John Bean Technologies Corporation

David A Below

George R Blaine

Arthur William Vogeley, Jr

Craig E Pfarr

David Faires

Matthew F Falkoski

A W Vogeley, Jr

Aw Vogeley

An animal ribcage primal cut having a bone array located therein is portioned into one or more sub primal cuts, each having at least one bone located therein. The primal cut is scanned at scanning stationwhile being conveyed on a conveyorto determine the physical characteristics of the primal cut. A processordetermines how to portion the primal cut into desired sub primal cuts in accordance with desired physical characteristics of the sub primal cut and production requirements for the sub primal cuts. A controller controls a cutter to divide the primal cut into one or more sub primal cuts according to the determination previously made on how to portion the primal cut into desired sub primal cuts.

Portioning/trimming of rib primal cuts

A method and system are provided for automatically portioning workpieces, such as food products, by simulating portioning the workpieces in accordance with the one or more desired shapes of the final piece(s) as a directly controlled physical characteristic (parameter/specification) as well as one or more resulting indirectly controlled physical characteristics (parameters/specifications). The desired shape(s) of the final piece(s) are defined by a plurality of manipulatable reference coordinates. A workpiece is scanned to obtain scanning information, then portioning of the workpiece is simulated in accordance with the desired shape(s) of the final piece(s) defined by the directly controlled reference coordinates, thereby to determine the one or more indirectly controlled physical characteristics of the one or more final pieces to be portioned from the workpiece. The simulated portioning of the workpiece is performed for multiple combinations of directly controlled shapes as defined by the modified or edited reference coordinates and indirectly controlled physical characteristics until an acceptable set of a directly controlled shape and resulting one or more indirectly controlled physical characteristics is determined.

Method and system for portioning workpieces using reference shape as a directly controlled characteristic

Cutting system () includes a conveyor () for carrying work products () past a scanner () and then past one or more cutting systems (). The cutting systems include one or more assembly/units/apparatus () arranged in an array or series for cutting continuous strip(s) from the work products (). The cutting assemblies () are carried by a powered system to move the cutter assemblies in spiral, serpentine, back-and-forth or other patterns to cut one or more continuous strips from the work product. The conveyor (), scanner (), and cutter systems () are coupled to and controlled by a computer ().

Portioning strips from a block work product

A method and system are provided for automatically portioning workpieces, such as food products, into both shape and other user-defined specification(s). Workpieces are portioned both to shape and weight, such as to a weight-specific uniform shape, by adjusting (e.g., scaling up and down or slightly modifying) a desired template shape until the desired weight is achieved depending on the varying thickness of each workpiece. For example, from a thicker workpiece, a smaller-sized piece having a predefined shape and weight is portioned, while from a thinner workpiece, a larger-sized piece having the same predefined shape and weight is portioned. The system permits a user to scan in and edit a desired (reference) shape to be used as a template in the portioning process.

Method and system for portioning workpieces to user-entered shape and other specifications

A method and system are provided for automatically portioning workpieces, such as food products, by simulating portioning the workpieces in accordance with one or more directly controlled characteristics (parameters/specifications) and/or indirectly controlled characteristics (parameters/specifications). The workpiece is scanned to obtain scanning information, then simulating portioning of the workpiece is carried out in accordance with the one or more directly controlled characteristics (parameters/specifications), thereby to determine the one or more indirectly controlled characteristics of the one or more final pieces to be portioned from the workpiece. The simulated portioning of the workpiece is performed for multiple combinations of one or more directly controlled characteristics until an acceptable set of one or more directly controlled characteristics and/or one or more indirectly controlled characteristics is determined.

Method and system for portioning workpieces to directly-controlled and/or indirectly-controlled characteristics

Method and system for portioning workpieces to directly-controlled and indirectly-controlled specifications

Portioning system () includes a conveyor () for conveying work products () past a scanner (). A data processor () receives the scanning data and generates a thickness and/or volume distribution of the work product. The processor is programmed to determine in advance how the work product may be portioned into a plurality of desired end products, and more specifically how one or more of the end products may be cut and then subsequently sliced without having to re-scan the cut portion. The processor controls a cutting device () for portioning the work product under the cutting strategy determined by the processor, and also controls a slicing device () for subsequently slicing one or more of the cut portions to achieve a desired thickness per the determined cutting strategy.

Growing community of inventors

Port Clinton, OH, United States of America

David A Below