Patent ID: 11883974
Assignee: JOHN BEAN TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  A | IPC A  B

Claim 10:
11. A system for producing cut portions from variably sized and shaped food items based on desired physical specifications of the cut portions and placing the cut portions based on the desired physical specifications of the cut portions at one or more desired locations, comprising:
(a) a conveyor system for conveying the food items;
(b) a scanning system for scanning the food items and generating data pertaining to the physical specifications of the cut portions including sizes and shapes of the food items and locations of the food items on the conveyor system;
(c) a cutting system for cutting the cut portions from the food items based on the desired physical specifications of the cut portions;
(d) a pickup system for picking up the cut portions from the conveyor system, comprising:
a nozzle having an inlet configured to receive the cut portions from the conveyor system; and
a vacuum source generating a vacuum at the inlet;

(e) a discharge system in flow communication with the nozzle to launch the cut portions in a desired trajectory so that the cut portions travel through the air exterior of any conduit;
(f) an actuator coupled to the nozzle to place the nozzle in position relative to the cut portions to facilitate picking up the cut portions with the nozzle, the actuator automatically rotating the nozzle about an upright axis to aim the discharge system at a desired angular orientation about the upright axis; and
(g) a control system:
processing the data to determine the sizes and the shapes of the food items and the locations of the food items on the conveyor system;
determining cutting paths to cut the food items to achieve the desired physical specifications of the cut portions;
directing the cutting system to perform cutting of the food items along the cutting paths;
directing the actuator to position the nozzle with respect to the food items to enable the nozzle to pick up the cut portions; and
positioning the discharge system to launch the cut portions in the trajectory to deliver the cut portions at the one or more desired locations away from the conveyor system while the nozzle is capable of remaining located above the conveyor system, wherein positioning the discharge system includes controlling the actuator to rotate the nozzle based on the data received from the scanning system.