Methods for calibrating portioning apparatus
AssigneeJohn Bean Technologies Corporation
InventorGeorge R. Blaine
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The calibrating system 100 includes a conveyance system 102 for carrying work products 104 arranged in multiple lanes extending along the conveyor to be trimmed and/or cut into portions P. A scanner 110 scans the work product and a cutter system 120 consisting of one or more cutters are arranged in an array or series of cutter assemblies for cutting the work products into end pieces P of desired sizes or other physical parameters. A processor/computer 150, using a scanning program or portioning program, determines how the work product may be portioned into one or more end piece product sets. The processor/computer using the portioning software then functions as a controller to control the cutter system 120 to portion the workpiece 104 according to the selected end product/pieces P.
Claims25
A method of calibrating a processing system having a scanner positioned for scanning a workpiece carried on the belt of a longitudinally extending conveyor and a plurality of actuators comprising a set of at least three actuators located and configured to move relative to the conveyor, the system calibrating each of the actuators of the set relative to a datum simultaneously in a cross-belt offset direction and a down belt delay direction, the method comprising:
- (a) loading at least one original target simulating a workpiece on the conveyor;
- (b) scanning the original target for locating the original target on the conveyor and ascertaining physical parameters of the original target as the original target is transported by the conveyor;
- (c) marking the original target with locations or paths of movement of each of the actuators of the set simultaneously in a cross-belt offset direction and a down belt delay direction relative to the same original target as the original target is being transported a single time past the set of actuators by the conveyor;
- (d) removing the marked original target from the conveyor;
- (e) reloading the marked original target on the conveyor;
- (f) rescanning the marked original target to locate the locations or paths of movement of each of the actuators of the set relative to the same original target;
- and
- (g) determining and implementing, with a computer processor, the repositioning, if any, of each of the actuators relative to the position of the scanner in a direction laterally of the conveyor and the repositioning, if any, of each of the actuators relative to the scanner in the direction along the length of the conveyor based on the location or path of movement of each of the actuators relative to the same original target.
A method of calibrating a plurality of cutters of a portioning system having a scanner located for scanning a workpiece carried on a longitudinally extending conveyor and the plurality of cutters positioned and configured to move laterally relative to the conveyor and along the length of the conveyor, wherein the cutters are simultaneously calibrated relative to a datum in a cross-belt offset direction and in a down belt delay direction, the method comprising:
- (a) loading a plurality of targets simulating workpieces on the conveyor;
- (b) initially scanning the targets for locating the targets on the conveyor and ascertaining physical parameters of the targets as the targets are transported by the conveyor;
- (c) cutting each of the targets sequentially with each of the plurality of cutters in specific cutting patterns on each target purposefully at a different location on each target for each cutter as each target is being transported by the conveyor past the cutters;
- (d) removing the cut targets from the conveyor;
- (e) reloading the cut targets on the conveyor;
- (f) rescanning the cut targets to analyze positions of the cutting patterns relative to the targets;
- and
- (g) based on the position of the cutting patterns simultaneously determining and adjusting, with a computer processor, the calibration of each of the cutters relative to the position of the scanner in a direction laterally of the conveyor and the calibration of each of the cutters relative to the scanner in a direction along the length of the conveyor, based on the analyzed positions of the cutting patterns made by the plurality of cutters on each of the targets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.