CN113895700A - Dispensing apparatus for dispensing solid materials - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a dispensing device for dispensing solid material, in particular food bars such as chicken nuggets, and comprising a storage unit (1) and a conveying unit (2) having a conveyor belt (21) for receiving and conveying solid material from the storage unit, wherein the storage unit comprises at least two separate batch containers (11, 12) for respectively containing different batches of solid material and one transfer container (13) common to all batch containers, wherein a plurality of spaced transverse ribs (23) are arranged on the conveyor belt, and wherein the spacing between adjacent transverse ribs and the width of the conveyor belt are designed to receive a predetermined amount of solid material from the transfer container. The dispensing apparatus of the present disclosure can achieve accurate dispensing of solid materials and can achieve differentiation of different batches of solid materials.

Description

Dispensing apparatus for dispensing solid materials

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the distribution and transport of solid materials, particularly regularly shaped or well-conformed solid materials, such as bulk materials. In particular, the present disclosure relates to dispensing apparatus for dispensing solid materials and particularly food products in block form.

Background

With the development of science and technology and the acceleration of pace of life, modern restaurants, particularly fast food restaurants, have adopted food dispensing equipment to dispense food so as to achieve the purpose of rapid ordering. One known food dispensing device is a vibratory food dispensing device that dispenses food from a container by vibrating the container. Such equipment typically requires high assembly accuracy in order for the food dispensed to properly match the customer's order, and requires high skill on the part of the personnel operating the equipment that could otherwise interfere with the effectiveness of the vibratory dispensing. However, in a restaurant environment, highly skilled employees cannot always be staffed with the restaurant and thus, the feasibility is poor.

Food dispensing devices that dispense by gravity are also known. In such devices, the food in the container falls by gravity into the underlying dish or basket to be subsequently delivered to the consumer in portions. However, if there are multiple foods (e.g., multiple chicken nuggets) in each serving, such dispensing by gravity alone does not accommodate dispensing requirements that require rapid and accurate counting. If precise dispensing is desired (e.g., by flow control, etc.), this can result in a very complex dispensing control mechanism and process, which can add significantly to the cost of the device. Moreover, the result of this allocation is very unreliable.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure aims to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and proposes a solution that allows precise dispensing of solid materials (for example, chicken nuggets, etc.) according to the order of the consumer, while at the same time guaranteeing the dispensing speed and reliability of the dispensing result.

In particular, the present disclosure provides a dispensing apparatus for dispensing solid material, comprising a conveying unit having a conveyor belt for receiving and conveying solid material from a storage unit, and a storage unit, wherein the storage unit comprises at least two separate batch containers for respectively containing different batches of solid material and a transfer container common to all batch containers, a plurality of spaced transverse ribs are arranged on the conveyor belt, the spacing between adjacent transverse ribs and the width of the conveyor belt being designed to receive a predetermined amount of solid material from the transfer container.

The distributing equipment disclosed by the invention can realize accurate division of the distributed solid materials, can distribute and convey the solid materials according to the minimum unit, and ensures the reliability of the distribution quantity while meeting the requirement of the distribution speed.

The dispensing apparatus of the present disclosure can convert the amount or weight of solid material into the volume of the corresponding product and cause the food being dispensed to accumulate at the bottom of the container or tube, measuring high volume in real time using a photoelectric sensor. When the volume reaches a threshold value, the conveyor belt stops working, and counting, weighing or volume distribution of the food is realized.

The dispensing apparatus of the present disclosure can distinguish between different batches of solid material from hardware configurations and can incorporate passive quantity sensing to enable automatic monitoring of batches and inventory of solid material.

Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to clarify features and advantages of the present disclosure. In the drawings:

fig. 1 shows an overall perspective view of a dispensing apparatus of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present disclosure is further specifically described below by way of embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description of the disclosed embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended to explain the general inventive concept and should not be taken as a limitation of the disclosure.

Furthermore, in the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It may be evident, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In order to simplify the drawings, well-known structures and devices are not shown in the drawings.

