MEASURING SYSTEM FOR FOODSTUFFS

Abstract

A measuring system for automatically determining and/or monitoring the quality of a liquid or viscous foodstuff, including a housing with an interior space for a product container for the foodstuff, the product container has a product space for the foodstuff and a lid provided with a probe with a thermometer, a heating and cooling device for the interior space, a sensor device for determining a non-temperature quality-related parameter value of the foodstuff, and a control unit designed to control the measuring system, measure, store, process and/or export the measured parameter values, and to control the heating and/or the cooling system according to a desired time-temperature program. The cooling system includes a cold buffer, a cooler for the cold buffer, and a separate refrigerant circuit. The cold buffer includes a buffer holder with a phase-transition material, wherein the refrigerant circuit includes a cooling circuit with a pump.

Claims

1. A measuring system for automatically determining and/or monitoring a quality of a liquid or viscous foodstuff, comprising: a housing with an interior space for at least one product container for the foodstuff, the product container having a product space for the foodstuff, and a lid with a probe having a thermometer which projects into the product space, a heating system for heating the interior space and a cooling system for cooling the interior space, a sensor device for determining a non-temperature quality-related parameter value of the foodstuff and a control unit which is operatively connected to the heating system and cooling system, the thermometer, and the sensor device, and is configured to: control the measuring system, repeatedly measure the quality-related parameter value by means of the sensor device, store, process and/or export the measured quality-related parameter values, and control the heating system and/or the cooling system according to a desired time-temperature program for the interior space, wherein the cooling system comprises a cold buffer, a cooler for the cold buffer, and a separate refrigerant circuit, wherein the cold buffer comprises a buffer holder with a phase-transition material, and wherein the refrigerant circuit comprises a closed-circuit line which is filled with a liquid refrigerant and is in heat-exchanging contact with the interior space and with the cold buffer, as well as a pump for pumping the refrigerant around.

2. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the cooling system said cooler comprises a Peltier heat pump which is configured to cool the buffer holder with phase-transition material.

3. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the time-temperature program comprises the control unit bringing the interior space to a temperature by means of the heating and cooling systems during a desired time period.

4. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the pump to make the refrigerant flow past the buffer holder and subsequently past the interior space with the product container.

5. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the buffer holder comprises a heat-conducting foam, which is at least partly filled with the phase change material.

6. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the phase change material has a phase transition temperature below 0° C.

7. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor device comprises at least one of the following: a camera placed under the product container and directed upwards towards the product container, wherein the product container is at least partly transparent or open, a viscosity-measuring device for measuring the viscosity of the foodstuff, a measuring device for measuring electrical properties of the foodstuff, and an optical measuring device for measuring a transmission, a diffusion and/or a reflection value of said foodstuff.

8. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the measuring system comprises a plurality of housings, each provided with a container for the liquid or viscous foodstuff, wherein the plurality of housings are mechanically and electrically couplable to each other.

9. The measuring system according to claim 7, wherein measuring device for measuring electrical properties of the foodstuff measures the conductivity of the foodstuff.

10. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the time-temperature program comprises the control unit bringing the interior space to a time dependent temperature by means of the heating and cooling systems during a desired time period.

11. The measuring system according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the pump to make the refrigerant flow past the buffer holder and subsequently through the interior space with the product container.

12. The measuring system according to claim 5, wherein the heat-conducting foam is a metal foam.

13. The measuring system according to claim 12, wherein the metal foam is an aluminum foam.

Description

[0024] The invention will be explained below in more detail by means of one or more exemplary embodiments and the drawing. In the latter, the sole FIGURE diagrammatically shows a sectional view of a measuring system according to the invention.

[0025] The FIGURE diagrammatically shows a sectional view of a measuring system 1 according to the invention. The measuring system 1 comprises a housing 2 with an interior space 3 and which contains one product container 4 as well as a lid 5.

[0026] Furthermore, a cooling device is denoted by reference numeral 6, which comprises a storage container 7 for refrigerant 8, a pump 9, a pipe system 10, a cold buffer 11 with a phase change material 12, a Peltier cooler 13, a heatsink 14, a ventilation space 15 and a fan 16. Insulating material 17 and 18, respectively, is provided in the housing 2 and the lid 5, respectively.

[0027] The product container 4 comprises a cup 19 and a container lid 20 with a probe 21 with a thermometer 22. A magnetic body is denoted by reference numeral 23. Furthermore, a sensor sphere 24 surrounds optical sensors 25 and is provided with contacts 26. Electromagnetic coils 27 surround a carrier 28 with sensors 29. The lid 5 is provided with countercontacts 30 to electronics 31.

