WO2014067532A1 - Système d'alimentation permettant de transporter et de décharger au moins un produit alimentaire dans un récipient - Google Patents

Système d'alimentation permettant de transporter et de décharger au moins un produit alimentaire dans un récipient Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014067532A1
WO2014067532A1 PCT/DK2013/050355 DK2013050355W WO2014067532A1 WO 2014067532 A1 WO2014067532 A1 WO 2014067532A1 DK 2013050355 W DK2013050355 W DK 2013050355W WO 2014067532 A1 WO2014067532 A1 WO 2014067532A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
receptacle
feeder
outlet
food products
optical device
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/DK2013/050355
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Gert Hansen
Anne BROAGER
Original Assignee
Marel A/S
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Marel A/S filed Critical Marel A/S
Publication of WO2014067532A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014067532A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B57/00—Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices
    • B65B57/10—Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices responsive to absence, presence, abnormal feed, or misplacement of articles or materials to be packaged
    • B65B57/14—Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices responsive to absence, presence, abnormal feed, or misplacement of articles or materials to be packaged and operating to control, or stop, the feed of articles or material to be packaged
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B35/00—Supplying, feeding, arranging or orientating articles to be packaged
    • B65B35/06—Separating single articles from loose masses of articles
    • B65B35/08—Separating single articles from loose masses of articles using pocketed conveyors
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01G—WEIGHING
    • G01G13/00—Weighing apparatus with automatic feed or discharge for weighing-out batches of material
    • G01G13/24—Weighing mechanism control arrangements for automatic feed or discharge
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B25/00—Packaging other articles presenting special problems
    • B65B25/06—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products
    • B65B25/064—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products of poultry
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B57/00—Automatic control, checking, warning, or safety devices
    • B65B57/20—Applications of counting devices for controlling the feed of articles

