Conveyor Device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024182251-A1
Application number	US-202218286765-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 8, 2022
Priority date	Apr 16, 2021
Publication date	Jun 6, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Conveyor device ( 1 ), adapted to
takeover of a conveyed object (F 2 ), in particular a piece of meat, in a takeover area (A 1 ) from an upstream feed in device ( 110 ), transfer of the conveyed object (F 2 ) in a handover area (A 3 ), in particular to a downstream disposal device ( 120 ), handover the object (F 2 ) in a handover area (A 2 ) from the takeover area (A 1 ) in the handover area (A 3 ),

the conveyor device comprises
a plurality of discrete transport units ( 21 ), in particular transport baskets ( 21 ), the transport units ( 21 ) being arranged in particular in a circulating manner, the transport units are adapted to to receive the object (F 2 ) to be conveyed in the takeover area (A 1 ), to be transferred between the takeover area (A 1 ) and the handover area (A 3 ), and to handover the object (F 2 ) to be conveyed in the handover area (A 3 ), wherein the conveyor device comprises a spraying arrangement ( 40 ), wherein the spraying arrangement ( 40 ) being adapted to provide at least one spraying functionality by means of which the transport units are sprayed with a liquid.

First claim

1 . A conveyor device ( 1 ), adapted to
takeover of a conveyed object (F 2 ), in particular a piece of meat, in a takeover area (A 1 ) from an upstream feed in device ( 110 ), transfer of the conveyed object (F 2 ) in a handover area (A 3 ), in particular to a downstream disposal device ( 120 ), handover the object (F 2 ) in a handover area (A 2 ) from the takeover area (A 1 ) in the handover area (A 3 ), the conveyor device comprises a plurality of discrete transport units ( 21 ), in particular transport baskets ( 21 ), the transport units ( 21 ) being arranged in particular in a circulating manner, the transport units are adapted to to receive the object (F 2 ) to be conveyed in the takeover area (A 1 ), to be transferred between the takeover area (A 1 ) and the handover area (A 3 ), and to handover the object (F 2 ) to be conveyed in the handover area (A 3 ), wherein the conveyor device comprises a spraying arrangement ( 40 ), wherein the spraying arrangement ( 40 ) being adapted to provide at least one spraying functionality by means of which the transport units are sprayed with a liquid.

2 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transport units ( 21 ) are in each case transport baskets in which the object to be conveyed comes to rest horizontally.

3 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first spraying functionality is provided for spraying the transport units ( 21 ) with a first liquid ( 43 ) in a transport operating state, in particular by means of a discrete spray burst; in particular wherein in the transport operating state the conveyor device transports objects (F 2 ) from the takeover area (A 1 ) to the handover area (A 3 ),

4 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 3 ,
wherein the first liquid ( 43 ) is arranged and/or intended to come into contact with the object (F 2 ) to be conveyed.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 3 , wherein,
within the scope of the first spray functionality, a first spray burst is delivered onto the selected transport unit ( 21 ) with a predefined quantity of first liquid ( 43 ), which is dimensioned such that at least 90% of the quantity adheres to the sprayed transport unit ( 21 ) or is taken up by the ambient air without dripping, and is in particular at most 20 ml.

7 . The conveyor device according to claim 3 , comprising
a spraying controller ( 410 ) arranged to control the first spray function, wherein the spray controller ( 410 ) is arranged to control the first spray function in dependence on a stored spraying schedule ( 41 P).

8 . The conveyor device according to claim 7 , wherein the spraying schedule comprises indications of the time sequence of discrete sprays, in particular wherein the spray control ( 410 ) is arranged, to control the first spray function and/or to generate the spray schedule ( 41 P), respectively as a function of
a user input (U 1 ), in particular comprising the indication of a total spray interval (dT), and/or a conveying speed (v) of the transport units ( 21 ) and/or a number of the transport units ( 21 ).

