FOOD MANUFACTURING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A FOOD PRODUCT IN A 3D PRINTING PROCESS

Abstract

A food manufacturing apparatus 100 for manufacturing a food product 1, in particular a meat or meat replacement product 1, in a 3D printing process, includes a movable carrier substrate 10 extending along a longitudinal substrate direction x and being configured for accommodating the food product 1, a deposition device 20 including a plurality of deposition modules 21, which are arranged along the longitudinal substrate direction x of the carrier substrate 10, wherein each deposition module 21 is arranged for depositing components of the food product 1 on the carrier substrate 10, a conveyor device 30 being arranged for moving the carrier substrate 10 along the longitudinal substrate direction x thereof relative to the deposition modules 21, and a collection device 40 being arranged for collecting the food product 1. Furthermore, a method of manufacturing a food product 1, in particular a meat or meat replacement product, is described.

Claims

1. A food manufacturing apparatus, being configured for manufacturing a food product in a 3D printing process, comprising: a movable carrier substrate extending along a longitudinal substrate direction and being configured for accommodating the food product; a deposition device comprising a plurality of deposition modules, which are arranged along the longitudinal substrate direction of the carrier substrate, wherein each deposition module is arranged for depositing components of the food product on the carrier substrate; a conveyor device being arranged for moving the carrier substrate along the longitudinal substrate direction thereof relative to the deposition modules; and a collection device being arranged for collecting the food product.

2. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the food manufacturing apparatus is configured for manufacturing a meat or meat replacement product.

3. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carrier substrate comprises at least one conveyor belt.

4. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the at least one conveyor belt has an upper surface which is made of a food carrier material, and the collection device is arranged for collecting the food product together with the food carrier material.

5. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor device is configured for a continuous operation.

6. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carrier substrate comprises multiple conveyor belts being connected via at least one intersection, wherein each of the conveyor belts provides a carrier substrate branch and the deposition modules are arranged along the carrier substrate branches.

7. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the carrier substrate branches is a storage branch without a deposition module.

8. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one extrusion device is arranged for depositing main components of the food product.

9. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one droplet dispenser device is arranged for depositing at least one of main components of the food product and additives to main components of the food product.

10. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of at least one curing module being arranged for locally curing the components or the complete food product on the carrier substrate by at least one of a physical and a chemical treatment; at least one compressing module being arranged for locally compressing the components or the complete food product on the carrier substrate by applying a pressure; a conditioning system being configured for providing an environment with at least one of controlled humidity and temperature around the carrier substrate; and at least one camera device being arranged for monitoring at least one of the carrier substrate and the deposition modules.

11. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collection device comprises at least one cutting device being arranged at a downstream end of the carrier substrate, and the at least one cutting device includes at least one of a blade machine and a passing machine.

12. A method of manufacturing a food product, comprising the steps of moving a carrier substrate along a longitudinal substrate direction thereof, serially depositing components of the food product on the carrier substrate, using a plurality of deposition modules of a deposition device, which are arranged along the longitudinal substrate direction; and collecting the food product at a downstream end of the carrier substrate.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the food product is a meat or a meat replacement product.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the food product is continuously manufactured.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the food product is completely manufactured by droplet dispensing.

16. The method according to claim 12, further including at least one of the steps locally curing the components or the complete food product on the carrier substrate by at least one of a physical and a chemical treatment; locally compressing the components or the complete food product on the carrier substrate by applying a pressure; providing an environment with at least one of controlled humidity and temperature around the carrier substrate; and monitoring at least one of the carrier substrate and the deposition modules.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein at least one of the following conditions are met during manufacturing the food product: a temperature of the components of the food product is in a range from 4° C. to 100° C., and a printing pressure is in a range from 1 to 3,500 kPa.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of collecting the food product comprises cutting the food product at a downstream end of the carrier substrate.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein the components of the food product are selected by an on-demand control during the manufacturing of the food product.

20. The method according to claim 18, further including adjusting at least one of salinity, acidity and calorie content of the components of the food product, and controlling the collecting of the food product in dependency on the food product currently manufactured.

21. The method according to claim 12, wherein the components of the food product are deposited such that a thickness of the food product varies along a longitudinal extension thereof.

22. The method according to claim 12, wherein the components of the food product comprise at least one of a plant-based edible printing dispersion; at least one of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals from one or more of plant sources; a crosslinking agent; an agent setting rheological properties of the components during deposition thereof; a dispersion in at least one of a liquid and oil media, with at least one of a viscosity between 1 and 250 Pa.Math.s (250000 cP) at 21° C. and a solids content ranging from about 1-80%; fibers with a length of about 1 to 5000 μm and a width of about 10 nm to 1000 μm; carrageenan hydrocolloids; and at least one of cellulose derivatives, cellulose nanofibrils, cellulose gum and carboxy-methylcellulose.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the components of the food product comprise the plant-based edible printing dispersion, which is prepared by at least one of mechanical, enzymatic and chemical processing steps to yield a plant-based and edible ink.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein the components of the food product comprise the agent setting rheological properties of the components during deposition thereof, which agent comprises at least one of hydrocolloids and thickening and gelling agents.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the components of the food product comprise the carrageenan hydrocolloids, which comprise at least one of VISCARIN, GELCARIN, LACTARIN and LACTOGELI.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] Further details and advantages of the invention are described in the following with reference to the attached drawings, which schematically show in:

