AN APPARATUS FOR INSERTING FOOD PRODUCTS INTO TRAYS

Abstract

An apparatus includes an infeed conveyor configured to convey food products from an infeed position to a free end of the infeed conveyor. Means are provided for detecting positions of the food products on the infeed conveyor, and a tray feeding conveyor is configured to convey empty trays to a tray filling position where food products are released from the free-end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays. Means are provided for detecting positions of empty trays on the tray feeding conveyor. A moving means adjusts the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor, and a control unit controls the moving means by utilizing the detected positions of the food products and the detected positions of the empty trays as operation parameters in adjusting the position of the free end when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. An apparatus for inserting food products into trays, comprising: an infeed conveyor configured to convey food products from an infeed position to a free end of the infeed conveyor; a food product position detection device detects positions of the food products on the infeed conveyor; a tray feeding conveyor configured to convey empty trays to a tray filling position, where the tray filling position is positioned below the free end, and where the tray filling position is the position where the food products are released from the free-end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays; a tray position detection device for detecting positions of empty trays on the tray feeding conveyor; a moving device configured to adjust the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor; and a control unit for controlling the moving device where the controlling includes utilizing the detected positions of the food products and the detected positions of the empty trays as operation parameters in dynamically adjusting the position of the free end when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein adjusting the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor comprises adjusting the length of the infeed conveyor by moving the free end in a back or forth direction parallel to a conveying direction of the infeed conveyor.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the conveying direction of the infeed conveyor is essentially opposite to the conveying direction of the tray feeding conveyor.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the food product position detection device on the infeed conveyor comprises a sensor for detecting an initial position of the food products, where a subsequent detection comprises tracking the food products.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the tray position detection device comprises a sensor for detecting an initial position of the empty trays, where a subsequent detection comprises tracking the trays.

15. A method of inserting food products into trays, comprising: conveying food products, by an infeed conveyor, from an infeed position to a free end of the infeed conveyor; detecting, by a food product position detection device, the positions of the food products on the infeed conveyor, conveying empty trays, by a tray feeding conveyor, to a tray filling position, where the tray filling position is positioned below the free end, and where food products are released from the free-end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays, detecting, by a tray position detection device, the positions of empty trays on the tray feeding conveyor, wherein the method further comprises: adjusting, by a moving device, the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor, and controlling the moving device, by a control unit, where the controlling includes utilizing the detected positions of the food products and the detected positions of the empty trays as operation parameters in dynamically adjusting the position of the free end when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays.

16. The method according to claim 15, where the food products in the trays fulfil at least one target criterion, where the at least one target criterion is used as an additional operation parameter by the control unit in adjusting the position of the free end.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the at least one target criterion is selected from one or more of: the number of food products in the trays, the weight of the food products in the trays, the loading pattern in the trays.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the controlling step dynamically adjusting the position of the free end when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays comprises: i) releasing at least one food product into a first tray, ii) releasing at least one food product into at least one second tray, iii) continue steps i) and ii) until the at least one target criterion is fulfilled.

19. An apparatus for inserting food products into trays, comprising: an infeed conveyor configured to convey food products from an infeed position to a free end of the infeed conveyor; a food product position detection sensor detects positions of the food products on the infeed conveyor, such that the sensor detects an initial position of the food products, where a subsequent detection comprises tracking the food products; a tray feeding conveyor configured to convey empty trays to a tray filling position, where the tray filling position is positioned below the free end, and where the tray filling position is the position where the food products are released from the free-end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays; a tray position detection sensor for detecting positions of empty trays on the tray feeding conveyor, such that the sensor detacts an initial position of the empty trays, where a subsequent detection comprises tracking the trays; a moving device configured to adjust the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor; a control unit for controlling the moving device where the controlling includes utilizing the detected positions of the food products and the detected positions of the empty trays as operation parameters in dynamically adjusting the position of the free end when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising rotating conveyor device including a rotation disc, configured to receive the trays with food products from the tray feeding conveyor and rotatably convey the received trays from a first angular position to a second angular position.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising a vertical conveyor device positioned at least partly above and adjacent the rotating conveyor means.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the vertical conveyor device has a side extending radially away from a rotation axis of the rotating conveyor device at the second angular position, where the side is adapted to interact with said received trays with food products and advance the trays radially away from the rotating conveyor device to a take-away conveyor.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein a loading position of the trays with food products is a downstream end of the tray feeding conveyor extending at least partly above the rotating disc such that the trays with food products automatically are received by the rotating conveyor device and the angular position is changed via the rotational movement of the vertical conveyor device.

24. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the rotating conveyor device comprises an endless conveyor belt, where at the side of the vertical conveyor device the moving direction of the endless conveyor belt is pointing radially away such that a rotational direction of the rotating conveyor device and the rotating conveyor means is the same.

25. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein adjusting the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor comprises adjusting the length of the infeed conveyor by moving the free end in a back or forth direction parallel to a conveying direction of the infeed conveyor.

26. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the conveying direction of the infeed conveyor is essentially opposite to the conveying direction of the tray feeding conveyor.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which

[0054] FIGS. 1 to 3 shows one embodiment of apparatus for inserting food products into trays.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0055] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of one embodiment of an apparatus 100 according to the present invention for inserting food products 103 into trays 104.

