Innovative Biological Solutions

Oklahoma State University

BAE 4012

Dec. 4, 2003

Steven Fowler

Derek Storm

Travis Guy

Project IntroductionScott Pet Products

One of the nations leaders in the pet food and

treat industry

Final destination of 20% of the nations pig ears

Would like to increase the production and

efficiency of this product line

IBS has been contacted to develop a system to

sort, count, and meter pig ears

Project Introduction

Pig ears

Favorite treat of many dogs

Thawed, baked, flavored

Some ears are cut in half

Counted, packaged, sealed, shipped

Project Introduction

Packaging

Ears sold by amount not weight

Ears have to be counted

Currently counted by hand

Ears stick together

Have to be separated to be counted

Customer Requirements

Ears need to be sorted, counted, and metered

800 bags of 25 pieces per hour

EconomicalMinimize labor required

Maximize production capacity

HACCP compliant

Engineering Specifications

Machine must not exceed 12 feet in height and

no longer than 20 feet.

The machine must have the correct number of

both size ears in 99 out of 100 bags.

Patent ResearchUnited States Patent

Office search

Results that came up

applied to construction

of individual pieces of

equipment.

Processes patents were

not found

We plan on buying

different pieces and

applying them towards

our system.

Process Research

No research has been done on pig ear

singulation, sorting, or metering.

The closest product that would react and

have similar irregularities to pig ears is beef

jerky.

All of the information needed to complete

the project will come from our testing.

Breaking Down The Problem

This problem can be

broken down into

three main objectives

Singulation and

Separation

Counting

Metering

Separation Concepts

Different Speed Conveyors

Elevated conveyors

Air Curtain

“Air Hockey Table”

Fluidized Bed

Counting Concepts

Lane separator

two diverging lanes

Electronic eye

Gravity separator

limited flow control

Metering Concepts

Using a pneumatic

diverter arm to divert

two lanes of ears into

four lanes

Have a trap door to

stop flow of ears,

allowing the conveyor

to continue to run

Ear Dimension Testing

These ears were taken from retail bags.

This data allows us to have a lane width for our

design.

Whole Ears (n=40) Half Ears (n=10)

Weight

(oz)

Length

(in)

Width

(in)

Weight

(oz)

Length

(in)

Width

(in)

Max 2.09 7.50 5.00 1.20 7.00 4.50

Average 1.56 5.86 4.17 .90 5.09 3.80

Standard

Deviation0.32 0.91 0.61 .20 1.00 0.40

Conveyer Speed Test

Test is set up with two conveyers in series,

with the first conveyer set at (slowest speed)

and the second conveyer set at 6.6 ft/s.

Shearing force from the faster conveyer

singulates the ears.

The lower the mass flow rate and higher

speed difference, allows for greater

singulation.

Elevation Test

Setup same as previous

test except slower

conveyer is elevated.

Provided greater

singulation than even

conveyers.

The height change allows

for more force to be

applied to ear mass.

Air Curtain Test

Setup the same as elevated test but at

junction of conveyers a high velocity, high

volume air nozzle was placed.

The pressure delivered to the nozzle is 60

psi.

Fast Conveyer

Slow Conveyer

Air Curtain

Lane Test

After the ears are

singulated they

need to be placed

into lanes.

The lane system is

placed over the

second conveyer

after the air curtain

Diverging Arm Test

The arm was held over the high speed conveyer to guide the ears to separate lanes.

The first conveyors are slower than the large single conveyer.

If the four lanes ever fill up with ears the feeding conveyers will stop.

Trap Door Test

This test is to determine the

feasibility of holding counted

ears in a lane until the operator

calls for them.

Proposed Design

Design will include elevated conveyer

separation, air curtain, and lane separation.

A cleated conveyer will load the system and

be the limiting factor on bags per hour.

To unload the machine 2 operators will hold

bags under chutes.

Photo Eye ArrayStart Stop

Conveyer

Diverter ArmLane SeparatorAir Curtain

Cleated Conveyer inclined at 30°

Hopper

Helix Slide

Half Ears

Recognitions

Scott Pet Products

Mark Osteen

Mike Zimmerman

OSU Extension

Doug Enns

BAE Faculty and Staff

BAE Lab Personnel

Wayne Kiner

Innovative Biological Solutions

111 Agricultural Hall

Oklahoma State University

Stillwater, OK 74078

Telephone: 405-744-7577

Fax: 405-744-6059

http://biosystems.okstate.edu/SeniorDesign/

2003/PetFoodSorter/