IE86643B1

IE86643B1 - Reorientating small lobsters

Info

Publication number: IE86643B1
Application number: IE20130358A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Thomas Patrick
Original assignee: Whitby Seafoods Ltd
Priority date: 2012-11-27
Filing date: 2013-11-27
Publication date: 2016-04-20
Also published as: GB2508249A; GB201303508D0; GB201221257D0; GB2510461A; GB201320950D0; GB2510240B; IE20130358A1; GB201320948D0; IE20130359A1; GB2510240A; IE86760B1; GB2508229A; GB201320949D0; IE20130357A1; GB2510461B; GB2510460A

Abstract

The present invention reorientates wrongly orientated Nephrops norvegicus such as small lobster along a channel in a downwardly inclined conveyor (12). Air is passed through jets (26) to cause the tails of the small lobster that face up the conveyor to flip over. The conveyor is vibrated to cause the small lobster to rest on their shells and to assist in moving the small lobster along the conveyor. <Figure 2>

Description

REORIENTATING SMALL LOBSTERS The present invention relates to a method for reorientating small lobsters. The present invention is particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to reorientating wrongly orientated Nephrops norvegicus.

It is known to remove the shells on tails of Nephrops norvegicus by placing the tails to rest on the shell and with the end of the tails leading the way on a conveyor. The tails are advanced towards two opposed drive rollers. As the tails pass between the rollers the shells move forward between the rollers and the meat is squeezed off the shells to fall into openings in the conveyor in advance of the opposed rollers.

The tails are placed within the shell and the ends of the tails leading by a manual operation. This is time-consuming. Further, the tails are floppy and they are difficult to handle and orientate, thus further increasing the time to effect the alignment.

A further problem is that the meat coming off the rollers is often damaged.

It is an object of the present invention to attempt to overcome at least one of the above or other disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of reorientating wrongly orientated elongate small lobsters to a correct orientation such that the lighter tail of the lobster leads comprises conveying the lobsters along a downwardly inclined conveyor and passing the lobsters over an at least partially upwardly directed air flow from the base of the conveyor such that the lighter trailing end tail of a lobster is engaged by the airflow to cause the lobster to flip over such that the lighter tail now leads.

The flow which may comprise the jet may operate periodically. The flow may comprise an air flow. The jet may comprise an air knife.

The flow which may be a jet flow may be longer in the direction of travel of articles on the conveyor than in a direction transverse to that direction. The jet may be at a different pressure or at a different volume at different locations of the air knife.

The jet may be applied through a plurality of openings in the conveyor. The diameter of at least some of the jets may be between 0.2mm and 4mm and is preferably 1mm. There may be between 20 and 120 openings and preferably there are 70 openings.

The flow, such as the jet may be at least upwardly and forwardly with respect to the base of the conveyor.

A plurality of jets spaced from each other may be arranged to impact on the articles. Both air jets may be arranged to impact simultaneously on the articles.

The present invention can be carried into practice in a number of ways and one embodiment will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a machine 10 arranged to align Nephrops norvegicus such as small lobster and to separate the shells from the meat; Figure 2 is a perspective view of part of a conveyer 12 used in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side view of supply station arranged to feed Nephrops norvegicus to the machines of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a plan view of the end region of the conveyor shown in figure 1; Figure 5 is a detailed view of the end region of the conveyor shown in figure 1, and Figure 6 is a plan view of part of the conveyor; Figure 7 is an alternative embodiment showing an alternative section of the machine 10 in the region of the alignment; Figure 8 is a detail of a deflector, and Figure 9 is a perspective view of an alternative end region of the machine showing how the meat is separated from the shell.

As shown in Figure 1, the machine 10 includes a hopper 14 arranged to convey small lobster 16 from the hopper onto a conveyor 12. Whilst only one conveyor is shown a plurality of conveyors may be provided which plurality of conveyors may be side by side or parallel to each other or both. The conveyer 12 supplies the small lobster onto a transporter 18 that feeds the small lobster through opposed driven rollers 20 that strip the meat off the tails in a known manner. The conveyor 12 includes a channel that is narrower in width than the lengths of the small lobster. The shells of the small lobster passes through the rollers which shells are later dispersed of. The meat is squeezed off the shell and passes through openings 22 in advance of the rollers for subsequent processing.

