EP0482245A1 - Automatic food dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic food dispenser for dispensing hot ready-to-serve meals, in particular pizza, has a cooling space (8) and at least one oven (31). The deep-frozen ready-to-serve meals are stored in tubular magazines (11) which are arranged inside a rotatable drum store (10) on a circular path. The oven (31) has a horizontally extendable slide frame (32) with a slide front (33) which forms the oven door. On the slide frame (32), a cooking tray (39) is arranged raisably and lowerably in such a manner that, when the oven (31) is opened, it is automatically moved from a lowered cooking position inside the cooking space (41) upwards into a feeding position and, when the slide frame (32) is pulled out fully, further upwards into a dispensing position inside a dispensing space (42) which is accessible to the operator. A ready-to-serve meal selected by the operator is removed in a deep-frozen state from the corresponding tubular magazine (11) by means of an ejector (29), and via a closure flap (25) provided on the underside of the cooling space (12), placed on the cooking tray (39) situated in feeding position. The slide front (33) subsequently closes, the cooking tray (39) moving automatically back into the cooking space (41) of the oven (31). After expiry of the necessary defrost and cooking time, the hot ready-to-serve meal is conveyed directly from the oven (31) into the dispensing space (42) by means of the movable cooking tray (39). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an automatic food dispenser for dispensing hot ready meals, comprising a housing with a front side in which operating elements are provided and a cooling room for storing a supply of cooled packaged ready meals. At least one oven, preferably a microwave oven, is arranged under the cooling space, which has a cooking space for receiving a cooled ready meal, an oven door provided with an opening mechanism and a movable cooking surface mechanically coupled to the oven door. An electromechanical removal device is provided on the underside of the cooling compartment, which removes a single ready meal from the cooling container and slides over a pivoting closure flap onto the cooking surface when the oven door is open. The hot ready meal is delivered to the operator via an output space accessible to the operator.

Such a machine, in particular for dispensing hot pizza and other Italian dishes, is already known from DE-A1-37 38 708, which comes from the same applicant.

In the known device, one or more chilled food portions are removed from the storage container by means of an electro-mechanical folding mechanism. This then slides due to its own gravity over an inclined surface on a deflection flap, which is lowered when the oven door is opened by means of electromechanics so that the food on it slides over another inclined surface into the interior of the oven. After the heating process has ended, the oven door is opened again and, at the same time, the food heating surface coupled via a mechanism is raised in such a way that the heated food portion is fed to the delivery space via a further inclined sliding surface.

The removal and feeding of the food portions by means of the electro-mechanical flap sliding system has not proven itself. It has been shown that gravity alone is not sufficient to ensure trouble-free transport of the food portions within the machine. In particular, the delivery of the heated food by means of inclined sliding surfaces has proven to be problematic, since on the one hand the hot portions of food tend to stick to the food heating surface and on the other hand there is a risk of damage to the sensitive slipping material due to excessive and difficult to control sliding speed.

The known device also has the disadvantage that only a very specific product, for example pizza of a single flavor, can be dispensed. The user of a modern machine, however, expects a choice between different products.

The object of the present invention is therefore to create a food vending machine for dispensing hot ready meals with an improved mechanism for removing and transporting the chilled or hot ready meals and the possibility of choosing between different dishes.

In solving this task, it is assumed that a food dispenser of the type described at the outset. The solution according to the invention is that a drum store rotatable about its vertical axis of rotation is provided in the cooling space, which has a number of tubular magazines arranged on a circular path for receiving one each Stack of chilled ready meals comprises that the microwave oven has a horizontally extendable push frame with a push front, which forms the oven door, that a cooking tray with a horizontal cooking surface can be raised and lowered on the push frame so that it is lowered when the push frame is extended Cooking position inside the cooking space is moved upwards into a loading position outside the cooking space and, when the drawer frame is fully extended, is moved upwards into a dispensing position within the dispensing space, furthermore that the closure flap of the cooling space is below the circular path of the tubular magazine e is arranged above the cooking tray in the loading position, and that finally the dispensing space lies behind an dispensing opening in the front of the housing.

