Chicken Breast Macerator Design for Thickness Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

The challenge in fast food restaurants is to consistently provide chicken breast portions of the correct weight and size for sandwiches, as larger chicken breasts are thicker and may not fit standard buns, and there is a risk of undercooking due to their thickness.

Innovation Solution

A maceration and pressing process using a combination of castellated or star cutting blades and blunt rollers to cut and press chicken breast meat, preventing muscle memory and reducing thickness, ensuring consistent size and reducing the risk of undercooking.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Volume of moving object

If larger chicken breasts are used to meet increasing size trends, then the chicken breast size increases, but the thickness increases causing poor bun coverage and risk of undercooking

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechicken breast sizeVSAvoidchicken breast thickness

Core Design Contradiction:

Volume of moving objectVSLength of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The chicken breast is segmented through maceration by passing it between rollers with cutting blades (castellated or star patterns) that cut the meat fibers. This segmentation of the muscle fibers prevents the meat from springing back to its original thickness while maintaining overall portion size, thus resolving the contradiction between large size and excessive thickness

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The maceration process uses nested rollers where one roller has cutting blades and the other is a blunt press roller. The chicken breast is processed through these nested rollers multiple times with progressively smaller gaps to achieve the desired thickness reduction without compromising the overall portion volume

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

2Length of moving object

If chicken breast thickness is reduced to improve bun coverage, then bun coverage improves, but the risk of overcooking increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvechicken breast thicknessVSAvoidcooking consistency

Core Design Contradiction:

Length of moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The maceration process is performed as a preliminary action before cooking. By cutting and pressing the chicken breast fibers in advance, the meat structure is modified to prevent springing back during cooking. This preliminary structural change ensures that the chicken maintains consistent thickness throughout the cooking process, improving cooking reliability and preventing both undercooking and overcooking

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Manufacturing precision

If maceration and pressing process is applied to reduce thickness, then thickness control improves, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvethickness controlVSAvoidmacerator structure

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The macerator device combines multiple functions into a single piece of equipment: cutting the chicken breast fibers, pressing it to desired thickness, and preventing springing back during subsequent cooking. This multi-functional approach achieves precise thickness control without requiring multiple separate processing steps or complex equipment

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS20220400692A1Macerator design for portioned chicken breast for fast food restaurants

Publication Date: 2022.12.22 JBT MAREL CORPORATION

AI summary

A method for processing a protein-containing foodstuff portion to control the thickness. The method includes cutting a raw protein-containing foodstuff portion to make cuts on a surface of the raw protein-containing foodstuff portion, the raw protein-containing foodstuff portion has a first initial thickness; and after the raw protein-containing foodstuff portion is cut, pressing the raw protein-containing foodstuff portion, wherein after pressing a thickness of the raw protein-containing foodstuff portion is reduced from the initial thickness.