Status monitoring of a cutting unit in a food packaging apparatus

Abstract

The status of a cutting unit () in an apparatus for producing packages of liquid food is monitored based on a time sequence of measurement values from a sensor (), e.g., a pressure transducer, which is arranged to measure cutting resistance for a cutting blade () in the cutting unit when actuated to perform a cut to sever food-containing packages () from each other. The monitoring comprises generating a resistance time profile for the measurement values, detecting at least one predefined feature in the resistance time profile, determining a respective phase value for the predefined feature(s), and determining the status of the cutting unit () as a function of a set of input values comprising the respective phase value. The status may represent the degree of wear of the cutting blade ().