DE102022128659A1 - Plant for processing food products - Google Patents

Abstract

A plant for processing food products comprises a cutting device for separating slices from the food products and forming portions from the slices, a packaging machine and a transport device which transports the portions from the cutting device to the packaging machine. In addition, the system includes a provision device for providing portion bases for the transported portions, and a folding device which is designed to fold a portion base along a fold line. Furthermore, the system comprises an insertion device, by means of which the portion bases with the portions can be brought to a packaging station in such a way that the fold lines of the portion bases are aligned parallel to a transport direction of the packaging machine.

Description

The invention relates to a system for processing food products, in particular meat products and/or bacon pieces. The system comprises at least one cutting device, which has a product feed and at least one knife arranged in a cutting plane, the product feed being designed to guide food products in one or more lanes into the cutting plane, and the knife being set up to cut slices from the in to separate the food products guided on the cutting plane and to form portions from the separated slices which comprise one or more slices. In addition, the system includes a packaging machine, in particular a thermoforming packaging machine, which is designed to provide respective packaging locations for the portions and to move them along a transport direction, and a transport device which is designed to move the portions from the cutting device along a transport route to the packaging machine transport. A supply device is also arranged on the transport path, which is designed to provide portion bases, in particular L-boards, for the transported portions in such a way that the portions transported by the transport device along the transport path can be placed on a storage section of a respective portion base, with the respective Portion pad has an edge section not covered by the portion deposited.

Such systems can be provided in particular to process provided food products, for example stick-shaped meat products or pieces of bacon, into ready-to-sell products by cutting the food products into slices by a cutting device, forming portions from the slices and feeding the portions to a packaging machine and packaging them by the packaging machine in order to be able to offer the products portioned and packaged for sale. In addition, it can be provided that the portions formed by or on the cutting device are placed on a provided portion support during transport along a transport route and before reaching the packaging machine, which can be provided, for example, to enable easier removal of the portion from the packaging .

In particular, however, so-called L-boards can be provided as portion supports, which have a foldable edge section, with such an edge section being able to be folded over in the course of processing the food in such a way that an upper side of a packaged portion is at least partially covered by the folded edge section. A buyer of the packaged product can therefore see both the uncovered part of the portion top and the edge section, so that the buyer can examine the product on the one hand, while on the other hand the buyer can also be presented with product information and/or advertising elements, for example, on the folded edge section. In addition, a packaged portion can be surrounded at least partially on both sides by the portion base by folding over an edge section, so that the portion can be removed from the packaging, for example by gripping the portion base, without the portion or a slice having to be touched directly. In particular, it is known to use such L-boards in the packaging of sliced and portioned bacon pieces.

Basically, when processing food products in this way, the aim is to achieve as high a product throughput as possible. So-called high-speed slicers, which can achieve outputs of a few hundred to a few thousand cuts per minute, are therefore often used as cutting devices. Furthermore, high-speed slicers can also be designed to cut off slices from products that are supplied in multiple lanes, in which case the downstream transport device and the packaging machine can basically also be designed to handle portions in multiple lanes at the same time. In particular, a packaging machine can be designed to provide adjacent packaging locations in one cycle, so that several portions can be brought to respective packaging locations during one cycle of the packaging machine.

Thus, while in particular cutting devices are known which achieve appropriately high cutting speeds and a high portion throughput, it is necessary in existing systems in which L-boards with a foldable edge section are used to fold over the edge section manually. After it has been folded over, the product base with the deposited portion must also be placed back on the transport device in such a way that the folded edge section is aligned perpendicular to a transport direction of the transport device and in the direction of the packaging machine, so that the edge section can be pushed through itself during further transport in the direction of the packaging machine, for example above the transport device and along the transport direction to hold extending straps in the folded condition and to prevent unfolding of the portion pad.

However, manual folding in particular is associated with a high expenditure of personnel and time, as a result of which the product throughput that can be achieved with such systems is ultimately limited compared to the performance that can in principle be achieved by the cutting device. In addition, due to the required manual access to the transported portions - which usually has to be done from a given operating side - the transport device in existing systems can at best be designed in two lanes, which again restricts the portion throughput.

In addition, the products to be sliced usually have an approximately rectangular cross-sectional shape, so that the cut slices are also approximately rectangular and have a long and a short side. In order to be able to position portions formed from such slices on portion bases, the portion bases must also have a corresponding shape, at least when the edge section is folded over, so that the long side of the portion base must be aligned perpendicular to the transport direction of the transport device in order to hold the portion base after it has been folded over to be transported with the edge section first on the transport device and to be able to secure the edge section against unfolding. However, this orientation of the portion base requires a relatively wide construction of the system.

Since a transport direction of the packaging machine also usually corresponds to the transport direction of the transport device, the packaging machine must also be designed to be relatively wide even with two-lane operation in order to be able to provide packaging spaces with a long side that is also aligned perpendicular to the transport direction and to be able to accommodate the portions. In practice, therefore, with existing systems, at most two adjacent packaging stations can be provided, since a greater width of the packaging machine cannot ultimately be realized given the existing space conditions in a production hall and the structural and technical limitations in the design of a packaging machine. However, since a cycle rate of the packaging machine is usually significantly lower than the portion throughput of the cutting device, this also means that the performance of the cutting device is not fully utilized and only a reduced product throughput can be achieved.

In addition, the flexibility in the processing of the food products is limited to the extent that when using L-boards, only food pack arrangements with two individual food packs connected to one another can be produced in order to be able to offer such food pack arrangements or multiple portions for sale. On the other hand, a larger number of food packages connected to one another or an odd number of food packages connected to one another cannot be produced in existing plants.

It is therefore an object of the invention to create a system for processing food products in which the food products can be placed on portion bases and an edge section of the portion base can be folded over, but with a higher product throughput and greater flexibility compared to the existing systems explained can be. Furthermore, better utilization of a width of a material web moved by the packaging machine to prepare the packaging locations should be made possible.

This problem is solved by a system with the features of claim 1.

In this system, it is initially provided that a transition between the storage section and the edge section of the respective portion base defines a fold line of the respective portion base. The system also includes a folding device, which is designed to fold the respective portion base along its crease line, and an insertion device, which is designed to bring the respective portion base with the deposited portion onto the provided packaging location in such a way that the fold line of the portion base introduced is aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine.

The provision of a folding device on the system makes it possible to fold the fold lines of the portion bases mechanically—by the folding device—so that the edge section no longer has to be folded over manually. Rather, automated processing of the food products can be achieved without the need for manual steps to fold over the edge section, which are associated with a corresponding expenditure of time and personnel, so that the processing can be accelerated and the product throughput can be increased compared to a conventional system. Basically, the folding device can be designed to the respective portion base after Folding the assigned portion along its crease line.

In addition, the folding over of the edge section can be standardized because the portion bases have a fold line defined by the transition between the storage section and the edge section, and the portion base can always be folded by the folding device at the same point. Such a standardized process can also ensure a constant quality of the folding and the susceptibility to errors compared to manual folding can be reduced, since the folding can be carried out exactly the same for each portion base or portion. For example, the fold line can be defined by a distance from an outer edge of the portion base, so that each portion base can have an edge section of the same width.

Since the system also has an infeed device, by means of which the portion bases with the deposited portions can be brought to a respective packaging station provided in such a way that the fold line of the portion base is aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine, it can also be achieved that one onto a packaging station brought portion base is aligned with a short side perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine, whereas a long side of the portion base, along which the fold line can extend in particular, can be aligned parallel to the transport direction. The required width of a packaging location in relation to a transverse direction aligned perpendicular to the transport direction can thus be determined by the length of a short side of a portion base, whereas in conventional systems it is the long side of the portion base that is aligned transverse to the transport direction of the packaging machine, and the packaging spaces must therefore have a correspondingly larger width. The introduction of the portion bases into the packaging machine in such a way that the fold line is aligned parallel to the transport device thus makes it possible to reduce the width of the packaging machine and/or to pack a larger number of portion bases with deposited portions next to one another with respect to the transverse direction by having a larger Number of packaging spaces can be provided next to each other without the packaging machine having to have a width that goes beyond a common width that is appropriate taking into account the space available in the rule. In particular, by inserting the portion bases in this way, it is possible to package three portion bases with portions placed next to one another in the transverse direction and, for example, also to be able to produce food packaging arrangements that comprise three food packs connected to one another, in which a respective portion base with a portion placed is packed. In the case of such food pack arrangements, three individual food packs can thus ultimately be attached to one another, with a perforation also being able to be made in the two intermediate areas between respective food packs in some embodiments, in order to be able to combine the food pack arrangement into a bundle and present it to the customer in a compact form. The production of such food packaging arrangements also makes it possible, in particular, to produce food packaging arrangements for discount campaigns such as the widespread "buy three pay two".

While the introduction device is thus designed to bring the portion bases to a respective packaging station in such a way that the fold line is aligned parallel to the transport device, it can be provided that the provision device is designed to provide the portion bases in an orientation in which the Fold line is aligned perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine. In particular, the system can extend overall along the transport direction of the packaging machine and the portions and the portion bases can be transported by means of the transport device along the transport direction of the packaging machine, so that the portion bases can be provided in an orientation in which the fold lines are perpendicular to the transport direction of the Transport device and therefore perpendicular to a direction along which the portions are moved while being deposited on the portion documents are aligned.

Providing the portion bases in this way can simplify the depositing of the portions, in particular, since the food products are usually fed to the knife with one side that is long in relation to a cross section resting on the product feed, so that long sides of the severed slices can also be aligned perpendicular to the transport direction. In this respect, the portion bases can be provided in such a way that the fold lines are aligned parallel to the long sides of the portions, so that the portions only have to be moved over a distance corresponding to the short side in order to be able to be placed on the portion bases.

In order to still be able to bring the portion bases with the deposited portions onto the provided packaging locations in such a way that the fold lines are aligned parallel to the transport direction, the introduction device can comprise a rotating device, for example. For example, the insertion device can include a robot gripper for gripping prepared portion bases and portions and be designed to grip and rotate a portion base aligned perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine, in particular by 90°, in order to then bring the portion base to the packaging location provided . Furthermore, it can also be provided that the transport device comprises a rotating device, so that the portion bases with the deposited portions can already be rotated during transport and made available on the infeed device in an orientation in which the fold lines of the portion bases are aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine . In addition, the transport device and the infeed device can also have a rotating device so that the portion bases can be rotated partly on the transport device and partly on the infeed device in order to ultimately align the fold lines parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine.

