JP2007236367A - Frozen dessert softening/extracting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus capable of making frozen dessert ideally soft wholly and evenly remarkably earlier than a conventional apparatus, and performing a softening process in an almost fixed time regardless of a kind of frozen dessert material without storing water drops in a bag-like container during a softening process. <P>SOLUTION: This apparatus has a bag-like container 3 which is attached with an extraction opening and encloses frozen dessert in a frozen solidified condition in the inside, a frozen dessert softening mechanism 6 which softens the frozen dessert in the bag-like container 3 by heating, an extraction mechanism 36 which extracts the softened frozen dessert in the inside by pressing the bag-like container 3, a bag-like container sending mechanism 32 which sequentially sending and moving the bag-like container 3 to the frozen dessert softening mechanism 6 and the extraction mechanism 36, and a control part 43 which controls the frozen dessert softening mechanism 6 so as to operate based on a softening operation condition by previously memorized suitable heating according to a kind of frozen dessert material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a frozen confectionery softening / extraction apparatus, and more specifically, by heating the frozen confectionery in a bag-like container, the confectionery can be quickly and uniformly made ideally soft. It relates to softened and extracted equipment for frozen confectionery.

  Frozen confectionery such as soft ice cream is enclosed in a bag-like container with an extraction port in a frozen and solidified state. And when selling to a customer at a store, a bag-like container is taken out from a freezer, softened by a softening / extraction device, and placed in a cup-shaped container for delivery.

  By the way, frozen confectionery such as soft ice cream enjoys a cool feeling and texture, and many consumers are children and young people. For this reason, it is desirable to minimize the time from the order by the customer to the provision to the customer.

  However, since the softening / extraction apparatus for frozen confectionery such as soft cream that has been devised in the past is designed to soften by crushing without heating, for example, it takes a considerable amount of time to make it soft. Was necessary. In addition, some of the crushed and crushed confectionery became water droplets before the whole softened, and when they were extracted into a cup-shaped container, these water droplets also entered, which was inconvenient as food.

  In addition, frozen confectionery such as soft cream has different solidification states depending on the type, that is, the difference in the material (component). For example, even when solidified at the same temperature due to a difference in the content of milk fat or non-fat milk solids, the hardness is different. Various materials such as vanilla, strawberry, carrot, and salmon are used as the material of the soft cream, and the solidified state of these materials is different because the respective components are different. For this reason, in order to perform the softening process within substantially the same processing time, it is necessary to control the operation of the frozen confectionery softening mechanism according to the solidified state of each material.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to soften the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container by heating, thereby making the softness uniformly and ideally faster than before. In addition, the softening of frozen confectionery that can be performed in a substantially constant time regardless of the type of frozen confectionery material without causing water droplets to accumulate in the bag-like container during the softening process.・ It is intended to provide an extraction device.

  Thus, the gist of the present invention is that the frozen confectionery in a frozen state is enclosed in a bag-like container with an extraction opening, and the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container is softened by heating. Confectionery softening mechanism, extraction mechanism for extracting frozen softened confectionery by pressing the bag-shaped container, and bag-shaped container feeding mechanism for sequentially feeding and moving the bag-shaped container to the frozen confectionery softening mechanism and the extraction mechanism And a control unit that controls the frozen confection softening mechanism so as to operate based on the softening operation condition by optimum heating stored in advance according to the type of material of the frozen confectionery. It is in the softening / extraction device.

  In the above-described configuration, the frozen confectionery softening mechanism has a heater that maintains a predetermined temperature with a heater in contact with the bag-like container, and the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container is softened by heat. A softening mechanism is desirable. In such a configuration, the temperature of the heating body held by the heater is preferably 5 to 10 ° C.

  In addition, in the above configuration, the heating body is disposed so as to sandwich the bag-like container, and has a plate-like fixed heating body that is approximately the same size as one surface of the bag-like container, A bag-like container that is moved to the fixed heating body side by a predetermined movement distance under the control of the control unit and is brought into contact with the other surface of the bag-like container with an appropriate pressure. It may be a heating body configured with a movable heating body having a planar contact portion, and the movable heating body is composed of a plurality of movable heating bodies arranged in parallel vertically, and Each of the movable heating bodies may be a movable heating body that is supported by an elastic member so as to be slightly displaced in the moving direction so as to correspond to the undulation of the contact surface of the bag-like container.

