EP0982107B1 - Method and apparatus for stacking sliced food products - Google Patents

Abstract

The products are cut by a rotating knife (14), and the slices (16) are collected on a collection surface (18) in a stack, which is lowered as it grows. The height of fall of the slices is varied during stacking, by lowering the collection surface asynchronously to the actual height of the stack. The width of fall is also varied by moving the collection surface horizontally during stack forming. The collection surface is formed by an intermediate support or a conveyor and is moved vertically by a drive (24) with a control.

Description

The present invention relates to a method for cutting food products with a rotating cutting knife, the sliced product slices on a quilt to a stack be stacked and the quilt with increasing stack height is lowered.

Such methods are generally known (compare US 4,405,186 and DE 36 12 996 A1). An intermediate girder comes as a collection area or a conveyor belt for use with increasing stack height be lowered.

In the latter document, the drive of the quilt is controlled so that the top of the nascent stack is always in same distance under the cutting knife, so the same fall conditions from the first to the last disc of a stack of discs be preserved.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method for cutting to further develop food products of the type mentioned at the beginning, that the uniformity of the stacks formed from product slices is further increased.

This object is achieved by the features of claim 1 and especially in that the drop height of the product slices during the stacking is varied by making the quilt asynchronous is lowered to the current stack height. Turning away from that from the State of the art known principle of synchronous lowering is inventively the drop height varies during the formation of a stack, which in practice results in a much more uniform stack of disks leave than is the case with a synchronous lowering.

Preferred embodiments are in the description, the figure as well described in the subclaims.

In a first advantageous embodiment, the falling distance of the product slices can varies in addition to the drop height during stack formation by moving the quilt horizontally during stacking Direction, for example away from the cutting knife or in the direction of the cutting knife is moved. This makes it possible to change one To compensate for the drop height by means of an adjusted fall distance and thereby optimize the stack shape.

An intermediate carrier can be used as the collecting surface, which preferably moved in the horizontal and vertical direction by actuators becomes. However, it is also possible to use a conveyor as a quilt to use, in which case pressing the conveyor a Horizontal displacement to compensate for a varied head can.

According to a further aspect of the invention, this relates to a device to carry out said method, wherein a controller is provided for driving the quilt with which the drop height of the Product slices can be freely selected at any time during stack formation is. Such a control enables a simple asynchronous lowering of the quilt.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the device can have another drive for the quilt with which the fall distance the product slices can be freely selected at any time during stack formation is adjustable. This allows an increased or reduced head by a correspondingly increased or reduced falling distance compensate, but overall, the uniformity of the obtained Stack can be increased. In this context it should be noted that the inventive method and the device according to the invention relates to high-performance slicers in which food products, like sausage, ham or cheese, at a rate of up to 2000 slices can be cut per minute. With such high processing speeds various, system-related influences occur that affect even stacking. According to the invention however, these external influences can be caused by the asynchronous lowering of the quilt are eliminated.

It is particularly advantageous if the control as the input parameter Fall height and the fall distance of each individual product slice of a stack provides. In this case, the control enables a particularly comfortable one Attitude that only takes a short time. It is special here advantageous if the control is a product-dependent input the parameter enables, because in this case the parameters are product-specific can be summarized and entered, so that one Product change the required parameter sets can be easily converted can.

It has also proven to be advantageous if the collecting surface is slightly inclined to the horizontal, the collecting surface preferably inclined in the direction of the cutting knife or the knife block is.

In the following, the present invention is exemplified on the basis of a advantageous embodiment and with reference to the accompanying Figure described.

The single figure shows a side view of a device for cutting of food products.

The cutting device shown in the figure has a product feed 10 on which a product loaf 12 to be cut in the direction of a Cutting plane is supplied, in which a cutting knife 14 rotates all round. With each cut of the cutting knife 14 there is a product slice 16 cut in an arcuate path on a collecting conveyor 18 falls, forming an even stack 20. To the Collection conveyor 18 is followed by another conveyor 22.

