IE20060838A1 - A product ejection paddle - Google Patents

Abstract

A cushioned rejection paddle for use in a product sorting machine, comprising: a paddle body having atleast one product-engaging face, and a plurality of flexibly resilient projections extending from said product-engaging face to cushion the impact of the paddle against a product to be rejected. <Figure 1.>

Description

The invention relates to the field of mechanical sorting machines, in particular to product ejection systems used in the food processing industry.

Background to the Invention A modern sorting machine, as used for sorting products in the fruit and vegetable 10 industry, has three main elements: 1) a conveyor for presenting the product to the vision system, 2) a vision system which views and inspects the product and makes the necessary decisions to accept or reject product, and 3) an ejection device which diverts the rejected product.

Such arrangements are typically used in processing factories or on harvesting machinery in the field.

Currently, when the vision system identifies an object to be ejected, it sends an 20 electronic signal to the ejector telling it for example to activate paddle no 34 to eject the potato which is travelling in its direction in a predetermined period of time.

The ejection device consists of a bank of electro pneumatic paddles. There are typically 16-60 paddles (ejectors) across the width of the conveyor, wherein the normal paddle width is 25 mm.

Each ejector comprises an arrangement of pneumatic components connected to a mechanical paddle or solid member or finger. The paddle is activated to achieve product (typically whole fruit and vegetable) ejection from an in-flight product stream.

Typically, the pneumatic components comprise electro pneumatic valves such as mass produced valves and off the shelf single acting or double acting cylinders.

Whilst improvements have been made to the vision system, few improvements have been made to the ejection device. The efficiency of the ejection device is limited by the efficiency of the major proprietary parts of such valves, cylinders etc.

Deficiencies in the aforementioned known systems include 1) Damage to ej ected product 2) Bruising of the ejected product 3) Lost opportunities to re-use, re-work or recycle the ejected product (which spoils rapidly as a consequence of the damage suffered during the ejection process). io To date, various attempts have been made to cushion the impact between the ejected product and the ejection system. Attempts such as the application of foam rubber, hollow flexible tubes, inflated tubes, etc. to ejector paddles have not achieved a satisfactory level of success in cushioning the impacts to the products, nor have they proved to be durable.

Other approaches to reducing the impacts to the product involve slower and/or smaller deflections from the main product stream. This results in less positive separation of the two product streams, longer product drops to separate the product and a consequent need to catch the product in long gradually curving chutes to decelerate the product gradually.

Object of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle with reduced 25 impact forces transmitted to the product to be ejected.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle which minimizes damage to the ejected product.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle which minimizes bruising of the ejected product. Ο ® 3*5 It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle which is durable.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle which, in spite of the reduced impact forces, can nevertheless achieve significant deflection of the ejected product from its normal trajectory in a short interval of both space and time.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle which will reduce spoiling of the ejected product, permitting it to be recycled for secondary uses or reworked for use as the primary product.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved ejector paddle suitable for use with a large variety of ejected products.

Summary of the Invention According to the present invention there is provided a cushioned ejection paddle for use in a product sorting machine, the paddle comprising: a paddle body having at least one product-engaging face, and a plurality of flexibly resilient projections extending from said product-engaging face to cushion the impact of the paddle against a product to be ejected.

It will be appreciated that the flexible nature of the projections will, in use when impacting a product to be ejected, deform against forces imparted by the product to provide a cushion effect to reduce the impact between the paddle and the product being ejected.

The projections may cover some or all of the product engaging surface of the paddle.

Means may be provided for mounting said plurality of projections onto said productengaging face of the paddle body.

Preferably the plurality of projections are rubber or other elastomeric material.

Preferably each projection is substantially frustoconical in shape.

According to one aspect of the invention, each projection comprises a tip, a base, and a 5 collar adjacent said base.

Preferably the cushioned ejection paddle further comprises a cushion base for supporting each of the plurality of projections, said cushion base being affixed to the product-engaging face of the paddle body. The cushion base may be stuck to the paddle body using an adhesive.

Preferably the cushion base is rubber or other elastomeric material. Preferably each projection is integrally formed on the cushion base, although in an alternative arrangement, the projections may be affixed to the cushion base. Preferably the cushion face covers substantially all of the product engaging face of the paddle body.

In alternative embodiments, the projections may be mounted directly onto the ejection paddle or be integral to the paddle.

Preferably each projection comprises a tip, a base, and a collar adjacent said base.

