UNIT FOR TREATING USED FOOD PACKAGES

Abstract

The present disclosure concerns units for treating used food packages, more specifically for separation and compactization of used capsules containing edible ingredients residues, such that the units are configured to receive and compact a stack of used food packages, as well as separate food substance residues from the packages during such compaction.

Claims

1. A unit for treating used food packages, comprising a container having a longitudinal axis and dimensioned to receive one or more used stackable food packages, the container having a top chamber, dimensioned to receive a stack of said food packages, a bottom chamber integrable with the top chamber, and configured to receive food residues, and a perforated element, separating between the top chamber and the bottom chamber, configured to permit said food residues to pass therethrough from the food packages stacked in the top chamber to the bottom chamber; a piston configured with a substantially horizontal, heatable plate, the piston being axially displaceable within the top chamber between an extended position, in which the plate comes into contact with a topmost food package of the stack, and a retracted position in which the plate does not contact said topmost food package of the stack, the piston being configured to apply pressure onto said stack when in the extended position, and the heatable plate being configured to heat at least a portion of a topmost food package in said stack when in the extended state, thereby adhering said topmost food package to a next-in-line food package in said stack to obtain a compacted stack of said used food packages.

2. The unit of claim 1, wherein the bottom chamber is integral with the top chamber.

3. The unit of claim 1, wherein the perforated element is a substantially horizontal, perforated wall.

4. The unit of claim 1, wherein said bottom chamber is configured with a cooling arrangement.

5. The unit of claim 1, wherein said top chamber is configured with a cooling and/or heating arrangement.

6. The unit of claim 1, wherein the top chamber is configured to receive a user-removable liner.

7. The unit of claim 6, wherein said liner is a flexible bag, having at least a bottom portion thereof being permeable to said food residues.

8. The unit of claim 1, wherein sidewalls of the top chamber and/or bottom chamber are configured with one or more absorbing materials.

9. (canceled)

10. The unit of claim 1, wherein said heatable plate is heatable to a temperature of between about 150 and about 350 C.

11. The unit of claim 1, wherein said perforated element is user-removable to permit access to said bottom chamber.

12. The unit of claim 1, wherein said bottom chamber is configured with one or more sealable draining openings to permit draining of said food residues.

13. The unit of claim 1, wherein the top chamber is configured with a reclosable opening in a sidewall thereof to permit extraction of the stack.

14. The unit of claim 1, wherein said top chamber is dimensioned to receive a plurality of stackable used capsules.

15. The unit of claim 14, wherein the top chamber has an internal diameter which is larger by no more than 15% of an external diameter of said capsule.

16. The unit of claim 1, wherein the piston further has an extracted position, in which the piston is extracted from the top chamber to permit user-access thereto.

17. The unit of claim 1, wherein the piston further has a compaction position, lower than the extended position along the longitudinal axis of the container, to permit further compactization and/or flattening of the stack of packages.

18. The unit of claim 1, wherein the piston comprises one or more rupturing or puncturing elements, configured to form one or more punctures or ruptures in the used package when the piston is at its extended position.

19. The unit of claim 1, further comprising a separation module operational to separate between a body of the used food package and a rim thereof that carries a lid of the used food package.

20. The unit of claim 19, wherein the separation module is associated with the piston, such that operation of the piston operates the separation module.

21. The appliance utilizing a food package for preparing a food product, the appliance comprising a unit according to claim 1, configured for treating the food packages after utilization of the food packages.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] In order to better understand the subject matter that is disclosed herein and to exemplify how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0056] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a longitudinal cross-section through a unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, with the piston in a retracted position.

[0057] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the unit of FIG. 1, with the piston in an extended position.

[0058] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of the unit of FIG. 1, with the piston at a compactization position.

[0059] FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the unit of FIG. 1, with the piston in an extracted position, permitting user-access to the top chamber.

[0060] FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the unit of FIG. 1, with a piston that includes puncturing elements.

[0061] FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of the unit of FIG. 1, with a user-replaceable liner lining the walls of the top chamber.