In principle, however, it can also be provided that the provision device is designed to already provide the portion bases in an orientation in which the fold lines are aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine. For this purpose, it can be provided, for example, that the portions can be transported from the transport device to the packaging machine perpendicular to a direction along which the products are guided into the cutting plane, so that slices of products lying on a long side are guided into the cutting plane Products that have been severed can be transported short-side first along the transport route. The long side of the slices or portions can therefore be moved parallel to the transport direction of the transport device and in particular also the packaging machine, so that a fold line of a portion base provided with a fold line aligned parallel to the transport direction can be aligned parallel to the long side of the portion and the portion accordingly can be placed on the portion support.

The supply device can, for example, comprise a stacking section in which a stack of portion bases is kept ready, wherein a removal device of the supply device can be designed to remove a respective uppermost portion base from the stack and to transfer it to a guide, for example one or more conveyor belts, by means of which the portion pad can be guided to the transport path.

Furthermore, the folding device can be arranged, for example, at least partially on or along the transport route, so that the edge section can be folded over, for example, at least partially already during transport along the transport route. In addition, it can be provided that the folding device includes the insertion device, so that the portion base can be folded at least partially along its fold line during insertion into the packaging machine. In addition, the packaging machine can also include at least part of the folding device and the edge section can, for example, only be folded over completely during movement in the packaging machine.

The introduction device can, for example, comprise a robot gripper, in particular a so-called picker robot, which is designed to grip portions and portion bases supplied by means of the transport device and bring them to a respective packaging station. As an alternative to this, however, it can also be provided that the infeed device comprises a so-called feeder and in particular has a conveyor belt, from which supplied portions can be transferred to the packaging machine and brought to the respective packaging stations. In particular, in some embodiments the introduction device can thus comprise a final section and/or a final conveyor belt of the transport device. In principle, the introduction device can be designed to introduce a respective portion base with the deposited portion into the packaging machine and/or to transfer it to the packaging machine.

The packaging machine can be a thermoforming packaging machine, for example, in which a material web is moved along the transport direction and troughs are drawn into the material web at a forming station, which form the packaging stations. The introduction device can therefore be designed to bring portion bases with deposited portions into such packaging cavities. The packaging machine can then be designed to move the troughs with the inserted portions to a sealing station, at which the troughs are sealed with a supplied upper material web. In addition, the packaging machine have a separating station downstream of the sealing station, at which packaging that is guided next to and/or behind one another can be separated from one another. For this purpose, the separating station can in particular comprise knives arranged along and/or perpendicular to the transport direction. The web of material and/or the web of upper material can in particular be films made of plastic, although webs of paper and/or webs of material made of organic materials can also be used.

As an alternative to a design as a thermoforming packaging machine, it can also be provided that the packaging machine is designed to provide lower packaging parts and/or so-called trays into which the portion bases with the deposited portions can be introduced by means of the infeed device. In addition, it can be provided that the packaging machine provides a web of material, wherein the insertion device can be designed to deposit the portion bases with the deposited portions on the respective defined locations on the web of material, which in this respect can form the packaging locations. However, even with packaging machines that provide trays, lower packaging parts or defined locations on a web of material as packaging locations, provision can be made for the packaging to be closed at a downstream sealing station by a web of upper material and/or to separate the packaging.

In particular, the system can extend overall along the transport direction of the packaging machine, so that the food products can be guided into the cutting plane along the transport direction, optionally inclined relative to a horizontal transport direction, and/or can be transported by the transport device along the transport direction.

Furthermore, within the scope of the present disclosure, a long or short side is always to be understood in such a way that a respective side is described that is longer or shorter relative to another side.

Further embodiments are explained in the dependent claims, the description and the drawings.

In some embodiments, the portion base can be formed from cardboard, cardboard, paper and/or foil. In addition, in some embodiments, the edge section can have one or more viewing windows and/or in the fully folded state of the portion base cover a portion top that is opposite to a portion bottom that rests on the storage section of the portion base. The folded portion base can thus in particular encompass a portion that has been placed when the edge section is folded over.

In some embodiments, the portion base can be flat in the unfolded state. The portion support can thus in particular be a flat support on which a portion can be placed and which can support the placed portion on a portion underside.

In some embodiments, the portion base can be at least essentially rectangular and/or essentially square. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the portion base can have a short side and a long side and, in particular, be of rectangular design, with the fold line being able to extend parallel to the long side. In particular, in some embodiments the storage section can have a long and a short side and/or can be at least substantially rectangular in shape. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the edge portion may be of the same length as the shelf portion such that the crease line may extend along the entire length of the shelf portion, or the shelf portion may be of a particularly slightly greater length than the edge portion. In embodiments in which the storage section has a greater length than the edge section, the edge section can extend in particular on two sides with the same length beyond the fold line. Even if the portion pad is designed in which the deposit section is slightly longer than the edge section, the portion pad can therefore have an at least essentially rectangular or square shape. The portion base can also have pointed or rounded corners and/or the edge section can have a smaller width than the storage section. Furthermore, the storage section can take up a larger area than the edge section.

Since the fold line can extend in particular along a long side of the portion base, the space taken up by a portion base on the packaging machine perpendicular to the transport direction can be minimized by introducing the portion base in such a way that the fold line is aligned parallel to the transport direction. In addition, even with a square design of the portion support, the storage section can ultimately have a rectangular shape with a long side and a short side. wherein the fold line extends along the long side of the shelf section. The space taken up by the portion support in the packaging machine transversely or perpendicularly to the transport direction can thus also be limited to the short side of the deposit section in such embodiments. In particular, this makes it possible to provide several packaging spaces next to one another without the packaging machine being too wide, so that several portions can be processed at the same time and, for example, food packaging arrangements can be produced which comprise three food packagings next to one another and connected to one another on the respective long sides, with the respective packaged portions .

In some embodiments, the fold line can be formed by a fold, in which case the fold can in particular be perforated. As an alternative to this, in the unfolded state the portion base can also be uniform in some embodiments and in particular have a constant thickness, wherein the fold line can be defined by a predetermined distance from an outer edge of the portion base facing away from the storage section.

The crease line can therefore be seen as a weakening of the material before folding, for example, or only after folding. However, the folding can always take place at a defined distance from an outer edge of the portion base, which faces away from the storage section, and thus in a standardized form. In principle, however, it can also be provided that a width of the edge section and insofar as the distance between the outer edge and the folding line can be predetermined by adjusting the folding device, so that the surfaces of the storage section and the edge section can be adjustable, for example depending on the respective processed products . Here too, however, the folding line can be defined by a distance from the outer edge that corresponds to the respective setting of the folding device.

A uniform portion base can in particular have a constant thickness, whereas a fold can represent a weakening of the material. For example, a fold can be formed by pressing the portion base along the fold line or by pre-folding the portion base. In addition, a fold can have a perforation in particular. In principle, a fold can be provided to make it easier to fold the portion base along the fold line and to prevent the portion base from being folded along a line that deviates from the fold line.

In some embodiments, when the portion base is in the folded state, the edge section of the portion base can extend along an upper side of the portion, which is opposite to a lower side of the portion, with which the portion rests on the storage section. In this respect, provision can be made in particular for the edge section of the portion base to be folded over completely, with the folded-over edge section being able to cover the top side of the portion at least in sections. In such embodiments, the storage section can thus support the underside of the portion and the portion support can enclose the deposited portion on both sides.

In particular, such a folding over of the edge section can make it possible to present a portion in a package in such a way that a customer can see the uncovered part of the top side of the portion and the folded-over edge section, on which, for example, product information and/or advertising elements can be applied. The customer can thus, on the one hand, examine the product on offer himself and, on the other hand, obtain information about the product without having to rotate the packaging. In addition, such a gripping around of a portion by the portion support can enable the customer to remove the portion from a packaging without having to touch the portion, in particular neither the portion underside nor the portion top or an upper or lower slice.

In some embodiments, the introduction device can be designed to bend the edge section of the portion base by approximately 90 degrees, in particular by at least 90 degrees and/or by exactly 90 degrees, during introduction.

In this respect, the folding device in such embodiments can include the introduction device and at least part of the folding over of the edge section can take place during introduction into the packaging machine. For example, provision can be made to bend the edge section by about 90 degrees, for example at least 85 degrees, and in particular at least 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees, during introduction into the packaging machine, whereupon the edge section can be folded over further, for example during subsequent movement in the packaging machine , in order ultimately to be able to be arranged to cover the top of the portion. In this respect, in particular, the packaging machine can also include a part of the folding device.

In some embodiments, the infeed device can comprise a robot gripper, which is designed to grip portions transported by the transport device into an infeed section and bring them to the packaging stations. In such embodiments, a folding device, in particular a web, can also be arranged on the packaging machine and the robot gripper can be designed to bring the edge section of the portion base into contact with the folding device during the introduction of the portion, and thereby by about 90 degrees during introduction , In particular at least 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees to bend.

In particular, it can be provided in such embodiments that the robot gripper is designed to grip a portion base transported into the introduction section in order to bring the portion base together with the deposited portion to a packaging station. For this purpose, the robot gripper can grip the portion base, for example, on two sides aligned perpendicularly to the fold line and lift it from the transport device in order to be able to transfer the portion base to the packaging machine and lower it onto a packaging station. During the lowering process, the robot gripper can bring the portion base into contact with the bending device or a web arranged on the packaging machine, in particular above a packaging location provided, in such a way that the edge section bends along the folding line and after it has been introduced into the packaging machine by about 90 degrees or at least 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees bent. For this purpose, the buckling line can in particular initially be aligned with an edge of the buckling device and can be guided along the buckling device during the lowering, so that the edge section can be displaced to a certain extent by the buckling device. The bent edge section can therefore be arranged in particular on a wall of a packaging tray.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the robot gripper can have a holding edge that fixes the buckling line during insertion. In particular, such a holding edge can be used to compensate for a force acting on the edge section due to the interaction of the robot gripper with the bending device at the bending line, so that the edge section bends exactly at the bending line. For example, such a holding edge can be formed by a metal sheet that extends perpendicularly to a plane of the storage section and is aligned parallel to the fold line when the robot gripper grips the portion base. The holding edge can in particular be designed to make contact with the fold line on an upper side of the portion base on which the portion is placed. In addition, in some embodiments, the robot gripper can be designed to support an underside of the portion base in order to be able to prevent the buckling line from deviating when it comes into contact with the buckling device.

