Artificial Carcass Diagnostic System for Antimicrobial Verification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current carcass decontamination methods in slaughter facilities face challenges in effectively controlling and verifying the temperature and pressure of carcass surfaces during antimicrobial interventions, leading to inconsistent meat quality and potential bacterial contamination, which can result in economic burdens and non-compliance with regulatory standards.

Innovation Solution

The use of an artificial animal carcass with a sensory module and display module to directly measure and control surface temperature, pressure, and other parameters, ensuring that the carcass surface reaches the necessary conditions for effective antimicrobial treatment, while an optional bladder maintains the weight equivalence to real carcasses.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional carcass decontamination methods are used, then the processing can be completed, but the temperature and pressure control is inconsistent leading to variable cleaning efficacy

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecleaning efficacyVSAvoidtemperature and pressure measurement
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses an artificial carcass that replicates the physical properties and surface characteristics of real carcasses. This artificial model allows for precise instrumentation and measurement without the variability and safety concerns of using actual meat products, enabling reliable temperature and pressure data collection during decontamination processes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The artificial carcass serves as an intermediary between the decontamination equipment and real carcasses. It provides a controlled medium to test and verify temperature and pressure parameters, ensuring that the equipment performs reliably before actual processing occurs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If antimicrobial intervention is applied to remove bacterial contamination, then food safety is improved, but the process complexity and verification difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebacterial contaminationVSAvoiddiagnostic system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces complex biological testing methods with direct physical measurement systems. Temperature and pressure sensors provide immediate, objective data about decontamination effectiveness, eliminating the need for complex culturing and microbiological analysis while maintaining food safety standards.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The diagnostic system incorporates real-time monitoring and feedback mechanisms that track temperature and pressure parameters during antimicrobial intervention. This allows for immediate verification of process effectiveness and adjustment if parameters fall outside validated ranges, simplifying compliance verification.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Measurement precision

If multiple sensors and diagnostic components are added to verify cleaning parameters, then measurement accuracy improves, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesurface parameter measurementVSAvoidsensor system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent integrates multiple sensing capabilities (temperature, pressure, and potentially other parameters) into a single artificial carcass model. This consolidation allows simultaneous measurement of multiple critical parameters without requiring separate test setups, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive monitoring.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentUS11061008B2Artificial animal protein cleaning diagnostic system
Publication Date: 2021.07.13 BIRKO CORP

AI summary

A diagnostic system for processing animal carcass, wherein the system comprises an artificial animal carcass that includes a bladder inside; a sensory module under the exterior surface of artificial animal carcass; and a display module operably coupled with the sensory module. The bladder inside the artificial animal carcass is configured to be filled with water at the slaughter facility, so that the weight of artificial carcass is approximately the same as the weight of real carcass to be processed. The sensory module is configured to measure a selected parameter on the surface of artificial animal carcass to be displayed on the display module.