Method and food slicing device with cutting force determination
AssigneeWeber Maschinenbau GmbH Breidenbach
InventorsChristoph Kuhmichel, Volkan Yokaribas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosure relates to a method for operating a food slicing device in which a food cutting blade is controlled by a sensor, and a device for cutting food. The sensor is used to control the cutting operation of the device. When the sensor senses that the cutting blade is worn, a signal is sent to the apparatus motor to increase cutting force. When the senor detects the consistency and content of the material to be cut, a suitable cutting blade, rotation speed and force can be selected. The sensor can also determine the cutting quality of a cutting blade across its circumference by determining the localized bluntness of the blade edge.
Claims18
A method for operating a food slicing device including a sensor device having a plurality of sensors, the method comprising:
- slicing, with a rotating cutting blade, a food product resting on a cutting bed;
- and
- sensing, with first and second sensors of said sensor device, forces exerted in two linearly independent directions, wherein said first sensor is on an upright portion of said cutting bed, and said second sensor is on a laterally extending portion of said cutting bed, and wherein said upright portion extends above said laterally extending portion;
- determining a cutting force exerted by said cutting blade via said food product onto said cutting bed based on said sensed forces, wherein blade sharpness of said cutting blade is identifiable based on said cutting force.
A food slicing device for a food product comprising:
- a cutting bed for receiving the food product, said cutting bed having a laterally extending portion and an upright portion that extends above said laterally extending portion;
- a rotatable cutting blade for slicing the food product;
- and
- a sensor device that includes a plurality of sensors, said plurality of sensors including first and second sensors configured to sense forces exerted in two linearly independent directions, wherein said sensor device is configured to determine a cutting force exerted by said cutting blade via the food product onto said cutting bed during a slicing operation based on said sensed forces, wherein said sensor device is configured to determine blade sharpness of said cutting blade based on said determined cutting force, and wherein said first sensor is on said upright portion of said cutting bed, and said second sensor is on said laterally extending portion of said cutting bed.
A method for operating a food slicing device including a sensor device having multiple sensors, the method comprising:
- slicing, with a rotating cutting blade, a food product resting on a cutting bed of the food slicing device;
- sensing, with first and second sensors of the sensor device, forces exerted in two linearly independent directions during the slicing;
- determining, using the sensor device, a cutting force exerted by the cutting blade onto the cutting bed via the food product based on the sensed forces;
- and
- determining blade sharpness of the cutting blade based on the cutting force;
- wherein the first sensor is on an upright portion of the cutting bed, and the second sensor is on a laterally extending portion of the cutting bed, and wherein the upright portion extends above the laterally extending portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.