In some embodiments, the robot gripper can comprise at least two shovel-like gripper elements which are designed to grip under the portion base on the respective sides aligned perpendicularly to the fold line. In addition, the gripper elements can have contact sections extending perpendicularly to a plane of the deposit section, in order in particular to be able to prevent the portion from slipping off the portion base while it is being introduced into the packaging machine. Such contact sections can also be used to push portions protruding slightly laterally beyond the storage section onto the storage section and thereby to correct an alignment of the portions.

In some embodiments, the introduction device and/or the transport device can comprise a transport means, in particular a conveyor belt, and the folding device can have a pivot link arranged on the transport means, by means of which the edge section of the portion base can be pivoted during transport, in particular by about 90 degrees and/or or at least 85 degrees and/or by at least 90 degrees. In addition, in some embodiments, the edge section can be pivoted by exactly 90 degrees using the pivot link.

For example, the means of transport can be a depositor, which is designed to bring provided portion bases with portions placed on them to assigned packaging locations. The transport means can therefore in particular be a conveyor belt facing the packaging machine, for example a wide, continuous conveyor belt or a conveyor belt comprising several parallel belts, from which the portion bases with the deposited portions are introduced into the packaging machine. In particular, the portion bases with the deposited portions can be guided over a deflection of an endlessly circulating conveyor belt facing the packaging machine and transferred to the packaging machine. Such a transport means can therefore be understood both as part of the transport device and as part of the introduction device.

Since the folding device can include a pivot link arranged on the transport means, the edge section of the portion base can already be pivoted during transport to the packaging machine, in particular by approximately 90 degrees. For example, the pivoting link can have a contact section that increasingly tilts in the transport direction relative to a horizontal in the direction of a vertical and can be arranged in such a way that the edge section comes into contact with the contact section of the pivoting link during transport with the transport means, so that the edge section increasingly tilts in the direction of the Vertical can be pivoted. In particular, this can be provided in systems in which the portion bases already reach the transport means in an orientation in which the fold line is aligned parallel to the transport direction. This can be achieved in particular if the system comprises a rotating device arranged on the transport device for rotating the portion bases or the portion bases are provided by the provision device in fold lines aligned parallel to the transport direction, as already mentioned above.

In such embodiments, the portion bases can also leave the transport device in particular with an edge section pivoted by approximately and/or at least 90 degrees. For example, the portion bases can be brought directly from the transport means to the packing stations with the edge section pivoted by approximately, at least or exactly 90 degrees. In addition, the packaging machine can also include the above-mentioned folding device in such embodiments, so that the edge section that has already been pivoted can be guided along the folding device during introduction into the packaging machine and the portion base cannot unfold.

However, it is also possible for a robot gripper of the type already mentioned to be connected to the transport means with the pivot link in order to introduce the portion bases with the deposited portions into the packaging machine. Due to the preceding pivoting link, such a robot gripper can therefore grip the portion bases with the edge section already folded over by approximately, at least or exactly 90 degrees, with the robot gripper in such embodiments being able in particular to have a holding edge which is designed to hold the edge section during introduction into the packaging machine to support from the outside and thereby counteract an unfolding of the portion pad.

In some embodiments, the portions can be transferred from the means of transport to the packaging machine and brought to the packaging stations. In this respect, the means of transport can in particular be an insert and/or the introduction device can comprise the means of transport.

In some embodiments, the folding device can have a folding link which is arranged on the packaging machine and is designed to fold the edge section of the portion base over as a result of the movement along the transport direction. In particular, the folding link can be designed to completely fold over the edge section of the portion base as a result of the movement along the transport direction. Furthermore, the folding link can be designed to fold over the previously pivoted and/or kinked edge section.

For example, the folding link can be directly connected to the already mentioned swivel link and/or to the already mentioned folding device, by means of which the edge section can be swiveled or folded by about 90 degrees, in particular at least 85 degrees and/or at least 90 degrees or exactly 90 degrees. The folding link can also be designed in one piece with the swivel link and/or the folding device or as a separate unit.

For example, it can be provided that the folding link is directly connected to the bending device mentioned, so that the edge section is first folded by approximately, in particular at least, 90 degrees through interaction between the insertion device and the folding device and then completely during transport in the transport device by means of the folding link can be folded. In addition, it can be provided that the folding link connects directly to the pivoting link, so that the edge section can be folded over continuously during transport by means of the transport device and the subsequent movement by means of the packaging device.

The folding link can have a contact section, for example, which, starting from a vertical orientation along the transport direction of the packaging machine, increasingly approaches a horizontal orientation and/or increasingly inclines in the direction of a portion base that is being transported, wherein the contact section can be set up to close the edge section of a portion base contact and increasingly fold over as a result of moving the portion base along the transport direction. In embodiments with a pivot link can Therefore, in particular, it should be provided that the pivoting link and the folding link form a common, continuous folding link with a contact section which, starting from an at least approximately horizontal orientation, increasingly pivots in the direction of a portion base being transported in order to fold the edge section over during transport along the transport direction. In particular with such embodiments, the extent of the folding over of the edge section during transport on the transport device and the extent of folding over during transport in the packaging machine can vary in principle, so that, for example, a larger part of the folding over during transport on the transport device or a larger part of the Folding can take place while moving in the packaging machine.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can have a hold-down device which is designed to counteract unfolding of the introduced and folded portion base while the packaging stations are being moved. In particular, such a hold-down device can have a boundary arranged above the packaging positions, against which the folded edge section can rest during transport in the packaging machine, so that the portion base cannot unfold due to the counter-pressure exerted by the hold-down device. Such a limitation can be formed, for example, as a metal sheet or a belt and can extend over the entire packaging machine or just a respective section of the packaging machine in which an edge section of a portion base placed on a packaging station is arranged.

In addition, in some embodiments, the pivot link already mentioned can be designed to completely fold over the edge section. For this purpose, for example, the contact section already mentioned can pivot or tilt increasingly in the direction of the portion base after reaching a vertical alignment viewed along the transport direction in order to increasingly press the edge section in the direction of the storage section during transport on the transport means and thereby fold it over. In such embodiments, the portion base can thus be transferred to the packaging machine with the edge section already completely folded over, wherein the packaging machine can, for example, have a hold-down device connected to the pivot link in order to prevent the portion base from unfolding.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can have a portion support which supports the inserted portions on a portion underside. In particular, the packaging machine in such embodiments can also have the already mentioned hold-down device, so that the edge section can be clamped between the portion support and the hold-down device and unfolding of the portion base can thereby be prevented.

In some embodiments, the provision device can be designed to provide the portion bases in an orientation in which the folding lines are aligned perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine. In such embodiments, the system can also include a rotating device which is designed to rotate the portion bases, in particular with the deposited portions, into an orientation in which the fold lines of the portion bases are aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine.

As already explained, by providing the portion bases in this way, it is possible in particular to feed the products to the cutting device along the transport direction and in an orientation in which the products lie on the product feed with a long side in relation to a cross-sectional shape and are therefore stable. After the portions have been formed, the cut slices can accordingly also be transported in an orientation along the transport path in which one long side of the slices is oriented perpendicular to the transport direction and are moved in this orientation for depositing on the portion bases, so that the portions during of depositing on the portion pad only have to be moved over a relatively short distance and can be precisely positioned on the portion pads.

However, since the system can also have a rotating device in such embodiments, the portion bases can be automatically transferred into an orientation in which the folding lines are aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine, so that the portion bases are brought to the packaging stations in such an orientation by means of the infeed device can become. In particular, this turning of the portion bases can also take place without manual intervention in the processing process and by machine using the turning device. The turning device can in particular be designed to turn the portion bases individually with the respective deposited portions hen, so that, for example, portion documents transported in several tracks with stored portions can be rotated separately in each track by means of the rotating device. However, the rotating device can also be designed to rotate several portion bases at the same time.

In some embodiments, the introduction device can include the rotating device and be designed to rotate the portion base together with the deposited portions during introduction.

As already explained, the introduction device can have a robot gripper, for example, in order to bring the portions to the packaging locations. For example, such a robot gripper can be designed to grip the portion bases with the deposited portions, lift them and, in particular, rotate them by 90 degrees in order to bring the portion bases with the deposited portions onto the packaging locations in an orientation in which the fold line is parallel to is aligned with the transport direction of the packaging machine. In addition, in some embodiments it can be provided that the introduction takes place in two steps and the portion bases with the deposited portions are first gripped by means of a robot gripper, rotated and then placed on a buffer device, whereupon the same or another robot gripper grips the portions placed on the buffer device again and can be removed from the buffer device in order to bring the portions to the packing stations. In principle, however, it can also be provided that the portion bases with the deposited portions are taken over by the transport device in a continuous movement and introduced into the packaging machine, whereby this continuous movement can include rotating the portions in order to bend the fold lines of the portion bases parallel to the transport direction of the Align packaging machine.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments the transport device can include the rotating device and be designed to rotate the portion base together with the deposited portions during transport.

For example, the transport device can, in at least one section, comprise a plurality of endlessly revolving belts that extend in parallel along the transport direction and that can be driven at different speeds in order to be able to exert a torque on a transported portion base with a deposited portion and to be able to rotate the portion base with the deposited portion . In particular, in such embodiments, a vacuum device can also be provided, which is designed to suck in the portion bases with the deposited portions in the area of the rotating device in order to increase friction between the portion bases and the belts and to support controlled rotation of the portion bases. The design of the transport device with a rotating device can be provided in particular in embodiments that have an insert for introducing the portions into the packaging machine, so that the portion bases can be converted beforehand into an orientation in which the fold lines are aligned parallel to the transport direction. However, such a rotating device can also be provided in embodiments in which the introduction device has a robot gripper for introducing the portions, in which case the portions can already be taken over by the robot gripper in such embodiments in an orientation in which the folding line is parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine is aligned.

In some embodiments, the system can include a monitoring device, in particular a camera and an image evaluation device, which is designed to detect bad portions and portions that have not been correctly deposited, in particular portions that protrude beyond the portion base.

