JPH09154472A - Rolling of plastic food material and device therefore - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for rolling a plastic food material, capable of accurately rolling a belt-like dough tape made up from the plastic food material such as a pie dough on a mandrel, and to provide a device therefor. SOLUTION: This method for rolling the plastic food material comprises a problem-resolving means comprising obliquely cutting a dough sheet S prepared by extending the plastic food and subsequently winding the produced parallelogrammic dough tape T on a mandrel P in a state that the mutually faced parallel sides t, t forming the short sides of the dough tape T are orthogonal to the mandrel P. The rolling method unnecessitates a process for converting the posture direction of the dough tape, is not liable to cause the slippage of the position and direction of the dough tape, and can accurately roll the dough tape.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming a roll of a plastic food material, and more particularly, a belt-shaped plastic food material such as pie dough is gradually placed on the outer peripheral surface of a cored bar. The present invention relates to a roll-forming method of a plastic food material that can be rolled up in a spiral shape while partially overlapping food materials with each other, and a roll-forming apparatus used in this method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The so-called "corne pie", in which a band-shaped pie dough of a certain width is spirally wound around a conical or cylindrical pipe core metal and baked, is popular in Japan as well as other baked Western confectioneries. At present, a roll forming machine that mechanizes the work of winding a band-shaped pie dough around a core metal has been developed, and is mass-produced industrially.

However, the conventional roll forming machine was developed with reference to the procedure of the manual winding work, and thus the accuracy of the roll forming is difficult and it is not suitable for high speed processing.

That is, in a conventional roll forming machine, as shown in FIG. 1, a pie dough sheet is first cut into a predetermined width to produce a rectangular pie dough, and a belt in which the rectangular pie dough is obliquely arranged. By transferring to the conveyor, the posture direction of the pie dough was changed obliquely with respect to the core metal, and then the pie dough was spirally wound around the core metal. Therefore, the posture change angle and transfer position of the pie dough due to the transfer to the oblique conveyor will inevitably vary and the pie dough will fly at this oblique conveyor part, so it will not work much. The reality was that we couldn't increase the speed.

In the case of manual winding work, it is possible to roll-form while adjusting the posture direction of the pie dough with a fingertip even during winding. However, in the case of the conventional roll forming machine, even if there is a deviation in the posture direction of the pie dough when transferring the conveyor, there is no way to roll it up as it is, and even if you add a correction mechanism to adjust the deviation of the pie dough It was extremely difficult to mechanize the subtle movements of.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is capable of accurately roll-forming a strip-shaped dough tape made of a plastic food material onto a core metal without deviation, and is capable of high-speed processing. It is a technical object to provide a roll forming method and an apparatus therefor.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional roll forming machine, the inventor of the food industry who seeks mechanization of roll forming with reference to the manual winding procedure. The above problem was solved by adopting the following technical means after trial and error, based on the idea that the method of roll forming itself needs to be reconsidered rather than being confined to the conventional way of thinking.

[0008] That is, in order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention produces a parallelogram-shaped strip-shaped cloth tape T made of a plastic food material, and the parallelogram-shaped cloth tape T is formed.
With a set of parallel opposite sides t · t orthogonal to the core P,
While partially overlapping the fabric tapes T, the fabric tapes T
The technical means of spirally winding the core metal P on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P was adopted.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention spreads a plastic food material and rolls a dough sheet S around a roll axis R in a spread state at a required angle with respect to the roll unwinding direction. A cloth cutter 1 that continuously produces a plurality of parallelogram-shaped belt-shaped cloth tapes T by obliquely cutting; and a core P arranged parallel to the roll axis R to rotate the cloth of parallelogram shape. In a state where a pair of parallel opposite sides t · t of the tape T are orthogonal to the core metal P, the material tape T is spirally formed on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while partially overlapping the material tapes T with each other. The technical means called the dough winding means 3 which is wound up in the direction is adopted.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. 1 is a simplified conceptual diagram illustrating a conventional roll forming method, FIG. 2 is a simplified conceptual diagram illustrating a roll forming method according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a roll of a plastic food material as an embodiment of the present invention. 8 is a schematic side view of the forming apparatus, FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an essential part of the apparatus, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views of an essential part showing a roll forming state of the apparatus. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a roll forming operation of the device, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part for explaining a configuration of a collet mechanism of a cloth winding means in the device.