Different ready meals can be stored in the chilled or, if necessary, deep-frozen state in the several tube magazines of the drum store. By means of the operating elements provided in the front of the housing, the operator can select a specific tube magazine which is then rotated into a predetermined position via the fixed closure flap of the cooling space. At the same time, the oven located below the cooling room opens by extending its push frame together with the push front that forms the oven door. The cooking tray arranged on the push frame moves upwards in synchronism with the push frame into a loading position. As soon as the cooking tray has reached its loading position outside the cooking space, the closure flap opens and the product removed from the selected tube magazine slides onto the horizontal cooking surface of the cooking tray. When the oven door is closed, the tray automatically moves back into its lowered cooking position within the Cooking space. After the heating process has been completed, the oven door extends again, and the cooking tray is automatically moved up again. This time, however, the push frame extends a little further, so that the cooking tray is moved correspondingly upwards into a serving position within the serving area. Through the serving opening in the front of the housing, behind which the serving area is located, the operator can remove the desired hot ready meal directly from the tray.

The design of the oven door according to the invention as a horizontally extendable push frame with a push front and the arrangement of a cooking tray automatically lifting when the oven door is opened on the push frame represent a transport mechanism for the cooled ready meal into the cooking space or the delivery of the hot ready meal that is as simple as it is reliable. Together with the rotatable drum storage, which allows the operator to choose between different dishes, the invention has created a structurally simple, reliably functioning and satisfying operator's wish machine for dispensing hot ready meals.

In an advantageous development of the invention, the automatic food dispenser contains two identical ovens arranged next to one another, the closure flap then being arranged in the middle between the two ovens and pivotable about its central axis to both sides, and each oven having its own dispensing space with a dispensing opening is. This means that two operators can be supplied with different ready meals at the same time. Microwave ovens, with which even frozen food can be thawed very quickly and heated to consumption temperature, are particularly suitable.

In a preferred embodiment of the automatic food machine, the tube magazines have a support base for the associated stack of ready meals, an ejection slot passing through the support base and a side ejection opening for the ejection of the lowest ready meal in each case, and a movable ejector is arranged in the area of the closure flap, which Ejection position engages in the ejection slot of one of the tube magazines. The lowest ready meal is removed from a tube magazine by rotating the drum storage while the ejector is in the eject position. Due to the relative movement between the passing tubular magazine and the fixed ejector, the ready meal to be separated is pushed out laterally by the ejector through the ejection opening in the tubular magazine in the direction of the - still closed - flap.

The ejector can, for example, be fastened to a swivel bracket that is pivotally mounted above the closure flap and can slide on the top of the closure flap, so that it is automatically pivoted upwards from its rest position into the eject position when the closure flap is opened. Instead of this passive ejection mechanism, the movement of which is coupled to the pivoting movement of the closure flap, an ejector which can be activated independently can also be provided.

The proposed automatic food machine is particularly suitable for serving pizza, which is usually round. For this reason, the tubular magazines for storing the chilled or frozen ready-meals are expediently round in cross-section. The tube magazines can, however, also have a rectangular, in particular square, cross section, for example to hold frozen packs with Italian pasta dishes.

As a mechanism for automatically lifting and lowering the tray when extending the oven door, a design has proven itself in which the push frame of the oven carries two laterally arranged bearing blocks, in each of which a pivot lever with a short and a long lever arm is pivotally mounted on the Ends of the long lever arms, the cooking tray is suspended, and at least one short lever arm interacts with a stop so that the pivoting lever pivots upwards when the push frame is extended from a certain distance traveled. This purely mechanical construction has the advantage that it does not require its own drive, but rather the movement of the cooking tray is coupled to the extension of the push frame. The entire automatic food dispenser therefore only needs three drives, namely for rotating the drum storage, opening the flap on the cooling container and extending the oven door.

In an advantageous development of the invention, the food vending machine additionally comprises at least one cutlery magazine arranged within the housing for receiving a stack of packaged disposable cutlery and an associated removal slot in the front of the housing. The user of the machine will also receive the matching cutlery along with the desired hot dish. It is useful to have an electrically operated cutout on the cutlery magazine slide provided, which moves the lowest disposable cutlery from the cutlery magazine in the direction of the removal slot.

• Figur 1 die Frontseite eines Speisen-Automates für die gleichzeitige Ausgabe von zwei heißen Fertiggerichten;
• Figur 2 den Speisen-Automaten von Figur 2, in einem perspektivischen Prinzipbild;
• Figur 3 den Speisen-Automaten von Figur 1 ohne Gehäuse, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von vorne;
• Figur 4 den Speisen-Automaten gemäß Figur 3, in einer teilweise geschnittenen Ansicht von der Seite;
• Figur 5a-5f die Entnahme eines Fertiggerichts aus dem Kühlraum des Speisen-Automaten.

