Advanced egg breaking system
First Claim
1. An egg transfer system for providing automated inspection and tracking of eggs, comprising:
- an inlet for receiving a volume of eggs, said inlet further including an egg accumulator;
an egg inspection subassembly downstream from said inlet and including a number of inspection stations for determining various properties of each egg;
an egg breaker subassembly interfacing with an outlet of said egg inspection subassembly;
a processor communicating with each of said inlet and said inspection subassembly and compiling a data record of each egg including, at a minimum, positional information from said inlet and egg property information from said inspection subassembly;
said processor providing an output communication to at least said inspection subassembly in order to instruct the removal, through at least one gate defined in said subassembly, of eggs within a parameter set by said processor and prior to said eggs advancing to said breaker subassembly; and
a post breakage vision scanner in operative communication with said processor for determining at least yolk properties of each broken egg, said processor updating said data record.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An egg transfer system for providing automated inspection and tracking of eggs prior to entering an egg breaker, as well as broken egg contents following breaking, and in which the transfer system includes a series of processing and inspection component interfacing with a central processor for grading and segregating the eggs into one of a number of classes including removal eggs. Removal gates are provided at intermediate locations of the egg transfer system, prior to the egg breakers, and are associated with removal of varying classes of eggs. The central processor interfaces with the various stations in order to assemble a dedicated data packet of egg related data which is assigned to a progressing location on the egg conveyor upon which a specified egg is located, and which can further include the central processor assigning the data packet to a location subsequent to the breakers holding specified shell egg contents. At least one, and typically two, manual removal locations are additionally provided, such as associated with the intermediate egg detection and removal station as well as the post-breaker station.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An egg transfer system for providing automated inspection and tracking of eggs, comprising:
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an inlet for receiving a volume of eggs, said inlet further including an egg accumulator; an egg inspection subassembly downstream from said inlet and including a number of inspection stations for determining various properties of each egg; an egg breaker subassembly interfacing with an outlet of said egg inspection subassembly; a processor communicating with each of said inlet and said inspection subassembly and compiling a data record of each egg including, at a minimum, positional information from said inlet and egg property information from said inspection subassembly; said processor providing an output communication to at least said inspection subassembly in order to instruct the removal, through at least one gate defined in said subassembly, of eggs within a parameter set by said processor and prior to said eggs advancing to said breaker subassembly; and a post breakage vision scanner in operative communication with said processor for determining at least yolk properties of each broken egg, said processor updating said data record. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer writeable media incorporated into a processor for compiling and assembling a data file for each of a plurality of eggs conveyed through an egg transfer system and for instructing the system as to the handling and disposition of each egg, said processor comprising:
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a first subroutine for establishing the data file with positional information of an advancing egg at an inlet; a second subroutine for adding to each data file egg property information recorded from an inspection subassembly located downstream from the inlet; a third subroutine for communicating to at least the inspection subassembly in order to instruct the removal, through at least one gate, of eggs within a parameter set by said processor and prior to said eggs being advanced to an egg breaker; and a fourth subroutine post breaker for communicating with a vision inspection unit in operative communication with said processor for determining at least yolk properties of each egg and for updating said data file. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An egg processing system incorporating data collection functionality for assembling a file pertaining to each of a plurality of eggs and determining, based upon the assembled file, a disposition of each egg, said system comprising:
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an accumulator inlet for receiving a volume of eggs; a washer subassembly for washing each of said eggs; an egg inspection subassembly downstream from said washer subassembly and including a number of inspection stations for determining various properties of each egg, said egg inspection subassembly further including a plurality of removal gates; a breaker subassembly succeeding said inspection and removal subassembly for reducing selected eggs to yolk and albumen components; egg transfer subsystems including individual pluralities of spool bars interconnecting each of said accumulator, washer subassembly, inspection subassembly, and breaker subassembly; a processor having a plurality of communication lines fed by sensors mounted at specified locations within each of said subassemblies and said interconnecting egg transfer subsystems, said processor progressively compiling a data record associated with an assigned and advancing egg position; and said processor providing an output communication to said inspection subassembly in order to instruct removal of defective eggs through a first selected one of said gates, a rerouting of dirty eggs to said washer subassembly via a second selected one of said gates and, removal of higher quality shell eggs as determined by the assembled data record of said processor for that advancing egg position through a third selected one of said gates and prior to a remaining quantity of eggs proceeding to said breaker subassembly.
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Specification