Twisted Blade Assembly for High-Throughput Food Shape Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hydraulic and mechanical cutters struggle to efficiently cut food products into complex shapes like helical or twisted wedges, often resulting in reduced throughput, plugging, and inconsistent cuts due to synchronization issues and blade formation challenges.
Innovation Solution
A blade assembly with longitudinally oriented, twisted blades fixed within a housing, which cuts and rotates food pieces to form complex shapes using a hydraulic cutter system, allowing for high throughput and consistent cutting without moving parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If conventional mechanical cutters are used to cut complex shapes, then the aesthetic appeal and garnish retention are improved, but the throughput and productivity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional rotating mechanical cutter system with a stationary blade assembly that uses hydraulic pressure to force food pieces through twisted blades. This substitution eliminates the need for synchronized rotation between cutter and food delivery, allowing the system to maintain high throughput while producing complex shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of rotating the cutter to create complex shapes, the patent inverts the approach by using stationary twisted blades that impart rotation to the food piece during the cutting process. The food piece rotates as it passes through the twisted blade geometry, creating helical and complex shapes without requiring the blade assembly itself to rotate.
2Productivity
If hydraulic cutter systems are used for high throughput, then the productivity is improved, but the ability to cut complex shapes is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates twisted, curved blade geometries into the stationary blade assembly. The blades are formed with helical and twisted shapes that guide and rotate the food piece during cutting, enabling the production of complex shapes while maintaining the high-speed hydraulic cutting process.
3Shape
If mechanical cutters are combined with hydraulic systems, then the complex shape cutting capability is improved, but the device complexity and synchronization requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the rotation function from the cutter mechanism itself and transfers it to the blade geometry. By removing the need for rotating cutter components and their synchronization mechanisms, the system eliminates complex timing and speed matching requirements while retaining the ability to produce complex shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a rotating cutter to cut stationary or linearly moving food, the patent inverts the approach by using stationary twisted blades that cause the food to rotate during passage. This inversion eliminates the synchronization problem between cutter rotation and food delivery speed.
4Shape
If blades are bent or milled into complex shapes, then the complex shape cutting capability is improved, but the ease of manufacture and blade formation become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies thermal and mechanical parameters to the blade material to achieve the desired twisted geometries. By controlling heating, cooling, and forming parameters during manufacturing, complex blade shapes can be produced more easily than through traditional bending or milling methods.
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 blade assembly effectively cuts food products into complex shapes like corkscrews, helical, and twisted wedges with high efficiency and consistency, compatible with existing hydraulic cutters, and can be easily formed into desired shapes.
Implementation Method 1
a pump draws the food pieces and water from the supply tank. The water and food pieces are forced through tubes to increase the velocity of the food pieces
Implementation Method 2
The water and food pieces are forced through tubes to increase the velocity of the food pieces, as well as to align the food pieces with the cutter
Implementation Method 3
The blade assembly comprises blades longitudinally oriented along the direction of fluid flow... Upon impact with the blade assembly, the food pieces are both cut and rotated during cutting
Data Source
AI summary
Existing blade assemblies for cutting complex three-dimensional shapes such as twisted shapes are typically slow and suffer from frequent breakdowns. Disclosed herein is a stationary blade assembly for cutting food products into complex shapes as the food products are directed along a direction of flow at the blade assembly, wherein the blade assembly comprises a plurality of blades, each of the plurality of blades having a length, wherein the length of the blade is oriented along the direction of flow and the blade is twisted along its length, whereby the food products are rotated by the blade during cutting.