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a dough tape T is produced in a parallelogram shape from a dough sheet S formed by spreading a plastic food material such as a pie dough, and parallel opposite sides forming short sides of the parallelogram. With t and t orthogonal to the core P,
The greatest feature is that the epoch-making winding method of winding on the core metal P is adopted. Conventional winding method (see Fig. 1)
Unlike the above, according to the present invention, since the step of changing the orientation direction of the material tape T is not necessary, it is possible to perform the roll forming accurately and at high speed without fear that the position / direction deviation of the material tape T may occur. . The plastic food material roll forming apparatus of the present embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, what is designated by reference numeral 1 is
It is a straight-blade dough cutter that moves up and down by the forward / backward movement of the air cylinder 10 fixed to the device base F with a stay 11, and the dough cutter 1 is made of pie dough or the like that is extended and rolled around a roll axis R. Dough sheet S (see FIG. 5)
Is cut in the spread state. The dough cutter 1 is obliquely arranged at a required angle with respect to the unwinding direction of the dough sheet S, and cuts the dough sheet S obliquely by a constant width to form parallel opposite sides t · t forming short sides. A strip-shaped parallelogram cloth tape T, which faces the shore side in the transport direction, is continuously produced.

The dough cutter 1 is arranged at an angle of stay 11
(See FIG. 4), it is possible to easily produce a parallelogram cloth tape T having a desired diagonal angle. A water drop tube 12 is attached to the side of the straight-blade cloth cutter 1 along the cloth cutter 1. In the lower part of the water drop tube 12, a plurality of water drop holes 12a
a ... has been established, and when the fabric tape T is cut and produced,
Drops of water ww on one side of the surface of the cloth tape T are linearly drip.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, what is designated by reference numeral 2 is
A dough conveyor having a conveyor belt 21 that is driven by a motor 20 and performs a conveying operation in the roll unwinding direction. The dough conveyor 2 of the present embodiment is arranged below the dough cutter 1, and A core metal P arranged in parallel with the roll axis R without changing the posture direction of the cut and produced parallelogram-shaped cloth tape T and without causing a positional deviation in the width direction of the conveyor belt 21. Accurately convey to the position.

Further, what is designated by reference numeral 5 is a motor 50.
Is an unwinding conveyor having a conveyor belt 51 that is driven by a roller to carry out a conveying operation in the roll unwinding direction. The unwinding conveyor 5 is arranged upstream of the dough conveyor 2 and is wound into a roll. The S is unwound by the required length and sent to the dough cutter 1. That is, in the unwinding conveyor 5, the roll winding material sheet S with the roll shaft R rotatably locked by the locking tool 52 provided on the apparatus base F.
Is configured to be placed, and by intermittently carrying the dough sheet S while it is placed,
The dough sheet S is unwound by the required length.

In this embodiment, as described above, the unwinding conveyor 5 that positively unwinds the dough sheet S is the dough conveyor 2.
Since the dough cutter 1 is provided on the upstream side of the dough and the dough cutter 1 for obliquely cutting the unwound dough sheet S is installed in the middle of the carrying path of the dough conveyor 2, both the unwinding conveyor 5 and the dough conveyor 2 are carried at the same time. By operating the dough sheet S, it is possible to accurately feed the dough sheet S to the cutter cutting position by a required length. Further, by operating only the dough conveyor 2 while the unwinding conveyor 5 is stopped, the dough sheet S is moved. It is possible to accurately convey only the fabric tape T to the core P without moving S.