As the figure shows, a drive 24 is provided, with the help of the Collection conveyor 18 can be moved vertically up and down. simultaneously the product stack 20 can be moved horizontally with the aid of the collecting conveyor 18 Direction.

Even if this is not apparent from the drawing, the product storage is i.e. the surface of the collecting conveyor 18, to the horizontal in Direction of the cutting knife 14 is arranged slightly inclined, whereby a safe stack formation is favored.

According to the invention, a control, not shown, is provided, which controls the drive of the collecting conveyor 18 and the drive 24, wherein this control is designed so that the fall height as an input parameter each product slice 16 and the falling distance of each individual product slice 16 are adjustable. The drop height can be varied by varying the vertical Height of the collecting conveyor 18 is set by means of the drive 24 become. The falling distance is controlled by the appropriate control of the collective conveyor 18 varies by the conveyor belt or the individual conveyor belts be moved.

The control is also designed so that the parameters for the product disc dependent Adjustment of the drop height and width depending on the product can be entered. So it is possible for different products, such as ham, cheese or sausage, each with a set of parameters to form and save.

Furthermore, the start time is in the control according to the invention Lowering movement of the drive 24, i.e. the collecting area of the collecting conveyor 18, freely adjustable. That means that the lowering movement can also first then be initiated if there is already more than one product slice located on the quilt.

In the method according to the invention for cutting food products with the device described above, the head of a individual product slices can be varied during stack formation, by the collecting conveyor 18 using the drive 24 asynchronously to current stack height is reduced. In other words, it varies the case conditions of the individual product slices 16, for example in the case of panes lying higher or lower, the collecting surface of the collecting conveyor 18 lowered somewhat more or less becomes. This can be done by feeding the collecting conveyor accordingly compensated in the forward or backward direction in order to further optimize the even stack formation. In particular, it is advantageous if the end of the stack formation Fall height for a single product slice compared to the previous one Disc is enlarged, while the fall distance is reduced somewhat becomes. This can cause disruptive system influences, such as exclude the draft of the rotating rotating knife.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

product feed

12

Produktlaib

14

cutting blade

16

product slice

18

collecting conveyor

20

stack

22

promoter

24

drive

Claims (10)

1. Method for slicing food products with a rotating cutting blade (14), with the cut product slices (16) being stacked to form a stack on a collection surface (18) which is lowered as the stack height (20) increases,
   characterized in that
   the fall height of the product slices (16) is varied during the stack forming in that the collection surface (18) is lowered asynchronously to the momentary stack height.
2. Method in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the horizontal fall distance of the product slices (16) is varied during the stack forming in that the collection surface (18) is moved in the horizontal direction during the stack forming.
3. Method in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that the collection surface (18) is moved away from and/or towards the cutting blade (14) during the stack forming.
4. Method in accordance with any one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in that an intermediate carrier or a conveyor (18) is used as a collection surface (18).
5. Apparatus for carrying out a method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising a rotating cutting blade (14) and a collection surface (18) which can be vertically adjusted in height by a drive,
   characterized in that
   a control is provided for the drive (24) by means of which the fall height of the product slices (16) can be set in a freely selectable manner at any time point of the stack forming.
6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that a further drive for the collection surface (18) is provided by means of which the horizontal fall distance of the product slices (16) can be set in a freely selectable manner at any time point of the stack forming.
7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 and claim 6, characterized in that the control provides the fall height and the horizontal fall distance of every individual product slice (16) of a stack (20) as input parameters.
8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 7, characterized in that the control enables a product dependent input of the parameters.
9. Apparatus in accordance with any one of the claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the collection surface is an intermediate carrier or a conveyor (18).
10. Apparatus in accordance with any one of the claims 5 to 9, characterized in that the collection surface (18) is arranged to be somewhat inclined to the horizontal, preferably in the direction of the cutting blade (14).

Images