Rotating Brush Shrimp Head Separator for Frozen Shell Adhesion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Shrimp peeling machines struggle with peeling shrimps that have been boiled and frozen at sea due to the shell adhering closely, requiring manual peeling upon arrival, which is costly and inefficient, especially when transporting to distant locations for manual processing.
Innovation Solution
A machine with rotating brushes positioned above a conveyor belt to separate shrimp heads from bodies and loosen shells, allowing for efficient pre-treatment before machine peeling, which can be adjusted for different shrimp sizes and types, and optionally using plates to further loosen shells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If shrimps are boiled and frozen at sea with large amounts of salt, then the shrimp shell adheres more closely to the shrimp body, but this makes machine peeling problematic and requires costly manual peeling
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating brushes perform preliminary action by separating the head from the body and loosening the shell before the shrimp enters the peeling machine. This pre-treatment modifies the shrimp's state to make subsequent machine peeling feasible, converting a previously unsolvable problem into a solvable one through advance preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention segments the peeling process into two distinct stages: first, head separation and shell loosening by rotating brushes; second, body peeling by the peeling machine. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in a specific task, with the brushes handling the difficult head and shell loosening, and the peeling machine handling the body peeling.
2Ease of manufacture
If manual peeling is used for shrimps with adhering shells, then peeling can be completed, but transportation costs and manual handling costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the manual mechanical system (human hands performing peeling operations) with an automated mechanical system consisting of rotating brushes and a peeling machine. This substitution eliminates the need for manual labor and associated transportation costs to locations with cheap labor, achieving both peeling completion and cost reduction.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating brushes perform self-service by automatically separating heads and loosening shells as shrimps pass through the system, without requiring manual intervention. This automation enables the system to service itself, eliminating the need for external manual labor and reducing operational costs.
3Temperature
If the entire shrimp including head and shell is boiled, then complete cooking is achieved, but energy consumption increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating brushes extract and remove the head and loose shell portions from the shrimp body before boiling. By taking out these non-essential parts that would otherwise require energy to cook, the system reduces boiling energy consumption while maintaining complete cooking of the valuable shrimp body.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of applying excessive action by boiling the entire shrimp including head and shell, the invention applies partial action by removing unnecessary portions first and boiling only the essential body part. This partial approach avoids the energy waste of cooking non-essential portions while ensuring complete cooking of the valuable shrimp meat.
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
Enables efficient and automated peeling of pre-treated shrimps, reducing manual handling and transportation costs, and saving energy by allowing only the body parts to be boiled, resulting in higher quality and increased output of peeled shrimps.
Implementation Method 1
two or more mounted rotating brushes driven by a motor... the shrimps, subject to the action of the brush (6) rotation in interaction with the distance between the brush (6) and the 'conveyor belt' (2), have the heads separated from the body while the shell is simultaneously ripped up
Data Source
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Figure 5
AI summary
A machine for pre-treatment of selected shrimp types that are to be forwarded to machine peeling, which machine, across a conveyor belt with shrimps and at a height above this, comprises one or more mounted rotating brush that is driven by a motor and which in interaction with the distance to the conveyor belt separates the heads of the shrimps from the body.