Apparatus for cutting products
AssigneeFam
InventorBrent L. Bucks
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for cutting products, comprising: a base; a cutting head with at least one cutting element along the circumference of the cutting head for cutting products fed into the cutting head, the cutting head being rotatably fitted to the base; an impeller adapted for rotating concentrically within the cutting head to urge products fed into the cutting head towards the circumference of the cutting head by means of centrifugal force; a first drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the impeller at a first rotational speed setting the centrifugal force; and a second drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the cutting head at a second rotational speed, determined such with respect to the first rotational speed that the product is cut by the at least one cutting element at a predetermined cutting velocity.
Claims24
Apparatus for cutting products, comprising:
- a base;
- a cutting head with at least one cutting element along the circumference of the cutting head for cutting products fed into the cutting head, the cutting head being rotatably fitted to the base;
- an impeller adapted for rotating concentrically within the cutting head to urge products fed into the cutting head towards the circumference of the cutting head by means of imparting centrifugal force on the product;
- a first drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the impeller at a first rotational speed setting the centrifugal force;
- a second drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the cutting head at a second rotational speed, determined such with respect to the first rotational speed that the product is cut by the at least one cutting element at a predetermined cutting velocity, said cutting velocity being a differential between said first and second rotational speeds;
- a controller provided with the first and second drive mechanisms for controlling the first and second rotational speeds within respectively a first range and a second range;
- and
- at least one sensor configured to sense system related information and communicate the system related information to the controller, wherein the system related information comprises at least one of:
- temperature, product density, product compressibility, and product size and/or shape;
- wherein the controller is configured to adjust the cutting velocity imparted to the product being cut according to the system related information received by the at least one sensor and to simultaneously adjust the centrifugal force imparted by the impeller to the product being cut in response to the system related information received by the at least one sensor by adjusting the first and the second rotational speeds of respectively the first and second drive mechanisms during a cutting operations.
A system comprising an apparatus for cutting potato chips and a fryer for frying the potato chips, the apparatus comprising:
- a base;
- a cutting head with at least one cutting element along the circumference of the cutting head for cutting potatoes fed into the cutting head, the cutting head being rotatably fitted to the base;
- an impeller adapted for rotating concentrically within the cutting head to urge potatoes fed into the cutting head towards the circumference of the cutting head by means of centrifugal force;
- a first drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the impeller at a first rotational speed setting the centrifugal force;
- a second drive mechanism for driving the rotation of the cutting head at a second rotational speed, determined such with respect to the first rotational speed that the potatoes are cut by the at least one cutting element at a predetermined cutting velocity, said cutting velocity being the differential between said first and second rotational speeds;
- a controller provided with the first and second drive mechanisms for controlling the first and second rotational speeds within respectively a first range and a second range;
- and
- at least one sensor configured to sense and communicate system related information to the controller, said system related information comprising at least one of:
- temperature, product density, compressibility, and product size and/or shapes;
- wherein the controller is configured to adjust, according to the system related information received by the at least one sensor, the first and second rotational speeds of respectively the first and second drive mechanisms so as to speed up or slow down the apparatus according to the system related information during a cutting operation;
- and wherein the controller is further configured to adjust the centrifugal force according to system related information by speeding up or slowing down the first drive mechanism to change the rotational speed of the impeller during a cutting operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.