Shuttle system and method for moving food products into packaging
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A shuttle system for filling packages with food products, comprising:
- a shuttle robot having a gripper movable in both x and y directions in a horizontal plane, the gripper for holding a food product, the gripper comprising at least two facing gripping arms, the gripper comprising an open position for releasing a food product, and a closed position for holding and transporting a food product, the arms are further from one another when the gripper is in the open position than when in the closed position;
a main conveyor configured to move food products wherein a portion of the main conveyor is a strip conveyor comprises a plurality of belts, each belt is separated from adjacent belts by a gap, wherein food products span said gap, each gap having a width at least as wide as an arm of the gripper so as to allow portions of the gripper arms to pass between the belts of the conveyor and below a food product spanning the gap on the main conveyor;
an off-weight conveyor;
a food processing apparatus that outputs a pre-selected format of rows and columns of unpackaged food products onto the main conveyor;
a supply of open top containers movable in into a filling station;
at least one electronic sensor configured to capture location or orientation data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface within a sensor range of the at least one sensor;
at least one controller signal-connected to the at least one electronic sensor and the shuttle robot and configured to receive data captured by the at least one sensor and configured to instruct the shuttle robot to move one or more properly aligned food products from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor, and configured to not instruct the shuttle robot to move misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the destination position so that the misaligned food products are transferred from the main conveyor to the off- weight conveyor, or to instruct the shuttle robot to either not move the misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the destination position so that the misaligned food products are transferred from the main conveyor to the off-weight conveyor, or to instruct the shuttle robot to move the misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the off-weight conveyor; and
the shuttle robot having a working area encompassing at least between a portion of the main conveyor and a portion of the filling station and configured to move food products from the main conveyor to an open top container in the filling station.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A shuttle system including a main conveyor for transporting food products in a longitudinal direction, a supply of open top containers displaced along a longitudinal direction and movable in the longitudinal direction into a filling station. The shuttle system includes a shuttle robot for moving food products from the main conveyor to an open top container in the filling station. A sensor for receiving food product position data and a controller receiving data from the sensor and for instructing operation of the robot.
74 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A shuttle system for filling packages with food products, comprising:
-
a shuttle robot having a gripper movable in both x and y directions in a horizontal plane, the gripper for holding a food product, the gripper comprising at least two facing gripping arms, the gripper comprising an open position for releasing a food product, and a closed position for holding and transporting a food product, the arms are further from one another when the gripper is in the open position than when in the closed position; a main conveyor configured to move food products wherein a portion of the main conveyor is a strip conveyor comprises a plurality of belts, each belt is separated from adjacent belts by a gap, wherein food products span said gap, each gap having a width at least as wide as an arm of the gripper so as to allow portions of the gripper arms to pass between the belts of the conveyor and below a food product spanning the gap on the main conveyor; an off-weight conveyor; a food processing apparatus that outputs a pre-selected format of rows and columns of unpackaged food products onto the main conveyor; a supply of open top containers movable in into a filling station; at least one electronic sensor configured to capture location or orientation data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface within a sensor range of the at least one sensor; at least one controller signal-connected to the at least one electronic sensor and the shuttle robot and configured to receive data captured by the at least one sensor and configured to instruct the shuttle robot to move one or more properly aligned food products from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor, and configured to not instruct the shuttle robot to move misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the destination position so that the misaligned food products are transferred from the main conveyor to the off- weight conveyor, or to instruct the shuttle robot to either not move the misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the destination position so that the misaligned food products are transferred from the main conveyor to the off-weight conveyor, or to instruct the shuttle robot to move the misaligned food products from the main conveyor to the off-weight conveyor; and the shuttle robot having a working area encompassing at least between a portion of the main conveyor and a portion of the filling station and configured to move food products from the main conveyor to an open top container in the filling station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method of filling open top containers with food products, comprising the steps of:
-
outputting unpackaged food products from a food processing apparatus onto a main conveyor having a conveying surface; transporting food products in a pre-selected format in at least two columns and multiple rows on the conveying surface; sensing with at least one electronic sensor whether the food products on the conveying surface are in a proper orientation or in an improper orientation; arranging a shuttle robot having a gripper that can be moved in the x, y and z directions to grip food products located in either of the two columns, the main conveyor having gaps in the conveying surface beneath food products transported thereon to allow a portion of the gripper to pass through the gaps to grip food products transported on the main conveyor; gripping a properly oriented food product on the main conveyor with the gripper; moving a group of open top containers into a filling station; moving the properly oriented food product to one of the open top containers in the filling station with the robot; releasing the properly oriented food product from the gripper into the open top container; and (1) gripping an improperly oriented food product on the main conveyor with the gripper, moving the improperly oriented food product to an off-weight conveyor with the robot, and releasing the improperly oriented food product from the gripper onto the off-weight conveyor, or (2) not moving the improperly oriented food product on the main conveyor with the robot, and transferring the improperly oriented food product from the main conveyor to the off-weight conveyor. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification