Continuous Tortilla Chip Cutter

摘要

A continuous tortilla chip cutting system where tortilla carried on a conveyor are continuously divided by a cutting mechanism into pre-cuts for frying into chips. A programmable controller drives a servo motor that moves an upper surface of the conveyor at a known velocity V, and a detector located above the conveyor at a known distance D from the cutting mechanism alerts the controller to the imminent arrival of the tortilla. The controller also controls a servo motor that actuates the cutting mechanism in a stop/start fashion. Based on the detection of the tortilla, the controller drives the servo motor associated with the cutting mechanism at just the right time and at just the right speed so that the cutter mechanism cuts each arriving tortilla into predictable sub-units called “pre-cuts” based on the velocity V of the conveyor belt, the detection of the flat bread unit carried by the conveyor, and the known distance between the moving flat bread unit and the cutter assembly.

主权项

1. A continuous flat bread cutting apparatus for cutting flat bread units produced by a flat bread production line into multiple pieces (“pre-cuts”) for frying into chips, comprising:
a conveyor having an upper surface for carrying the flat bread units, the conveyor moving the flat bread units from an input end to an exit end thereof; a detector that detects the flat bread units moving on the conveyor and outputs a detection signal; a cutting mechanism that receives the flat bread units from the exit end of the conveyor, flat bread unit by flat bread unit, cuts each flat bread unit into a plurality of pre-cuts, and ejects the pre-cuts; and a controller that, in response to the detection signal, causes the cutting mechanism to execute a cutting motion in sync with the moving of the flat bread units to consistently cut the flat bread units into substantially identical pre-cuts.