Apparatus and method of transporting food products to a loading head
An apparatus and method of transporting food products ( 10 ) to a loading station (12) having a cooling conveyor ( 14 ) that selectively drops food product into a distributor ( 34 ). The distributor (34) separates product into at least two lanes ( 48, 50 ) and drops product onto a conveyor. A balancing and diverting conveyor ( 46 ) monitors and counts product in each lane ( 48, 50 ) and diverts product selectively based upon the sensed product. An orienter ( 70, 80 ) transfers product from a loading conveyor ( 68 ) to a buffer conveyor ( 72 ). The buffer conveyor ( 72 ) transfers product to a main conveyor ( 76 ) which transfers product to a loading head ( 84 ).
1. An apparatus for transporting food product to a loading head station, comprising:
a distributor that is adapted to separate food product into more than one lane on a conveyor,
an orienter that is adapted to remove product from the conveyor and transfer food product to a loading head, and
a first sensor positioned near an entry of each lane wherein the sensor monitors the spacing of products and detects overlapping products which transmits a signal to a controller for each product that passes and in response to the sensor's detection of overlapping products.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distributor drops food product onto a balancing and diverting conveyor.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the distributor drops product onto a V-conveyor.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the orienter transfers product to a buffer conveyor.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein an alignment mechanism is mounted to the buffer conveyor.
6. A method of transferring food product to a loading head, comprising the steps of:
transferring food product from a cooling conveyor to a distributor;
separating the food product into more than one lane;
changing the food product in each lane from an end to end arrangement to a side to side arrangement,
transferring the food product to a loading head, and
monitoring the spacing of food products with a first sensor positioned near an entry of each lane, and detecting the overlapping of food products with a first sensor positioned near an entry of each lane, and
transmitting a signal from the sensor to a controller for each product that passes and in response to the sensor's detection of overlapping products.
7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of transferring food product from the distributor to a V-conveyor.
8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of transferring the food product from the distributor to a balancing and diverting conveyor.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of monitoring the spacing of food product on the balancing and diverting conveyor.
10. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of counting the amount of product in each lane.
11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of transferring food product to a buffering conveyor.