APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED PREPARATION OF COOKED FOOD PRODUCTS

Abstract

An apparatus for the automated preparation of cooked food products has a food container for holding the food product during preparation, a dispensing station. for controllably dispensing the food product to the food container, a cooking device designed for at least partially accommodating the food container and for heating the food product held by the container; a dumping station, to which the cooked food product is dropped from the food container and a conveyor mechanism for controllably conveying the food container between the dispensing station, the cooking device, and the dumping station.

Claims

1. An apparatus for automated preparation of cooked food products, comprising a food container for holding said food product during preparation, a dispensing station for controllably dispensing said food products to said food container, a cooking device designed for at least partially accommodating said food container and for heating said food product held by said container; a dumping station, to which the cooked food product is dropped from said food container, and a conveyor mechanism for controllably conveying said food container between said dispensing station, said cooking device, and said dumping station.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dispensing station is arranged substantially above said dumping station, wherein said cooking device is arranged laterally to said dumping station, and wherein said conveyor mechanism is arranged to convey said food container along a predefined trajectory extending in vertical and lateral direction.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said food products are frozen food products and wherein a freezer is arranged in conjunction with said dispensing station for storing said frozen food products.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dispensing station is adapted to portion said food products by weight or by a dispensing time.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said food container has a drop bottom which is adapted to automatically open and close to dispense and load said food product based on the position of said food container at said conveying mechanism.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cooking device is a deep fryer.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a control system which controls said conveyor mechanism to convey said food container to several pre-programmed positions, preferably including any or all of a loading position, a cooking position and an unloading position.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control system is adapted to defining any of basket positions, dwell times on each position, a conveyor speed, a conveyor direction, a basket shaking, a temperature of a freezer, a product dispensing time, and/or a product dispensing weight.

9. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control system is adapted to monitor product availability, and/or alarms.

10. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control system is programmed to execute a permanent loop of cooked food production while being in an active state, or a single loop upon receipt of a trigger signal.

11. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control system is adapted to control a temperature, a product volume, and/or a product availability within a freezer arranged for storing said food product.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an automatic salting mechanism arranged for salting said food product in accordance with at least one programmable parameter.

13. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dumping station comprises a dump mechanism, preferably a tiltable bowl, for dumping said food product being cooked and salted into a holding area.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveyor mechanism comprises a rotary column with a vertically movable lifting arm, pivotably connected to said rotary column, which lifting arm carries said food container.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said lifting arm comprises a gear for turning said food container to maintain an orientation of said food container when said lifting arm pivots around an axis of said rotary column.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveyor mechanism comprises a guideway with a gear rack curved along said guideway and a gear which engages with said gear rack and wherein said food container suspends from a gear link, attached to said gear.

17. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveyor mechanism comprises a curved rail, a belt tensioned in a loop along said curved rail and a motion block slidably held between hack and forth guided strands of said belt and wherein said food container suspends from said motion block.

18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said motion block sticks and moves between said back and forth guided strands of said belt by friction and/or by a ratchet mechanism.

19. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a debris catcher arranged to catch debris of frozen food products falling through perforations of said food container when said food product is being dispensed by said dispensing station into said food container.

20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said debris catcher is movable in lateral direction.

21. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dumping station is tiltable to deliver food products to a heat-retaining food holding area.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which

[0023] FIG. 1 an isometric view of an automatic fryer according to a first embodiment;

[0024] FIG. 2 an isometric view of the fryer of FIG. 1 from a different aspect angle and with one door of an upper cabinet portion being removed;

[0025] FIG. 3 an isometric view of a first embodiment of a conveyor mechanism having a rotary column with a vertically movable lifting arm;

[0026] FIG. 4 a top view on the conveyor mechanism of FIG. 3 in three different positions;

[0027] FIGS. 5A to 5G isometric views of the conveyor mechanism of FIG. 3 in different positions;

[0028] FIG. 6 an isometric view of a second embodiment of a conveyor mechanism having a curved gear rack;