[0028] Cameras 32 are connected to respective camera control units 33, Optionally, a plurality of LEDs are arranged around the camera and above them a a protective glass 35 is placed. Finally, reference numeral 36 denotes a connection to the outside and reference numeral 37 denotes a control unit for the system 1.

[0029] The illustrated system 1 comprises a housing 2 and lid 5 of, for example, metal or plastic, which surround an interior space 3 which is insulated with insulating material 17 and 18, A plurality of product containers 4 may be placed in the interior space 3, in the illustrated example three, of which only one is shown for the sake of clarity.

[0030] By means of the cooling system 6, the interior space 3 may be brought to a desired temperature by the control unit 37. It should be stressed here that the cooling system 6 is additionally provided with a heating device (not shown here), such as electrical heating wires or the like. These can bring the interior space to a higher desired temperature in a manner which is known per se. Subsequently, after some desired time period, the control unit 37 may actuate the cooling part, that is to say the cooling system 6, to bring the interior space 3 to a desired lower temperature. To this end, the cooling system 6 comprises a storage container 7 with a refrigerant 8, such as glycol, which serves to transfer heat. To this end, a pump 9 pumps the refrigerant 8 through a, for example spiral-shaped, pipe system 10 around the interior space 3. In this case, the refrigerant 8 may dissipate its heat to the phase change material (PCM) 12 in the cold buffer 11. The PCM 12 may simply be water/ice, wherein the heat absorbed from the refrigerant 8 makes ice melt to form water, but advantageously, the PCM may also be a different material. A particular drawback of water is the fact that it expands when it solidifies, and that the melting point is at 0° C., or below if additives were added. However, numerous other PCMs are available which do not have these drawbacks and which have phase transitions which are, for example, at a temperature between 5 and 40° C. For example, the interior space may be heated first to a pasteurisation temperature, such as 72° C., or also a sterilisation temperature, such as around 130° C., important other temperatures are use temperatures to which foodstuffs may be exposed, such as heating up to 30 to 40° C. on a loading platform in the sun or on the table of a consumer, and then back to a cooling temperature of 4-6° C. It is also possible to measure how the properties of the foodstuff change over time at one and the same temperature, such as 6, 8 or 10° C. In this case, it is very important that any changes can be stopped in all cases, at least be prevented as much as possible, when a certain desired temperature regime has been completed. To this end, it is important that the foodstuff can be cooled quickly to in particular a desired end temperature, such as a temperature at which no (significant) further change occurs, in particular with regard to sugars and/or bacterial growth. Therefore, an active cooling system is desired. Should the case arise, the thermometer 22 measures the temperature of the foodstuff in the product container 4, with which signal the control unit 37 can actuate the cooling system 6 and or the heating system.

[0031] For this active cooling system, a refrigerant is thus pumped around in the cooling circuit with pipe system 10 by means of the pump 9. The PCM 12 in the cold buffer 11 is itself cooled by means of any known cooling device, such as a heat pump or a Joule-Thomson cooling system. However, it is advantageous to choose a compact cooling system, because space is limited or may be expensive, in particular in a laboratory. In addition, moving parts are not always desired. For this reason, a Peltier cooling system 13 is advantageous, as it is compact and does not contain moving parts itself. However, in this case a fan 16 is provided which guides air past a heatsink 14 via a ventilation space 15, so that the heat can be dissipated from the system 1 in an efficient manner.

[0032] At the bottom of the interior space 3, in the bottom thereof, cameras 32 are arranged which have an upwardly directed image field and thus form an image of the underside of their respective product container 4. However, to this end, the latter has to be made either from a transparent material, such as glass or polycarbonate, or also be flexible, such as PE film, or have a transparent window. The associated control and/or processing electronics may be provided under the insulation 17, so that it is protected against the changing and sometimes extreme temperatures. Using the camera, it is possible to produce an image of the foodstuff in the product container 4. In particular, it is thus possible to observe changes in the color and/or deposits, which may be important to monitor and measure the quality overall, or certain product properties in particular, as a function of temperature and/or time.

[0033] Optionally, a light source is provided to support the operation of the camera 32, in this case in the form of a plurality of LEDs 34. The LEDs may emit light of the same or different colors and, as they are provided around the camera, they can use the same electronics platform. The LEDs 34 can emit light into the product in the product container 19 via the protective glass 35, which is made, for example, from borosilicate glass, fused glass or another translucent and preferably chemical-, temperature- and scratch-resistant material. Emitted light which has subsequently been reflected by the product can be detected by the camera 32 and then be analysed by the control unit 37, or can be transmitted externally for further processing via the connection 36. It is also still possible to provide still other sensors (not shown here) in addition to the camera 32, such as InGaAs or Si sensors, which offer better sensitivity in, for example, the (N)IR range than most cameras 32.

