AUTOMATIC LOADING OF TREATMENT UNITS FOR FOODS

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for treating foods, comprising at least one treatment unit (6, 21) which has at least one treatment chamber which is configured to receive product carriers with foods, and comprising at least one transport cart (1), which has rollers and at least one transport frame for a plurality of products, which can be introduced into the treatment chamber and which can be rolled into a first working position (20-24) on the treatment unit (6, 21). In order to further relieve the load on the personnel, the apparatus has at least one mobile drive unit, which is or can be coupled to the transport cart (1), and the drive unit has a navigation system and is configured to move the transport cart (1) automatically at least into the first working position (20-24).

Claims

1. An apparatus for treating foods, comprising: at least a first treatment unit which has at least a first treatment chamber which is configured to receive product carriers with foods at least a first transport trolley which has rollers and at least ene a first transport rack for a plurality of product carriers, which can be introduced into the first treatment chamber, and which can be rolled into a first working position at the first treatment unit; and at least a first movable drive unit which is couplable or coupled to the first transport trolley, wherein the at least first movable drive unit has a navigation system and is configured to move the first transport trolley automatically at least into the first working position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first transport trolley in the first working position is aligned with the first treatment unit in order to move the product carriers or the first transport rack with product carriers from the first transport trolley to the first treatment unit or back, and wherein the apparatus further comprises a loading drive for moving a loading rack or the product carriers between the first treatment unit and the first transport trolley when the first transport trolley is in the first working position.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first working position is within the first treatment unit.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first movable drive unit has a telescopic coupling device which pushes the first transport trolley into the first treatment unit and pulls same out of the first treatment unit while the first movable drive unit is located outside the first treatment unit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least first transport trolley includes a plurality of transport trolleys, and wherein the at least first movable drive unit is couplable to each of the plurality of transport trolleys.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a lower portion of each of the at least first transport trolley has a receiving region into which the at least first movable drive unit can be moved.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the receiving region has at least one of the following: mechanical coupling means for mechanically coupling the at least first movable drive unit to the at least first transport trolley; and electrical coupling means for electrically coupling the at least first movable drive unit to the at least first transport trolley.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least first transport trolley includes a plurality of transport trolleys, and each transport trolley is coupled to a respective one of the at least first movable drive unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus has at least one further working position, and the at least first movable drive unit and the navigation system of the at least first movable drive unit are configured to move the at least one transport trolley automatically into the at least one further working position.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least two of the following units are provided with data interfaces for data communication: the at least first treatment unit; the at least first transport trolley; the at least first movable drive unit; and the navigation system of the at least first movable drive unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least first treatment chamber has a door which is provided with a door drive for automatically opening and closing said door.

12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the loading drive is arranged on one of the following: on the at least first treatment unit, on the at least first transport trolley, and on the at least first movable drive unit.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the loading drive and electrical coupling means for a power supply of the loading drive are arranged on the at least first transport trolley and are couplable to complementary electrical coupling means on the at least first movable drive unit or on the at least first treatment unit.

14. A method for the loading of a treatment unit for foods, which treatment unit has at least one treatment chamber which is configured to receive product carriers with foods, comprising: at least one transport trolley which has at least one transport rack for a plurality of product carriers and rollers is rolled into a first working position at the treatment unit; and at least one drive unit which has a navigation system and is couplable or coupled to the transport trolley, moving the at least one transport trolley automatically at least into the first working position.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one transport trolley in a first working position is positioned close to the treatment unit in order to move the plurality of product carriers or the transport rack with product carriers from the at least one transport trolley to the treatment unit or back by means of a loading drive.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the movable drive unit has a telescopic coupling device which pushes the transport trolley into the treatment unit and pulls same out of the treatment unit while the movable drive unit is located outside the treatment unit.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein there are a plurality of transport trolleys, and in that wherein the drive unit is selectively coupled to each of the transport trolleys.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising; moving the transport trolley automatically into at least one further working position.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein at least two of the following units communicate with one another via data interfaces: the at least one treatment unit; the at least one transport trolley; the at least one movable drive unit; and the navigation system of the at least one movable drive unit.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising: transmitting a signal for actuating a door of the treatment chamber to the treatment unit via the data interface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Further practical embodiments and advantages of the system described herein are described below in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

[0020] FIG. 1 shows the sequences during loading of an oven according to a prior art method;

[0021] FIGS. 2-6 show a transport trolley with a drive unit according to embodiments of the system described herein, in various views;

[0022] FIG. 7 shows the transport trolley without a drive unit from FIGS. 2 to 6, according to embodiments of the system described herein;

[0023] FIG. 8 shows a floor plan of a work room of a bakery in which a method of the described here may be realized, according to embodiments of the system described herein;

[0024] FIG. 9 shows the floor plan from FIG. 8 with transport trolleys at various working positions, according to embodiments of the system described herein;

[0025] FIG. 10 shows a front view of a transport trolley which is intended to be pushed into a baking chamber, according to embodiments of the system described herein;

[0026] FIG. 11 shows a side view of the transport trolley from FIG. 10, according to embodiments of the system described herein; and

[0027] FIG. 12 shows the baking trolley from FIG. 11 coupled to a drive unit, according to embodiments of the system described herein.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows the constituent parts of a conventional manual arrangement for loading a baking oven. Illustration a) of FIG. 1 shows a transport trolley 1 which may be provided here with two pivotable, lateral door panels 2, 3 and a top panel 4. The transport trolley 1 also may be used without door panels and without any cladding at all. On the lower frame of the transport trolley 1 there may be four rollers 5 with which the transport trolley 1 may be moved freely on a flat floor surface.

[0029] The illustration b) of FIG. 1 shows a baking oven 6 with two baking chambers 7, 8. The baking chambers 7, 8 may be closed with two pivotable doors 27, 28. Two transport racks 9, 10 may be arranged in the transport trolley 1. Each transport rack 9, 10 may carry product carriers 11 for food products, in the present case bakery products. As explained further above, said transport racks 9, 10 also may be called loading rack in the prior art. In illustration e) which shows the upper loading rack 9, the product carriers 11 may be configured as simple baking trays. In the illustration e), running rollers 12 also may be seen on each side of the transport frame 9, the running rollers facilitating the pushing of the transport rack 9 into and pulling of same out of the transport trolley 1.

[0030] The transport rack 10 also may have running rollers.

[0031] It can be seen in illustration c) that the upper corners of the transport trolley 1 may be configured in a complementary manner to upper fixing elements 13 above the upper baking chamber 7 of the baking oven 6. The transport trolley 1 may be moved into a position which can be seen in illustration d) of FIG. 1. The transport trolley 1 here may be standing directly in front of the baking chambers 7, 8 of the baking oven 6, and therefore the two transport racks 9, 10 may be pushed into the baking chambers 7, 8. To push them in, the operator may use a loading tool 14 in the form of a long rod with a gripping tool at the end, with which the transport racks 9, 10 may be pushed into the pre-heated baking chambers 7, 8 and may be pulled out of the baking chambers again after the bakery products on the product carriers 11 have been baked. The upper corners of the transport trolley 1 may be held here in the fixing elements 13 and the transport trolley 1 may be fixed against lateral displacement.

[0032] As mentioned at the beginning, transport trolleys are also known, for example, from the document WO 2017/194403 A1, in which the transport racks with the product carriers may be pushed out of the transport trolley or may be pulled into the transport trolley automatically, i.e. with an electric motor.

[0033] FIGS. 2 to 5 show a transport trolley 1 of this type in which, however, the automatic drive for the transport racks 9, 10 is not illustrated. Any drive means and coupling means, for example electric motors, which move the transport racks 9, 10 via a belt drive or a push rod drive, may be suitable.

[0034] The transport trolley 1 from FIGS. 2 to 6 is intended to be moved automatically. For this purpose, it may be coupled to a driverless transport vehicle, also called AGV. The AGV forms a drive unit 15 which may be accommodated in a receiving region 16 in the lower portion of the transport trolley 1. The drive unit 15 may enter automatically into the receiving region 16 of the transport trolley 1 and may couple there to the transport trolley 1. The drive unit 16 may have an upper covering 17 which may be movable vertically. When the upper covering 17 moves upward, the upper covering 17 may couple in a form-fitting manner to struts of the transport trolley 1 in the receiving region. The coupling may be carried out with displaceable elements to compensate for tolerances. In the embodiment illustrated, rubber frustoconical coupling elements 19 may be on the upper covering and may be moved into receptacles which are formed by the corners between the struts of the transport trolley. In FIG. 5, the covering 17 is illustrated lowered. In this state, the drive unit 15 may be moved into the receiving region 16. The covering may be subsequently moved upward such that the coupling elements 19 move into the corners between the struts of the transport trolley 1 and connect the transport trolley 1 to the drive unit 15 in a form-fitting manner. This state is illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4 and 6.

[0035] Alternatively, the coupling elements 19 may engage in round receptacles of the transport trolley. These frustoconical coupling elements 19 may move automatically into their receptacles even if the alignment is imprecise by a few millimeters or even 1 cm because their upper diameter may be smaller than the lower diameter, and they may align the transport trolley 1 with respect to the drive unit 15 during the movement into the receptacles. Furthermore, the coupling elements may be composed of an elastic material, such as hard rubber, in order to absorb excessive forces as the transport trolley is carried along. In principle, any mechanical (e.g., form-fitting) coupling means may be used for coupling the drive unit 15 to the transport trolley 1.

[0036] The rollers 29 of the drive unit 15 may be driven by electric motors. The drive unit 15 may have a rechargeable battery, the current of which operates the electric motors and the control electronics of the drive unit 15. The battery of the drive unit 15 may be recharged in a known manner at a charging station.

[0037] When the transport trolley 1 is coupled mechanically to the drive unit 15, electrical contacts also may be coupled to one another such that an electrical connection is produced between the battery or the rechargeable battery of the drive unit 15 and the loading drive of the transport trolley 1.

[0038] Alternatively, the transport trolley 1 may have electrical contacts which, when the transport trolley 1 moves into the first working position in front of the baking oven 6, make contact with an electrical contact arranged there and ensure the power supply of the loading drives from the baking oven 6.

[0039] On the front side and on the rear side, the drive unit 15 may have a scanning laser 18 which scans the space in front of it. For mapping the space in front of the scanning lasers 18, the drive unit 15 may be equipped with a powerful processor. It therefore may be possible for the drive unit 15 also to take on the control of the loading drive of the transport trolley 1. For this purpose, the electrical coupling means also may have to couple signal channels to one another, permitting the transmission of control signals, for example for the loading drives of the transport trolley 1.

[0040] In FIG. 7, the transport trolley 1 is illustrated horizontally. The lower region of the transport trolley 1 may form the receiving region 16 for the drive unit 15. The transport trolley 1 also may be connected permanently to the drive unit 15. In this case, the rollers 5 at the lower ends of the lateral columns of the transport trolley 1 are omitted, and the rollers 29 of the drive unit 15 in this case may form the rollers of the transport trolley 1.

[0041] The couplable embodiment of the transport trolley 1 may have the advantage that a multiplicity of transport trolleys 1 may be moved with very few drive units 15. If the drive units 15 fail, the transport trolleys 1 also may continue to be displaced manually. In addition, as described further below, the transport trolley 1 may be enabled to move, for example, into the baking chamber of a baking oven and to reside there for heat treatment without the drive unit 15 being moved into the baking chamber.

[0042] The floor plan of a work room of a bakery, in which the method described here may be implemented, can be seen in FIG. 8. The work room may have an assignment table 30 on which bakery products may be prepared and placed onto baking trays. Next to the assignment table 30 there may be a working position 20 for a transport trolley 1. Furthermore, the work room may have a proofing cabinet 21 in front of which a further working position 22 may be provided. Furthermore, next to the proofing cabinet 21 there may be a baking oven 6, in front of the front side of which in turn a working position 23 may be provided. On the opposite side of the work room there may be a sales counter 25, next to which in turn a working position 24 may be provided.

[0043] The various working positions and the associated treatment units or work stations may be provided at different locations, depending on the spatial circumstances of the work room.

[0044] In FIG. 9, a first transport trolley 1 may be arranged in the first working position 20 next to the assignment table 30. This trolley may be placed there for a prolonged period of time. It is not currently coupled to a drive unit. The staff may prepare the bakery products, place them on baking trays and may push the baking trays into the transport racks of the transport trolley.

[0045] A transport trolley 1 which is not coupled to a drive unit also may be placed in the fourth working position 25.