[0029] FIG. 7 a detail of FIG. 6 with a gear engaged with the gear rack from which the food container suspends;

[0030] FIGS. 8A-8H isometric views of the conveyor mechanism of FIG. 6 in different positions;

[0031] FIG. 9 an isometric view of a second embodiment of a conveyor mechanism having a looped belt and slider movably arranged between up and down leading strands of the looped belt;

[0032] FIG. 10 a detail of FIG. 6 with the slider arranged between the up and down leading strands of the looped belt and a drive pulley arranged to drive the belt;

[0033] FIG. 11 the looped belt used in the embodiment of FIG. 9;

[0034] FIGS. 12A-12H isometric views of the conveyor mechanism of FIG. 9 in different positions; and

[0035] FIG. 13 a block diagram of the control system used in one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0036] The invention described in this document is not limited to the particular systems and methodologies described, as these may vary. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0037] It should be understood that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular form a, an, and the include plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one ordinary skill in the art. As used herein, the term comprising means including, but not limited to. The term cooking as used herein refers to any kind of food preparation using heat, including but not limited to frying, boiling, baking, roasting, broiling, stir-frying, or toasting.

[0038] The embodiments described below relate, to kitchen appliances for use in the foodservice business such as for instance chain restaurants. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the kitchen appliance is an automated frying apparatus for the preparation of fried food products such as French fries, for instance. It contains in a main rack 10 at a worktop level 11 a dumping station 12, where the deep-fried food products are dropped from a food basket 13 and then salted and a hot air holding portion 14 where the ready-to-serve food products are placed and from which they can be taken by the restaurant personnel.

[0039] Beside the main rack 10 is the actual fryer 15 with a deep-frying basin 16, into which the food basket 13 can be (at least partly) immersed. The main rack 10 further has an upper cabinet portion 17, which accommodates a freezer 18 for storing refrigerated food products and a dispenser 19, which controllably dispenses refrigerated food products from the freezer 18 into the food basket 13 when the latter is arranged in a loading position below the dispenser 19. Freezer 18 and dispenser 19 can be seen in FIG. 2, where the left cabinet door of the upper cabinet portion 17 is removed.

[0040] A conveyor mechanism 20 serves as a transporter for the food basket 13 and controllably conveys the food basket 13 from below the dispenser 13 into the deep-frying basin 16 and from there to the dumping station 12. As will be explained in more detail below, the conveyor mechanism 20 in the first embodiment contains a rotary column 21 also referred to as a spindle. A vertically movable lifting arm 22 is pivotably connected to the rotary column 21 and holds the food basket 13.

[0041] Under the upper cabinet portion 17 is a debris catcher 23 and a salting system 24. The debris catcher can be moved in lateral direction by a corresponding drive (not shown).

[0042] FIG. 3 shows the conveyor mechanism 20 in more detail. The food basket 13 suspends from the lifting arm 22, which is pivotably connected to the rotary column or spindle 21. Gears 25 and a motor serve to pivot the lifting arm 22 around the axis of the rotary column 21. Lifting arm 22 and rotary column 21 are movable in vertical direction. A gear mechanism 26 on the lifting arm 22 turns the food basket 13 in counter direction relative to the lifting area simultaneously when the lifting arm 22 pivots around the rotary column 21, so that the food basket 13 maintains its orientation. In addition to this, the food basket 13 has a drop bottom 13 and associated drive mechanism to controllably open and. close the drop bottom 13 in order to dispense and load food products based on the location of the food basket.

[0043] In FIG. 3, the food basket is shown in the loading position placed below the dispenser 19 and the drop bottom 13 is closed. The debris catcher 23, which can be moved in sideways direction, is moved below the food basket to catch any debris, ice snow or the like falling from the dispenser 19 through the food basket 13. The dumping station 12, to which the cooked food products are dropped from the food basket and where they are salted by the salting system 24, is shown idle in FIG. 3.