An embodiment of the invention is explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It shows:

• Figure 1 shows the front of a food vending machine for the simultaneous delivery of two hot ready meals;
• Figure 2 shows the food vending machine of Figure 2, in a perspective schematic diagram;
• Figure 3 shows the food vending machine of Figure 1 without a housing, in a partially sectioned view from the front;
• Figure 4 shows the food vending machine according to Figure 3, in a partially sectioned view from the side;
• Figure 5a-5f the removal of a ready meal from the refrigerator of the automatic food machine.

The food dispenser shown in FIG. 1 from the point of view of the operator has an all-round closed housing 1. On its front side 2 there are operating elements, namely two coin inserts 3 and fields with selection keys 4. The control elements are each assigned an output opening 5 or 5 'for the desired ready meal and a double removal slot 6 for the output of packaged cutlery.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the housing 1 contains a frame 7, in the upper part of which a cooling space 8 is arranged. The inside of the cooling space 8 is accessible to authorized service personnel through a door 9 opening towards the front.

The cooling chamber 8 contains a drum store 10, which comprises six tubular magazines 11 arranged on a circular path, each for receiving a stack of frozen ready meals 12. The drum storage 10 is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis of rotation 13 in an upper pivot bearing 14 and a lower pivot bearing 15. The drum store 10 can be set in rotation by means of a geared motor 16 acting on the axis of rotation 13, the tubular magazines 11 moving in a circular path. The individual tube magazines 11 are suspended in brackets 17 fastened radially on the axis of rotation 13, so that they can be easily removed for maintenance purposes. In the walls of the tubular magazines 11, which are circular in cross section, radially outwardly directed cutouts 18 are provided, through which the ready meals 12 can be stored after opening the front side 2 and the door 9 of the cooling space 8.

At its lower end, the tubular magazines 11 have a support base 19 on which the stack of ready meals 12 stands. Corresponding to the circular path on which the tubular magazines 11 travel, curved ejection slots 20 pass through the shelves 19. Lateral ejection openings 21 serve to eject the lowest ready meal 12 in each case.

A cooling unit 22 arranged in the lower part of the frame 7 maintains the required low storage temperature within the cooling space 8.

A rectangular opening 23 is provided in the underside of the cooling space 8, to which a removal shaft 24 adjoins at the bottom. A closure flap 25 closes the removal shaft 24 and thus the cooling space 8 in a cold-tight manner from the bottom. The closure flap 25 is pivotable about its central axis 26 to both sides. By means of an electric servomotor 27, the closure flap 25 can pivot either clockwise or counterclockwise.

Above the closure flap 25, a pivot bracket 28 is pivotally mounted in the side walls of the removal shaft 24. Approximately in the middle, the swivel bracket 28 carries an ejector 29, which is designed here as a rectangular plate. With its lower edge, the ejector 29 slides on the top of the closure flap 25. To reduce friction, the ejector 29 carries a small roller 30 at its lower end.

In the lower part of the frame 7, two identical furnaces 31 and 31 'are arranged in parallel next to one another. The heat is generated by electromagnetic microwaves. Each oven 31 or 31 'has a horizontally extendable push frame 32 with a push front 33 which forms the oven door. A lifting cylinder 34 serves as the drive for the push frame 32. The push frame 32 carries a laterally arranged bearing block 35 on the right and left. A respective pivot lever 36 with a short lever arm 37 and a long lever arm 38 is pivotally mounted in the associated bearing block 35. At the ends of the long lever arms 38, a cooking tray is suspended so that its flat cooking surface 40 is always horizontal. In the interior of the furnace 31, a stop 40 is provided on the right and left on the side, which interacts with the corresponding short lever arm 37 (see FIG. 4).

If the oven 31 is closed, ie the push frame 32 with the push front 33 is completely retracted, the cooking tray 39 is in its lowered cooking position within the cooking space 41, as shown in dashed lines in FIG. If the push frame 32 is now extended to the front, the fixed stop 40 strikes the short lever arm 37 which is also transported from a certain distance traveled, which, when the push frame 32 is extended further, causes the pivoting lever 36 to pivot and the cooking tray 39 suspended thereon to be lifted out leads upwards. In FIG. 4, the cooking tray 39 is drawn with solid lines in the loading position. After placing a ready meal 12 removed from the cooling space 8 on the cooking surface, the drawer front 33 of the oven 31 closes again, the cooking tray 39 due to the interaction between the short lever arm 37 and the stop 40 corresponding to the distance traveled back into its lowered cooking position within the cooking space 41 is moved back.

