WAREWASH RACK SYSTEM AND WAREWASHER WITH ASSOCIATED WAREWASH RACK SYSTEM

Abstract

A ware rack system for holding lightweight wares during cleaning in a warewash machine includes a lower ware rack including a bottom wall, upright side walls and a plurality of pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein a multiplicity of the pegs are tall pegs that have upper ends that are located higher than upper edges of the upright side walls. An upper ware rack may be placed inverted atop the lower ware rack to capture lightweight wares between the upper ends of the tall pegs and the bottom wall of the upper ware rack. A method of modifying a ware rack is also provided.

Claims

1. A ware rack system for holding lightweight wares during cleaning in a warewash machine, comprising: a lower ware rack including a bottom wall, upright side walls and a plurality of pegs extending upward from the bottom wall, wherein a multiplicity of the pegs are tall pegs that have upper ends that are located higher than upper edges of the upright side walls.

2. The ware rack system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the pegs are short pegs having upper ends that are located lower than upper edges of the upright side walls, wherein the lower rack comprises a first rack unit and a second rack unit, the first rack unit engaged within the second rack unit, wherein the second rack unit defines the bottom wall, the upright side wall and the short pegs, and the first rack unit defines the tall pegs.

3. The ware rack system of claim 2, wherein the first rack unit is of wire form construction.

4. The ware rack system of claim 3, wherein the second rack unit is of plastic construction, and the first rack unit is removably seated in the second rack unit.

5. The ware rack system of claim 3, wherein each tall peg is defined by an inverted U-shaped wire rod portion.

6. A method of modifying a ware rack that includes a bottom wall and upright side walls, the method comprising: utilizing a wire form rack unit that includes a wire rod base portion and a plurality of upwardly extending wire rod peg portions; placing the wire form rack unit into the ware rack such that the plurality of upwardly extending wire rod peg portions have upper ends that are located higher than upper edges of the upright side walls.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, after the placing, the base portion seats against the bottom wall.

8. The method of claim 8, wherein the ware rack includes a plurality of upwardly extending pegs and, after the placing, each upwardly extending wire rod peg portion overlies a respective one of the upwardly extending pegs.

9. The method of claim 9, wherein, after the placing, at least some of the upwardly extending pegs of the ware rack do not include any overlying wire rod peg portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] FIGS. 1-2 show an exemplary warewash machine;

[0034] FIGS. 3-12 show an exemplary ware rack system for lightweight wares;

[0035] FIGS. 13-16 shows another lower ware rack configuration for use in the ware system; and

[0036] FIGS. 17-20 show another lower rack configuration for use in the ware system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] Referring to FIGS. 1-2, a warewash machine 10 includes a housing 12 (e.g., with support frame and panels) in part defining a treatment chamber 14 with a wash zone 16. The chamber 14 includes front 18, left 20 and right 22 access openings through which wares can be moved in and out of the chamber for cleaning. One or more upper and/or lower spray arms (e.g., wash arm(s) 23a and rinse arm(s) 23b having respective wash nozzles and rinse nozzles) are disposed above and/or below the wash zone. The spray arms are configured to spray liquid toward the wash zone 16. In a typical machine, both wash spray arms 23a and rinse spray arms 23b may be provided, with the wash spray arms fed by a pump that recirculates liquid from a collection sump or tank 26 below the wash zone, and the rinse spray arms fed by a pump (or line pressure) that delivers hot water from a hot water booster 98. The arms may, for example, be rotating arms and/or fixed arms.

[0038] A multi-sided hood assembly 30 includes movable front 32, left 36 and right 38 wall sections (e.g., forming a box-like hood structure that is open at the bottom) and the hood assembly may or may not have a moving top wall section and back wall section. The wall sections move together as a unit, such that the multi-sided hood assembly is movable (per arrow 42) between a lowered closed position for washing and a raised open position (e.g., per FIG. 1) for inlet and outlet of wares. When the multi-sided hood assembly is in the closed position, the hood assembly closes the front 18, left 20 and right 22 access openings so that cleaning sprays within the chamber will be contained during ware cleaning. When the multi-sided hood assembly is in the open position, the front 18, left 20 and right 22 access openings are open to permit access to the wash zone for inlet and egress of wares. A pivot handle 44 may be provided to facilitate operator movement of the hood assembly 30.

[0039] A stationary chamber rear wall 50 is disposed at the back or rear side of the treatment chamber and, in embodiments in which the hood assembly includes a rear wall section, the wall 50 is at least partly behind the hood rear wall section when the hood is closed.

