Apparatus for stacking, singulating, and dispensing pliable food products and methods therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9468218-B2
Application number	US-201414517727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2014
Priority date	Nov 11, 2008
Publication date	Oct 18, 2016
Grant date	Oct 18, 2016

Abstract

An apparatus for handling food products comprises an alignment trough disposed at an incline for holding a stack of the food products at an incline. The alignment trough defines a portion of a passage upon which the food products travel. The stack defines a bottom food product. At least one movable member extends into the passage to control the separation of the bottom food product from the remainder of the stack by moving to provide clearance fro the food product to pass.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for handling pliable food products each having a thin edge and a generally flat face, the apparatus comprising:
a feed trough configured to hold the food products upright on their thin edges so that the flat faces of the food products generally extend vertically, the feed trough including a conveyor belt configured to support the food products thereon and having a driving end and a handling end opposite the driving end, the driving end of the feed trough configured to rotate the conveyor belt of the feed trough toward the handling end of the feed trough to transport the food products in the feed trough toward the handling end of the feed trough;
an alignment trough positioned adjacent the handling end of the feed trough and including an upper portion located below the handling end of the feed trough and configured to receive the food products that fall from the conveyor belt at the handling end of the feed trough, the alignment trough being inclined relative to a horizontal axis to hold a stack of the food products at an incline relative to the horizontal axis so that the generally flat face of each food product in the stack, when positioned in the alignment trough, is inclined to generally face downward;
a slide configured to receive the food products from the alignment trough and to direct the food products to an orientation where the flat face of the food products generally extend horizontally; and
a chute with an intermittently open bottom for collecting a specified number of the food products from the slide and dropping the specified number of food products from the chute together.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the feed trough includes at least one elongate channel having side walls configured to contact the thin edges of the food products such that the flat faces of the food products face in a direction of movement of the food products along the at least one elongate channel.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the at least one elongate channel is operatively connected to at least one conveyor belt operatively connected at a driving end of the feed trough to at least one wheel operatively connected to a drive shaft of a conveyor belt motor to facilitate movement of the food products along the at least one elongate channel.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one elongate channel is inclined relative to the horizontal axis such that the food products move generally upwards along the at least one elongate channel toward the alignment trough.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the alignment trough includes two side walls and a middle wall between the two side walls, the middle wall including a groove to provide clearance for a conveyor belt.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the alignment trough generally defines a longitudinal axis and includes two side walls and a middle wall between the two side walls, the middle wall and the side walls slidingly engaging the thin edges of the food products in the stack.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the alignment trough is inclined relative to the horizontal axis and wherein the longitudinal axis defined by the alignment trough is not parallel relative to a vertical axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the flat face of each of the food products in the stack of the food products in the alignment trough is inclined relative to the horizontal axis, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis defined by the alignment trough, and not perpendicular to a vertical axis perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the feed trough and the alignment trough are inclined at different angles relative to the horizontal axis, and wherein the flat faces of the food products in the feed trough and the flat faces of the food products in the alignment trough are at different angles relative to each other and relative to the horizontal axis.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the alignment trough is inclined relative to the horizontal axis at an angle greater than the feed trough.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the feed trough is inclined relative to the horizontal axis at an angle of about 20 degrees and the alignment trough is inclined relative to the horizontal axis at an angle of about 45 degrees.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the alignment trough includes an alignment mechanism configured to apply a lateral force on the food products to maintain the food products in the stack, the alignment mechanism comprising at least two rollers including a plurality of edges disposed to engage side edges of the food products and impart a lateral force on the side edges of the food products to rotate the food products in the alignment trough.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein each of the at least two rollers has an axis of rotation generally parallel to the longitudinal axis defined by the alignment trough and is mounted between at least one of the two sidewalls and the middle wall of the alignment trough.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the alignment trough has an upper half and wherein the at least two rollers extend only along the upper half.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least two rollers rotate in the same direction.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a roller control motor configured to rotate the at least one rollers, the roller control motor being configured to be in communication with a controller.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor positioned above the alignment trough, the sensor being configured to activate a conveyor belt on the feed trough when an amount of the food products lower than a predetermined amount is detected in the alignment trough.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a reciprocating separation device disposed and configured to advance to temporarily fix a bottom food product in the stack of the food products in the alignment trough to the separation device, and retract to pull the bottom food product from a remainder of the stack, and wherein the separation device is temporarily fixed to the bottom food product by a partial vacuum.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the separation device comprises a cup defining an interior with an opening facing toward the alignment trough to engage the bottom food product, the interior of the cup defining an orifice opening in a lateral direction for reducing pressure within the cup.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the cup comprises a cylindrical sidewall defining the interior, and a core extending within the sidewall, and wherein the orifice is defined by at least one of the sidewall and the core.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the separation device is configured to move the bottom food product separated from the remainder of the stack to a slide, and further comprising a driver configured to engage and move the bottom food product separated from the remainder of the stack down the slide to the chute.

Assignees

• Kraft Foods Group Brands Llc

Inventors

• Malenke Mark E
• Rusch Gary S
• Heleniak Tod W
• Adamski Brian
• Wierschke Larry D
• Adler Scott A

Classifications

• A21C9/086 Primary

  Stacking or unstacking discrete dough sheets (with filling in between sheets A21C9/045) · CPC title

• B65H2701/1718

  Porous or permeable · CPC title

• A21C9/08 Primary

  Depositing, arranging and conveying apparatus for handling pieces, e.g. sheets of dough {(for handling liquid or semi-liquid dough, e.g. batter A21C5/006)} · CPC title

• B65H3/085

  separating from the bottom of pile · CPC title

• B65G47/24

  orientating the articles · CPC title