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to feeder system for conveying and discharging at least one food product into a receptacle, and to a multihead weighing system comprising a plurality of such feeder systems.
  • a multihead weigher In order to ensure that food products of varying weight may be combined in packages having approximately the same weight, a multihead weigher may be used.
  • a multihead weigher which in principal is known in the prior art, receives pieces of food products and distributes them among a large number of weighing systems, such as 5-50, preferably 8-20 weighing systems, which typically has the form of receptacles.
  • a computer is then used to calculate the most favorable combination of receptacles to reach a target weight, and the chosen receptacles are subsequently emptied such that the food products contained in each chosen receptacle leave the receptacle and end up in a common package. It is thereby preferred to keep the weight of the products contained within each receptacle as close as possible to a predetermined level.
  • EP 2 484 593 discloses a weighing system where no more than one food product at a time, is received within each receptacle.
  • This system describes a determination unit such as a radar determination unit, a photocell determination unit or a laser determination unit, that is placed at the outlet end of the weighing system.
  • the determination unit controls which operational mode the feeder for conveying the food products from the inlet to the outlet end has to run in, and thereby ensures, that only one food product will leave the outlet end and into the receptacle.
  • the problem with this reference is however the fact that the determination unit is placed at the outlet end of the weighing system which means that it gets dirty very fast. This does not only make it unreliable but can also halt the subsequent processing. Also, it is not only difficult to clean the determination unit but the cleaning process can easily damage the determination unit, which obviously increases the maintenance cost significantly. Further, all the different types of determination units require visible cables due to the location and the design of the feeding channels.
  • the invention preferably seeks to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages singly or in any combination.
  • a feeder system for conveying and discharging at least one food product into a receptacle, comprising:
  • said determination unit comprises an optical device positioned such that a light beam emitted by the optical device crosses a fall path of the at least one of said food products when discharged from said outlet-end into said receptacle, where the optical device is operable connected to the determination unit that determines when food objects fall from said outlet- end towards said receptacle, and
  • optical device is positioned such that the direction of the light beam forms an angle in relation to a normal axis of an opposing plane of the receptacle.
  • the optical device which in one embodiment is a photocell, is positioned e.g. below the outlet-end means that the pureness of the optical device is present much longer than if the optical device would have been positioned at the outlet-end.
  • the fact the light beam will form an angle in relation to the normal axis, i.e. the axis that is perpendicular to the opposing plane, it is ensured that reflection from the light beam will be minimized.
  • the position of the optical device should preferably be such that a light beam emitted by the optical device crosses the fall path of food products being discharged from the outlet- end and fall into the receptacle positioned below the outlet end, so that the light beam is disturbed each time a food product falls into the receptacle.
  • the optical device may in an embodiment be a photocell, for example a photocell of the reflection type, where the photocell radiates a light beam and where it detects an item in front of it based on alterations of the light reflected from the item.
  • a photocell for example a photocell of the reflection type, where the photocell radiates a light beam and where it detects an item in front of it based on alterations of the light reflected from the item.
  • Other types of photocells may be used as well.
  • the optical device may be positioned e.g. essentially between said receptacle and said outlet-end, essentially below said outlet-end, essentially adjacent to a fall path of the at least one of said food products and/or in other suitable manner such that a light beam emitted by the optical device crosses a fall path of the at least one of said food products when discharged from said outlet-end into said receptacle.
  • said opposing plane of the receptacle is a substantially flat plane. Accordingly, the viewing angle of the beam may thus be increased compared to if the beam would be parallel to the normal axis. In that way, it is ensured that the food products that fall down into the receptacle will intersect with the beam which indicates that a food product is present in the receptacle.
  • the surrounding is typically a number of metal/steel surfaces which reflect the light emitted from the photocell easily, but by selecting the optimum angle it is thus prevented that the photocell will be disturbed by its own reflection.
  • the determination unit determines whether the receptacle is empty or not. In one embodiment, in case said determination unit determines that the receptacle is empty the feeder-control unit starts the feeder unit, which may be a screw feeder, or increases the conveying speed. In another embodiment, in case said determination unit determines that the receptacle is not empty the feeder-control stops the feeder unit. In yet another
  • the feeder-control unit turns the screw feeder a predefined number of rotations. Accordingly, it is possible to operate the conveying of the food products by means of determining the status of the receptacle, where the operational mode of the feeder unit is adapted to the status of the receptacle.
  • the present invention relates to a multihead weighing system including a centrally located receiving section for receiving said food products, said multihead weighing system comprising a plurality of said feeder systems distributed around the said centrally located receiving section with the inlet-ends position below the periphery of said centrally located receiving section.
  • the present invention relates to method of conveying and discharging food products comprising
  • said optical device is positioned such that the direction of the light beam forms an angle in relation to a normal axis of an opposing plane of the receptacle.
  • the optical device may be positioned e.g. essentially between said receptacle and said outlet-end, essentially below said outlet-end, essentially adjacent to a fall path of the at least one of said food products and/or in other suitable manner such that a light beam emitted by the optical device crosses a fall path of the at least one of said food products when discharged from said outlet-end into said receptacle.
  • said determining includes determining whether a food object falls from said outlet-end towards said receptacle and based thereon whether the receptacle is empty or not.
  • the feeder-control unit turns the screw feeder a predefined number of rotations. This may be referred to as a third operational mode.
  • the present invention relates to a computer program comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of above mentioned method steps when said computer program is executed on a suitable computer device.
  • the various aspects of the invention may be combined and coupled in any way possible within the scope of the invention.
  • FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a perspective view and a front view of a weighing system according to the present invention comprising a multihead weighing system
  • figure 3 shows a closer view of a feeder systems according to the present invention shown in figures 1 and 2.
  • Figures 1 and 2 show a perspective view and a front view of an embodiment of a multihead weighing system 100 according to the present invention comprising a centrally located receiving section 201, and a multiple of feeder systems 101 distributed around the centrally located receiving section with the inlet-ends 104 positioned below the periphery of said centrally located receiving section 201.
  • a multihead weighing system 100 e.g. the general principle of how to generate portions of fixed target weight
  • EP2484593 e.g. disclosed in EP2484593, hereby incorporated by its entirety by reference.
  • the multiple of feeder systems 101 shown in a more detailed way in figure 3 comprises an inlet-end 104 for receiving food products, an outlet-end 105 for discharging the food products into a receptacle 202 positioned below the outlet-end and a controllable screw feeder 103 operated by a controlling unit (not shown) for advancing the food product(s) from the inlet-end 104 towards the outlet-end 105.
  • the feeder system 101 further comprises a determination unit 102 positioned below the outlet-end 105 for determining whether or not one or more food products are present in the receptacle 202, e.g. based on information as regards whether or not the receptacle has been emptied, as it will be apparent to a skilled person.
  • the determination unit is an optical device that during operation emits a light beam as indicated by dotted line 203 that crosses the fall path of the at least one of said food products 204, but this optical device determines when a food object has fallen from the outlet-end 105 and into the receptacle 202 and based thereon determines whether the receptacle is empty or not.
  • the determination unit 102 might however just as well comprise any other type of a sensor such as one of a type that serves a surveillance function to detect motion, an ultra sound sensor, a radar type sensor or the like.
  • the determination unit may also be utilized to determine the number of food objects in the receptacle at all times. This may however be bound to certain criterion such as that the distance between adjacent food objects is above a certain threshold level, .e.g. more than 5cm. Such a counting might be based on that when the food product falls a signal is triggered indicating that a first object is present in the receptacle. Moreover, if two or more objects would fall down before the receptacle is emptied the determination unit counts the number of the subsequent food products in the receptacle. When food product(s) is released from the receptacle, the counting may be adjusted accordingly and set to zero. In one embodiment, no more than one food product is present in the receptacle at a time. If however the objects form a kind of a lump this lump would be considered as a single food product.
  • the optical device 102 which preferably is a photocell, is positioned such that the direction of the light beam forms an angle in relation to a normal axis of an opposing plane of the receptacle 202, or at an angle in respect to the transport path of the food products when being moved from the inlet-end 104 towards the outlet-end 105.
  • This angle is preferably selected such that reflection from the surroundings, i.e. the metal/steel components, is minimized, which would otherwise disturb the operation of the photocell.
  • the functioning of the feeder system is based on three different operational modes:
  • the first operational mode for the feeder is used, when no food product has been detected passing below the outlet-end or is present below the outlet end (hanging over the edge and in front of the determination unit).
  • the average velocity used in the feeding mechanism is high, since the time lost between two individual food products should be as short as possible.
  • the second operational mode is used.
  • the feeder is temporarily stopped in order to avoid any second individual food product to enter the storage receptacle before the receptacle, which may be a weighing receptacle, is emptied.
  • the weighing receptacle below detects the weight of the food product.
  • a third operational mode is used.
  • the feeder turns a predefined number of steps followed by the storage receptacle emptying and letting food products fall into the weighing receptacle. This cycle continue until the weighing receptacle detects food product being dropped into it.
  • the first operational mode is used, until the determination detects food products below the outlet end.
  • the feeder unit may be powered by a motor, which in turn is controlled by a control unit, transports the food products from inlet-end to an outlet-end, located opposite the inlet-end as shown here.
  • the receptacles 202 may be a weighing receptacle that are utilized in generating weight portions of fixed target weight, where the most appropriate combination of the weighing receptacles is selected so as to minimize the overweight of the portions. It is therefore of outmost importance to ensure that the tz ' me where the (weighing) receptacles are empty is minimized.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Weight Measurement For Supplying Or Discharging Of Specified Amounts Of Material (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne un système de pesage à têtes multiples présentant une multitude de systèmes d'alimentation permettant de transporter et de décharger au moins un produit alimentaire dans un récipient. Le système d'alimentation comprend une extrémité d'entrée destinée à recevoir des produits alimentaires, une extrémité de sortie destinée à décharger les produits alimentaires dans le récipient positionné sous l'extrémité de sortie, une unité d'alimentation actionnée par une unité de commande d'alimentation permettant de transporter des produits alimentaires de l'extrémité d'entrée vers l'extrémité de sortie, et une unité de détermination qui est positionnée de telle sorte que le faisceau lumineux émis par le dispositif optique traverse un trajet de chute du au moins un produit alimentaire lorsqu'il est déchargé de l'extrémité de sortie. Le dispositif optique est raccordé de manière fonctionnelle à l'unité de détermination lorsqu'un objet alimentaire tombe de l'extrémité de sortie vers le récipient et en fonction de cela l'unité de surveillance détermine si le récipient est vide ou non.
PCT/DK2013/050355 2012-11-02 2013-11-04 Système d'alimentation permettant de transporter et de décharger au moins un produit alimentaire dans un récipient WO2014067532A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DKPA201270674 2012-11-02
DKPA201270674 2012-11-02

