Toaster Conveyor Slat Geometry for Bun Pinching Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor belts in food appliances tend to pinch and deform food buns, especially at the curved ends where the belt meets the drive and driven sprockets, due to gaps between plate elements that close as the belt rotates, causing aesthetic and quality issues in toasted products.
Innovation Solution
The design features a vertically or horizontally oriented endless conveyor with longitudinal slat members angled downwardly to prevent pinching, where slat members are secured to rods with crimping or welding, and rods are connected with knuckle bends to form a stable conveyor path that keeps food products on the main surface, avoiding interposition between slats.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If adjacent plate elements are connected by rod structures to form an endless conveyor belt, then the conveyor can continuously transport food buns through the toaster appliance, but gaps between plate elements close as the belt rotates around curved end portions, causing food buns to be pinched and deformed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies this principle by using a flexible conveyor belt made of a continuous loop of interconnected plate elements that can bend and conform to curved paths around sprockets without creating pinching gaps. The flexible nature of the belt allows it to maintain continuous contact with food buns while navigating the curved end portions of the conveyor path, eliminating the pinching problem that occurs with rigid plate connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies this principle by dividing the conveyor belt into multiple individual plate elements that are connected in a sequence to form an endless loop. Each plate element can move independently through the curved sections, and the segmentation allows the belt to flex and adapt to the sprocket geometry without creating harmful gaps that would pinch food buns during transmission.
2Volume of moving object
If the conveyor belt is oriented vertically, then space utilization is improved, but food buns may become disposed in enlarged spaces between adjacent plate elements at curved end portions
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible conveyor belt design allows the vertically oriented conveyor to maintain consistent plate element spacing even when navigating curved end portions. The flexibility enables the belt to conform to the vertical space constraints while preventing the formation of enlarged gaps that would cause food buns to become disposed between plate elements during vertical transport.
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor belt for conveying articles along a conveyor path comprises a plurality of slat members disposed parallel to each other and disposed transversely with respect to the conveyor path, wherein leading and trailing edge portions of the slat members are angled downwardly with respect to the conveying surface upon which articles being conveyed are supported so as to prevent edge portions of the articles being conveyed from being interposed between the leading and trailing edge portions of the slat members so as not to be pinched by adjacent ones of the leading and trailing edge portions of adjacent slat members.