  The present invention is configured as described above, and softens the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container by heating. Therefore, it is much faster than before, and it is possible to make the softness uniformly uniform throughout, and at the same time, water drops do not accumulate in the bag-like container during the softening process, and in addition, regardless of the type of frozen confectionery material The softening process can be performed in a substantially constant time.

  BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The best mode for carrying out the present invention is a bag-like container with an extraction port in which a frozen confection in a frozen state is enclosed, and a frozen confection that is softened by heating the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container A softening mechanism, an extraction mechanism for extracting the softened confectionery inside by pressing the bag-like container, and a bag-like container feeding mechanism for sequentially feeding and moving the bag-like container to the frozen confectionery softening mechanism and the extraction mechanism; The frozen confectionery softening mechanism includes a control unit that controls the frozen confectionery softening mechanism so as to operate based on the softening operation condition by the optimum heating stored in advance according to the type of the material of the frozen confectionery. A heating element that maintains a predetermined temperature of 5 to 10 ° C. with a heater is brought into contact with the bag-shaped container, and the frozen confectionery softening mechanism is configured to soften the frozen confectionery in the bag-shaped container by heat. It is.

Examples of the present invention will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a conceptual configuration of a frozen confectionery softening / extraction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view thereof, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a fixed heating body in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a movable heating body drive device in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the movable heating body drive device in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism. FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the driving device for the movable heating body in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism, FIG. 7 is a view showing the feed driving section of the movable heating body, and FIG. 8 is a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the driving device for the movable heating body in FIG. 10, showing the feed driving section of the movable heating body, FIG. 9 is a front view of a cam used for the driving device for the movable heating body in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and FIG. Movable heating element in confectionery softening mechanism FIG. 11 is a front view of the other light-shielding plate used for the driving device of the movable heating body in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and FIG. 12 is a schematic explanatory view of the bag-like container feeding mechanism. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

  In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an apparatus for softening and extracting frozen confectionery. Reference numeral 2 denotes a case with a support base in the frozen confectionery softening / extraction apparatus. Reference numeral 3 denotes a bag-like container with an extraction port in which frozen confectionery in a frozen state is enclosed. Moreover, as a frozen confectionery, the soft cream is shown in the present Example. Further, the bag-like container 3 heat-seals the periphery 3a, and softened soft cream is extracted from the lower central extraction port 3b. Reference numeral 3c denotes a seal adhered to the extraction port 3b, which is peeled off when extracting.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes an insertion guide for a bag-like container provided in the casing 2, and reference numeral 5 denotes an input detection sensor.

  A frozen confection softening mechanism 6 is provided at the lower part of the charging guide 4 and softens the soft ice cream in the bag-like container 3 by heating. In the present embodiment, the frozen confectionery softening mechanism 6 contacts a heating body that maintains a predetermined temperature with a heater in contact with the bag-like container 3 and heats the soft cream in the bag-like container 3 with heat. It is supposed to soften. In the present embodiment, an electric heater is used as the heater. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hot wires 7 and 8 are embedded inside or wound around the outer periphery. Further, the temperature held by the heater of the heating body is preferably 5 to 10 ° C, and the most preferable result is 10 ° C. Regardless of the material of the soft ice cream, a constant temperature is always maintained. Note that the amount of heating in relation to the material is adjusted by the degree of contact of the heating body to the bag-like container 3 described later.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, the heating body is arranged so as to sandwich the bag-like container 3, and is fixed in the form of a plate made of an aluminum material that is substantially the same size as one surface of the bag-like container 3. The heating body 9 is moved in a direction in contact with and away from the fixed heating body 9, and is moved to the fixed heating body 9 side by a predetermined moving distance by control by a control unit described later, and the other side of the bag-like container 3 is moved. The movable heating body 10 made of an aluminum material, which has a surface in contact with the bag-like container 3 and is brought into contact with the surface at an appropriate pressure, is formed. In the present embodiment, the movable heater 10 is composed of a plurality of movable heaters 10 and 10 arranged in parallel in the vertical direction. An elastic member is supported so as to be slightly displaced in the moving direction so as to correspond to the undulation of the contact surface of the bag-like container 3. Reference numeral 9a denotes a temperature sensor attached to the fixed heating body 9.

