NL2010489C2 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CUTTING NATURAL PRODUCTS. - Google Patents

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CUTTING NATURAL PRODUCTS

The invention relates to a cutting device for cutting natural products into pieces that have a relatively wide end and a relatively narrow end. The invention also relates to a method for cutting such natural products into pieces.

At the moment, there are a few systems known for cutting heads (cutting the top part) and cutting carrots into pieces (in particular winter carrots). Hereby the carrots are randomly placed in compartments of a transport device. First the carrots are brought to one side of the box against a stop where the tip is cut off and the same happens on the other side. Finally, the carrots are cut into pieces of a fixed length.

However, the known systems have a number of drawbacks. First, the carrots are topped at both ends because it is not known at which end the head is located, that is to say the upper end at which the foliage grows. The two cut ends are considered as waste and disposed of as waste. Part of the root is cut unnecessarily because the bottom tip does not have to be cut and this means that more waste is produced than is necessary. Moreover, the yield per root is not optimal since a part of the root that is usable in itself is treated as waste.

Secondly, the topped roots are randomly cut into pieces of a certain fixed length. For example, when a carrot is 330mm long and it is cut into 100mm pieces, you get three whole 100mm pieces and a 30mm leftover piece. This remainder is separated and ends up with the waste.

Thirdly, with current systems no distinction can be made between long and short carrots. All carrots are treated equally as if they have the same (average) length, which is of course not the case in practice.

Natural products are distinguished, for example, by their varying shape and / or dimensions. When natural products are supplied, for example directly from the farmer, there is generally a great deal of mutual variation in shape and dimensions of natural products. The equal treatment of natural products, without taking sufficient account of the mutual variation, can result in a suboptimal processing result when processing natural products.

It is an object of the invention to provide a cutting device and a method for cutting natural products in which the above-mentioned drawbacks and / or other drawbacks of the prior art are obviated or at least reduced.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a cutting device and a method in which, when cutting natural products into pieces, a smaller part of a product is designated as waste.

According to a first aspect of the invention, at least one of the objectives is achieved in a cutting device for cutting natural products which have a relatively wide end and a relatively narrow end, the cutting device comprising: - a first feed conveyor for supplying one or more rows of natural products in the conveying direction, the supply conveyor being adapted for conveying the natural products arranged with their longitudinal direction substantially parallel to the conveying direction; - a second supply conveyor, arranged behind the first supply conveyor, wherein the second supply conveyor is adapted for transporting the natural products for each row of natural products and thereby increasing the mutual distance between the natural products; - a detection unit positioned next to the second supply conveyor for detecting the passage of the natural products, the detection unit being designed to determine whether a natural product transported along it has a first or a second, opposite orientation; - displacement means for removing from the second supply conveyor the natural products having the second orientation; - cutting means for cutting off an end of the natural products having the first orientation.

In embodiments of the invention, the cutting means are adapted to only cut the end of those natural products which are in the first orientation. For example, when the first orientation is defined as the orientation in which the natural product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end passes the detection unit, only the broad end of the natural products is cut off. Conversely, if the first orientation is defined as the orientation in which the narrow end of the product first passes through the detector, the narrow end will be cut off.

In embodiments of the invention, the cutting device comprises: - a third feed conveyor for transporting natural products in a direction opposite to the transport direction of the second feed conveyor; - cutting means for cutting off one end of the natural products which have the second orientation and are transported on the third supply conveyor; wherein the displacement means are adapted to move the natural products having the second orientation from the second to the third discharge conveyor.

Once the products have been brought to a sufficient mutual distance on the second supply conveyor, the orientation of the products can be determined with the aid of the detection unit. If a certain natural product is placed with its head in the transport direction, the product is cut differently than if the product is oriented in the opposite direction. In this way the cutting can be made dependent on the current orientation of the product. This makes it possible, for example, to selectively cut off the broad end of a product (i.e., the head in the case of a root) but not the narrow end of the product (i.e., the tip of the root). The narrow end of the product can then be considered as a part of the product to be processed further and not be disposed of as waste.