[0044] In FIG. 4, a top view on the lifting arm 22 and the basket 13 is shown in three different positions, i.e. a rightmost, a leftmost and an intermediate position of the food basket 13. As can be seen, the gear mechanism 26 on the lifting arm 22 turns the food basket 13 relative to the lifting arm 22 when the latter pivots around the rotary column 21. Through this counter-movement of the food basket 13 relative to the lifting arm 22, the orientation of the food basket 13 is maintained in any positions of the lifting arm 22.

[0045] The gear mechanism 26 in the embodiment contains a gear rack 26a, an corresponding gear wheel 26b engaged with the gear rack 26a and a linear motor 26, which moves the rear rack 26a to turn the gear wheel 26b and with it the basket 13 relative to the lifting arm 22 when the latter pivots. The gears 25, which effect turning of the lifting arm 22 around the axis of the spindle 21, contain a main gear wheel 25a and a drive pinion 25b, which is driven by an associated motor (not shown). The angle by which the food basket 13 is turned relative to the lifting arm 22 correspondsat least substantiallyto the angle by which the lifting arm 22 pivots around the spindle axis, but in opposite directions. The two rotary motions are controlled in synchronism in the embodiment by a common controller. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a forced mechanical control and coupling would equally be possible through an appropriate coupler mechanism.

[0046] In FIGS. 5A to 5G, the food basket 13 and transport mechanism is shown in different positions during a cooking cycle. In FIG. 5A, the food basket is shown on its way from the loading position of FIG. 3 to the cooking position, in which the food basket 13 is immersed into deep-frying basin 16. FIG. 5B shows the cooking position with the food basket in its leftmost position lowered into the deep-frying basin 16 (not shown). In FIG. 5C, the food basket is in a shaking position still in its leftmost position but lifted out of the deep-frying basin 16. In this position, the food basket 13 can be shaken by a fast rocking motion of the drive mechanism, so that frying oil can drip off the food product back into the deep-frying basin 16.

[0047] In FIG. 5D, the food basket 13 is shown in an unloading position with opened drop bottom 13 right above the dumping station 12. The debris catcher 23 has been shifted sideways to the right from a position below the dispenser 19 to an inactive position. In FIG. 5E, the food basket 13 is shown on its way upwards back into the loading position below the dispenser 19. The debris catcher 23 is still in its rightmost position. In FIG. 5F, the food basket 13 has reached its loading position under the dispenser 19 and the debris catcher 23 has been moved back to the left below dispenser 19 and food basket 13. The dumping station 12, which is implemented in the embodiment in the form of a flat bowl, is tilted to the right, so that the cooked food products will fall into the hot air holding area 14. In FIG. 5G, finally, the dispenser 19 opens and dispenses the next frozen food products into the food basket 13 and the food preparation cycle starts again.

[0048] FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment for the transport mechanism that moves the food basket 13 between the loading position, the cooking position, and the unloading position. Same elements are identified with same reference numerals as in the first embodiment. The transport mechanism in this second embodiment contains a guideway 30 with a curved gear rack 31 inside. A gear 32 driven by a small motor 34 engages with the curved gear rack 31 and moves up, sideways and clown along the curved gear rack 31 upon activation of the motor 34. The food basket 13 suspends via a hinged arm 33 from the axis of the gear 32.

[0049] The gear 32 and hinged arm 33 is shown in more detail in FIG. 8. A guide pin 35 is attached to a middle hinge 34 of the hinged arm 33 and guided within the guideway 30 thus forming a sliding guide mechanism for increased stability.

[0050] In FIGS. 8A to 8H show the food basket 13 and transport mechanism in different positions during a cooking cycle. In FIG. 8A, the food basket is shown in the loading position below the dispenser 19 with the debris catcher 23 placed below. In FIG. 8B, dispensing of food products is finished and the food basket 13 loaded. In FIG. 8C, the food basket 13 is shown now on its way from the loading position to the cooking position. In FIG. 8D, the food basket 13 has reached the cooking position and is immersed into deep-frying basin 16 (not shown). In FIG. 8E, the food basket has been lifted out of the frying basin 16 into a shaking position, where it is shaken by a fast rocking motion of the drive mechanism.

