EP3378616A2 - Processing of food products - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a plurality of streams of portions, each comprising one or more slices, which have been obtained by slicing food products by means of a slicer, in particular a Hochgeschwindigkeitsslicers, in which a plurality of tracks adjacent products in a cutting plane moving blades are fed to the slicer, are separated by means of the cutting blade from the products slices, portions are formed from the separated slices, and the portions are transported in multiple streams to a downstream unit, in particular a packaging machine, wherein the assignments of the currents are detected and slicing is performed depending on the detected occupancy.

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing a plurality of streams of portions, each comprising one or more slices obtained by slicing food products by means of a slicing apparatus, in particular a high speed slicer. The invention also relates to a device which, inter alia, comprises a control device which is designed to control the device in accordance with a method according to the invention.

The invention also relates to a method of operating a plant for processing food products, which comprises a plurality of components, namely a device for slicing the food products, in particular a high-speed slicer, and one or more slicing device downstream handling units, each one or more comprising slices obtained by slicing. The invention also relates to a plant for processing food products, which comprises inter alia a control device which is designed to operate the plant according to a method according to the invention.

Such methods and devices are known in principle. When slicing food products, ie in the operation of also referred to as production lines plants that include one or more slicing, especially Hochleistungsslicer, so far forms the slicing so far the "heart" of the system, as the operation of the slicer determines the processes of all other system components , This leads in the practice of problems that are either accepted or which is met with high constructive and technical control effort.

Thus, for example, a basically desired continuous stream of portions in the direction of a slicing device (in the following also referred to simply as a slicer) downstream unit, in particular a packaging machine, then not be realized when pauses or interruptions arise in the portion stream. Such interruptions inevitably occur, e.g. when the slicer is loaded with new products. This is encountered in particular with so-called buffer devices between slicer and packaging machine, which, among other things, has the disadvantage that such devices increase the entire system.

The maintenance of an at least somewhat continuous portion stream in a multi-lane system, whose slicer cuts open adjacent products simultaneously in several lanes, is particularly complicated. Supply-side differences in the individual tracks are reflected in the individual portion streams behind the slicer, in particular in the form of gaps in the individual portion streams. In particular, incomplete portion lines may arise which are difficult or impossible to process further by the devices following the slicer. Countermeasures are currently comparatively long buffer sections and / or a plurality of so-called transverse distributors in the area of conveying and sorting lines. The higher a plant is, the greater the effort, especially with regard to the complexity and the costs of the plant. Even technically feasible fails in practice either due to the high cost or the low portion throughput, since especially the closing of gaps in the portion flow costs a lot of time, especially for the so-called transverse distribution and for the associated stopping of portions.

Improving the slicers in the past, in particular with regard to cutting speed and weight accuracy, can consequently also lead to disadvantages if the operation of a plant is aimed at optimizing the slicing operation.

The object of the invention is to remedy this situation and to provide opportunities, especially when using multi-lane slicing without unacceptable loss of cutting speed and weight accuracy for the simplest possible and continuous handling of the portions produced by the slicing on the way to a downstream unit, especially one Packaging machine, to provide. In particular, care should be taken to ensure that gaps in a portion stream or incomplete portion lines as well as incomplete format sets do not arise at all or that their number is at least minimized.

The general inventive idea, with which this object is achieved, consists in an intelligent operation of the slicing device or the one or more cutting devices containing plant, in which circumstances such as in particular special operating situations or special operating conditions are taken into account, so far at least for the operation of the slicing have played no or only a minor role.

According to one aspect of the invention, in the method for generating a plurality of streams, in which adjacent products are fed to a cutting blade moving in a cutting plane of the slicing apparatus, slices are separated from the products by means of the cutting knife, portions are formed from the sliced slices , and the portions are transported in multiple streams to a downstream unit, in particular a packaging machine, according to the invention provided that the assignments of the currents are detected and the slicing is carried out in dependence on the recorded assignments.

The "occupancy" of a portion stream is to be understood as meaning the number of portions which is located in one stream with respect to a unit length of the transport path along which the portions flow and / or with respect to a unit of time within which portions in the stream Get electricity. The occupancy of a current can consequently also be referred to as the degree of filling of the respectively considered device or of the respectively considered devices following the slicing device.

This concept of the invention represents a way to control the cutting - ie the operation of the slicing - depending on a situation at one or more facilities of the entire system, which is or are downstream of the slicer. Expressed word for word, in this aspect of the invention, the slicer is controlled by the downstream transport path or a part thereof. Thus, for example, a so-called inserter, which forms part of the transport route, controls the product supply forming part of the slicer. An inserter is designed to pass each of a plurality of portions comprising format portions one after the other to a downstream unit, in particular to a packaging machine.

Thus, for example, depending on the recorded assignments of the individual streams on the inserter, a regulation can be carried out such that the slicer increases the portion output in a track of the product supply which corresponds to a relatively underpowered stream or in a track of the product supply which corresponds to a relative one overcurrent corresponds to the portion output reduced. With such a slicer control, consequently, the allocations of the currents or a variable stored therefrom represent the controlled variable.

