Impeller Feed Unit With Inlet Slicing for Elongate Products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing size-reduction machines, such as the Affinity ®< dicer, face challenges in achieving greater productivity and versatility, particularly in processing elongate food products without the need for pre-cutting.
Innovation Solution
A feed unit is introduced that feeds elongate products lengthwise into a rotating impeller, where a slicing knife cuts the products as they enter, ensuring segments fit within the impeller's axial length, and the cutting process is synchronized with the impeller's rotation to control segment length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If products are fed into the impeller without pre-cutting, then productivity is improved and versatility is enhanced, but the impeller must accommodate products of varying lengths which complicates the feeding process
Solution Approach 1:
The slicing knife performs preliminary cutting action on elongate products as they enter the impeller, dividing them into segments of appropriate length before further processing. This preliminary action eliminates the need for pre-cutting operations and allows direct feeding of long products into the machine.
Solution Approach 2:
The slicing knife acts as an intermediary element between the feed hopper and the impeller chamber. It intercepts elongate products entering the impeller and performs the necessary segmentation, serving as a mediator that enables the system to handle varying product lengths without modification to the core impeller mechanism.
2Manufacturing precision
If a slicing knife is mounted to the impeller to cut products during rotation, then segment length control is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The slicing knife is merged with the impeller structure, being directly mounted to rotate with the impeller. This combination eliminates the need for separate cutting mechanisms and simplifies the overall device structure while maintaining precise segment length control through the rotational synchronization of the knife with the impeller.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating impeller with mounted slicing knife performs the cutting function automatically as products are fed in. The rotational motion of the impeller itself provides the timing and positioning mechanism for the knife, making the system self-regulating for segment length control without 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
Enables efficient processing of elongate products without pre-cutting, enhancing productivity and versatility by accommodating a wide range of product lengths and allowing precise control over segment size.
Implementation Method 1
Within the impeller 12, centrifugal forces hold the product against an inner wall of a stationary case 14
Data Source
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AI summary
Size-reduction machines, feed units, and methods capable of producing reduced-size products from a variety of solid and semisolid materials. Such machines have an impeller that rotates on an approximately horizontal axis and an opening at an axial end of the impeller. A feed unit includes a feed hopper for feeding products to an interior of the impeller through the opening of the machine, and a slicing knife is mounted to the impeller and radially protrudes across the opening of the machine to slice products into segments as they enter the interior of the impeller.