Dual-Drive Dough Cutter Bar for Continuous Conveyor Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dough cutting devices using guillotines in continuous processes require complex mechanisms for the knife blade's movement, leading to high power consumption, maintenance needs, and limited flexibility in cutting operations.
Innovation Solution
A device with a cutter bar mounted on two independently controlled drives, allowing orthogonal movement relative to the conveyor, enabling simplified and flexible cutting or punching of dough with reduced power requirements and enhanced operational efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a guillotine is designed to move downwards in the conveying direction at the same speed as the dough, then continuous cutting is enabled without stopping the conveyor, but the mechanism becomes complex requiring synchronization of two movements along two spatial directions
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting device is divided into separate functional components: a carriage that moves along the conveyor belt and a cutting blade that moves vertically. These segmented components can be controlled independently, eliminating the need for complex synchronization mechanisms while enabling continuous cutting operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting blade movement is separated from the conveyor direction by introducing a vertical dimension. The carriage moves horizontally along the conveyor while the blade moves vertically to perform cutting, transforming a single-direction coupled movement into two independent dimensional movements.
2Device complexity
If a single drive is used to generate both horizontal carriage movement and vertical blade movement, then device complexity is reduced, but the drive becomes too powerful and cannot be precisely controlled for synchronized operations
Solution Approach 1:
The single drive system is segmented into two independent drives: one for horizontal carriage movement and one for vertical blade movement. This segmentation allows precise control of each movement independently, enabling accurate synchronization without requiring a single overly powerful drive.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a static single-drive configuration to a dynamic dual-drive configuration where each drive can be independently controlled and adjusted. This enables precise synchronization of the carriage and blade movements based on real-time operational requirements.
3Force
If the cutting blade is pre-tensioned to an upper position by springs and moved downwards by cylinders, then the cutting force is sufficient, but the mechanism becomes complex with multiple components and higher maintenance needs
Solution Approach 1:
The spring-based tensioning mechanism is extracted and replaced with a direct drive system. The cutting blade is moved downwards directly by the vertical drive, eliminating the need for springs and associated tensioning components, thereby reducing mechanism complexity while maintaining sufficient cutting force.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical spring-based tensioning system is replaced with a controlled mechanical drive system. Instead of using springs to provide cutting force, a controlled vertical movement mechanism is used, reducing the number of components and simplifying the overall mechanism while maintaining effective cutting capability.
4Device complexity
If the carriage horizontal movement is limited by the length of the first arm section, then the mechanism is simplified, but the cutting depth and flexibility are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The carriage is designed with dynamic movement capability, allowing it to travel the full length of the conveyor belt rather than being limited by a fixed arm section. This enables adjustable cutting depths and positions, providing flexibility for different cutting requirements while maintaining a relatively simple mechanism.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present application relates to a device for cutting dough, in particular a sheet of dough. The device comprises a conveying device on which dough can rest and with which it can be conveyed in a conveying direction, and a cutting device with a knife bar to which at least one knife blade is attached, in particular detachably. The device further comprises a displacement device with which the knife bar is linearly displaceable orthogonally relative to the conveying device in a first spatial direction, in particular the vertical spatial direction, in order to cut the dough lying on the conveying device at defined points. The displacement device comprises two laterally and oppositely positioned columns which extend in the first spatial direction relative to the conveying device and project from it, and on which the knife bar is mounted so as to be linearly displaceable in the first spatial direction.In a first embodiment of the device, a first drive is arranged on the first of the two columns and a second drive on the second column. The first drive and the second drive are controlled independently of each other by a control unit of the device to move the cutter bar linearly along the respective column in the first spatial direction. In a second embodiment of the device, the cutter bar is additionally linearly movable in a second spatial direction that is orthogonal to the first spatial direction. In a third embodiment of the device, the device has a counter-pressure plate on which the conveying device rests. The counter-pressure plate is resiliently mounted on a frame of the device by means of at least one spring element.