  5 to 11 show a driving device for the movable heater, and 11 is a support for the movable heater. 12 is a fixed support plate fixed vertically, 13 and 13 are guide sleeves fixed to the fixed support plate 12, and 14 and 14 are support shafts slidably inserted into the guide sleeves 13 and 13, respectively. Is connected to the movable heater support plate 15. Reference numerals 16 and 16 are pressure-enhancing coil springs fitted on the support shafts 14 and 14 and contracted between the guide sleeves 13 and 13 and the rear ends of the support shafts 14 and 14, respectively. The movable heater support plate 15 is returned to the original position. Reference numerals 17 and 17 denote cam receiving members fixed to both sides of the movable heater support plate 15. The movable heaters 10 are supported on the front surface of the movable heater support plate 15. The coil springs 18 and 18 are slightly displaced in the moving direction. Thereby, even when the contact surface has undulations when it comes into contact with the bag-like container 3, each of the movable heating bodies 10 and 10 can reliably contact each part and perform sufficient heating from the beginning. it can.

  Reference numeral 19 denotes a feed driving unit for the movable heating body. 20 and 20 are support frames fixed in parallel and vertically, 21 is a rotation shaft rotatably supported between these support frames 20 and 20, and 22 and 22 are cams fixed to the rotation shaft 21, respectively. It contacts the cam receiving members 17 and 17 of the movable heater support plate 15. Reference numeral 23 denotes a gear fixed to the rotary shaft 21. Reference numerals 24 and 25 denote light shielding plates fixed to the rotating shaft 21, which cooperate to detect the forward moving amount of the movable heating bodies 10 and 10. The one light shielding plate 24 has slits 24a formed at one location on the outer periphery, and the other light shielding plate 25 has a number of slits 25a formed at equal intervals on the outer periphery. And the slit formed in them by the rotation detection sensors 26 and 27 which consist of the light emitting element and the light receiving element arranged facing each rotation area of these light-shielding plates 24 and 25, detects the movable heating body 10, The amount of forward movement of 10 is detected.

  Reference numeral 28 denotes a feed driving motor for the movable heater. The rotational driving force of the drive motor 28 is transmitted to the gear 23 fixed to the rotary shaft 21 through the gear 29 fixed to the rotary shaft 28a and the gear 30 meshing with the gear 29. Reference numeral 31 denotes a guide for the bag-like container 3.

  Thus, the drive motor 28 is driven to rotate the cams 22 and 22 to a required angle in the vertical direction, and the movable heating bodies 10 and 10 are fed and moved according to the soft cream material, that is, the hardness. is there. The amount of feed movement is determined in advance by the material of the soft ice cream, and the amount of the material and the feed movement relative to the material is stored in a control unit which will be described later, and during actual operation, based on this information, the drive motor 28 Control is performed.

  And in a present Example, the fixed heating body 9 hold | maintained to the fixed temperature in the range of 5-10 degreeC, and the movable heating bodies 10 and 10 are made to contact the bag-shaped container 3, and it heats. However, since the hardness varies depending on the material of the soft cream, for the hard material, the feed movement amount of the movable heating bodies 10 and 10 is increased, and this is strongly (deeply) pressed against the bag-like container 3. On the other hand, in the case of a material that is not so hard, it is pressed weakly (shallowly). Moreover, although the temperature of outside air differs in summer and winter, when the temperature of outside air is high, it adjusts so that the pressing to the bag-shaped container 3 of the movable heating bodies 10 and 10 may be weakened.

  Reference numeral 32 denotes a bag-like container feeding mechanism, which sequentially feeds and moves the bag-like container 3 to the frozen confectionery softening mechanism 6 and the extraction mechanism described later. Further, in this embodiment, the bag-like container feeding mechanism 32 is arranged so that the heat-sealed side edges 3a, 3a of the bag-like container 3 are sandwiched and fed by a pair of rotating rolls 33, 34. ing. One of the rolls 33 is driven to rotate by a drive motor 35. In this embodiment, the pair of rotating rolls 33 and 34 has a gear-like peripheral surface in order to ensure feeding. It has a rough surface.

  Reference numeral 36 denotes an extraction mechanism provided at the lower portion of the frozen confectionery softening mechanism 6, which extracts the softened frozen confectionery inside by pressing the bag-like container 3. Further, in this embodiment, the extraction mechanism 36 is arranged so as to sandwich the bag-like container 3, the fixed pressing plate 37 which is substantially the same size as one surface of the bag-like container 3, and the fixed The movable pressing plate 38 is configured to move in a direction in which the pressing plate 37 is brought into contact with and separated from the pressing plate 37 and is moved toward the fixed pressing plate 37 at a predetermined speed by a control unit described later. Further, in this embodiment, the movable pressing plate 38 is moved by a rack 39 and a pinion 40. Reference numeral 41 denotes a pinion drive motor, and 42 and 42 are support means for the movable pressing plate 38. Further, a plurality of the movable pressing plates 38 may be arranged in parallel in the vertical direction, similarly to the movable heating bodies 10 and 10.