[0051] In FIG. 8F, the food basket 13 is shown in the unloading position with opened drop bottom 13 right above the dumping station 12. The debris catcher 23 has been shifted sideways to the rightmost position. In FIG. 8G, the food basket 13 is shown on its way upwards back into the loading position. below the dispenser 19. The debris catcher 23 is still in its rightmost position, i.e. the inactive position. In FIG. 8H, the food basket 13 is further on its way up to the loading position and the dumping dumping station 12, implemented as a tillable flat bowl, is tilted to the right to dispense the cooked food products into the hot air holding area 14. Once the food basket reaches the loading position and the debris catcher 23 is moved below the food basket 13, the next food preparation cycle can be started.

[0052] A third embodiment of the transport mechanism for the food basket 13 is shown in FIG. 9. Same elements are identified with same reference numerals as in the previous embodiments. The transport mechanism has similar to the second embodiment a guideway or curved rail 40, which acts as a guide for a motion block 42. A belt 41 is tensioned in a loop along the inner face of the curved rail 40 and the motion block 42 is slidably held between opposite back and forth guided strands of the looped belt 41. The food container 13 suspends from the motion block via an area 43.

[0053] A detail of the looped belt 41 and motion block 42 is shown in FIG. 10. The belt 41 is implemented in this embodiment as a toothed belt and looped at its upper end around a drive pinion 45, which is driven by a motor 44. The motion block 42 is held between the left strand 41a and the right strand 41b of the belt 41. The motion block sticks between the strands 41a, 41b of the belt 41 and moves when the belt is driven either by a ratchet mechanism, which engages with the teeth of the belt or by friction. In the latter case, in order to move the motion block 42, the friction between motion block 42 and the two strands 41a, 41b of the belt 41 will have to differ, which can be achieved for instance by oriented bristles or shingles at the contact faces of the motion block 42. The direction of movement of the motion block 42 can be changed by switching the drive direction of the belt 41. In case of using a ratchet mechanism at the motion block 42, the direction of movement can also be changed by simply switching the ratchet mechanism.

[0054] The looped belt 41 with its back and forth guided strands is shown in FIG. 11 isolated. The belt 41 can be either held within the guiderail 40 by an edge guide arrangement, or can be supported at the turning points by guide rollers. Moreover, a pulley or belt tensioner can be used in addition to hold the looped belt tight and to thus hold the back and forth running strands 41a, 41b of the belt 41 substantially parallel to each other.

[0055] Various positions of the food basket 13 and transport mechanism of the third embodiment are shown in FIGS. 12A to 12H, respectively. The positions are similar to the ones in FIGS. 8A to 8H relating to the second embodiment, i.e. in FIG. 12A, the food basket is shown in the loading position. In FIG. 12B, dispensing of food products is finished and the food basket 13 loaded. In FIG. 12C, the food basket 13 is shown now on its way from the loading position to the cooking position. In FIG. 12D, the food basket 13 has reached the cooking position and is immersed into deep-frying basin 16 (not shown). In FIG. 12E, the food basket has been lifted out of the frying basin 16 into the shaking position, where it is shaken by a rocking motion of the drive mechanism. In FIG. 12F, the food basket 13 is shown in the unloading position with opened drop bottom 13 right above the dumping station 12. The debris catcher 23 has been shifted sideways to its rightmost position. In FIG. 12g, the food basket 13 is shown on its way upwards back into the loading position below the dispenser 19. In FIG. 12H, the dumping station 12, implemented as a tiltable flat bowl, is tilted to dispense the cooked food products into the hot air holding area 14.

