BE1018917A3 - DEVICE FOR SEPARATING A PREFERRED QUANTITY OF GOODS. - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to a device for separating a predetermined amount of piece goods, comprising a conveyor belt provided for feeding the piece goods and a control device provided for counting the piece goods, the conveyor belt comprising a number of adjacent zones, and wherein said device comprises displacing means which are provided for displacing at least one of the piece goods supplied from a first zone to a second adjacent zone in function of the counting data of the control device and the predetermined amount of piece goods.

Description

DEVICE FOR SEPARATING A PREFERRED QUANTITY OF GOODS

This invention relates on the one hand to a device for separating a predetermined amount of piece goods, comprising a conveyor belt provided for supplying the piece goods and a checking device provided for counting the piece goods. On the other hand, this invention relates to a method for separating a predetermined amount of piece goods, wherein the piece goods are supplied via a conveyor belt to a control device provided for counting the piece goods.

This invention relates in particular to a device and method for separating (sorting and grouping) bakery products, preferably industrially baked and deep-frozen bread products, such as, for example, baguettes, half baguettes and small buns.

In the world of industrial bakeries, we are today confronted with a demand for online quality control of individual products. The increased emphasis on quality control is mainly imposed by the customer, being the wholesale distributors. Currently, only random checks are carried out. The demand for a versatile, efficient control system, before the product is packed, therefore arises.

A second requirement that the bread industry sets today is a greatly increased capacity. A bread counting and filling machine must today be able to pack maximum capacities of 12,000 units per minute.

A third trend that is emerging is the huge variety of different types of bread. Today, an industrial bakery produces a whole range of different products, ranging from standard baguettes to ciabattas, from small table rolls to rectangular pavés, artisan-looking breads, pistolets with different kinds of cereals, etc. Such special breads are much more fragile and require much more. also to give a gentle treatment during packaging. Hence the fourth requirement for soft product handling.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device and method that will rapidly separate piece goods in combination with an efficient control system.

The object of the invention is achieved by providing a device and method according to the claims.

In order to further clarify the features of this invention and to indicate additional advantages and details thereof, a more detailed description of the device and method according to the invention now follows. It is clear that nothing in the following description can be interpreted as a limitation of the protection claimed for the invention in the claims.

In this description reference is made to the accompanying drawings by reference numerals, in which: figure 1 is a schematic representation of a device according to the invention; figure 2 represents a possible displacement of piece goods on the conveyor belt in order to be able to separate a predetermined amount of piece goods; figure 3: shows another possible displacement of piece goods on the conveyor belt in order to be able to separate a predetermined amount of piece goods; figure 4: shows the alignment of the piece goods in the filling device; figures 5 and 6: schematically shows the change of cassette in the filling device when the predetermined quantity of piece goods has been reached in a cassette.

This invention has, inter alia, the following objectives: increased quality control, increased capacity, immense variety of different products that must be able to be packaged on one and the same system, emphasis on a gentle treatment of the products during the packaging process.

The device according to the invention, in particular a bread filling device, is as shown in figure 1 composed of three subsystems: a control system, an ejection and batch system (displacement means) and a filling system, wherein these subsystems are combined with each other in a unique and innovative manner. to become. In addition, new functions are assigned to the various subsystems. The subsystems are connected to each other via a conveyor belt that runs through the three subsystems.

The control system (11

The first subsystem of the bread counting and filling machine consists of a control device provided for counting and inspecting the supplied piece goods. The control device is preferably an X-ray device. The X-ray device is the "eye" of the robot (subsystem 2) and performs the following functions, among others:

Check for contaminated products

The X-ray allows us to detect the following contamination: 1. breads contaminated with metal. With metal, the system will work independently of the temperature of the bread and smaller metal particles (up to 0.6 mm) can be recognized. Traditional metal detectors have a detection range of up to 2 mm and are very sensitive to the temperature differences of the bread to be checked.

2. Bread contaminated with glass. With glass, the system can work up to a depth of 2 mm.

3. breads contaminated with stone

Traditional metal detectors therefore have 3 major disadvantages compared to an X-ray device: 1. They are very sensitive to temperature changes of the product to be checked. Frequent calibration therefore arises in a situation where the temperature of the frozen bread is not always stable.

2. The traditional metal detectors, which work on the principle of a disturbance of the electric field, are unable to detect 0.6 mm impurities.

3. Different metals have different sensitivities. In other words, the size of the smallest particle to be detected depends on the type of metal.

4. Sensitivity is also influenced by the orientation of the contamination in the product.

5. Metal detectors can only detect metal. Other foreign materials such as glass and stone cannot be recognized.

Check on form X-ray allows you to check each product online for length, width and shape.

Tolerances of this shape check are insensitive to shadows. Compared to traditional camera systems, X-ray does not suffer from shadowing, which makes image processing considerably more difficult.

Online weight control X-ray is also able to verify the weight of each individual product online. The tolerance of the weight registration is accurate to one gram.

Classic solutions require online checkweighers where the products must be far enough apart for individual weight registration to be possible. With the system described here, products can even be weighed individually against each other.

The counting

Because the X-ray recognizes each product individually, it is also able to count them. In other words, it can serve as an "eye" for the robot (the means of movement). The position of each product is passed on to the robot via a matrix. In addition to the position, the necessary information of each product is also given.

This information can be, for example: Is the product contaminated? Are weights tolerances ok?

For evaluating the information from the control device, the device according to the present invention is provided with an evaluation unit. Depending on the evaluated data, the displacement means will react (for example, move piece goods on the conveyor belt or piece goods move from the conveyor belt to, for example, a waste container in order to remove contaminated piece goods or piece goods that do not meet the set (imposed) quality requirements).

