Fish Backbone Separation Using Conveyor and Cutting Levers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for filleting fish into three pieces often result in the backbone part being contaminated with fins and kidneys, leading to impurities in ground fish-meat products, which reduces quality and yield, as existing separation techniques are inefficient in removing these impurities and maintaining the quality of attached meat.
Innovation Solution
A method and device utilizing conveyor belts, fin cutters, and kidney cutters, controlled by levers and sensors, to accurately separate the backbone part from fins and kidneys, ensuring the quality-meat-attached backbone section is obtained with a higher yield rate by precise cutting and positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the backbone part is processed after filleting into three pieces, then a considerable amount of meat is attached to it, but impurities such as fins and kidneys cause degradation in quality
Solution Approach 1:
The backbone part is divided into multiple sections using cutting means. The first cutting means separates the first backbone section containing the back fin, while the second cutting means separates the second backbone section containing the tail fin. This segmentation allows for precise removal of impurity-containing sections while preserving the meat-attached central backbone section.
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful parts (fins and kidneys) are extracted from the backbone part by cutting and removing the first and second backbone sections. The first backbone section with the back fin and the second backbone section with the tail fin are separated and discarded, leaving only the clean central backbone section with attached meat.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If washing is used to remove fins and kidneys from the backbone part, then some impurities can be removed, but it is difficult to completely remove them and part of the meat is also removed
Solution Approach 1:
The washing process is replaced with a mechanical cutting system. Instead of using water flow to wash away impurities, the invention uses cutting means to precisely cut and separate the backbone sections containing fins and kidneys. This mechanical approach provides complete removal of impurities without the side effect of losing attached meat.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If hand removal of fins and kidneys is used, then complete removal can be achieved, but work efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs the separation operation automatically without human intervention. The backbone part is conveyed automatically through the processing line, and the cutting means are activated to automatically cut and separate the impurity-containing sections. This automation maintains the completeness of impurity removal while dramatically improving work efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
A conveying mechanism acts as an intermediary between the filleting machine and the processing station. The backbone part is automatically conveyed to the cutting means, which then perform the separation operation. This intermediary system enables automatic processing, eliminating the need for manual handling while ensuring complete removal of impurities.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional separation methods are used, then some separation is achieved, but the quality and yield of meat-attached backbone section are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the backbone part are treated differently. The first and second backbone sections containing impurities are cut and removed, while the central backbone section with attached meat is preserved. This localized treatment ensures that only the necessary portions are removed, maintaining the highest possible quality and yield of the meat-attached backbone section.
Data Source
AI summary
To obtain a quality-meat-attached backbone part suitable as a material for minced fish the invention proposes cutting off a fin part and a kidney from a meat-attached backbone part obtained when filleting a fish into three pieces. The meat-attached backbone part is conveyed by a pair of upper and lower conveyor belts while being sandwiched and held between the belts. When the backbone part reaches a fin cutter arranged in a midstream of the conveyance, a belly part is pushed by a first pushing lever while a back part of the meat-attached backbone part is received and stopped by a receiving and stopping lever, and the back skin from a back fin to a tail fin is cut off by the fin cutter. Then, when the meat-attached backbone part reaches a kidney cutter, the belly part of the meat-attached backbone part is pushed by a second pushing lever to position the kidney-attached backbone section of the meat-attached backbone part at a cutting position by a kidney cutter. The kidney-attached backbone section is cut off by the kidney cutter to obtain the quality-meat-attached backbone part.