Patent Publication Number: US-7581474-B2

Title: Apparatus for slicing and arranging food products

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of European Patent Application No. 05 019 560.1, which was filed on Sep. 8, 2005, and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
   FIELD 
   The invention relates to an apparatus for the slicing of food products such as sausage, cheese, ham and the like comprising a product supply device which supplies a product to be sliced to a cutting plane in which a cutting knife moves, in particular in a revolving manner. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Food products of different consistency can be sliced in a high cutting sequence with such cutting apparatuses which are also termed slicers. The product slices produced in this process are supplied—combined in portions—with the help of conveying devices disposed downstream of the cuffing apparatus directly to a packaging machine which produces ready-to-sell portion packages. The presentation of sliced food products is becoming more and more important in sales. There is therefore an endeavor to form more and more complex arrangements of product slices by a sophisticated “portion design”, and indeed already on slicing where possible so that the portions already having the desired “design” can be supplied directly to the packaging machine without the arrangement of the product slices having to be changed again. 
   Portioning bands arranged directly downstream of the cutting knives are already known which can be moved in order to form portions from product slices which fall onto the portioning band and whose shape differs from stacks of product slices disposed more or less precisely over one another. Overlapping portions can thus be produced, for example, in that the portioning band is moved relatively slowly in the conveying direction during the slicing process until the portion is complete and the portioning band accelerates to transport the portion away. Complex product geometries have previously not been able to be formed in practice in a simple manner since a corresponding programming of the movable portioning bands is extremely complex and can at best only be effected by trained specialists and only with a large effort of time. 
   SUMMARY 
   It is the object of the invention to provide a possibility which can also be used by technical laymen to form portions having any desired shape fast and simply from product slices produced using a cutting apparatus of the initially named kind. 
   In accordance with the invention, an illustrative tool which can be used intuitively for a portion design is also made available to the layman by the realistic presentation of product slices, wherein the user already has the result—that is the desired portion shape—literally “right in front of his eyes” before even one cut of the knife has been carried out. The format prepared, that is the “virtual” portion, is converted automatically in accordance with the invention into a corresponding control of the support table. No abstractly mathematical machine programming is required. The portion design can thereby be substantially accelerated and is practically not prone to error since an unwanted portion shape is already immediately recognized as such on the display device. 
   “Realistic” representation in no way absolutely represents a precise photorealistic copying of real product slices on the display device. Although this is admittedly possible in accordance with the invention, it is only important to select the representation so that the user can “simulate” the “real” situation on the support table in a manner as faithful to reality as possible on the display device. 
   It is preferred for this purpose for the product slices shown to correspond to the “real” product slices with respect to their shape, that is are circular when salami has to be sliced, for example. With respect to the size of the product slices shown, it is preferred for information to be made available to the user in a suitable manner on how much room a format he is just preparing will adopt on the “real” support table and at which position this format will lie on the support table. For this purpose, for example, a formatting region can additionally be presented on the display device which corresponds to a support region on the support table in which the formation of portions should take place. The formatting region can be stored on the screen, e.g. in particular with a photographic representation of the support table, such that the formatting region and the support region coincide at least approximately. 
   The motor drive for the support table can generally comprise any desired number of drive motors. Precisely one motor is preferably provided for each adjustment direction. 
   The display device is in particular a touch screen, also called a sensor screen, which can be operated particularly simply with a finger or a pen. 
   Within the framework of the formatting function in accordance with the invention, the preparation of the desired format preferably takes place by displacement of the product slices shown on the display device. A so-called drag and drop function can be provided for this purpose. 
   Provision is furthermore preferably made for the evaluation device to take account both of the location positions of the product slices on a support surface and of stack positions of the product slices inside stacks of product slices mutually overlapping at least in part in the calculation of the control commands. In addition to the positions in the support surface, “vertical positions” of the product slices defined by the sequence of placement can consequently also be taken into account. Formats can consequently be prepared so-to-say three-dimensionally on the display device and can likewise be reproduced three-dimensionally by a corresponding control of the support table. 
   Furthermore, a sorting function can be provided with which the stack positions of the product slices can be changed within an at least partly prepared format. 
   In addition, product slices can be aligned with respect to one another and/or relative to a predetermined direction or line in an at least partly prepared format by means of a preferably provided aligning function. 
   The positioning of the product slices in the preparation of a format, which in particular takes place by displacement, can be assisted by a grid which only allows specific positions which are disposed, for example, 1 mm apart (with respect to the “real” support table). 
