Food Loaf Slicing Control for Underweight Slice Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for slicing loaves of meat into precise weight portions often result in slices that are either underweight or overweight, leading to rejection and loss, due to variations in shape, quality, and machine parameters, which are difficult to account for in existing control systems.
Innovation Solution
A method and device using a slicing machine with an automatic control system that adjusts thickness settings based on actual weights and shapes of individual loaves, applying loaf correction weights and thicknesses to ensure slices meet specified weight criteria, minimizing underweight slices and optimizing weight accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the loaf is pressed in the longitudinal direction to achieve a uniform cross-section, then the manufacturing precision of slice weight is improved, but the device complexity increases due to the need for form tubes and press rams
Solution Approach 1:
The loaf is pressed in the longitudinal direction before slicing to achieve a uniform cross-section. This preliminary action ensures that the loaf has a consistent shape that fills the form tube uniformly, which directly improves slice weight precision by eliminating variations caused by irregular loaf geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
A form tube is introduced as an intermediary device between the loaf and the slicing process. The form tube serves as a mold that constrains the loaf into a uniform cylindrical shape during pressing, acting as a mediator that transforms the irregular loaf geometry into a regular form suitable for precise slicing.
2Manufacturing precision
If the thickness setting is increased to compensate for expansion, then the actual slice weight increases, but the slice thickness becomes larger than the set value
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback by measuring the actual weight of slices and using this information to adjust subsequent thickness settings. The control system continuously monitors slice weight and modifies the thickness setting dynamically to compensate for variations in loaf expansion and density, maintaining weight accuracy without permanently increasing thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The thickness setting is made dynamic rather than static. The control system automatically adjusts the thickness setting based on real-time measurements of slice weight and loaf characteristics. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to optimize each slice individually, ensuring weight accuracy while minimizing unnecessary thickness increases.
3Device complexity
If the knife axial position remains unchanged relative to the form tube, then the device complexity is reduced, but the manufacturing precision of slice weight deteriorates due to loaf expansion variations
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical positioning system for the knife is replaced with a control system that calculates and adjusts thickness settings electronically. Instead of physically moving the knife axially to compensate for loaf expansion, the system uses computational methods to determine optimal thickness values, substituting a complex mechanical adjustment mechanism with a simpler electronic control approach.
4Productivity
If individual slices are packaged with nominal weight specifications, then the loss factor from excess weight increases, but the productivity of packaging is improved
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter being controlled from fixed thickness to variable weight. By adjusting the slicing thickness dynamically based on loaf characteristics and monitoring actual slice weights, the system optimizes the weight of each slice to match the nominal packaging weight specifications, minimizing excess weight while maintaining packaging productivity.
Data Source
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Figure 1b
Figure 1c
AI summary
To avoid underweight slices (S) when slicing a loaf (L) into slices (S), the thickness settings (D1 - Dn) specified for separating the slices (S1 - Sn) are optimized as early as possible, depending on various previously known parameters, - from loaf to loaf and/or - from slice to slice within one and the same loaf, preferably also across the boundary between two loaves, so that existing weight conditions with regard to the actual weight (Gist) of the slices (S) are maintained, in particular - no more underweight slices (S) are produced and/or - the minimum average weight of the slices (S) required over the entire batch is maintained.