In the following description, the disclosure is described by way of example of a dispensing device for dispensing chicken parts. However, it should be understood that the concepts of the present disclosure may be applied to any solid material, particularly materials having a regular or uniform shape and/or size.

Referring to fig. 1, the chicken nugget distribution apparatus of the present disclosure may include a storage unit 1 and a conveying unit 2, the conveying unit 2 may be used to receive and distribute or transfer chicken nuggets from the storage unit 1 in portions or in minimum units. It should be noted here that, in the following description, chicken nuggets are in particular cooked (in particular fried) directly edible chicken nuggets.

The storage unit 1 may comprise at least two (two in fig. 1) separate containers 11, 12 for storing different batches of chicken nuggets, respectively, which containers are therefore also referred to as "batch containers". As used herein, the term "batch" is defined relative to the time of preparation or cooking of the chicken nuggets, and a batch of chicken nuggets refers to chicken nuggets prepared in a single fry. Broadly speaking, a finished material formed by the same process or fabrication is a batch of material.

The storage unit 1 may also comprise a transfer container 13, which transfer container 13 may be common to all batch containers 11, 12 and is intended to receive the chicken nuggets from the respective batch container 11 or 12 separately. In particular, the transfer container 13 may receive the chicken pieces from one batch container 11 or 12 at a time, and may receive the next batch of chicken pieces after emptying (e.g. transferring them completely to the downstream conveyor unit 2) thereof, which may be from another batch container, or which may still be from the same batch container but with a cooking time different from the last batch of chicken pieces contained therein.

Thus, by at least two batch containers independent of each other, and preferably in combination with the use of a transfer container, the present disclosure effectively achieves a physical differentiation of different batches of chicken nuggets, ensuring batch separation of chicken nuggets.

The conveyor unit 2 may comprise a conveyor belt 21, which conveyor belt 21 may be arranged below the outlet of the transfer container 13 of the storage unit 1 in order to receive the chicken nuggets from the transfer container 13, which chicken nuggets fall, in particular by gravity. The conveyor belt 21 may be mounted on a conveyor belt support 22 to form a loop having a longitudinal length and may be driven in rotation, for example by a belt-type drive mechanism. The conveyor belt 21 may be provided with a plurality of ribs 23 extending substantially across its transverse width and substantially perpendicular to its surface. These ribs 23, which may also be referred to as "transverse ribs", may be spaced apart at regular and, in particular, uniform intervals, so that a plurality of spaces, which are separated from one another and are referred to herein as "cells", are divided in the surface region of the conveyor belt 21. These spaces or compartments may be used for receiving the chicken pieces, respectively, thereby enabling the receiving and subsequent dispensing of portions or predetermined amounts of chicken pieces.

The size of the grid can be set or adjusted by adjusting the spacing between adjacent ribs 23 and/or adjusting the width of the conveyor belt 21, thereby accommodating different chicken nugget dosing requirements. For example, each compartment may be sized to accommodate only a minimum unit of chicken pieces, i.e., only one chicken piece. In this way, when a serving (5) of chicken pieces is required, the dispensing can be done using 5 spaces on the conveyor belt 21, thereby achieving accurate dispensing according to the order requirements.

Still referring to fig. 1, the batch containers 11, 12 may be disc-shaped and they may each comprise a flat bottom and a raised rim extending along a circumferential edge of the bottom. The batch containers 11, 12 can be mounted on hydraulic ram supports 15, 16, respectively, so as to be inclined with respect to the horizontal by extension or retraction of the hydraulic rams, thereby enabling the chicken nuggets contained in these batch containers to slide down into the transfer container 13 by gravity.

To facilitate the delivery of the chicken nuggets to the transfer container 13, the bottom of each batch container 11, 12 may be narrowed towards the outlet end, i.e. towards the transfer container 13, and no raised rim is provided at the circumferential edge portion at the outlet end. Preferably, as shown in fig. 1, the bottom of each batch of containers 11, 12 may have a substantially rectangular or polygonal shape and narrows on only one side towards the outlet end. In this case, the two batch containers 11, 12 may be arranged side by side with their non-narrowed peripheral portions adjacent to each other; and the degree of narrowing of the bottoms of the two batches of containers 11, 12 may be set so that the sum of the widths of their outlet end edges is substantially equal to the width of the inlet end edge of the transfer container 13. Preferably, the form of the two batch containers 11, 12 may be mirror-symmetrical.