When the first orientation is defined as the orientation in which the natural product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end passes the detection unit and the second orientation is defined as the orientation in which the natural product with the narrow end first and then with the wide end passes the detection unit, this means that the products with the first orientation remain on the second feed conveyor so that the wide ends of the products are cut off by the cutting means and that the products with the second orientation are first brought to the third feed conveyor and then treated with the cutting means so that the wide end is cut off. Similarly, it can alternatively be ensured that the cutting means precisely cut the narrow end (regardless of the orientation) instead of the wide end.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the device is designed to separate the cut end of the natural product from the remaining part of the natural product and to separate the remaining part of the natural product from the wide end (and whether or not in a cut-up state ) to drain. Such a separation of the wide (or narrow) end of the product and its discharge can be realized in various ways, as will be explained later.

According to an embodiment the device comprises for this purpose displacement means for pushing natural products from the second supply conveyor. When, for example, it has been detected that a product is arranged in the first (or second) orientation, displacement means, driven on the basis of the signals from the detection unit, can remove the relevant product from the second supply conveyor. The products that are arranged in the other orientation, for example, the products that are arranged in the second (or first) orientation, then continue their way on the second supply conveyor.

The device preferably comprises a third feed conveyor for transporting natural products in a direction opposite to the transport direction of the second feed conveyor. In this embodiment the displacement means are adapted for displacing natural products from the second supply conveyor to the third supply conveyor. Various solutions are conceivable for moving all products that are in a certain, single orientation to the third supply conveyor. The displacement means may, for example, comprise a pusher which is adapted to push natural products from a relatively high-positioned second supply conveyor so that they end up on a relatively low-positioned third supply conveyor. Both the second supply conveyor and the third supply conveyor can further be provided with cutting means for cutting the products supplied on these conveyors, as will be explained later.

As previously described, the natural products supplied on the second and / or third supply conveyor are detected by the detection unit. On the basis of the detection results, it can be concluded that a particular product is unsuitable for further processing, for example because the product is shorter than a predefined minimum length, because the product has an appearance unsuitable for consumption, etc. In that case, further displacement means activated which removes the unsuitable product from the relevant supply conveyor. The displacement means can for instance comprise at least one pusher for pushing a predetermined collection of natural products (for example the unsuitable products) from at least one of the supply conveyors on one or more discharge conveyors arranged under respectively the second and third supply conveyors. These discharge conveyors can further dispose of the product material that ends up there as waste.

The discharge means are preferably arranged at a position between the first supply conveyor and a first cutting unit so that the unsuitable natural products are removed before they would undergo a cutting operation. Since unsuitable natural products are already removed on the second supply conveyor, in certain embodiments a discharge conveyor for the removal of unsuitable products for the third supply conveyor has been omitted.

Furthermore, discharge means may be provided for separately discharging the cut end of a natural product and the remaining part of the natural product. Such discharge means can for instance be formed by one or more pushers, by an air-ejecting mechanism or the like which cause the cut-off end to end up on a discharge belt. In other embodiments, the cut ends and the remaining parts of the natural products are collectively discharged for later sorting, for example with the aid of a cap sorting drum.

In embodiments of the invention, the detection unit is adapted to determine the shape of a passing natural product, for example with the aid of one or more optical or mechanical sensors. In a particular embodiment use is made of an optical unit, for example a distance laser positioned above the track of the natural products which is adapted to measure the thickness difference of a passing natural product.

In other embodiments, the optical unit comprises a 3D laser to determine a characteristic of the natural product at a number of points in more dimensions (e.g. the shape and dimensions). Use can also be made of an optical scanner, for example a (CCD) camera or a similar sensor, an X-ray scanner etc. With the aid of these techniques at least one of the following characteristics can be determined: shape, dimensions, color, and geometric deviations .