9 . The conveyor device according to claim 1 , wherein a second spraying functionality is provided for spraying the transport units ( 21 ) with a second liquid ( 44 ) in a cleaning operating state,
in particular wherein in the cleaning operating state the conveyor device does not transport any object (F 2 ) from the takeover area (A 1 ) to the handover area (A 3 ).

10 . The conveyor device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the second liquid is arranged and/or intended not to come into contact with the object (F 2 ) being conveyed.

11 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 1 ,
wherein the spraying arrangement ( 40 ) is arranged in such a way that the transport units ( 21 ) perform both a lateral movement and a twisting movement while the transport units are sprayed with liquid within the scope of the first and/or second spraying functionality.

12 . Use of a conveyor device according to claim 1 .

13 . Use according to claim 12 ,
wherein in order to reduce the adhesion of germs from the object being conveyed to the transport unit during a transport operating state, the transport units ( 21 ) are sprayed with a first spray liquid ( 43 ) by means of a first spray functionality, and the object being conveyed (F 2 ) comes to lie at least partially on a surface of the transport unit ( 21 ) wetted with the first spray liquid.

14 . Use according to claim 12 ,
wherein during a cleaning operating state by means of a second spraying functionality the transport units ( 21 ) are sprayed with a second spraying liquid ( 43 ), all transport units are free of objects to be conveyed.

15 . A conveyor arrangement ( 100 ) comprising
a feed in device ( 110 ) for providing conveyed objects (F 2 ) at the takeover section (A 1 ), a conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 1 for transferring the object (F 2 ) provided at the takeover section (A 1 ) from the feed in device ( 110 ) to the handover area (A 3 ) resp. to the disposal device ( 120 ), in particular a disposal device ( 120 ) for discharging the conveyed object (F 2 ) from the transfer section (A 3 ).

16 . The conveyor device ( 1 ) according to claim 4 ,
wherein the conveyor device is adapted that the liquid is cleaned after contact with an object to be conveyed before it is subsequently brought into contact with another object to be conveyed, or that the first liquid is fresh liquid intended for one-time contact with exactly one object to be conveyed.

17 . The conveyor device according to claim 16 , wherein
the spraying functionality is set up to spray the transport units ( 21 ) in the empty state, in particular after the handover area (A 3 ) and before the takeover area (A 1 ).

18 . The conveyor device according to claim 3 ,
wherein, within the scope of the first spray functionality, the discrete spray bursts are delivered in individual spray intervals (dt), in particular with a maximum spray duration in each spray burst being 2 seconds, in particular 1 second or 0.5 seconds, and/or wherein a spraying pause of at least 2 seconds, in particular 5 seconds, is provided in the individual spraying intervals (dt):

19 . The conveyor device according to claim 3 ,
wherein, within the framework of the first spray functionality, the transport units ( 21 ), in particular all of them, are each sprayed once, in particular precisely, with the spray burst within a predetermined total spray interval (dT), the discrete spray bursts being delivered at intervals of an individual spray interval (dt), the product of the number of transport units and the length of the individual spray intervals (dt) being larger than a circulation duration (tU) of the conveyor device ( 1 ).

20 . The conveyor device according to claim 9 ,
wherein the second liquid ( 44 ) comprises at least one chemical cleaning agent, in particular the second liquid and/or the chemical cleaning agent being removed from the transport units ( 21 ) before the conveyor arrangement is transferred to the transport operating state.

21 . The conveyor arrangement according to claim 15 ,
wherein a cutting device, in particular a meat cutting device ( 112 ), is arranged at the transfer section (A 3 ).

22 . The conveyor arrangement according to claim 21 ,
wherein the meat cutting device ( 112 ) is set up to separate meat parts, in particular pou

Assignees

• Interroll Holding Ag

Inventors

• Kronholz Stephan
• Lubomierski Kai
• Zinn Jürgen
• Mans Erwin

Classifications

• B65G47/57 Primary

  for articles · CPC title

• B65G45/22 Primary

  comprising fluid applying means · CPC title

• B65G47/841

  Devices having endless travelling belts or chains equipped with article-engaging elements · CPC title