  43 is a control part. Further, the control unit 43 controls the frozen confection softening mechanism 6 so as to operate based on the softening operation condition by the optimum heating stored in the database 44 in advance according to the type of the frozen confectionery material. .

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, a power switch (not shown) of the softening / extracting apparatus 1 for frozen confectionery is turned on (S1). Next, when the bag-like container 3 is introduced into the frozen confectionery softening / extracting apparatus 1 from its inlet (S2), the introduction sensor 5 detects the introduction (S3). Next, in the frozen confectionery softening mechanism 6, the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container is softened by heating (S4).

  Next, the bag-like container 3 that has been subjected to the softening process is fed and moved to the extraction mechanism 36 by the bag-like container feeding mechanism 32 (S5). And the softened soft cream inside is extracted by pressing the bag-shaped container 3 with the extraction mechanism 36 (S6). Finally, the bag-like container 3 is fed by the bag-like container feeding mechanism 32, and the bag-like container 3 is discharged (S7). All the softening / extraction operations for frozen confectionery are completed.

It is a front view which shows the conceptual structure of the softening / extraction apparatus of the frozen confectionery which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a side view which shows the conceptual structure of the softening / extraction apparatus of the frozen confectionery which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a perspective view of the fixed heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a perspective view of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a perspective view of the drive device of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a disassembled perspective view of the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and is a figure which shows the support part of a movable heating body. It is a disassembled perspective view of the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and is a figure which shows the feed drive part of a movable heating body. It is a disassembled perspective view of the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism, and is a figure which shows the feed drive part of a movable heating body. It is a front view of the cam used for the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a front view of one light-shielding plate used for the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a front view of the other light-shielding plate used for the drive apparatus of the movable heating body in a frozen confectionery softening mechanism. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a bag-shaped container feed mechanism. It is a flowchart figure which shows the action | operation of an Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Softening / extraction apparatus of frozen confectionery 3 Bag-shaped container 6 Frozen confectionery softening mechanism 9 Fixed heating body 10,10 Movable heating body 32 Bag-shaped container feed mechanism 33, 34 A pair of rotating rolls 36 Extraction mechanism 37 Fixed pressing plate 38 Movable pressing Plate 43 control unit

Claims (5)

  A bag-like container with an extraction port in which frozen confectionery in a frozen state is enclosed, a frozen confectionery softening mechanism that softens the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container by heating, and pressing the bag-like container In accordance with the type of the frozen confectionery material, an extraction mechanism for extracting the softened frozen confectionery inside, a bag-like container feeding mechanism for sequentially feeding and moving the bag-like container to the frozen confectionery softening mechanism and the extraction mechanism, A frozen confectionery softening / extraction apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls the frozen confectionery softening mechanism so as to operate based on a stored softening operation condition by optimum heating.   The frozen confectionery softening mechanism is a frozen confectionery softening mechanism in which a heating body that maintains a predetermined temperature with a heater is brought into contact with the bag-like container, and the frozen confectionery in the bag-like container is softened by heat. Item 1. A softening / extracting apparatus for frozen confectionery according to item 1.   The softening / extraction apparatus for frozen confectionery according to claim 2, wherein the temperature of the heating body held by the heater is 5 to 10 ° C.   The heating body is disposed so as to sandwich the bag-like container, and is moved in a direction to come in contact with and separate from the plate-like fixed heating body that is substantially the same size as one surface of the bag-like container. The contact portion to the bag-like container is moved to the fixed heating body side by a predetermined moving distance under the control of the control unit and brought into contact with the other surface of the bag-like container with an appropriate pressure. The softening / extracting device for frozen confectionery according to claim 2 or 3, which is a heating body comprising a movable heating body in the form of a shape.   The movable heater is composed of a plurality of movable heaters arranged in parallel vertically, and each movable heater is slightly shifted in the moving direction by an elastic member so as to correspond to the undulation of the contact surface of the bag-like container. 5. The frozen confectionery softening / extracting device according to claim 4, wherein the frozen confectionery is a movable heating body supported as described above.

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