The detection unit can, for example, determine from the detected form which orientation a particular natural product has. For example, an optical scanner can make an optical scan of the profile of a passing natural product. The scanner (and / or a control unit connected thereto) can determine the orientation of the product on the basis of the profile (which is after all determined by the relative thicknesses of the ends), determine the length of the product and / or the shape thereof .

In a particular embodiment, the detection unit comprises: - a sensor arranged next to the second supply conveyor for detecting the presence of a natural product transported on the supply conveyor; - a timer for determining the length of time over which the sensor has detected the presence of a natural product; - a speed determiner for determining the supply speed of the second supply conveyor; - determining means for determining the length of a passing natural product on the basis of the determined duration and speed.

Furthermore, the detection unit can be adapted to determine the absolute and / or relative thickness of the natural product. Determining the relative thickness is sufficient to determine the orientation of a natural product. In other embodiments, the absolute thickness is determined. Of course, the orientation of the natural product can also be determined from the absolute thickness. Moreover, it can be determined whether the passing natural product is too large or too small to make further processing meaningful by comparing the determined thickness with a predetermined maximum thickness and minimum thickness.

The natural products supplied on the second and / or third supply conveyor are cut by cutting means. These cutting means comprise: - a first cutting unit for cutting natural products that extend in a first orientation; and / or - a second cutting unit for cutting natural products that extend in a second, opposite orientation.

The first cutting unit is, for example, positioned near the discharge side of the second discharge conveyor while the second cutting unit can be positioned near the discharge side of the third discharge conveyor. Each of the cutting units comprises, for example, a movable stop, which is designed to retain the natural products supplied in a first position and to allow the natural products supplied to pass through in a second position. When a product has landed at one of the stops, this will be stopped by the relevant stop. At that time the product is in the desired orientation and the position of the product relative to one or more cutting blades of the cutting unit is also determined.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the cutting unit comprises one or more movable blades for cutting a supplied natural product at desired positions in a number of pieces. The blades may be positioned relative to the stop to cut only the wide end. In other embodiments, however, the blades are positioned such that they can not only cut off the wide end, but also cut the remaining part of the product into a number of parts (pieces). These pieces can be of different lengths, but in other embodiments it is ensured that the pieces are of approximately the same length. In yet other products, the knives are positioned such that the cut pieces are the same size or larger than a predetermined minimum size (e.g., length).

In an embodiment of the invention, the first feed conveyor comprises a directional vibrator, for example a vibrating trough or similar device, for directing and moving the natural products in the direction of transport.

In embodiments of the invention, the second feed conveyor comprises an endless conveyor belt conveyor. This can comprise a number of parallel belts for transporting a corresponding number of rows of natural products. The spaces between adjacent tires must be sufficient to allow a natural product to pass through. The third supply conveyor can also comprise an endless conveyor belt conveyor. The third supply conveyor can further comprise a number of parallel belts for transporting a corresponding number of rows of natural products. The belts of the third feed conveyor are then substantially straight under the gaps between the adjacent belts of the second feed conveyor so that products that are slid from the belts of the second feed conveyor end up on the belts of the third feed conveyor.

The natural products essentially have an at least partially conical shape. The products can be formed by carrots, but in other embodiments other products such as corn, zucchini, eggplant, pear and the like.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for cutting natural products into pieces that have a relatively wide end and a relatively narrow end, the method comprising: - supplying one or more rows in the transport direction substantially with their longitudinal direction natural products arranged parallel to the transport direction; - transporting the natural products further for each row of natural products and thereby increasing the mutual distance between the natural products in the relevant row; - detecting the passage of the natural products along a detection unit and generating a detection signal; - determining from the detection signal whether a natural product transported along it has a first or a second orientation, wherein in the first orientation the natural product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end has passed the detection unit and wherein in the second opposite orientation the product with the narrow end first and then with the wide end has passed the detection unit; - blocking the supplied natural products in the first orientation against a first stop; - transporting the supplied natural products which are in the second orientation in the opposite direction; - stopping the natural products that are supplied in the second orientation against a second stop; - cutting the end of the natural products abutting the first and second stop; - the removal of the cut ends and the remaining parts of the natural products.