[0056] The cooking apparatus and in particular the transport mechanism for the food basket is controlled by a control system, such as the one shown schematically in the block diagram of FIG. 13. The control system preferably enables to define the basket positions, speed, time on each position, direction, basket shaking, temperature of the freezer, product dispensing method, e.g., by time and/or by weight, product availability, salting quantity, e.g., per time and/or weight, and alarms. The control system is thus programmed for the entire system operation, including control of refrigeration, product volume, product dispensing, frying, salting and dumping the product into a holding station. Operator choices may include a continuous automatic loop or a single cycle option. In other words, the control system can execute a permanent loop while is ON, or a single loop triggered by pressing a button or through an electric or digital command from a remote location in the restaurant. A digital command to start a cooking cycle can come for instance from the ordering system, which automatically can send a signal to the frying apparatus when it needs to prepare fresh fries.

[0057] The complete process cycle is: dispense food into the basket 13, transport the basket 13 into the cooking apparatus 15, wait for time or command, shake product, at the end of the cooking process move to the salting area 12, salt, dump product into the holding 14 and then move basket 13 to the dispense area for next batch; the process can be executed in full or partially according with the programmed parameters to achieve the best performance and product quality.

[0058] In the control system of FIG. 13, the main element is the controller 50, which controls operation of the various other building blocks, including the transport system 51, the fryer 15, the dumping station 12, the freezer 18, the dispenser 19, and the salting system 24. One or more distributed additional. CPUs such as CPU 52 can be used under the control or in cooperation with main controller 50. CPU 52 in this embodiment controls the freezer temperature, for instance. The refrigeration signal 52 exchanged between CPU 52 and freezer 18 serves to control the target temperature of the freezer compartment and get status messages on the condition of the freezer.

[0059] In addition CPU 50 can be connected with the ordering system 53 of the restaurant, which will send a signal to the controller 50 when fresh food products need to be prepared. Moreover, controller 50 can be connected to a safety system 54, which serves to protect of any injuries with humans through light barriers and contact switches. A buzzer 55 may also be connected to the controller 50 to output audible alarms to the service personnel.

[0060] The controller 50 controls the motor M1 of the transport system 51, for instance the motor of the spindle 21 in the first embodiment. The transport system 51 has switches 51a, 51b, which serve as position sensors and tell the controller the actual position of the food basket 13. Controller 50 controls the motor M1 of the transport system to transport food basket 13 from the dispense position to or into the cooking device and to the holding station 14. Motor M1 is shown by way of example, only, while as will be appreciated the transport system can include several motors instead of just one, all or some of which will be controlled by controller 50.

[0061] Based on its position, the drop bottom 13 of the food basket 13 can be automatically opened, e.g. mechanically or electronically, and closed to load and dispense the food product.

[0062] The dispenser 19 has two motors M2, M3. A drum motor M2 rotates to move fries from the freezer compartment into a dispenser compartment of dispenser 19 and a motor M3 opens the flaps 19 of the dispenser compartment, as can be seen for instance in FIGS. 5g, 8a, and 12a. Controller 50 can define the portions delivered by the dispenser 19, e.g. by weight or dispensing time.

[0063] The automatic salting mechanism 24 is shown to have a motor M4 that when activated by controller 50 will salt the food product in the dumping station 12 according to pre-programmed parameters such as volume and timing.

[0064] The freezer 18 may send a status signal Bin empty 56 to the controller 50. The dumping station 12 may send status messages Ready 57a and Tray Full 57b to the controller 50. The dumping station 12 will dump the cooked and salted product into the holding area 14.

[0065] With the signal cycle done 58, controller 50 tells the fryer 15 that the cooking cycle is complete. The fryer 15 may use this signal for reheat purpose and fry cycle count.

[0066] The above description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principle of the invention and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventors to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalence thereof.

[0067] The functions of the various elements shown in the figures, including any functional blocks labeled as processors or CPUs, may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term processor or controller should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included. Any functional blocks of block diagrams shown in the figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, or through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, the particular technique being selectable by the implementer as more specifically understood from the context.