Further, in the present embodiment, this unwinding conveyor 5
Stopper that holds the dough sheet S above and near the downstream of the
55 are arranged. The stopper 55 moves up and down by the advancing and retracting movement of the air cylinder 55a fixed to the apparatus base F by the stay 54b, holds the fabric sheet S only when the fabric tape T is transported, and the fabric conveyor 2 transports the fabric tape T. The dough sheet S is securely fixed in position so that the dough sheet S does not move while being hung up. The stopper 55 of this embodiment is provided with a plurality of pins 55b, 55b, ... , I try to vent gas when baking the dough sheet.

Further, two circular ear cutters 53, 53 and a brush 54 for sweeping the hand powder of the cloth sheet S are arranged in the middle of the conveying path of the unwinding conveyor 5. The unwound fabric sheet S is adjusted to have a constant width by the cutting action of the two ear cutters 53, 53 that are adjusted and arranged at required intervals,
After the hand powder on the surface is swept out by the brush 54 that moves forward and backward in the width direction of the cloth sheet by the air cylinder 54a fixed to the apparatus base F with the stay 54b, the cloth powder is conveyed to the cutting position of the cloth cutter 1. . In addition, ear cutter
Excessive fabric cut by 53 ・ 53 is unwind conveyor 5
Boxes 53b and 53 by guides 53a and 53a installed on both sides of
It is accommodated in b.

In the figure, what is indicated by reference numeral 3 is a dough conveyor 2 while the pipe-shaped core metal P on which the dough tape T is to be wound is kept parallel to the roll axis R.
It is a dough winding means that is driven to rotate at the same speed as the transport speed of. The cloth tape T conveyed and guided by the cloth conveyer 2 is brought into contact with a core metal P which rotates at the same speed as the conveying speed, whereby a set of parallel opposite sides t
In the state where t is orthogonal to the core metal P, the material tapes T are wound on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P in a spiral shape while partially overlapping each other (see FIGS. 6 and 7). Since the water drops ww are dropped by the water drop tube 12 at the portion where the material tapes overlap each other, the material tapes are surely adhered to each other to perform a steady winding operation.

As described above, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the strip-shaped cloth tape T is produced in a parallelogram shape, and the parallel opposite sides t · t are made to be orthogonal to the core bar P and are roll-formed on the core bar P. Therefore, the step of changing the orientation direction of the material tape T is not required, and the positional and directional deviation of the material tape T does not occur, and the accuracy of roll forming is improved. Moreover, since the step of trimming both ends of the material tape T after the roll forming is not necessary, the roll forming itself can be greatly simplified.

In the present embodiment, in order to assist the forming of the take-up roll of the cloth tape T, the motor 42 (see FIG. 3) is provided at the same downstream speed as the rotation speed of the core bar P by the motor 42 at the downstream end of the cloth conveyor 2. An auxiliary roller 4 that rotates at high speed is provided.
The auxiliary roller 4 of the present embodiment is formed by using a large-diameter soft synthetic resin sponge material, and as shown in FIG. 8, the auxiliary roller 4 comes into contact with the material tape T being wound on the core metal P and at the same time, the material tape. The dough conveyors 2 that convey T also contact each other in a rubbing state. This prevents the cloth tape T from being caught by the cloth conveyor 2 and falling to the back side.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a pressing roller 45 for pressing the rear end side of the material tape T at the time of roll forming is arranged to form a reliable winding roll. It is possible. After the roll forming is completed, the auxiliary roller 4 is retracted from the core P position by the expanding operation of the air cylinder 40 (see FIG. 3) and the pressing roller 45 is retracted by the air cylinder 44.

As shown in FIG. 4, the dough winding means 3 of the present embodiment is composed of a turret mechanism which has a total of four rotary shafts 31, 31 ... Has been done. At the tip of each rotating shaft 31, there is formed a tip crack portion 32 of an internal collet chuck structure for supporting the pipe core metal P on the inner wall surface of the pipe, and the core metal P is detachably attached to the tip crack portion 32. Be fitted. The metal bar P is provided at four turning positions of the dough winding means 3 including the turret mechanism.
Mechanisms for automating the attachment / detachment work and the like are provided respectively.