Further features and details of the present invention are elucidated with reference to the following description of some embodiments thereof. Reference is made in the description to the accompanying figures. Figure 1A shows a schematic top view of an embodiment of a cutting device according to the invention. Figure 1B shows a side view of the embodiment of Figure IA.

The figures show a cutting device 20 for cutting natural products (P), such as carrots. In the cutting device, in principle, only the head of a carrot is cut off and the rest of the carrot can be used, for example as a food product, without additional waste being generated. Furthermore, the cutting device 20 is designed to remove relatively short natural products from the product stream without having to cut them.

In the following example, reference is made to a device for processing carrots. However, it is clear that the invention is not limited to the processing of carrots. The cutting device can be applied to any natural products that have ends of different thicknesses (and in which a head and an opposite tip can be distinguished).

The cutting device comprises a first supply conveyor 21 on which the products are supplied. The feed conveyor 21 is of a type that transports the products placed thereon and directs it during transport such that the carrots with their longitudinal direction extend substantially parallel to the conveying direction. An example of such a feed conveyor is the directional vibrator 1. The directional vibrator can be provided with elongated, parallel compartments for aligning and moving the rows of products to the corresponding compartments of the feed conveyor. In a particular embodiment, such compartments are formed by an elongated gutter (vibrating gutter). The directional vibrator can be arranged to supply only one row of products. In other embodiments, the directional vibrator 1 is designed to supply a number of adjacent rows of products. A directional vibrator 1 with two planes or tracks 23 is shown in the figures, but in other embodiments this number may be larger or smaller depending on the desired processing capacity.

If too many products are supplied to the directional vibrator 1, the surplus falls through an opening 25 in the vibrator onto an underlying discharge conveyor 2. The discharge conveyor comprises a driven endless conveyor belt 26 and discharges the products. The products are then returned (in a manner not shown in the figures) to the vibrator for re-processing.

The products on the supply conveyor 21 arrive one after the other in the longitudinal direction at a second supply conveyor 22. The second supply conveyor 22 comprises a number of parallel endless narrow belts 3 which are driven via a drive unit 28. The products are taken over at the end of the directional vibrator 1 on one of the narrow belts 3. Since the transport speed of the belts 3 of the second feed conveyor 22 is greater than the speed of the products on the directional vibrator 1, the products come with a certain spaced apart on the bands 3.

The products on the belts 3 are transported along a distance sensor 4. With this sensor the thickness of the passing products can be determined and, in certain embodiments, the shape of a passing product can also be determined. In certain versions, a scan of the profile of a product is determined. On the basis of this profile, characteristics of the product, for example the length, thickness at the location of the ends, and the shape can be determined. Because the passing products have a shape in which the two ends have a different thickness, more particularly an essentially conical shape, the sensor 4 can determine on which side of the product the broad part is located (for example the head of a carrot) .

In certain embodiments, a speed meter is provided with which the transport speed can be determined. In other embodiments, the speed is pre-determined. In all these embodiments, the length of the product can be determined on the basis of the speed of the conveyor belts 3. The products that lie head-to-front remain on the belt 3, the products that lie head-to-back are pushed away from the conveyor belt in question by means of a pushing unit, for example comprising a pusher 5.

A further set of parallel conveyor belts 6 is arranged below the conveyor belts 3. The conveyor belts 6 are placed just below openings between the higher-lying belts 3. As a result, the products (P) transported in the transport direction (Ti) and pushed away by the pusher 5 will end up on one of the lower-lying conveyor belts 6. These conveyor belts 6 are driven to transport the products in a direction (T2) opposite to the transport direction (T1).