[0046] By contrast, in the third working position 23 there may be a transport trolley 1 which may be coupled to a drive unit 15. The drive unit 15 may have been used to move the transport trolley 1 either from the first working position 20 or from the second working position 22 to the third working position 23. Here, the transport racks 9, 10 may be moved out of the transport trolley 1 into the baking chambers of the baking oven 6. So that the transport trolley 1 is aligned exactly with the baking oven 6 during this procedure, the drive unit 15 may remain coupled to the transport trolley 1 and block the rotation of the rollers or wheels of the drive unit 15.

[0047] It can be seen that fixing bars 26 may be arranged both in front of the proofing cabinet 21 and in front of the baking oven 6, said fixing bars 26 aligning the front side of the transport trolley 1 with the opposite front side of the proofing cabinet 21 or of the baking oven 6 as the transport trolley 1 approaches the proofing cabinet 21 or the baking oven 6. The function of the fixing bars 26 corresponds substantially to that of the fixing element 13 from FIG. 1. The fixing bars 26 may ensure the positionally precise arrangement of the transport trolley 1 in front of the proofing cabinet 21 or the baking oven 6 and ensure the fault-free movement of the transport rack 9, 10 from the transport trolley 1 into the proofing cabinet 21 or the baking oven 6 and back again.

[0048] At the other working positions 20, 25, precise positioning may be less important because the baking product carriers 11 may be inserted into the transport racks 9 and 10 and removed therefrom individually and manually. A reason why it may be desirable to not provide the transport trolley 1 in the present method with wall panels at least on the front side and rear side is apparent from FIG. 8. With an open transport trolley 1, the baking product carrier 11 may be introduced from both sides. It also may be possible to configure the loading drive in such a manner that the transport rack 9, 10 may be moved out of the transport trolley 1 in both directions. With such structural conditions, it may be possible to equip the transport trolley 1 with baking product carriers and bakery products from one side and to push the equipped transport rack 9, 10 out on the other side in order to feed said transport rack to the treatment unit, which may reduce the need for turning operations which may be required for moving the transport trolley 1 to all working positions 20, 22, 23, 25 in a complex work room.

[0049] Of course, the system described here also may be suitable for work rooms which are separated from retail spaces. Further treatment units, such as, for example, packaging machines, also may be provided, to which the transport trolleys 1 may be moved.

[0050] As an alternative to a transport trolley 1 with transport racks 9, 10, use also may be made of a transport trolley 1′ which is illustrated in FIGS. 10 to 12 and may be pushed together with the product carriers into a baking oven in order to bake the products transported by the transport trolley 1′. It can be seen in FIGS. 10 and 11 that the transport trolley 1′ may be composed of a rack 31 of steel tubes on which rails 32 may be in each case arranged in pairs opposite one another, into which baking trays (not illustrated) as product carriers may be pushed. In order to arrange as many products as possible on the transport trolley 1′, the rails 32 may reach into the lower region of the transport trolley 1′ close to the rollers 5. There also may be no receiving region. Instead, the drive unit 15′ may couple by means of gripping elements 33 directly to the rack 31 of the transport trolley 1′, and said rack as a transport rack for the product carriers may enter completely into the baking chamber of the trolley oven 6′. It can be seen in FIG. 12 that the gripping elements 33 may be arranged on a telescopically extendable rod 34 which may be fastened to the drive unit 15′ and, together with the gripping elements, forms a telescopic coupling device. The gripping element 33 may be detached from the transport trolley 1′, for example in order to place the latter in a treatment unit 6′ (trolley baking oven), with the drive unit 15′ remaining outside the treatment unit 6′. The transport trolleys 1′ thus may be moved into and out of the trolley baking oven 6′ without the drive unit 15′ and the rollers 29 thereof being moved into the trolley baking oven 6′ and being exposed there to the high heat. When the gripping elements 33 are detached from the rack 31 of the transport trolley 1′, a parking brake (not illustrated) may be activated in order to avoid the transport trolley 1′ rolling on.

[0051] The features of the invention that are disclosed in the present description, in the drawings and in the claims may be essential both individually and in any combinations for implementing the system described herein in its various embodiments. The invention is not restricted to the described embodiments, and may be varied within the scope of the claims and taking into consideration the knowledge of the relevant person skilled in the art. Other embodiments of the system described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the specification and/or an attempt to put into practice the system described herein disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as illustrative only, with the true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.