That is, at the turning position on the opposite side of the roll forming portion of the dough winding means 3, there is provided a mounting mechanism 6 for fitting the core bar P into the cracked portion 32. At the turning position on the downstream side, an oil applying mechanism 7 for applying a releasing oil is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cored bar P fitted in the cracked portion 32. At the swivel position, the transport downstream end of the dough conveyor 2 is arranged. Further, at the swivel position on the swirl downstream side from the transport downstream end of the dough conveyor 2, the core metal wound with the dough tape T. A removing mechanism 8 is provided for removing P from the cracked portion 32.

The mounting mechanism 6 includes a stocker 62 which is capable of accommodating a large number of core bars P provided on the apparatus base F, and an air cylinder 60.
The stocker 62 core bar P · P ...
And a pusher 61 that pushes out in the direction of the rotary shaft 31 in order from the lowest one, and the core bar P is pressed into the cracked portion 32 of the rotary shaft 31.

The oiling mechanism 7 is an air cylinder fixed to the base F of the apparatus by a stay 72 and moving up and down.
The air cylinder 70 includes a lifting piece 71 fixed to the air cylinder 70 and a lifting piece 71 having a sponge portion impregnated with a release oil. By lowering the lifting piece 71, the oil-containing sponge portion is brought into contact with the cored bar P, and the cored bar P rotates in this state, so that the release oil is evenly applied on the outer peripheral surface of the pipe.

At the next turning position on the downstream side of turning of the oil applying mechanism 7, the core bar P is driven to be wound and rotated by the rotating shaft 31, and the take-up roll forming of the dough tape T is performed on the dough conveyor 2. It is done. The rotary drive mechanism of the rotary shaft 31 will be described later. Further, the rotation speed of the rotation shaft 31 can be appropriately set and changed by a controller (not shown), and at the beginning of winding the fabric tape T, the tape end portion is not peeled off from the core metal P by centrifugal force. Slowly rotate the core P,
After that, it is possible to appropriately increase the rotation speed of the rotary shaft 31.

The removing mechanism 8 arranged at the most downstream position of turning of the cloth winding means 3 includes a horizontal air cylinder 80a fixed to the apparatus base F by a stay 82, and this horizontal air cylinder.
Vertical air cylinder fixed to the piston rod of 80a
80b and an inverted U-shaped hooking piece 81 fixed to the piston rod portion of the vertical air cylinder 80b. The latching piece 81 descends by the extension operation of the vertical air cylinder 80b and straddles the rotary shaft 31, and performs the horizontal movement while the end of the core bar P is locked by the retracting operation of the horizontal air cylinder 80a. Roll-processed core bar P
Is removed from the rotary shaft 31. The core bar P removed from the cracked portion 32 is conveyed to a predetermined position by the take-out conveyor 9 having a conveyor belt 91 that is conveyed by a motor 92.

Next, the turret mechanism of the cloth winding means 3 is
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 9, what is indicated by reference numeral 30 is a turret head that supports a rotary shaft 31 via a total of four bearing members 30a. This turret head 30
Is fixed to an upper end portion 36 of a pipe-shaped turning shaft member 37 that is axially supported inside the housing H.
Through the swing gear 37a and the motor gear 38a.
When the turret head 30 is driven to rotate by, the turret head 30 performs a turning operation by a horizontal angle of 90 °.

Each rotating shaft 31 supported by the turret head 30
The rotational movement of 31 ... Is performed by the motor 35. That is, the rotary gear 34a that meshes with the motor gear 35a of the motor 35.
Rotatably drives the rotary shaft member 34, and the bevel gear 33b at the upper end of the rotary shaft member 34 moves the bevel gear 33 at the rear end of each rotary shaft 31.
The rotary shafts 31 are rotationally driven by meshing with a. In addition, the cracked portion 32 formed at the tip of each rotating shaft 31
Screw members 32a screwed to the rotary shaft 31 are provided inside the respective shafts. By moving the screw members 32a forward and backward, the distance between the front cracks of the front cracks 32 can be adjusted.

