Description:This disclosure pertains to food product conveyor and handling systems in general, and automated conveyor systems for stacking and handling food products specifically.
Background of the invention:
Customers have indicated that they would like to buy several sorts of sliced food goods in packages that have a certain slice count rather than food products that are sold by weight. When food goods that have been sliced are packaged according to their weight, the client is unable to properly identify the number of slices of a particular product that are included in the package. The number of slices that may be obtained from a sliced food product will vary based on a range of parameters, such as the length and thickness of the food item that is being sliced. A consumer will be able to reliably ascertain the quantity of a certain food product included inside a package if they make their purchase of sliced food goods based on the slice count. In addition, it is typically the preference of clients to have the sliced food items put in sets of a quantity that has been previously decided. A specific customer's requirements or intended use often define the amount that must be ordered in advance. Assembling the slices of the food product into groups of a preset number is consequently an option that may prove to be better.
In order to accomplish these goals, a food product mass is often cut into food product slices, and then the food product slices are arranged in groups of a certain amount, for instance on a carrier sheet. In many cases, the mass of the food product will not produce an even number of groups of the specified amount. As a consequence of this, the final group that is sliced and constructed from the bulk of the food product will often be insufficient and have less slices than the amount of slices that was decided beforehand. For instance, one slab of bacon could produce 120 individual slices of bacon, which then need to be arranged in specified numbers of nine each. As a consequence of this, there will be three slices of bacon that are not included in any of the nine categories. At this stage, three different choices are often open to be considered. It is possible to keep the partial carrier sheet and assemble it together with the other carrier sheets that are fully complete. For shipments that are priced according to weight, keeping the carrier sheets that are unfinished might be a workable choice. This choice, however, makes it impossible for consumers who would rather buy food items according to a certain slice count since it prevents them from receiving an exact slice count for the package of sliced food goods that they purchase. You also have the option of throwing away the completed carrier sheet, despite the fact that it includes food product slices of a satisfactory quality. Because of this, the food product slices that were on the carrier sheet end up being thrown away. The overall cost of such waste might add up to be rather significant. Last but not least, the unfinished carrier sheet may be finished by placing the required amount of sliced food product by hand onto the unfinished carrier sheet. On the other hand, this kind of physical manipulation may take a lot of time and be expensive.
When it comes to the packaging of sliced food products, the speed at which a conveyor system can slice, assemble, and stack the sliced food products is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration. The step that involves stacking items is typically the slowest, and as a result, it is often the step that ends up being the limiting factor in terms of how quickly the process can be completed. There are many different stacking systems available, and one example of a stacking system is a series of paddles that collect the sliced food products and then rotate to each side in order to stack the sliced food products. This is just one type of stacking system that is available. Because of the rotary motion of the paddle system, the distance that the group of stacked food products must fall in order to create a stack of sliced food products is increased. As a result, the amount of time required to stack the food products is also increased due to the increased fall distance. As a consequence of this, the stacking step is frequently the component of the conveyor system that requires the most amount of time, which in turn slows down the overall speed of the system. A stacking system that is capable of stacking sliced food products at a greater rate of speed will allow the slicer to slice at an increased rate, and it will also allow the conveyors to move at an increased speed, which will allow the entire conveyor system to operate at an increased rate, which will increase production.

Summary of the proposed invention:
The invention consists of a conveyor and handling system that allows for the assembly and stacking of sliced food items. The conveyor and handling system incorporates an assembly space into its design, and this section is responsible for placing sliced food items onto individual carrier sheets. An upstream conveyor is included in the assembly area. This conveyor is used to deliver a variety of sliced food items from the slicer to the assembly area. A specified number of the sliced food items is supported by the carrier sheets, and the upstream conveyor deposits the sliced food products on the carrier sheet. A downstream conveyor is responsible for receiving the carrier sheet, which may come from a carrier sheet unwinding and cutting station. This conveyor is also responsible for supporting the carrier sheet while the sliced food product is being deposited thereon and for advancing the carrier sheet once the predetermined quantity has been reached. There is a mode of operation that is active, and there is also a mode that pauses the active operation of the downstream conveyor. When the carrier sheet has less sliced food items than the minimum required number, the downstream conveyor will enter a mode where it will work in the stopped mode. When the carrier sheet contains the preset number of sliced food products to advance the carrier sheet, the downstream conveyor enters the active mode of operation and begins moving food products down the conveyor.
