IPA delivers automated system to debone pork loin

Citation

(2002), "IPA delivers automated system to debone pork loin", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929eaf.003

IPA delivers automated system to debone pork loin

IPA delivers automated system to debone pork loin

Keywords: Robots, Food industry

Even today, meat processing is dominated by manual operations, although attempts are being made to introduce automation, albeit slowly. The justification for increasing the levels of automation are threefold: increasing hygiene, improving productivity, and achieving competitiveness in the food chain.

While automation is taking place in the fields of animal slaughter and the initial cutting up of the carcass, the activity of deboning still remains a growing challenge for future research, offering huge potential for development for meat processing equipment.

However, two organisations, Schmidt & Wezel GmbH & Co. of southern Germany, and the Fraunhofer IPA of Stuttgart have developed what is believed to be the first commercial automated equipment for deboning of pork loin.

The major obstacles to commercial deboning are the variable nature of meat products and the visco-elastic characteristics of meat itself. However, through a number of recent projects the IPA has been able to demonstrate that by combining robotics and sensing it is possible to solve such problems. An alternative method is to use dedicated automation, as is the case with Schmidt & Wezel.

The technique adopted uses specially shaped and guided knives that have been adapted to meet the features of pork loin. The knives are inserted and pushed through the meat using pneumatics but the meat itself is put into the machine manually.

The automated equipment can debone left- and right-hand loins simultaneously and the output can reach four pieces a minute.

The IPA has been responsible for various aspects of the project, including: the outline conception, construction according to specific guidelines, selection of suitable suppliers, parts assembly, and finally, setting up the equipment and optimising its performance. The IPA has also presented the equipment at an exhibition.

At the design stage, the IPA used a three-dimensional CAD system to optimise the arrangement of parts and make best use of available space, prior to the detailing and manufacture of parts.

At the outset, engineers also identified a number of features of the equipment, namely that the frame should be built of stainless steel with easy-to-clean external surfaces; that the pneumatic elements should be hygienically designed; that the linear motion guideways should both compact and require reduced maintenance; that the specially-shaped knives should be easy to change; that control techniques should take the form of programmable logic controllers; and finally that it should be safe to use within a water-proofed enclosure.

A large number of tests were conducted in both the IPA's laboratories as well as in meat processing plants to optimise the yield and quality of deboned products. In addition, experience was built up of working with various visco-elastic materials prior to the final assembly, test and continuous improvement of the equipment under typical conditions.

The development of this equipment highlights the scope of the IPA's problem-solving capabilities for the food industry using a wide range of expertise including process analysis and optimisation, feasibility studies, three-dimensional simulation and virtual reality, design, prototype construction, robotics and sensing systems, and final production.