The conveyor 12, which may be a conveyor inclined downwardly at an angle of between 10° and 30° as shown at 17 for instance towards the transporter 18, may be vibrated to orientate the small lobster such that the small lobster rests on its shell 40 with the meat 42 facing upwardly. The vibration effects this orientation as a result of the heaviest part of the small lobster being in the shell region of the small lobster. The vibration is effected by an eccentric drive 24. The vibration may be continuous or periodic. The vibration assists in causing the small lobster to move down the conveyor. When the lobsters are on their backs or shells they proceed rapidly down the conveyor: on their fronts the meat and the spines from the shells impedes their progress.

Some small lobster on the conveyor will have the tails 44 facing forwardly. Other small lobster will have the tails facing rearwardly. In order to ensure that all of the small lobster leaves the conveyor with the tails facing forwardly, a jet, such as an air jet 29 which may be an air knife, is supplied through the base 26 of the conveyor from a pump 27. The air may be continuously or periodically supplied. The period of air supply may correspond to the period of vibration of the conveyor. There may be more than one such air jet which is spaced from the first air jet.

The rate of flow of air supplied may be between 2 L/M and 16 L/M and is preferably 4 L/M for the trailing air jet and 10 L/M for the leading air jet. The base 26 of the conveyor may include between 5 and 20 openings and is preferably supplied through 10 openings. The diameter of at least some of the openings may be between 4 mm and 0.2 mm and is preferably 1 mm. At least one or some of the openings may be forward facing such as at an angle of 45° to the base of the conveyor in the direction of travel of the lobsters. Alternatively or additionally the or each air jet may comprise an air knife slit which may be longer than it is wide. The air through such slits may enter at an inclusive angle to channel of less than 60° such as 30°. The air through such slits may have a different pressure and or volume of air at different locations along the slit which may assist in altering the orientation of products. The air jets may be attached to the conveyor or may be separate from the conveyor.

Either as a result of the end of the tails being lighter than the rest of the small lobster or as a result of the end of the tails having a greater cross-sectional area than the remainder of the small lobster, the tail end regions of the small lobster are caused to be raised as the small lobster passes over the air jets. When the end of the tail leads the small lobster over the jets, the ends of the tails may rise up slightly. However, as the conveyor is inclined downwardly, this raising of the ends of the tails is not sufficient to cause the tails to flip over. However when the ends of the tails face upstream on the conveyor, the raising of the ends of the tails is sufficient to cause the ends of the tails to flip over and to reorientate the tails with the ends leading. This is assisted by the downwards inclination of the conveyor which makes the flipping more readily able to occur. When there is more than one air jet and the tail is facing the wrong way the tail end will lift to bring the tail end into the move concentrated part of the air flow. This brings the other end of the lobster touches the channel causing friction which allows the combination of the two slightly spaced apart air knifes to turn the tail over. There may be a local constriction in the width of the channel in the lower region of the channel on the trailing end of the slit of the upstream slit or the downstream slit or both to assist in the friction effect. Such a local constriction may also assist in allowing different sized products such as the lobster tails to be turned over when required.

Figures 7 and 8 show an alternative arrangement for flipping incorrectly aligned products such that the previously trailing tails are caused to flip over such that the tails subsequently lead.

As shown in Figure 6 air may be directed downwardly and forwardly such as from one side of a conveyor 102 which angle may be 45° to the longitudinal extent of the conveyor 102, such as through a pipe 104. The air may impinge against the base 106 of the conveyor and may also be directed at least partially across the conveyor and may, alternatively or . additionally be at least partially directed towards a deflector 108. The air supply may create a vortex.

The deflector 108 may be mounted on the side of the conveyor and may be mounted on the same side as the pipe 104.

In use, a correctly orientated product will advance towards the deflector. As the article approaches the deflector 108 air is directed at least partially upwardly beneath the tail to cause the air to rise above a constriction 110 of the deflector to allow the product to hop over the deflector which may be at least partially through a recess 112 in the deflector.

An incorrectly oriented product will advance towards the constriction and may momentarily abut the constriction 110.

The tail may be subject to an upwardly directed force of air which may cause the tail fins to fan out thereby increasing the force urging the tail upwardly. The tail may also be urged to twist slightly as a result of air acting across the extent of the conveyor. The tail is then caused to flip upwardly and forwardly to fly past and over the tail such that the product leaves the constructor with the tail now leading.

