Tomographic Meat Evaluation for Automated Carcass Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for evaluating the quality and determining cutting points of slaughtered animal bodies are limited by their two-dimensional approach, leading to inaccuracies in automated cutting and suboptimal separation of meat parts, which fails to meet quality and economic standards under increasing cost pressure.
Innovation Solution
The method employs tomographic imaging, such as computer tomography, to acquire three-dimensional data of slaughtered animal bodies, allowing for precise determination of tissue compartments and anatomical landmarks, enabling more accurate calculation of meat and weight proportions and automated cutting parameters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If two-dimensional image evaluation methods are used, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision and manufacturing precision deteriorate due to inability to capture true three-dimensional tissue compartment volumes and anatomical relationships
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional image evaluation to three-dimensional tomographic imaging (CT or MRI) to accurately capture the spatial relationships and volumes of tissue compartments. This dimensional change enables precise measurement of meat, fat, and bone volumes by reconstructing cross-sectional images into three-dimensional models, resolving the limitation of planar projections that cannot represent true volumetric data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual butcher evaluation and subjective estimation with automated computer-based image processing and analysis systems. The automated system objectively measures tissue compartment volumes, calculates weight proportions, and determines cutting parameters based on three-dimensional imaging data, eliminating human subjectivity and improving measurement consistency and precision.
2Ease of operation
If two-dimensional image evaluation is used, then ease of operation is improved, but cutting precision deteriorates because anatomical landmarks and tissue boundaries cannot be accurately determined in three-dimensional space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses three-dimensional tomographic imaging to accurately locate anatomical landmarks (such as the backbone, subcutaneous fat layer, and tissue compartment boundaries) in three-dimensional space. This enables precise determination of cutting points and cutting paths by visualizing the spatial arrangement of bones, meat, and fat, which cannot be achieved with two-dimensional images that lose depth information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a digital three-dimensional model (virtual copy) of the slaughtered animal body based on tomographic imaging data. This digital model includes reconstructed anatomical structures and tissue compartments that can be analyzed and measured without physical manipulation, allowing precise planning of cutting operations before actual processing occurs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual cutting guided by experience is used, then adaptability is maintained, but productivity increases only limitedly while quality consistency deteriorates under cost pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback system where three-dimensional imaging data provides objective information about tissue compartment distribution, anatomical landmarks, and optimal cutting points. This feedback enables automated or semi-automated cutting systems to adjust cutting parameters based on actual carcass characteristics, combining the adaptability of experience-based decision-making with the efficiency and consistency of automated processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the slaughtered animal body to 'inform' the cutting process through its own imaging data. The three-dimensional model automatically reveals tissue compartment boundaries, anatomical features, and optimal cutting locations, allowing the material itself to guide the processing decisions rather than relying solely on external expert judgment, thereby improving both efficiency and consistency.
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
This approach provides precise evaluation and cutting parameters, enabling more accurate and automated cutting of meat parts, ensuring higher quality and economic efficiency by directly measuring volumetric data and tissue distributions, thus improving the precision and automation of meat processing.
Implementation Method 1
a tomograph, by means of which tomographic images can be acquired of an object
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a method for determining physiological parameters of a slaughtered animal body or piece thereof with respect to determining its commercial value and/or its processing. The method will lead to a more exact calculation of meat proportions and weight proportions and preferably to a more precise determination of cutting-up points for automated cutting up, in particular by including volumetric parameters.In order to solve the problem, the object, i.e., the slaughtered animal body or one of its pieces, is acquired by means of an image acquisition device. Then a software-supported evaluation of the image acquired from the respective object is made. According to the invention, the object to be evaluated is thus acquired, however, not with a video system of the conventional type, but rather a tomographic method, such as computer tomography or nuclear spin tomography is used as the imaging method.