With this general concept of this aspect of the invention, to carry out the slicing as a function of the recorded assignments, continuous portion streams can be realized in the direction of the downstream unit, at least in the time average. In particular, those devices of the transport path between slicer and packaging machine, which serve for buffering portions and for the formation of format sets from the portions, can be optimally operated with continuous portion streams in particular in terms of throughput and accuracy while minimizing space requirements. The same applies to the process of inserting the portions or format sets in packaging or for the transfer of the portions or format sets to a packaging machine by a so-called depositor.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the slicing is performed on a track-specific basis as a function of differences in the assignments of the individual streams. Differences in the allocations of the currents can consequently be taken into account in the operation of the slicing device.

It is preferably provided that the slicing is carried out in such a way that differences in the assignments of the individual streams are minimized. In particular, therefore, a regulation can be made such that the individual detected assignments or a quantity derived therefrom forms the actual value and consequently serves as a controlled variable, wherein the intended minimization of differences in the assignments represents the desired value and consequently serves as the reference variable of the regulation.

The invention is not defined in any particular way for detecting the assignments of the currents. For example, the assignments of the streams can each be detected by detecting gaps between the portions of a respective stream. Alternatively or additionally, the assignments of Currents are each detected by determining the portion flow rate in a respective stream.

An advantage of the invention is that it can be integrated purely software in the control of existing facilities. Data determined in any case during the conventional operation of a plant can be used to determine in each case a measure of the allocations of the streams with portions. The recognition of gaps and the determination of portions arriving in a stream per unit of time is known per se, but has hitherto been used for other purposes. Thus, in principle detection devices are known, which are arranged at one or more points of the transport path between slicer and packaging machine and are able to distinguish between the presence of a portion and the lack of a portion on the respective device of the transport route. Consequently, not only the existence of gaps per se but also, if necessary, how many gaps per unit of time are detected at a particular location or in a particular stream can be determined.

Portion throughput can be determined, for example, by counting portions that pass through one or more measuring points per unit of time. The method according to the invention can use these data, which are available in any case, in order to carry out the slicing or the operation of the slicing device in the manner according to the invention.

According to one embodiment, the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing the portion ejection in an associated track of the slicer. Portion output is the number of portions produced per unit of time. Consequently, by increasing the portion ejection, the occupancy of the relevant stream is increased, and vice versa.

Alternatively or additionally, the occupancy in a respective stream can be changed by changing at least one property of at least one portion in an associated track of the slicing apparatus.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing the portion yield per product in an associated track of the slicing apparatus.

The Portionsausbeute is the number of product-generated portions, which are thus generated without an occupancy-reducing loading interruption. Increasing the Portionsausbeute thus increases the occupancy of the relevant stream, and vice versa.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing the number of loading interrupts in an associated track of the slicing apparatus.

When a product has been completely cut open, a certain period of time, also known as a "loading pause", in which the slicing operation is interrupted until the next product is cut open, and consequently the production of portions, elapses. A reduction in the number of loading interruptions thus increases the occupancy in the relevant stream, and vice versa.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention, the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing a desired value for the portion weight in an associated track of the slicing apparatus. In this case, at least one predetermined tolerance can be utilized, in particular a tolerance for the portion weight and / or a tolerance for the total weight of a batch comprising a plurality of portions.

In this case, consequently, in a frame which is permitted in each case by the one or more tolerances, which in particular is governed by a prescription - e.g. a FPV (explained in more detail elsewhere) - may be predetermined, specifically produced overweight or underweight portions. With overweight cutting, the next loading interruption occurs sooner and consequently the occupancy in the relevant stream is reduced, while in underweight cutting it takes longer until the next loading interruption, thus increasing the occupancy in the relevant stream. In the case of an overweight cutting, fewer portions can be produced-in relation to a certain product length-than in underweight cutting, so that the next loading interruption takes place correspondingly earlier or later.

Furthermore, it can be provided according to the invention that the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing a product sequence in consideration of one or more product criteria in an associated track of the slicing device. A product criterion may be, for example, the product weight, the product density, the product contour, the product structure and / or the product length.

In this case, consequently, the products to be sliced on the loading and / or feed side are deliberately brought into a specific sequence which, on the basis of the recorded assignments, leads either to more frequent or less frequent loading interruptions. This can be done, for example, by combining, sorting and rearranging the products. For example, cutting relatively heavy and / or relatively long products one at a time reduces the number of loading interrupts, increasing occupancy in the particular stream, and vice versa.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing the product length in an associated track of the slicing apparatus, in particular by combining, sorting, rearranging, dividing and / or uniting products. The product length can also be done by a cutting interruption followed by re-cutting, but the remaining product at the cutting interrupt product remains on the product holder.

Here, therefore, the product length - and thus the number of products sliced per unit time - so to speak "artificially" changed. Splitting a product requires an additional loading interruption that would not have occurred without the fragmentation of a product. Alternatively, it is possible, for example, to combine two previously separate products in such a way that they can be cut open like a single product without loading interruption. The combination of two separate products can be done, for example, that they are connected by suitable means together positively, positively or materially.

A device according to the invention for producing a plurality of streams of portions, each comprising one or more disks, comprises a slicing device, in particular a high-speed slicer, for producing the slices by slicing food products, at least one transport device for transporting the portions in multiple streams to a downstream unit, in particular a packaging machine, a detection device for detecting the assignments of the currents, and a control device, which is designed to control the device according to a method as explained above.

According to a further aspect of the invention, in the method for operating a plant for processing food products, it is provided that the operation of the plant is at least partially guided in each case by one of the components and the guide is dispensed in dependence on a change to one of the other components.

