Automated Broiler with Product Sensor System

Abstract

A cooking system, including a product loader for dispensing uncooked food product; a broiler/oven having an inlet end, a cooking chamber, a discharge end, a motorized conveyor system for conveying food through said broiler from said inlet end to said discharge end, and heating elements for heating and cooking food products in said cooking chamber. Disposed at the input end between product feed belts and broiler conveyor belts is a photoelectric sensor system that detects the presence of food product passing from the feed belts to the broiler conveyor belts which, when tripped, locks in the cook time for a recipe under execution and prevents inadvertent user changes that would adversely affect the cooked product quality.

Claims

1. A food product conveyor broiler or oven, comprising: a food product loading platform having a loading platform with at least one motorized feed belt for conveying uncooked food product to and into a broiler; a broiler or an oven or a combination thereof, including an inlet end with a food product inlet through which uncooked food product is received from said at least one feed belt, said broiler/oven including a cooking chamber, a discharge end having a food product outlet for discharging cooked food product, at least one motorized cook belt for conveying food through said broiler from said inlet end to said discharge end, and heating elements for heating and cooking food products in said cooking chamber, wherein said at least one feed belt is spaced apart from said at least one cook belt to define a transition zone; a cook controller operatively coupled to said broiler/oven and controlling cooking parameters, including temperature and cooking time, said cook controller having a user interface; and at least one photoelectric sensor system electrically connected to said cook controller and having operative elements disposed at the sides of said transition zone, said operative elements including a light emitter positioned and configured to emit a beam of light laterally across all or a portion of said transition zone at or above an upper plane of said at least one cook belt on which food product is transported, and a light receiver positioned at the same level, said light receiver positioned and configured such that said photoelectric sensor system detects food product passing through the transition zone.

2. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 1, wherein said light emitter and said light receiver are co-located.

3. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 2, wherein said photoelectric sensor system is a diffuse mode sensor, such that portions of the beam of light emitted by said light emitter are reflected off food product passing through said transition zone, and when said light receiver receives such reflected light, said photoelectric sensor system sends a signal to said cook controller to start a timer and lock in the recipe for the product being cooked.

4. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 3, wherein when a user attempts to change a recipe during cooking, said controller displays a prompt through said user interface requiring the user to confirm his or her wish to change the recipe.

5. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 1, wherein said broiler includes first and second feed belts paired with respective first and second cook belts.

6. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 5, wherein each of said first and second cook belts is under separate control by said cook controller, such that each of said cook belts may move at different speeds through said cooking chamber.

7. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 6, including first and second photoelectric sensor systems for each pair of feed belts and cook belts.

8. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 7, further including a medial beam barrier disposed in said transition zone between first and second feed belts and said first and second cook belts, wherein said medial beam barrier intercepts beams emitted by said light emitters in each of said photoelectric sensor systems.

9. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 7, wherein said medial beam barrier is nonspecular.

10. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 9, wherein said first and second photoelectric sensor systems are diffuse mode sensors.

11. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 7, wherein said medial beam barrier is specular.

12. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 11, wherein said first and second photoelectric sensor systems are retroreflective sensors.

13. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 1, cook controller is configured to lock in a product recipe when product is detected by said photoelectric sensor system, and wherein said cook controller outputs at least one alert through said user interface requiring that a user respond to and override said at least one alert with inputs through said user interface.

14. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 13, wherein said at least one alert is a prompt in the form of an inquiry to a user seeking confirmation that the user wishes to change the recipe then being implemented.

15. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 14, wherein said photoelectric sensor system and said cook controller are configured such that each time product is sensed by said photoelectric sensor system, said cook controller starts a countdown timer which equals the recipe time plus a predetermined additional number of seconds.

16. The food product conveyor broiler or oven of claim 15, wherein each time said photoelectric sensor system detects food product passing from a feed belt to a cook belt, said cook controller resets the timer.

17. A conveyor cooker, comprising: a conveyor broiler or oven or a combination thereof, including an inlet end with a food product inlet through which uncooked food product is loaded, a cooking chamber, a discharge end having a food product outlet for discharging cooked food product, at least one motorized cook belt for conveying food from said inlet end to said discharge end, and heating elements for heating and cooking food products in said cooking chamber; a food product loader with a food product conveyor configured to convey uncooked food product across a transition zone and onto said at least one cook belt; at least one photoelectric sensor system having a light emitter positioned and configured to emit a beam of light laterally across all or a portion of said transition zone and a light receiver positioned and configured so as to receive reflected light from said light emitter so as to detect food product passing through said transition zone; and a controller electrically coupled to said at least one photoelectric sensor system and to said at least one cook belt, said cook controller having a user interface; wherein said sensor system detects food product moving from said food product loader across said transition zone to said at least one cook belt, and when so detected said controller sets a countdown timer for the recipe to be implemented, locks the recipe used for that particular food product, alerts users to a cook process in progress, and prevents changes to the cook process

18. The conveyor cooker of claim 17, wherein said light emitter is configured to emit a beam of light at or above an upper plane of said at least one food product conveyor.

19. The conveyor cooker of claim 18, wherein said food product conveyor includes at least one feed belt.

20. The conveyor of claim 17, wherein said controller is coupled to a user interface and is configured to output visual indications that food product is cooking, that a timer for timing the cooking has been started, and that the cook time cannot be altered without specific user inputs acknowledging the visual indications and thereafter changing the cook time.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

[0030] FIG. 1 is an upper front right perspective view showing the inventive broiler system having a product sensor system installed at the input end of the broiler;

[0031] FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation thereof, shown mounted on a commercial kitchen utility table with locking casters;

[0032] FIG. 3 is a front view in elevation thereof;

[0033] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view in elevation thereof taken along section line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and featuring the operational elements of the broiler;

[0034] FIG. 5 is a detailed cross-sectional side view in elevation taken along section lines 5-5 of FIG. 4;

[0035] FIG. 6 is an upper front right perspective view of the photoelectric product sensor system configured for use in the present invention;

[0036] FIG. 7 is a schematic top plan view showing the operational zones for a broiler with two conveyor lanes;

[0037] FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a user interface for a recipe change prompt when product is in the broiler; and

[0038] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing system logic when product presence is sensed by the product sensors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0039] Referring to FIGS. 1 through 9 wherein like reference numbers refer to like components in the various views, there is illustrated an automated commercial broiler having a product sensor system, the entire system generally denominated 10 herein.

[0040] FIGS. 1-5 show the broiler system 10 employed in the present invention. Typical of such conveyor broilers, the broiler/oven includes a housing 12 defining a cooking chamber 14 with a product input side 16 and product discharge side 18. Alternative configurations to achieve the same functional ends are contemplated in the description herein and fall within the scope of the invention. For instance, the broiler/oven could be configured with coincident input and discharge ends, which may be accomplished through simple modifications of the product conveyor system or discharge chutes.

[0041] A user may place product P1, P2, onto the input side of the broiler—or, alternatively, an automated uncooked product dispenser may dispense and direct product—onto the loading platform 20, where it is placed onto the loading platform wire conveyor belts (feed belts) 22, 24 in each of the belt lanes, two being shown in the views, each driven by one or more drive shafts 26.

[0042] After being passed from the conveyors of the loading platform into the motorized cooking conveyor belts (cook belts) 28, 30, each unit of food product is driven on the moving cook belts by motorized drive gears 32a, 32b, 34a, 34b, on axles 36, 38 operatively coupled at their outboard ends, respectively 36a, 38a, to motors housed in housings 40, 42, disposed on each side of the loading platform 20 and the conveyor belt platform 44. The cook belt drive axles may be journaled at their inboard ends 36b, 38b, respectively, in a medial bushing which allows them to move independently of one another. Motors 46, 48 for the feed belts 22, 24 are also housed in the motor housings.

[0043] Once in the conveyor broiler, the food product is rapidly cooked in a highly efficient convection/radiant heating chamber, by lower and upper burner arrays, 50, 52, respectively, after which it is discharged at the discharge end 18 of the broiler and directed by a discharge ramp 54 to a product holding unit bin 56. Cooking efficiency may be enhanced by the use of a low pressure compressed air system that provides air to an air plenum 58 disposed above the upper gas burner elements, each having parallel arrays of air outlet ports that straddle the gas burner elements and create a curtain of forced air that drives heat and flame downwardly and toward the moving food product.

[0044] The time that the product remains in the cooking chamber is determined by the speed with which it is conveyed from the input end to the discharge end, and the cook belt speed is, in turn, predetermined according to cooking recipes for particular products, which may be dedicated to one or the other of the cooking lanes in the broiler. The cook belt speed is under control of the system controller, wherein user input may identify product type and thus direct the controller to set the time and temperature of the cooking cycle.

[0045] Referring now to FIG. 6, most pertinently for the present invention, the broiler system includes one or more photoelectric sensor systems 60, 62, co-located on each of the drive motor housings between and at the sides of the loading platform and the cook belt platform. In embodiments, the inventive system uses diffuse mode (proximity-sensing) photoelectric sensors, wherein each shines a light 64, 66, through a lens (64 only showing), at or slightly above the upper plane of at least the conveyors of the cook belts and across this transition zone 65. The beams may also be at or slightly above the upper plane of the feed belts, unless the product loading plane is slightly above that of the cook belts. The beams from each photoelectric sensor system are each completely intercepted and prevented from interfering with one another by a medial beam barrier 68 integral with a bracket 70 affixed to the broiler housing with its barrier plate depending downwardly from the housing into the transition zone; alternatively it may be affixed to the loading platform between the feed belts and extend forwardly and into the transition zone. The medial beam barrier may be specular, if a retroreflective sensor system is employed, or nonspecular, if a diffuse mode sensor system is employed.

[0046] When food product traverses the gap in the transition zone between the feed belts and the cook belts, the front edge of the product reflects part of the beam back to the sensor, thereby causing the sensor to detect the product. Once the product is detected, a signal is sent to the motor board, which in turn forwards the signal to the main board, which outputs a signal to the user interface on the system controller. An exemplary user interface 80 is shown in FIG. 8. This particular schematic screen shot shows the UI prompt when a user seeks to change a recipe while product is still cooking in the cooking chamber. As can be seen, the UI includes an indication of product type 81 for lane 1 of the broiler, as well as an indication that the product is finished cooking (is done) and has been discharged (“Clear”) from the conveyor belt into the PHU pan. The UI also includes an indication 83 of product type for lane 2, a cooking timer 84, and a recipe change prompt 86, which is displayed because the user has initiated a recipe change. Note that the user must deliberately and consciously elect a No or Yes to remove the prompt.

[0047] A flow chart 90 showing system logic is shown in FIG. 9. At box 92, the photoelectric sensor has detected product traversing the transition zone from the product loading platform to the broiler conveyor. The sensor sends a signal to the motor board 94, which transfers the signal to the main board 96. The main board, in turn, sends a “product sensed” signal to the user interface 98, and the user interface controller starts the countdown timer which equals the recipe time plus some predetermined and preprogrammed additional number of seconds 100. Each time the sensor system detects product passing from a feed belt to a cook belt, the system is “tripped” and the timer is reset, such that steps at boxes 94-100 repeat 102.

[0048] If during the cook operation the user attempts to change the recipe (i.e., broiler operation), and if the timer countdown is greater than zero seconds, the user interface prompts the user with a prompt reading: “Are you sure you want to change the recipe?” 104 This invites a deliberate and conscious cancellation of the action initiated, or, alternatively, a manual override of the recipe then being executed. If the operator selects YES and does, in fact, change the recipe, the timer sets to zero and the recipe is changed, and the process resumes at step (a) box 92. If the operator responds by pressing NO, the countdown timer simply resumes 108 and the process continues to the next step, which allows the timer to run down to zero, at which point it sends a signal to output an alarm of some kind to indicate to the user that cooking is completed.

[0049] In whatever way the UI display is specifically configured and whatever the particular content of the user prompt may be, in an essential aspect the system prevents the user from carelessly making changes to cook belt speed or cook temperature by requiring that the user apprehend and appreciate when food product is cooking. Changes can be made only through deliberate responses to informative cues to override default cooking parameters.

[0050] Thus, it will be appreciated that in its most essential aspect, the broiler system of the present invention includes a food product loading platform having a loading platform with at least one motorized feed belt for conveying uncooked food product to and into a broiler; a broiler or an oven or a combination thereof, including an inlet end with a food product inlet through which uncooked food product is received from the feed belts, the broiler/oven including a cooking chamber, a discharge end having a food product outlet for discharging cooked food product, at least one motorized cook belt for conveying food through the broiler from the inlet end to the discharge end, and heating elements for heating and cooking food products in the cooking chamber, wherein the at least one feed belt is spaced apart from the at least one cook belt to define a transition zone; a cook controller operatively coupled to the broiler/oven and controlling cooking parameters, including temperature and cooking time, the cook controller having a user interface; and a photoelectric sensor system having operative elements disposed at the sides of the transition zone, the operative elements including a light emitter positioned and configured to emit a beam of light laterally across all or a portion of the transition zone at or slightly above an upper level of the at least one feed belt and the at least one cook belt on which food product is transported, and a light receiver positioned at the same level, the light receiver positioned and configured such that food product passing through the transition zone reflects a portion of the light beam back to the receiver, and when the light receiver receives reflected light from food product passing through the beam of light emitted by the light emitter, the photoelectric sensor system sends a signal to the cook controller to start a timer and lock in the recipe for the product being cooked, wherein when a user attempts to change a recipe during cooking, the controller displays a prompt through the user interface requiring the user to confirm his or her wish to change the recipe.

[0051] The above-described system effectively and entirely prevents inadvertent recipe changes during the cooking of any product, and thus prevents product being over-cooked or undercooked due to inadvertent changes in the predetermined cook time.

[0052] The foregoing disclosure is sufficient to enable those with skill in the relevant art to practice the invention without undue experimentation. The disclosure further provides the best mode of practicing the invention now contemplated by the inventor.

[0053] While embodiments of the automated broiler and method herein shown and disclosed in detail are fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages stated herein, it is to be understood that the embodiments are merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended as to the detail of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims. Accordingly, the proper scope of the present invention should be determined only by the broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all such modifications as well as all relationships equivalent to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification.