Vibratory Chip Packaging System for Triangular Snack Food
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for packaging three-dimensionally shaped snack food chips, such as triangular tortilla chips, face challenges in achieving high production efficiency and reducing product waste due to difficulties in inserting chips without breakage or spillage, especially when using non-uniform geometries.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus involving a shingled assembly supported on an elongate support, where the assembly is vibrated and sequentially inserted into an elongate packaging container while the support and container are rotated to decrease the angle of inclination, allowing chips to fall under gravity and form a stack without pushing, thus minimizing damage and waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a pushing mechanism is used to insert chips into the packaging container, then the chips can be packaged, but production efficiency is low and product waste is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional pushing mechanism with a vibratory field-based system. The vibratory conveyor table generates vibrations that cause chips to move and orient themselves naturally, eliminating the need for mechanical pushing and reducing both production time and chip breakage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a vibratory conveyor table that uses controlled vibrations to facilitate chip movement and orientation. The vibration causes chips to sequentially move off the support and into the container while self-aligning, improving efficiency and reducing waste without requiring forceful pushing mechanisms
2Manufacturing precision
If triangular chips are inserted into a triangular canister, then proper orientation is achieved, but chip breakage occurs due to difficulty in alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The vibratory conveyor table uses vibrations to cause chips to naturally orient themselves as they move along the conveyor path. This gentle vibratory motion allows triangular chips to align with the container opening without the forceful manipulation that causes breakage
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows chips to self-orient and self-position through vibratory motion. The chips naturally align themselves with the container opening and guide themselves into the correct position without external forcing, maintaining integrity while achieving proper orientation
3Productivity
If chips are handled manually or with simple mechanisms, then equipment cost is low, but production efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The core of the invention is a vibratory conveyor table, which is a relatively simple device compared to complex robotic or pushing mechanisms. The vibration mechanism provides automated, high-speed packaging while maintaining mechanical simplicity and avoiding elaborate control systems
Solution Approach 2:
The vibratory conveyor table performs multiple functions simultaneously: it conveys chips, orients them, separates them, and guides them into the container. This multi-functionality in a single device achieves high productivity without requiring a complex array of separate mechanisms
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 reduces chip breakage and seasoning loss, enabling efficient packaging of non-uniformly shaped chips with lower production and capital costs, suitable for retrofitting existing lines and applicable to various snack food compositions.
Implementation Method 1
vibrating the shingled assembly supported on the elongate support so as to cause the snack food chips sequentially to fall from the free output end into the elongate packaging container
Implementation Method 2
cause the snack food chips sequentially to fall from the free output end into the elongate packaging container
Data Source
AI summary
A method of packaging snack food chips, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of snack food chips as a shingled assembly of the snack food chips; (b) enclosing the shingled assembly within an elongate packaging container; (c) vibrating the shingled assembly supported so as to cause the snack food chips sequentially to fall from a free output end into the elongate packaging container while progressively translationally separating a closed end and the free output end to form a shingled stack extending away from the closed end; and (d) during at least a part of step (c), rotating the elongate packaging container so that the closed end is lowered while decreasing an angle of inclination such that the shingled stack is being progressively formed.