John Bean Technologies Corporation

Fmc Technologies, Inc.

David Faires

George R Blaine

Jon Almon Hocker

David A Below

Processing a work piece by first scanning the work piece. The work piece is modeled to determine its weight, outer perimeter and/or how the work piece could be divided into portions of specific areas and perimeters based on desired portion weights of desired areas and perimeters. The modeled work piece and/or the modeled portions are compared with the one or more desired perimeter configurations. The deviation of the modeled outer perimeter size of the work piece and/or portions from the desired perimeter configuration(s) is calculated. Based on such calculations, one or more steps in processing the work piece and/or portions therefrom is carried out. Such one or more steps may include modeling the work piece again, using different modeling criteria or options, if the calculated deviation is outside an acceptable range.

Processing of work piece based on desired end physical criteria

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.

Portioning apparatus and method

Processing a work piece by first scanning the work piece. The work piece is modeled to determine its outer perimeter and/or how the work piece could be divided into portions of specific areas and perimeters based on desired portion sizes of desired areas and perimeters. The modeled work piece and/or the modeled portions are compared with the one or more desired perimeter configurations. The deviation of the modeled outer perimeter size of the work piece and/or portions from the desired perimeter configuration(s) is calculated. Based on such calculations, one or more steps in processing the work piece and/or portions therefrom is carried out. Such one or more steps may include modeling the work piece again, using different modeling criteria or options, if the calculated deviation is outside an acceptable range.

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Lake Forest Park, WA, United States of America

David Faires