A method of processing poultry portions determines at a control unit a target weight of a cut poultry portion; inspects a poultry portion using an inspection unit to determine a mass distribution of said poultry portion and providing said mass distribution to the control unit; calculates a cutting plan of the poultry portion based on the target weight and the mass distribution using the control unit; uses a mechanical gripper so as to grip the poultry portion and arrange said poultry portion for execution of the cutting plan; and cuts the poultry portion using a cutting unit in accordance with the cutting plan so as to produce a cut poultry portion in accordance with the target weight. A system for processing poultry portions is configured to perform the foregoing method, among others.

Methods and apparatuses for cutting food products. The apparatus includes an annular-shaped cutting head having at least a first mounting frame surrounding a central axis of the cutting head and a plurality of cutting tools arranged around the central axis of the cutting head and pivotably coupled to the first mounting frame such that each cutting tool has a pivot axis. The method includes deflecting each cutting tool about its pivot axis by engaging first portions of the cutting tools in proximity to the first mounting frame to deflect the first portions a first radial deflection distance relative to the central axis and engaging second portions of the cutting tools to deflect the second portions a second radial deflection distance relative to the central axis. The first and second radial deflection distances can be adjusted individually or in unison.

An elastic self-positioning pre-dicing device and method, the device includes a V-shaped self-positioning device, a cutter and a separation device; the V-shaped self-positioning device includes first and second elastic conveying faces which form a V-shaped conveying space, and materials are kept in a vertical state when arriving at a bottom end between the two elastic conveying faces with the conveying of the faces; the cutter is arranged at the bottom end between the two faces to cut the materials in half along a long axis; and the separation device is arranged at the lower part of the cutter and configured to convey the materials cut in half to next stage respectively. This overcomes the defects of low efficiency in manual dicing of seed potatoes and waste of seed potatoes. The half-cut seed potatoes will be conveyed to next intelligent dice identification station to ensure high utilization of seed potato production.

A conical self-positioning limit feeding device and method. The conical self-positioning limit feeding device has bearing pot, empty circle in the center of bearing pot, U-shaped slide way formed between outer circle and inner circle, rotating evacuation cone and limit feeding rod arranged in the bearing pot and rotate in the same direction, and the speed of the rotating evacuation cone is greater than that of the limit feeding rod; materials are placed in the bearing pot, the evacuation cone rotates, and the materials rotate in the U-shaped slide way of the bearing pot by the torque generated by the friction between rotating evacuation cone and materials, till the long axes of the materials are tangent to the radius of the rotating evacuation cone; the limit feeding rod rotates and pushes materials to exit at equal intervals, thereby achieving the arrangement of the materials in the direction of long axis.

Proposed is an ultrasonic bread cutter, in which high-frequency electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy by an ultrasonic unit and bread is cut by ultrasonic vibration of a cutting knife. The ultrasonic bread cutter according to an embodiment includes the ultrasonic unit configured to convert high-frequency electrical energy into the mechanical energy; and the cutting knife configured to cut bread by transmitting the mechanical vibration of the mechanical energy to the bread while passing through the bread.

A cutting assembly for mixtures for food use which is adapted for functional connection to a dispensing apparatus of at least one continuous element constituted by a mixture for food use, and which is provided with at least one cutter facing toward the exit of the dispensing apparatus.

A cutting assembly includes a fixed frame which is rigidly coupled, and proximate, to the dispensing apparatus, at least one motorized automatic follower mechanism, supporting the at least one cutter and coupled to the frame, and a control and management unit controlled by the dispensing apparatus and designed to control the at least one actuator of the at least one motorized automatic follower mechanism.

The present invention relates to a gripper for gripping a product, in particular a food product, having a suction device which has a contact surface which can be brought into contact with a section, in particular with an end section, of the product, wherein the suction device comprises at least one first suction section which is bounded in the radial direction by a sealing device and which is in communication with a pumping device generating a vacuum; and at least one sealing section which is arranged outside the first suction section viewed in the radial direction of the contact region and at least sectionally, in particular completely, surrounds it in the radial direction. The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus having a corresponding gripper and to a method for cutting a product.

A food product cutting system can include a food product carrier for carrying food product circumferentially around an axis of rotation, where the food product carrier includes food cutters each having a knife and a corresponding pusher. Each knife is for receiving and engaging with food product, and each pusher is slidably coupled with a knife and movable for pushing food product out of engagement with the food cutter. The food product cutting system can also include a track oriented generally circularly with respect to the food product carrier. The track can be arranged at varying radial distances from the axis of rotation and coupled with followers. Each follower can be connected to a corresponding pusher. In operation, food product moved into the knife of a food cutter and carried around the axis of rotation is incrementally pushed out of engagement with the food cutter by the corresponding pusher.

A cutting system and method for cutting food items includes an in-feed conveyor having an in-feed conveyor surface and an out-feed conveyor having an out-feed conveyor surface. The in-feed and the out-feed conveyors are arranged in an end-to-end arrangement. The system has a cutting knife defining a cutting plane within which it moves as it performs a cut. The cutting plane is defined between the ends of the in-feed and the out-feed conveyors. The cutting system has an out-feed hold down device with a surface facing the out-feed conveyor surface and being arranged in relation to the out-feed conveyor surface such that it is able to apply a pressure onto a portion of a food item resting on the out-feed conveyor surface while it is being cut by the cutting knife.

The invention concerns a conveyor system (2) for formatting slice-shaped food products in product stacks. The conveyor system (2) comprises an inlet (4), a lower product conveyor (8), an upper product conveyor (7, 9), a vertically swivelling distributor conveyor (6) for distributing the incoming food products selectively to the lower product conveyor (8) or to the upper product conveyor (7, 9), an output conveyor (10) receiving the food products partially stacked from the lower prod-uct conveyor (8) and the upper product conveyor (7, 9), and an outlet (11) for outputting the stacked food products in product rows. The invention provides that the individual conveying tracks (6G, 6H) of the distributor conveyor (6) can be swivelled vertically independently of one another in order to forward the incoming food products individually for each conveying track selectively to the lower product conveyor (8) or to the upper product conveyor (7, 9). The invention also includes a corresponding operating method.