Fish-supplying device and method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019116817-A1
Application number	US-201616096090-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 26, 2016
Priority date	Apr 26, 2016
Publication date	Apr 25, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention concerns a fish feed-in device ( 10 ) which is designed to supply fish ( 13 ) to a plurality of fish-processing devices and comprises a transverse conveyor ( 14 ) designed to convey the fish ( 13 ) transversely to their head-tail orientation in a transverse conveying direction ( 15 ), wherein the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) comprises a plurality of receptacles ( 17 ) each designed to individually hold one of the fish ( 13 ), and the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) has a controllable drive unit ( 19 ), at least one feeder device ( 11 ) designed to supply fish to the receptacles ( 17 ) of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ), a plurality of transfer devices ( 16 ) which are designed to selectively transfer the fish ( 13 ) from the transverse conveyor to longitudinal conveyors ( 12 ) arranged upstream of the respective fish-processing devices, wherein the longitudinal conveyors ( 12 ) are designed to convey the fish ( 13 ) in their head-tail orientation to the fish-processing machines, and a control device which is designed to control the at least one feeder device ( 11 ), the transfer devices ( 16 ), and the conveying speed of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) on the basis of at least one predefined distribution specification. The invention furthermore concerns a corresponding method for supplying fish.

First claim

1 . Fish feed-in device ( 10 ) which is configured and designed to supply fish ( 13 ) to a plurality of fish-processing devices and comprises:
a transverse conveyor ( 14 ) designed to convey the fish ( 13 ) transversely to their head-tail orientation in a transverse conveying direction ( 15 ), wherein the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) comprises a plurality of receptacles ( 17 ) each designed to individually hold one of the fish ( 13 ), and the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) has a controllable drive unit ( 19 ), at least one feeder device ( 11 ) which is designed to supply fish to the receptacles ( 49 ) ( 17 ) of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ), a plurality of transfer devices ( 16 ) which are designed to selectively transfer the fish ( 13 ) from the transverse conveyor to the longitudinal conveyors ( 12 ) arranged upstream of the respective fish-processing devices, wherein the longitudinal conveyors ( 12 ) are designed to convey the fish ( 13 ) in their head-tail orientation to the fish-processing machines, and a control device, which is designed to control the at least one feeder device ( 11 ), the transfer devices ( 16 ) and the conveying speed of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) on the basis of at least one predefined distribution specification.

2 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the at least one feeder device ( 11 ) comprises at least one clocking flap element ( 20 ) which is movable under control and configured, by means of a clocking control signal generated by the control device, to control the infeed of fish ( 13 ) to one of the receptacles ( 17 ) at a preselected output time.

3 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 2 , characterised in that the feeder device ( 11 ) comprises a guide plane ( 21 ) which is arranged inclined such that under the effect of gravity, the fish ( 13 ) automatically come to lie in a first retaining area ( 22 ) in front of the clocking flap element ( 20 ) when the latter is in a closed position, and automatically move in the direction of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) into the respective receptacle ( 17 ) when said clocking flap element ( 20 ) is in an open position.

4 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 3 , characterised in that the feeder device ( 11 ) comprises a storage flap element ( 23 ) which is movable under control, wherein the storage flap element ( 23 ) is arranged upstream of the clocking flap element ( 20 ) so as to form a flap cascade ( 24 ).

5 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 4 , characterised in that the control device is configured to control the flap cascade ( 24 ) such that when the clocking flap element ( 20 ) is moved from an open position to a closed position, the storage flap element ( 23 ) is moved from a closed position to an open position, and vice versa.

6 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 5 , characterised in that a sensor means ( 26 ) for fish detection is arranged in the region of the storage flap element ( 23 ), and is designed and configured to detect the presence of a fish ( 13 ) in a waiting area ( 25 ) in front of the storage flap element ( 23 ) and report this to the control device.

7 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that several of the feeder devices ( 11 ) are arranged next to and offset to each other in the transverse conveying direction ( 15 ) by at least a width of the receptacle ( 17 ).

8 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the receptacles ( 17 ) of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) form a circulating conveyor.

9 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that each of the receptacles ( 17 ) is configured so as to be pivotable about a transverse axis ( 33 ).

10 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 9 , characterised in that the transfer devices ( 16 ) each comprise an ejecting diverter ( 28 ) which is configured and designed to pivot the respective receptacle ( 17 ) from a fish transport position into a fish ejection position by means of a transfer control signal generated by the control device.

11 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 10 , characterised in that the ejecting diverter ( 28 ) comprises a pivot guide ( 29 ) which is configured so as to be controllable by means of the transfer control signal.

12 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 9 , characterised in that the transfer devices ( 16 ) each comprise guiding means ( 32 ) in the region of the ejecting diverter ( 28 ), which means are configured to transfer the fish from the receptacles ( 17 ) in the fish ejection position to the respective longitudinal conveyor ( 12 ) under the effect of gravity.

13 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the transfer devices ( 16 ) each comprise fish occupation sensors which are configured to report to the control device whether the respective longitudinal conveyor ( 12 ) is occupied by a fish ( 13 ) or is free in the region of the transfer device ( 16 ).

14 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the control device is configured to assign the receptacles ( 17 ), when supplied with fish ( 13 ), to a respective fish-processing machine on the basis of the predefined distribution specification and to determine an allocation specification.

15 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 14 , characterised in that the control device is configured to determine the positions of the receptacles ( 17 ) and determine the respective output times on the basis of the allocation specification and the determined positions of the receptacles ( 17 ).

16 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 1 , characterised in that the control device is configured to determine the respective take-up performance of the fish-processing machines and/or the occupation states of the transfer devices ( 16 ) and from this determine the actual take-up performance for each of the fish-processing devices.

17 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 16 , characterised in that the control device comprises a comparison unit which is adapted to compare the actual take-up performance of each of the fish-processing devices with a predetermined nominal take-up performance assigned to the respective fish-processing device, and if at least one of the actual take-up performances falls below the respective assigned nominal take-up performance, to adapt the predefined distribution specification such that the respective nominal take-up performance is at least temporarily reduced.

18 . Fish feed-in device according to claim 17 , characterised in that the control device is furthermore configured to determine a total actual take-up performance as a sum of the actual take-up performances of the fish-processing machines, and control the conveying speed of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) such that the infeed to the receptacles ( 17 ) is uninterrupted.

19 . Method for supplying fish to a plurality of fish-processing machines, comprising the steps:
conveying the fish ( 13 ) transversely to their head-tail orientation in the transverse conveying direction ( 15 ) by means of a plurality of receptacles ( 17 ) of a transverse conveyor ( 14 ) which are each designed to individually hold one of the fish, infeed to the receptacles ( 17 ) of the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) by means of a feeder device ( 11 ), selective transfer of the fish ( 13 ) by means of transfer devices ( 16 ) from the transverse conveyor ( 14 ) to respective longitudinal conveyors ( 12 ) arranged upstream of the fish-processing machines, conveying of the transferred fish ( 13 ) in t

Assignees

• Nordischer Maschinenbau

Inventors

• Herbst Jan-Patrick
• Schubert Frank
• Jacobsen Ulf
• Lohse Christian
• Dalgaard-Nielsen Ib Verner

Classifications

• A22C25/04 Primary

  Sorting fish; Separating ice from fish packed in ice {(investigating fish G01N33/12)} · CPC title

• A22C25/08 Primary

  Holding, guiding, or conveying fish before, during or after its preparation (A22C25/06 takes precedence){; Devices for sizing fish; Automatically adapting conveyors or processing machines to the measured size (transport in general B65G)} · CPC title

• A22C25/12

  Arranging fish, e.g. according to the position of head and tail {(orientating articles during conveying B65G47/24)} · CPC title