RU2638536C1 - Device for fish fillets slicing - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: device includes a cutting device with a disc knife, a filleting device, a presser and a carriage. As a filleting device, a drive conveyor is used, where the feeding plane is a belt made with perforation. The cutting device comprises at least two-disc knives which are mounted on the rotor and provided with drives. The rotor is fixed on the carriage with a possibility of rotation from a separate drive. The carriage is mounted above the conveyor belt with a possibility of adjustment of the inclination angle relative to the conveyor belt. The pressing device is made in the form of a vacuum chamber connected to the vacuum pump, located under the perforated belt in the conveyor under the carriage. The device is further provided with a device for obtaining of a video image of the fillet and a light source mounted above the conveyor belt in front of the carriage, as well as a calculating unit associated with the drives of the conveyor, rotor, disc knives, fillet video device, light source and vacuum pump.

EFFECT: Improved quality of fish fillets slicing.

6 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the fishing industry, and more particularly to the field of automated equipment for cutting fish fillet into slices, and may find application in coastal fish processing enterprises and fishing vessels.

Currently, one of the most popular products of the fishing industry is skinless fish fillet. Cost-effective is the manufacture of portioned fillets, sliced. The most attractive and affordable for consumers are slices of fillet, having a small thickness and light weight.

The feedstock in this case is skinned fish fillets obtained by machine filleting of fish and skinning fillets. The finished product is slices of fish fillet, intended for further packaging, cooling, transportation and sale to the consumer. The process of cutting fillet into slices has a significant impact on the quality and consumer benefits of the finished product. Manual cutting of fillets is a very time-consuming and traumatic process, and therefore appropriate technological equipment is needed. Thus, the technological capabilities, efficiency and quality of the equipment for slicing fish fillets are of great importance.

The main problems in implementing the fillet machine cutting process are the following:

- ensuring high accuracy of cutting the fillet into slices having an attractive appearance, as well as various thickness and width, depending on the type of fish;

- ensuring high quality of the cut surface without snagging of meat and bumps.

For the manufacture of fillet slices with desired characteristics (thickness and width), the feedstock must be cut in layers. This is achieved by making inclined cuts at given angles to the rectilinear direction of movement of the raw materials. Moreover, to ensure a high quality surface of the slices, the resistance to cutting should be minimal.

A device for cutting into slices of food products (RU No. 341460, IPC A22C 25/18, publ. 06/14/1972), consisting of a feed conveyor, a carriage with a cutting tool and a clamping mechanism. The cutting tool is made two-section, and the sections are located in different planes. The carriage is mounted with the possibility of reciprocating movement in accordance with the profile of the copier, and the clamping mechanism is kinematically connected with the carriage. The device allows you to cut the fish fillet with a beveled cut into slices of a given thickness.

The disadvantages of this device include the lack of a measuring unit that allows you to receive and process information about the size of the filet. In the device, the cut is carried out with a plate knife, resulting in large forces of resistance to cutting, which adversely affects the surface quality of the slices. The feed conveyor and cutting tool are controlled by a complex mechanism, including a copier, cam, roller, spring-loaded stem and ratchet wheel. This significantly reduces the performance and reliability of the device. Since the cutting tool makes a reciprocating movement, during the return of the knife (idle) useful work is not performed, which significantly reduces the efficiency of the device. As a result of this, the capabilities of the device for forming the required consumer qualities of the products are significantly limited; there are difficulties for the economical use of raw materials and energy.

A device for cutting fish fillet into slices (RU No. 1621834, IPC A22C 25/18, publ. 23.01.1991), including a loading device, a drum with cells and a knife shaft, recruited from circular knives installed with a constant pitch.

The decisive disadvantage limiting the use of this device is the cutting of fish fillet into slices of only one predetermined thickness. The device performs only vertical cuts parallel to the plane of arrangement of the disk knives. To change the thickness of the slices, dismantling and replacing the knife shaft is required. In addition, the quality and cutting speed are low, since the fillets are pressed against the circular knives only under the influence of the weight of the fillet.

A device and method for cutting meat, in particular fish (US No. 8968059, IPC A22C 25/18, publ. 03.03.2015), are known for cutting fish into pieces of a given thickness. The device comprises a cutting tool, a drive unit connected to a cutting tool for moving it from a starting position to a processing position, as well as a control device connected to a drive unit for controlling the cutting tool. The drive unit contains two pneumatic cylinders having separate control loops.

