Fish feeding system and method for automatic feeding of fish, in particular salmon species, with defined head-tail orientation and defined belly-back orientation to a fish processing device

A fish supply system, configured and adapted for automatedly conveying fish, in particular of the salmon species, with defined head/tail alignment and defined prone/supine alignment to a fish processing apparatus, comprising:

• a speed conveyor, which is configured and adapted for transverse axially conveying the fish with defined head/tail alignment and defined prone/supine alignment to the fish processing apparatus;
• at least two feeding apparatuses arranged above the speed conveyor, each feeding apparatus comprising;
• at least one cascade conveyor for transverse axially conveying the fish, each cascade conveyor having;
• at least two receptacles separated from each other by controllable flaps;
• at least one of the controllable flaps being a clocking flap for controlled output of fish to the speed conveyor in a conveying direction of a last of the at least two receptacles before said speed conveyor;
• a supply device operable to supply the fish from a device for bleeding the fish to the speed conveyor with the feeding apparatuses device, the supply device comprising;
• a first central conveyor belt for conveying the fish from the apparatus for bleeding in a direction of the speed conveyor, wherein flow scales for determining a regulated mass throughput of fish flowing from the apparatus for bleeding onto the first central conveyor belt are allocated to the first central conveyor belt;
• a second central conveyor belt following on from the first central conveyor belt for conveying the fish in the direction of the speed conveyor, wherein the second conveyor belt is configured and adapted to be speed regulatable;
• at least two conveyor strands, which each continuously connect the second conveyor belt with the feeding apparatuses of the speed conveyor for supplying the fish;
• a control flap allocated to the second conveyor belt for separating out the fish from the second conveyor belt to each of the at least two conveyor strands;
• and
• a control device connected at least with, and operable to control in a technical way, the first conveyor belt the flow scales, the second conveyor belt, the control flaps, the conveyor strands, the speed conveyor and the feeding apparatuses, for supplying the speed conveyor with fish.

A method for supplying fish, in particular of the salmon species, with defined head/tail alignment and defined prone/supine alignment to a fish processing apparatus, comprising the steps:

• aligning the fish in the defined head/tail alignment and the defined prone/supine alignment;
• positioning the aligned fish in feeding apparatuses upstream of a speed conveyor for transverse axially conveying the fish;
• wherein the fish are conveyed from a receptacle of a cascade conveyor to a next receptacle of the cascade conveyor in the feeding apparatuses until the fish lie in a conveying direction in a last of the receptacles at a clocking flap, and by the clocking flap the fish are supplied to the speed conveyor in a controlled way;
• and
• transverse axial conveying of the fish supplied to the speed conveyor in a direction of the fish processing apparatus;
• wherein;
• the fish are conveyed by a supply device from a device for bleeding the fish to the feeding apparatuses of the speed conveyor;
• the fish are continuously automatically conveyed starting from the device for bleeding to the speed conveyor, and a regulated mass throughput of fish is determined;
• and
• the fish are conveyed in a speed regulated way and distributed onto several conveyor strands in a controlled way, wherein the supply device is controlled at the speed conveyor depending on a capacity.