The deflector and any of its features may be incorporated into any of the embodiments.

Furthermore any features of the first embodiment may be incorporated into the embodiment referred to in Figures 6 and 7.

Downstream of the air jets and upstream of the end of the conveyor 12 an inclined turner such as a blade 64 may be provided or shown in Figure 4. The blade 64 may extend from the base 26 of the conveyor and may extend up one side 64 of the conveyor. The blade may assist some of the product 62 which may be on its side, as opposed to on its back, to move onto its back. The product 62 includes small barbs on the shell that engage with the blade 64 to further assist in turning the products to resting on their shell.

Figure 4 also shows a guide 68 which may be provided. The guide may extend beyond the end of the conveyor. The guide may comprise a wire guide. The guide may extend forwardly and downwardly with respect to the inclination of the conveyor 12. The guide 68 may be connected to a non vibrating part 70 of the machine as shown in Figure 5. This connection may serve to limit the vibration of the guide from that of conveyor 12.

When the leading tail of a lobster on its back comes to the wire guide part of the tail is initially between the wire guide and the side of the channel. Then part of that side of the shell comes between the wire guide and the shell. This causes the lobster tail to flick over such that the meat now faces downwardly as it leaves the conveyor 12. The meat is then stripped from the rollers as previously described. The meat coming off the shell from the underside of the shell rather than from the top side.

It will be appreciated that the meat can be extracted from the shell from either orientation of the product.

Sometimes the small lobsters may be curled up which be due to rigor mortis. Previously such curled products have to be straightened by hand. Figure 3 shows a supply station so that straightens such products.

The small lobsters are fed between a conveyor 52 and an upper stationary member 54. Whilst the member 54 has been described as a stationary member it will be appreciated that the member 54 may flex - it is only stationary relative to the movement of the conveyor.

The small lobsters are fed between a conveyor 52 and the upper stationary member 54. The upper stationary member may be a planar member which may be a rubber member. Alternatively the upper member 54 may comprise a profiled member which may comprise a corrugated member which corrugations may extend transverse such as perpendicular to the direction of travel 58 of the conveyor 52. The corrugations may be formed of rubber or plastic. The stationary member may abut the conveyor when no articles are between the conveyor and the stationary member. Alternatively the stationary member may be spaced from the conveyor, even when no articles are between these members.

As a result of the reduced height between the stationary member and the conveyor the curl the products may be reduced or eliminated such that the products 60 exit the upper member 54 in a straightened condition. The products may not necessarily be aligned. The conveyor 52 then feeds the products on the conveyor 12 shown in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 6 a deflector 72 is provided on one side wall 74 of the conveyor. The deflector may be coextensive with the air jet or partially coextensive ordownstream of the air jet. Air from the jet may be directed forwardly and upwardly and the deflector may cause the air from the jet to be directed also towards the other side wall 76. In this way some of the lobsters may be directed up the other side wall.

A ramp 78 projects upwardly from the side wall 76. The ramp may be a wall that may be curved. Some products may ride up the ramp which may assist in returning the products to the base 26 of the conveyor. The ramp may include a vertical extent along part of its length and a part of the ramp may be angled to face downwardly.

Figure 8 shows a separation part 112 of the machine arrangement to remove meat 114 from the shell16.

The separation part may include one part having a protrusion 118 such as curved or arced protrusion 118 which may be an upper part facing a recess 120 such as a curved or arcuate recess 120.

At least one of the protrusion 118 or recess 120 may be movable such that a tail nipped between them is urged forwardly and such that the meat is stripped from the shell. At least one of the recess or protrusion may be rotatable. When both rotate they may rotate in opposite directions and they may rotate at different peripheral speeds. For instance the protrusion 118 may rotate at a peripheral speed faster than the recess 120 such as a ratio of less than 8:1 or less than 6:1 or more that 2:1 or more than 3:1 or in the region of 4.4:1. The protrusion may rotate at 157rpm and the recess may rotate at 36rpm.

As the nip between the recess and the protrusion is such that the shell is gripped and forced through the recess and protrusion the meat is unable to pass through the nip and is directed to one sie or the other of the nip. The shell continues through the nip in the direction of the nip. In this way the shell is collected at a separate location to the meat downstream of the separation part. This contrasts with the conventional method of separation where rollers effect the separation with the meat being collected in the gaps in a flat conveyor in advance of the rollers. In this conventional method of separation meat that may slightly to one side of a gap is crushed by the convenor and the rollers to become waste product.

The recess and the protrusion may be resiliently based towards each other and may be resiliently based into contact with each other by means (not shown).

The recess portion and the protrusion may grip at least the central portion or only the central region of the tail and may affect removal of at least some of the veins of the meat.

The recess and the protrusion may have the same radius or may have different radii. The recess may have a greater curve or arc than the curve or arc of the protrusion The speed of removal of the meat may cause the meat to move beyond the recessed portion and the nip in the same general direction that the shell is caused to travel but to one side or the other.

Claims

1. A method of reorientating wrongly orientated elongate small lobsters to a correct orientation such that the lighter tail of the lobster leads comprising conveying the lobsters along a conveyor and passing the lobsters over an at least partially upwardly directed air flow from the base of the conveyor such that the lighter trailing end tail of a lobster is engaged by the air flow to cause the lobster to flip over such that the lighter tail now leads.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the flow is effected by directing the flow at least partially downwardly with the flow impacting on a base of the conveyor beneath an article and then at being directed upwardly.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the flow passes at least partially across the extent of the conveyor.

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim in which the flow impacts on a deflector downstream of the commencement of the flow which deflector extends at least partially across the conveyor.

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including a constrictor downstream of the commencement of the flow engaged by the leading end of an incorrectly orientated lobster.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which a correctly orientated article is arranged to be urged by the flow past a constrictor.

7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim in which the conveyer is inclined downwardly in the direction of intended travel of the articles.

8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim in which the conveyer included a channel along which lobsters pass.

9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including vibration means in vibrating the conveyer.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, in which the vibration cause all of the lobsters to lie on the conveyer with the same part of the lobster facing downwards.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 or 10 in which the vibration means at least partially assist in moving the lobsters along the conveyer.

12. A method as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11, in which the vibration or the operation of air flow or both occur periodically, for instance at the same time.

13. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including a turner located on the conveyor, the turner being engaged by lobsters on the conveyor whereby in the, any lobsters on their side are turned such that they do not lie on their side.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the turner comprises a projection extending upwardly from the base of the conveyor.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14 in which the projection extends upwardly from the base and forwardly with respect to the direction in which lobsters are conveyed.

16. A method as claimed in claim 15 which the projection is inclined to one side of the conveyor.

17. A method as claimed in any of claims 13 to 16 in which the turner is located downstream of the flow.

18. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including a guide that turns lobsters not already correctly orientated to be guided onto a surface in the correct orientation.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 when dependent on any of claims 14 to 18 or any claim when dependent on any of claims 10 to 13 in which the guide is connected to a part that does not vibrate.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 in which the guide is also connected to the conveyor.

21. A method as claimed in any of claims 18 to 20 in which the guide comprises a wire.

22. A method as claimed in any of claims 13 to 21 in which projections on the product are engaged with the guide to effect the reorientation.

23. A method as claimed in any preceding claim including a ramp on one side wall of the conveyor assisting in retaining at least some lobsters on the conveyor after they have been impacted by the flow.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23 in which the ramp extends above the remainder of the side wall.

25. A method as claimed in claim 23 or 24 in which the ramp includes a vertical extent.

26. A method as claimed in any of claims 23 to 25 in which the ramp includes a portion that particularly faces downwardly towards the conveyor.

27. A method as described in any of claims 1 to 26 in which the small lobsters comprise Nephrops Norvegicus orientation apparatus.

28. A method as claimed in any preceding claim in which the cross-sectional area of the one end region of wrongly orientated lobsters is greater than the crosssectional area of at least some of the remainder of the lobsters such that the force exerted by the flow is greater on the end region whereby the force exerted by the flow assists in causing the wrongly facing articles to flip over.

29. A method as claimed in claim 28 in which the greater cross-sectional area is caused to increase by the force of the flow.

30. A method as claimed in claim 28 or 29 in which the weight of the wrongly orientated lobsters is greater towards a leading region of the article than it is towards a trailing region to assist in causing the jet to flip over the wrongly facing lobsters.

31. A method as claimed in any of claims 28 to 30 including an abutment which an incorrectly orientated lobster abuts whilst the flow is applied at least partially upwardly on the lobster.