Food processing apparatus and method for sequentially scanning food products
AssigneeWeber Maschinenbau GmbH Breidenbach
InventorIngo Rother
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosure relates to a food processing apparatus with a scanner for determining properties of a food product, in particular a food bar, with at least two substantially parallel separately drivable conveyor tracks for supplying the food products to the scanner, and with a control unit for controlling the drive of the conveyor tracks. According to the disclosure, the control unit is adapted to separately control the drive of the conveyor tracks to convey at least one food product of a first conveyor track and at least one food product of a further conveyor track sequentially through a scanning area of the scanner. The disclosure further relates to a method for scanning food products.
Claims25
A food processing apparatus comprising:
- a scanner with a scanning unit for determining properties of food products, wherein said scanning unit comprises a radiographic device including an X-ray source and a detector;
- at least two parallel, movable conveyor belts that are each separately drivable by a respective drive for supplying said food products to said scanner, said at least two parallel conveyor belts including a first conveyor belt and a second conveyor belt;
- a common weighing apparatus associated with said at least two parallel conveyor belts;
- and
- a control unit for controlling said drives of said at least two parallel conveyor belts,
- wherein said control unit is configured to separately control said drives of said at least two parallel conveyor belts to sequentially convey at least one food product on said first conveyor belt entirely through a scanning area of said scanner and then at least one food product on said second conveyor belt entirely through said scanning area of said scanner, wherein said control unit is further configured to control said drive of said first conveyor belt in order to move said first conveyor belt at a time when said second conveyor belt remains stationary, and wherein said weighing apparatus is configured to determine weight of each of said food products via a differential weight measurement during sequential supply of said food products.
A food processing apparatus comprising:
- a scanner with a scanning unit for determining properties of food products;
- first and second parallel conveyor belts that are each configured to supply food products to the scanner and that are independently movable;
- a first drive for driving the first conveyor belt, and a second drive for separately driving the second conveyor belt;
- a third conveyor belt for supplying food products to the scanner;
- a control unit for controlling the first and second drives;
- and
- a food cutting device disposed downstream of the scanner;
- wherein the control unit is configured to separately control the first and second drives to sequentially convey a first food product on the first conveyor belt through a scanning area of the scanner and then a second food product on the second conveyor belt through the scanning area of the scanner, so that the first product is entirely conveyed through the scanning area before the second food product reaches the scanning area, wherein the control unit is further configured to control the drive of the first conveyor belt in order to move the first conveyor belt at a time when the second conveyor belt remains stationary, wherein the food processing apparatus is configured to simultaneously slice, using the food cutting device, the first food product and the second food product based on properties or values determined by the scanner, and wherein the control unit is configured to control movement of the third conveyor belt and one of the first and second conveyor belts to provide simultaneous movement of the third conveyor belt and the one of the first and second conveyor belts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.