   Furthermore, a fine positioning function—with respect to this comparatively coarse “free-hand” grid—can be provided with which product slices in an at least partly prepared format can be displaced in a predetermined fine grid of e.g. 1/10 mm. 
   Furthermore, a marking function can be provided with which one or more product slices can be selected in an at least partly prepared format to subsequently be the subject of a further function. 
   Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     The only FIGURE shows a cutting apparatus with a formatting device in a schematic representation. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The following description of the preferred embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the present disclosure, its application, or uses. 
   The cutting apparatus comprises a product supply device  13 , e.g. an endless conveyor belt, for food products  11  to be sliced which are supplied to a cutting plane  15  in which a cutting knife, not shown, revolves in a planetary manner, for example. 
   The product slices (not shown) cut off the product  11  by means of the cutting knife fall onto a support table in the form of a portioning band  17  which has a plurality of strip-shaped or belt-shaped endless bands  39  disposed next to one another which are guided by a front shaft  35  drivable by means of a motor  19  in both directions of rotation and by a rear, free-running shaft (not shown). This arrangement can in addition be moved in a transverse direction as a whole in the manner of a carriage via a spindle  37  which can likewise be driven in both directions of rotation by means of a motor  21 . 
   The motor  19  thus permits a movement of the support surface  33  formed by the endless bands  39  and extending at least substantially horizontally—and thus of the product slices lying thereon—in and against the conveying direction F of the products  11 , which will also be termed the x direction in the following, whereas the motor  21  permits a to and fro movement of the support surface  33  in a y direction (transverse direction) extending perpendicular to the x direction and parallel to the support surface  33 . 
   Both motors  19 ,  21  can be controlled independently of one another by means of a motor control  45 , with the speed and acceleration of the support surface  33  being able to be selected and changed practically continuously in both directions x, y. Both motors  19 ,  21  can in particular be operated simultaneously so that the support surface can be moved  33 —so-to-say like a plotter—along practically any shape of horizontal track curves with any desired speed profiles or acceleration profiles. In figurative terms, any desired figures can thus be “drawn” on the support surface  33  using product slices. 
   The motor control  45  is a component of or communicates with a central machine control  47  which controls the operation of the cutting apparatus as a whole. Since the number of product slices which fall onto the support surface  33  per time unit is determined by the cutting performance also called the cutting speed, it is taken into account by the motor control  45  in the control of the motors  19 ,  21  for the movement of the support surface  33 . 
   Control commands for the motor control  45  are generated by a computer-assisted evaluation device  31  on which a computer program for format formation has been implemented. In accordance with the invention, this format design program makes possible the realistic representation of product slices  25  and the realistic preparation of formats  29  which comprise a plurality of product slices  25  and which correspond to desired portion shapes on a display device  23  which is made e.g. as a touch screen. 
   As soon as a format  29  has been prepared, the control commands are calculated from the relative positions of the product slices  25  forming this format  29 , said control commands being necessary to control the motors  19 ,  21  in dependence on the cutting performance such that the “real” product slices falling onto the portioning band  17  result in a portion which precisely corresponds to the previously prepared format  29 . 
   The product slices  25  are matched with respect to their shape and size, in which they are presented on the touch screen  23 , to the product  11  actually to be sliced and to its size ratio with respect to the support table  17 . For this purpose, in addition to the presentation of a product slice store  49 , a representation  43  of the support table is provided on the screen  23 , with it being e.g. a photograph of the “real” support table  17  in a plan view which is used as the background image  43 . 
   A support region on the “real” support table  17  in which the portion formation should take place, is shown on the screen  23  by a frame  41  superimposed on the representation  43  of the support table which is also termed a formatting region or a capturing region. In the preparation of formats  29 , the product slices  25  can only be placed down with the condition that the centers of the product slices  25  are disposed inside the formatting region  41 , with generally, however, other or additional conditions also being conceivable. 
   The preparation of formats  29  takes place in as simple a manner as conceivable which can also be learnt intuitively and fast by laymen in that the user  27  touches the product slice store  49  with a finger, drags a product slice  25  into the formatting region  41  (indicated by an arrow not shown on the monitor  23  and only serving for illustration here), places the product slice  25  at the desired position in the formatting region  41  and subsequently releases the product slice  25  (drag and drop function). 
   In this context, stack formations or overlapping designs are possible, as indicated in the FIGURE. The formats  29  are shown in the manner a corresponding portion would appear on the “real” support table  17 —in a plan view. Alternatively, generally a perspective representation obliquely from above would also be possible, with the plan view, however, representing the preferred variant. 
