Method for operating a slicing machine, and slicing machine for spaced storage of slices of product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10850419-B2
Application number	US-201816124219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2018
Priority date	Sep 14, 2017
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

A method for operating a slicing machine for cutting slices of product from a strand-shaped product to be cut, preferably food, having a cutting device comprising a circular blade that rotates on a cutting plane about an axis of rotation and is driven by an electric circular blade motor, having a carriage that carries a support plate for placing the product to be sliced and can be displaced at a carriage speed vs parallel to the cutting plane, and having a chain of a chain frame that is driven by an electric chain frame motor for transporting away cut slices of product at a transport speed vT and for depositing them on a receiving table or a conveyor belt, with a number n≥2 of strands of product to be sliced being placed parallel to one another on the support plate with their strand axes aligned.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a slicing machine for cutting slices from a product to be sliced, wherein the slicing machine comprises:
a cutting device comprising a circular blade that rotates on a cutting plane about an axis of rotation and is driven by an electric circular blade motor;
a carriage that carries a support plate for placing the product to be sliced, and that can be displaced at a carriage speed v s , parallel to the cutting plane; and
a chain of a chain frame that is driven by an electric chain frame motor for transporting away the cut slices of the product at a transport speed v T , and that is for depositing the cut slices on a receiving table or a conveyor belt,
wherein a number n≥2 of strands of the product to be sliced are placed parallel to one another on the support plate with their strand axes aligned in a direction of the cutting plane before commencement of the slicing operation, so that a number of n slices of product are cut from then strands of the product to be sliced in one carriage stroke,

the method comprising:
providing an instantaneous carriage speed v s (t) of the carriage as a specifiably controllable function of a time t, the instantaneous carriage speed being decreased, by a carriage speed change amount Δv s , after each complete cutting of a single slice of the product from the corresponding strand of the product to be sliced during a subsequent time interval of duration Δt to a required reduced instantaneous carriage speed v s (t)=v s −Δv s ; and
once the time interval of duration Δt has elapsed, increasing the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t) of the carriage back to the carriage speed v s (t)=v s ,

or the method comprising:
providing an instantaneous transport speed v T (t) of the chain frame as a specifiably controllable function of the time t, the instantaneous transport speed being increased, by a transport speed change amount Δv T , after each complete cutting of a single slice of the product from the corresponding strand of the product to be sliced during the subsequent time interval of duration Δt to a required increased instantaneous transport speed v T (t)=v T +Δv T ; and
once the time interval of duration Δt has elapsed, decreasing the instantaneous transport speed v T (t) of the chain frame back to v T (t)=v T , and

wherein the method further comprises:
immediately prior to or after placement of the n strands of the product to be sliced onto the support plate, sending information comprising: the number n, a width of the strands of the product to be sliced, and a desired distance between the successively cut slices on the chain frame to a control device,
wherein the control device:
calculates from the sent information: a beginning and an end of each time interval of duration Δt, the required reduced instantaneous carriage speed v s (t)=v s −Δv s of the carriage or the required increased instantaneous transport speed v T (t)=v T +Δv T of the chain frame; and
controls the respective carriage or the chain frame of the slicing machine accordingly.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 , comprising at least the following steps:
(a) placing the number n≥2 of the strands of the product to be sliced parallel to each other on the support plate in an initial operating position with their strand axes aligned in the direction of the cutting plane;
(b) bringing the chain frame to the instantaneous transport speed v T (t)=v T ;
(c) accelerating the carriage parallel to the cutting plane to the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t)=v s and cutting a first slice of a first strand of the product to be sliced;
(d) as soon as the first slice of the first strand of the product to be sliced has been completely cut: decreasing the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t) to the required reduced instantaneous carriage speed v s (t)=v s −Δv s or increasing the instantaneous transport speed v T (t) of the chain frame to the required increased instantaneous transport speed v T (t)=v T +Δv T for the duration of the time interval Δt;
(e) once the time interval Δt has elapsed: accelerating the carriage to the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t)=v s and/or decreasing the instantaneous transport speed v T (t) of the chain frame to v T (t)=v T ;
repeating steps (d) and (e) for the remaining n−1 strands of the product to be sliced;
(g) returning the carriage to its initial operating position; and
(h) repeating steps (c) to (g) until a desired number of slices of the product have been made for all the n strands of the product to be sliced.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2 , wherein, using a current-measuring device, a present current consumption of the electric circular blade motor is measured continuously, and
wherein, based upon determining that a level of power consumption that is typical for a slicing operation is undershot, or based upon determining that a predefined limit current value is reached, the step (d) is initiated automatically for the respective strand of the product to be sliced.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the carriage speed change amout Δv s =v s is selected, with the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t) being decreased to zero for the duration of the time interval Δt, and that the instantaneous carriage speed v s (t) is increased back to v s (t)=v s after the time interval Δt has elapsed.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the time period Δt is selected so as to be less than a time required to completely cut a slice of the product from a smallest-diameter strand of the product to be sliced.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 , the method comprising determining the number n and the width of the strands of product to be sliced by moving the carriage manually to a respective strand position relative to the cutting edge of the circular blade at the respective initial positions of the n strands of product to be sliced for the cutting operation to be performed and by transmitting the respective positions reached to the control device.

Assignees

• Bizerba Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Svetlik Carsten
• Klingler Holger
• Fahnenstiel Andrej
• Schmon Jens

Classifications

• B26D7/0616

  by carriages, e.g. for slicing machines · CPC title

• B26D5/00

  Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting · CPC title

• B26D2210/02

  for cutting food products, e.g. food slicers · CPC title

• B26D5/20 Primary

  with interrelated action between the cutting member and work feed · CPC title

• B26D7/32

  for conveying or stacking cut product (means for removing cut-out material or waste B26D7/18) · CPC title