Rotating Deflection Element for Variable Cutting Depth in Food Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for separating surface layers in the food industry, such as skin and fat from fish fillets, struggle to achieve a variable cutting depth across the width, requiring complex and costly control systems to manage a consistent separating gap.
Innovation Solution
A device with a rotatable, cylindrical deflection element that changes shape in both axial and circumferential directions, allowing for a variable process gap, enabling targeted separation by adjusting the deflection element's profile during processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a straight separating element is used with a consistent separating gap, then the device structure is simple, but the cutting depth cannot be variable across the width
Solution Approach 1:
The deflection element is designed to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis, transforming a static structure into a dynamic one. By rotating the deflection element, the process gap can be varied across the width of the transport element, enabling variable cutting depth without complex control systems. The rotational movement allows different cross-sectional shapes of the deflection element to engage with the separating element, creating different gap profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution adds a rotational dimension to the deflection element. Instead of varying the gap in only one dimension (transverse direction), the rotatable deflection element allows gap variation in multiple dimensions by rotating to present different cross-sectional profiles. This dimensional addition enables variable cutting depth while maintaining structural simplicity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If an adjustable support with raisable and lowerable elements is used, then variable process gap can be achieved, but the device becomes complex and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable deflection element provides a dynamic mechanism for varying the process gap. Instead of multiple raisable and lowerable elements that require individual control, a single rotational movement of the deflection element achieves gap variation across the entire width. This dynamic approach simplifies the structural design while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable deflection element serves multiple functions: it defines the process gap, enables variable cutting depth, and can be rotated to present different cross-sectional profiles for different product types. This single multi-functional component replaces the need for multiple adjustable support elements, reducing device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the deflection element has a changing cross-sectional shape, then a variable process gap is formed, but the manufacturing of the deflection element becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The deflection element features a curved, concave lateral surface with a specific cross-sectional shape that changes along its length. This curved geometry is designed to create the desired variable process gap when rotated. The use of smooth curved surfaces rather than complex angular shapes simplifies manufacturing compared to alternative designs with multiple flat surfaces and joints.
Solution Approach 2:
By making the deflection element rotatable rather than stationary with adjustable components, the complex cross-sectional shape is manufactured once as a fixed feature. The variability is achieved through rotation during operation, not through complex assembly or adjustment mechanisms, simplifying the manufacturing process.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a device (10) for separating surface layers in products of the food industry, comprising a transport element (11) for transporting the products from an inlet region to an outlet region, the transport element (11) being guided about a deflection element (12) that is configured substantially cylindrically in at least the outlet region, a pressing means (13) for pressing the products onto the transport element (11), and a separating element (14) for separating the surface layer from the product, the separating element (14) being disposed in the outlet region of the transport element (11) while forming a separating gap between the separating element (14) and the transport element (11), characterized in that the deflection element (12) disposed in the outlet region is configured to carry out a rotational movement and can be controlled accordingly, and comprises a (cross-sectional) shape alternating in the axial direction and/or the circumferential direction in order to form a process gap. The invention further relates to a corresponding method.