VEHICLE HAVING A DEVICE FOR PROCESSING FOOD

Abstract

A motor vehicle having a driver's position, having a device adjacent thereto for processing, in particular for assembling, food, and having an oven device for heating foods is designed so that at least the device for processing, in particular assembling, foods is arranged in a section which is separate from the driver's position and which has at least one

Claims

1. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one robot operable to handle food; and at least one oven operable to at least heat or cook food.

2. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to assemble food.

3. The motor vehicle of claim 2 wherein the at least one robot is operable to transfer the assembled food to the at least one oven.

4. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot and the at least one oven are operable to assemble and heat or cook food without direct human contact with the food during the assembly and the heating or the cooking of the food.

5. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the motor vehicle includes a section is formed as a closed, modular unit, and the at least one robot and the at least one oven are housed in the section.

6. The motor vehicle of claim 5, further comprising: a ventilation device fluidly coupled to the section to provide dedicated ventillation for the section.

7. The motor vehicle of claim 5 wherein section is cooled.

8. The motor vehicle of claim 5 wherein the section is located in a rear of the motor vehicle.

9. The motor vehicle of claim 5 wherein the section includes a thermally insulating wall.

10. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to add various ingredients to a pizza blank.

11. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to add various ingredients to a noodle base.

12. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to add various ingredients to a hamburger bun.

13. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to add various ingredients to a dough blank.

14. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one robot is operable to transfer blanks of food to the at least one oven.

15. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one oven includes a plurality of oven compartments.

16. The motor vehicle of claim 15 wherein the oven compartments are besides one another other.

17. The motor vehicle of claim 15 wherein the oven compartments are stacked above one another.

18. The motor vehicle of claim 15 wherein some of the oven compartments are besides one another and some of the oven compartments are stacked above one another.

19. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least one oven includes a conveyor oven having a loading side and a removal side located spatially separated from the loading side.

20. The motor vehicle of claim 19 wherein the removal side of the conveyor oven is accessible from an exterior of the motor vehicle.

21. The motor vehicle of claim 20 wherein the loading side of the conveyor oven is not accessible from the exterior of the motor vehicle.

22. The motor vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: a door that selectively provides access to an interior of the at least one oven from an exterior of the motor vehicle.

23. The motor vehicle of claim 22 wherein the door is at a rear side of the motor vehicle.

24. The motor vehicle of claim 22 wherein the door is at a rear of the motor vehicle.

25. The motor vehicle of claim 22 wherein the door is dedicated to accessing the interior of the at least one oven from an exterior of the motor vehicle.

26. The motor vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: a first refrigerator to store the foods.

27. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least robot is positioned and operable to access the foods stored in the cooling device.

28. The motor vehicle of claim 27, further comprising: a second refrigerator to store at least one of drinks, desserts, or refill ingredients.

29. The motor vehicle of claim 1, further comprising: a packaging unit.

30. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the at least robot includes a robot arm that positioned and operable to retrieve food from the at least one oven and place the food in packaging without human contact with the food during the retrieval and the packaging of the food.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] The drawing shows:

[0024] FIG. 1 a first vehicle in a schematic top view, in which a section is arranged next to the driver's position, and a partition wall is provided to a rearwards region having a transversely arranged conveyor oven,

[0025] FIG. 2 an alternative vehicle in which a section is arranged continuously towards the back next to the driver's position, which includes an oven device,

[0026] FIG. 3 a view similar to FIG. 2, but having a plurality of oven compartments offset obliquely to one another,

[0027] FIG. 4 a schematic perspective view of the situation in the front part of the vehicle according to FIG. 1,

[0028] FIG. 5 a view similar to FIG. 4, but of the section in the vehicle according to FIG. 2, wherein, for example, two oven sections are provided one above the other,

[0029] FIG. 6 a view similar to FIG. 5, but having two oven compartments offset obliquely to each otheras in FIG. 3,

[0030] FIG. 7 a view of a conveyor oven, in this case having a loading side to the left and a removal side to the right,

[0031] FIG. 8 a view similar to FIG. 7 during the oven feeding mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The vehicle indicated overall as 1 in FIG. 1 is a self-propelled motor vehicle, which includes a driver's position 2 located behind a steering wheel 2a and a device 3, here adjacent thereto, for processing, in particular for assembling, foods. In addition, vehicle 1 is provided with an oven device 4 for heating foods that in this case is arranged in the rear vehicle region behind a partition wall 5 thermally insulated with respect to driver's position 2.

[0033] Adjacent in this case does not necessarily mean that device 3 is positioned in a transverse direction next to the driver's position, rather, it could also, in the case of a rotatable driver's position 2, be located (obliquely) behind it.

[0034] Device 3 for processing, in particular for assembling, foods is arranged separated from the driver in a section 6, whose walls can form a prefabricated, modular box 7, wherein at least one access option 8 is provided for the driver in a partition wall 7a at driver's position 2.

[0035] At least this partition wall 7a can in some areas be formed as transparent, for example over the whole height of the partition wall toward the driver. For example, the section can also be looked into obliquely from above. The remaining walls can be transparent and be made of Plexiglas or the like. This is not mandatory.

[0036] A plurality of preparation sections 9 for ingredients is arranged in the section, for example, above and/or next to one another, and a processing surface 10 for rolling and/or coating a dough blank, for example, can be provided. Box 7 can be opened for refilling and cleaning purposes, for example via a swiveling flap 7b.

[0037] It is particularly advantageous if, as shown here, section 6 is provided with means that enable processing by the driver without his direct contact with the foods. To do this, reaching through partition wall 7a is possible using gloves, for example. In particular, partition wall 7a is provided with at least one working glove 11 installed in a sealed manner and extending into section 6.

[0038] Two working gloves 11 of this type are obviously possible for two-armed access. With this, a fully air-tight closure of section 6 to driver's position 2 is possible. Section 6 can thus be built as a completely closed unit.

[0039] Section 6 can also have its own ventilation device, having filters as necessary, in order to achieve a hygienic optimization. Section 6 can thus also be partially or fully coolable. Of course, one or a plurality of separate refrigerators can also be provided that can be contained within section 6 so that the foods removed from it are only transported in protected section 6.

[0040] Additionally or alternatively to the manual access, section 6 can be provided with at least one robotics unit controllable from the outside for processing foods. Thus, for example, it can be decided from outside which ingredients should go on a pizza, the robotics unit can then take them out of the appropriate preparation compartment 9 and distribute them on the pizza.

[0041] As is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example, section 6 can include at least one integrated oven device 4. Alternatively, this is arranged in FIG. 1 behind a partition wall 5 so that the prepared foods must be brought through an opening 12 in box 7 and this partition wall 5 to oven 4. This can also happen by the access of the driver. Partition wall 5 can thus also separate the rear space of the vehicle from driver's position 2 in a sealing manner so that the hygienic conditions are also thereby improved.

[0042] Independent of the arrangement of oven device 4, a processing of foods in section 6 can be possible by the driver alone or indirectly via the robotics unit adding various ingredients stored in section 6 to a pizza blank and/or to a noodle base and/or to a hamburger bun or other dough blank. No additional personnel is therefore necessary, but the driver can accomplish this alone. In particular, the pizza blank is placed on a sheet-metal tray that the robot arm, for example a swivel arm, can grasp. Using this robot arm, the blank can be conveyed into oven device 4 as well as further conveyed out of it after heatingfor example directly into an existing pizza box. Oven 4, itself, can also constitute a mobile device that is installable in a module of device 3.

[0043] Even the forwarding of the blanks assembled in this manner to the loading side 13 of oven device 4, possibly through opening 12, can be possible by the driver and from driver's position 2, for example via a type of tray or the aforementioned sheet-metal tray, which can be moved further and lifted, as necessary. Guides can be installed for this. The finished products can likewise be removed from removal side 14 of oven 4, for example a conveyor oven, possibly through a rear door 15 in a one-man-operation. Packaging in a box can also be done either automatically or by the driver. A complete one-man-operation is thus possible for the processing as well as for the heating, packaging and delivery of the prepared products.

[0044] As already indicated, oven device 4 can either be arranged in a section located in the rear of the vehicle and separated from driver's position 2 by a thermally insulated wall 5, or the oven device can be placed in section 6 as in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, and is then not only essentially extended across the space otherwise provided for a passenger, but reaches far to the rear in the vehicle longitudinal direction.

[0045] There is thus sufficient space available for oven device 4 to include a plurality of separate oven compartments 16 beside and/or above each other. In FIG. 5, two oven compartments 16 are indicated over one another; in FIG. 6, two oven compartments 16 are positioned offset with respect to each other. In any case, the simultaneous preparation of a plurality of pizzas, noodle dishes, hamburgers or the like is possible. They can also be delivered at the same time. A plurality of orders can thus be processed in a mobile way simultaneously without calling a base station. In particular, immediately after taking the order, the preparation can be completed to the point that the blanks are slid into the oven so that they can bake during the trip to the customer.

[0046] In FIGS. 7 and 8, it is shown in detail how oven device 4 includes a conveyor oven having a loading side 13 and a removal side 14 placed spatially separated from it. Conveyor oven 4 can be arranged longitudinally or transversely or at an angle in the vehicle, depending upon the spatial situation. It can also be possible in this arrangement that pizzas 17, for example, are each pushed through in separate front-beveled frames 18 so that frame 18 when exiting oven 4 can raise additional pizzas 17 in their frames 18, and these then automatically come into a stacked position over each other, from which they can then be packaged.

[0047] The driver thus only needs contact with removal side 14, which further improves hygiene. The foods heated in oven device 4 can be removed directly from the outside via a separate vehicle door 15, for example a hatchback or rear door without any special modification. If, for example, a pizza was conveyed internally on a separate sheet-metal plate, this sheet-metal plate can also be removed without contact at the end, for example via working gloves or the like.

[0048] The vehicle can thus be an easy-to-park vehicle of a standard compact construction that also requires no outer modification or adaptations.

[0049] In addition, an additional cooling device 19 for drinks, desserts, additional ingredients or the like can be provided in the trunk region for rounding out the range of products.

[0050] Generally speaking, a stationary kitchen is no longer necessary. The vehicle can drive from its current location directly to the customer without needing to take a detour to a base station.

[0051] With the invention, it is for the first time possible to operate such a vehicle truly as a one-man-operation and thus be able to accomplish all the preparation tasks during the drive or during short stops in the trip. The expense and time advantages thus achieved are significant. Using the invention, precooking and a stationary oven can be completely eliminated. It is possible to coordinate a trip in such a manner that the closest route between the individual customers can be sought without having to keep returning to some fixed point in between. In addition to the aforementioned economic advantages, this also means significant ecological relief by avoiding empty trips back to a stationary base.