The relay container 13 may also have a disc-like form and include a flat bottom and raised edges extending along both side edges of the bottom. The end of the relay container 13 facing the batch containers 11, 12 and not provided with a raised rim forms its inlet end, while the end of the relay container 13 facing the conveyor belt 21 and not provided with a raised rim forms its outlet end. Preferably, the bottom of the relay container 13 may be tapered toward the outlet end thereof, thereby giving the relay container 13 a generally triangular or trapezoidal overall shape. Here, preferably, the width of the outlet end edge of the relay container 13 may be substantially equal to the transverse width of the conveying belt 21 or the rib 23.

The transfer container 13 may be mounted obliquely between the batch containers 11, 12 and the conveyor belt 21 so that the chicken pieces contained therein can slide freely by gravity onto the downstream conveyor belt 21, in particular into the compartments between the ribs 23 on the conveyor belt 21. Of course, it is also conceivable to mount the relay container 13 on an actuating mechanism such as a hydraulic jack so that the inclination of the relay container 13 with respect to the horizontal plane is adjusted by operating the actuating mechanism.

Preferably, removable liners may be installed in the batch containers 11, 12 and in the transfer container 13, which liners may have a shape and size matching the bottom of the respective containers. In this way, the liner can be removed periodically or when necessary for cleaning, whereby the trouble of removing the container body can be eliminated and thorough cleaning can be achieved. This design simplifies the cleaning operation and ensures food hygiene.

As shown in fig. 1, the conveyor belt 21 with the ribs 23 may be installed obliquely in a direction opposite to the oblique direction of the relay container 13, thereby forming an angle between the surface of the conveyor belt 21 and the bottom surface of the relay container 13, particularly an angle smaller than 180 °.

Preferably, the conveyor belt 21 with ribs 23 may be detachably mounted on the conveyor belt holder 22, for example by means of a movable tensioning wheel. In this way, the conveyor belt 21 as a whole can be removed for adjustment, replacement, or cleaning, if necessary, and a new or adjusted or cleaned conveyor belt 21 (with ribs 23) can be quickly mounted in place. This greatly simplifies cleaning and the like, increases work efficiency, and reduces skill requirements on the operator (typically a restaurant employee).

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the conveyor unit 2 may also comprise a chute 25. The chute 25 may have the form of a trough and may be arranged obliquely downstream of the conveyor belt 21, in particular below the apex (highest point or inflection point) of the obliquely mounted endless conveyor belt 21, for receiving the chicken nuggets falling from this conveyor belt 21 and then guiding them to a further downstream location, for example into a basket resting on the conveyor belt of the ordering system.

In this embodiment, the control unit (not shown) of the dispensing apparatus may comprise a transport control module. The conveyor control module may include an actuation mechanism for the conveyor belt 21 and a software program and may be configured to control the movement and stopping of the conveyor belt 21 in accordance with the amount of chicken pieces entering the chute 25, so as to stop the rotation of the conveyor belt 21 when the chute 25 has received a predetermined number of chicken pieces (e.g., 5 chicken pieces), thereby supplying a predetermined number of chicken pieces to the downstream baskets that meet the customer order requirements.

It will be appreciated that the transport control module may also include a metering device for this purpose for determining the number of chicken nuggets entering the chute 25. Such as a photoelectric sensor or counter arranged between the conveyor belt 21 and the slide 25, in particular at the inlet end of the slide 25, or an image processing device or sensor or the like which can scan the content in the slide 25 and determine the number thereof.

Of course, instead of controlling the amount of solid matter, it is also conceivable to control the movement and stopping of the conveyor belt 21 depending on the volume and/or weight of the solid matter. In this case, the metering device may be constituted by a gravimetric metering device or a volumetric metering device, for example of the photoelectric sensor type. This is particularly true for products such as popcorn chicken that are not easily counted.