The decisive disadvantage limiting the use of this device is the lack of the possibility of inclined cutting of the fillet into slices. The device performs only vertical cuts perpendicular to the plane of movement of the raw materials. The cutting tool cycle includes idling. There is no measuring device for obtaining information on filet sizes. In addition, the device has low productivity, which is due to the design of the drive unit and the low speed of the pneumatic cylinders.

The closest technical solution is a device for cutting fish fillet into slices (RU No. 764635, IPC A22C 25/18, publ. 09/23/1980), containing a cutting device, a carriage, a clamping device, a fillet feeding device. The cutting device includes a circular knife mounted in the vertical plane of the carriage. The carriage is mounted with the possibility of reciprocating movement, and the fillet feeder is made in the form of a tray mounted on the carriage at an angle of 30-60 ° to the circular knife. The end of the tray is parallel and with a gap relative to the circular knife. A roller is mounted on the carriage.

The disadvantage of this device is that the fillet is cut into slices of only one predetermined thickness. To change the thickness of the slices, disassembly of the device and manual adjustment of the stop are required. The fillet moves to the cutting device under the action of its own weight, which results in low productivity of the device and creates conditions for jamming of the fillet in the carriage. The presence of an idle carriage, which is diverted from the cutting device to move the fillet, also reduces productivity. Idling of the carriage and constant rotation of the circular knife lead to an excessive consumption of energy during operation of the device. The movement of the carriage is controlled mechanically using an eccentric and a connecting rod, which leads to low reliability of the device. The cutting force of the fillet is not constant, since at the beginning of cutting the fillet slides faster to the circular knife than at the end of cutting, when the weight of the fillet is reduced. This leads to poor surface quality of the cut, as well as an uncontrolled change in the thickness of the slices, which negatively affects the quality of the finished product.

The invention solves the problem of improving the quality of sliced fish fillet by reducing the resistance to cutting while improving the fillet pressure and the ability to control the thickness of slices, as well as increasing productivity by increasing the speed of fillet cutting with a cutting device while increasing the feed speed.

To achieve the desired technical result in a device for cutting fish fillet into slices, containing a cutting device with a circular knife and a device for feeding fillets installed with an acute angle between the circular knife and the feeding plane, a pressing device, a carriage is proposed as a device for feeding the fillet use a conveyor equipped with a drive, in which the feed plane is a tape made with perforation. It is proposed to use a cutting device containing at least two circular knives, which are proposed to be mounted on the rotor and equipped with drives, and the rotor is proposed to be mounted on the carriage rotatably from a separate drive, the carriage being proposed to be mounted above the conveyor belt with the possibility of adjusting the angle of inclination relative to the belt conveyor belt. The clamping device is proposed to be made in the form of a vacuum chamber connected to a vacuum pump located under a perforated belt in a conveyor under the carriage. The device is additionally proposed to be equipped with a device for receiving video images of a fillet and a light source installed above the conveyor belt in front of the carriage, as well as a computing unit that is connected to the drives of the conveyor, rotor, circular knives, a device for receiving video images of a filet, a light source and a vacuum pump.

The video image of the fish fillet is presented in digital form by discretizing the values of the radiation intensity (brightness) at each point in the video frame. The discretization is carried out in space by geometric coordinates and by the value of the radiation intensity. The result of sampling by the image field is a discrete image - the function g (m, n), the values of which coincide with the values of f (x, y) at the points:

where m = 0. 1, 2, ..., M-1; n = 0, 1, 2, ..., N-1.

Due to the fact that at the stage of forming the video image of the fillet hardware noise is introduced, threshold noise filtering is applied in the computing unit. In this case, the digital representation of the brightness of all image elements f (x, y) is sequentially analyzed, and if the brightness of the element of the analyzed group of N × N elements exceeds the average brightness of the group

a predetermined threshold value, then its brightness is replaced by the average brightness of the group G. Usually, N is taken to be 3 or 5.

To obtain a contrast image and confident recognition of the fillet contours, the illumination of the field of view of the device is used to obtain a video image by a light source. As such a source, for example, an LED lamp based on white semiconductor LEDs is used.

The presence of a computing unit, made, for example, in the form of a micro-computer, allows you to determine the size, shape of the fillet and the line of rational cutting, as well as form control actions on the device for filing, cutting device and clamping device. The program of the computing unit allows, on the basis of the received video information about the size and shape of the fillet, to form, during the processing of each instance, an automatic setting of the filing speed, rotor speed of the rotor and circular knives, as well as determine the optimal moments of turning on the vacuum pump for reliable fillet clamping during cutting.

