PROVISUR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

A food-processing device for cutting food products into slices. The food-processing device according includes a cutting device for cutting the slices from the food products, and a conveyor which receives the cut slice. The conveyor is arranged so that the cut slices fall from the cutting device thereon. The conveyor is a discontinuous conveyor which conveys the deposited slices discontinuously.

A food-processing machine for processing a food product is provided. The machine includes at least one hydraulically driven consumer, a hydraulic pump which delivers a hydraulic fluid for driving the consumer and supplies a specific system pressure of the hydraulic fluid, and a control device for specifying a desired mechanical output of the consumer, a specific minimum value of the system pressure being required in order to achieve the desired mechanical output of the consumer. In the control device, the system pressure supplied by the hydraulic pump is a function of the desired mechanical power of the consumer as required such that the hydraulic pump supplies only the required minimum value of the system pressure with a certain safety margin, but no more, in order to save drive energy for driving the hydraulic pump.

A food slicing system having a main frame includes a blade reciprocating assembly, which further includes a support frame, a rotating cutting blade mounted to the support frame, a motor mounted on the support frame, and a support shaft operatively coupled to the main frame at opposite ends thereof. The support shaft is coupled to an upper portion of the support frame and is configured to support the support frame and permit pivotal movement of the support frame. A drive shaft is operatively coupled to the main frame and is rotationally driven by an actuator. A plurality of linkage elements are configured to operatively couple the drive shaft to a lower portion of the support frame, where the linkage elements reciprocally move the blade reciprocating assembly between a slicing position and a clearance position, and where the support frame pivots about the support shaft during the reciprocal movement.

A food product slicing apparatus includes a frame, a tray mounted on the frame and configured to support food product blocks, a product gate assembly mounted on the frame and configured to support front ends of the food product blocks, and a gripper assembly mounted on the frame and configured to grip rear ends of the food product blocks. The product gate assembly is moved from an up position to a down position using a camming action.

A hydraulically powered separator includes a separation chamber, an auger, a restrictor ring mounted at an output end of the chamber, a hydraulic cylinder having a reciprocating ram, a proportional hydraulic valve operatively coupled to the hydraulic cylinder, and a controller operatively coupled to the proportional hydraulic valve so as to control the hydraulic cylinder in a closed-loop manner. The chamber receives and processes a food product and has a cylindrical screen including a plurality of apertures. The auger is rotatably disposed within the chamber and an annular space and a volume is defined between the auger and the screen. The restrictor ring can be linearly and reciprocally displaced. Linear displacement of the restrictor ring varies a size of the volume. Movement of the ram causes pivoting movement of the restrictor ring to reduce or increase the size of the volume.

A food-processing system for processing food products (e.g. pieces of meat, pieces of cheese) includes a cutting device for cutting the food products into slices and a conveyor for conveying the food product portions away from the cutting device along a main conveyor path. The conveyor fulfills several functions in the food-processing system, such as buffering, aligning, orienting and product formatting of the food product portions, by a discontinuous conveyor. The discontinuous conveyor includes at least one conveyed-products carrier movable along the main conveying path. The main conveying path is freely programmable within a conveying area.

A slicing blade assembly is provided for a food product slicing apparatus. The slicing blade assembly includes a cutting blade having a body with a rotational axis defined by the axis of a drive shaft of the slicing apparatus and a center of gravity which is offset from the rotational axis, a blade mount plate having a blade holder which is offset from the rotational axis, and first and second pucks extending from the blade mount plate. Each puck is offset from the rotational axis and from the blade holder. The first puck extends through the body and the second puck does not extend through the body.

A food slicing system includes a hub fixedly secured to a drive shaft and configured to rotate with the drive shaft. The hub has a central pilot projection coaxial with the drive shaft, and flat, blade contacting surface surrounding the pilot projection. A counterweight is eccentrically mounted to the hub and rotatable between a first position and an second position relative to the hub. Wherein when the counterweight is in a first position, the counterweight is in axial alignment with pilot projection, and permits the blade to be attached to or removed from the hub via movement of the blade in the axial direction. When the counterweight is in the second position, the counterweight is eccentric to the pilot projection and is offset from the axis of rotation, to provide a predetermined amount of weight offset from the axis of rotation to counterbalance the weight of the blade.

A food slicing includes a forward conveyor assembly located proximal to the blade assembly and a rearward conveyor assembly configured to transport the food product to the forward conveyor assembly. The rearward conveyor assembly is located immediately upstream from the forward conveyor assembly and gap is formed laterally between the forward conveyor assembly and the rearward conveyor assembly, in the longitudinal direction. An upper scanner unit proximal the gap scans an upper surface of the food product while a lower scanner unit located below the forward and rearward conveyor assemblies scans a lower surface of the food product as the food product passes across the gap, to obtain contour information of the lower surface of the food product.

A conveying device for conveying food products is provided from a cutting device to a packaging machine. A product format of the food products is provided on the input side which includes a plurality of food products which are arranged in rows parallel to the conveying direction and columns transverse to the conveying direction. The conveying device includes a format-forming conveyor belt, a buffer conveyor belt, an output conveyor belt and a control unit for controlling the belts. The output conveyor belt can be operated bidirectionally to convey the food products in the conveying direction or counter thereto. After a product format has been transferred to the packaging machine, the control unit reverses the output conveyor belt in the direction counter to the conveying direction in order to close a product gap and so that the next product format can be received. An operating method is also provided.