According to a preferred embodiment, the dispensing device of the present disclosure may further comprise a batch management unit (not shown) for distinguishing between different batches of chicken nuggets and in particular for preventing different batches of chicken nuggets from being mixed in the dispensing device. The batch management unit can be provided with a measuring module and an alarming module.

The measuring module may be used to determine the amount of chicken nuggets in each batch of containers 11, 12, and in particular to determine the presence or absence of chicken nuggets in the respective batch of containers 11, 12. Such measuring modules may be provided in association with the respective batch containers 11, 12 and may comprise area or distance sensors, for example of the laser, infrared or ultrasonic type, or the like, in order to detect the empty and full condition of the respective batch container and to estimate-when chicken nuggets are present in the batch container-the number of chicken nuggets in the respective batch container by the area of the chicken nuggets or the distance between the chicken nuggets.

The warning module is used for sending warning information to prevent chicken nuggets of different batches from being placed in the same batch of containers. In particular, in the case where the measurement module determines that chicken nuggets are still present in one batch container 11, the alarm module may issue an audible or visual alarm signal when necessary, for example when the operator is about to pour a new batch of chicken nuggets into the batch container 11, alerting the operator to the need to empty the batch container 11 first (for example to pour the chicken nuggets therein into the transfer container 3), or to pour the new batch of chicken nuggets into another batch container 12 (if the batch container 12 is now empty). To this end, the warning module may comprise proximity sensors, acoustic or optical signal generators, etc. arranged in association with the respective batch of containers 11, 12.

According to another preferred embodiment, the dispensing device of the present disclosure may comprise an expiry date management unit (not shown) for identifying and handling chicken nuggets in the dispensing device that may exceed the expiry date. In the present disclosure, the expiration date of a chicken nugget (hereinafter "expiration date") refers to the period of time from when the chicken nugget is fried to maturity until the batch of chicken nuggets is no longer suitable for consumption by the consumer (e.g., due to a reduction in their mouthfeel, temperature, etc.), such as five minutes. According to the present disclosure, the expiration date of a batch of chicken nuggets is calculated from the time the batch of chicken nuggets was just placed into the dispensing apparatus (at which time the chicken nuggets were just fried to maturity), and in particular, just placed into the batch container of the dispensing apparatus.

The term of expiration management unit may include a term of expiration monitoring module that may be configured to monitor the amount of chicken nuggets in the respective batch containers to record a current time and a changed current chicken nugget amount when the amount of chicken nuggets changes, and may transmit information related to the current time and the current chicken nugget amount to the controller. In particular, the expiry date monitoring module may comprise means for determining the volume or weight of the chicken nuggets in the batch container.

For example, the expiration monitoring module may include a photosensor or image processing device placed at a circumferential edge (e.g., a raised rim) of and/or above each batch container for determining the number or volume of chicken nuggets in the respective batch container.

In addition or alternatively, the expiry date monitoring module may also comprise a load cell, for example placed at the bottom of each batch container, for determining the weight of the chicken nuggets in the respective batch container.

When the number of chicken pieces in a batch of containers changes (and the weight thereof also changes), in particular decreases, the photoelectric sensor or the image processing device or the weighing sensor can send a signal to an upper controller, which then records the current chicken piece amount (number or weight) after the change and the current time at which the signal was received. If the quantity of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers does not go through zero during a period of time equal to the expiration date of the chicken nuggets, this means that the current batch of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers has not been used up during the expiration date. Accordingly, the controller thereby determines that the remaining chicken nuggets in the batch of containers have reached the expiration date and generates a corresponding expiration date management signal.

In short, for each batch of containers, the controller may record the initial moment at which the batch of containers is poured with a new batch of chicken nuggets, i.e., when the amount of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers changes from zero to a certain value, and keep recording the intermediate moment of the decrease in the amount of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers and the current amount of chicken nuggets after the decrease. After the number of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers has decreased to zero, the controller determines and records a new batch of chicken nuggets when the number of chicken nuggets in the batch of containers again changes from zero to a certain value, and resumes recording the initial time and subsequently continues to record intermediate times and different current numbers of chicken nuggets as the number of chicken nuggets decreases. If the current quantity of chicken nuggets recorded in the controller does not appear or reaches a zero value after a period of time equal to the expiration date has elapsed from some initial moment, the controller considers that there are remaining chicken nuggets in the batch of containers and that they have exceeded the expiration date, thereby generating an expiration date management signal indicative or descriptive of such a condition for further processing of the remaining chicken nuggets, in particular, for disposal as will be described hereinafter.