[0034] Another possibility is to provide a light source on the probe 21 or also, for example, in the lid 20 of the product container 4, There, light conductors, such as optical fibers, may be provided in the sensor sphere 24, where the emitted light may be injected, and the probe 21 may be inserted, Reflected light or diffused light can then also be collected by one or more light conductors in the probe and sent to the sensor sphere 24, where sensors 25 can measure the light in order to thus obtain additional information about color and, for example, transparency. A portion of the light will be reflected and a portion will be transmitted, so that the respective coefficients for the foodstuff can be determined by the control unit therefrom.

[0035] Furthermore, a viscosity-measuring device is also provided to measure the viscosity and changes therein of the foodstuff in the respective product container 4. The viscosity-measuring device comprises a series of coils 27 which are arranged around the product container 4, as well as a series of Hall sensors 29 on a carrier 28 and a magnetic body 23 around the probe 22. This is in itself similar to the known “falling ball” measurement. The control unit 37 energises the individual coils 27 in a suitable pattern. The magnetic body 23 is attracted by respective magnetic fields of the individual coils 27 and possible even, after polarity reversal, repelled, as a result of which it moves and moves, for example, upwards. When it has arrived in the upper part of the product container 4, for example, all coils which are still energised are switched off, after which the body 23 will start to drop. When it moves past the Hall sensors 29, these will emit a position-dependent signal which can be processed by the control unit 37 to a drop position as a function of time and thus as a measuring system for the speed, and therefrom the viscosity of the foodstuff in the product container. If the viscosity is very high, as is the case with emulsions, yoghurts, etc., then the viscosity may also be determined from the speed which the body 23 may reach on account of the fields of the coils 27. An important additional advantage of the described magnetic system is the fact that this can also be used to mix the foodstuff in the product container 4, in particular by repeatedly and/or quickly moving the magnetic body up and down. This mixing makes it possible, for example, to cancel sedimentation as much as possible, and to then measure the product properties. Consumers often do something similar with the respective product, such as “shake well before use”.

[0036] In the exemplary embodiment described so far, one product container 4 is provided and illustrated in the interior space 3, In practice, associated coils 27, a carrier 28 with Hall sensors 29, a camera 32, etc., only some of which are shown here for the sake of clarity, will in each case be provided for each available location for a product container in the interior space 3, of which three are shown here. Also, different numbers of available locations may be provided, such as two, four, five, etc.

[0037] In use, one or more product containers 4 are filled with a foodstuff to be measured, for example with different recipes or also the same, for redundant measurements. Subsequently, the lid 5 of the system 1 is closed. As a result thereof, the insulation 17 and 18 around the interior space 3 with the product container(s) 4 seals. This also protects the electronics 31 against temperature variations. In addition, it is also possible to provide the sensors 25 in the sensor sphere 24 with insulation. At the same time, the countercontacts 30 in the lid make contact with the contacts 26 on the lid 20 of the product container, so that the electronics 31 can ensure control of the optional sensors 25, the thermometer 22, etc. Furthermore, it is possible to design the contacts 26 and/or the electronics of the product container situated behind them in such a way that the electronics 31, or the control unit 37 which is operatively connected thereto, is able to recognise the product container and, if desired, its contents. This further reduces the risk of errors by human operators.

[0038] Furthermore, a desired time-temperature profile is input into the control unit 37 by a user, such as via the connection 36, which may obviously also be designed as a wireless connection (Bluetooth® or the like) or a USB connection, SD card or even via the lid 5 provided on the product container 4, etc. The control unit 37 will subsequently actuate the heating and/or the cooling system 6, under the control of the temperature measured by the thermometer 22, in order to set the desired profile. At certain times, random or regular, the control unit 37 will cause the one or more sensors 22, 25, 29, 32 to perform one or more measurements. The measured data which are thus collected may be stored by the control unit for future use. They may also be sent to an external data storage or data processing facility via the connection 36. They may also be processed by the control unit 37, for example in order to monitor if one or more product parameters fall outside a desired range. In this case, examples thereof may be checking the color of the product or the transparency/deposits by means of the camera 32 or the viscosity. Should the value be outside a desired range, the control unit can emit an alarm signal, again for example via the connection 36. If desired, the remaining part of the time-temperature profile may be cancelled. Alternatively, it is possible to determine how long it took before the value moved outside the desired range for the foodstuff in the respective product container 4. This makes it possible, for example, to determine a shelf life.

[0039] The illustrated embodiment is by no means intended to be limiting for the invention, but only serves to explain it. The scope of protection of the invention is determined by the attached claims.