Cutting – Rotatable disc tool pair or tool and carrier – Tool element mounted for adjustment
Patent
1998-03-25
2000-05-09
Rachuba, M.
Cutting
Rotatable disc tool pair or tool and carrier
Tool element mounted for adjustment
83701, 83932, 83956, B26D 100
Patent
active
060588233
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a device for cutting by ultrasound, the device comprising an ultrasound generator of given natural frequency coupled to a cutting tool.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In industry, the action of cutting, and in particular cutting foodstuffs, can be performed using various available techniques including traditional devices such as guillotine cutting devices, or indeed devices that have been developed quite recently, such as cutting food by means of a supersonic jet of water. That technique constitutes the subject matter of an article by Jean-Luc BOUTONNIER published in the journal Revue des ENIL (No. 163), pp. 5 to 12.
Another technique that is known and relatively recent is that of the ultrasound knife. In particular, a cutting unit as described in Japanese patent application No. 4-75898, filed by NIGATA and published on Mar. 10, 1992, makes use of ultrasound knives that are driven with reciprocating motion, each knife being set into vibration by an ultrasound generator which is merely coupled to one end of the knife blade so as to cause it to vibrate. A similar technique is described in Japanese patent application JP-122 2892, also filed in the name of NIGATA, and published on Sep. 6, 1989.
The technique of cutting by means of ultrasonically-vibrating blades makes it possible to ensure that the cut is clean, but to the detriment of speed, it being understood that the linear travel speed of the products, and thus the linear speed of cutting, is limited to a speed which, in practice, hardly exceeds 1 meter per minute (m/min).
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasound cutting device which does not have the above-mentioned drawback, and which makes it possible in particular to achieve linear cutting speeds of several meters per minute, and which may be as great as 10 m/min.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting device making it possible to cut without removing material.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting device capable of being used for products that have the reputation of being difficult to slice, such as confectionery, bread, or indeed a sandwich loaf when hot on coming out of the baking oven.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting device that can be cleaned easily, and in particular that can be cleaned on a continuous basis, thereby enabling cutting to be performed under very clean conditions.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting device having improved coupling between the ultrasound generator and the cutting tool.
The device of the invention has a cutting tool which is a disk driven in rotation, and the ultrasound generator is coupled to a central region of the disk via a coupling means, said central region being disposed on an amplitude antinode of the ultrasound vibrations produced by the ultrasound generator in a given mode.
The cutting device of the invention thus uses a conventional ultrasound generator, and the function of the coupling means of the invention is to transform motion directly along the axis of the disk into motion putting the surface of the disk into vibration perpendicularly to said axis, either in a radial mode, or preferably in a bending mode.
The coupling means comprises a bar of length advantageously equal to half the wavelength .lambda. which, for the material constituting the bar, corresponds to the natural frequency f of the ultrasound generator. Said bar has an upstream end coupled to the ultrasound generator, and a downstream end coupled to the disk, the bar being of section that is not constant, decreasing from upstream to downstream. The bar preferably has an upstream region of length .lambda./4, a downstream region of length .lambda./4, with the downstream region being of constant section smaller than the section of the upstream region which is also constant.
The coupling means also includes a coupling element of length .lambda./2 extending the bar. The coupling element may be a cylindrical resonator, with t
REFERENCES:
patent: 2651148 (1953-09-01), Carwile
patent: 3817141 (1974-06-01), Simonetti
patent: 5226343 (1993-07-01), Rawson et al.
patent: 5228372 (1993-07-01), Harrop et al.
patent: 5437215 (1995-08-01), Hamilton
patent: 5752423 (1998-05-01), Rawson
Luna Ana
Rachuba M.
Unir
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