SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISPENSING, SLICING, BUTTERING, AND TOASTING BREAD

摘要

One variation of a method for slicing a type of whole bread buns includes: retracting a cutting block along a chute into a load position; dispensing a whole bread bun into the chute between the cutting block and a blade extending across the chute; advancing the cutting block along the chute toward the blade; detecting contact between the cutting block and the blade at a contact position; at a first time, advancing the cutting block into a pierce position offset from the contact position toward the blade by a pierce distance less than a common width of the type of whole bread buns; and, at a second time succeeding the first time by a pierce duration, advancing the cutting block from the pierce position into a slice position adjacent the blade to drive the whole bread bun fully through the blade.

主权项

1. A method for dispensing and slicing whole bread buns, the method comprising:
at a first time, retracting a cutting block into a load position along a chute; based on a first distance value output from a first distance sensor aligned with an axis of a hopper containing a row of whole bread buns arranged behind a piston, supplying gas to a closed volume behind the piston, opposite the row of whole bread buns, at a first volume flow rate; based on a second distance value output from the first distance sensor, the second distance value less than the first distance value, supplying gas to the closed volume at a second volume flow rate less than the first volume flow rate; in response to dispensation of a whole bread bun from the hopper into the chute, ceasing supply of gas to the closed volume; at a second time, advancing the cutting block along the chute into a pierce position to compress the whole bread bun into a blade; and at a third time succeeding the second time by a pierce duration, advancing the cutting block into a slice position to drive the whole bread bun fully through the blade.