The axes of circular knives move in an arc relative to the fillet, and the plane of the knives are located at an angle to the direction of movement of the fillet. This significantly reduces the resistance to cutting and improves the surface quality of the cut. The simultaneous rotation of circular knives and the movement of their axes along an arc relative to the fillet provide a sliding cutting mode that is most effective in terms of energy consumption and cutting quality. This allows you to increase the speed of fillet slicing into slices, which increases productivity, significantly reduces the specific load on the knives and energy costs.

The description of the invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillets, a General view from the side of the computing unit;

FIG. 2 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillets, a General view from the side of the vacuum pump;

FIG. 3 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillet, right side view;

FIG. 4 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillet, top view;

FIG. 5 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillet, General view without a support frame;

FIG. 6 - the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillet, General view with the perforated conveyor belt removed and a cutting device.

In the drawings, the following notation:

1 - conveyor;

2 - supporting frame;

3 - conveyor belt;

4 - tape hole;

5, 6 - conveyor drive;

7, 8 - bracket;

9 - a device for receiving video images;

10 - light source;

11 - computing unit;

12, 13 - groove of the bracket;

14 - carriage;

15 - rotor;

16, 17, 18 - knife drive;

19, 20, 21 - circular knife;

22 - rotor drive;

23 - a vacuum pump;

24 - a vacuum chamber;

25 - cavity of the vacuum chamber.

26 - tray.

27 - filet.

28 - a slice.

In the proposed technical solution, the introduction of a device for obtaining a video image of a fillet and a light source allows you to transfer information about the size and shape of the fillet to a computing unit for calculating the parameters of rational fillet slicing for a given thickness of slices. Improving the quality of the finished product is achieved by installing at an angle to the direction of movement of the fillet driven in rotation of the circular knives, which alternately carry out sliding cutting. The ability to adjust the angle of inclination of the carriage with the cutting device relative to the conveyor belt allows you to set the best angle of slicing depending on the consistency of raw materials, which improves the quality of the cut surface. The movement of circular knives by the rotor along the arc relative to the fillet with their simultaneous rotation significantly reduces the resistance to cutting, which creates optimal cutting conditions and improves the surface quality of the slices. The installation of circular knives on the rotor, driven into rotation, significantly increases the productivity of the device, since the cutting speed of the slices increases and the idling of the cutting device is completely eliminated. Using a vacuum chamber and a conveyor with a perforated tape allows you to securely fix the fillet during cutting and increase the filing speed, which also helps to improve the quality of slices and increase productivity. Using a computing unit that controls the rotation of the rotor and circular knives, as well as the fillet supply to the knives, allows rational cutting into slices of a given thickness with various sizes and shapes of raw materials.

In the proposed device for cutting into slices of fish fillet, the conveyor 1 is connected to a fixed support frame 2. On the conveyor 1 there is a perforated tape 3 in which holes 4 are made. Drives 5 and 6 are connected to the conveyor 1. Brackets 7 and 8 are fixed to the conveyor 1. A device for acquiring a video image 9 and a light source 10 is fixed on the bracket 7 above the tape 3. Also, the computing unit 11 is fixed on the bracket 7. The bracket 8 has arcuate grooves 12 and 13 in which the carriage 14 is fixed with the possibility of adjusting its angle of inclination relative to exactly the plane of the tape 3. On the carriage 14, a rotor 15 is mounted for rotation, on which the drives 16, 17, 18 of the knives 19, 20, 21 are fixed, connected to the disk knives 19, 20, 21. Also, the rotor drive 22 is fixed on the carriage 14 connected to the rotor 15. A vacuum pump 23 is mounted on the conveyor 1, connected to the cavities 25 of the vacuum chamber 24. The vacuum chamber 24, in which the cavities 25 are made, is mounted on the conveyor 1 under the belt 3 and the carriage 14. A tray 26 is fixed on the conveyor 1. Drives 5 and 6 of conveyor 1, a light source 10, are connected to the computing unit 11 boron for video 9, the drive 22 of the rotor 15, the drives 16, 17, 18 knives 19, 20, 21, the vacuum pump 23.

