Rotating Transfer Roller for Cheese Slice Stacking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for stacking food slices, particularly soft and creamy cheese slices, face challenges in ensuring reliable handling and exact positioning due to their consistency, leading to uncontrollable stacking and potential damage from mechanical handling.
Innovation Solution
A rotating transfer roller with displaceable holding units that utilize air pressure for non-positive connection and separation of food slices, allowing for precise stacking without mechanical damage, using underpressure to retain and overpressure to release the slices, ensuring reliable and hygienic handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mechanical clamps or spikes are used to hold food slices during turning, then secure holding is achieved, but the food slices may be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical clamps or spikes with a suction cup mechanism that uses vacuum pressure to hold food slices. The suction cup is connected to a vacuum source that creates negative pressure to securely hold the slice during turning and transfer operations, eliminating mechanical contact that could damage soft or creamy cheese slices.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs pneumatic principles through the suction cup mechanism that uses vacuum pressure to attach to and hold the food slice. The vacuum system provides reliable holding force without mechanical contact, and the pressure can be easily controlled to release the slice when needed.
2Ease of manufacture
If cheese slices fall under gravity into dishes, then stacking is simplified, but uncontrollable stacking occurs and shape retention is poor for soft cheese
Solution Approach 1:
The suction cup mechanism performs preliminary positioning of the cheese slice before it is placed in the dish. The slice is held securely during the transfer operation, allowing precise placement at the desired location in the stacking region, ensuring controlled stacking from the beginning rather than allowing uncontrolled falling.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the gravity-based dropping method with a controlled mechanical transfer using the suction cup. This allows precise positioning and placement of each slice in the stacking region, ensuring controlled stacking and proper positioning that maintains the shape of soft cheese slices.
3Manufacturing precision
If a rotating transfer roller with displaceable holding units is used, then precise positioning and separation of slices is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transfer roller is segmented into multiple discrete holding units (suction cups) that can independently hold individual cheese slices. Each holding unit is positioned at a specific location on the roller circumference, allowing precise positioning of multiple slices simultaneously. The displaceable nature of the holding units allows them to move radially to accommodate slice thickness variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating transfer roller serves multiple functions: it transports slices from the conveyor belt, positions them precisely in the stacking region, separates adjacent slices through radial displacement of holding units, and releases them for stacking. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate mechanisms for each operation.
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
The solution enables reliable and precise stacking of soft and creamy cheese slices by separating and positioning them accurately, preventing damage and ensuring hygienic handling, while allowing for flexible stacking patterns and easy removal of individual slices.
Implementation Method 1
The non-positive connection between the slice and the holding units is advantageously implemented by means of an underpressure, which holds the food slice on the holding unit during rotation.
Implementation Method 2
The separation of the held food slice can be induced by cutting off the underpressure and can be supported by generating an overpressure.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a method for separating and stacking slices of food, in particular slices of cheese (2). In said method, a plurality of slices of food (2) is continuously conveyed by a feeding belt conveyor (3) such that the slices of food adjoin each other in rows. A rotating transfer roll (5) picks up the slices of food (2) from the feeding belt conveyor (3) and places same on top of each other in a stacking zone (4), the transfer roll (5) jointly accommodating a row of slices of food by means of a corresponding plurality of holding units (6). During rotation of the transfer roll, the individual slices of food (2) are separated from each other as a result of a relative movement of the holding units in the axial direction, and the separated individual slices (2) detach from the holding units (6) and are stacked on top of each other in the stacking zone (4).