A control system for the slicer performs the calculation of the maximum number of slices that may be obtained from a mass of food product in order to decide whether or not the carrier sheet has the required amount of sliced food items. The slicer control counts the slices as the slicer separates the food product mass into groups of the specified amount. This allows the control to identify the number of slices that were included in the most recent group that was separated from the food product mass. If the previous group was missing slices and contained fewer than the predetermined amount, an incomplete group of slices would be deposited on a carrier sheet, and the conveyor further downstream would enter a mode of operation where it would pause because a group containing fewer than the predetermined amount would have been deposited on the carrier sheet. The control system for the slicer keeps track of the number of slices that are necessary from the following mass of food product in order to make a full group that has the desired amount. Following this, the lingering slices will be added to the incomplete group that was previously located on the carrier sheet. This will result in the formation of a group that is equal to the prescribed number, which will trigger the downstream to transition into operational mode. As a consequence of this assembly system deposit system, each carrier sheet will carry the same specified amount or number of slices. This allows for a more accurate slice count for a stack of sliced food items. In addition, there is a decrease in the number of incomplete carrier sheets, which leads to a reduction in the amount of trash that was previously produced as a result of the rejection of all incomplete carrier sheets.
The conveyor system is outfitted with a collection of sensors at various locations. On the carrier sheet or before it, the sensors detect a range of characteristics and identify anomalies in the amount and placement of the sliced food items. These irregularities might occur either after the product has been sliced or before. If the sensors determine that the group is longer than what the carrier sheet is able to hold, one method suggests making an effort to fit the group onto the carrier sheet. This strategy is applicable in the event that the sensors make such a determination. If the sensors detect an irregularity or defect on the carrier sheet, such as when the sliced food product is mispositioned on the carrier sheet, the carrier sheet can be diverted from its normal transport conveyor path to a bypass conveyor using a moveable diverter conveyor located in a reject area of the conveyor and handling system. This will allow the carrier sheet to continue on its journey without being affected by the irregularity or defect. The transport conveyor is situated below the bypass conveyor, which is separated from it by a distance in order to prevent the bypass conveyor from interfering with carrier sheets that have not been rejected as they move down the transport conveyor. The diverter conveyor is situated underneath the transport conveyor, and it begins in a location that is dropped below the transport conveyor. This enables carrier sheets that are not being rejected to continue moving along the transport conveyor. The diverter conveyor will move to a raised position in order to extend over the space between the transport conveyor and the bypass conveyor in order to link the conveyors and make it possible for the rejected carrier sheet to move from the transport conveyor to the bypass conveyor if a sensor determines that the carrier sheet should be rejected due to an irregularity.
A stacking area is included into the system that consists of conveyors and handlers. The stacking area has a nose conveyor that may be found in an extended position by default. When a carrier sheet gets close to the end of the nose conveyor, the nose conveyor will move into a position where it will be retracted, which will allow the carrier sheet to slip off of the nose conveyor. The carrier sheet is then placed on a pair of initial supports that have been designed to reciprocate away from each other in opposite directions that are perpendicular to a downstream feed direction of the nose conveyor. After that, the nose conveyor moves to the expanded position so that it may place another carrier sheet on top of the first supports. Each time a carrier sheet is deposited onto the first supports by the nose conveyor, the initial supports move apart from one another and into a reciprocating motion. A higher rate of stacking may be achieved thanks to the rapid action of the expanding and retracing nose conveyor as well as the reciprocating initial supports. This enables carrier sheets containing sliced food items to be piled more quickly. When the speed of stacking is improved, the speed of the whole system is raised, which may result in greater operating speeds for the system. This is because stacking is often a limiting factor in the speed of a slicing and stacking conveyor system.
The carrier sheets are deposited onto a pair of accumulating supports that are positioned below the initial supports as a result of the initial supports moving in opposite directions away from each other. At intervals that have been previously determined, the accumulating supports will, in turn, move away from one another in opposite directions. After three carrier sheets have been stacked atop the accumulating supports, for instance, they may begin to move away from one another in a reciprocating motion. When the accumulating supports move farther apart from one another to provide a space in which the carrier sheets may fall, the carrier sheets are then deposited onto a receiving platform that is positioned below the collecting supports. The number of carrier sheets that are received causes an increase in the distance between the accumulating supports and the receiving platform. When there are a sufficient number of carrier sheets on the receiving platform, the platform will eventually recede beneath a conveyor and deposit the accumulated carrier sheets onto an exit conveyor.
Brief description of the invention:
In most cases, a conveyor system is made available in order to facilitate the slicing and stacking of sliced food items. The conveyor system incorporates a slicer, which divides a single mass of sliced food product into a number of separate individual sliced food items. The sliced food items are subsequently transported to an assembly area, where they are placed in groups of a preset quantity on food carrier sheets. Finally, the sliced food products leave the assembly area. In order to provide a more accurate slice count for a stack of sliced food items, the assembly area is designed to build the sliced food products in such a way that each carrier sheet carries the same preset number. After that, the carrier sheets that contained the sliced food items were sent to a stacking area, and any faulty carrier sheets were sent to a bypass conveyor before the stacking area was reached. The stacking area is equipped with a nose conveyor that can extend and retract in order to deposit the carrier sheets on a pair of supports that can reciprocate away from each other each time the nose conveyor deposits a carrier sheet. This makes it possible for the carrier sheets of sliced food products to be stacked at a significantly increased rate.
A food product mass is transferred onto an in feed conveyor before being put into a slicer. The sliceable food product mass might be, for instance, a pig belly, but it could also be any other kind of sliceable food product mass. If required, the mass of the food product may be refrigerated to a temperature that is adequate for slicing before the mass of the food product is sliced. For instance, a pork belly may be sliced when its temperature is between 20 and 28 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature range is ideal for slicing pig bellies. The slicer may be any kind of commercial slicer that is already known to exist in the art, such for instances an IBS2000 Vision Slicer that is manufactured by AEW Delford Systems. The food product mass is cut into a number of individual slices by the slicer, creating a variety of sliced food items. In the case of a pig belly, the slicer would cut the pork belly into individual pieces, like bacon, for instance. It is possible for the slicer to cut the bulk of the food product into slices of a certain thickness. The slicer has the capability of selectively removing a piece of the front end and the rear end of the food product mass. This is done because such areas of the food product mass are often inconsistent and have the potential to generate sliced food items with an uneven shape. Before slicing the food product mass, a predetermined amount, like a quarter of an inch, for instance, may be removed from the front end of the food product mass, and the same or a different predetermined amount may be discarded at the back end of the food product mass, so that the slices will be generally more equally shaped. This may be done in order to ensure that the slices are generally more evenly shaped. As the food product mass is being sliced by the slicer into individual sliced food products, those individual sliced food products are being put onto a slicer exit conveyor so that they may leave the slicer.
A slicer control is attached to the slicer so that it may be controlled to slice the food product mass into groups of a certain amount. The blade of the slicer is not depicted in this illustration. Each of the groups may include any one of many different slices. The blade of the slicer may rotate, allowing it to cut the bulk of the food product into eight separate slices. This is only one example. The blade may then revolve without creating a cut to create an opening for the subsequent set of slices to be cut from the bulk of the food product. This allows for more efficient work. The control of the slicer allows the blade of the slicer to be operated so that the food product mass may be sliced into groups of any quantity that is required. The collection of sliced food items is then transferred to a slicer exit conveyor after being removed from the slicer. It is possible to build the sliced food goods in groups, with each individual sliced food product within a group being separated from an adjacent sliced food product by a space, similar to how the sliced food products are shown in the group of sliced food products illustrated above. A further method that is not required involves shingling the collection of sliced food items in such a way that adjacent sliced food products overlap one another.
As each group of sliced food goods makes its way down the exit conveyor of the slicer, the group of sliced food products may be subjected to a manual inspection to identify and correct any defects that may have occurred. In addition to this, the batch of sliced food goods may have to pass through a series of sensors that are able to recognize a number of different factors as well as other anomalies. Optic sensors are the most ideal choice for use in this application; however, other kinds of sensors already established in the field might also be utilized in any one of a number of different combinations to measure a number of different characteristics. For instance, one group of optic sensors might determine whether or not the group of sliced food goods is too long, and another group of optic sensors could determine whether or not the group of sliced food products is excessively broad. It is possible for a third group of optical sensors to be positioned underneath the belt plane of the slicer exit conveyor. These sensors would be used to detect whether or not any part of a sliced food product was hanging off of the slicer exit conveyor.