For example, a bad portion can be a portion with a slice from an end piece of the product, which often has a shape deviating from a desired shape and therefore may not be suitable for sale. In addition, a bad portion can, for example, for other reasons, such as a fault in the cutting device or an irregular product shape, include slices that are not correctly formed or also have a defective portion base, for example a torn portion. Portions that are too light or too heavy in weight can also represent a bad portion, for example, and the monitoring device can include a scale, in particular, in order to identify such bad portions. In principle, a bad portion can be a portion that is not suitable for sale and should therefore not be packaged.

Furthermore, in some embodiments an evaluation and control device can be provided, which is designed to identify a portion protruding beyond a portion base as a bad portion or as an incorrectly deposited portion depending on the extent of the protrusion. The evaluation and control device can also be designed to identify portions previously identified as bad portions as bad portions. In particular, the evaluation and control device can include an image evaluation device in order to be able to evaluate recordings of the portions produced by a camera of the monitoring device and to be able to identify bad portions and/or portions that have not been correctly deposited. The evaluation and control device can include, for example, one or more microprocessors and/or a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

For example, portions that protrude so far beyond a portion base that this incorrect positioning can neither be tolerated nor corrected during introduction can be marked as bad portions, so that such portions cannot be packed. On the other hand, portions that protrude only slightly beyond the portion base can initially be identified as portions that have not been placed correctly, in order in particular to be able to correct such misalignments or, if necessary, also to tolerate them and ultimately pack the portions anyway.

In some embodiments, the introduction device can be designed not to bring a bad portion to a packaging station and/or to correct an alignment of an incorrectly placed portion during introduction.

For example, the introduction device can have a robot gripper with respective contact elements in order to grip the portion base laterally and thereby be able to push an incorrectly deposited portion onto the portion base or its storage section. This can be possible in particular with portions that protrude only slightly beyond the portion base and can therefore have been marked in advance by the evaluation and control device as incorrectly deposited portions. The control as to whether a portion should be corrected or whether a portion should not be brought in can be effected in particular by the evaluation and control device mentioned.

Since the system has a monitoring device for detecting bad portions and/or incorrectly placed portions and the infeed device can be designed to correct the orientation of an incorrectly made portion during infeed and/or not to bring bad portions to a packaging station, it is also possible the checking of portions, the sorting out of bad portions and/or the correction of portions that have not been placed correctly can be done by machine. In conventional systems, on the other hand, it is usually necessary to check, correct or sort out the portions manually or by appropriate personnel, in that the portions can be checked, for example, in the course of the manual folding over of the edge section of a portion base, for which a corresponding additional expenditure of time is taken into account must. Training with a monitoring device can thus further increase the degree of automation of the system and the speed of processing.

In addition, because bad portions and in particular portions with cut or end slices can be sorted out reliably and automatically, the cutting process can be carried out continuously since, for example, such cut or end slices do not already have to be sorted out at the cutting device. Interruptions in the cutting process associated with the removal of cut slices or end slices can therefore be avoided in order to be able to achieve the highest possible product throughput.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine may be configured to produce reclosable packages. In particular, the packaging machine can be designed to form packs with a reclosure, so that the portions can be removed from the pack and put back into the pack several times by a customer, for example, with the reclosing of the pack making it possible to increase the shelf life of the portions.

In such embodiments, the packaging machine can also have a device for attaching a reclosable element, which is designed to attach the reclosable element to an edge section of a pack along the transport direction. In particular, the device for attaching a reclosable element can be designed to attach the reclosable element to an edge section of a packaging tray or other packaging location along the transport direction.

Since the reclosable element can be attached along the transport direction of the packaging machine, the reclosable element can also be attached parallel to the fold line of the portion base and to this extent along a long side of the portion base and/or the pack. This allows the pack to be opened and resealed along the long side, allowing for removal and resealing put a portion can be designed as easily as possible. In addition, the movement of the packaging stations along the transport direction can be used directly to attach the reclosable element, for example by bringing a self-adhesive tape as a reclosable element into contact with a material web provided by the packaging machine and automatically pulling it off a roll due to the movement of the material web along the transport direction can.

In some embodiments, the re-closing element can be in the form of a self-adhesive strip or a zip fastener (also referred to as a zip fastener). In order to close the pack, a zip fastener can in particular be depressible or have a movable element for closing and opening the zip fastener. A self-adhesive tape can be attached to an edge section of a packaging tray, in particular during thermoforming on a thermoforming packaging machine, so that a subsequently fed upper material web and/or top film can be glued to the self-adhesive tape for sealing the pack and the pack can be opened and resealed at the adhesive point.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can be designed to simultaneously provide at least two packaging locations that are offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction and to move them along the transport direction. In addition, the packaging machine can have a perforation device which is designed to produce a perforation along the transport direction between two adjacent packaging stations. For example, with such an alignment of the perforation in the transport direction, one can fall back on known options for producing a perforation using a rotary knife in the outlet area of a packaging machine, in particular in the area of a longitudinal cut required on the pack edges.

In this respect, the packaging machine can be designed to be operated on at least two tracks, so that two packaging stations can be moved next to one another and ultimately two packs lying next to one another with inserted portions can be produced. However, by having perforating means on the packaging machine, the two packages produced in parallel can be sold together, for example, as a food package assembly, but a customer or consumer can easily separate the packages along the perforation if desired. For example, such a perforation can be made by a perforating knife rotating in a plane aligned parallel to the transport direction, which can be arranged in particular after or downstream of a sealing station for closing the packaging.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can have three lanes and be designed to simultaneously provide three packaging locations that are offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction and to move them along the transport direction. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the packaging machine can be configured to move the packaging locations in cycles and the packaging locations can be filled during one cycle.

As already explained, such a three-lane design of the packaging machine is made possible in particular by the fact that the system has an infeed device which is designed to bring the product documents onto the packaging stations in such a way that the folding line is aligned parallel to the transport direction, so that the extension of the introduced portion documents minimized perpendicular to the transport direction and thereby the required width of the packaging machine can be reduced. This also makes it possible, in particular, to use the system to produce food pack arrangements that include three food packs that are next to one another and are connected to one another, with respective packaged portions. In contrast, such food arrangements cannot be produced with conventional systems in which the portion bases have to be packaged with edge sections aligned perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine, since a correspondingly wide packaging machine cannot be implemented.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can be operated in cycles and designed to provide a format of nine packaging spaces, twelve packaging spaces or sixteen packaging spaces in each cycle, with the packaging spaces of the format in three columns and three rows or in three columns and four rows or may be arranged in four columns and three rows or in four columns and four rows. The feeding device can also be designed to bring nine portions, twelve portions or sixteen portions to the respective packaging locations provided during one cycle.

For example, the insertion device can include two robot grippers, which alternately in a respective cycle five or four portions in can bring in the packaging machine in order to be able to fill a format of packaging spaces provided in three columns and three rows. In addition, the operation of an insert and the packaging machine can be coordinated with one another in such a way that a respective format of portions can be brought to the packaging locations provided while the packaging machine is being advanced or while the packaging machine is at a standstill.

In some embodiments, the packaging machine can also have a separating device, which can be designed to separate the rows and/or columns of a format from one another. For example, such a separating device can have a knife that can be moved in a plane oriented perpendicular to the transport direction, in order to be able to separate the supplied packaging locations from one another line by line and to be able to produce a food arrangement that includes a number of interconnected individual food packs corresponding to the number of columns of a format. Alternatively or additionally, it can also be provided that the separating device has one or more knives rotating parallel to the transport direction in order to be able to also separate the finished packs in columns and in particular to be able to produce individual food packs.

• - Scheiben von einem Lebensmittelprodukt, insbesondere einem Fleischprodukt und/oder einem Baconstück, abgetrennt und Portionen gebildet werden, die eine oder mehrere Scheiben umfassen,
• - die Portionen entlang einer Transportstrecke transportiert und während des Transports derart auf einem Ablageabschnitt einer jeweiligen bereitgestellten Portionsunterlage abgelegt werden, dass ein Randabschnitt der Portionsunterlage über die abgelegte Portion hinaussteht und nicht von der Portion verdeckt wird,
• - die Portionsunterlage entlang einer Knicklinie gefaltet wird, wobei der Randabschnitt durch das Falten auf eine Portionsoberseite umgeklappt wird, und
• - die Portionen mitsamt den jeweiligen Portionsunterlagen derart auf von einer Verpackungsmaschine bereitgestellte Verpackungsplätze gebracht werden, dass die Knicklinien der eingebrachten Portionsunterlagen parallel zu einer Transportrichtung ausgerichtet sind, entlang welcher die Verpackungsmaschine die Verpackungsplätze bewegt.

The invention also relates to a method for producing a food pack or a food pack arrangement, in particular by means of a system according to one of the preceding claims, in which

• - slices are separated from a food product, in particular a meat product and/or a piece of bacon, and portions are formed which comprise one or more slices,
• - the portions are transported along a transport route and are placed during the transport on a deposit section of a respective provided portion base in such a way that an edge section of the portion base protrudes over the deposited portion and is not covered by the portion,
• - the portion base is folded along a fold line, the edge portion being folded over onto a portion top by the folding, and
• - The portions together with the respective portion pads are placed on packaging sites provided by a packaging machine in such a way that the fold lines of the portion pads introduced are aligned parallel to a transport direction along which the packaging machine moves the packaging sites.

As already explained, such a method, which can in particular be fully automated, enables the packaging machine to be operated in particular on multiple lanes and/or three lanes, in order to increase the product throughput and the flexibility with regard to the production of food packaging arrangements that comprise a number of individual food packagings connected to one another .

In some embodiments, the portion bases can be provided in an orientation in which the fold line is oriented perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine, and the portion bases can be rotated after provision such that the fold lines are oriented parallel to the transport direction. In this respect, the portion bases can initially be provided in an orientation which reflects an orientation of the portions after the slices have been cut off by means of the cutting device. As a result, the portions can be moved along a short side, in particular while they are being placed on the portion bases, in order to then be rotated together with the portion bases, so that a long side of the portions and the portion bases, along which the fold line also extends, is parallel to the The transport direction is aligned and the space taken up by the portion base and a deposited portion perpendicular to the transport direction can be minimized.

In some embodiments, the portion pad may be folded during loading and/or during shipping. In particular, this folding can be done by machine, so that there is no need for manual intervention in the processing of the food products, in particular during the method steps already mentioned.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a reclosable element extending along the transport direction can be attached to the food package. In this respect, the food packs can in particular be resealable. For example, a self-adhesive tape extending along the transport direction or a zipper can be attached to the food pack in order to enable the food pack to be closed again after it has been opened by the customer.