Description of the operation of the device for cutting into slices of fish fillet

The operator pre-adjusts the cutting angle depending on the consistency of the fillet, adjusting the angle of the carriage 14 by moving it and fixing it in the arcuate grooves 12 and 13 of the bracket 8. After that, the operator turns on the power to the device and sets the required thickness of slices 28 of the fillet in the computing unit 11. The computing unit 11 gives start commands to the drives 5 and 6 of the conveyor 1, and also includes a light source 10 and a device for receiving a video image 9. Fillet 27 is placed on a moving tape 3 of the conveyor 1 and moves the tape 3 in the field of view of the device for receiving a video image 9. Speed The movement of the tape 3 is regulated by the computing unit 11. In this case, the fillet is illuminated by the light source 10. The device for receiving the video image 9 forms a video frame and transmits the video image of the file 27 to the computing unit 11, which calculates the best slicing parameters depending on the given thickness of slices 28. Computing unit 11 remembers the size of the fillet 27 and tracks its movement on the conveyor 1. Next, the fillet 27 moves along the tape 3 towards the carriage 14. When the fillet 27 approaches the carriage 14, the computing unit 11 sends a command to a vacuum pump 23, which creates a vacuum in the cavities 25 of the vacuum chamber 24. Since there are holes 4 in the tape 3, the filet 27 is attached to the surface of the tape 3 and is firmly held on it while the tape 3 is moving. Computing unit 11 gives start commands to the drive 22 of the rotor 15 and the drives 16, 17, 18 of the knives 19, 20, 21. The disk knives 19, 20, 21 and the rotor 15 are driven into rotation. The rotor 15 rotates at a speed that is regulated by the computing unit 11, while the thickness of the slicing slices 28 is determined by the feed rate of the fillet 27 with tape 3 and the rotational speed of the rotor 15 with circular knives 19, 20, 21. When the fillet 27 passes under the carriage 14, the rotating circular knives 19 , 20, 21, one by one cut slices 28 from filet 27. At the same time, each circular knife cuts one slice, and three slices are cut off during the complete revolution of rotor 15. During cutting, the fillet 27 is fed under the cutting tool with tape 3 and pressed against the tape 3 by the vacuum chamber 24 due to the vacuum formed in the cavities 25 by the vacuum pump 23. The sliced slices 28 are removed from the device through the tray 26. After the fillet 27 is completely cut into slices 28, the computational unit 11 gives stop commands to the drive 22 of the rotor 15 and to the drives 16, 17, 18 of the blades 19, 20, 21, as a result of which the circular blades 19, 20, 21 and the rotor 15 are stopped. Also, the computing unit 11 gives a shutdown command to the vacuum pump 23, as a result of which atmospheric pressure is established in the cavities 25 of the vacuum chamber 24. Upon receipt of the next filet 27 in the field of view of the device to obtain a video image 9, the cycle of slicing the fillet into slices is repeated. After completion of the work, the computing unit turns off the light source 10, the device for receiving the video image 9 and gives stop commands to the drives 5 and 6 of the conveyor 1.

Thus, when using the proposed device, in comparison with the device described in the closest analogue, an improvement in the quality of slices and an increase in the productivity of cutting fish fillet into slices are provided. As industrial studies show, productivity when cutting fish fillets increases by 3 times, energy consumption is reduced by 25%. The amount of marriage is reduced by 40%. This allows for resource saving in production.

The device provides high-quality cutting of fish fillet into slices, which eliminates the time-consuming manual processing operations, improves the consumer qualities of the finished product, and also reduces the number of personnel in the production.

Claims (1)

A device for cutting fish fillet into slices, containing a cutting device with a circular knife and a device for feeding fillets installed to form an acute angle between the circular knife and the feeding plane, a pressing device, a carriage, characterized in that a tool equipped with a drive is used as a filing device conveyor, in which the feed plane is a tape made with perforation, the cutting device contains at least two circular knives that are mounted on the rotor and provided with dams, and the rotor is mounted on the carriage with the possibility of rotation from a separate drive, and the carriage is mounted above the conveyor belt with the ability to adjust the angle of inclination relative to the conveyor belt, the clamping device is made in the form of a vacuum chamber connected to the vacuum pump located under the perforated tape in the conveyor under the carriage, in addition, the device is additionally equipped with a device for obtaining a video image of a fillet and a light source installed above the conveyor belt in front of the carriage, as well as Yelnia unit which is connected to the conveyor drive, the rotor of circular blades, the device for receiving video fillet light source and a vacuum pump.

Images