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US 11,751,598 B2Granted
Smart cutter for high speed produce processing
AssigneeAgile Innovation, Inc.
InventorSteven Richard Dragt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A produce cutting apparatus is utilized, among other things, for making single cuts in an elongated produce product to trim ends, segment the product into variable length segments, make fixed length segments, and cutting out undesirable portions of the produce product. Using a combination of a feed belt, sensor, radial cutter apparatus and programmable controller, the apparatus precisely locates each cut. The cutting blade makes a single cut with each rotation of the radial cutter apparatus. The apparatus may further have a piece removal system and a product holding system.
Claims19
A produce cutting apparatus comprising:
- a feed belt configured to receive and transport a produce product along an x axis, wherein the feed belt has a linear velocity along the x axis;
- a transducer configured to determine and transmit the linear velocity of the feed belt;
- a sensor configured to scan the produce product, determine at least one dimensional feature of the produce product, and transmit the at least one dimensional feature;
- a radial cutter mechanism comprising a drum member attached to a motor, the radial cutter mechanism further comprising a cutting blade which moves in a circular path offset from a rotational center of the drum member, the radial cutter mechanism moving the cutting blade about the circular path such that the cutting blade approaches the feed belt along the y axis, makes a cut in the produce product, instantaneously travels along the x axis and is raised up from the circular path for another rotation, wherein the cutting blade makes a single cut in each complete rotation, wherein a desired length of a cut segment of the produce product is determined by an angular velocity of the cutting blade relative to the linear velocity of the feed belt;
- and
- a programmable controller which receives the linear velocity of the feed belt and the dimensional feature from the sensor, wherein the programmable controller ascertains a position, an orientation and a length of the produce product and adjusts the angular velocity to achieve the desired length of the cut segment.
3 more elements
A produce cutting apparatus comprising:
- a feed belt configured to receive and transport a produce product along an x axis, wherein the feed belt has a linear velocity along the x axis;
- a transducer configured to determine and transmit the linear velocity of the feed belt to a programmable controller;
- a sensor configured to scan the produce product, determine at least one dimensional feature of the produce product, and transmit an output signal to the programmable controller;
- a radial cutter mechanism comprising a cutting blade configured to have a travel path along an x-axis and a y-axis, the cutting blade having a long axis, wherein the long axis is maintained in a parallel relation with the y-axis as the cutting blade follows the travel path, wherein the cutting blade makes a single cut in each complete rotation;
- and
- a motor having a variable range of speeds connected to the radial cutter mechanism, wherein the motor is configured to receive an input from the programmable controller to change to a specified speed and thereby control an elapsed time between each single cut of the cutting blade.
3 more elements
A produce cutting apparatus comprising:
- a feed belt configured to receive and transport a produce product along an x axis, wherein the feed belt has a linear velocity along the x axis;
- a transducer configured to determine and transmit the linear velocity of the feed belt to a programmable controller;
- a sensor configured to scan the produce product, determine at least one dimensional feature of the produce product, and transmit an output signal to the programmable controller;
- and
- a radial cutter mechanism comprising a circular drum member attached at its center to a motor, the motor having a variable range of speeds wherein the motor is configured to receive an input from the programmable controller to change to a specified speed, the radial cutter mechanism further comprising a lobe member attached to the drum at a point offset to the center of the drum, wherein a cutting blade is affixed to the lobe member and rotation of the drum is translated into a controlled rotary motion of the lobe member thereby imparting to the cutting blade a travel path having an x-axis component and a y-axis component, the travel path having a lowermost position along the y-axis component, wherein the cutting blade completes a cut upon reaching the lowermost position, wherein the cutting blade makes a single cut in a complete rotation of the circular drum member.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.