[0040] A rack track 90 is removably supported at a lower portion of the treatment chamber in a substantially horizontal use orientation by support structure located at both the front and rear of the treatment chamber. By way of example, the support structure may be various internal housing surfaces and/or brackets. The illustrated rack track 90 is of a metal bar or wire form configuration, with upper bar sections aligned to define a rack support surface or rack support plane for a rack containing wares to be cleaned (e.g., dishes, glasses, pots and/or pans etc.). A rear rack slide rail 80 and a forward rack slide rail 82 are shown here, in positions raised relative to the rack support plane, for guiding the sliding movement of a rack from, for example, into the treatment chamber via the left side access opening 20 for cleaning, and then out of the treatment chamber via the right side access opening 22 after ware cleaning.

[0041] Referring to FIGS. 3-12, a ware rack system for use with lightweight wares is shown and includes a lower ware rack 105 with bottom wall 110 and upright side walls 112. A plurality of pegs 114 extend upward from the bottom wall 110, and at least some of the pegs 114 are tall pegs 114a that extend upward to place the upper ends of the pegs higher than the upper edges 112a of the side walls 112. Here, some of the pegs 114 are short pegs 114b that do not have upper ends that are lower than the upper edges 112a of the sidewalls.

[0042] In embodiments, the ware rack system also includes an upper ware rack 107 that can be positioned in an inverted orientation over the lower ware rack 105, such that the bottom wall 120 of the upper ware rack is at the top, and the side walls 122 extend downwardly toward the side walls 112 of the lower ware rack. The side walls 122 rest on the side walls 112, such that the combined lower and upper ware racks form an enclosure within which lightweight wares are placed for cleaning within a warewash machine (e.g., machine 10), with the lattice structure of both racks enabling cleaning liquids to be sprayed onto the wares within the enclosure.

[0043] Here, upper ware rack 107 is a flat rack, such that the bottom wall 120 of the upper ware rack does not have ware holding/positioning projections. The pegs 114a of the lower rack 105 are sized such that a relatively small gap 130 (e.g., gap dimension of less than 1, gap dimension between and , or gap dimension between and ) is provided between the upper ends of the pegs and the main support plane 120a defined by the bottom wall of the upper ware rack 107. This gap 130 is advantageously used to help stabilize the lightweight wares during cleaning. Specifically, some portion of the wares (e.g., the bottom wall 150 of an inverted plastic cup 152 or other type of open-top container (e.g., a French fry box)) are positioned over the peg 114, such that, when the upper ware rack 107 is positioned atop the lower ware rack 105, the portion of the ware is effectively loosely trapped between the upper end of the peg 114 and the bottom wall 120 of the upper ware rack, with only a small amount of vertical movement of the portion of the ware permitted, which in turn limits the movement of the ware itself that can or will take place during cleaning (e.g., a plastic cup or container cannot be flipped upside down or out of the rack system to the liquid sprays of cleaning).

[0044] The two ware rack system enclosure with tall pegs also helps stabilize wares even when some portion of the wares are not placed within the gap 130, because the overall resulting structure still creates limited opportunity for wares to move around. Thus, the system is suited for different size cups and other containers (e.g., fry boxes), and can also be used with other lightweight ware types, such as clam shell packages 153, laying between the rows, all in the same rack system at the same time for simultaneous cleaning.

[0045] In one embodiment, the pegs 114 are integrally formed with the rest of the lower ware rack 105 (e.g., molded together as a plastic monolithic structure), per FIG. 6. In the illustrated embodiment, all tall pegs 114a are substantially the same height. In alternative embodiments, two or more different peg heights may be provided, where both peg heights are above the upper edges of the side walls of the lower rare rack. In the illustrated embodiment, the downwardly facing edges of the upper ware rack side walls 122 rest atop the upwardly facing edges of the side walls 112 of the lower ware rack, and provides sufficient stability for the cleaning operation. In other embodiments, alignment features may be provided for the ware racks (e.g., projections at the edges of the side walls 112 fit into openings on the edges of the side walls 122). Attachment/alignment components may also be used (e.g., alignment pins engaged within openings of both sets of side walls). In the illustrated embodiment, the pegs 114a are tapered, with smaller dimension at the top. In other embodiments, the pegs could lack a taper, or other peg shapes could be provided.

[0046] Here, the tall pegs 114a and the short pegs 114a are arranged in an array defined by a plurality of rows and columns, wherein each row is defined by an alternating sequence of tall pegs and short pegs, and wherein each column is also defined by an alternating sequence of tall pegs and short pegs. However, variations are possible.

