Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
  • A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
  • A22C25/00—Processing fish ; Curing of fish; Stunning of fish by electric current; Investigating fish by optical means
  • A22C25/04—Sorting fish; Separating ice from fish packed in ice
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01K—ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
  • A01K61/00—Culture of aquatic animals
  • A01K61/90—Sorting, grading, counting or marking live aquatic animals, e.g. sex determination
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07B—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS BY SIEVING, SCREENING, SIFTING OR BY USING GAS CURRENTS; SEPARATING BY OTHER DRY METHODS APPLICABLE TO BULK MATERIAL, e.g. LOOSE ARTICLES FIT TO BE HANDLED LIKE BULK MATERIAL
  • B07B13/00—Grading or sorting solid materials by dry methods, not otherwise provided for; Sorting articles otherwise than by indirectly controlled devices
  • B07B13/10—Grading or sorting solid materials by dry methods, not otherwise provided for; Sorting articles otherwise than by indirectly controlled devices using momentum effects
  • B07B13/11—Grading or sorting solid materials by dry methods, not otherwise provided for; Sorting articles otherwise than by indirectly controlled devices using momentum effects involving travel of particles over surfaces which separate by centrifugal force or by relative friction between particles and such surfaces, e.g. helical sorters

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method and device for grading objects according to at least one characteristic property of the objects.
• the grading of objects such as fish and marine species such as capelin and herring can be a difficult task. The reason being their small size and the volume to be processed at each time combined with that the quality of fish deteriorates quickly if not stored at sub zero temperature.
• the grading therefore has to be highly efficient.
• the purpose of the grading is primarily to separate the species by size and/or sex. Such grading can often result in substantial increase in value as female capelin filled with eggs is much more valuable than the male species. No feasible methods are currently known for such grading.
• the present invention relates to a method for grading objects according to at least one characteristic property, said method comprising:
• the object is capelin consisting of a female capelin filled with eggs, asexual capelin and male capelin.
• the characteristic property is in this preferred embodiment the different stiffness of the capelin, wherein the female capelin filled with eggs is much softer than the asexual and the male capelin.
• the surface of these are different, which is mainly distinguished in the brushes that the male capelin has.
• the product can be of any kind, wherein characteristic property such as mentioned here are used to separate the product.
• the objects that are fed to the separating unit have already been sorted after their size, i.e. the feeding objects are of the same size consisting of female, asexual and male capelin.
• conveying means for conveying said at least one separating unit
• Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the grading system
• Fig. 2 shows one embodiment of size sorting device
• Fig. 3 shows a closer view of a single separating unit
• Fig. 4 shows a plurality of separating units
• Fig. 5 illustrates the forces acting on capelin
• Fig. 6a and 6b shows a top and side view of a sorting device.
• Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the grading system 1 , where a stream of objects are delivered from an in-feed unit 2 to a size grader such as described in US-patent No.6,065,607 as shown in Fig. 2. It will be assumed that the object is capelin of different size and sex.
• the size grading is the first step of the grading and the second step of the grading is to sort the object of same size according to their characteristic, i.e. whether the capelin is female capelin filled with eggs 9, 9', 9", 9"', male capelin 11 , 11', 11", 11'” and asexual capelin 10, 10', 10", 10'".
• the main object of the present invention is to separate the capelin of same size into female capelin 9, asexual capelin 10 and male capelin 11. This is done by means of utilizing characteristics of the capelins, i.e. different softness and surface structure, where the female capelin is filled with eggs 41 is softer than the other two capelin and has the lowest coefficient of friction but wherein the male capelin has brushes 40 and the highest coefficient of friction. This characteristic is essential for separating the capelin.
• Figure 1 shows four different size groups of capelin 3, 4, 4b, 5 (the number of size groups may of course be more or less than four) wherein each size group comprises said female, male and asexual capelin.
• the smallest group of capelin is the one that is first to slide through said size grading means and follow the first path indicated by the arrow 6 to the separating unit 7, the second smallest slides through the size grader at some later time following the path 6' to a second separating unit 7' etc.
