Intestines Processing System with Tilted Conveyor Roll
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing intestines processing systems often damage the liver and result in inaccurate gallbladder removal, leading to a high percentage of remaining gallbladders, typically around 15%, due to the use of cutting tools which can spoil the liver and incompletely remove the gallbladder.
Innovation Solution
The system employs a conveyor roll with an upward tilt and helical ribs to gently break tissue connections, combined with a gallbladder removal station using pinch-off rollers and a lifting plate to position the gallbladder optimally for removal, reducing the risk of damage and improving removal accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cutting tool is used to sever the gallbladder from the intestines package, then the gallbladder can be removed, but the liver may be damaged and the gallbladder may be incompletely removed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the cutting tool (mechanical cutting system) with a vacuum suction system. The vacuum system creates negative pressure to extract the gallbladder through a suction opening, eliminating the damaging cutting action while achieving complete removal. This substitution of mechanical cutting with vacuum-based extraction resolves the contradiction between removal effectiveness and organ protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a vacuum field as an intermediary between the gallbladder and the removal mechanism. Instead of direct mechanical contact with a cutting tool, the vacuum field acts as a mediator to gradually extract the gallbladder, providing controlled and damage-free removal that protects the liver while ensuring complete gallbladder extraction.
2Ease of operation
If the intestines package is moved through the processing system with the liver and gizzard on top, then the organs are accessible for processing, but they are prone to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by positioning the conveyor roll at a downward tilt before the processing station. This tilt causes the intestines package to naturally settle into a predetermined orientation during conveyance, with the gallbladder positioned optimally for vacuum extraction and the liver protected from damage before the actual removal operation begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the orientation dimension by tilting the conveyor roll downward rather than keeping it horizontal. This dimensional change in the conveyor roll's angle allows the intestines package to automatically orient itself during movement, achieving proper positioning without manual intervention and protecting organs from damage through gravitational assistance.
3Reliability
If the gallbladder positioning section uses plates and vacuum system to catch and position the gallbladder, then the gallbladder can be secured, but the positioning accuracy is low resulting in 15% remaining gallbladders
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical plate-based catching system with a vacuum suction system. The vacuum opening provides precise and accurate positioning of the gallbladder through negative pressure attraction, eliminating the imprecision of the plate system and achieving complete removal with less than 5% remaining gallbladders.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses pneumatic principles by implementing a vacuum suction system instead of mechanical plates. The vacuum field provides controlled and precise gallbladder positioning through air pressure differential, achieving high positioning accuracy and complete removal that was not attainable with the previous mechanical plate system.
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
This approach reduces the number of remaining gallbladders to less than 5%, minimizing liver damage and ensuring complete gallbladder removal without using cutting tools, thereby enhancing the processing system's reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the gallbladder is then caught between plates and sucked down by a vacuum system
Implementation Method 2
the conveyor roll is upward tilting with a first vertical distance from the entrance section to the conveyor track that is larger than a second vertical distance from the exit section to the conveyor track
Data Source
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AI summary
Intestines processing system comprising a conveyor track with carriers, a tissue breaking section and a gallbladder removal station, wherein each carrier is equipped to carry an intestines package taken out of a poultry carcass, said intestines package at least comprising liver, gizzard and gallbladder, wherein the carrier is equipped to move the intestines package through the tissue breaking section for breaking at least some of the tissue connections in the intestines package below the gallbladder, and to move the intestines package through the gallbladder removal station for removing the gallbladder from the remainder of the intestines package, wherein the tissue breaking section comprises a conveyor roll for conveying the intestines package jointly with the carriers of the conveyor track, wherein the conveyor roll has an entrance section distant from the gallbladder removal station and an exit section proximate to the gallbladder removal station, wherein the conveyor roll is upward tilting with a first vertical distance from the entrance section to the conveyor track that is larger than a second vertical distance from the exit section to the conveyor track.