The cutting device is also provided with a second pusher 7. The function of this pusher is to remove the products that are too short from the product flow. When the sensor 4 and / or the control unit 29 connected thereto determines that a product (P) passing along the tires 3 is shorter than a preset minimum length, it is determined that this specific product is too short and must be removed. The control unit 29 controls the second pusher 7 for this purpose, which pushes the relevant product off the belt 3. The product is then collected on a discharge conveyor 8, for example consisting of a driven endless conveyor belt, and discharged as waste by this.

The products on the higher-lying belts 3 and / or the lower-lying belts 6 are transported in the direction of cutting units 30, 31 respectively. Each of the cutting units 30,31 comprises a movable stop 9,19 as well as a number of movable cutting blades 10,33. The product (P) is restrained by the respective movable stop 9. In this condition the broad part of the product (ie the head) rests against the stop and the product is therefore well aligned to be cut in the right place (s). . Cutting takes place by passing the movable cutting blades 10,33 through the product. This allows the product to be stripped of its head in one movement and to be cut into further pieces.

How many of the cutting blades 10.33 are used in cutting the products depends on the length thereof determined by the sensor. With a small length, a smaller number of blades need to be used than with a large length. When the length of a product is determined by the sensor 4 at 350 mm, net, that is, without head, maybe only 330 mm remains. Instead of cutting 3 pieces of 100 mm and a remaining piece of 30 mm, this product can now be cut into two pieces of 100 mm and 1 piece of 130 mm. This way no extra waste is cut. As soon as the product has been cut, the relevant stop 9,19 slides away, for instance by switching on an electric motor via the control unit 29, and the product cut into pieces (without head) can be discharged and collected on a discharge conveyor, for example conveyor belt 11.

As already indicated above, the conveyor belt 6 rotates in the opposite direction of belt 3, whereby the products on the conveyor belt 6 are again moved with their heads forward to the stop 19 of the other set of cutting blades 31 of the cutting unit. These products are again cut in the same way and the cut pieces are collected on a discharge conveyor 12. Finally, the heads (waste) can be separated from the good pieces using existing techniques (not indicated on the drawing).

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof described herein. The requested rights are rather determined by the following claims, within the scope of which countless modifications and adjustments are conceivable.

Claims (24)