The plant components comprise a device for slicing the food products, in particular a high-speed slicer, as well as one or more portion handling devices arranged downstream of the slicing device.

The respective leading component may be referred to as "master" while the other components may be considered as "slaves". The downstream components are, in particular, transport devices, such as, for example, portioning devices, grouping devices, buffer devices and depositors, as well as a packaging machine.

The leading component does not have to run the entire system. The concept of this aspect of the invention can also be realized if only a part of the plant operation is performed and the management is given in response to a change in the situation. In such a part of the operation of the system may be, for example, the so-called "timing". This is the default in which the cutting cycles given by the movement of the knife of the slicing device either separate slices (and thus reach portions in the downstream devices) or so-called idle cuts. The respective leading component thus determines the portion ejection in the relevant track of the product feed of the slicing device.

The term "change" in this aspect of the invention is to be understood broadly. A "change" in this sense can be the change from one operating phase to the next operating phase, but also, for example, a fault during an operating phase.

The criteria for a change of leadership may be chosen such that the most suitable "master" is selected for the newly resulting operating situation, i. is switched to that component of the system that can control the plant operation in this operating state best - in terms of predetermined criteria -.

Switching between two successive operating phases can take place, for example, in loading pauses, when changing cutting programs or when changing predeterminable cutting parameters.

Switching to another "master" can also take place during ongoing system operation and consequently depending on the respective operating state. For example, the delivery of the guide can be carried out automatically according to predefinable system and / or component parameters or specific threshold values (which concern, for example, product parameters and / or system parameters), which are, in particular, parameters or threshold values which are continuously monitored anyway. These parameters can be, for example, the number of idle cuts per unit of time, in order to be used in this way e.g. to be able to recognize a blank clutter. Also overfills or underfills of buffering devices can be detected and give rise to a change of leadership.

Alternatively or additionally, switching over to another "master" can also take place after prescribable manual actions or current events during ongoing system operation. For example, a current occasion may be Cutting start in terms of a startup of the system or even a malfunction. A predefinable manual action can be, for example, an increase in the speed of the cutting blade or a targeted pause function.

This inventive concept enables extremely flexible operation of a plant for processing food products, since a change of each leading component can be done quickly and basically according to any criteria and due to any reason. In particular, specific operating phases such as the start-up of the system or the controlled emptying of the system or a specific system component can be very well represented or controlled by a corresponding sequence of changes of leadership.

A concrete example, which can illustrate this aspect of the invention, is an operating situation in which a film change is pending in the packaging machine. If the film change is foreseeable, the packaging machine takes over the management of the system. The central system control evaluates a signal originating from the packaging machine to the expected end of the film, whereupon a feedback to the slicing device and / or to one or more buffer devices takes place in order either to cause an active emptying of the system or to ensure a correspondingly adapted loading of the slicing device ,

As already mentioned above, in this method according to the invention consequently the delivery of the guide can take place between two successive phases of operation. Alternatively, the delivery of the guide can take place during an operating phase.

In the context of this method according to the invention for operating a plant for processing food products, the method explained at the outset can be used to produce a plurality of streams of portions as one of several possible ones "Operating modes" that may arise during a plant operation if the plant component concerned is the "master". Accordingly, it can be provided that after delivery of the guide to a downstream transport device, in particular to a buffer device, in this the occupancies of the portion streams are detected and the slicing is carried out in dependence on the recorded assignments.

According to a further embodiment of the invention it can be provided that when guided by a component which is not the slicing device, the portion output of the slicing device is changed. In particular, the portion ejection may be changed according to another aspect of the invention, which will be explained below and in which the number of blank cuts per unit time is changed.

According to a further aspect of the invention, in a method for operating a plant for processing food products, it is provided that at least temporarily the number of empty cuts per time unit carried out by the slicing device is changed as a function of the operating situation.

Spills are traditionally used to temporarily remove slices from a product so that a portion produced from the previous slices can be removed before commencing the slicing of the next portion. In Hochgeschwindigkeitsslicern the time interval between two immediately after each other, so without a blank, separated slices usually too short to be able to transport a finished portion of the area on which the separated slices for portioning fall.

According to the invention, it has been recognized that idle cuts can also be used specifically to influence the portion ejection in a respective track in order to thereby to react to certain operating situations or to changes in the operating state of one of the other components of the system.

In particular, a control is performed in which the number of idle cuts per unit time is the manipulated variable.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the change in the number of empty cuts per unit of time makes the portion output of the slicing apparatus to be adapted to the operation of a downstream packaging machine.

Furthermore, it can be provided that, as a result of the change in the number of empty cuts per unit time, the portion output of the slicing apparatus is increased following an at least partial emptying of a downstream transport device, in particular a buffer device.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the portion output of the slicing device is reduced in each case during the slicing of product starts by the change in the number of idle cuts per unit of time.

The product beginnings can often be critical in practice insofar as the size and therefore the weight of immediately successive slices can vary comparatively strongly. However, in order to be able to achieve the most accurate possible portion weight, a slowdown in the slicing process can be achieved to a certain extent by increasing the number of empty slices. Expressed in terms of the regulation of the slicing device downstream portion scale, the accuracy of the control of this portion scale can be increased by the so-called control offset is drastically minimized by increasing the number of idle cuts. Once the first full portions of the portion scale have passed and thus the beginning of the product completely then the portion discharge can be increased by reducing the number of idle cuts per unit time.

