Material compression and portioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11213967-B2
Application number	US-201916275927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2019
Priority date	May 9, 2018
Publication date	Jan 4, 2022
Grant date	Jan 4, 2022

Abstract

An apparatus includes channel assemblies in a rotatable section, a cutting assembly, a discharge assembly, and a cleanout assembly. The channel assembly holds a bulk instance of compressible material extending through upper and lower channels of a continuous channel. The cutting assembly moves in relation to the channel assembly to isolate the upper and lower channels, severing upper and lower material portions of the bulk instance. The discharge assembly directs gas into the lower channel of a channel assembly to discharge the lower material portion from the lower channel, based on radial alignment of a conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the discharge assembly. The cleanout assembly supplies a fluid through the conduit assembly of the channel assembly, based on radially alignment of the conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus configured to provide a portioned instance of a compressible material, the apparatus comprising:
a rotatable section configured to rotate around a central longitudinal axis, the rotatable section including a plurality of channel assemblies, the plurality of channel assemblies are spaced apart around a circumference of the rotatable section, each channel assembly of the plurality of channel assemblies including
an upper assembly and a lower assembly, the upper assembly including an upper inner surface defining an upper channel, the lower assembly including a lower inner surface defining a lower channel, the upper inner surface and the lower inner surface collectively at least partially defining a continuous channel including the upper and lower channels, the upper assembly defining a top opening of the continuous channel, the lower assembly defining a bottom opening of the continuous channel, the channel assembly configured to hold a bulk instance of the compressible material extending continuously through both the upper channel and the lower channel;

a cutting assembly configured to be fixed in place in relation to the rotatable section, the cutting assembly configured to extend transversely through a gap space between an upper assembly and a lower assembly of at least one channel assembly of the plurality of channel assemblies based on rotation of the rotatable section to at least partially align the at least one channel assembly with a cutting edge of the cutting assembly, such that
a lower portion of the bulk instance of the compressible material in the at least one channel assembly is severed from an upper portion of the bulk instance of the compressible material in the at least one channel assembly to produce the portioned instance, and
the cutting assembly isolates the lower channel of the at least one channel assembly from the upper channel of the at least one channel assembly;

a discharge assembly fixed in relation to the rotatable section, the discharge assembly configured to supply a gas into the lower channel of the at least one channel assembly via a conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly to discharge the portioned instance through the bottom opening of the at least one channel assembly, based on rotation of the rotatable section to at least partially radially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the discharge assembly; and
a cleanout assembly fixed in relation to the rotatable section, the cleanout assembly configured to supply at least one fluid through the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly via a conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly, based on rotation of the rotatable section to
radially mis-align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the conduit assembly of the discharge assembly, and
at least partially radially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cleanout assembly includes
a first conduit assembly configured to supply a first fluid through the conduit assembly of at the at least one channel assembly of the plurality of channel assemblies, based on the rotatable section rotating to at least partially radially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the first conduit assembly, and
a second conduit assembly configured to supply a second fluid through the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly, based on the rotatable section rotating to radially mis-align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the first conduit assembly and to at least partially radially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the second conduit assembly, and
the first fluid and the second fluid are different fluids.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first fluid is a liquid and the second fluid is a gas.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly includes
an annular conduit assembly defining an annular conduit surrounding the lower channel of the at least one channel assembly, the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly configured to direct the gas from the discharge assembly into the annular conduit, and
one or more bridging conduit assemblies defining one or more bridging conduits extending between the annular conduit assembly and a top end of the lower inner surface of the at least one channel assembly, the one or more bridging conduit assemblies configured to direct the gas from the annular conduit to a top portion of the lower channel of the at least one channel assembly.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the one or more bridging conduit assemblies includes a plurality of bridging conduit assemblies between the annular conduit assembly and the top end of the lower inner surface of the at least one channel assembly, and
the plurality of bridging conduit assemblies are spaced apart equidistantly around a circumference of the lower inner surface of the at least one channel assembly.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein
the at least one channel assembly includes a cleanout port extending from the annular conduit assembly of the lower assembly of the at least one channel assembly to an exterior of the rotatable section,
the apparatus further includes an outlet conduit that is configured to expose only the bottom opening of the at least one channel assembly, such that the cleanout port of the at least one channel assembly remains isolated from an exterior of the apparatus, based on the rotatable section rotating to at least partially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the conduit assembly of the discharge assembly, and
the apparatus further includes a cleanout conduit that is configured to expose both the bottom opening and the cleanout port of the at least one channel assembly based on the rotatable section rotating to at least partially align the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly with the cleanout assembly.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cleanout assembly is configured to supply the fluid to a plurality of lower assemblies simultaneously, based on simultaneous radial alignment of at least one conduit assembly of the plurality of lower assemblies with the conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
an air knife assembly that is fixed in relation to the rotatable section and oriented towards the rotatable section, the air knife assembly configured to emit a stream of air in a field of view; and
a cleanout conduit that is radially aligned with the air knife assembly and is between the air knife assembly and the central longitudinal axis of the rotatable section, such that
the air knife assembly is configured to emit a stream of air radially towards the cleanout conduit to entrain and remove residue from a portion of the rotatable section that is between the air knife assembly and the cleanout conduit in the field of view of the air knife assembly, and
the cleanout conduit is configured to further direct the residue entrained in the stream of air out of the apparatus.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the discharge assembly is configured to supply the gas into the lower channel to discharge the portioned instance through the bottom opening based on directing the gas through the conduit assembly of the at least one channel assembly to impinge on a lower face of the cutting assembly in the lower channel.

Assignees

• Altria Client Services Llc

Inventors

• Williams Dwight David
• Evans James David
• Mcelhinney Patrick Sean
• Chalkley Jarrod Wayne
• Newcomb Christopher R
• Powell Robert V

Classifications

• 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

• B26D7/1854

  by air under pressure · CPC title

• B26D7/08 Primary

  Means for treating work or cutting member to facilitate cutting (tensioning band cutters B26D1/48) · CPC title