[0056] The apparatus comprises an infeed conveyor 101 configured to convey the food products 103 in a conveying direction indicated by arrow 107 from an infeed position 113 to a free end 105 of the infeed conveyor 101 and means for detecting the positions of the food products on the infeed conveyor 101, which may also be considered as food product position detection means. The food product position detection means for detecting may comprise any type of sensor 115 that may arranged at a side of the infeed conveyor such that when a food product overlap a light beam emitted by the sensor 115 a signal is triggered indicating the exact position of the food product. Subsequent tracking may be utilized to know the exact position of the food product while it is on the infeed conveyor.

[0057] The apparatus further comprises a tray feeding conveyor 102 positioned below the infeed conveyor 101 configured to convey empty trays in a conveying direction as indicated by arrow 106 to a tray filling position 117 where food products are released from the free-end 105 of the infeed conveyor 101 and into the trays, and means 116 for detecting positions of empty trays on the tray feeding conveyor, which may also be considered as tray position detection means. The tray position detection means 116 may be similar to the means for detecting the position of the food products on the infeed conveyor 101, i.e. any type of sensor that initially senses the exact position of the empty trays and subsequently tracks the position of the empty trays.

[0058] The apparatus 100 further comprises a moving means 118 configured to adjust the position of the free end of the infeed conveyor, and a control unit 111 which may comprise any type of a computer system for controlling the moving means, where the controlling includes utilizing the detected positions of the food products and the detected positions of the empty trays as operation parameters in adjusting the position of the free end, and thus the position of the tray filling position, when releasing the food products from the releasing end of the infeed conveyor and into the trays. This will be discussed in more details in relation to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0059] As shown in this embodiment, the apparatus 100 further comprises rotating conveyor means 110, which as here comprises a rotation disc, configured to receive the trays with food products 130 from the tray feeding conveyor 102 and rotatably convey the received trays from a first angular position to a second angular position, which as shown here is 180.

[0060] The apparatus further comprises a vertical conveyor means 180 positioned at least partly above and adjacent the rotating conveyor means 110, where the vertical conveyor means has a side 121 extending radially away from a rotation axis 119 of the rotating conveyor means at said second angular position, where the side is adapted to interact with said received trays with food products and advance the trays radially away from the rotating conveyor means to a take-away conveyor. As shown here, the rotating conveyor means 110 rotates in a clock-wise direction as indicated by arrow 120.

[0061] The loading position of the trays with food products is a downstream end of the tray feeding conveyor 102 which extends partly above the rotating disc 110 such that the trays with food products will automatically be received by the rotating conveyor means 110 and their angular position will be changed via the rotational movement of the vertical conveyor means. As shown here, the fact that a receiving conveyor 122 has a conveying direction as indicated by arrow 123 in opposite direction to the conveying direction 106 of the tray feed conveyor 102 it is now possible to make the apparatus more compact. This difference in angular positions may of course be different, and e.g. be adapted to customer need.

[0062] The rotating conveyor means 108 shown here comprises an endless conveyor belt 124, where at the side of the vertical conveyor means the moving direction of the endless conveyor belt is pointing radially away as indicated by arrow 125, i.e. the rotational direction of the rotating conveyor means 108 and the rotating conveyor means 110 is the same. In that way, when the trays with food products come into contact with said side of the vertical conveyor it will immediately advance the tray with food items radially away from the rotating conveyor means and onto the conveyor, which may also be referred to as a take-away conveyor 122. To further facilitate this the endless conveyor belt of the rotating conveyor means has a friction coefficient being larger than the friction coefficient of the trays. The side interacting with the food products on the rotating conveyor means is preferably straight.

[0063] As shown here, the trays have a dimension where the width of opposite ends is different from the width of opposite sides, where the speed of the vertical conveyor means 108 may be adjustable by means of either accelerating or decelerating the vertical conveyor means as the received trays with food products interact with the side of the vertical conveyor means, thereby selectively positioning the received trays prior to be received by the take-away conveyor 122 such that the trays either have short edge leading or a long edge leading on the take-away conveyor. The size and shape of the trays should however not be construed as being limited to the size/shape shown here, i.e. square trays. The trays could just as well be circular or elliptical shaped or have any other type of shapes.

[0064] As shown here, the food products in the trays may fulfil at least one target criterion, e.g. three pieces of food products in each tray, where such a criterion may be used as an additional operation parameter by the control unit in adjusting the position of the free end. Other criterion are of course possible, such as the target weight in the trays, size/shape, color etc.

[0065] FIGS. 2 and 3 depict a top view of the apparatus in FIG. 1, showing how the free end is adjusted in back and forth direction while placing the food products into the trays, where said position of the food products on the food products and the position of the empty trays is used as operation parameters in moving the free end such that the food products are released from the free end of the infeed conveyor and into the correct trays.

[0066] It should be noted that placing the food products into the trays comprises generating bathes in two or more trays simultaneously without having completed the target in the trays, i.e. so as to e.g. avoid overweight of the food items in the trays in case the trays have to fulfil some pre-defined target weight. In that way, the apparatus 100 according to the present invention acts as a kind of a batching and/or grader apparatus.

[0067] 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.