[0047] In another embodiment, per FIGS. 13-16, the pegs 114a are add-on components (e.g., of plastic) that are removably attached to the standard, lower height pegs 114b114b of a more standard ware rack. In such case, the pegs 114a define a tubular structure, which may or may not be tapered, with the inner side of the pegs frictionally engaging and held onto the pegs 114b. The pegs 114a may also include inward projecting features 114a (e.g., threads or other) that help to grip and hold the pegs 114a onto the pegs 114b. Fasteners or clip-latch features may also be provided for attachment of the pegs 114a to pegs 114b. In other embodiments, the pegs 114a may be adhered to pegs 114b by glues, a melt welds or friction pins.

[0048] In some embodiments, a corresponding peg 114a is attached to each peg 114b of a standard peg type ware rack. In other embodiments, a corresponding peg 114a is attached to only some of the pegs 114b (e.g., every other peg in a peg row).

[0049] When formed separately and attached, the tall pegs 114a can be include an internal shape and configuration that matches the external shape and configuration of the rack pegs 114b for engagement therewith (e.g., where the rack pegs 114b have a cross-shape profile in axial end view, the internal cavity of each of the pegs 114a could be of corresponding shape). However, the tall pegs 114a could have an internal shape and configuration that is different than the external shape and configuration of the rack pegs 114b.

[0050] In one implementation in which the tall pegs 114a are separate structures that connect to the shorter rack pegs 114b, thermal properties of the respective pegs 114a and 114b are utilized in the attachment process of the tall pegs 114a. In particular, while the rack 105 and the tall pegs 114a are both cool (e.g., at or near ambient room temperature), the tall pegs 114a are loosely assembled down onto specific shorter rack pegs 114b in an arrangement as desired for a given use. This step should typically be done outside of the warewash machine. The tall pegs 114a mate with the shorter pegs 114b with a snug fit that prevents the tall pegs 114a from being easily pressed all the way down onto the shorter pegs 114b. The rack 105 with pegs is then placed into the warewash machine and one or more machine cycles are run so as to heat up both the rack 105 and the pegs 114. While the rack 105 and the pegs 114 are still hot from the machine cycle(s), the tall pegs 114a are then forced down further onto the rack pegs 114b until the pegs 114a bottom out. This forcing step could be manual by hand force or could involve, for example, use of a tool, such as a rubber mallet. Because the tall pegs 114a are not solid, the tall pegs 114a expand more than the solid rack pegs 114b. This facilitates the completion of assembly of the tall pegs 114a onto the rack pegs 114b and creates a snug fit when the respective parts cool. A reverse sequence of this process can be used to remove the tall pegs 114a from the shorter pegs 114b (e.g., remove the tall pegs 114a after the rack 105 and pegs have been heated by one or more machine cycles).

[0051] Referring now to FIGS. 17-20, an alternative embodiment of a lower rack 205 is shown in which a wire form unit 205a is configured to sit down within a standard rack unit 205b of plastic, where the short pegs 214b are formed as integral parts of the rack unit 205b and the tall pegs 214a are formed by upward extensions of the wire form unit 205a. The wire form unit 205a is formed by a rectangular wire rod base portion 205a1 with a series of diagonally running wire rod portions 205a2 that are welded to the wire rod base portion 205a1. The wire rod base portion 205a1 seats against the bottom wall 210 of the rack unit 205b. Here, the tall pegs 214a are formed by inverted U-shaped bend segments 207 of the wire rod portions 205a2. The apexes of the inverted U-shaped bend segments 207 overly short pegs 214b. Here, the wire form unit 205a is configured such that the inverted U-shaped bend segments 207 overlie the short pegs 214b of every other diagonal row of short pegs 214b. This lower rack 205 embodiment provides an advantage of ease of conversion of a standard rack unit 205b into a rack with tall pegs, by simply seating the wire form unit 205a into the standard rack unit 205b, as well as a reverse operation that enables the use of the standard rack unit 205b in a typical manner (without tall pegs). The lower rack 205 is contemplated for use with an upper rack to capture plastic wares therebetween, as described above. Although FIGS. 19 and 20 depict the sidewalls and bottom wall of the rack unit 205b as being solid wall, it is contemplated that such walls would be of lattice or other configuration to allow passage of liquids therethrough.

[0052] It is to be clearly understood that the above description is intended by way of illustration and example only, is not intended to be taken by way of limitation, and that other changes and modifications are possible.