[0062] FIGS. 7A-7D are schematic representations of a separation module, associated with the unit of FIG. 1, at a piston extended position and a piston retracted position (FIGS. 6A and 6C, respectively); and top views of the blade elements at their non-operative and operative positions (FIGS. 6B and 6D, respectively).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0063] An exemplary unit according to this disclosure is shown in FIGS. 1-4. Unit 100 comprises a container 102, which is composed of top chamber 104 and bottom chamber 106. In this specific example, the top and bottom chamber are integral with one another. However, it is to be understood that the chambers can also be integrable with one another, i.e. configured to be detachably attachable one to the other in order to obtain container 102.

[0064] Separating between top chamber 104 and bottom chamber 106 is a perforated element 108, which can be a substantially horizontal, perforated wall, that permits passage of food residues therethrough towards the bottom chamber 106. Perforated element 108 can be user-removable in order to permit access to the bottom chamber for cleaning thereof. In addition, or alternatively, bottom chamber 106 can have one or more scalable draining outlets (not shown) to permit draining of the bottom chamber.

[0065] Top chamber 104 is dimensioned to receive a stack of used food packages, generally designated 110. The used food packages can be typically inserted by a user one after the other into the top chamber via top opening 112 of chamber 102 when piston 114 is at an extracted position (i.e. a position in which the piston 114 is completely out of the container, as seen in FIG. 4). Alternatively, used food packages can be inserted into the top chamber via reclosable opening (e.g. a door) 116 defined in a sidewall of the top chamber 104.

[0066] The top chamber 104 accommodates piston 114, that comprises a substantially horizontal, heatable plate 118. The piston is axially displaceable (along longitudinal axis 120) within the top chamber 104 between a retracted position in which plate 118 does not contact said topmost food package 110B of the stack 110 (as seen in FIG. 1), and an extended position (shown in FIG. 2), in which the plate 118 comes into contact with a topmost food package of the stack 110B. Piston 114 is configured to apply pressure onto stack 110 when in the extended position in order to compact the stack to reduce its volume, while also assisting in extracting the food residues from the food packages to permit these to trickle through perforated element 108 towards bottom chamber 106, in which these accumulate. Heatable plate 118 is configured to heat at least a portion of the topmost food package 110B in the stack when the piston 114 is in the extended state, thereby adhering topmost food package 110B to a next-in-line food package 110A (previously inserted by the user into the top chamber 104), thereby obtaining compaction of stack 110 (as can best be seen in FIG. 2).

[0067] Further compactization can be obtained by further axial displacement of piston 114 from the extended position to the compactization position, shown in FIG. 3, in which further pressure and heating allow for further deformation of the stack into a substantially flat, compact form. Further, in addition to the gravitational separation of the food residues from the packages during compaction, heating can be carried out to permit at least partial decomposition or burning of at least part of the food residues (as these are organic materials), thereby resulting in compacted stack containing a reduced content of food residues. Such a compacted stack can then be utilized, without further cleaning, in various recycling process

[0068] During operation, a user inserts a first used package 110A (for example a used capsule or pod) into top chamber 104, with the capsule opening facing perforated wall 108, thereby allowing food residues to gravitationally trickle from the capsule 110A, through the perforated element 108, and into bottom chamber 106. A user can then selectively operate the piston to at least partially compact capsule 110A, however such is not mandatory. Upon insertion of a second, subsequent capsule 110B into the top chamber 104, the capsules are stacked one over the other, and preferably at least partially nested one within the other. The piston 114 is then displaced from the retracted position to its extended position, to apply pressure onto capsule 110B, while also applying heating by the heatable plate 118. The applied pressure deforms the capsules, while the heating adheres/welds a portion of capsule 110B to the next-in-line capsule 110A, to result in a compact and solid stack. In case further compactization is desired the piston 114 is further displaced into the compactization position (as seen in FIG. 3), to further deform and compact the stack.

[0069] The piston can be configured with one or more rupturing or puncturing elements 117 (FIG. 5), such as spikes, blades, needles, etc., that are configured to form one or more punctures or ruptures in the used package prior to or during compaction by the piston. In other words, during the piston's displacement from the retracted position to the extended position, the one or more rupturing or puncturing elements 117 form punctures or ruptures in the used package, thereby assisting food residues to drain from the used packages towards the bottom chamber during application of pressure. Such punctures can also function as weakening locations, assisting in deformation and compaction of the used packages.