After a ready meal 12 has been heated inside the oven 31, its push frame 32 opens again, the cooking tray 39 again being raised automatically. If the push frame 32 is extended a little further to the front via the position shown in FIG. 4, the cooking tray also moves a little further upward in the direction of the arrow until it reaches its dispensing position within a dispensing space 42 and just below the closure flap 25. In this (not shown) serving position, it is possible for an operator to reach through the corresponding dispensing opening 5 (see FIG. 2) into the immediately behind serving space 42 and to take the hot ready meal directly away from the cooking surface 40 of the raised cooking tray 39.

It can also be seen from FIG. 2 that cutlery magazines 43 for accommodating a stack of packaged disposable cutlery are arranged inside the housing 1 on the right and left. Electrically operated pushers 44 are provided on these cutlery magazines 42, by means of which the bottom disposable cutlery is pushed out of the respective cutlery magazine 43 to the front so that it can be gripped by the operator through the associated removal slot 6 on the front side 2.

The separation and removal of a frozen ready meal 12 from the cooling space 8 and its task on the cooking tray 39 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 5a to 5f.

In Figure 5a, the closure flap 25 is in its horizontal rest position, in which it closes the removal shaft 24 in a cold-tight manner at the bottom. The ejector 29 with its roller 30 lies loosely on the top of the closure flap 25. The swivel bracket 28, which carries the ejector 29, is also in the horizontal rest position. A tube magazine 11 is located vertically above the opening 23 in the underside of the cooling space 8 and thus also directly above the closure flap 25. The lowest frozen ready meal 12 lies on the slightly inclined support base 19 of the tube magazine 11, it already has something to the side of the ejection opening 21 protrudes.

The removal process is now initiated by rotating the closure flap 25 by approximately 20 degrees in the clockwise direction, as shown in FIG. 5b. Here, the swivel bracket 28 with the ejector 29 is also pushed upwards in the direction of the tubular magazine 11.

In the next process step, shown in FIG. 5c, the tubular magazine 11 is slowly moved in the direction of the arrow by rotating the drum store 10 on its predetermined circular path. As a result, the upper part of the ejector 29 comes into engagement with the ejection slot 20 in the support base 19 in a finger-like manner. Due to the relative movement between the tubular magazine 11 and the fixed ejector 29, the ready meal 12 begins to slide out of the ejection opening 21 laterally. If the tubular magazine 11 has been moved far enough in the direction of the arrow, the ready meal finally falls from the support base 19 onto the surface of the closure flap 25.

Subsequently (see FIG. 5d), the closure flap 25 returns to its horizontal rest position. Due to the special design of the removal shaft 24 and the limited pivoting of the closure flap 25 by approximately 20, the removal of the separated ready meal 12 from the tubular magazine 11 could be accomplished without cold air having escaped from the cooling chamber 8 downwards.

The actual delivery of the selected ready-to-serve meal 12 from the cooling space 8 now takes place by a further pivoting of the closure flap 25, the angle of rotation about the central axis 26, however, being larger and being approximately 30. As can be seen in FIG. 5e, a slot opens between the lower edge of the removal shaft 24 and the upper side of the pivoted closure flap 25, through which the ready meal 12 can slide obliquely downwards. Depending on the direction in which the closure flap 25 arranged in the middle between the two furnaces 31 and 31 'is pivoted, the finish slides to the right (Fig. 5e) or to the left (Fig. 5f). The closure flap 25, which can be pivoted equally about its central axis 26 in both directions, thus represents a switch with which an individual ready-made meal 12 either the cooking tray 39 of the left-hand oven 31 or the cooking tray 39 'of the right-hand oven 31' (see FIG. 3) is fed.

After completing the removal and delivery cycle described above, the closure flap returns to its horizontal closed position, as shown in Figure 5a.

The control and timing of the geared motor 16, which sets the drum store 10 in rotation, the servo motor 27, which pivots the closure flap 25, the lifting cylinder 34 for opening the oven 31 or 31 'and the pusher 44 on the cutlery magazines 43 a control electronics (not shown in the drawings), which also contains a regulation for maintaining the correct heating times.