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2014067532A1 true WO2014067532A1 (fr) 2014-05-08

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Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2018202555A3 (fr) * 2017-05-02 2018-12-27 Cabinplant International A/S Procédés et systèmes de pesage et de collecte de produits alimentaires solides

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5873448A (en) * 1997-07-30 1999-02-23 Industrial Technology Research Institute Automated separating packaging system for continuously feeding warp flakes
GB2486939A (en) * 2011-12-01 2012-07-04 Data Detection Technologies Ltd Method and apparatus for dispensing items
EP2484593A1 (fr) * 2011-02-04 2012-08-08 Cabinplant International A/S Appareil de transport et de décharge sélective de produits

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5873448A (en) * 1997-07-30 1999-02-23 Industrial Technology Research Institute Automated separating packaging system for continuously feeding warp flakes
EP2484593A1 (fr) * 2011-02-04 2012-08-08 Cabinplant International A/S Appareil de transport et de décharge sélective de produits
GB2486939A (en) * 2011-12-01 2012-07-04 Data Detection Technologies Ltd Method and apparatus for dispensing items

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2018202555A3 (fr) * 2017-05-02 2018-12-27 Cabinplant International A/S Procédés et systèmes de pesage et de collecte de produits alimentaires solides
CN110741233A (zh) * 2017-05-02 2020-01-31 卡布恩普兰特国际公司 用于称重和收集固态食品的方法和系统
RU2741487C1 (ru) * 2017-05-02 2021-01-26 Кабинплант Интернасиональ А/С Способы и системы для взвешивания и сбора твердых пищевых продуктов
CN110741233B (zh) * 2017-05-02 2021-05-18 卡布恩普兰特国际公司 用于称重和收集固态食品的方法和系统
AU2018263729B2 (en) * 2017-05-02 2021-09-02 Cabinplant International A/S Methods and systems for weighing and collecting solid food products
RU2758212C1 (ru) * 2017-05-02 2021-10-26 Кабинплант Интернасиональ А/С Способ сбора твердых пищевых продуктов и сборник для сбора твердых пищевых продуктов
US11340107B2 (en) 2017-05-02 2022-05-24 Cabinplant International A/S Methods and apparatus for feeding, weighing, and collecting solid food products with sticky coatings
US11656118B2 (en) 2017-05-02 2023-05-23 Cabinplant International A/S Methods and apparatus for feeding, weighing, and collecting solid food products with sticky coatings

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