Modular Meat Cutting Assembly with Stabilizing Roller
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Solution Overview
Problem
The food processing industry faces inefficiencies and inconsistencies in cutting meat products, particularly with manual and existing automated systems, which struggle to consistently cut through heavy gristle and muscle membrane, leading to sanitation issues and reduced productivity.
Innovation Solution
A modular cutting assembly with a blade assembly, mating assembly, and stabilizing assembly that performs a multipoint cutting procedure, utilizing a cutting roller with radially extending blades and a mate roller with transversely oriented slots, along with a drive system for rotational and reciprocal motion, ensuring precise cutting and efficient processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual cutting techniques are used, then flexibility in handling various meat products is maintained, but consistency in size, shape, and weight of cut pieces deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting system is divided into multiple independently adjustable cutting units, each with its own blade assembly and control mechanisms. This segmentation allows each unit to be optimized for specific cutting tasks while maintaining overall system consistency, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting assembly incorporates movable and adjustable components that can be dynamically reconfigured for different meat products. The blades, guides, and feed mechanisms can be adjusted to maintain precise cutting parameters across various product types, enabling both adaptability and consistency.
2Productivity
If automated cutting systems are implemented, then productivity and consistency are improved, but the ability to cut through heavy gristle and muscle membrane deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple cutting functions into a single integrated assembly, combining different blade types and cutting mechanisms that can handle both soft meat and tough gristle. This consolidation maintains high productivity while improving reliability across diverse cutting challenges.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting system incorporates adjustable parameters including blade sharpness, cutting speed, pressure, and angle. These parameters can be optimized for different material hardness levels, enabling the automated system to reliably cut through heavy gristle and muscle membrane while maintaining overall productivity.
3Extent of automation
If conventional automated cutting equipment is used, then labor intensity is reduced, but efficiency and reliability in completing cuts deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The automated cutting system incorporates feedback mechanisms that monitor cutting progress and material resistance. This real-time feedback allows the system to adjust cutting parameters dynamically, ensuring reliable completion of cuts through tough materials while maintaining automated operation and high productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting assembly is designed to maintain continuous cutting action without interruptions or retries. The system ensures that each pass through the material completes the intended cut, eliminating wasted time and maintaining high automated productivity while reliably handling tough gristle and membrane.
4Ease of operation
If manual cutting is performed, then handling of food product is flexible, but sanitation problems and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the food handling function from manual operations and transfers it to automated mechanical components. The automated assembly minimizes human contact with food products, eliminating sanitation problems and safety risks associated with manual handling while maintaining operational flexibility through programmable controls.
Data Source
AI summary
A cutting assembly for cutting a meat or food product passing along a path of travel and comprising a blade assembly including a cutting roller having a plurality of cutting blades radially mounted thereon and movable relative to the path of travel. A mating assembly interacts with the plurality of cutting blades to accomplish a multipoint cutting procedure which is facilitated by the concurrent rotation of the cutting roller and cutting blades as well as a linear reciprocal travel thereof transverse to the path of travel. A stabilizing assembly is provided to restrict the dimensional variance of the spacing between the cutting roller and mate roller through which the meat product travels and an ejecting assembly to remove cut portions from between the cutting blades and back onto the path of travel. The cutting assembly preferably includes a modular construction disposal within and removal from an operative position along a processing line associated with the path of travel.