Device and method for crushing deep-frozen foodstuffs provided in block form
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for comminuting deep-frozen food in block form, such as pacotizing, face limitations including fixed blade feed stages, high component loads, and maintenance-intensive designs due to synchronous speed changes and complex mechanical structures.
Innovation Solution
A device with two separately controllable drive motors and a mechanical gear arrangement allows for continuous speed variation and precise control of the tool's rotational and axial movements, enabling fast and low-stress feed direction changes, and featuring a gear system that prevents axial displacement unless speed ratios are exceeded or fallen short, with a robust and space-efficient design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a gearbox is used to drive the cutter shaft and lead screw, then the cutter feed can be varied in fixed steps, but the device becomes expensive, requires extensive maintenance, and generates high component stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical gearbox system with an electrical control system using a stepper motor. The stepper motor directly drives the cutter shaft through a simple coupling, eliminating the complex gearbox mechanism. The feed motion is achieved through a lead screw that is directly coupled to the stepper motor shaft, allowing precise control of cutter feed without mechanical gear trains. This substitution reduces device complexity, maintenance requirements, and component stresses while maintaining adaptability in cutter feed variation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes the gearbox component from the system entirely. By using a stepper motor with direct coupling to the cutter shaft and a separately controlled lead screw mechanism, the design eliminates the intermediary gearbox that caused complexity and maintenance issues. This extraction simplifies the mechanical structure while preserving the ability to vary cutter feed in controlled steps.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a stepper motor rotates with the blade shaft to generate feed motion, then blade feed becomes independent and asynchronous with rotational speed, but electrical control must be achieved via sliding contacts which is complex and maintenance-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control functions by using two separately controllable motors: one stepper motor for rotational drive and another for feed motion control. This segmentation allows independent control of blade rotation and feed motion without requiring complex sliding contact arrangements. Each motor has its own direct drive mechanism, simplifying electrical control and eliminating the need for sliding contacts to transmit control signals to a rotating motor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the sliding contact system with a stationary electrical control architecture. The stepper motors are controlled through stationary electronic controllers that communicate via digital interfaces, eliminating the need for sliding contacts. The feed motion is controlled through a separate motor that drives the lead screw, allowing independent and asynchronous control without mechanical electrical contacts.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the cutter shaft is moved forward and backward intermittently in multi-stage pacotizing operation, then production flexibility is improved, but component stresses increase and operation becomes jerky due to motor direction reversal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic control of the cutter shaft movement through independently controllable stepper motors. The system can smoothly accelerate, decelerate, reverse, and position the cutter shaft at any point along its travel path. This dynamic control eliminates jerky operation by using controlled motion profiles that gradually change speed and direction. The separate control of rotational and feed motors allows flexible multi-stage operation without the mechanical shocks associated with traditional reversal mechanisms.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a movable yoke supports the knife spindle on two parallel threaded spindles, then knife feed becomes independent from rotational speed, but the construction becomes complex, structurally unstable, and requires large installation space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex movable yoke construction entirely. Instead of using a yoke supported on two parallel threaded spindles, the design uses a single lead screw directly coupled to a stepper motor that controls the cutter shaft feed motion. This extraction simplifies the mechanical structure, improves structural stability, reduces installation space requirements, while maintaining independent control of knife feed from rotational speed through separate motor control.
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 sensitive control over feed speeds and movements, reducing component loads and maintenance needs, allowing for efficient and flexible operation in producing creamy or foamy food preparations.
Implementation Method 1
the blade shaft, which carries the blade, is mounted to be axially displaceable and is centrally penetrated by a threaded spindle that is axially fixed. The blade shaft and the threaded spindle are coupled to each other via the thread of the threaded spindle in such a way that a rotation of the threaded spindle relative to the blade shaft causes an axial displacement of the blade shaft
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a device for crushing deep-frozen foodstuffs provided in block form. Said device comprises a crushing device (1) comprising a tool (2) which is rotated about an axis of rotation (X) and is moved towards the block of foodstuff, scraping layers off the block. The crushing device (1) comprises two drive motors (3, 4) for generating the rotational and advancing movement of the tool (2), which can be separately controlled and at least one of which has a variable speed. It also comprises a transmission arrangement (5) which is coupled to the two drive motors (3, 4) and is designed such that only a first (3) of the drive motors is used as the rotational drive of the tool (2) and both drive motors (3, 4) are used together to advance the tool such that the two drive motors (3, 4) rotate the tool (2) at a certain speed ratio, without any axial movement of same, and if said speed ratio is exceeded or not reached, an advancing or reversing movement of the tool (2) is carried out along the axis of rotation (X), in addition to the rotational movement. The device according to the invention allows very quick but also low-stress modifications to the advancing direction, with a very sensitive adjustability of the advancing speeds.