In this embodiment, therefore, the change in the number of empty cuts per unit time in the context of the regulation of a portion scale.

Irrespective of this type of regulation, it can generally be provided according to the invention that, by changing the number of idle sections per unit of time, any other regulation which takes place during the operation of the installation and / or at least one parameter of such another regulation becomes.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, it is provided that by varying the number of empty cuts per unit of time, the portion ejection of the slicing apparatus is varied in time according to the operation of a downstream inlaid feeder, which is designed to sequentially feed a plurality of portions comprising formate sets to a packaging machine to hand over.

The degree of filling of an insert can therefore each be influenced by the number of idle cuts per unit of time. If, for example, the system control device registers a stop signal at the inserter, the number of idle cuts per unit of time can be increased, for example by always performing two idle cuts whenever a blank is to be carried out anyway. This "increase" of the number of idle cuts thus already at the slicing device for a reduction in the number of per unit time in the cutting device downstream devices reaching portions.

In a number of idle sections evaluating the control of the operation of the plant controlling control device is characterized by this "increase" the number provided by blank sections that the number of idle cuts more in this scheme, ie in the performed by the controller blank-line evaluation, flows.

In general, according to this aspect of the invention, a process observation by the control device controlling the operation of the system can take place via the idle cuts made at the slicing device. In particular, this allows a better adaptation of Slicerbetriebs to a packaging machine than before.

This concept is also advantageous in that, after emptying a buffer device of the plant, this residue can be made up again by means of the slicer or the slicing operation by increasing the portion output.

In general, this intelligent blank management can thus contribute to process optimization in the plant.

In general, in this inventive concept with the change in the number of blanks per unit time to a change in the operating situation or the operating state of the system components are reacted to adjust the portion output accordingly. Or the change in the number of blanks per unit time can be a targeted measure, which takes the control device of the system to selectively change the operating situation or the operating state of one or more specific system components.

If, for example, relatively sensitive products must be introduced into the machine, for which the loading must be gentle, or if a particularly high accuracy in a measurement of the products to be cut on a scanner device upstream of the slicing device is required, the number of idle cuts can be increased, which causes the number of blank cuts evaluating control to slow down a loading or loading process, whereby the products are spared and the accuracy of the measurement of the products is increased.

A change in the number of blanks per unit of time may be non-specific to a time average. However, a change in the number of blank cuts can also be made by always increasing or decreasing this number whenever a predetermined number of blank cuts are made. If, for example, a blank cut is provided between two successive portions in a specific application for a purposeful removal of portions, this number can be increased from one to, for example, two or three for a temporary targeted increase of the number of blank cuts.

According to a further aspect of the invention, in a method for operating a plant for processing food products, it is provided that, taking into account the operating state of at least one of the downstream devices and / or a product feed, the slicing device is operated such that when slicing entire products or predetermined subregions of Products each uninterrupted portions are formed.

So far, the plant operation was practically aligned only to the generated portions, ie regardless of the loading and feed situation in front of the slicer and the operating situation in the slicing device downstream facilities were produced with the slicing device portions. On changes of the operating situation in front of or behind the slicer this could react at best with blank cuts.

According to the invention, it has been recognized that such a blank cut management can lead to sacrifices in cutting quality, since the passage of blank cuts is associated with a stop of the product feed and consequently with product upsets and subsequent product relaxations, resulting in a so-called repressing of the product during slicing. This can result in the generation of uneven slices and a so-called snippet formation. A particular disadvantage is that the conditions affecting the quality of the individual panes are not the same for all panes which are separated from a product, in particular in connection with the compressions and depressions occurring due to idle cuts.

These disadvantages can be avoided by the inventive concept by either entire products or whole predetermined portions of products are cut open without interruption in the sense that portions are formed continuously. In other words, entire products or entire specified sub-ranges of products are cut open "in one go". Of course, in this context, if continuous production of portions is mentioned, this does not preclude, where necessary, one or more empty cuts, which may also be referred to as regular blanks, being made between two successive portions in order to obtain an orderly evacuation of produced portions ,

By the inventive consideration of the operating state of at least one of the downstream devices and / or a product feed the slicer can be particularly either maintained or actively provided by an appropriate control of one or more system components that either a whole product or predetermined, ie not by accident Events as large as possible subregions of Products can be cut into a sequence of immediately after - so uninterrupted - produced portions.

If a whole product or a whole product part is cut without interruption in this way, all the separated slices or portions produced therefrom have the same quality, since the parameters determining the compression and expansion or pressing of the product during the entire slicing process are the same.

For the sake of simplicity, whenever an entire product is mentioned below, it should also be understood as meaning an entire product part, but - as mentioned - this product part corresponds to a specifically specified subarea of a product and does not come about by chance.

According to one embodiment, the cutting is only begun when a predefinable or predefined occupancy of at least one portion stream of at least one downstream device is undershot.

For example, if care is taken that one or more of the buffering means and / or the inserter is comparatively empty, and thus able to hold comparatively many portions, then there may be no interruptions during the slicing of a whole product, and thus spills due to overfilling of the buffer or inserter ,

Thus, generally speaking, in this aspect of the invention, in a variant, as late as possible but as early as necessary, cutting of an entire product or a plurality of immediately successive whole products may be commenced.

With this consideration of the operating state can be differentiated according to individual streams of the respective considered subordinate institutions, it can be differentiated according to differences between individual streams, or it can be differentiated according to the individual subordinate institutions. Alternatively, downstream of the slicer, the total occupancy of portions may be taken into account without differentiating for individual streams, differences between individual streams, or individual downstream devices.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the portion ejection and / or the format set ejection and / or the occupancy of an inserter can be taken into account as a considered operating state.

Furthermore, it can be provided that the results of a product measurement are taken into account, which is carried out in the feed path of the products before the slicing device or at least before the cutting plane.

According to a further embodiment, it can be provided that operating conditions are changed with interrupted portion formation.

Consequently, in order not to disturb a continuous slicing of whole products, it is possible to wait for a change in the operating conditions until after the complete slicing of a whole product. In particular, foreseeable or already planned changes in the operating conditions, ie those changes that are not required due to accidental events, targeted in an inevitably resulting (between two whole products) or in an already planned (between two parts of a product) interruption of portion formation be made.

It may further be provided that, in each case, at least one shim not belonging to a portion is separated from the product when slicing two immediately successive partial regions of a product before the portion formation from the second partial region. This ultimately results in a cutting, as is conventionally carried out at the beginning of the slicing at a front end of the product.

Alternatively or additionally, such a shim may be separated even after an unforeseen interruption. Due to the above-mentioned effects of upsetting and relaxing the product, there is a high likelihood that the first disk will not have the desired quality after interruption, so that consistent cutting quality can be achieved with such shims which are subsequently sorted out of the process ,

According to a further embodiment, it is provided that the operation of the slicing device is carried out in dependence on the allocations of the portion streams. In this case, it is possible, in particular, to proceed according to the method of the invention for generating a plurality of streams of portions as explained in the introduction.

This method explained above for generating a plurality of streams of portions, in which the assignments of the streams are detected and the slicing is carried out as a function of the recorded assignments, can consequently be described as a further development or supplement, in particular in the sense of a "refinement" of the general idea of FIG presented concept of the invention - apart from regular blanks - to make interruption-free cutting generally dependent on an operating condition. This operating status can either be due to differences in occupancy the individual portion streams or act independent of occupancy differences total occupancy of the downstream equipment parts.

A general advantage of this inventive concept is that the time between generation and processing, in particular packaging, of the portions is minimized because an entire product or a whole predetermined product part is cut open continuously and thus ultimately guaranteed that the sequence generated here immediately after one another formed portions can be further processed directly by the downstream equipment components. In other words, this ensures that the generated portions are no longer open as long as can be the case in the prior art.

For comparatively long products, an uninterrupted generation of portions depending on the design and the control of the respective system can reach its limits. In such cases, the products can be divided from a control point of view into several areas. These parts of the product are then treated with regard to the course of the cutting process, as if these product parts are each separate, each whole products. Potentially non-uniform disks may optionally be sorted out as a shim as described above.

The invention also relates to a plant for processing food products, comprising a device for slicing the products, in particular a high-speed slicer, one or more downstream slicing device handling units, each comprising one or more slices obtained by the slicing, and a control device comprising, which is adapted to operate the plant according to one of the above-described inventive method for operating a plant for processing food products.

An essential advantage of the invention is that incomplete format sets and gaps in the portion stream, in particular at the inserter or buffer, can be avoided or at least minimized with regard to the frequency of their occurrence, which is particularly advantageous in the case of multi-lane slicing apparatuses with individual product feeds.

The creation of format sets and the closing of gaps can be done by the invention easily and quickly with minimal expenditure on equipment, even if two or more tracks cut and a two- or multi-track transport route for the portions produced after the slicing is present, ie when the portions are supplied in two or more streams to the downstream unit, which is in particular a packaging machine.

Especially for the downstream of a slicer units for formatting and buffering and for inserting the portions into packages or the transfer of portions to a packaging machine can be saved by the invention, technical effort. In addition, downtimes other than e.g. would result from manual corrections of the portion streams or the format sets. In addition, a high degree of flexibility of the overall system can generally be realized.

In particular, the invention can make a high number of transverse distributions of portions superfluous. Without the invention, there would possibly be gaps in one of the streams, at least for relatively large occupancy differences between the individual streams in a buffering means, either due to overcrowding or overcrowding (in at least one of the streams), which could even lead to empty packages. Without the invention, such automation could possibly avoid such negative phenomena. However, this would be either with a very high technical effort or has a negative impact on the speed at which the format sets can be formed.

The advantages according to the invention therefore come into play, in particular, when multi-lane, in particular three- or four-lane, cut open or when a particularly variable format set formation is desired.

The invention can relieve the downstream of a slicing device for processing Portionsströmen and also provide a manageable technical effort for these downstream devices. In general, a multi-track slicing and a multi-track format formation by the invention can be made particularly efficient.

Depending on the particular configuration and control of a plant and the respective operating conditions, the occasional development of a gap in the portion flow can nevertheless not be ruled out. Investigations by the applicant have shown, however, that in practice this occurs only in extreme exceptional cases, for example, when several effects come together. A problem can e.g. then arise when the loading of a Slicers no product pre-sorting takes place and randomly one track light and short products and the other track receives heavy and long products.

However, it has also been shown that the probability of the formation of gaps in the portion flow can be drastically reduced by the invention such that, in economic terms, a manual correction is considerably more favorable than a manual or apparatus expense to be eliminated or avoided without the invention of negative phenomena such as in particular gaps in a portion stream.

Further embodiments of the invention are specified in the claims, the description and the drawings.

The invention is described below by way of example with reference to the single figure, which schematically shows a plant according to the invention for processing food products, which can be operated by a method according to the invention.

The plant according to the invention comprises a two-lane slicer 15 in this example, which comprises a loading device 39 and a product feed 37.

The loading device 39 serves to bring food products to be sliced into the slicer 15, such as, for example, sausage bars, cheese bars, hams or pieces of meat.

Product feeder 37 schematically shows, for each of the two tracks, a product holder 38, also referred to as a product gripper, which is adapted to engage a rear product end to feed the product 13 in the direction of a cutting plane 19 in which a cutting knife is received Slicer 15 moves. The construction and operation of a high-speed slicer will not be discussed in detail here. This is known in principle to the person skilled in the art.

The slicer 15 and the slicer 15 downstream facilities, which will be discussed in more detail below, are each formed in multiple lanes, here two lanes. This is indicated in the figure by the dotted line.

The system according to the invention may additionally comprise devices upstream of the slicer 15 which are not shown in the figure. Such an upstream device may in particular be a so-called product scanner, with which the outer product contour and / or the inner product structure can be determined. This product data can be used by a central control device 35 to control the product supply 37 in such a way that the portions 11 produced by the separation of slices from the products 13, if appropriate within a predetermined tolerance, have a certain portion weight. Since the products 13 fed to the two tracks may be different, the product holders 38 are movable independently of one another in the feed direction, at least within certain limits. In this context, the person skilled in the art speaks of a track-specific product feed 37.

The portions 11 are formed from the separated product slices on a directly adjacent to the cutting plane 19 portioning device 27. In order to properly transport a portion 11 produced, one or more idle cuts are performed after the last slice of a portion separated by continue in each case given cutting stroke moving cutting blade, the product feed 37 is stopped in the relevant track. Such blanks are thus regular blanks in the context of a portioned slicing.

In the other components of the system shown in the figure is a grouping device 29, two buffer devices 31 and a depositor 33. These components need not be discussed at this point, since the structure, purpose and operation of such devices known to those skilled are.

The purpose of the overall system is ultimately to produce format sets of several portions 11 having a predetermined arrangement and orientation of the portions 11 with each other (in the figure, a 2 x 3 - matrix) and which are supplied by means of the insert 33 of a packaging machine 21. This can be done, for example, that the insert 33 individual sets of formats one after the other in packages, which are for example in the form of plastic trays (so-called "trays") and are usually produced on site in the packaging machine 21, for example from a film in a deep-drawing process.

The points between the portioning device 27 and the grouping device 29 as well as between the two buffer devices 31 each indicate that additional system components may be provided here. For example, the portioning device 27 can be followed by a portion scale which communicates to the control device 35 the actual portion weight of each portion 11 produced. Between the two illustrated buffering devices 31, one or more further buffering devices 31 may be located.

The figure indicates in the product feed 37 purely schematically possible in practice state in which in one - here the right - track still a product 13 is cut, while in the left lane a product cut open and with the cutting of the next product 13 has not been started yet.

Such an operating condition is one of many potential causes that, in practice, there is no continuous portion flow following the slicer 15, i. In at least one track, that is to say one of the two portion streams in the figure, gaps 23 are formed, as shown purely by way of example in the figure once on the portioning device 27 and once on the grouping device 29.

In this respect, the figure shows a situation that was previously unavoidable in the prior art. By contrast, the invention makes it possible to avoid the formation of such gaps 23.

As explained in the introductory part, one aspect of the invention is to detect the assignments of the individual portion streams and to perform the slicing of the products 13 by means of the slicer 15 as a function of the recorded assignments. The details of the invention set forth in the introductory part will not be discussed again at this point. In this regard, and also with regard to the other aspects of the invention, reference is hereby made to the statements in the introductory part.

The figure and the related statements above illustrate the potentially occurring differences in the assignments of the individual streams actually avoided by the invention. For the fictitious time shown in the figure, 11 fewer portions 11 are in the left lane since the creation of the foremost portions 33 in the insert 33 as in the right lane. In other words, the degree of filling of the left current is less than the degree of filling of the right current.

With a detection device 25 shown schematically in the figure, the assignments of the individual streams or the differences in the assignments of the individual streams can be detected. The detection device 25 can either be designed to determine the number of portions 11 passing through the relevant measuring point per unit time, or the presence of a portion 11 on the grouping device 29 shown here as an example for the detection of a lack of a portion 11 - ie of a gap 23 - to distinguish.

The detection device 25, like the other slicer 15 downstream plant components and the packaging machine 21 to the aforementioned central control device 35 of the system is connected.

Conventional equipment for processing food products 13 are often already equipped with the hardware required for carrying out the methods according to the invention, i. The invention can be integrated into existing systems without additional equipment. Required for such retrofitting or retrofitting is a programming of the plant control for implementing the method according to the invention, in order to use the data already determined during operation of the plant for the invention.

As already mentioned in the introductory part, a deliberately underweight or overweight cutting for a portion stream can take place by utilizing one or more predetermined weight tolerances. The determination of the actual portion weight can be effected, for example, by means of a so-called FPV balance (FPV = prepackage regulation), not shown in the figure, which serves as a checkweigher at the end of the entire slicing and packaging line. In the context of the clearance defined by the prepackage ordinance for overweight or underweight portions or packs in a batch, the portions 11 for completing the individual streams can then be cut either slightly heavier or slightly lighter by means of the slicer 15. In particular, it can be exploited that within a batch a proportion of-depending on the relevant provisions - for example 2% of portions 11 deviating from a given portion weight is permissible.