The plurality of projections may be aligned in at least one row.

According to one embodiment of the invention the cushioned ejection paddle comprises 25 two rows of projections, wherein each row is offset from the other to prevent alignment between projections in one row and projections in the other row.

Where the flexibly resilient projections are mounted on a base, the upstanding projection(s) extend therefrom. Preferably the base part is dimensioned to substantially match the product engaging surface of the paddle.

In one embodiment, the flexibly resilient material is rubber, although alternative materials may be employed. The main requirement of the material used is that it reduces the impact force of the paddle against a product to be ejected.

The invention further provides an impact reducing cushion for an ejection paddle of a product sorting machine, the cushion comprising: a base portion for mounting on a product-engaging face of an ejection paddle, and a plurality of flexibly resilient projections extending from the product-orientated face of the base portion to cushion the impact of the paddle against a product to be ejected.

Preferably each projection is substantially frustoconical in shape. Preferably each projection comprises a tip, a base, and a collar adjacent said base.

Preferably each projection of the impact reducing cushion is integrally formed on the base portion. Preferably the impact reducing cushion is dimensioned to cover substantially all of the product engaging face of an ejector paddle.

According to one embodiment, the plurality of projections are aligned in at least one row. Preferably two rows of projections are provided, wherein each row is offset from the other to prevent alignment between projections in one row and projections in the other row.

The invention further provides a method of cushioning an ejection paddle of a product sorting device comprising affixing an impact reducing cushion in accordance with the invention to a product engaging face of the ejector paddle.

The invention also provides a kit comprising an adhesive and at least one impact reducing cushion as described herein.

The product hit by the paddle and diverted into the eject stream is protected from impact damage. This product, while being diverted into a “reject” stream, is nonetheless still 1060838 suitable for certain uses. It may also be reworked by having the defect which led to its initial ejection being removed. If product is damaged or bruised in the ejection process these “rework” or “recycle” or “reuse” options are not possible and valuable product is lost and becomes a waste disposal liability. By significantly reducing or eliminating impact damage to the ejected product, increased product yields are achieved and the amount of waste is reduced.

The overall objectives set out and achieved by this invention are as follows: 1. To limit the impact forces transmitted to the ejected product to 20 g (with no more than 15% of impacts breaching this value and with the maximum breech of this threshold being a further 20 g). 2. To reduce or eliminate damage to the ejected product. 3. To increase overall yield from the production process. 4. To reduce product waste.

The advantages of the present invention include: 1. Reduced impact force (g force) applied to the products to be ejected (reduced from typical values of 20 g to 40 g for un-cushioned paddles to values ranging from 7 g to 20 g for the cushioned ejection paddle. 2. No impacts breeching the threshold of 20 g (i.e. 0% of impacts exceeding the threshold value). 3. Significantly reduced damage and bruise to ejected product. 4. Increased yield in the secondary/rework product streams.

. Reduced product waste. 6. Reduced waste disposal costs. 7. Long life and high durability of the cushion material (base and flexible projections) Brief Description of the Drawings The invention will be described with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a cushioned product ejection paddle in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of an impact reducing cushion in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cushion of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the cushion of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an end view of the cushion of Figure 2. io Detailed Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows a cushioned product ejection paddle 1 according to one embodiment of the invention.

The paddle comprises two distinct portions, a body portion 2 and a cushioning portion 4. The body 2 of the paddle is a typical 7” long eject paddle common in the trade.

The body of the paddle is provided with a contact face or surface 6 which would typically impact with the product to be ejected on prior art paddles.

Mounted on this contact face 6 is the cushioning part 4 of the paddle. The cushioning part has the form of a base portion 8 from which a plurality of upstanding projections or teeth 10 extend. At rest, the central axis of each projection 10 is at an angle of approximately 90° to the upper surface 12 of the base portion 8. The projections are both flexible and resilient. The flexible nature ensures that, in use, the projections deform upon contact with the product to be ejected, wherein they may bend partially over or lean to one side or even pivot about their base 14 to lay flat against upper surface 12. The resilient nature provides a certain amount of resistance to the deformation to prevent them simply giving way upon impact with a product. The resilience further allows the projections 10 to spring back to their at rest position when the contact with the ejected product is over. The projections act together as a kind of spring to reduce the impact of the paddle with the product being ejected. .j|9 6 θ 8 3» In this embodiment, the projections 10 are integral to the base portion 8. Each projection 10 is substantially frustoconical in shape with a collar portion 16 provided at the base 14 of each projection, between the base of the projections and surface 12. The collar portion imparts strength to the base of the projections to prevent the projections from being torn off the base portion 8.

