Cutting Food Products
Patent No. US12162177 (titled "Cutting Food Products") was filed by Textor Maschinenbau Gmbh on Jan 27, 2017.
What is this patent about?
’177 is related to the field of food processing, specifically high-speed slicing apparatus. These slicers aim to produce slices or portions of food products with a predefined weight. Achieving this requires precise control over slice thickness, which is determined by the product feed rate and the outer contour of the product being sliced. Traditionally, product scanners, which determine the outer contour, are separate machines positioned upstream of the slicer, adding to the overall cost and footprint of the production line.
The underlying idea behind ’177 is to integrate compact sensors directly into the working region of a food slicer for contactless contour detection. This eliminates the need for a separate, bulky product scanner. The insight is that despite the harsh conditions within a slicer (dirt, moisture, and the need for frequent high-pressure cleaning), small, robust sensors can reliably determine the product's outer contour with sufficient accuracy.
The claims of ’177 focus on a slicing apparatus that includes a cutting region with a moving blade and a transport region with a product feed. Critically, the apparatus incorporates a contactless contour scanner housed in a self-contained sensor housing. This scanner, comprising a laser source and a camera, defines a scanning region within the slicer's working area, external to the sensor housing. The scanner's data is used by a control device to adjust the product feed, ensuring consistent slice weight.
The implementation involves strategically placing the compact sensor within the slicer's working region. Several locations are possible, including near the product abutment, at the transition between conveying devices, or near the product inlet. The sensor uses light sectioning or time-of-flight measurements to determine the product's contour. The sensor's housing is designed to withstand the harsh environment of the slicer, including dust, water, and high-pressure cleaning.
This design differs significantly from prior art, which relies on separate, tunnel-like product scanners positioned upstream. By integrating the sensor directly into the slicer, ’177 reduces the overall footprint and cost of the system. Furthermore, it minimizes the transport distance between scanning and cutting, reducing the potential for changes in the product's contour due to mechanical or thermal influences. The use of multiple sensors and the ability to scan functional units of the apparatus for monitoring purposes further enhance the system's capabilities.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the mid-2010s when ’177 was filed, food slicing apparatus typically used separate, tunnel-like product scanners positioned upstream of the slicer itself, at a time when such scanners were implemented with open, unprotected electrical and optoelectronic devices due to the controlled environment within the scanner housing. At that time, integrating scanning functionality directly into the slicer's working region was not common, when hardware or software constraints made it non-trivial to achieve reliable contour detection under the conditions of dirt, heat, and moisture present within the slicer.
Novelty and Inventive Step
The examiner approved the claims because the prior art failed to teach or make obvious an apparatus for slicing food products with a contactless contour scanner that defines a scanning region located in the working region and external to the self-contained sensor housing. The contactless contour scanner includes a laser source for transmitting scanning radiation and a camera for receiving radiation, and it is positioned upstream or downstream of and proximate to the front product abutment. A control device is configured to receive contour data from the scanner and control the product feed to obtain slices of constant weight. The prior art also did not teach a first laser source and camera arranged between the conveyor and the pivotable product support, or a second contactless contour scanner housed in a second self-contained sensor housing, or a contactless contour scanner configured to optically detect an orientation of the product gripper and whether a residual piece is still located at the product gripper.
Claims
The patent has 19 claims, with independent claims 1, 16, 17, and 18. The independent claims are directed to apparatuses for slicing food products that include a contactless contour scanner to control product feed for consistent slice weight. The dependent claims generally elaborate on specific features and configurations of the apparatus described in the independent claims.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
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Date
Description
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US12162177
- Application Number
- US16072378
- Filing Date
- Jan 27, 2017
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Jan 27, 2037
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents