Egg Breaking Monitoring for Unbroken and Dropped Egg Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current egg breaking apparatuses face challenges in detecting systematic failures due to variations in egg properties and malfunctions, leading to occasional whole eggs being dropped or not broken, and distinguishing between systematic and random failures.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a monitoring method that automatically registers fault conditions such as eggs being dropped, unbroken, or yolk membranes broken, using detection devices like photocells, vision-based systems, and sensors to compare actual egg reception and processing with expected values, and presenting abnormalities to operators through alarms or visual indications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If automated monitoring is implemented to detect fault conditions, then reliability of egg breaking process is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system is segmented into multiple independent detection points: a first detection point before the egg breaking device to detect unbroken eggs, and a second detection point after the egg breaking device to detect dropped eggs. This segmentation allows the complex monitoring task to be divided into simpler, localized detection functions that can be implemented using standard sensors at each stage.
Solution Approach 2:
The first detection point performs preliminary detection of unbroken eggs before they enter the egg breaking device. By detecting potential failures in advance (unbroken eggs), the system can alert operators or automatically adjust parameters before the actual breaking process, preventing defective products from being generated and improving overall process reliability.
2Productivity
If high speed operation is maintained, then productivity is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system provides real-time feedback about the egg breaking process by detecting unbroken eggs at the first detection point and dropped eggs at the second detection point. This feedback loop allows operators to identify systematic failures and adjust breaking parameters (such as knife pressure or positioning) while maintaining high-speed operation, thereby preserving both productivity and breaking precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual inspection mechanisms with automated optical or sensor-based detection systems. These non-contact detection methods can operate at high speeds without mechanical interference, allowing the system to maintain high productivity while achieving precise detection of breaking quality that would be difficult to achieve through mechanical means alone.
3Ease of operation
If standardised settings are used for extended periods, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system enables the egg breaking apparatus to self-diagnose problems by automatically detecting unbroken and dropped eggs. Instead of requiring operators to manually monitor each egg or frequently adjust settings, the system serves itself by identifying failures and alerting operators only when needed, thus maintaining ease of operation while improving reliability through continuous automated surveillance.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for monitoring the breaking of eggs. The eggs are fed to a plurality of egg breaking devices by means of a feeder, each egg breaking device receiving one egg at a time, whereupon the shell of each egg are broken by means of the respective egg breaking device and the contents of each egg are collected in an egg receiving device, each egg receiving device receiving the contents of only one egg in each process cycle. The remains held by each egg breaking device after the breaking of the eggshell are discharged to a waste receptacle, and the contents of the egg receiving device are discharged into one or more product receptacles. The monitoring consists in that the presence of at least one of the conditions (a) the egg is dropped, (b) eggshell is unbroken or (c) yolk membrane is broken is registered automatically, and that the presence of an abnormality in the egg-breaking is presented to an operator. The presence of an unbroken egg may be detected as the lack of contents in the egg receiving device, whereas the presence of an egg with a broken yolk membrane may be detected by the presence of yolk in the albumen.