A PIN BONE REMOVAL APPARATUS

Abstract

A pin bone removal apparatus is provided for removing pin bones in fish fillets while a conveyor conveys the fish fillets at a first conveying speed. A plurality of pin bone removal units is provided, each having a pin bone roller for pulling the pin bones from the fish fillets. The apparatus includes a closed-loop rail structure on which the pin bone removal units are slideable attached, where the closed-loop rail structure comprises a processing section and a returning section. The processing section is where at least one of the plurality of pin bone removal units is moved parallel to the fish fillets at a second conveying speed and engages with the surface of the fish fillets. After the pin bone removal the at least one pin bone removal unit is recirculated along the returning section.

Claims

1.-17. (canceled)

18. A pin bone removal apparatus for removing pin bones in fish fillets while the fish fillets are conveyed by a conveyor means at a first conveying speed, comprising: a plurality of pin bone removal units, each of which comprises a pin bone roller for pulling the pin bones from the fish fillets, and wherein the apparatus further comprises: a closed loop rail structure to which the plurality of pin bone removal units are slideable attached, where the closed loop rail structure comprises a processing section, and a returning section, the processing section being a section where at least one of the plurality of pin bone removal units are moved parallel to said fish fillets at a second conveying speed and engage with the surface of the fish fillets while removing the pin bones therefrom with said pin bone roller, where subsequent to the pin bone removal the at least one pin bone removal unit is recirculated along said returning section and back to a starting position of said processing section where said the pin bone removal process is repeated on forthcoming fish fillets.

19. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the second conveying speed is different from the first conveying speed.

20. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said first conveying speed is larger than said second conveying speed.

21. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the position of the plurality of pin bone removal units is synchronized to the position of the fish fillets such that when a pin bone removal unit arrives at said processing section it is positioned at a head part of an incoming fish fillet.

22. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the closed loop rail structure is designed such that after removing the pin bones from said fish fillets, the pin bone removal units have reached an end part of said processing section.

23. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the length of the processing section corresponds to a length of at least two fish fillets and where said pin bone removal is performed by at least two pin bone removal units at a time on two or more different fish fillets.

24. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said conveyor means comprises an endless belt on which said fish fillets can rest while being conveyed, where said apparatus further comprises a member arranged below the endless belt configured to supply an upward pressure on said endless belt and on the fish fillets while the pin bone removal takes place.

25. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said member is connected to a moving mechanism and is advanced in a synchronized manner with a pin bone removal unit while the pin bone removal takes place such that the member and the pin bone removal unit are essentially in the same vertical plane.

26. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising: a detection mechanism arranged upstream to the closed loop rail structure for detecting at least one characteristics of incoming fish fillets, and a control unit connected to the detection mechanism configured to utilize the data from the detection mechanism in operating the plurality of the pin bone removal units.

27. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the step of operating the plurality of the pin bone removal units comprises controlling the movement of said pin bone removal unit from said starting position back to said processing section.

28. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the step of recirculating at least one pin bone removal unit along the returning section comprises accelerating the at least one pin bone removal unit up to said starting position.

29. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, said plurality of pin bone removal units comprise side structures to which said pin bone roller is attached to.

30. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein prior to returning said at least one pin bone removal unit back to said starting position of said processing section, the at least one pin bone removal unit is temporarily stalled.

31. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising a cleaning station arranged at the closed loop rail structure for allowing the bone removal units to pass there through and for removing pin bones from the pin bone rollers.

32. The pin bone removal apparatus according to claim 31, wherein the cleaning station is arranged at the returning section.

33. A method of removing pin bones in fish fillets while the fish fillets are conveyed by a conveyor means at a first conveying speed using a pin bone removal apparatus which comprises: a plurality of pin bone removal units, each of which comprises a pin bone roller for pulling the pin bones from the fish fillets, and a closed loop rail structure to which the plurality of pin bone removal units are slideable attached to, where the closed loop rail structure comprises a processing section, and a returning section, wherein the method comprises: moving at least one pin bone removal units along the processing section parallel to said fish fillets at a second conveying speed and engage with the surface of the fish fillets while removing the pin bones therefrom with said pin bone roller, where subsequent to the pin bone removal, recirculating the at least one pin bone removal unit along said returning section and back to a starting position of said processing section where said the pin bone removal process is repeated on a forthcoming fish fillet.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the second conveying speed is different from the first conveying speed.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which

[0029] FIG. 1a-c depicts graphically one embodiment of a pin bone removal apparatus according to the present invention for removing pin bones in fish fillets,

[0030] FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the pin bone removal apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

[0031] FIGS. 3a and 3b show a side view of an embodiment where fish fillet (see FIG. 1) is resting on an endless conveyor belt associated with said conveyor means while being conveyed,

[0032] FIGS. 4a and 4b show another alternative of the embodiment in FIGS. 3a and 3b, and

[0033] FIGS. 5 and 6 show a front/rear view of the embodiment in FIGS. 4a and 4b.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0034] FIG. 1a-c depicts graphically one embodiment of a pin bone removal apparatus 100 according to the present invention for removing pin bones 107 in fish fillets 123-125, while the fish fillets are conveyed by a conveyor means at a first conveying speed V1 as indicated by arrow 109.

[0035] The apparatus comprises a plurality of pin bone removal units 101, 120-123, or as shown here six units, each of which comprises a pin bone roller 102 for pulling the pin bones from the fish fillets. This number should of course not be construed as being limited to six, but the number could just as well be more than six or less than six.

[0036] The apparatus further comprises a closed loop rail structure 103 to which the plurality of pin bone removal units are slideable attached. As shown here, the rail structure is a vertically arranged carousel like structure having a horizontal rotation axis. This should however not be construed as a vertical carousel structure, but a horizontally arranged carousel structure, or a carousel structure having a rotation axis between 0-90 is also possible.

[0037] The closed loop rail structure 103 comprises a processing section 104, and a returning section 105, where the processing section is a section where at least one of the plurality of pin bone removal units are moved parallel to and above said fish fillets at a second conveying speed V2 as indicated by arrow 110 and engage with the surface of the fish fillets, where the second conveying speed V2 is different from, e.g. less than the first conveying speed V1. In one embodiment, V1 may be between 20-26 m/minute and V2 is between 15-19 m/s. This should of course not be construed as being limited to this range, but the important issue here is that during the pin bone removal the fish fillets is moving with higher speed such that it smoothly exceeds the pin bone removal units 120-122.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 1a-c the location of incoming fish fillets 123-125 and the position of the pin bone removal units 120-122 is synchronized such that when e.g. the pin bone removal unit 120 leaves the returning section 105 and enters the begin 111 of the processing section 104 it engages with the head end of the fish fillet 123 and with the starting point of the pin bones 107, where, due to the speed difference between the fish fillets and the pin bone removal unit, the pin bone removal unit 120 moves smoothly towards the tail end of the fish fillet. The geometrical size of the closed loop rail structure 103 is designed such that after the pin bone removal, as shown in FIG. 1b where pin bone removal unit 122 is just completing the pin bone removal on fish fillet 125, it immediately moves from the processing section 104 to the returning section 105 as shown in FIG. 1c.

[0039] As shown in the embodiment, the plurality of pin bone removal units comprise side structures 108 to which said pin bone rollers 102 are attached.

[0040] In this embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a cleaning station 130 arranged at the closed loop rail structure, or as shown here at the returning section, for allowing the bone removal units to pass there through and for removing pin bones from the pin bone rollers.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the pin bone removal apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, where in this embodiment a detection mechanism 201, e.g. a camera, line scanner, X-ray device and the like, is arranged upstream to the closed loop rail structure for detecting at least one characteristics of incoming fish fillets such as the exact position of the fish fillet, or the pin bone location. In this embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a control unit 202 that is connected to the detection mechanism 201 configured to utilize the data 203 from the detection mechanism in operating the plurality of pin bone removal units 101. This means that the synchronized movement between the incoming fish fillets and the pin bone removal units is not implemented in this embodiment, but instead of synchronized movement, positioning or movement of the pin bone removal units is controlled in accordance with the position of the incoming fish fillets such that at the beginning of the processing section, the pin bone removal units engage with the fish fillets at the beginning of the pin bones at the head end. As shown here, a kind of a halting position may be provided where two or more pin bone removal units are accumulated to make them ready at the end of the recirculation section.

[0042] Each of the pin bone removal units may be motor driven so as to allow them to be independently driven.

[0043] FIGS. 3a and 3b show a side view of an embodiment where fish fillet 123 (see FIG. 1) is resting on an endless conveyor belt 303 associated with said conveyor means while being conveyed, and where this embodiment comprises a member 301 arranged below the endless belt 303 configured to supply an upward pressure as indicated by the arrow on said endless belt and on the fish fillets while the pin bone removal takes place, whereby by supplying such a pressure, preferably within a centre of the fish fillet, the pin bones become exposed which facilitates the pin bone removal by the pin bone removal units. It should be noted that during the pin bone removal as shown in FIG. 1, there is such a member arranged below of each of the pin bone removal units (not shown in FIG. 1), where the members may move along a closed loop path and be re-circulated (not shown) to the beginning position of the processing section after the completion of the pin bone removal. In that way, both the pin bone removal units and the members are synchronized in such a manner.

[0044] As shown here, the member 301 and the pin bone removal units 120 are connected together to a moving mechanism 302 that advances the member 301 and the pin bone removal units 120 in a synchronized manner as shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b while the pin bone removal takes place such that the member and the pin bone removal unit are essentially in the same vertical plane as shown here. By doing so, the pin bone removal is greatly enhances due to the full exposure of the pin bones during the pin bone removal.

[0045] FIGS. 4a and 4b show another alternative of the embodiment in FIGS. 3a and 3b showing where a spring load 401 is arranged between a base structure 402 and said member 301 where the spring load 401, which as shown here is a regular spring, supplies the optimal pressure needed to remain said exposure of the pin bones during the pin bone removal.

[0046] FIGS. 5 and 6 show a front/rear view of the embodiment in FIGS. 4a and 4b to illustrate in more details a possible shape of the member 301 and also to illustrate graphically how the pin bones 501 are exposed due to said pressure of the member. The geometrical shape of said member may vary, e.g. have circular shape, elliptical shape, triangular shape, or the member may comprise an elongated cylinder that may be arranged parallel to a longitudinal axis of the fish fillet.

[0047] While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word comprising does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article a or an does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.