CUTTING WITH HIGH-PRESSURE JET IN THE FOOD-INDUSTRY

Cutting processes play a central role in food industry. Beyond the con ventional processing with mechanic tools the use of high-pressure jet tools provides process-immanent advantages. Thus, with high-pressure j et the processing of foods can be carried out highly flexible. In many fields of the food industry compound materials with different propert ies must be cut (e.g. pizza-paste/filling, biscuit/chocolate, cheese/r ind, etc.). The high-pressure jet offers a tool that can operate quite independently of the specific material characteristics. Because of th e small mechanical loads of the substance during the cutting, it is po ssible to cut different materials simultaneously without deforming the substance, destroying the joint or splitting brittle materials. Moreo ver, the permanently renewing cutting medium avoids contamination by t he cutting tool. By integrating an appropriate software support like C AD/CAM systems, different variants of the high-pressure jet can be rea lised without modifying the tool. Through the high flexibility of the jet, the cutting path can be fit to the current demanded geometry. Thu s a minimisation of waste as well as an exact portioning by weight and form is possible. After a general introduction, this paper describes the technique of high-pressure jet facilities and the using potentials of this technique, particularly in the food industry. Moreover, we fo rmulate requirements for the process and compare it with conventional mechanical cutting processes.