For the operation of the slicer 15, this means that portions 11 for comparatively empty streams, which thus have a "shortage" of portions 11, tend to be cut more easily, ie from a product 13, a larger portion 11 and a respective underweight is obtained the relevant portions 11 is accepted.

If, on the other hand, a portion stream has a relatively high degree of filling, the portions 11 tend to be cut heavier. As a result, a product 13 results in a smaller number of portions 11. The "overweight" of the portions 11 deliberately created in this overweight cutting corresponds to the previously recorded situation in the relevant current.

Preferably, such over- or underweight cutting takes place in combination with already known setting options and parameters for forming portions 11 on the slicer 15. These include, for example, the so-called portion completions, in which the last portion of a product missing slices separated by the subsequent product Disc or the disc thickness control, in particular if a predetermined target number and target thickness of the discs can not be met for certain reasons and so one or more slices of the portion are added or formed the portion with one or more discs less becomes. This can occur, for example, when slicing cheese, if due to a relatively high number of holes in the cheese product a predetermined number of slices or slice thickness can not be met.

Consequently, the invention makes it possible, as it were, to "balance out" the individual streams over time, in particular in the area of the buffer devices 31, and still comply with the requirements of the prepackage ordinance (FPV) in the production of a batch of portions.

As already explained in the introductory part, differences in the allocations of the individual streams can be compensated for by intelligent pre-sorting of the products to be sliced before loading and cutting and / or intelligent pre-division of the products or distribution of the products in one in the Control running cutting program before cutting done.

If a "undercoverage" is detected in a stream, in particular a buffer device, and consequently a higher portion discharge is required on the feed side in the corresponding track, i. "more product mass" is requested, it will try next as possible to assign the heaviest available product of the loading device or the product supply of the relevant track. Conversely, if there is a "overfill" in a stream, i. an "excess of product mass", the portion output in the relevant track in the product feed 37 is reduced by allocating, as the next product to be sliced, as far as possible the lightest available product of the relevant track.

In this concept, various auxiliary devices can be used as aids, for example a loading buffer, a loading magazine or a display to assist an operator, for example in the form of a traffic light system, which is a recommendation for the manual loading, removal, supplementing or re-sorting operator especially after a product scanner pronounces. As a further aid, a product scale may be provided.

In principle, it is also possible for the product supply or the product supply upstream regions, which are generally referred to as a supply, at least partially form such that the products can perform a lane change.

In principle, a fully automatic product selection for the individual tracks as a function of the respective operating situation is conceivable, so that the system itself can determine the slicing order in the tracks from an existing "pool" of products with properties known for this purpose.

If products are purposefully cut prior to slicing to change the occupancy in the particular stream following the slicer, then it is preferred that product measurement be performed beforehand so that intelligent fragmentation of the products can be made depending on the particular product data. In particular for the cutting of cheese, basically known X-ray scanners can be used for the detection of holes.

At the same time, these product data obtained by surveying can be used for the regular, individualized product feed in the slicer. An additional product scanner is not required.

In general, all relevant properties of the respective products can serve as the basis for this use of the product data, in particular the product weight, the product density, the product contour (outer shape), the product length and the inner product structure. The product structure is generally determined by the distribution of the individual product components. Also, holes contained in a cheese product may be referred to as a product component in this sense, as the number, size and distribution of the holes determine how the product can be cut into slices and portions that have predetermined conditions such as slice thickness, slice weight, number of slices per Portion and portion weight must meet. Other relevant product constituents are fat and other additives whose proportion and distribution in the product can be determined and incorporated in the control of the product feed.

In a preferred embodiment, it is the inserter 33 that controls the slicer and the device for dividing the products. This means that the division of the products in the area of the feed can already take into account the requirements in the individual tracks or streams with regard to the tendency for thicker or thinner panes.

The cutting up of products before slicing belongs to the state of the art. So far, however, the devices used for dicing are not flexible, i. the devices work with a fixed setting. Accordingly, so far the measurement of the products by means of a product scanner only after the cutting of the products, i. The process of dividing the products has so far not been influenced by data obtained through product measurement.

This known from the prior art procedure is therefore just reversed by this development of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

11

portion

13

product

15

Slicer, Slicer

19

cutting plane

21

Subordinate unit, packaging machine

23

gap

25

detector

27

portioning

29

grouping

31

buffer means

33

depositors

35

control device

37

product supply

38

product holder

39

loader

41

format set

Claims (15)

