Programmable Food Portion Conveyor for Alignment and Defect Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing food processing plants are complex and inefficient due to the use of continuous conveyor belts for tasks like buffering, aligning, reorienting, and product formatting, lacking flexibility and requiring additional components for defect detection and correction.
Innovation Solution
A food processing plant utilizing a discontinuous conveyor system with programmable carriers, including an inspection station, correction zone, and disposal station, along with a modular design for flexible surface shaping and orientation, and a transfer device for slice completion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If continuous conveyor belts are used for buffering, aligning, reorienting, and product formatting, then the conveyor system can perform multiple functions, but the device complexity increases and flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous conveyor belt is segmented into discrete, independently controllable conveyor modules or carriers. Each segment can be individually positioned, oriented, and controlled, allowing the system to perform multiple functions (buffering, aligning, reorienting, formatting) without requiring a complex continuous belt system. This segmentation enables flexibility while reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system transitions from a static continuous belt to a dynamic system where individual carriers or modules can be independently controlled, positioned, and oriented in real-time. This dynamic control allows the same physical infrastructure to adapt to different operational requirements (buffering vs. aligning vs. reorienting) without adding complexity, as the control system adjusts the behavior of individual segments rather than managing a monolithic continuous conveyor.
2Reliability
If additional components are added for defect detection and correction, then product quality improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The defect detection and correction functions are merged into the existing conveyor carrier system. Inspection stations are integrated with the carriers, and correction mechanisms are incorporated into the same physical infrastructure. This merging allows the system to detect and correct defects without requiring entirely separate, independent systems, thereby improving product quality while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyor system incorporates self-inspection and self-correction capabilities where the carriers themselves can be inspected for defects and automatically corrected or diverted. This self-service approach reduces the need for separate manual inspection and correction systems, improving reliability while keeping the added complexity to a minimum by utilizing the existing carrier infrastructure for multiple purposes.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a food-processing system for processing food products (e.g. pieces of meat, pieces of cheese), comprising a cutting device (1) for slicing the food products into slices and a conveying system (4) for conveying the food portions (6) away from the cutting device (1) along a main conveying path, wherein the conveying system (4) fulfills several functions in the food-processing system, such as the buffering, aligning, orienting and product formatting of the food portions. According to the invention, the conveying system (4) fulfills the several functions by means of a discontinuous conveyor (4), the discontinuous conveyor (4) having at least one conveyed-goods carrier (3), which can be moved along the main conveying path, the main conveying path being freely programmable within a conveying surface.