• Each size group hits a separating unit or units, which are mounted together and form separating unit belt, which moves with a constant speed.
• Figure 1 shows fours single separating units 7, 7', 7", 7'" from said belt.
• Each separating unit comprises pairs of inclined opposite arranged plates so that the top end opening of said units is larger than the bottom end opening.
• each size group falls onto said units their original path is changed, depending on whether the capelin is female filled with eggs 9, 9', 9", 9'", male capelin 11 , 11', 11", 11'” and asexual capelin 10, 10', 10", 10'". While the dividing unit is moving with constant speed, the friction force is between the dividing units and the capelin is different, which results in said paths.
• bin 15 comprises capelin of the smallest size, which has been sorted into female, asexual and the male capelin
• bin 15' comprises the second smallest capelin etc.
• Figure 2 shows one example of size grader .
• the objects As the objects are delivered from the in- feed unit, it falls into slot 20, where the diameter of the slot increases with the distance from the in-feed unit 2 (not shown here). Accordingly, objects of the same size fall down when the diameter of the slots is larger than the width of the objects. Shown is also a plurality of separating units 7 arranged under the size grader.
• Figure 3 shows a closer view of a single separating unit 7 and its moving direction indicated by the arrow 27.
• the unit comprises two inclined rectangular plates 44,45 mounted to a conveying means (not shown) and arranged so that the top end opening (surface area of the opening) of the separating unit 42 is larger than the bottom end opening 43.
• These plates could also be bend or arranged in a different manner than indicated in this figure. Shown are the three types of capelin, i.e. the female capelin 9 filled with eggs 41 , the asexual capelin 10 and the male capelin 11 with a plurality of brushes 40.
• the plates are moving with a constant speed during the grading process, they interact with the capelin with a friction force as the capelin touches the plates, wherein the friction force is parallel to the moving direction 27.
• This friction force which will be discussed in more details in Fig. 5, is the cause of the change in paths of , the asexual capelin 8b and the male capelin 8c, whereas the female capelin 8a falls approximately vertical through the separating unit.
• Figure 4 shows a plurality of separating units 17 arranged together so that they form a separating unit belt which has a moving direction indicated by the arrow 27 and is driven for example by a driving sprocket 28 wheel.
• a friction force between the capelin and the plates causes a change in path 9, 10, 11 , depending on whether the capelin is a female capelin filled with eggs, asexual capelin or male capelin.
• the sub-bins 12-14 are positioned directly under the separating units as shown.
• FIG. 5 illustrates the forces acting on the capelin.
• the female capelin filled with eggs 9 is the softest of the three products due to the "bag" 41 that carries the eggs. This is reflected in a very low (as shown, we assume friction force. Therefore the total force acting on the female capelin consists approximately of the gravitational force F g 30. The result is a vertical path 8a.
• the plates 44,45, that form the separating unit 17, act with a friction friction force 35 on it.
• the total force F tota ⁇ 31 is therefore the sum of the gravitational force F g 30 and the friction force F f1 from which path 8b follows.
• the male capelin is the product where the friction force is largest, resulting in angle ⁇ > ⁇ , with the largest path curvature 8c. This is mainly due to the brushes 40 that increase the friction force.
• Figures 6a and 6b show another preferred embodiment of a grading device mounted to a supporting frame 56, where Figs. 5a and 5b show a top and side view.
• the received objects have already been graded after their size at the in-feed station.
• an additional size separating unit is provided in this embodiment. As the objects fall from the feeding unit 57 they are separated into female capelin filled with eggs and male capelin into collecting bins 53 and 54. As described earlier, the separating unit reacts on the capelin with a friction force depending on weather it is female or male capelin and can therefore be collected into separated bags as described in Figs. 1-4.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Marine Sciences & Fisheries (AREA)
• Animal Husbandry (AREA)
• Biodiversity & Conservation Biology (AREA)
• Sorting Of Articles (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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ID=36701148

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

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• 2002
  • 2002-11-29 AU AU2002353489A patent/AU2002353489A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-11-29 EP EP02788514A patent/EP1458500A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2002-11-29 WO PCT/IS2002/000020 patent/WO2003045591A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2004
  • 2004-05-19 IS IS7273A patent/IS7273A/is unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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