Method for slicing foodstuffs
AssigneeWeber Maschinenbau GmbH Breidenbach
InventorGünther Weber
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure describes a method for cutting a food product into slices for producing portions by taking into account the target weight thereof. Information about a remainder of the food product to be sliced is used to control corresponding actuators for a successive food product to be sliced.
Claims19
A method for cutting a food product into slices for producing portions by taking into account the target weight thereof, wherein several food products are successively fed on a conveyor to a cutting device so as to cut the conveyed food product into slices, the method comprising:
- obtaining data about a cut surface of the food product to be cut during the slicing by a camera;
- evaluating the data of the cut surface by a controller connected to the camera so as to vary, on the basis of the data, the thickness of the slice to be cut off during the slicing of the food product by controlling corresponding actuators;
- detecting a remainder of a first food product that is insufficient to cut off a portion having the target weight therefrom, wherein the remainder is supplied as an input signal to the controller and is taken into account by the controller for controlling corresponding actuators during the cutting of at least a next food product to minimize a new remainder;
- and
- creating a cutting plan at least for the next food product to be sliced, on the basis of which the at least next food product can be sliced into a plurality of portions having the target weight, wherein the remainder of the first preceding sliced food product is taken into account for creating the cutting plan of the at least next food product, while minimizing the remainder of the at least next food product.
A device for cutting several successive food products into slices for producing portions by taking into account the target weight thereof, comprising:
- a conveyor for feeding the food product to a cutting device;
- a camera for detecting a cut surface of the food product;
- and
- a controller for evaluating data of the cut surface from the camera so as to vary the forward feed of the conveyor by controlling corresponding actuators to reach the target weight,
- wherein an input signal can be detected for the controller by evaluating a cuttable, yet not target-weighted remainder of a first food product to be sliced, to minimize a new remainder during the slicing of at least a next food product and
- wherein the controller is configured to output the detected remainder of the first food product as an output signal to control the forward feed of the corresponding actuators for the slicing of the at least next food product, such that the new remainder of the next food product is minimized.
A device for cutting several successive food products into slices, comprising:
- a conveyor configured to feed a first food product to a cutting device;
- a camera configured to detect a cut surface of the first food product;
- and
- a controller configured to evaluate the data of the cut surface from the camera so as to vary the forward feed of the conveyor by controlling corresponding actuators to reach the target weight,
- wherein the controller is configured to detect an input signal by evaluating data obtained by the cut surface from the camera to determine a thickness of a slice to be cut off by the cutting device during the slicing of the first food product, wherein the controller is configured to output a detected remainder of the first food product as an output signal to control the forward feed of the corresponding actuators for the slicing of at least a next food product, such that a new remainder of the next food product is minimized.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.