Food Product Positioning System and Method

• US 20100107835A1
• Filed: 10/27/2009
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Provisur Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Formax Incorporated
• Inventors: Lindee, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 83/23
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 17/0266 comprising more than two actuating or connecting rods
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0051 with kinematics chains of the type rotary-universal-universal or rotary-spherical-spherical, e.g. Delta type manipulators
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/0093 co-operating with conveyor means
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 5/007 Control means comprising cameras, vision or image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 5/34 scanning being effected by a photosensitive device
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/32 for conveying or stacking cut product means for removing cut-out material or waste B26D7/18
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 25/065 of meat
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/04 with buffer storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/58 Turning articles by positively-acting means, e.g. to present labelled portions in uppermost position
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/068 in trays B65B5/061 - B65B5/065 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 57/14 and operating to control, or stop, the feed of articles or material to be packaged
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/244 by turning them about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying plane
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/256 removing incorrectly orientated articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/90 Devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4182 manipulators and conveyor only
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/0448 With subsequent handling [i.e., of product]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/2022 Initiated by means responsive to product or work
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/2033 Including means to form or hold pile of product pieces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/2037 In stacked or packed relation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/2192 : Endless conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/2194 : And means to remove product therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/748 : With work immobilizer

Abstract

A food handling system having a positioning system and method. The positioning system includes a main conveying surface, an electronic sensor, a controller and a robot. The main conveying surface is configured to move food products. The electronic sensor is configured to capture position data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface within a sensor range of the sensor. The controller is signal-connected to the electronic sensor and the robot. The controller is configured to receive data captured by the sensor and is configured to instruct the robot to move a food product to a destination position. The robot is configured to reposition one or more food products on the conveying surface according to instructions sent by the controller. The robot has a longitudinal and a lateral working range. The food product may include formed meat patties or sliced meat or cheese products.

Claims

1. A positioning system for positioning food products, comprising

a main conveying surface configured to move food products;

and

an electronic sensor configured to capture position data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface within a sensor range of the sensor;

a controller signal-connected to the electronic sensor and the robot;

the controller is configured to receive data captured by the sensor and configured to instruct a robot to move a food product to a destination position; and

the robot configured to reposition one or more food products on the conveying surface according to instructions sent by the controller.

2. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a camera.

3. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the robot has a longitudinal working range for positioning a one or more food products to a destination position either upstream or downstream from an original position of the food product with respect to a conveying direction of the conveying surface.

4. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the robot has a lateral working range for positioning one or more food products to a destination position transverse from an original position of the food product in relation to a conveying direction of the conveying surface.

5. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the sensor captures an orientation of one or more food products on the conveying surface within the sensor range.

6. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises instruction for determining whether a food product is in a mis-orientated position on the conveying surface by comparing a measured orientation with a predefined orientation or a predefined orientation range;

and,

the controller comprises instructions for directing the robot to move a particular food product from the misorientated position to a corrected orientation; and

wherein the robot has a rotatable ripper for rotating an orientation of one or more food products about at least one axis of rotation.

7. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises instruction for determining whether a food product is in a misaligned position on the conveying surface;

and,

the controller comprises instructions for directing the robot to move a particular food product from the misaligned position to an aligned position.

8. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein each food product has a transverse position and a longitudinal position on the conveying surface, and wherein sensor is capable of generating a signal representing a captured position including the transverse and the longitudinal position of one or more food products on the conveying surface within the sensor range, and wherein the controller has position determining instructions configured to compare the captured position with a predefined position to determine whether the product is mis-positioned;

and the controller is configured to send corrected food product movement instructions to the robot to move an mis-positioned food product to a corrected food product position.

9. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a datastore having at least one predefined transverse centerline value representing a transverse position on which selected food products are to be aligned to form a transverse row on the conveying surface;

the controller comprises a misaligned food product calculating instruction for determine whether a measured food product position value received from the sensor is outside of the transverse centerline value; and

wherein the controller is configured to instruct the robot to move one or more misaligned food products into an alignment position on the transverse centerline.

10. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises a datastore having at least one predefined longitudinal centerline value representing a longitudinal position on which the food products are to be aligned to form a transverse row on the conveying surface;

and the controller comprises a misaligned food product calculating instruction for determine whether a measured food product position value received from the sensor is outside of the longitudinal centerline value; and

wherein the controller is configured to instruct the robot to move misaligned food products into an alignment position on the longitudinal centerline.

11. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the robot is configured to re-positioning food products on the conveying surface while the conveying surface is moving.

12. The positioning system of claim 1, wherein the robot is configured to re-orientate food products while the conveying surface is moving.

13. The positioning system of claim 1, comprising a high speed food product slicing machine for cutting off a series of slices from a food loaf, the slicing machine is located upstream from the sensor range and produces food products received by the conveying surface;

the slicing machine having a rotatable slicing blade, a conveying assembly, and a support for holding a loaf in a cutting path of the rotatable slicing blade, the slicing blade arranged to rotate in the cutting path to slice drafts from the loaf, the drafts being plural slices formed in a pile on the conveying assembly and the piles are transported onto the main conveyor.

14. The positioning system of claim 1, comprising a food patty forming machine located upstream from the sensor range, the patty forming machine for producing food products received by the conveying surface;

the patty-forming machine having a machine frame, a mold plate having at least one cavity and mounted to reciprocate in a longitudinal direction with respect to the frame to position the cavity between a fill position and patty knock out position, a food product delivery channel for delivering food product into the cavity, the food product delivery channel mounted stationary with respect to the frame and having a fill opening into the cavity when the mold plate is in the fill position, one or more knockout plungers for expelling the formed food product from the mold plate onto an output conveyor when the mold plate is in the knockout position.

15. A positioning system of claim 1, further comprising an off-weight conveyor located adjacent to the main conveying surface for receiving food products that are not correctable by robot manipulation.

16. A positioning system of claim 15, further comprising a shuttle robot configured to move between a pickup area on the main conveyor and a drop area on the off-weight conveyor.

17. A positioning system of claim 15, further comprising a correction station adjacent to an off-weight conveyor;

and

the correction station configured to align a position of a food product or configure to add or subtract food product from a food product so that the food product matches a predefined weight.

18. A positioning system of claim 1, further comprising an off-weight conveyor, the off-weight conveyor comprising a downstream end, an upstream end, and a longitudinal portion;

the downstream end is adjacent to a downstream end of the main conveyor, the longitudinal portion runs upstream from the downstream end of the of-weight conveyor along the main conveyor, and the upstream end of the off-weight conveyor crosses the main conveyor is adjacent to a correction station on a side of the main conveyor opposite the longitudinal portion.

19. A method of aligning food products on a conveyor, comprising the steps of

providing a food product on a conveyor,

detecting a position of the food product with a sensor;

and

moving a mis-positioned food product from an original position on the conveyor to a destination position on the conveyor with a robot.

20. The method of claim 19, and wherein the step of detecting is defined in that the position is an orientation of the food product;

and wherein the step of moving includes rotating a misorientaté

d food product from an original orientation on the conveyor to a destination orientation on the conveyor with the robot.

21. The method of claim 19, and wherein the step of detecting is defined in that the position is a vertical alignment position of food products in a food product stack;

and

wherein the step of moving includes positioning, with the robot, food products within the food product stack to bring the food product stack into a predefined vertical alignment.

22. The method of claim 19, after the step of detecting, comprising the following steps:

sending a measured position value corresponding to the food product position detected by the sensor to a controller;

determining with the controller whether the food product is mis-positioned by comparing the measured position value one or more predefined position values.

23. The method of claim 22, and wherein the step of detecting is defined in that the position is an orientation of the food product;

and wherein the step of sending is defined in that the measured position value is a measured orientation value corresponding to the food product orientation; and

wherein the step of determining is determining with the controller whether the food product is misorientated by comparing the measured orientation value with one or more predefined orientation values; and

wherein the step of moving includes rotating a misorientated food product from an original orientation on the conveyor to a destination orientation on the conveyor with the robot.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of providing comprises providing a stream of food products on a moving conveyor;

and

wherein the step of detecting comprises detecting a position of each food product within a row width with the sensor;

wherein sending comprises sending a position value corresponding to a position of each food product in the row width to a controller; and

wherein the step of determining comprises determining a properly aligned position for each misaligned food product within the width row; and

wherein the step of moving comprises moving each a misaligned food product from an original position on the conveyor to a destination position corresponding to the properly aligned position on the conveyor with a robot.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the moving step comprises the steps of:

lifting the food product from the original position on the conveyor, and placing the food product down on a destination position on the conveyor with the robot.

26. The method of claim 19, after the step of detecting and before the step of moving, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether a food product is robot-correctable food product with a controller; and

wherein the step of moving is further defined in that only robot-correctable mis-positioned or mis-orientated food products are moved by the robot.

27. The method of claim 19, after the step of detecting, further comprising the steps of:

sending to a controller the measured position value corresponding to the food product potion as measured by the sensor;

determining whether a food product is robot-correctable food product by determining whether the position value is within a predefined correctable position range; and

routing a non-robot-correctable food products to a correction station; and

manually correcting the non-robot-correctable food products that are manually correctable.