Abstract:
A conveying system that corrects spacing inconsistencies between food products on transport conveyors. Sensor elements are used to determine the position of food products on a first conveyor. Displacement members then move the food products to a slower second conveyor and different locations to correct the position between the food products.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This system relates to the packing of food products. More specifically this invention relates to transporting food products to a loader. 
         [0002]    When meat products such as sausages or hotdogs are made and taken from an oven the product must be conveyed to a loader to be loaded for a packaging machine. For certain types of loaders the sausage is conveyed end to end. In the sausage arts in order to properly load the links of sausages the pitch or spacing between the links must be a minimum of 40 mm between the links. This spacing is required for proper operation of the loader. Currently, a plurality of conveyors are used to transport the links where each successive conveyor transports the links at a higher rate than the last to ensure the space between the links exceeds the minimum distance. By having a second conveyor moving at a speed faster than a first conveyor when a first link in moved onto the second conveyor it is moving at a speed greater than the first conveyor. This increases the distance between the links. 
         [0003]    As a result of this effect, multiple conveyors being used, and the initial inconsistency of the spacing between sausages, the spacing between the links on an average becomes significantly more than the minimum 40 mm required for spacing. Consequently, the amount of links loaded decreases because of this excess spacing. Additionally, increasing conveyor speeds is also problematic because the loader can only handle in-taking links at a certain velocity. Above this speed the links tend to not go into the loader as desired which can result in a pile up of sausages causing the machine to have to be shut down further reducing production. 
         [0004]    Therefore, a principal objective of the present invention is to control the average spacing between conveyed food products. 
         [0005]    Yet another aspect of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of the conveyance process in packaging meat products. 
         [0006]    These and other objectives, features and advantages will become apparent from the specification and claims. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A conveying system for moving food products that utilizes a first conveyor that receives and conveys the food products at a first predetermined speed. A sensor element determines the position of food products on the first conveyor. Based on the position of the food products one of a plurality of displacement members that are spaced along the first conveyor is chosen to actuate to move a food product from the first conveyor onto a second conveyor that has a second predetermined speed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conveying system; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a cut away perspective view of a conveying system; and 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a conveying system. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0011]    The figures show a conveying system  10  used to convey a food or meat product  12  from a first location such as an oven to a second location such as a loading or packaging device. The food product  12  can be a sausage, hotdog, piece of beef, pork, veal, or the like. The conveying system  10  has a frame  14  that houses a motor  16  and optionally can house a control unit  18 . In another embodiment the control unit  18  can be located at a loader (not shown) or other remote location. The motor  16  operates or actuates first and second sets of conveyors  20  and  22 . 
         [0012]    Each of the sets of conveyors  20  and  22  have first and second conveyors  24  and  26  that run parallel to one another the length of the frame  14  from a first end  28  to a second end  30 . The first and second conveyors  24  and  26  of each set  20  and  22  are adjacent to one another and have conveying surfaces  32  that receive and hold in place food products  12 . In one embodiment the conveying surface is a V-belt whereas in another embodiment O-rings are used to contain the food product as is known in the art. Each conveying surface is moved utilizing pulleys  34  as is also known in the art. 
         [0013]    Sensor elements  36  are located at the first end  28  of the frame  14  adjacent the first conveyor  24  of the sets  20  and  22  of conveyors. The sensor elements  36  detect the presence of the food product  12  and sends an electronic signal to the control unit  18  that is used to determine the distance between food products  12 . 
         [0014]    A plurality of displacement members  38  are secured to the frame  14  and extend in spaced apart relation from the first end  28  of the frame  14  to the second end  30  of the frame  14 . Each displacement member  38  is located adjacent the first conveyors  24  such that when actuated the displacement member  38  can move a food product  12  from a first conveyor  24  to a second conveyor  26 . In addition, each displacement member  38  is placed at a predetermined location along the frame  14  and spaced apart from one another and each displacement member  38  has an actuating member  40  such as a valve so that each displacement member  38  is independently operated to move food product  12  from a first conveyor  24  to a second conveyor  26 . In one embodiment each displacement member  38  is a nozzle that utilizes air from an air source  42  that has filters to blow the food product  12  from a first conveyor  24  to a second conveyor  26 . Alternatively, a mechanical gate could physically push the food product, or another type of displacement member  38  could be utilized without falling outside the scope of the present disclosure. 
         [0015]    A plurality of bins  44  are secured to the frame  14  and overlap underneath the sets of conveyors  20  and  22 . Thus, if during the moving process food products  12  are not received by the second conveyors  26 , they fall off the conveyors into the bins  44 . This prevents such loose food product  12  from engaging other food products and keeps the area and system  10  sanitary. 
         [0016]    In operation, in one embodiment, a desired position of a food product  12  is determined prior to delivery of the food product  12  to the conveyor system  10  and stored in the control unit  18 . When the product  12  is delivered to the first end  28  of the first conveyors  24 , sensor  36  detects the presence of the food product  12  on the conveyor  24  and sends a signal to the controller  18 . The controller  18  determines the position of the food product  12  on the first conveyor  24  and compares the sensed position with the predetermined desired position. Based upon this comparison, the control unit  18  sends a signal to a selected actuating member  40  at a calculated time to adjust the spacing between food products  12  to an acceptable range. Preferably, when the sensed position and the desired position are equal or within an acceptable range, the control unit  18  activates a displacement member near the middle of the first conveyor  24  to transfer the product to the second conveyor  26 . When the sensed position is downstream (or ahead) of the desired position, the control unit  18  activates a displacement member closer to the first end  28  of the first conveyor  24 . When the sensed position of the food product  12  is upstream (or behind) the desired position, the control unit sends a signal to activate a displacement member closer to the second end  30  of the first conveyor  24 . In this manner, the spacing between the food product is adjusted to an acceptable range based upon a comparison of the sensed product position and the desired product position. 
         [0017]    In an alternative embodiment, to eliminate the need of determining and comparing to a predetermined position, activation is based upon the sensed position of the product  12 . In this embodiment, as product  12  is delivered to the first end  28  of the first conveyor  24  and the sensor  36  detects the presence of the product  12 , a signal is sent to the control unit  18  and the position of the product  12  is recorded and/or saved in memory. 
         [0018]    When the next product  12  is sensed, a second signal is sent to the control unit  18  where the position of the second product is determined and recorded or saved in memory. The control unit then compares the position of the first product to the position of the second product and determines the spacing between the two. Based upon a comparison of the determined spacing with a desired minimum spacing, the control unit  18  sends a signal to activate a selected displacement member  38  closest to the second end  30  of the first conveyor  24  to achieve the desired minimum spacing between products. Thus, if the products are too close together a selected displacement member  38  closer to the first end  28  and further away from the second end  30  is actuated. When the calculated spacing is greater than the desired spacing, a displacement member  38  closer to the second end  30  is actuated. The greater the difference between the calculated spacing and the desired spacing, the closer to the second end  30  will be the actuated displacement member. 
         [0019]    Thus provided is a system and method that corrects the distance between food product  12  on conveyors  24  and  26  during the transportation of the food products  12 . As a result the distance between each product as an average is minimized, allowing more products to be loaded without having to speed up a conveyor. Because the conveyor does not have to speed up, problems with loading too quickly are eliminated. In addition, the design of the belt mounting allows the belts to be replaced with minimal effort. Thus, at the very least all of the stated objectives have been met.