A cutting device for cutting natural products which have a relatively wide end and a relatively narrow end, the cutting device comprising: - a first supply conveyor for supplying one or more rows of natural products in the conveying direction, the supply conveyor being arranged for transporting the natural products arranged with their longitudinal direction substantially parallel to the conveying direction; - a second supply conveyor, arranged behind the first supply conveyor, wherein the second supply conveyor is adapted for transporting the natural products for each row of natural products and thereby increasing the mutual distance between the natural products; - a detection unit positioned next to the second supply conveyor for detecting the passage of the natural products, the detection unit being designed to determine whether a natural product transported along it has a first or a second, opposite orientation; - displacement means for removing from the second supply conveyor the natural products having the second orientation; - cutting means for cutting off an end of the natural products having the first orientation. 2. Cutting device as claimed in claim 1, comprising: - a third supply conveyor for transporting natural products in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the second supply conveyor; - cutting means for cutting off one end of the natural products which have the second orientation and are transported on the third supply conveyor; wherein the displacement means are adapted to move the natural products having the second orientation from the second to the third discharge conveyor. 3. Cutting device as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein in the first orientation the natural product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end has passed the detection unit and wherein in the second, opposite orientation the natural product with the narrow end first and thereafter with the wide end the sensor has passed and / or wherein the cutting means are adapted to only cut the wide end of the natural product. 4. Cutting device as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein in the first orientation the natural product with the narrow end first and then with the broad end has passed the detection unit and wherein in the second, opposite orientation the natural product with the broad end first and thereafter the sensor has passed with the narrow end and / or wherein the cutting means are adapted to only cut the narrow end of the natural product. 5. Cutting device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the device is designed to separate the cut end of the natural product from the remaining part of the natural product and to discharge the remaining part of the natural product separately from the end. Cutting device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising discharge means for separately discharging the cut end of a natural product and the remaining part of the natural product. 7. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the detection unit is adapted to determine the shape of a passing natural product and to determine the orientation of the relevant natural product from the shape. The cutting device of claim 7, wherein the detection unit comprises an optical scanner for generating an optical profile scan of a passing natural product. 9. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the detection unit comprises: - a sensor arranged next to the second feed conveyor for detecting the presence of a natural product transported on the feed conveyor; - a timer for determining the length of time over which the sensor has detected the presence of a natural product; - a speed determiner for determining the supply speed of the second supply conveyor; - determining means for determining the length of a passing natural product on the basis of the determined duration and speed. 10. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the detection unit is adapted to determine the thickness of the natural product. 11. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the cutting means comprise: - a first cutting unit for cutting natural products that extend in a first orientation; and / or - a second cutting unit for cutting natural products that extend in a second, opposite orientation. 12. Cutting device as claimed in claim 11, wherein a cutting unit comprises: - a movable stop, which is designed to retain the natural products supplied in a first position and to let the natural products supplied through in a second position. Cutting device as claimed in claim 11 or 12, wherein a cutting unit comprises: - one or more displaceable blades for cutting a supplied natural product into desired positions in a number of pieces. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, comprising discharge means for discharging the natural product, wherein the discharge means preferably comprise: - a discharge conveyor (8) arranged under a second feed conveyor, in particular comprising an endless conveyor belt, wherein the displacement means comprising at least one pusher for pushing a predetermined set of natural products from at least one of the supply conveyors onto the discharge conveyor. The cutting device of claim 14, wherein the set of natural products is formed by natural products whose detected length is less than a predefined minimum length. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the displacement means comprise a pusher which is adapted to push natural products from a relatively high-positioned conveyor so that they end up on a relatively low-mounted conveyor. 17. Cutting device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first supply conveyor comprises a directional vibrator for directing and moving the natural products in the direction of transport. A cutting device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second feed conveyor is an endless conveyor belt conveyor, wherein the second feed conveyor preferably comprises a number of parallel belts for transporting a corresponding number of rows of natural products and wherein the spaces between adjacent belts are sufficient to let a natural product through. A cutting device according to any of claims 2-18, wherein the third feed conveyor is an endless conveyor belt conveyor, wherein the third feed conveyor preferably comprises a number of parallel belts for transporting a corresponding number of rows of natural products and wherein the belts of the third feed conveyor are located substantially straight below the gaps between the adjacent belts of the second feed conveyor. 20. Cutting device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the natural products have substantially an at least partially conical shape. 21. Cutting device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the natural products are formed by carrots. 22. Method for cutting pieces of natural products which have a relatively wide end and a relatively narrow end, the method comprising: - feeding in transport direction one or more rows of natural products arranged with their longitudinal direction substantially parallel to the transport direction; - transporting the natural products further for each row of natural products and thereby increasing the mutual distance between the natural products in the relevant row; - detecting the passage of the natural products along a detection unit and generating a detection signal; - determining from the detection signal whether a natural product transported along it has a first or a second orientation; - blocking the supplied natural products in the first orientation against a first stop; - transporting the supplied natural products which are in the second orientation in the opposite direction; - stopping the natural products that are supplied in the second orientation against a second stop; - cutting the end of the natural products abutting the first and second stop; - the removal of the cut ends and the remaining parts of the natural products. A method according to claim 22, wherein in the first orientation the natural product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end has passed the detection unit and wherein in the second, opposite orientation the product with the narrow end first and then with the narrow end broad end has passed the detection unit, the method comprising cutting the broad end of the natural product. A method according to claim 22, wherein in the first orientation the natural product with the narrow end first and then with the broad end has passed the detection unit and wherein in the second, opposite orientation the product with the broad end first and then with the narrow end has passed the detection unit, the method comprising cutting the narrow end of the natural product.