In some embodiments, a row of three may be perpendicular to the transport direction mutually offset, interconnected packaging stations can be made available simultaneously and/or in one cycle by the packaging machine and a respective portion placed on an assigned portion base can be brought to each of the packaging stations in the line. In particular, the three portions can be introduced into the packaging machine in one cycle of the packaging machine, wherein the packaging machine can be designed in particular to provide a format of packaging places consisting of three rows and three columns in one cycle. This can in particular make it possible to produce a food pack arrangement with three individual food packs which are offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction and are connected to one another, in that the pack locations can be separated from one another line by line in a subsequent step, in particular after the packs have been closed. In particular, a row of exactly three interconnected packaging stations offset from one another perpendicular to the transport direction can be provided simultaneously and/or in one cycle by the packaging machine.

In some embodiments, a perforation extending along the direction of transport can be applied between the packing locations of the row. This may be particularly useful in the manufacture of food pack assemblies in which the three individual food packs in a line remain connected and are sold in such a way as to enable a customer to easily separate the individual food packs along the perforation.

In addition, in some embodiments, the packaging machine can provide two interconnected packaging stations that are offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction at the same time and/or in one cycle, and a respective portion placed on an assigned portion base can be brought to each of the packaging stations, with between the a perforation extending along the direction of transport can be attached to adjacent packing locations.

In some embodiments, consecutive rows can be separated from one another after the portions have been inserted, and the rows can be dispensed as respective food package assemblies having three food packages joined together. In particular, the consecutive rows can be separated after the packing places have been closed. The provision of such food pack arrangements with three interconnected food packs can be made possible in particular by introducing the portion bases in such a way that the fold line is aligned parallel to the transport direction of the packaging machine, whereas the conventional alignment of the fold line perpendicular to the transport direction of the packaging machine is based on a width requires such a food packaging arrangement to have a transverse direction aligned perpendicular to the transport direction, which cannot be provided in view of the space available for such systems and/or the design possibilities of packaging machines.

In some embodiments, sequentially fed products may be continuously sliced and portions may be discarded that include slices of a tail of a product and/or a slice slice. In particular, an interruption of the cutting process to eject cut or end slices of a product can be avoided and portions can be formed continuously, but portions comprising such cut or end slices can be sorted out as bad portions. In this way, in particular, the overall process control can be simplified and the product throughput can be increased. In particular, this can be provided if the system has a monitoring device, as explained above, so that such bad portions can be automatically recognized.

In some embodiments, misalignment of portions deposited on a respective portion base can be corrected. As already explained, this can be done, for example, by a robot gripper of an introduction device while the portions are being introduced into the packaging machine.

In addition, the packaging locations, in particular packaging troughs and/or trays and/or defined locations on a web of material, can be sealed in some embodiments in order to produce finished food packaging.

Provision can also be made for separating adjacent packaging locations and/or packs from one another in order ultimately to produce individual food packs.

In some embodiments, the method steps mentioned can be carried out automatically. In particular, the process steps mentioned can thus be carried out without manual intervention, so that the system has a high Have a degree of automation and a high product throughput can be achieved. In particular, with such embodiments it is no longer necessary to manually fold over the edge section, to manually introduce the portion bases with deposited portions into the packaging machine and/or to have the portions checked by a person operating the system.

The invention also relates to a food pack in which a portion of one or more slices of a food product, in particular a meat product and/or a piece of bacon, arranged on a portion base, is packaged, the portion base being folded along a fold line and having a folded edge section which at least partially covering a portion top of the portion, and wherein a portion facing away from the top side of the portion rests on a storage section of the portion bases. The food pack also has a long side that extends in a longitudinal direction and a short side that extends in a transverse direction, and can in particular be designed to be essentially rectangular. Furthermore, the fold line of the portion base extends parallel to the longitudinal direction. In particular, the food pack can be produced by a method of the type explained above.

The portion support of such a food pack can be flat and/or essentially rectangular in particular when not folded over, whereby the portion support can, however, in particular also be substantially square when not folded over. However, at least after the edge section has been folded over, the portion base can have a long side and a short side and/or the storage section can be essentially rectangular, with the fold line being able to extend along the long side of the portion base and/or the storage section. Since the fold line in the food pack is also aligned along the longitudinal direction of the food pack, along which the long side of the food pack also extends, the portion support with the deposited portion can be arranged in the food pack in an alignment corresponding to the food pack.

In some embodiments, the food pack can have a reclosure which extends parallel to the fold line of the portion base. In particular, the re-closure can comprise a zipper or a self-adhesive tape in order to be able to re-close the food pack after it has been opened. Since the reclosure can also extend parallel to the fold line, the reclosure extends in particular along the longitudinal direction of the food pack and thus along the long side of the food pack, in order to allow the portion to be removed from the food pack and the portion to be reinserted into the food pack for a customer to make it as simple as possible.

The invention also relates to a food pack arrangement which comprises three food packs of the type explained above which are connected to one another, the transverse directions of the food packs being aligned parallel to one another and the food packs being arranged next to one another in the transverse direction. In particular, the food packaging arrangement can also be produced using a method of the type explained above.

The food pack arrangement can, in particular, comprise exactly three food packs. However, it is also possible for the food pack arrangement to comprise four food packs connected to one another. For example, the food packs of the food pack arrangement can be formed by a line of a format of packaging places, which the packaging machine provides during one cycle.

In some embodiments, a perforation extending along the longitudinal direction can be provided between two adjacent food packages. On the one hand, this can enable the formation of a package with, for example, two or three food packages for sale, while on the other hand a buyer or consumer of the food package arrangement can be offered the option of individually individualizing and/or separating the food packages purchased in the package.

Further, in some embodiments, each of the food packages may have a respective reclosure that extends parallel to the crease line of the packaged portion pad. Particularly in embodiments in which the food pack arrangement also has a perforation between the individual food packs, the food packs can thus be easily separated from one another and the portion arranged in a respective food pack can be consumed, with the portion being removed from the food pack and placed back into the food pack, if necessary, several times can be, whereupon the food pack wiederver can be closed. In this respect, it can be made possible to offer a large portion with three food packs connected to one another, in which case the buyer or consumer can conveniently divide such a large portion into individually packaged portions and consume them in this way. In addition, such food packaging arrangements can enable discount campaigns such as “buy three pay two”.

The invention is explained below purely by way of example using exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing.

• 1A und 1 B eine Seitenansicht bzw. eine Draufsicht einer schematischen Darstellung einer Anlage zum Verarbeiten von Lebensmittelprodukten mit einer Schneidvorrichtung zum Aufschneiden von Lebensmittelprodukten, einer Verpackungsmaschine zum Verpacken der Lebensmittelprodukte, einer Transporteinrichtung zum Transportieren der Portionen zu der Verpackungsmaschine, einer Bereitstellungseinrichtung zum Bereitstellen von Portionsunterlagen, auf welchen die Portionen während des Transports zu der Verpackungsmaschine abgelegt werden, und einer Einbringeinrichtung zum Einbringen der Portionsunterlagen mit den abgelegten Portionen in die Verpackungsmaschine,
• 2 eine Darstellung eines Robotergreifers der Einbringeinrichtung,
• 3A bis 3C jeweilige schematische Darstellungen zum Veranschaulichen des Einbringens einer Portionsunterlage mit einer abgelegten Portion in die Verpackungsmaschine,
• 4A bis 4G jeweilige schematische Darstellungen zum Veranschaulichen eines Zusammenwirkens zwischen der Einbringeinrichtung und einer an der Verpackungsmaschine angeordneten Knickeinrichtung, welche dazu ausgebildet ist, einen Randabschnitt einer Portionsunterlage während des Einbringens um etwa, insbesondere zumindest, 90° umzuknicken, sowie zur Veranschaulichung einer an der Verpackungsmaschine angeordneten Umklappkulisse, welche dazu ausgebildet ist, den Randabschnitt während eines Bewegens der Portionsunterlage mit der abgelegten Portion in der Verpackungsmaschine umzuklappen,
• 5 eine schematische Draufsicht zur Veranschaulichung einer weiteren Ausführungsform der Anlage,
• 6A bis 6D jeweilige schematische Darstellungen zum Veranschaulichen einer Schwenkkulisse und einer Umklappkulisse zum Umklappen des Randabschnitts der Portionsunterlage,
• 7 eine weitere schematische Draufsicht zur Veranschaulichung eines von der Verpackungsmaschine bereitgestellten Formats von Verpackungsplätzen,
• 8 eine schematische Darstellung einer mittels der gezeigten Anlage herstellbaren Lebensmittelpackungsanordnung mit drei miteinander verbundenen Lebensmittelpackungen und
• 9 eine Darstellung einer Portionsunterlage.

Show it:

• 1A and 1 B a side view and a top view of a schematic representation of a system for processing food products with a cutting device for slicing food products, a packaging machine for packaging the food products, a transport device for transporting the portions to the packaging machine, a provision device for providing portion bases on which the Portions are deposited during transport to the packaging machine, and an introduction device for introducing the portion bases with the deposited portions into the packaging machine,
• 2 a representation of a robot gripper of the insertion device,
• 3A until 3C respective schematic representations to illustrate the introduction of a portion base with a deposited portion in the packaging machine,
• 4A until 4G respective schematic representations to illustrate an interaction between the insertion device and a folding device arranged on the packaging machine, which is designed to fold over an edge section of a portion base by about, in particular at least, 90° during insertion, as well as to illustrate a folding link arranged on the packaging machine, which is designed to fold over the edge section during movement of the portion support with the deposited portion in the packaging machine,
• 5 a schematic plan view to illustrate a further embodiment of the system,
• 6A until 6D respective schematic representations to illustrate a pivoting link and a folding link for folding over the edge section of the portion base,
• 7 a further schematic plan view to illustrate a format provided by the packaging machine of packaging places,
• 8th a schematic representation of a food packaging arrangement which can be produced by means of the system shown and has three food packagings connected to one another and
• 9 a representation of a portion pad.

