WO2009016596A1

WO2009016596A1 - Fruit and vegetable processing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2009016596A1
Application number: PCT/IB2008/053062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mario Ferragonio
Original assignee: TECNOFRUTTA DI FERRAGONIO MARIO
Current assignee: TECNOFRUTTA DI FERRAGONIO MARIO
Priority date: 2007-07-31
Filing date: 2008-07-30
Publication date: 2009-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 2010-01-31
Also published as: ITRM20070415A1

Abstract

An apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables consisting of a rotating plane (1), at least one gripper (100) for gripping a fruit and vegetable product, said gripper including an actuator (6) and gripping elements (8) that move simultaneously and in opposite directions, ensuring to perfectly position the product, especially when a possible automatic or semi-automatic processing assembly (10) or (20) moves towards the product to perform operations such as coring, stripping and trimming, depending on the type of product.

Description

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROCESSING APPARATUS Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables. State of the art In the industrial field, there are currently no machines for fruit and vegetable processing that may be used -for more than one specific product. Current technology, on the other hand, offers a range of manual, electric or pneumatic tools for manually-processing fruit and vegetables. Often, said fruit and vegetables need to be held in one hand by the operator, while the other hand operates a tool for the type of processing involved, such as stripping the leaves or trimming the stalk of artichokes, for example, or coring broccoli or peppers.

This involves both considerable risk for the operator, whose hand holding the product could be injured by the too! held in the other hand, and considerable ex- pense due to the number of man-hours involved in this activity. Summary of the invention

It is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables that allows to reduce- processing" time while increasing the level of safety for the operators involved. in the processing. Therefore, the present invention suggests to achieve the above^" discussed objects by providing an apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables which, in accordance with claim 1 , includes: a rotating support plane; at least one gripper, including an actuator and a pair of gripping elements, and supported by said rotating plane; a control system for the rotation of said rotating plane and driving said at least one gripper.

According to another aspect of the invention, said apparatus is easily applied to so be used also to process non-symmetrical fruit and vegetables, such as those with stalks or stems.

Said control system is comprised of a fixed cam in the shape of a circular sector and a pair of pneumatic valves provided with fevers assembled so as to be lowered/raised upon coming in contact with the fixed cam, thus leading to open/close the gripper in relation to the mutual position between the fixed cam and the rotating plane.

The dependent claims describe preferred embodiments of the invention. Brief description of Figures Further features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred, though not exclusive embodiment of-an apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables, which is illustrated by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 depicts a plan view of the apparatus of the invention, Figure 2 depicts an exploded view of the elements of a first embodiment of the gripper of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 ,

Figure 3 depicts an element cooperating with the gripper shown in Figure 1, Figure 4 depicts a crescent-shaped cam, Figure 5 depicts a side view of the apparatus shown in Figure 1 complete with alL the main accessories;

Figure 6 depicts a second embodiment of the gripper in the open position; Figure 7 depicts the gripper shown in Figure 6 in the closed position; Figure 8 depicts- an exploded view of the elements- of the second embodiment of the gripper shown in Figure 6. Detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention

With particular reference to the figures, the apparatus object of the present invention is mainly comprised of: a rotating support plane 1 ; at least one gripper 100, including an actuator 6 and a pair of gripping ele- ments 8, and supported by said rotating plane; a control system 4 for the rotation of said rotating plane 1 and driving said at least one gripper 100.

Said rotating plane 1 is preferably circular in shape and made of metal material, but it may be of any shape and made of any material. It is provided with threaded holes to which said actuator 6 forming said gripper 100 is radially anchored.

In particular, said gripper 100 drives the gripping elements 8 simultaneously and in opposite directions.

In a preferred embodiment, said actuator 6 is preferably of a pneumatic type with two parallel and opposing pistons 6'.

The control system 4 is comprised of a pair of pneumatic valves 26, one for each piston, anchored by means of screws to the rotating plane 1 , which control the actuator 6. The rotating plane 1 is driven by a motor 15, e.g. a stepper motor, with alternating steps of movement and rest.

Said control system 4 is also comprised of a fixed cam 21 in the shape of a circular or crescent sector, which overhangs the rotating plane, remaining fixed while the rotating plane rotates below it, so as to lower and release on contact the con- trol levers 22 for each pneumatic valve 26.

