Poultry Leg Deskinning Apparatus with Freewheel Clutch Rollers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current deskinning apparatuses for poultry legs are complex and costly, with limited processing rates due to inefficient skin gripping and removal mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A simplified deskinning apparatus featuring rotatable rollers with a freewheel clutch mechanism that allows one-way rotation, enabling effective skin gripping and removal by blocking counter-rotation, and a conveyor system with shackles for suspending poultry legs, along with horizontally oriented rollers and optional meshing teeth for enhanced skin engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If rollers are made movable horizontally to engage and disengage from poultry leg, then deskinning operation can be initiated and completed, but device complexity increases and processing rate is limited
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the rollers horizontally to engage and disengage from the poultry leg (conventional approach), the invention inverts the approach by keeping rollers stationary in the horizontal plane and moving them vertically upward to engage the skin, then using the upward motion to pull the skin loose. This simplification eliminates complex horizontal movement mechanisms while maintaining effective deskinning operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the horizontal movement function from the roller mechanism, separating it from the vertical engagement function. The rollers are simplified to only perform vertical movement for skin engagement and removal, while the horizontal positioning is handled by the stationary roller arrangement, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
2Reliability
If rollers are equipped with freewheel clutch to prevent counter-rotation, then skin loss is prevented during deskinning, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The freewheel clutch mechanism is designed to automatically engage and disengage based on the direction of roller rotation. When the roller rotates in the correct direction (driven by the drive mechanism), the clutch allows rotation. When the roller attempts to rotate in the opposite direction (which would cause skin loss), the clutch automatically locks without requiring external control systems, thereby preventing skin loss while adding minimal complexity.
3Device complexity
If rollers are made stationary in horizontal plane, then device complexity is reduced, but skin engagement capability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions the roller movement from the horizontal plane to the vertical dimension. By moving rollers vertically upward to engage the skin and then using this vertical motion to pull the skin loose, the system achieves effective skin engagement without requiring horizontal movement, thus simplifying the mechanism while maintaining or improving skin gripping effectiveness.
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 significantly improves processing rates and reduces manufacturing costs by ensuring reliable skin gripping and removal, preventing skin loss during the deskinning process while simplifying the apparatus design.
Implementation Method 1
a freewheel clutch mechanism that allows one-way rotation, enabling effective skin gripping and removal by blocking counter-rotation
Implementation Method 2
The rollers can be movable to engage, grip and draw the skin on the poultry leg or part of the poultry leg into the nip
Data Source
AI summary
A deskinning apparatus including a conveyor with shackles from which a poultry leg or part of a poultry leg is suspendable by the ankles. Rollers may be positioned below the conveyor to define a nip between the rollers, which may be movable to engage, grip and draw skin on the poultry leg or part of the poultry leg into the nip. The rollers may be arranged to stop rolling after gripping the skin to hold the skin in the nip and may be equipped to subsequently move away from the poultry leg so as to pull the skin loose from the poultry leg The rollers can be configured to enable rotation in one direction only so that after the rollers have stopped rolling to hold the skin in the nip between the rollers, the rollers are blocked from rotating in a counter direction.