1A shows a system 11 for processing food products 13, which are fed from a product feed 17 of a cutting device 15 to a blade 21 rotating in a cutting plane S, which cuts slices 23 from the food products 13. The product feed 17 has a gripper 19 which can be moved in a guide 20 and which holds the food product 13 guided into the cutting plane S at a rear end of the product and moves it in the direction of the cutting plane S. How 1 B shows, the cutting device 15 is designed to separate slices 23 from two food products 13 fed in parallel, so that the food products 13 can be processed in two lanes 125 .

The cutting device 15 is also designed to form portion 25 from the cut slices 23 , wherein a portion 25 can in particular comprise one or more slices 23 . Completed portions 25 are transferred from the cutting device 15 to a transport device 31, which is designed to transport the portions 25 along a transport route 37, which extends along a transport direction T, to a packaging machine 27, with the portions 25 being transported by means of an infeed device 53 are brought to the packaging stations 29 provided by the packaging machine 27 .

The packaging machine 27 in FIG 1A The illustrated embodiment is designed as a thermoforming packaging machine, in which a web of material 111 is drawn off a roll 121 and first fed to a forming station 115, which pulls troughs into the web of material 111 in order to form the packaging sites 29. In addition, a device 87 for attaching a reclosable element 89, for example a self-adhesive tape, is arranged on the forming station 115, it being possible for the reclosable element 89 to be pulled off a roll, for example due to the movement of the material web 111.

The packaging machine 27 is designed to move the material web 111 along the transport direction T, so that the formed packaging locations 29 can be moved to an infeed section 127, at which portions 25 provided by means of the transport device 31 are fed through the infeed device 53 into the packaging locations 29 or troughs are introduced. The introduction device 53 has to the basis of 1A and 1 B shown embodiment on a robot gripper 63, which is described in more detail below.

How 1 B shows, the packaging machine 27 is designed in particular to simultaneously provide three packaging stations 29 lying next to one another with respect to a transverse direction Q, which is aligned perpendicularly to the transport direction T of the packaging machine 27, so that the packaging machine 27 can be operated in three lanes, so to speak. Furthermore, the packaging machine 27 can in particular be operated in cycles, with at least one row 99 of packaging locations 29 arranged in three columns 101 being able to be provided during a cycle. The introduction device 53 can also be designed to bring a respective portion 25 to each of the packaging locations 29 that are provided at the same time during a cycle.

By moving the material web 111 along the transport direction T, the filled packaging locations 29 can also be fed to a sealing station 117, in which the packaging locations 29 can be sealed by an upper material web 113, which can be pulled off a roll 123 (cf. 1A) . A perforating device 93 is then arranged downstream of the sealing station 117, which can have, for example, one or more knives rotating in a plane aligned parallel to the transport direction T, in order to be able to make a perforation 95 between two packs lying next to one another (cf. also 1B) .

The system 11 also has a provision device 39, which is designed to provide portion bases 41 for the transported portions 25 in such a way that the portions 25 transported by the transport device 31 can be deposited on a depositing section 43 of a respective portion base 41 (cf. in particular 1A and 1 b) . For this purpose, the supply device 39 comprises a stack 40 of portion bases 41, which are removed from the stack 40 by means of a removal device 38 and guided to the transport path 37 via a feed 34, in particular a conveyor belt, so that a portion 25 is provided on a storage section 43 Portion pad 41 can be stored.

While the deposited portions 25 contact the depositing section 43 with a portion underside 61 (cf., for example, also 4D until 4G) , the portion bases 41 also have an edge section 45 which is not covered by the portions 25 that have been deposited. As will be explained below, such an edge section 45 can be provided in particular to be folded over during the processing of the food products 13 in such a way that the edge section 45 at least partially covers a portion top 59 of a deposited portion 25 (cf. for example 4G and 6D ).

An example portion pad 41, which can be provided by means of the provision device 39, is in 9 illustrated. When the edge section 45 is not folded over, the portion support 41 is flat. In addition, the portion base 41 has a long side 57 and a short side 55 and is essentially rectangular in shape, although the edge section 45 has a slightly shorter extension along the long side 57 than the storage section 43 . In addition, the storage section 43 takes up a larger proportion of the surface of the portion base 41 and has a greater extension along the short side 55 or a greater width than the edge section 45 . Furthermore, the storage section 43 in particular is also essentially rectangular and is formed with a long side 57 and a short side 55 .

A transition between the edge section 45 and the storage section 43 also defines a folding line 49 along which the edge section 45 can be folded over. For example, the fold line 49 is designed as a fold 47, which can in particular include a perforation, so that the fold line 49 can also be seen when the edge section 45 is not folded over. However, it is also possible for the portion base 41 to be formed uniformly and/or with a constant thickness and for the fold line 49 to be defined by a defined distance from an edge 46 of the portion base 41 facing away from the storage section 43 .

The portion support 41 can also, for example, be completely rectangular, optionally with rounded corners, or square. As already mentioned, such portion bases 41 can be provided to be arranged to encompass a portion 25 by the edge section 45 being folded over and a portion upper side 59 of a portion 25 being arranged to cover it. Because of the intended When the edge section 45 is folded over, such portion supports 41 can in particular also be referred to as L-boards in view of the shape when the edge section 45 is folded over. Folding over the edge section 45 can make it possible, for example, to display product information and/or advertising elements on the edge section 45, so that a purchaser of a packaged portion 25 can perceive both an uncovered part of the portion top 59 and such product information. In addition, gripping around the portions 25 can make it possible to remove the portion 25 from a package without having to touch the portion 25 itself or individual slices 23 directly.

1 B FIG. 12 further shows that the provision device 39 is designed to provide the portion bases 41 in an orientation in which the fold line 49 is oriented perpendicularly to the transport direction T of the packaging machine 27. In this respect, the portion bases 41 can be provided in such a way that the long side 57 is aligned perpendicular to the transport direction T. In particular, this can make it possible for the portions 25, which due to the usual cross-sectional shape of the food products 13 also have a long and a short side and which can be moved lying on the long side with the long side first due to the feeding of the food products 13, over the to move the short side onto the portion bases 41 and to deposit them precisely.

However, providing the portion bases 41 in this way requires a relatively wide construction of the transport device 31 or a relatively large extent of the transport device 31 in the transverse direction Q, since this must correspond at least to twice the extent of the portion bases 41 along their long sides 57. In conventional systems, in which the portion bases 41 with the deposited portions 25 also have to be transferred to the packaging machine 27 in this orientation, it is therefore, unlike the system 11 disclosed herein, not possible to place three portion bases 41 with respective deposited portions 25 in the transverse direction Q to be packed side by side, since a correspondingly wide design of the packaging machine 27 in the transverse direction Q cannot be realized.

However, in order to be able to provide three packaging stations 29 next to one another and to be able to operate the packaging machine 27 in three lanes, the infeed device 53 of the system 11 is designed to bring the portion bases 41 with the respective deposited portions 25 onto the provided packaging stations 29 in such a way that the fold lines 49 of the introduced Portion documents 41 are aligned parallel to the transport direction T of the packaging machine 27 . In the case of 1A and 1B In the illustrated embodiments, the introduction device 53 has a rotating device 81 for this purpose, which is designed to rotate the portion bases 41 with the deposited portions 25 by 90° during introduction into the packaging machine 27, thereby aligning the fold line 49 parallel to the transport direction T to reach.

In addition, provision is made for the edge section 45 to be folded over so that the edge section 45, as already explained, can at least partially cover the top side 59 of the assigned and packaged portion 25 . In order to also be able to carry out this folding over, the system 11 has a folding device 51, whereas the folding over of the edge section 45 usually has to be done manually in conventional systems. In the case of 1A and 1B In the illustrated embodiment, the folding device 51 comprises a folding device 65 arranged on the packaging machine 27, which is designed to fold the edge section 45 of an inserted portion base 41 by approximately, in particular at least, 90° by interacting with the introducing device 53. In addition, a folding link 75 is arranged on the packaging machine 27 in order to completely fold over the edge section 45 while the portion base 41 is being moved in the packaging machine 27 . This is explained below.

2 first shows the robot gripper 63 of the insertion device 53. The robot gripper 63 has, in particular, two gripper elements 70 with respective contact sections 71, which are designed to contact a provided portion base 41 on opposite short sides 55 and to reach under the portion base 41 with the deposited Being able to lift serving 25. In particular, this can also make it possible to push a portion 25 , which may protrude slightly beyond the portion base 41 , completely onto the storage section 43 of the portion base 41 . In addition, the robot gripper 63 includes a holding edge 69 which fixes the fold line 49 during the introduction of a portion base 41 and the portion 25 that has been deposited.

The 3A until 3C first illustrate steps carried out by the introduction device 53 by means of the robot gripper 63 before the portion base 41 with the deposited portion 25 is lowered into a packaging station 29, with schematic plan views being shown. The 4A until 4D then show schematic Side views during the subsequent introduction into a packing station 29 and the 4E until 4G show schematic cross-sectional representations in a plane perpendicular to the transport direction T during a movement of the introduced portion base 41 with the deposited portion 25 in the packaging machine 27.

How 3A shows, a portion base 41 with a deposited portion 25 can first be gripped by means of the robot gripper 63, for which purpose the portion base 41 can be gripped by means of the gripper elements 70 (cf. also 2 ). The holding edge 69 can be arranged along the fold line 49 .

The portion base 41 can then be lifted by the transport device 31 and the robot gripper 63 can perform a rotation D in order to align the fold line 49 parallel to the transport direction T (cf. 3B) . In addition, the robot gripper 63, such as 3C shows, are moved in such a way that the buckling line 49 is arranged above the buckling device 65, which in particular can comprise a web 67. This position is also in the schematic side view of 4A illustrated, in which the robot gripper 63 is shown schematically above a packaging station 29 and the edge section 45 of the portion base 41 is arranged above the bending device 65 and the web 67.

The 4B and 4C show that the robot gripper 63 can then lower the portion base 41 with the deposited portion 25 onto the packaging station 29, with the edge section 45 coming into contact with the bending device 67 and being bent by 90° during the lowering. The holding edge 69 of the robot gripper 63 compensates for a force acting on the edge section 45 at the bending line 49 so that the edge section 45 can be bent exactly at the bending line 49 .

How 4D illustrated, the robot gripper 63 can be lifted after the portion base 41 with the portion 25 placed on it has been deposited on the packaging station 29, the edge section 45 being bent by approximately 90 degrees due to the previous interaction between the robot gripper 63 and the folding device 49.

