Dough Extrusion Passage Layout for Uniform Thickness Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses for forming food dough pieces struggle with achieving uniform thickness due to complex structures and difficulty in handling operations, particularly when cutting food dough extruded through nozzles.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus incorporates an extruding device with a passage design that includes a narrower upstream section and a longer downstream section, combined with a flow straightener and an ultrasonic-vibrating cutter, to ensure uniform extrusion and cutting of food dough into pieces with consistent thickness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional extruding nozzle with simple passage is used, then the device complexity is low, but the manufacturing precision of dough piece thickness is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The passage is segmented into three distinct sections: a first section with a first cross-sectional area, a second section with a second cross-sectional area smaller than the first, and a third section with a third cross-sectional area equal to the first. This segmentation allows different portions of the dough to experience different flow conditions, ensuring uniform thickness while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the passage are designed with different cross-sectional areas to create specific flow characteristics in different locations. The narrowed second section creates a velocity increase and pressure drop that prevents elastic deformation, while the first and third sections maintain larger areas for stable flow. This local variation in geometry achieves uniform dough thickness without complex external mechanisms.
2Manufacturing precision
If lifting-and-lowering mechanisms are added to control dough hopper and belt positions, then the manufacturing precision improves, but the device complexity and ease of operation worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the thickness control function from external mechanisms (lifting-and-lowering mechanisms) and relocates it to the intrinsic geometry of the extruding nozzle passage. By designing the passage with specific cross-sectional area variations, the nozzle itself becomes the thickness control element, eliminating the need for complex external adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The passage structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it conveys the dough from the hopper to the cutting mechanism while also controlling the thickness of the extruded dough through its geometric design. The passage's cross-sectional area variation automatically regulates the dough flow and thickness without requiring external control systems, making the device self-sufficient.
3Manufacturing precision
If the downstream passage length is increased beyond the maximum distance of the extruding port, then the flow uniformity and thickness consistency improve, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The passage design prepares the dough flow in advance before it reaches the extruding port. The first section accelerates the dough, the second narrowed section creates a pressure drop and velocity increase that prevents elastic deformation, and the third section allows the dough to stabilize. This preliminary action sequence ensures uniform thickness is achieved before the dough exits the nozzle.
Solution Approach 2:
The passage design changes the flow parameters (velocity, pressure, cross-sectional area) through its geometric configuration. By varying the cross-sectional area along the passage length, the dough's flow characteristics are modified to achieve uniform thickness. The parameter changes are built into the passage geometry itself rather than requiring external control 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
The solution allows for the formation of food dough pieces with uniform thickness by maintaining consistent flow and pressure, reducing elastic deformation, and preventing shape distortion during the extrusion and cutting process.
Implementation Method 1
The passage includes a flow straightener to straighten a flow of the food dough
Implementation Method 2
The cutting device includes an ultrasonic-vibrating cutter to cut the food dough extruded from the extruding nozzle
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3(a)~3(c)
AI summary
[Problems] The purpose of this invention is to provide an apparatus for forming pieces of food dough that has a simple mechanism and can form the pieces of the food dough having an enough uniformity of thickness when the pieces are formed by cutting the food dough extruded from an extruding device by means of a cutting device. [Means of Solving the Problems] An apparatus 1 for forming pieces P of food dough, comprising: an extruding device 2 to extrude the food dough D, and a cutting device 3 to cut the pieces P of the food dough, wherein the extruding device 2 comprises a passage T to feed the food dough D, wherein the passage T comprises an upstream passage 2G having a cross-sectional shape perpendicular to a moving direction R of the food dough that becomes narrower from the upstream towards the downstream of the upstream passage 2G and a downstream passage 2H that is connected to the exit 2L of the upstream passage 2G, which corresponds to the downstream end of the upstream passage 2G, has a constant cross-sectional shape, and extends to the extruding port 2M of the extruding device 2, wherein the length L2 of the downstream passage 2H in the moving direction R of the food dough D is greater than the maximum distance S2 in a straight line of the extruding port 2M.