Portioning strips from a block work product
AssigneeJohn Bean Technologies Corporation
InventorsGeorge R. Blaine, David A. Below
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Cutting system (10) includes a conveyor (12) for carrying work products (13) past a scanner (200) and then past one or more cutting systems (17). The cutting systems include one or more assembly/units/apparatus (19) arranged in an array or series for cutting continuous strip(s) from the work products (13). The cutting assemblies (19) are carried by a powered system to move the cutter assemblies in spiral, serpentine, back-and-forth or other patterns to cut one or more continuous strips from the work product. The conveyor (12), scanner (200), and cutter systems (17) are coupled to and controlled by a computer (220).
Claims24
A system for cutting continuous, elongate strips from a food product, the elongate cut strips being of a length longer than the length of the original food product with sections of the strips cut from the food product disposed alongside other sections of the same continuous strip being cut, comprising:
- (a) a conveyance system for conveying a food product;
- (b) a scanning system, with at least one scanner selected from an optical scanner and x-ray scanner, for scanning the food product and generating information regarding the physical features of the food product;
- (c) a cutting system for cutting the food product into one or more continuous elongated strips, the cutting system comprising a line cutter;
- (d) a carrier system for moving the line cutter relative to the conveyance system along one or more two-dimensional cutting path patterns to cut the food product into one or more elongated strips;
- (e) a processor-enabled control system to:
- (i) process the scanning information to determine physical parameters of the food product, including its size, shape, two-dimensional profile, and location on the conveyance system;
- (ii) determine two-dimensional cutting path patterns for the line cutter for cutting the food product to cut one or more continuous elongated strips between the cutting paths of the line cutter, said elongated strips being of a length longer that the length of the original food product based on the two-dimensional profile of the food product;
- and
- (iii) direct the carrier system and cutting system to cut the food product with the line cutter along the one or more two-dimensional cutting path patterns to cut one or more elongated strips between the cutting paths of the line cutter, the elongated strips being cut in a length longer than the length of the original food product with sections of the strips cut from the food product disposed alongside other sections of the same continuous strip being cut, and
- (f) wherein the control system performs one or more of the following functions:
- (i) determines the shape of the cutting path pattern to correspond to the overall two-dimensional shape of the food product;
- (ii) determines how many cutting path patterns to cut from a food product;
- (iii) determines where to place the cutting path patterns on the food product;
- (iv) adjusts the cutting path pattern to compensate for defects in the food product;
- and (v) adjusts the cutting path pattern to compensate for variations in the thickness of the food product.
A method of cutting a food product into one or more continuous elongated strips from a food product, the elongated strips being longer than the original food product with sections of the strips cut from the food product disposed alongside the other sections with the same continuous strip being cut, comprising:
- scanning the food product by a method selected from the group consisting of optical scanning and x-ray scanning, to determine physical parameters of the food product, including the size, shape, and two-dimensional profile of the food product;
- determining, based on the two-dimensional profile of the food product, a two-dimensional cutting path pattern for the food product to cut one or more continuous elongated strips between the cutting paths of the line cutter, the continuous strips being of a length longer than the length of the food product;
- in determining the cutting path pattern performing one of more of the following steps:
- (i) determining the shape of the cutting path pattern based on the overall two-dimensional shape of the food product;
- (ii) determining how many cutting path patterns to cut from a food product;
- (iii) determining where to place the cutting path patterns on the food product;
- (iv) adjusting the cutting path pattern to compensate for defects in the food product;
- and (v) adjusting the cutting path pattern to compensate for variations in the thickness of the food product, and
- operating a line cutter to cut the food product in the pre-determined two-dimensional cutting path pattern to cut one or more continuous elongated strips from the food product between the cutting paths of the line cutter, the continuous strips being of a length longer than the length of the original food product, with portions of the strips cut from the food product disposed alongside of other sections with the same continuous strip being cut.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.