With the above structure, the dough winding means 3 of the present embodiment rotates the rotary shafts 31, 31 ... At horizontal angles of 90 ° and rotates the rotary shaft 31 at each rotary position to rotate the rotary shafts 31. The release oil is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the cored bar P fitted in the cracked portion 32 of 31 and the cloth tape T is wound and roll-formed.

Although the embodiment which is a specific example of the present invention is generally configured as described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications may be made within the scope of the claims. Is possible.

For example, in the present embodiment, the dough tape T is roll-formed on the cylindrical core bar P, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the dough tape is roll-formed on the conical core bar. Is also possible. In this case, the downstream end portion of the dough conveyor 2 is slightly twisted in order to make the generatrix of the conical core metal fitted on each rotary shaft 31 of the dough winding means 3 parallel to the downstream end portion of the dough conveyor 2. It should be arranged.

[0034]

As described above with reference to the embodiments, in the present invention, a parallelogram-shaped dough tape is produced from a dough sheet on which a plastic food material is spread, and the parallel opposite sides of the parallelogram are used as cores. Since a winding method is adopted in which the material tape is wound in a state of being orthogonal to each other, the step of changing the orientation direction of the fabric tape is unnecessary, and there is no fear that the fabric tape position / direction shift will occur. It is possible to perform roll forming accurately and at high speed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified conceptual diagram illustrating a conventional roll forming method.

FIG. 2 is a simplified conceptual diagram illustrating a roll forming method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a roll forming apparatus for a plastic food material, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the roll forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a main part of the roll forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of relevant parts showing a state of roll forming by the roll forming apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a cloth tape roll-formed by the roll-forming apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part for explaining the action of an auxiliary roller of the roll forming apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a main-portion cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of the collet mechanism of the dough winding means in the roll forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 R Roll shaft S Fabric sheet T Fabric tape t Parallel opposite sides P Core bar 1 Fabric cutter 2 Fabric conveyor 3 Fabric winding means 31 Rotating shaft 32 Tip cracked portion 4 Auxiliary roller 5 Unwinding conveyor 6 Mounting mechanism 7 Oiling mechanism 8 Removal mechanism

