Dough Cutting Device Mass Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dough cutting devices face challenges in achieving precise cutting due to a dead time between actuation and actual cutting, leading to undesirable deviations in dough mass, which affects product quality.
Innovation Solution
A dough cutting device equipped with a cutting element, a first weighing unit, and a control unit that determines a mass flow based on successive weight values, allowing for precise control of the cutting element to account for dead time and ensure accurate cutting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the cutting element is actuated based on the measured weight to portion the dough sheet, then the cutting process can be automated and continuous production can be maintained, but the dead time between actuation and actual cutting causes undesirable deviations in the actual mass of the dough piece
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit calculates the required cutting position in advance by adding the dead time distance to the currently measured weight position. This preliminary calculation allows the system to account for the delay between actuation and actual cutting, ensuring that the dough piece will have the desired mass even after the dead time elapses during transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously measures the weight of the dough piece during transport and uses this feedback to dynamically adjust the cutting position. By monitoring the actual mass accumulation in real-time and comparing it with the target mass, the control unit can precisely determine when to trigger the cutting element to compensate for dead time effects.
2Productivity
If the dough sheet is transported continuously through the cutting element, then production efficiency is maintained, but the dough piece mass changes during the dead time leading to weight deviations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculation of the cutting trigger position by projecting forward the dead time distance based on transport speed. This allows the continuous transport to proceed uninterrupted while the cutting timing is pre-calculated to account for the delay, ensuring weight compliance is maintained throughout continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit dynamically adjusts the cutting trigger position parameter based on the measured weight and transport conditions. By changing this parameter in real-time according to actual mass accumulation rate and transport speed, the system maintains reliable weight compliance even during continuous transport operations.
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 reliable and precise cutting of dough strips into individual pieces of consistent weight, improving product quality by accurately predicting and adjusting for mass changes during the dead time.
Implementation Method 1
a first weighing unit arranged downstream of the cutting element for determining a weight value of a dough piece of the dough sheet
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4
AI summary
Dough cutting device (100) for cutting a dough strip (140), the dough cutting device (100) comprising a cutting element (132) for cutting a dough strip (140), a first weighing unit (101) arranged downstream of the cutting element (132) for determining a weight value of a piece of dough (141) of the dough strip (140), and a control unit (180), wherein the control unit (180) is configured to determine a mass flow rate of the dough strip (404) based on at least two successively determined weight values of a piece of dough (141) and to control the cutting element (132) for cutting the dough strip (405) based on at least one of the determined weight values and the determined mass flow rate.