The lower surface of the cushioning portion 4 is affixed to the upper surface 6 of the body portion 2 using an adhesive. It will be seen that the base portion 8 is dimensioned to cover substantially the whole of surface 6 of the body 2 of the paddle.

Figures 2 to 5 show a cushion 18 for a product ejection paddle according to one aspect of the invention. The cushion has a form identical to the cushion part of the paddle of Figure 1 and will be hereinafter described with reference to the paddle of Figure 1. As shown in Figure 4, the cushion contains two rows of projections 10, each row offset from the other so that the projections of each row are aligned between the projections of the other row. The base 8 is approximately 6mm thick and the projections or teeth 10 are approximately 12mm long.

The material of the cushion 18 (or cushioning part of the paddle in Figure 1) is rubber or other elastomeric material, wherein the body 2 of the paddle is typically a plastics material.

The resulting assembly provides a cushioned contact surface suitable for diverting food products in free flight from their normal trajectory into a separate “reject” stream with a significantly reduced tendency to cause bruise damage to the products thus diverted. ft will be appreciated that in alternative embodiments of the invention the paddle body may have an alternative shape. It will further be appreciated that the cushioning portion may take on a different form and/or be an integral part of the paddle body.

The words “comprises/comprising” and the words “having/including” when used herein with reference to the present invention are used to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in 5 the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Claims (24)

Claims

1. A cushioned ejection paddle for use in a product sorting machine, comprising: a paddle body having at least one product-engaging face, and a plurality of flexibly resilient projections extending from said product-engaging face to cushion the impact of the paddle against a product to be ejected.

2. A cushioned ejection paddle according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of projections are rubber or other elastomeric material.

3. A cushioned ejection paddle according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein each projection is substantially frustoconical in shape.

4. A cushioned ejection paddle according to any preceding claim wherein each projection comprises: a tip, a base, and a collar adjacent said base.

5. A cushioned ejection paddle according to any preceding claim, further comprising a cushion base for supporting each of the plurality of projections, said cushion base being affixed to the product-engaging face of the paddle body.

6. A cushioned ejection paddle according to claim 5 wherein said cushion base is rubber.

7. A cushioned ejection paddle according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein each projection is integrally formed on the cushion base.

8. A cushioned ejection paddle according to any of claims 5 to 7 wherein said cushion base covers substantially all of the product engaging face of the paddle body.

9. A cushioned ejection paddle according to any preceding claim wherein said plurality of projections are aligned in at least one row.

10. A cushioned ejection paddle according to any preceding claim comprising two rows of projections, wherein each row is offset from the other to prevent alignment between projections in one row and projections in the other row.

11. An impact reducing cushion for an ejection paddle of a product sorting machine, the cushion comprising: a base portion for mounting on a product-engaging face of an ejection paddle, and a plurality of flexibly resilient projections extending from a product-orientated face of the base portion to cushion the impact of the paddle against a product to be ejected.

12. An impact reducing cushion according to claim 11 wherein said base portion and said plurality of projections are rubber.

13. An impact reducing cushion according to claim 11 or claim 12 wherein each projection is substantially frustoconical in shape.

14. An impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 13 wherein each projection comprises: a tip, a base, and a collar adjacent said base.

15. An impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 14 wherein each projection is integrally formed on the base portion.

16. An impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 15 dimensioned to cover substantially all of the product engaging face of an ejector paddle. ]|3 8ft«36

17. An impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 16 wherein said plurality of projections are aligned in at least one row.

18. An impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 17 comprising two rows of projections, wherein each row is offset from the other to prevent alignment between projections in one row and projections in the other row.

19. A method of cushioning an ejection paddle of a product sorting device comprising affixing an impact reducing cushion in accordance with any of claims 11 to 18 to a product engaging face of the ejector paddle.

20. A kit for cushioning an ejection paddle of a product sorting device, the kit comprising an adhesive and at least one impact reducing cushion according to any of claims 11 to 18.

21. A cushioned ejector paddle substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

22. An impact reducing cushion substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

23. A method of cushioning an ejection paddle of a product sorting device substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

24. A kit for cushioning an ejection paddle of a product sorting device substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.