The 4D until 4G then illustrate the transport of the portion base 41 with the deposited portion 25 along the transport direction T in the packaging machine 27. In order to completely fold over the edge section 45, the folding device 51 includes the already mentioned folding link 75, which is arranged on the packaging machine 27. The folding link 75 has a contact section 72 which is designed and arranged to contact the edge section 45, the edge section 45 already being in contact with the contact section 72 after it has been introduced into the packaging station 29 and the folding link 75 directly adjoining the bending device 49 can.

As the 4D until 4G show, the contact section 72 inclines viewed along the transport direction T increasingly with respect to the vertical, so that the edge section 45 increasingly folds over during transport along the transport direction T through contact with the contact section 72 until the edge section 45, such as 4G shows, is finally folded over completely and the portion top 59 of the portion 25 at least partially covers. The folding device 49 and the folding link 75 thus make it possible, by interacting with the infeed device 53 and by utilizing the movement of the packaging machine 27, to fold the edge section 45 completely automatically, starting from a portion base 41 that is provided flat, without manual intervention in the processing process for this folding is required.

How again in particular 1 B shows, a hold-down device 77 can also be connected to the folding guide 75, which is designed to counteract an unfolding of the portion base 41. In particular, the hold-down device 77 can for this purpose comprise a boundary arranged in a horizontal orientation, for example a metal sheet, in order to prevent the folded-over edge section 45 from unfolding. In addition, how 1A shows, a portion support 79 is provided on the packaging machine 27, which supports portions 25 introduced into the packaging stations 29, so that the folded-over edge section 45 can be clamped to a certain extent between the hold-down device 77 and the portion support 79.

In addition, the reference to the 1A and 1 B The system 11 illustrated has a monitoring device 83 which is designed to detect bad portions and/or portions 25 that have not been placed correctly on a portion base 41 . For example, the monitoring device 83 can have a camera for this purpose, and an evaluation and control device 85, which is connected to the monitoring device 83 and/or is part of the monitoring device 83, can comprise an image evaluation device in order to be able to detect bad portions and/or portions 25 that have not been placed correctly . The evaluation and control device 85 can then be designed to the insertion device 53 and esp special to control the robot gripper 63 so that bad portions are not transferred to the packaging machine 27 and/or to correct an alignment of incorrectly deposited portions 25, for which purpose in particular protruding portions 25 can be pushed onto the portion base 41 by means of the contact sections 71 of the robot gripper 63. However, the evaluation and control device 85 can also be designed to mark portions 25 that protrude beyond the portion base 41, depending on the extent of the protrusion, either as a bad portion or as an incorrectly deposited portion 25, so that portions 25 whose alignment is no longer correct can be corrected, cannot be transferred from the infeed device 53 to the packaging machine 27 . In addition, for example, portions 25 that have misshapen cut slices or slices 23 from an end piece of a food product 13 can be identified as bad portions and sorted out. The monitoring device 83 can also include a scale (not shown) in order to be able to identify and/or sort out underweight and/or overweight portions 25 as bad portions, for example.

The system 11 can thus in particular enable fully automatic operation, in which in particular the folding over of the edge section 45, which is conventionally carried out manually, and/or the checking of portions 25 can be carried out mechanically by means of the folding device 51 or the monitoring device 83. Since the infeed device 53 is also designed to insert the portion bases 41 into the packaging machine 27 in such a way that the fold line 49 is formed parallel to the transport direction T, it is also possible to place several and in particular three portion bases 41 with deposited portions 25 next to one another in the transverse direction Q to be brought into the packaging machine 27 and packaged, which cannot be achieved with conventional systems.

Another embodiment of the system 11 is based on 5 illustrated. In this embodiment, the transport device 31 already includes a rotating device 81, so that the portion bases 41 can be rotated during transport along the transport path 37 and the fold lines 49 of the portion bases 41 can be brought into an alignment in which the fold lines 49 are parallel to the transport direction T extend.

In order to be able to rotate the portion bases 41 during transport along the transport path 37, the transport device 31 or the rotating device 81 comprises a plurality of endlessly circulating belts 33 which extend along the transport direction T and are driven at different speeds. This driving of the belts 33 at different speeds results in a torque being exerted on the portion bases 41 , as a result of which the portion bases 41 are rotated. In order to be able to ensure sufficient friction of the portion bases 41 on the belts 33 and reliable turning, a vacuum device 80 can also be provided, which is designed to suck the portion bases 41 in the direction of the belts 33 .

In addition, the transport device 31 in this embodiment comprises a transport means 35 facing the packaging machine 27, which is designed to transfer the portion bases 41 with the deposited portions 25 to the packaging machine 27 and bring them to packaging stations 29, so that the transport means 35 also part the introduction device 53 is. In particular, such a transport means 35 can be a feeder which, as an alternative to the embodiment shown with a plurality of parallel belts 33 driven at the same speed, can also be designed in particular as a continuous conveyor belt.

In order to also be able to fold over the edge section 45 of a portion base 41 automatically in such an embodiment, the folding device 51 has a swivel link 73 and a fold-over link 75, with these being shown in FIG 5 are shown as part of the packaging machine 27. However, provision can be made in particular for the pivot link 73 explained below to already be arranged on the transport path 37 so that the portion bases 41 can be transferred to the packaging machine 27 again, in particular with the edge section 45 bent by approximately 90 degrees. It is also possible that the folding link 75 adjoining the pivoting link 73 is already arranged on the transport means 35, so that the portion bases 41 can be transferred to the packaging machine 27 already completely folded in some embodiments.

As the 6A and 6B show, a contact section 72 of the pivoting link 73 and the fold-over link 75 can initially increasingly tilt relative to the horizontal in the direction of a vertical orientation along the transport direction T, so that the edge section 45 of a portion base 41 during transport in the transport direction T runs onto the contact section 72 and from which can initially be bent by about 90 degrees during transport (cf. 6B) . After reaching a kink of 90 degrees, the contact portion 72, like the 6C and 6D show gen, again viewed along the transport direction T, to tilt or pivot increasingly in the direction of the horizontal and onto the portion base 41, so that the edge section 45 can ultimately be completely folded over during transport along the transport direction T and arranged above the top side 49 of the portion. In such embodiments, too, it is thus possible in an automated manner to introduce the portion bases 41 into the packaging machine 27 with folding lines 49 aligned along the transport direction T and to fold over the respective edge section 45 . The extent of the folding, which already takes place on the transport device 31, and the extent of the remaining folding, which is carried out during movement in the packaging machine 27, can in principle vary as desired, so that the portion bases 41 may already be completely folded over on the packaging machine 27 handed over and the packaging machine 27 can only have the hold-down device 77 . In addition, the pivot link 73 and the fold-over link 75 can in particular be designed in one piece and together form a fold link, by means of which the edge section 45 can be folded over continuously and completely during transport along the transport direction T, starting from a planar orientation of the portion base 41.

7 illustrates that the packaging machine 27 can be designed in particular to provide a format 97 with a total of nine packaging locations 29 during one cycle, with the packaging locations 29 being arranged in three rows 99 and three columns 101 . The infeed device 53 can be designed to fill the nine packaging locations 29 with respective portion bases 41 and deposited portions 25 during one cycle of the packaging machine 27, for which purpose the infeed device 53 can have two robot grippers 63, for example, which alternately load five or four Servings can bring in 25. Examples are the portion pads 41 in 7 already shown in an alignment on the transport device 31 and the infeed section 127, in which the fold lines 49 are aligned parallel to the transport direction T, so that the robot grippers 63 can bring the portion bases 41 and the portions 25 that have been placed onto the packaging locations 29, without the portion bases having to turn 41. However, in embodiments in which the introduction device 53 comprises the rotating device 81, it can also be provided that the packaging machine 27 is designed to provide such a format 97.

How again in particular 1A shows, the packaging machine 27 can also have a separating device 190, which is designed to separate successive rows 99 of sealed packaging locations 29 from one another, for which purpose the separating device 190 can have in particular a knife that can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction T.

The system 11 can therefore be designed in particular to a basis of 8th to produce the illustrated food package arrangement 109, which comprises three food packages 110 lying next to one another in a transverse direction Q1, which are connected to one another. The food packs 110 have a long side 103 extending in a longitudinal direction L and a short side 105 aligned perpendicularly thereto and extending in the transverse direction Q1, with the portion pads 41 being introduced into the food pack 110 in such a way that the folding lines 49 of the portion pads 41 and whose long sides 57 are aligned parallel to the long sides 103 of the food packages 110. In addition, the edge section 45 of a respective portion base 41 partially covers a portion top 59 of the associated portion 25.

Furthermore, each of the food packs 110 is designed with a respective reclosure 107, for example a zip fastener or a self-adhesive strip, which is arranged on a respective edge section 91 of the food pack 110. In addition, a perforation 95 is formed between two food packs 110 lying next to one another, so that the individual food packs 110 of the food pack arrangement 109 can be easily separated from one another. As already explained, the production of such a food packaging arrangement 109 is made possible in particular by the fact that the insertion device 53 is designed to insert the portion bases 41 into the packaging machine 27 in such a way that the fold lines 49 are aligned parallel to the transport direction T, since this is what makes it possible to restrict the extent of the food arrangement 109 in the transverse direction Q to a level that a packaging machine 27 can handle.

