RU2237408C2 - Dough divider - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: equipment for baking industry.

SUBSTANCE: dough divider has dough charging hopper, dividing cylinder, piston, knife and vacuum system. Dividing cylinder with piston is arranged in vertical position inside hopper. Dividing cylinder is provided with at least one window. Knife is movable along end of dividing cylinder. Vacuum channels are formed inside knife for creating vacuum in measuring volume defined by piston, dividing cylinder and knife.

EFFECT: simplified construction, provision for precise regulation of dough weight, and reduced power consumption for dough dividing process.

3 cl, 1 dwg

Description

The invention relates to equipment for the baking industry, in particular to dividing equipment for dough, based on the vacuum principle of operation.

Known vacuum dough divider brand PARTA SND of the Dutch company "WERNER & PFLEIDERER", in which the dough from the hopper is sucked by means of a piston into a horizontally located dividing (main) cylinder, and after the dough fills the measured volume of the cylinder, a special shutter located in the lower part of the hopper moves horizontally so as to isolate the dividing cylinder from the hopper. Further, with the said piston, the dough is pushed into the auxiliary cylinder, which then moves down, and the piece of dough is pushed by the piston onto the unloading conveyor.

The main disadvantage of the said dough divider is the presence of a large number of movements of the working bodies, namely:

1. reciprocating horizontal movement of the shutter separating the hopper from the dividing cylinder;

2. reciprocating movement of the piston of the main cylinder in the horizontal direction;

3. reciprocating movement of the piston of the auxiliary cylinder in the horizontal direction;

4. reciprocating movement of the auxiliary cylinder in a vertical plane;

5. The movement of the discharge conveyor.

As you know, a large number of different movements contributes to the wear of rubbing pairs, and therefore reduces the reliability and strength of the design of the divider. Moreover, all of the above movements require an appropriate number of drives, and therefore, significant energy costs. The disadvantage of this dough divider is the need for high quality processing of the joint surfaces between the ends of the main and auxiliary cylinders to ensure their maximum fit to each other, i.e. to ensure the tightness of the joint.

Closest to the claimed is the dough divider of the Dutch company GLIMEK (see US patent No. 5393218, published 02/28/1995), selected as a prototype for this invention. Said dough divider consists of a dough bin with a knife fixed to the outer wall and a vertically arranged cylindrical dividing chamber in which the piston reciprocates. The dough from the hopper is sucked into the inner cavity of the cylinder, which is connected to the vacuum system, after which the hopper with the knife moves to the right, and the piece of dough from the dividing chamber is pushed upward through the hole formed and, during the return stroke of the hopper, is pushed onto the unloading conveyor. The piston of this dough divider has a special design, namely, a system of intersecting channels is built into the body of the piston head, through which vacuum is supplied to the dividing chamber.

The disadvantage of this dough divider is the complexity of the piston design due to the presence of intersecting channels in the body of the piston head necessary for supplying vacuum to the dividing chamber. A disadvantage of this design is the fact that a piece of dough is pushed upward by the piston, and this, therefore, requires the installation of additional elements that allow transporting the dough piece to the place of the next technological operation, such as an unloading conveyor, which complicates the design and increases energy consumption. The disadvantage of this dough divider is that when the device is working, it is necessary to move the hopper mass with the dough in the horizontal plane, which requires additional significant energy consumption. Another disadvantage of this dough divider is the impossibility of regulating the measured volume, i.e. mass of the dough piece.

The problem solved by the claimed invention is to simplify the design of the dough divider with the ability to control the mass of the dough piece while maintaining the accuracy of dividing the dough and performance, as well as minimizing the energy costs of the process of dividing the dough.

The specified technical result is achieved due to the fact that in the dough divider containing the loading hopper for the test, dividing cylinder, piston, knife and vacuum system, the dividing cylinder with the piston is located vertically inside the hopper so that a piece of dough is pushed down directly into the mold by the piston, onto conveyor, etc., and is equipped with at least one window through which the dough is sucked into the dividing cylinder by a piston. This technical solution provides the most compact and simple design of the dough divider.

The achievement of this task is also facilitated by the fact that by axial movement of one of the structural elements of the dough divider, it is possible to regulate the measured volume of the cylinder, and therefore, change the mass of the dough piece in certain sizes.

This task is also achieved by the presence of channels inside the knife for supplying vacuum to the measured volume and by the fact that the piston is connected in a certain way to the pneumatic system, and also because the required measured volume after adjustment is fixed and is formed by the piston, dividing cylinder and knife, which ensures the necessary accuracy dividing dough and dough divider performance.

Achieving the specified technical result contributes to the reduction in the number of movements of the working bodies by their rational and efficient layout, which minimizes energy costs and reduces the number of drives. Thus, the dough divider in accordance with the claimed invention has only two movements of the working bodies, namely: reciprocating movement of the piston in a vertical plane; knife movement.

