Apparatus and method for cutting slices of a food product and loading them on a conveying surface, and treatment plant including said apparatus

A method for cutting slices of a food product and loading them on successive moving trays, comprising the steps of:

• cutting rows of slices from a number of pieces of food product arranged in parallel with a slicing machine arranged in a stationary position and having an outlet outputting said rows of slices, each row of slices comprising a plural number of slices arranged on single layer;
• and
• jointly moving a set of individually actuated parallel arranged array-forming conveyor belts in a direction transverse to a forward movement direction thereof for successively locating one empty array-forming conveyor belt of said set of array-forming conveyor belts in alignment with said outlet of said slicing machine, each of said array-forming conveyor belts being sized in width to receive rows of slices cut at once by the slicing machine arranged in a direction transverse to said forward movement direction;
• successively actuating the array-forming conveyor belt which is in alignment with the outlet of the slicing machine in said forward movement direction synchronously with operation of the slicing machine for depositing a partial array of slices formed by a plural number of parallel rows of slices cut at once by the slicing machine arranged on single layer output from the outlet of the slicing machine on the array-forming conveyor belt until one partial array of slices is arranged on each array-forming conveyor;
• and
• jointly transferring by means of transfer means associated to the set of array-forming conveyors the partial arrays of slices from the array-forming conveyors to one of the moving trays moved by a tray conveyor in coordination with said transfer means, each of said moving trays having a permeable support surface to support the slices, the partial arrays of slices forming together a complete array of slices arranged on a single layer on the moving tray, wherein each row of slices in the complete array of slices comprises a number of slices which is a multiple of the number of slices in a row of slices cut at once by the slicing machine.

A treatment plant for a food product cut into slices, of the type comprising:

• a cutting and loading unit including a slicing machine for cutting slices from a plurality of pieces of food product arranged in parallel, said slicing machine being arranged in a stationary position and having an outlet outputting rows of slices, each row of slices comprising a plural number of slices arranged on single layer;
• and a loading unit including a set of individually actuated array-forming conveyor belts arranged in parallel, each of said array-forming conveyor belts being actuated in a forward movement direction synchronously with the operation of said slicing machine and sized in width to receive rows of slices cut at once by the slicing machine arranged in a direction transverse to said forward movement direction, movement means for jointly moving said set of array-forming conveyor belts in a direction transverse to said forward movement direction for successively locating one empty array-forming conveyor belt of said set of array-forming conveyor belts in alignment with said outlet of said slicing machine for successively receiving one partial array of slices formed by a plural number of parallel rows of slices cut at once by the slicing machine on each array-forming conveyor belt;
• transfer means associated to the set of array-forming conveyor belts for transferring a complete array of slices formed by said partial arrays received on the set of array-forming conveyor belts from the array-forming conveyor belts to one moving tray of successive moving trays, each of said moving trays having a permeable support surface to support the slices, and each row of slices in the complete array of slices comprising a number of slices which is a multiple of the number of slices in a row of slices cut at once by the slicing machine;
• a tray conveyor device arranged for moving a plurality of the successive moving trays in coordination with said transfer means and for conveying said successive movable trays loaded with said complete arrays of slices arranged on a single layer along a path including a passage through at least one treating unit;
• an unloading unit for unloading the treated slices from the successive movable trays;
• and
• at least one packaging unit for packaging the unloaded slices.