[0042] FIG. 1: features of a food manufacturing apparatus and method according to a first embodiment of the invention;

[0043] FIG. 2: features of a food manufacturing apparatus and method according to a further embodiment of the invention;

[0044] FIG. 3: a plan view of a single branch embodiment of the invention; and

[0045] FIG. 4: a plan view of a multi branch embodiment of the invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0046] Features of preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the following with particular reference to depositing a food product on a conveyor belt. It is emphasized that the implementation of the invention is not restricted to the use of a conveyor belt as a carrier substrate, but rather possible with other carrier substrates being movable along a longitudinal path where multiple deposition modules are arranged. The drawings illustrate the arrangement of the deposition modules and further components of a food manufacturing apparatus in an exemplary manner. In practice, the number, geometry, distribution and arrangement of the deposition modules and the further components can be modified in dependency on application requirements. Details of the food components, recipes and food products to be manufactured are not described as they are known per se from conventional techniques of manufacturing food products by 3D printing.

[0047] According to FIG. 1, the food manufacturing apparatus 100 comprises a movable carrier substrate 10, a deposition device 20 with a plurality of the deposition modules 21, a conveyor device 30 driving the carrier substrate 10, a collection device 40, a curing module 50, a compressing module 60, a conditioning system 70, a camera device 80 and a control device 90 being connected with the components 10 to 80.

[0048] The carrier substrate 10 comprises the conveyor belt 11 extending in a longitudinal substrate direction (x-direction) between two guide wheels 14. One of the guide wheels 14 is driven with the conveyor device 30, comprising for instance an electric motor. The length and width of the upper surface of the conveyor belt 11 is selected in dependency on application requirements. With preferred examples, the length in x-direction can be selected in a range from some dm, e.g. 0.3 m, to some m, e.g. 10 m or more, and the width in y-direction can be selected in a range from some cm to some dm. The conveyor belt 11 is made of a flexible material, like for example a plastics material. It can be made of a single belt sheet. Alternatively, the conveyor belt 11 may have a multi-layer structure, in particular with a food carrier material, like paper or a film material. As the uppermost layer, the foot carrier material layer can be supplied from a separate reservoir as a consumable, that can be separated from the carrier substrate 10 together with the manufactured food product 1 or pieces thereof.

[0049] The deposition device 20 includes multiple deposition modules 21. With practical examples, the number of deposition modules 21 is selected in dependency on the application requirements, for instance in a range from 2 to 100. Each deposition module 21 is connected with the control device 90. The control device 90 is configured for operating the deposition modules 21 according to a certain operation protocol, which is defined by the recipe of the food product 1 to be manufactured.

[0050] Each deposition module 31 comprises at least one extruder device and/or at least one droplet dispenser device. Each extruder device and/or each droplet dispenser device is connected with an associated substance reservoir (not shown) accommodating food components to be deposited onto the carrier substrate 10. The extruder device and/or the droplet dispenser device can be configured as it is known from conventional techniques of 3D printing and/or handling biological materials. As an example, the extruder device is e. g. a BIO X® 3D bioprinter, as described e. g. in WO 2018/132057 A1 (3D bioprinters, a 3D bioprinting toolhead and a method for 3D bioprinting a construct) and the droplet dispenser device is e. g a sciFLEXARRAYER® or cellenONE® system, as described e. g. in Zahn et al. (2017) “Scalable whole-genome single-cell library preparation without preamplification” in “Nature methods” 14(2) 167-173.

[0051] With a preferred embodiment, the food manufacturing apparatus 100 can be implemented with a deposition system of the type sciFLEXARRAYER S100 (manufacturer Scienion AG, Germany). While the sciFLEXARRAYER S100 system comprises a series of droplet dispenser devices, one or more of the droplet dispenser devices can be replaced by an extruder device in a practical application of the invention.

[0052] The collection device 40 generally comprises a portion at the downstream end of the carrier substrate 10. The collection device 40 comprises a cutting device 41, which preferably is operated in a plane within the plane of the carrier substrate 10 (x-y-plane). The cutting device 41 includes a cutting blade being movable in z-direction for separating the strand of the manufactured foot product 1 into pieces 1A. The cutting tool 41 is controlled with the control device 90. The food product pieces are cut for instance with equal sizes according to a predetermined manufacturing protocol, or they are cut on the basis of an on demand protocol with varying sizes.

[0053] Furthermore, the collection device 40 includes a collection container 43, which is arranged for collecting the cut pieces of the food product 1. The collection container 43 is illustrated in a simplified manner only. With practical applications, the pieces of the food product 1 can be finally packed into transport containers to be sold to consumers.