The proposed design of the dough divider is illustrated in the drawing.

The dough divider (drawing) contains a loading hopper for dough (1), a dividing cylinder with holes (2), a piston (3), a knife (4) connected to a vacuum system and used to create the vacuum necessary for suctioning the dough and at the same time serving as a knife for separating the remainder of the dough from the end surface of the dividing cylinder. In order to avoid sticking of the dough to the lateral surface of the dividing cylinder (2), it is provided with a coating with its release material. The operation of the piston (3) and knife (4) is carried out using a pneumatic system, however, in this work, its design is not considered, because It is not fundamental and requires special attention. The mentioned dividing cylinder (2) is located vertically inside the hopper (1), so that the design of the dough divider under consideration is quite compact.

As can be seen in the drawing, the dividing cylinder (2) has several oblong-shaped holes (at least one window) through which the dough from the hopper (1) is sucked into the dividing chamber. This design of the dividing cylinder (2) is specially designed so that the dough located in the cylinder, at the time of pushing out by the piston (3), does not move back to the hopper (1).

The piston is located inside the dividing cylinder (2) and consists of the following main parts: the piston head (5), and the shaft (6), which is connected to the head (5) by means of a thread. The operation of the piston consists in suctioning a piece of dough into the internal cavity of the dividing cylinder (2) through holes in the side walls of the aforementioned cylinder and, accordingly, pushing out this piece of dough, i.e. the piston directly implements the division process. This design of the piston has a reciprocating movement in a vertical plane, which is carried out using a pneumatic actuator, and works as follows. Immediately prior to dividing the dough, the piston is at its lowest point. During the suction of the dough when creating a vacuum, the piston moves up until it abuts against the nut (7). Thus, the nut (7) is a kind of stop for the piston and, therefore, changing the position of the nut relative to the vertical axis, you can adjust the volumetric volume of the dividing cylinder (2). Further, when pushing a piece of dough, the pneumatic actuator will create a discharge pressure, as a result of which the piston moves down.

The mentioned knife design (drawing) is a device (4) in which two elements of the dough divider are combined - a knife and a vacuum system. As mentioned above, the knife serves to separate the remainder of the dough from the end of the dividing cylinder (2), and also helps to create a vacuum in the measured volume. It can be seen from the drawing that the design of the knife is in the form of a plate, inside of which there is a system of channels designed to suck air from the dividing chamber, and the lateral part of this plate adjacent to the end surface of the cylinder (2) is a cutting surface. In the dough divider under consideration, during operation, the knife (4) moves reciprocally in a horizontal plane, i.e. along the lower end of the cylinder (2), although the reciprocating or rotational movement of the knife (4) around the vertical axis is possible. In the initial idle position, the piston (3) is in its upper position, and the knife (4) is pressed against the end surface of the cylinder.

The work of the dough divider is considered immediately before the process of absorption of the test and is carried out as follows. In the process of suctioning the dough, the piston (3) begins to move upward, sucking the dough into the dividing chamber. Simultaneously with the stroke of the piston, the knife (4) sucks air from the dividing chamber. As a result of the above actions, the dough in the hopper (1) is sucked into the dividing chamber through the holes in the dividing cylinder (2). This process continues until the piston (3) stops, having reached a predetermined upper position (which can be adjusted by changing the measured volume of the cylinder), and the dough accordingly fills the created volume. Immediately after the piston stops, the knife (4) stops its work on creating a vacuum.

Next, the process of pumping (pushing) the dough piece from the internal cavity of the dividing cylinder (2) is carried out. Before the piston (3) starts to move down, the knife (4) moves to the left, i.e. opens a hole in the lower end of the cylinder (2). Thus, the divided test piece is pushed out by the piston (3) from the dividing cylinder (2) and gets into the mold, onto the conveyor, etc., depending on what is provided by the technological process. While the piston (3) is stationary and is at the bottom, the knife (4) moves horizontally to the right until it is in its original position. Therefore, as a result of this movement, the cutting edges of the knife remove the remaining dough from the end surface of the cylinder (2). This completes the cycle of the mechanism.

Claims (3)

1. A dough divider comprising a loading hopper for dough, a dividing cylinder, a piston, a knife and a vacuum system, characterized in that the dividing cylinder with a piston is located vertically inside the hopper, and the dividing cylinder is provided with at least one window, and the knife moves along the end the dividing cylinder and inside the knife there are channels for supplying vacuum to the measured volume formed by the piston, dividing cylinder and knife. 2. The dough divider according to claim 1, characterized in that the piston or dividing cylinder, or both the piston and dividing cylinder, are provided with elements such as stops. 3. The dough divider according to claim 1, characterized in that the dividing cylinder is coated with release material on the outside.