[0070] Top chamber 104 can be dimensioned to receive a plurality of stackable used capsules in a manner that will permit directional insertion of the packages therein. For example, top chamber 104 can have an internal diameter d which is larger by no more than 15% of an external diameter D of the packages (as seen in FIG. 4), thereby enabling only packages of a defined size to be insertable into the top chamber. Further, the similarity between the internal diameter of the top chamber and the external diameter of the packages ensures that the capsules can be inserted into the top chamber at a defined directionality, assisting in their proper stacking and compactization, while minimizing the overall volume of the unit.

[0071] As noted, the bottom chamber is designed to accumulate food residues. As such food residues are prone to fermentation or partial decomposition, it may be desired to delay such processes in between cleaning operations. Therefore, the bottom chamber 106 can be configured with a temperature controlling arrangement, such as cooling/heating arrangement 122, to maintain the bottom chamber under desired conditions.

[0072] Similarly, it is sometimes desired to control the temperature within the top chamber 104. Thus, top chamber 104 can be configured with a cooling and/or heating arrangement 124, to permit control over the temperature therein. Such the cooling/heating arrangement can be configured to periodically cool the sidewalls of the top chamber in order to permit condensation of moisture onto its sidewalls. Such condensation is permitted to gravitationally trickle along the sidewalls and carry with it, towards the bottom chamber, any food residues that may accumulate on the sidewalls of the top chamber. Hence, such periodic cooling functions as cleaning means of the top chamber.

[0073] Turning to FIG. 6, the top chamber 104 can be designed to receive a user-removable liner 128, that can facilitate the user with means for extraction of the stack of packages from the top chamber. The liner can, for example, be in the form of a flexible bag, having at least a bottom portion 129 that is permeable to the food residues, to permit their passage towards the bottom chamber 106.

[0074] As the unit is designed for temporarily storing used food packages, gases, decomposition products and/or malodors can develop due to fermentation and/or partial decomposition of the food residues in between emptying operations. In order to avoid such malodors, the sidewalls of the top chamber 104 and/or bottom chamber 106 can be configured with (or at least partially lined with) one or more absorbing materials 126 capable of absorbing volatile decomposition products. For example, the absorbing material can be an activated carbon replaceable cartridge, permitting replacement of the absorbing material on a period basis.

[0075] As noted, the unit can further comprise one or more indicating means (not shown) providing the user with various indications, for example the position of the piston, the temperature of the bottom and/or top chamber, the status (i.e. % filling) of the bottom and/or top chamber, a time counter providing indication when emptying of the chambers is required, etc.

[0076] Seen in FIGS. 7A-7D is a separation module designed to separate between a body of the package and a rim integral therewith that carries the lid. Such separation may be required, for example, when the body and the lid of the package are made of different materials, e.g. plastic and metal. Separation module 200 of this example has a cavity 202 for removably receiving package 110C, that has a package body 109 and a rim 111 that carries the package's lid (not shown). The cavity is dimensioned to receive the package 110C such that blade elements 204, fitted at a top portion of the cavity 202, a positioned below the rim 111. The blade elements, as best seen in FIGS. 7B and 7D, are arranged circumferentially, and defining an opening 206.

[0077] The blade elements 204 are displaceable between a non-operative position, seen in FIG. 7B, in which the blade elements are prevented from contacting the package 110C, and an operative position, seen in FIG. 7D, in which the blades are permitted to engage the package body 109 below the rim 111 to separate between the body 109 from the rim 111.

[0078] As can be seen in FIGS. 7A-7B, when the blade elements 204 are in their non-operative position, opening 206 has a first diameter OD.sub.1 that is larger than the package body's diameter BD however smaller than the rim's diameter RD; when in the operative position seen in FIGS. 7C-7D, opening 206 is reduced by the displacement of the blade elements 204 to a second diameter OD.sub.2, smaller than the package body's diameter BD. Thus, when the blade elements switch from their non-operative position to their operative position, the blade elements engage the package body and disconnect between the body and the rim.

[0079] As an also be seen in FIGS. 7A and 7C, the separation module 200 can be associated or linked to unit 100, such that displacement of the piston 114 between its extended position (FIG. 7A) and retracted position (FIG. 7C) causes displacement of the blade elements 204 between their non-operative position (FIG. 7B) and operative position (FIG. 7D), respectively.

[0080] It is to be understood that the separation module shown in FIGS. 7A-7D is exemplary, and a skilled artisan would understand that the same principle can be manifested by similar or other arrangements, all of which a contemplated to be within the scope of the present disclosure.