The entrainment device (the robot) (2)

The second subsystem of the bread counting and filling machine consists of a robot, equipped with a suction pad to manipulate the loaves. The robot has three important functions:

Product emissions

When a loaf does not satisfy, it is removed. A distinction is made between contaminated products and products that do not comply with shape or weight provisions.

In the case of a contaminated product, this product is deposited in a special, locked ejector bin. A different ejector bin is used for products with shape and weight deviations.

In comparison with the traditional ejection systems that are used today in the bread industry, the use of a robot has the great advantage that only the rejected product is removed.

A traditional ejection system uses a retractable belt (or shooting belt). With this system it is inevitable that good products are also removed. The problem of false emissions is thus solved.

Group according to the required number

Based on the X-ray info, the robot can take the necessary action to ensure that the products are grouped according to their predetermined numbers.

We make a distinction between the following product groups: 1. Baguettes, 2. Half baguettes, 3. Small sandwiches.

For the transport of the loaves through the X-ray and robot station, a belt with carriers (carrier elements) is used. The loaves therefore lie between the flights. The carrier elements can be considered as elevations extending over the length of the conveyor belt at controlled distances from each other transversely of the direction of movement of the conveyor belt. A carrier element can be formed by a continuous elevation (edge) that extends over almost the full width of the conveyor belt, but can also be formed by an elevation that is interrupted at a number of places.

By placing one or more carrier elements along the length of the conveyor belt at controlled distances next to each other, zones situated adjacent to each other are formed on the conveyor belt, the different zones being delimited by the adjacent carrier elements.

Once the robot station has passed, it must be that each time a carrier forms the dividing line between two consecutive groups of loaves of the specified number.

In the case of baguettes, this is not a problem because these products are one by one between the flights.

For half baguettes, the robot must ensure that there are two loaves of bread next to each other between the flights. This means that the robot will occasionally have to make corrections to achieve this.

For small products that lie randomly between the drivers, the correct batch number is obtained by shifting products according to a certain carrier algorithm in order to obtain the correct number of products within a whole number of drivers.

In other words, the over-number is transferred to the next batch. The shortage number is added to the previous batch.

The representation on figure 2 shows a snapshot of before and after the correction to obtain a batch number of 20 pieces. It shows how the shortage number of 1 piece (ie roll no. 20) is added to the previous batch. The displacement from the first zone to a second adjacent zone takes place by means of the displacement means, of which the displacement means preferably comprise a gripping device which is provided for moving one piece of goods (roll) from a first zone to a second one.

Another possible displacement is shown in Figure 3, which shows how a surplus of two loaves (namely rolls 1 and 2) is added to the next batch.

The advantage of such a batch system (sorting system) over the existing systems is that products that lie against each other can also be individualized. Moreover, the predetermined amount of piece goods can always be delivered to the filling device. The displacement means will also ensure that empty places (for example as a result of the removal of contaminated bread) are again provided with a general cargo, which contributes to the increase in the capacity of the device.

An additional advantage of the displacement means (robot) is the fact that products can be sampled at pre-programmed times; this means that products can be removed from the product stream for analysis purposes on a sample basis.

The filling system (31

The third subsystem concerns the filling station (Filling device). A cassette is filled in this station which will then carefully discard the loaves in the package (for example a cardboard). To limit the fall height of the product in the cassette, the cassette will slowly lower during filling. Once the cassette contains the correct number of breads, it sinks to the bottom of the cardboard and opens to carefully place the products in the box.

For the product groups 1 and 2 (as described above), the products are filled in the cassette “shunted”; For product group 3, the rolls are filled in bulk.

Product alignment

In order to achieve a good alignment of the first two product groups, these products (as represented in Figure 4) are referred to via a side guide during the upward movement of the drivers. With half baguettes even on both sides a guide is provided which presses the loaves together so that they fit into the cassette.

Changing the cassette when the desired number is reached.

The filling of the cassettes is a continuous process, i.e. the supply belt continues to continuously supply bread to the two cassettes. When the correct number has been reached in one cassette, the other cassette must be filled immediately. During the filling of the second cassette, the first cassette can then discard the loaves in the box and perform a box change. An empty box is then ready. When the second cassette is full, an analogous story applies.

When the correct number is reached in one cassette, the bread flow must be diverted to the other cassette at the right moment. For this a triangular plate is used that can move horizontally back and forth between two falling loaves. Because it is very important that the cadence of the falling breads is constant and identical, a downward bend is provided in the conveyor belt. As a result, the loaves of bread slide downwards between the carriers and are thus aligned with the back of the previous carrier. At a constant speed of the feed belt, this guarantees a constant fall rate of the loaves. This allows the triangle to respond at the right time. Figures 5 and 6 show this.

Claims (3)

An apparatus for separating a predetermined amount of piece goods, comprising a conveyor belt provided for supplying the piece goods and a control device provided for counting the piece goods, characterized in that the conveyor belt comprises a number of adjacent zones, which said device comprises displacement means provided for moving at least one of supplied piece goods from a first zone to a second adjacent zone as a function of the counting data of the control device and the predetermined amount of piece goods. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the checking device is further provided for inspecting the piece goods. 3. Method for separating a predetermined amount of piece goods, wherein the piece goods are supplied via a conveyor belt to a control device provided for counting the piece goods, characterized in that the piece goods lie on the conveyor belt in a number of adjacent zones and wherein according to this method at least one of the supplied piece goods can be moved from a first to a second adjacent zone as a function of the number of piece goods already counted and the predetermined amount of piece goods.