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A parallelogram-shaped strip-shaped cloth tape T made of a plastic food material is produced, and a set of parallel opposite sides t · t of the parallelogram-shaped cloth tape T is orthogonal to a core bar P. A roll-forming method for a plastic food material, characterized in that the dough tape T is spirally wound around the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while partially overlapping the dough tape T with each other. 2. A plastic food material is spread and a dough sheet S rolled around a roll axis R is unwound, and the unrolled spread sheet S is obliquely cut at a required angle with respect to the roll unwinding direction. By doing so, a plurality of parallelogrammic strip-shaped fabric tapes T are continuously produced, and a pair of parallel opposite sides t · t thus produced are orthogonal to the core bar P. Then, a roll-forming method of a plastic food material, characterized in that the material tape T is spirally wound around the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while the material tapes T are partially overlapped with each other. 3. A plastic food material is spread and a dough sheet S rolled around a roll axis R is unwound, and the unrolled spread sheet S is obliquely cut at a required angle with respect to the roll unwinding direction. By doing so, a plurality of parallelogram-shaped strip-shaped cloth tapes T are continuously produced, and the cloth tapes T
Of the core metal P arranged in parallel with the roll axis R by the dough conveyor 2 which carries out the conveying operation in the roll unwinding direction.
By guiding the material tape T to the position of, and bringing the guided material tape T into contact with a core metal P that rotates at the same speed as the transportation speed, a set of parallel opposite sides t · t of the material tape T is connected to the core metal P. A roll-forming method for a plastic food material, characterized in that the dough tapes T are spirally wound on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while the dough tapes T are partially overlapped with each other in a state where they are orthogonal to each other. 4. A plurality of parallelogram-shaped strip-shaped doughs obtained by spreading a plastic food material and winding a dough sheet S rolled around a roll axis R in a spread state at a predetermined angle with respect to the roll unwinding direction. A cloth cutter 1 for continuously producing a tape T; and a core bar P arranged in parallel with the roll axis R is rotated to form a set of parallel opposite sides t · t of the parallelogram-shaped cloth tape T. And a cloth winding means 3 for spirally winding the cloth tape T on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while partially overlapping the cloth tapes T in a state of being orthogonal to the gold P. A roll forming device for plastic food materials, characterized by: 5. A plurality of parallelogram-shaped doughs formed by spreading a plastic food material and rolling a dough sheet S around a roll axis R in a spread state at a predetermined angle with respect to the roll unwinding direction. A dough cutter 1 for continuously producing the tape T; a dough conveyor 2 for carrying out a carrying operation in a roll unwinding direction and carrying and guiding the dough tape T to a position of a core bar P arranged in parallel with the roll axis R. And; by rotating the core metal P at the same speed as the conveyance speed of the material conveyor 2, a set of parallel opposite sides t · t of the parallelogram-shaped material tape T is orthogonal to the core metal P. A cloth winding means 3 for spirally winding the cloth tape T on the outer peripheral surface of the core metal P while partially overlapping the cloth tapes T with each other;
An auxiliary roller 4 that rotates at the same speed as the rotation speed of the core P while being in contact with the material tape T wound around the core P;
A roll-forming apparatus for a plastic food material, comprising: 6. An unwinding conveyor that unwinds the dough sheet S by a required length by carrying out a carrying operation in the roll unwinding direction while placing the rolled dough sheet S on the upstream side of the dough conveyor 2 to be carried. 5 is provided, and the spread material sheet S is provided in the middle of the conveyance path of the material conveyor 2.
The unwinding conveyor 5
By simultaneously operating both the material conveyor 2 and the material conveyor 2, the material sheet S can be sent to the position of the material cutter 1 by a required length, and the unwinding conveyor 5
6. A parallelogram-shaped cloth tape T cut and produced by the cloth cutter 1 by stopping the cloth conveyor 2 and carrying the cloth conveyor 2 can be carried to the core P position. Roll forming equipment for plastic food materials. 7. The winding of the fabric tape T is performed by forming an auxiliary roller 4 made of a soft synthetic resin material, which rotates at the same speed as the rotation speed of the core P while contacting the fabric tape T wound around the core P. Fabric conveyor 2 for transporting fabric tape T during work
By making contact with the rubbing state, the fabric tape T
The roll forming apparatus for a plastic food material according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the roll is reliably wound. 8. A dough winding means 3 for rotating a metal core P at the same speed as the carrying speed of the dough conveyor 2 is provided with at least four rotary shafts 31, 31 ... It consists of a turret mechanism and each rotary shaft 31 ・ 31
A tip cracking portion 32 to which the core bar P is attachable / detachable is formed at the tip of the mounting mechanism 6 for fitting the core bar P into the tip cracking part 32 of the rotary shaft 31 at a predetermined turning position of the turret mechanism. An oiling mechanism 7 for applying release oil to the outer peripheral surface of the cored bar P fitted in the tip cracked portion 32 is provided at a turning position downstream of the mounting mechanism 6, and the oiling mechanism 7 is provided. The transport downstream end of the dough conveyor 2 is arranged at a swivel position on the downstream side of the swivel, and the core metal P on which the dough tape T is wound is wound at the swivel position on the swirl downstream side of the dough conveyor downstream end. The roll-forming apparatus for plastic food material according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that a removing mechanism (8) for withdrawing from the tip crack portion (32) of the rotary shaft (31) is provided.