Meat Piece Recirculation for Continuous X-Ray Reject Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing meat processing systems experience reduced throughput due to the need to temporarily stop the primary stream when rejecting undesired objects, especially when the amount of rejects is high.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secondary stream for recirculating rejected meat pieces, allowing continuous operation of the primary stream by using a cutting device to separate undesired objects and a recirculation apparatus to distribute the rejected meat pieces, ensuring they are automatically removed from the secondary stream.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the primary stream is temporarily stopped to recirculate rejected meat pieces, then the rejected meat pieces can be properly processed and removed, but the system throughput is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the meat piece processing into two separate streams: a primary stream for continuous high-speed processing and a secondary stream for recirculating rejected pieces. This segmentation allows the primary stream to maintain continuous operation while the secondary stream handles the rejected pieces, eliminating the need to stop the main production line.
Solution Approach 2:
A recirculation apparatus acts as an intermediary device that captures rejected meat pieces from the primary stream and redirects them through a secondary stream back to the radiation inspection facility. This intermediary mechanism enables the separation of continuous processing from reject handling, maintaining throughput while ensuring proper processing of rejected pieces.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual removal of undesired objects is used, then the system can handle rejects, but the process requires temporal stopping and reduces throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs an automated second reject device that independently handles the removal of undesired objects from the secondary stream without requiring manual intervention or stopping the primary stream. The recirculation apparatus and second reject device work together to automatically process rejected pieces, eliminating the need for manual removal operations that would require system shutdown.
3Measurement precision
If the amount of rejected meat pieces is high, then more thorough inspection is achieved, but the temporal stopping becomes more frequent and reduces throughput significantly
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the processing into primary and secondary streams, the system can handle any volume of rejected pieces through the secondary stream without affecting the primary stream's continuous operation. The secondary stream is specifically designed to accommodate and process rejected pieces, allowing thorough re-inspection regardless of the quantity rejected.
Solution Approach 2:
The primary stream maintains continuous operation at all times, ensuring uninterrupted throughput. The recirculation apparatus continuously captures and redirects rejected pieces to the secondary stream, which then continuously processes and removes undesired objects. This continuous action in both streams ensures that inspection thoroughness is maintained without compromising productivity.
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
Enhances system throughput by maintaining continuous operation of the primary stream and minimizing the amount of meat attached to undesired objects, achieving higher yield and efficiency in removing undesired objects.
Implementation Method 1
Undesired objects are detected by the radiation inspection facility by means of e.g. an X-ray
Data Source
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AI summary
This invention relates to a system for processing meat pieces. A radiation inspection apparatus is provided configured to receive a primary stream of meat pieces conveyed by a conveyor and to detect trim products containing undesired objects, a reject device is provided and a control unit that is configured to operate the reject device using the detected undesired objects as an operation parameter such that the meat pieces containing the undesired objects are separated from the primary stream of trim products, an object remover is provided configured to remove the undesired objects from the meat pieces separated from the primary stream of trim products, and a recirculation apparatus is provided configured to receive the meat pieces after undergoing the object remover and recirculate it as a secondary stream into the radiation inspection apparatus, where the secondary stream is separated from the primary stream, where the radiation inspection apparatus is further configured to detect whether any remaining undesired objects are in the secondary stream.