Automatic or mechanized food-process lines
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automatic and mechanized food-process lines face challenges in efficiently assembling and disassembling machines, leading to potential collision damage during reconfiguration, especially when heavier machines are maneuvered manually.
Innovation Solution
Implementing automated or powered assist provisions, including passive docking and parking guide tracks with slowly-driven gear-toothed router wheels and cam roller wheels, to align and park machines relative to each other, ensuring precise positioning and minimizing manual handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If machines are manually maneuvered during assembly and disassembly, then flexibility in reconfiguration is maintained, but collision damage and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guide tracks and powered assist provisions as intermediary elements between the machines and operators. These guides provide physical constraints and alignment mechanisms that prevent collision during manual maneuvering, while the powered assist systems provide controlled movement when needed, thereby maintaining reconfiguration flexibility while reducing collision damage risk
Solution Approach 2:
The guide tracks are pre-installed in fixed positions to establish safe pathways and alignment references before machines are maneuvered. This preliminary setup ensures that operators have predetermined safe routes and positioning references, reducing the risk of collision during assembly and disassembly operations while maintaining operational flexibility
2Ease of manufacture
If heavier machines are manually handled, then equipment cost is reduced, but positioning precision and operator safety deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tracks serve as intermediary structures that provide mechanical guidance and alignment for heavy machines during positioning. This allows operators to maneuver heavy equipment with improved precision without requiring fully automated handling systems, maintaining cost-effectiveness while achieving accurate positioning
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces purely manual mechanical handling with a hybrid system that incorporates powered assist provisions. This substitution provides controlled, precise movement for heavy machines without requiring complete automation, thereby improving positioning precision while keeping equipment costs reasonable through selective mechanization
3Productivity
If assembly and disassembly processes are streamlined, then productivity increases, but risk of damage during reconfiguration may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tracks and alignment provisions are pre-installed and ready before assembly operations begin. This preliminary preparation enables operators to quickly and safely position machines without time-consuming alignment adjustments, thereby streamlining the assembly process while maintaining protection against damage through pre-established safe pathways
Solution Approach 2:
The guide tracks act as intermediary structures that facilitate rapid yet controlled machine movement during assembly and disassembly. These guides enable streamlined operations by providing predetermined safe routes, allowing quick reconfiguration while preventing damage through physical constraints and alignment mechanisms
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
Enhances the efficiency and safety of machine assembly and disassembly processes by reducing the risk of collision damage and streamlining the reconfiguration of food-process lines, allowing for quick changes in output food products.
Implementation Method 1
slowly-driven gear-toothed router wheel (46) which is engaged by a rack track (201)
Implementation Method 2
cam roller wheels (82) which are un-driven and engaged by a featureless sidewall (72) of the track
Data Source
AI summary
An improvement for automatic/mechanized food-process lines pertains to racking provisions for assembling, dis-assembling and re-assembling numerous separate machines that form to make up the line. That is, one machine can be swapped out for a different machine in order to cause a change in the output food product pieces. For example, a swapped in machine may give a different coating to the food product pieces (eg., breading vs. Panko) or run food product pieces of substantially different character (eg., whole muscle pieces like chicken tenders vs. formed product like hamburger patties). The improvement has a track attached or affixed to either a low elevation mounting structure of a given food process line machine or the factory floor, but not the other, and a router member attached or affixed to the other of the low elevation mounting structure or the factory floor, for following the track.