As a result of the levers 22 being lowered, the actuator 6 extends or retracts said pair of opposing pistons, integral with a product gripping element 8, and at the free end thereof . The orientation of the actuator 6 causes the gripping elements 8 to move in a direction tangential to said rotating plane 1 and in opposing directions, thus achieving a gripping action for holding fruit or vegetables. The position of the actuator 6 on the rotating plane 1 is such that the lower part of the product protrudes beyond the edge of the rotating plane, so as to remain accessible to said at least one processing assembly TO. In a first advantageous embodiment, illustrated in Figure 2, the gripping elements- 8 are plates, preferably made of metal and shaped so that, with one plate sliding above the other, they create at least two gripping points 23, e.g. having a rhomboid shape, for each of the products being processed, and may adapt to the different size and consistency of the products, since the gripping force may also be adjusted either manually or by means of appropriate force control systems. Advantageously, the simultaneous movement of the opposing pistons leads to a better grip on the product, since in this way the position of the axis of rotation of the product is certain, thus making it possible to turn the product uniformly and with precision all around when said operations are performed by automatic and semi-automatic systems. Compressed air is fed initially to said pneumatic valves 26 and then to the actuator 6, by means of a distribution pipe 5, coaxial with the axis of rotation of said plane 1 and fitted with a joint for distributing the fluid, while avoiding pressure losses and twisting of the conduits. According to another aspect of the invention, the height at which the product is gripped and turned is adjusted by means of a cooperating element 7, particularly in the shape of a butterfly, which cooperates with the gripper 100 during the product loading step and consists of a plate 17, preferably made of metal, hinged to the plane 1 or to the body of the actuator 6 and with a p re-determined number of holes 18-aligned vertically with the same number of respective gripping points 23, as shown in figure 1 , wherein there are two holes.

During the product loading step- the stalk of the product 30 may be possibily inserted into said holes 18. In particular, once it reaches a certain angular position in which the product is loaded, the butterfly-shaped plate 17 is lowered to leave the bottom part of the product free for processing. Once processing is complete, at a subsequent angular position, the plate 17 remains lowered and the actuator 6 extends the pistons, releasing the product and letting it drop, for example, onto a conveyor belt. At a- subsequent anguiar position, the butterfly-shaped plate 17 is raised, for example, by a specific actuator, or else by coming in contact with an element 12 that is fixed with respect to the circular plane 1 , enabling a new product to be positioned for processing. Said fixed element 12 is height-adjustable, for example manually by- means of a spoked handwheel 24 connected-to an endless screw, so that_rwhen the product 40 is inserted into the gripping points or openings 23 of the gripping elements 8 that are not yet gripping a product, the plate 17 prevents the product from being lowered below the set height, so that at a subsequent angular position, the gripper 100 closes and the product remains gripped at that height. In a second advantageous embodiment, illustrated in Figures 6 to 8, the gripping elements 8 are plates, preferably made of metal and shaped so that, with one plate sliding above the other, they create a single gripping point 23, e.g. having a rhomboid shape, for a single product being processed, and may adapt to the different size and consistency of the product, since the gripping force may also be adjusted either manually or by means of appropriate force control systems.

In this variant, the cooperating element 7, which cooperates with the gripper 100 during the product loading step, consists of a plate 17, preferably made of metal, hinged to the plane 1 or to the body of the actuator 6 and provided with a hole 18, preferably circular, vertically aligned with the single gripping point 23, as shown in figure 6. During the product loading step, the stalk of the product may be possibly inserted into the hole 18.

A closing plate 90 whose function is to improve the grip of the gripping elements 8 during the gripper 100 opening step may be provided.

Processing of the product may be performed either by hand oτ by means of one or more processing assemblies cooperating with-said at least one gripper 100. In a preferred embodiment, integral with the support structure for said rotating plane and, for example, below it, there is a lower processing assembly 10 which consists of:

- guides 30 perpendicular to said rotating plane,

- an electric actuator 31 ,

- a tool 32 which may be driven by said electric actuator 31 , suitable for stripping the leaves or trimming the stalk of the product, or for coring the product, - a lifting actuator 33 for raising, and lowering said tool 32 along the guides 30.

When the rotating plane 1 comes to rest, said gripper 100, gripping the product to be processed, is in a position close to the -processing assembly 10. The tool 32, raised^" by the lifting actuator 33, turns the lower part of the product and immediately afterwards is lowered again before the plane 1 begins to rotate once more, to await the next rest period and a new product to be processed.