Reference List

11

Attachment

13

food product

15

cutting device

17

product feed

19

gripper

20

guide

21

Knife

23

disc

25

portion

27

packaging machine

29

packing place

31

transport device

33

transport belt

34

feeding

35

Mode of Transport

37

transport route

38

removal device

39

provisioning facility

40

stack

41

portion pads

43

filing section

45

edge section

46

edge

47

fold

49

crease line

51

folding device

53

feeding device

55

short page

57

long page

59

serving top

61

portion bottom

63

robot gripper

65

articulation device

67

web

69

retaining edge

70

gripper element

71

contact section

72

contact section

73

pan backdrop

75

fold-over backdrop

77

hold-down device

79

portion support

80

vacuum device

81

rotating device

83

monitoring device

85

Evaluation and control device

87

Furnishings

89

reclosable element

91

edge section

93

perforating device

95

perforation

97

format

99

Line

101

Split

103

long page

105

short page

107

reclosure

109

food pack arrangement

110

food pack

111

web of material

113

face panel

115

forming station

117

sealing station

119

separation station

121

role

123

role

125

track

126

track

127

insertion section

D

rotation

L

longitudinal direction

Q

transverse direction

Q1

transverse direction

S

cutting plane

T

transport direction

Claims (42)

Plant (11) for processing food products (13), in particular meat products and/or bacon pieces, comprising - at least one cutting device (15) which has a product feed (17) and at least one knife (21) arranged in a cutting plane (S) has, wherein the product feed (17) is designed to guide food products (13) in one or more tracks into the cutting plane (S), and wherein the knife (21) is set up to cut slices (23) from the slices (23) into the cutting plane ( S) separated food products (13) and from the separated slices (23) to form portions, which one or more discs (23); - a packaging machine (27), in particular a thermoforming packaging machine, which is designed to provide respective packaging locations (29) for the portions and to move them along a transport direction (T); - A transport device (31) which is designed to transport the portions from the cutting device (15) along a transport route (37) to the packaging machine (27); - A provision device (39) arranged on the transport route (37) which is designed to provide portion supports (41), in particular L-boards, for the transported portions in such a way that the transport device (31) along the transport route (37) transported portions can be deposited on a storage section (43) of a respective portion base (41), the respective portion base (41) having an edge section (45) not covered by the deposited portion (25) and a transition between the storage section (43) and the Edge section (45) of the respective portion base (41) defines a folding line (49) of the respective portion base (41); - A folding device (51) which is designed to fold the respective portion base (41) along its fold line (49); and - an introduction device, which is designed to bring the respective portion base (41) with the deposited portion (25) onto the packaging location (29) provided in such a way that the folding line (49) of the portion base (41) introduced is parallel to the direction of transport (T) of the packaging machine (27) is aligned. Annex (11) according to claim 1 , wherein the portion base (41) is flat in the unfolded state. Annex (11) according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the portion base (41) is at least substantially rectangular and / or at least substantially square. Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the portion base (41) has a short side (55) and a long side (57), in particular is rectangular, with the fold line (49) extending parallel to the long side (57 ) extends. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, the fold line (49) being formed by a fold (47), the fold (47) being in particular perforated; or wherein the portion base (41) is uniform in the unfolded state and the fold line (49) is defined by a predetermined distance from an outer edge of the portion base (41) remote from the storage section (43). Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the edge section (45) of the portion base (41) in the folded state of the portion base (41) extends along a portion top side (59) which is opposite a portion bottom side (61) with which the Portion (25) rests on the storage section (43). Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the introduction device (53) is designed to bend the edge section (45) of the portion base (41) during introduction by approximately, in particular at least or exactly, 90 degrees. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the infeed device (53) comprises a robot gripper (63) which is designed to grip portions transported by the transport device (31) into an infeed section (127) and bring them to the packaging stations (29), A folding device (65), in particular a web (67), is arranged on the packaging machine (27), the robot gripper (63) being designed to grip the edge section (45) of the portion base (41) while the portion (25 ) into contact with the buckling device (65) and thereby buckling off by about, in particular at least or exactly, 90 degrees during introduction. Annex (11) according to claim 8 , wherein the robot gripper (63) has a holding edge (69) which fixes the buckling line (49) during insertion. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the introduction device (53) and/or the transport device (31) comprises a transport means (35), in particular a conveyor belt, and wherein the folding device (51) has a pivot link (73) arranged on the transport means (35), by means of which the edge section (45) of the portion base (41) can be pivoted during transport, in particular by approximately and/or at least and/or precisely 90 degrees. Annex (11) according to claim 10 , wherein the portions can be transferred from the transport means (35) to the packaging machine (27) and brought to the packaging stations (29). System (11) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the folding device (51) to a the packaging machine (27) has a folding link (75) which is designed to fold over the edge section (45) of the portion base (41) as a result of the movement along the transport direction (T). Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) has a hold-down device (77) which is designed to counteract unfolding of the folded and inserted portion base (41) while the packaging stations (29) are being moved. Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) has a portion support (79) which supports the portions introduced on a portion underside (61). System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the providing device (39) is designed to provide the portion bases (41) in an orientation in which the folding lines (49) are aligned perpendicular to the transport direction (T) of the packaging machine (27), and wherein the system (11) comprises a rotating device (81) which is designed to rotate the portion bases (41) into an orientation in which the fold lines (49) of the portion bases (41) are parallel to the transport direction (T) of the packaging machine (27) are aligned. Annex (11) according to claim 15 , wherein the rotating device (81) comprises the introduction device (53) and is designed to rotate the portion base (41) together with the deposited portion (25) during introduction. Annex (11) according to claim 15 or 16 , wherein the rotating device (81) comprises the transport device (31) and is designed to rotate the portion base (41) together with the deposited portion (25) during transport. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the system (11) comprises a monitoring device (81), in particular a camera and an image evaluation device, which is designed to detect bad portions and incorrectly deposited portions, in particular laterally over the portion base (41) protruding, portions to recognize. Annex (11) according to Claim 18 , wherein an evaluation and control device (85) is provided, which is designed to identify a portion (25) protruding laterally beyond a portion base (41) as a bad portion (25) or as an incorrectly deposited portion ( 25) to mark. Annex (11) according to Claim 18 or 19 , wherein the introduction device (53) is designed not to bring a bad portion (25) to a packaging station (29) and/or to correct an alignment of an incorrectly deposited portion (25) during introduction. Plant (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) is designed for the production of reclosable packs. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) has a device for attaching a reclosable element (89), which is designed to attach the reclosable element (89) along the transport direction (T) to an edge section (45) of a to attach the pack. Annex (11) according to Claim 22 , wherein the reclosable element (89) is designed as a self-adhesive strip or as a zip fastener. System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) is designed to simultaneously provide at least two packaging locations (29) offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction (T) and to move them along the transport direction (T), and wherein the packaging machine (27) has a perforation device (95) (93) which is designed to produce a perforation (95) along the transport direction (T) between two adjacent packaging locations (29). System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging machine (27) has three lanes and is designed to simultaneously provide three packaging stations (29) offset from one another perpendicularly to the transport direction (T) and to move them along the transport direction (T). System (11) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the packaging machine (27) is designed to operate in cycles and to produce in each cycle a format (97) consisting of nine packaging spaces (29), twelve packaging spaces (29) or sixteen packaging spaces (29 ) to provide, the packaging spaces (29) of the format (97) in - three columns (101) and three rows (99) or in - three columns (101) and four rows (99) or in - four columns (101) and three lines (99) or in - Four columns (101) and four rows (99) are arranged, and wherein the introduction device (53) is designed to bring nine portions, twelve portions or sixteen portions to the respective provided packaging locations (29) during one cycle. Method for producing a food pack (110) or a food pack arrangement (110) (109), in particular by means of a system (11) according to one of the preceding claims, in which - Slices (23) are separated from a food product (13), in particular a meat product and/or a piece of bacon, and portions are formed which comprise one or more slices (23); - the portions are transported along a transport path (37) and are placed during transport on a deposit section (43) of a respective portion base (41) that is provided in such a way that an edge section (45) of the portion base (41) protrudes beyond the portion (25) that has been placed and not covered by the portion (25); - The portion base (41) is folded along a folding line (49), the edge section (45) being folded over onto a portion top side (59) by the folding; and - the portions together with the respective portion bases (41) are placed in or on packaging stations (29) provided by a packaging machine (27) in such a way that the fold lines (49) of the portion bases (41) introduced are aligned parallel to a transport direction (T), along which the packaging machine (27) moves the packaging stations (29). procedure after Claim 27 , wherein the portion bases (41) are provided in an orientation in which the folding line (49) is aligned perpendicular to the transport direction (T) of the packaging machine (27), and wherein the portion bases (41) are rotated after provision in such a way that the folding lines (49) are aligned parallel to the transport direction (T). procedure after Claim 27 or 28 , wherein the edge section (45) is folded during the folding in a first step by approximately, in particular at least or exactly, 90 degrees and is completely folded over in a second step; or wherein the edge portion (45) is continuously folded over during folding. Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 29 , wherein the portion base (41) is folded during introduction and/or during transport. Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 30 wherein a reclosable element (89) extending along the transport direction (T) is attached to the food package (110). Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 31 , wherein a line (99) of three interconnected packaging locations (29) offset perpendicularly to the transport direction (T) is provided simultaneously by the packaging machine (27), with each of the packaging locations (29) of the line (99) having a respective portion (25) placed on an assigned portion support (41). procedure after Claim 32 , wherein a perforation (95) extending along the transport direction (T) is applied between the packing locations (29) of the line (99). procedure after Claim 32 or 33 wherein successive rows (99) are separated from one another after the portions have been inserted and the rows (99) are output as respective food package assemblies (109) having three interconnected food packages (110). Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 34 wherein successively supplied products are continuously sliced and wherein portions comprising slices (23) of an end piece of a product are sorted out. Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 35 wherein a misalignment of portions deposited on a respective portion support (41) is corrected. Procedure according to one of claims 27 until 36 , whereby the process steps are carried out automatically. Food pack (110), in which a portion (25) of one or more slices (23) of a food product (13), in particular a meat product and/or a piece of bacon, arranged on a portion base (41), is packaged, the portion base (41 ) is folded along a folding line (49) and has a folded edge section (45) which at least partially covers a portion top (59) of the portion (25), wherein a portion bottom (61) facing away from the portion top (59) rests on a storage section (43 ) rests on the portion base (41), the food pack (110) having a long side (103) extending in a longitudinal direction (L) and a short side (105) extending in a transverse direction (Q1), in particular at least essentially rectangular is trained, where the fold line (49) of the portion base (41) extends parallel to the longitudinal direction (L), in particular the food pack (110) by a method according to one of claims 27 until 37 is made. Food pack (110) after Claim 38 , wherein the food pack (110) has a reclosure (107) which extends parallel to the fold line (49) of the portion base (41). A food package assembly (109) comprising three interconnected food packages (110) according to Claim 38 or 39 , wherein the transverse directions (Q1) of the food packages (110) are aligned parallel to one another and the food packages (110) are arranged next to one another in the transverse direction (Q1). Food package assembly (109). Claim 40 , wherein a perforation (95) extending along the longitudinal direction (L) is provided between two adjacent food packages (110). Food package assembly (109). Claim 40 or 41 , wherein each of the food packages (110) has a respective reclosure (107) which extends parallel to the fold line (49) of the packaged portion base (41).

Images