List of reference numbers

• 1 housing
• 2 front (of 1)
• 3 coin slot
• 4 selection buttons
• 5 dispensing opening
• 6 removal slot
• 7 frame
• 8 cold room
• 9 door (of 8)
• 10 drum storage
• 11, 11 'tube magazine (in 10)
• 12 ready meal
• 13 axis of rotation (of 10)
• 14 upper pivot bearing (of 13)
• 15 lower pivot bearings (of 13)
• 16 gear motor
• 17 bracket (from 11, 11
• 18 cutout (in 11)
• 19 shelves (of 11)
• 20 ejection slot (in 11)
• 21 discharge opening (at 11)
• 22 cooling unit
• 23 opening (in 8)
• 24 removal shaft
• 25 flap
• 26 central axis (of 25)
• 27 servomotor
• 28 swivel bracket
• 29 ejectors (on 28)
• 30 rolls (of 29)
• 31.31 'oven
• 32 push frames
• 33 drawer front
• 34 lifting cylinders
• 35 bearing block (on 32)
• 36 swivel levers
• 37 short lever arm (of 36)
• 38 long lever arm (of 36)
• 39, 39 'cooking tray
• 40 stop
• 41 cooking space (out of 31)
• 42 dispensing area (behind 5)
• 43 cutlery magazine
• 44 pusher

Claims (8)

1. Food vending machine for dispensing hot ready meals, comprehensive - A housing (1) with a front (2) in which controls are provided; - a cooling room (8) for storing a supply of chilled packaged ready meals (12); - At least one oven (31) arranged under the cooling chamber (8) with a cooking chamber (41) for receiving a cooled ready meal (12), an oven door provided with an opening mechanism and a movable cooking surface mechanically coupled to the oven door; - An electromechanical removal device which is provided on the underside of the cooling space (8) and which takes a single ready meal (12) from the cooling space (8) and slides over a pivoting closure flap (25) onto the cooking surface when the oven door is open; - A dispensing space (42) accessible to the operator for dispensing the hot ready meal;
characterized in that - Inside the cooling chamber (8) a drum storage (10) rotatable about a vertical axis of rotation (13) is provided, which comprises a number of tubular magazines (11, 11 ') arranged on a circular path for receiving a stack of cooled ready meals (12) ; - The furnace (31) has a horizontally extendable push frame (32) with a push front (33) which forms the furnace door; - On the push frame (32), a cooking tray (39) with a horizontal cooking surface can be raised and lowered so that when the push frame (32) is extended from a lowered cooking position inside the cooking space (41) upwards into a loading position outside the cooking area mes (41) and when the push frame (32) is fully extended it is moved further up to a dispensing position within the dispensing space (42); - The closure flap (25) of the cooling space (8) is arranged below the circular path of the tubular magazines (11, 11 ') and above the cooking tray (39) in the loading position; - The dispensing space (42) lies behind an dispensing opening (5) in the front (2) of the housing (1). 2. Food machine, characterized in that - two identical furnaces (31, 31 ') are provided side by side; - The closure flap (25) is arranged in the middle between the two ovens (31, 31 ') and is pivotable about its central axis (26) on both sides; - Each oven (31, 31 ') is assigned a discharge space (42) with a discharge opening (5, 5'). 3. Food machine according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that - The tubular magazines (11, 11 ') each have a support base (19) for the stack of ready meals (12), an ejection slot (20) passing through the support base (19) and a side ejection opening (21) for the ejection of the lowest ready meal ( 12) have; - In the area of the closure flap (25) a movable ejector (29) is arranged, which engages in the ejection position in the ejection slot (20) of one of the tubular magazines (11, 11). 4. Food machine according to claim 3, characterized in that - A pivot bracket (28) is pivotally mounted above the closure flap (25) and carries the ejector (29); - The ejector (29) rests on the top of the closure flap (25) and is pushed upwards out of its rest position into the eject position. 5. Food machine according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the tubular magazines (11, 11 ') have a round cross-section. 6. Food machine according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that - The push frame (32) of the furnace (31) carries two laterally arranged bearing blocks (35); - In the bearing blocks (35) a two-armed pivot lever (36) with a short (37) and a long (38) lever arm is pivotally mounted; - The cooking tray (39) is suspended from the ends of the long lever arms (38); - At least one short lever arm (37) cooperates with a fixed stop (40) in such a way that the pivot lever (36) pivots upwards from a certain travel distance when the push frame (32) is extended. 7. Food vending machine according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that - At least one cutlery magazine (43) for receiving a stack of packaged disposable cutlery is arranged within the housing (1); - At least one removal slot (6) for disposable cutlery is provided in the front (2) of the housing (1). 8. Automatic food dispenser according to claim 7, characterized in that an electrically operated ejector (44) is provided for the lowest disposable cutlery in each case on the cutlery magazine (43).

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