Ultrasonic cutting device boosts flexibility for bakery industry

08-Apr-2013 - Last updated on 09-Apr-2013 at 12:36 GMT

Related tags Food Baking

The Soni-Cut can cut and portion pizzas along with a host of other foods

Quasar Automation is designing an ultrasonic cutting device for a range of applications, including tray bake cutting and portioning, which it claims offers considerably more flexibility than previous systems.

The UK company, based in Ripon, North Yorkshire, said the new Soni-Cut used a combination of a servo driven conveyor and three further servo axes, one rotary. This provided flexibility for lateral and longitudinal cuts on a wide range of products, it added.

Ultrasonic cutting tools have so far been predominantly used in the food industry to cut cheese, snack bars, confectionery, baked goods, confectionery and convenience foods. Ultrasonics has also been used for several other food processing applications, from sensing technology to cleaning and pack sealing.

Bob Hinchcliffe, managing director at Quasar, said the Soni-Cut could be used for cutting and portioning various products, from cheese and cakes to rolls.

Cost effective yet flexible

A spokesman for Quasar told BakeryandSnacks.com the device was near completion now and its design was general application, rather than it being tailored to one particular firm. "The machine is a concept design. The idea was: how could you make a cost effective yet flexible system that could work on tray bake products."

It could cut across a full range of angles he added. For example, it could cross cut across a conveyor. "It allows you to index through 90 degrees, 30 degrees ... You could cut all the way around a pizza and portion it."

The Soni-Cut was a compact, cost-effective alternative for manufacturers who would otherwise have to fork out for larger, less versatile robot cutters, he added. "You could use a six axis robot. The difference would be that the robot is a more expensive tool."

Fully integrated or stand alone

The system has been designed to allow either fully integrated or stand alone operation, which means it can suit low, medium or high volume production.

Quasar plans to showcase the machine at this year's Total Processing & Packaging trade show, held at Birmingham's NEC exhibition centre from June 4-6.

A variety of processing equipment is supplied by the company, including robots, other cutting tools, dispensing and depositing systems and conveyors.