After being sliced, the batch of food items leaves the slicer and moves toward an assembly location on the conveyor system. Following their journey along the exit conveyor of the slicer, the sliced food items continue their journey along a ramp conveyor in the direction of a deposit conveyor. Before the group of sliced food products reaches the ramp conveyor, a fourth set of optic sensors may register a leading edge of the group of sliced food products. This allows the group of sliced food products to be properly aligned and timed for deposit on a carrier sheet, as will be explained in more detail in the following paragraphs.
A carrier sheet roll is put onto the deposit conveyor just as the group of sliced food items is getting close to the conveyor. A revolving and adjustable die is used to cut the carrier sheet roll into separate carrier sheets. The size of the carrier sheets is determined by the group of sliced food items that they will support. The typical width and length of the sliced food product may help establish the optimal dimensions of the carrier sheet, which are width and length respectively. On the ramp conveyor, the collection of sliced food items is getting closer and closer to the ramp conveyor's discharge point. An end section of the carrier sheet roll is moving toward the end of the ramp conveyor. As the end piece reaches the end of the ramp conveyor, it will be sliced to produce a distinct carrier sheet. The end portion will continue to advance toward the end of the ramp conveyor. The discrete carrier sheet is then moved along the deposit conveyor to a position underneath the end of the ramp conveyor. The carrier sheet continues to move along the deposit conveyor in such a way that it arrives at a position close to or just beyond the end of the ramp conveyor at the same time that the group of sliced food products is also approaching the end of the ramp conveyor. After that, the group of sliced food items is transferred by the ramp conveyor onto the discrete carrier sheet.
The conveyors might be of any kind that is appropriate for food handling, and the system could be made up entirely of one type of conveyor or a mix of many different types of conveyors. For instance, the deposit conveyor may, but is not required to, contain an optional vacuum belt conveyor portion. The purpose of this portion is to orient and maintain the carrier sheet on the belt, particularly before and during the process in which the group of sliced food products is deposited on the carrier sheet. Other conveyors in the conveyor system, such as the slicer exit conveyor and the ramp conveyor, are each made up of a sequence of conveyor strips that are equally spaced apart from one another.
It is not uncommon for the mass of the food product to not produce an even number of groups of the sliced food products that have the quantity that was originally determined. After slicing the whole bulk of the food product, there are often some residual slices that are not cohesive enough to form a full group that are discarded. The number of slices that can be acquired from a food product mass may be estimated by the slicer control. This allows for the formation of a full group as well as the prevention of the wasteful disposal of any remaining slices. Within the slicer, there is a sensor that measures the length of the entire food product mass. This information is then relayed to the control of the slicer. After taking into account the predetermined length that will be trimmed from the front end and the back end of the food product mass as well as the width of each slice, the number of slices that the food product mass will yield can then be determined. The predetermined length will be trimmed from the front end of the food product mass. The control panel of the slicer is able to determine, given the total number of slices, the number of complete groups of the specified amount that are possible to produce from those slices, as well as whether or not there will be any leftover slices. The slicer control is in communication with a controller, and the controller is also in communication with the deposit conveyor, which is located further downstream from the slicer exit conveyor. The incomplete group of sliced food products is deposited on a carrier sheet on the deposit conveyor once the slicer control determines that an incomplete group of sliced food products is leaving the slicer. The slicer control also notifies the controller that an incomplete group has been produced. The group of sensors that are measuring the length of the group of sliced food products may also be measuring the length of the incomplete group in order to determine whether or not the incomplete group of food products contains approximately the same number of slices as was anticipated by the calculations of the slicer control. The controller will then communicate with the deposit conveyor to cause it to delay its advancement at the end of the ramp conveyor. This will allow the carrier sheet that is carrying the incomplete group to be held in place while the deposit conveyor is in a paused mode of operation.
, Claims:1 An apparatus for assembling sliced food products, the apparatus comprising: an upstream conveyor that transports a plurality of sliced food products; a discrete carrier sheet that supports a predetermined number of sliced food products, wherein the upstream conveyor deposits the sliced food products on the discrete carrier sheet that is supported upon a downstream conveyor; the downstream conveyor that supports and advances the discrete carrier sheet both prior to and after the assembly of the sliced food products; and an intermediate conveyor that transports the discret
2. An apparatus for constructing sliced food products in accordance with claim 1 further comprises a slicer located upstream of the upstream conveyor and designed to slice a food product mass into a plurality of discrete sliced food products.
3. An apparatus for constructing sliced food products in accordance with claim 2, wherein the control is adapted to compute the number of discrete sliced food products created by the slicer while the food product mass is being sliced.