   In addition, the coordinates of each product slice  25  in the format  29  can be presented on the screen  23 , and indeed in particular as the x and y coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system whose axes correspond to the displacement direction x and y of the support table  17  and whose center lies, for example, at the center of the formatting region  41 . The coordinates relate to a characteristic point of the product slices  25 , in particular at their center, i.e. a product slice  25  disposed precisely in the center of the formatting region  41  has the coordinates x=y=0. 
   The representation of these coordinates on the screen  25  allows the user an additional inspection of the format  29  and a precise correction of the positions of the product slices  25  forming the format  29 . For this purpose, additional functions are made available by the format design program in accordance with the invention running on the computer  31  which the user can access by touching corresponding function symbols  51  on the screen  23 . 
   These functions were already looked at in the introductory part. For the selection of a single product slice  25  which should be displaced e.g. in the format  29  relative to the other product slices  25  or which should be brought further upwardly or downwardly in the stack, it only has to be touched by a finger, whereupon e.g. its margin is shown in a different color to highlight the selected product slice  25 . A plurality of product slices  25 , which should e.g. be displaced together or should be aligned with respect to one another or horizontally or vertically, are selected in that first a marking symbol or multi-selection symbol is touched and subsequently the respective product slices  25  in the format  29  are selected or marked successively by touching. With a marked product slice  25  or with marked product slices  25 , the desired processing function can then be selected by touching the corresponding function symbol  51 . 
   Further function symbols  53  on the screen  23  in particular serve for the storage of prepared formats  29  or for the loading or importing of formats  29  already previously prepared. 
   A completed format  29  thus represents a set of coordinate pairs (x i , y i ), with each pair e.g. designating the position of the center of the respective product slice  25  with respect to the center of the formatting region  41 . In addition, the format design program knows the stack positions of the individual product slices  25 , i.e. the placing down sequence, which is necessary to be able to identically copy the format  29  shown. 
   The program calculates control commands for the motors  19 ,  21  of the support table  17  from the coordinates and stack position information and the motor control  45  coordinates the movement of the support table  17  in the x and y directions on the basis of them during the slicing of the corresponding product  11 . The current cutting speed goes into the control of the motors  19 ,  21  by communication with the central machine control  47  so that the movement of the support table  17  can be matched to the “cycle” of the falling product slices. 
   Starting with the bottommost product slice  25  in the format stack  29  prepared “virtually” on the screen  23 , the support table  17  moves sequentially to all positions of the product slices  25  forming the format stack  29  so that a slice just cut off the product  11  by means of the cutting knife falls precisely onto the position on the support surface  33  of the support table  33  which corresponds to the position of the corresponding “virtual” product slice  25  on the “virtual” support table  43  on the screen  23 . 
   The format  29  which has been prepared on the screen  23  without any abstract-mathematical programming, solely by pictorial illustration, that is so-to-say by “graphical programming”, is thus precisely reproduced by a movement of the support table  17  coordinated with the cutting speed, with the format design program running on the computer  31  translating the “image”  29  of the desired portion into a language which the motor control  45  can understand in order, in this manner, to make possible the programming of any desired support images, even extremely complex support images, at all or also for the lay person. 
   Generally, in accordance with the invention, the portion forming could be supplemented by vertical movements of the support table  17 , that is by an adjustment of the support surface  33  in the z direction. The length of the falling distance for the product slices can thereby be varied so that additional placement effects could be achieved. 
   Furthermore, the formatting region  41  could be expanded, and indeed not only in the y direction, but also in the x direction. Provided that the design requirements for this are present, such formats  29  would e.g. also be conceivable for whose reproduction product slices already disposed on the support surface  33  have to be moved so far to the rear, i.e. against the conveying direction F, that they at least partly move behind the cutting plane  15 . With relatively large product slices which adhere well to the support surface  33 , this is possible comparatively easily since they can even hang down up to a certain amount temporarily from the support table  17 . 
   The description of the present disclosure is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the present disclosure are intended to be within the scope of the present disclosure. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. 
   REFERENCE NUMBER LIST 
   
       
         11  food product 
         13  product supply device 
         15  cutting plane 
         17  support table, portioning band 
         19  motor for conveying direction 
         21  motor for transverse direction 
         23  displace device, touch screen, screen 
         25  product slice shown 
         27  hand of a user 
         29  prepared format 
         31  evaluation device, computer 
         33  support surface 
         35  shaft 
         37  spindle 
         39  endless conveyor belt 
         41  formatting region 
         43  representation of the support table 
         45  motor control 
         47  machine control 
         49  product slice store 
         51  function symbols 
         53  function symbols