In another preferred embodiment of the apparatus, an upper, processing assembly 20 is placed above the rotating plane 1 , and is fitted with appropriate tools for processing the upper part of the product, for example at the same time as the lower part of the product is being processed, or on a product whose lower part has already been processed, or on a product whose lower part has yet to be processed, in relation to the relative angular position of the upper processing assembly 20 with respect to the processing assembly 10.

The upper processing assembly 20 may be similar to the processing assembly 10, including the same structural elements, and both said assemblies are controlled by said control system 4.

A sensor 25, connected to said control system 4, enables the angular position of the same plane to be determined in order to provide the start/stop impulses to the motor 15 driving the rotating plane 1 and raising/lowering the processing assembly 10.

Between the sensor 25, directly connected to an intermittent table 80 driven by the motor 15 for the intermittent rotation of the plane 1 , and the actuator 33 of the processing assembly 10, there is a pneumatic valve 70 for adjusting the rais- ing/lowering of the tool 32. The actuator 33, for example, may be a pneumatic cylinder. The tool 32 may include, for example, an assembly for trimming the stalk of the product (illustrated in Figure 5), or -a knife assembly for stripping the product, or a circular blade for cutting the stalk off. The position of the upper processing assembly 20 may be manually adjusted in order to cut the upper part of the product. In a variant thereof, the processing assembly 20 includes a blade 50, preferably circular, driven by a motor 51. The product ejector 60 is used to eject the product upon processing, both systematically and preferably in the case that products are difficult to be extracted. The specific embodiments here described do not limit the content of this applica- tion, which covers all the variants of the invention defined by the claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing fruit and vegetables, comprising:

- a rotating support plane (1);

- at least one gripper (100), including an actuator (6) and a pair of gripping ele- ments (8), and supported by said rotating plane;

- a control -system (4) for the rotation of said rotating plane (1) driving said at least one gripper (100).

2. An apparatus-according to claim 1 , wherein said gripper (100) is adapted to simultaneously drive said gripping elements (8) in opposite directions.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein said actuator (6) is of a pneumatic type with two parallel and opposing pistons.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, wherein said control system (4) is comprised of a fixed cam (21) in the shape of a circular sector and a pair of pneumatic valves (2.6) provided with levers (22) assembled_so as to be lowered/raised upon coming in contact with the fixed cam, thus leading to open/close the gripper in relation to the mutual position between the fixed cam and the rotating plane.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said control system (4) is equipped with a sensor (25)- for detecting the position of the rotating plane.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said gripping elements (8) consist of plates shaped so that, with one piate-sliding above the other, they create at least one gripping point (23) for .a product being processed.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said at least one gripping point (23) has a rhomboid shape.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further provided with at least one element ⁽J) cooperating with said gripper (100) adapted to allow the product to be perfectly positioned at the gripping points (23) in terms of height.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said cooperating element (7) is comprised of a plate (17) in the shape of a butterfly, hinged to the rotating plane (1) or to the body of the actuator (6).

10. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said cooperating element (7) is adapted to be lowered after the product loading step.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said cooperating element (7) is adapted to be raised and lowered by means of a further actuator.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said cooperating element (7) is adapted to be raised by coming in contact with a further fixed element (12).

13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said fixed element (12) is height- adjustable, allowing a variation in the height of product positioning.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further provided with a lower processing assembly (10) for processing the lower part of the product.

15. An apparatus according to. claim 14, wherein said lower processing assembly (10) consists of:

- guides (30) perpendicular to said rotating plane, - an electric actuator (31),

- a tool (32) which may be driven by said electric actuator (31),

- a lifting actuator (33) for raising and lowering said tool (32) along the guides (30). 15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said lower processing assembly (10) is adapted to begin its operation when the rotating plane comes to rest.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said tool (32) may be used for processing the bottom part of the product.

17. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said lower processing assembly (10) is connected to said control system (4).

18. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further provided with an upper processing assembly (20) for processing the upper part of the product

19. An apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said upper processing assembly (20) includes the same structural elements as the lower processing assembly (10).

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said upper processing assembly (20) is provided with the appropriate tools for processing the upper part of the product.

21. An apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said upper processing assembly (20) is connected to said control system (4).