Method of controlling masa sheet thickness produced by tortilla sheeter
AssigneeJ.C. Ford Company
InventorThomas A. Ruhe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thickness control system for a high speed tortilla sheeting machine automatically adjusts a pinch point gap between a pair of sheeting rollers to maintain a generally uniform thickness of the produced "masa" (i.e., corn dough) sheet. The control system includes a pair of sensors, a controller, and a pair of actuators. The sensors continuously monitor the distance to the surface of a produced masa sheet. The controller derives from the sensor output signal a measurement of the thickness of the produced masa sheet, and compares this measurement to a preset thickness. The controller then directs one or more of the actuators to change the distance between the two sheeting rollers of the tortilla sheeting machine as necessary to produce a masa sheet at the desired preset thickness.
Claims11
A method for automatically and continuously controlling the thickness of a comestible product sheet produced by passing a comestible product between at least one pair of sheeting rollers, wherein the thickness of the comestible product sheet is substantially equal to a pinch point gap defined between opposing surface of the pair of sheeting rollers, said method comprising the steps of:
- measuring the thickness of the produced comestible product sheet at a location where the produced comestible product sheet covers at least a portion of one of the sheeting rollers;
- generating a first signal indicative of the thickness;
- comparing the thickness indicated by said first signal to a preset thickness;
- generating a second signal in response to the comparison between said thickness indicated by said first signal and said preset thickness;
- and
- moving the sheeting rollers relative to each other in response to said second signal to change the size of the pinch point gap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.