Olive Pitting and Filling Machine with Synchronized Cam Drive
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing machinery for olive pitting and filling is inefficient, requiring separate machines and complex mechanisms, leading to high costs and deformation of olives due to incomplete filling and handling difficulties.
Innovation Solution
A machine that simultaneously pits and fills olives using a pitting-filling set with a drive shaft, cams, and synchronized circular elements for retaining, punching, and filling, employing paste balls of similar size to olive stones, with olive and paste ball carriers for continuous operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate machines are used for pitting and filling olives, then each machine can be optimized for its specific function, but the overall process becomes slower and less efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the pitting and filling operations into a single integrated machine with a common rotation axis. Multiple functional elements (pitting element, filling element, retaining element) are synchronized to operate on olives in sequence during one rotation cycle, eliminating the need for separate machines and improving processing throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine enables continuous processing by maintaining constant motion of the rotation axis while sequentially performing pitting, filling, and retaining operations. Olives are continuously fed through the system and processed without interruption, maximizing productive time.
2Ease of operation
If multiple elements are synchronized to the same cam mechanism, then coordinated movement is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the synchronized operation into distinct functional segments (pitting, filling, retaining) with separate elements that are independently controlled by the cam mechanism. Each element performs a specific function in sequence, making the complex coordination manageable through modular design.
3Ease of manufacture
If paste is cut in strips for filling, then the filling process can be simplified, but the filling does not completely occupy the olive cavity causing deformations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical form of the filling material from strips to spherical balls. This parameter change allows the filling to naturally conform to and completely occupy the olive cavity, eliminating deformations while maintaining ease of insertion through the spherical shape.
Data Source
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AI summary
Machine for the pitting and filling of olives, with a pitting-filling set (2), an olive dosing apparatus (3) and a paste ball dosing apparatus (5), and an olive carrier (4) and a paste ball carrier (6) from the dosing apparatuses (3, 5) to the pitting-filling set (2). The pitting-filling set (2) has a drive shaft (10) to which there are fixed a plate (11) with seats (12) where the olives (7) are set for their pitting and filling, and retainer (13), puncher (16), nozzle (19), detaching-filling device (23) and pre-fill chamber (26) sets, which activated by cams (15, 18, 22, 25, 28) carry out synchronized displacements within a 360° rotation of the drive shaft (10) in a sequence of movements for the synchronized pitting and filling of the olives, and return to the initial position of a new cycle.