) correlates a velocity component (VT) of the movement velocity of the cutting head (31) in the conveying direction (20) with the conveying velocity of the pieces of meat (6) in the conveying direction (20). The device (1) is used in particular to skin fish fillets (60), wherein a tail end piece (610) is removed from the fish fillet (60) by means of a chamfer cut, which produces a filet end chamfered at a slant as an insertion aid for drawing skin (64) to be removed into the draw-in gap of a skinning machine.