A method of producing a plurality of streams of portions (11) each comprising one or more slices obtained by slicing food products (13) by means of a slicer (15), in particular a high speed slicer, in which in a plurality of tracks juxtaposed products (13) are fed to a cutting blade moving in a cutting plane (19) of the slicing device (15), - Disconnected from the products (13) discs by means of the cutting blade, - From the separated slices portions (11) are formed, and the portions (11) are transported in multiple streams to a downstream unit (21), in particular a packaging machine, wherein the assignments of the currents are detected and the slicing is carried out in dependence on the recorded assignments. Method according to claim 1,
characterized,
that the slicing is performed on a track-by-track basis depending on differences in the assignments of the individual streams, and / or that the slicing is carried out in such a way that differences in the assignments of the individual streams are minimized. Method according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized,
that the assignments of the currents are respectively detected by detecting gaps (23) between the portions (11) of a respective stream and / or by determining the portion throughput in a respective stream, and / or
that the assignment is changed in a respective stream by at least one portion (11) is changed to an associated track of the slicing apparatus (15) of the discharge portion and / or at least one property, and / or
that the occupancy in a respective stream is changed by changing the portion yield per product (13) in an associated lane of the slicing apparatus (15), and / or
that the assignment is changed in a respective stream by the number of Beladeunterbrechungen is changed to an associated track of the slicing apparatus (15). Method according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the assignment is changed in a respective current by a desired value for the portion weight is changed in an associated track of the slicing apparatus (15), preferably by exploiting at least a predetermined tolerance, in particular a tolerance for the portion weight and / or a tolerance for the total weight a batch comprising a plurality of portions (11). Method according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the assignment is changed in a respective stream by in front of the cutting plane in an associated track of the slicing apparatus (15) a product order is changed taking into account product criteria, in particular product weight, product density, product contour, product structure and / or product length, and / or
that the assignment is changed in a respective current by the product length is changed in an associated track of the slicing apparatus (15), in particular by combining, sorting, rearranging, dividing and / or combining of products (13). Apparatus for generating a plurality of streams of portions (11) each comprising one or more disks a slicing apparatus (15), in particular a high-speed slicer, for producing the slices by slicing food products (13), - At least one transport device (27, 29, 31, 33) for transporting the portions (11) in a plurality of streams to a downstream unit (21), in particular a packaging machine, - Detection means (25) for detecting the assignments of the currents, and - A control device (35) which is adapted to control the device according to a method according to one of claims 1 to 5. Method for operating a plant for processing food products (13), which comprises a plurality of components, namely a device (15) for slicing the food products (13), in particular a high-speed slicer, and one or more devices (27, 29, 31) downstream of the slicing device , 33) for handling portions (11) each comprising one or more slices obtained by the slicing,
wherein the operation of the system at least partially each of one of Components are guided and the leadership is delivered in response to a change to one of the other components. Method according to claim 7,
characterized,
that after delivery of the guide to a downstream transport device (27, 29, 31, 33), in particular to a buffer device (31), in this the occupancies of the portion streams are detected and the slicing is carried out in dependence on the detected assignments, in particular according to one Method according to one of claims 2 to 5, and / or
in that when guided by a component which is not the slicing apparatus (15), the portion output of the slicing apparatus (15) is changed, in particular by changing the number of idle slices per unit time according to a method according to one of Claims 9 to 11. Method for operating a plant for processing food products (13), which comprises a plurality of components, namely a device (15) for slicing the food products (13), in particular a high-speed slicer, and one or more devices (27, 27) downstream of the slicing device (15) 29, 31, 33) for handling portions (11) each comprising one or more slices obtained by the slicing,
wherein at least temporarily the number of empty cuts per unit of time performed by the slicing apparatus (15) is changed as a function of the operating situation, wherein in particular a control is carried out in which the number of idle slices per unit time is the manipulated variable. Method according to claim 9,
characterized,
that is adjusted by the change in the ejection portion of the slicing apparatus (15) to the operation of a downstream packaging machine (21), and / or
in that, due to the change, the portion ejection of the slicing device (15) is increased following an at least partial emptying of a downstream transport device (27, 29, 31, 33), in particular a buffer device (31), and / or
in that the change reduces the portion ejection of the slicing apparatus (15) in each case during the slicing of product starts. Method according to claim 9 or 10,
characterized,
in that the change in the portion ejection of the slicing apparatus (15) in accordance with the operation of a downstream inserter (33) varies in time and is adapted to sequentially feed a plurality of portions (41) containing portions (11) to a packaging machine (21) to hand over. Method for operating a plant for processing food products (13), which comprises a plurality of components, namely a device (15) for slicing the food products (13), in particular a high-speed slicer, and one or more devices (27, 27) downstream of the slicing device (15) 29, 31, 33) for handling portions (11) each comprising one or more slices obtained by the slicing,
wherein, taking into account the operating state of at least one of the downstream devices (27, 29, 31, 33) and / or a product supply (37) the slicing device (15) is operated in such a way that, when slicing entire products (13) or predetermined subregions of products (13), uninterrupted portions (11) are formed in each case. Method according to claim 12,
characterized,
that slicing is only started when a predefinable or predefined occupancy of at least one portion stream of at least one downstream device (27, 29, 31, 33) is undershot, and / or
that is taken into account as an operating state of the portion of discharge and / or the format set ejection and / or the availability of a depositor (33) which is adapted in each case a plurality of portions (11) comprising tooling (41) one after the other to a packaging machine (21) to to hand over. Method according to claim 12 or 13,
characterized,
that at least one shim not belonging to a portion (11) is separated from the product (13) when cutting two immediately successive subareas of a product (13) before the portion formation from the second subarea, and / or that the operation of the slicing device (15 ) is carried out in dependence on the allocations of the portion streams, in particular according to a method according to one of claims 2 to 5. Plant for the processing of food products (13), with a device (15) for slicing the products (13), in particular a high-speed slicer, - One or more of the slicing device (15) downstream means (27, 29, 31, 33) for handling portions (11), each comprising one or more slices obtained by the slicing, and - A control device (35) which is adapted to operate the system according to a method according to one of claims 7 to 14.

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