[0054] The conditioning system 70 comprises a single container or a plurality of containers arranged along the longitudinal substrate direction (x-direction) and accommodating the conveyor belt 11. Each container is arranged for providing a local conditioning atmosphere at the deposition sites on the carrier substrate 10. To this end, each container is connected with a temperature control and/or a humidity control. Furthermore, each container of the conditioning system 70 can be adapted for providing a sterile environment along the carrier substrate 10. The conditioning system 70 can be arranged extending from the first deposition module 21 at an upstream end of the conveyor belt 11 to the curing module 50 near the downstream end of the conveyor belt 11. Alternatively, the conditioning system 70 can be extended even to the end of the conveyor belt 11, further including the collection device 40. Advantageously, this allows to provide a sterile environment during the whole manufacturing chain along the carrier substrate until the packing into the collection container 43.

[0055] The curing module 50 preferably includes heating device. With the curing module 50, a temperature of the food product 1 can be increased to a range of for instance 4 to 400° C. At the elevated temperature, joining the food components within the food product 1 is facilitated. Deviating from the illustration in FIG. 1, it is not necessarily required that the curing module 50 is arranged near the downstream end of the conveyor belt 11. It is possible to arrange the curing module 50 at another position along the conveyor belt 11, for instance between 2 the position module 21. Furthermore, multiple curing modules 50 can be provided and operated as required. As a further modification, it is not necessary that the curing module 50 is arranged above the conveyor belt 11. Alternatively, the curing module 50 can be integrated into the carrier substrate 10, for instance arranged below the conveyor belt 11, where the food product 1 is deposited.

[0056] The compressing module 60 comprises a roller, which is arranged for densifying the food product 1. With the roller of the compressing module 60, a thickness in z-direction of the food product 1 can be adjusted. The roller of the compressing module 60 can be provided with a surface structure on a circumferential surface thereof. With the surface structure, the thickness of the food product 1 can be modified along the x-direction, e. g. for providing line sections with reduced thickness (cutting lines) along the y-direction.

[0057] The camera device 80 is arranged for monitoring the food product 1, for instance for examining the homogeneity or color thereof. The camera device 80 can be provided downstream of the last deposition module 21. Additionally or alternatively, a camera device can be arranged between deposition modules or downstream of the compressing module 60 or the curing module 50. The camera device 80 is connected with the control device 90. In dependency on image signals of the camera device 80, the deposition modules 21, the conveyor device 30, the cutting device 41, the curing module 50 or the compressing module 60 can be controlled.

[0058] For operating the food manufacturing apparatus 100, food components are loaded to reservoirs of the deposition modules 21. Movement of the carrier substrate 10 (see arrow) is driven by the conveyor device 30. The deposition modules 21 are operated for depositing food components onto the surface of the conveyor belt 11 so that the food product 1 is applied layer by layer. Due to the operation of the conveyor device 30, the food product 1 is continuously or intermittently transported in x-direction towards the collection device 40. During the transport, the quality of the food product 1 is monitored with the camera device 80. Furthermore, the food product 1 is compressed with the compressing module 60 and finally cured with the curing module 50. Pieces of the food product 1 are cut with the cutting device 41 and collected with the collection container 43.

[0059] FIG. 2 illustrates features of alternative embodiments of the food manufacturing apparatus 100. The food manufacturing apparatus 100 basically is configured with the carrier substrate 10, the deposition device 20, the conveyor device 30, the collection device 40, the curing device 50, the compressing module 60, the conditioning system 70, the camera device 80 and the control device 90, as explained with reference to FIG. 1. Deviating from FIG. 1, the embodiment of FIG. 2 includes a passing device 42 in the collection device 40. Accordingly, the grounded food product 1 can be collected in the collection container 43. As a further difference over the embodiment of FIG. 1, the compressing device 60 comprises a stamp compressor.

[0060] FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a single carrier substrate branch embodiment (FIG. 3) and a multiple carrier substrate branch embodiment (FIG. 4) of food manufacturing apparatuses 100 according to the invention. FIGS. 3 and 4 present plan views, wherein the x-y-plane is in the drawing plane.

[0061] According to FIG. 3, a single conveyor belt 11 is provided. Along the length of the conveyor belt 11, multiple deposition modules 21, the components 50, 60 and 80 and the collection device 40 are arranged, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0062] According to FIG. 4, an initial conveyor belt 11 is split into three conveyor belts 11, 12 and 13, wherein deposition modules 21 are arranged along an extension of each of the separate conveyor belts 11, 12 and 13. In FIG. 4, additional components, like the curing module 50, the compressing module 60 and the camera device 80 are not shown for clarity reasons. With this embodiment, additional degrees of freedom or influencing the composition of the food product to be manufactured are obtained.

[0063] As an alternative to FIG. 4, one of the branches, like the carrier substrate branch with the conveyor belt 13 may be configured without a deposition module but with processing modules only. The processing modules may be configured e. g. for further heat and/or pressure applications or for a chemical treatment of the food product.

[0064] The features of the invention disclosed in the above description, the drawings and the claims can be of significance individually, in combination or sub-combination for the implementation of the invention in its different embodiments.