More generally, the expiration date monitoring function of the dispensing apparatus of the present disclosure is to monitor the number of chicken nuggets in each batch of containers, and when a significant increase in the number of chicken nuggets in a batch of containers is found, a new batch of chicken nuggets is considered to be placed in the batch of containers. At this time, the distribution equipment records the quantity and time of the batch and provides the batch to the upper controller for automatic expiration date monitoring. If it has been judged that the chicken nuggets have reached the expiration date, the corresponding lot and number are automatically matched, and the next operation such as discarding process is automatically performed. Here, the superordinate controller may include a computer and corresponding control software or program. The upper controller may be part of the control unit described earlier.

The term-of-expiration management unit may further include an automatic discarding module for performing an automatic discarding operation of the chicken nuggets that exceed the term of expiration when the controller generates the term-of-expiration management signal.

In particular, the automatic discard module may comprise a drive mechanism of the chute 25, which may be controlled by the controller and which is able to move the chute 25 in response to the expiry date management signal to cause the outlet of the chute 25 to change orientation, in particular to a discard container, in particular a dedicated discard container. The chute 25 thus makes it possible to transfer the over-dated chicken nuggets received from the respective batch container via the transfer container 13 into the discard container, without being transferred onto a downstream conveyor belt.

Preferably, the drive mechanism may include a rotary motor 26 (see fig. 1) for rotating or pivoting the chute 25.

In this case, it is preferable that the slide 25 is detachably mounted on the rotary motor 26. For example, the slide 25 may be connected to the rotating shaft of the rotating electric machine by a spline. In this way, the slide 25 can be removed in its entirety for replacement or cleaning, and can be quickly installed in place.

Furthermore, while the discarding operation is being performed, the expiration date monitoring module, such as an area or distance sensor, may also be operated at the same time in order to detect whether the chicken nuggets exceeding the expiration date in the batch container and the chute, etc., are completely discarded, thereby preventing the food safety risk due to the expired food remaining.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the above disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims (10)

1. A dispensing apparatus for dispensing solid material, the dispensing apparatus comprising a storage unit and a conveyor unit, the conveyor unit comprising a conveyor belt for receiving and conveying solid material from the storage unit, wherein the storage unit comprises at least two separate batch containers for respectively containing different batches of solid material and a transfer container common to all the batch containers, a plurality of spaced transverse ribs are arranged on the conveyor belt, the spacing between adjacent transverse ribs and the width of the conveyor belt being designed to receive a predetermined amount of solid material from the transfer container.

2. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveyor unit comprises a chute arranged below the conveyor belt for receiving and guiding solid material from the conveyor belt, the control unit controlling the movement and stopping of the conveyor belt in dependence on the amount of solid material entering the chute.

3. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a batch management unit comprising a measurement module configured to determine the amount of solid material in each batch container and an alert module configured to issue an alert message to prevent mixing of solid material in different batch containers.

4. Dispensing device according to claim 3, characterized in that the measuring module comprises an area sensor or a distance sensor.

5. The dispensing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an expiration date management unit including an expiration date monitoring module configured to monitor the amount of the solid materials in each batch of containers so as to record a current time and a current amount of the solid materials after the change when the amount of the solid materials is changed.

6. The dispensing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the expiration management unit comprises an automatic discard module configured to direct current solid material in a batch of containers to a discard container when the amount of solid material in the batch of containers has not changed by a predetermined amount within a predetermined period of time.

7. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the automated discard module comprises a mechanism for driving a chute to direct an outlet of the chute towards the discard container.

8. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 2 or 7, in which the chute is removably mounted.

9. Dispensing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the conveyor belt with transverse ribs is detachably mounted.

10. Dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein removable liners are provided in both the batch container and the transfer container.

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