EP1684601A1

EP1684601A1 - Single-block destemmer-crusher apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP1684601A1
Application number: EP03768097A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Antonio Velo
Original assignee: Velo SpA
Current assignee: Velo SpA
Priority date: 2003-11-03
Filing date: 2003-11-03
Publication date: 2006-08-02
Also published as: AU2003292515A1; WO2005041696A1

Abstract

Single-block destemmer-crusher apparatus to both separate grapes from stalks and press the grapes, making use of a single fixed-speed motor (50) to drive all functional parts (20, 16, 30, 41, 42) thereof with equally fixed gear ratios. Advantages: Simplified, but equally reliable construction of the apparatus. Quality of the product resulting from the pressed grapes.

Description

SINGLE-BLOCK DESTEMMER-CRUSHER APPARATUS * * * DESCRIPTION The present invention refers to a single-unit grape-processing apparatus of the type commonly known as a destemmer-crusher and used in the wine-making industry. Although such aα apparatus is used to also process other kinds of fruit (such as cherries, currants, and the like), for reasons of greater simplicity reference will in particular be made to the processing of grapes in the following description. An apparatus of this kind, currently made by the Applicant and marketed under the model designation DPC, comprises: - a hopper for loading the bunches of grapes, which accommodates a screw feeder for introducing the bunches of grapes into a casing with an elongated shape; - a beater shaft, attached to the screw feeder and aligned therewith, provided with a plurality of radial vanes spaced from each other in a helical pattern; - a perforated cylindrical envelope, provided coaxially with the beater shaft, whose cylindrical surface is arranged at a very short distance from the free extremities of the vanes of the beater shaft. Jointly with the beater shaft, this cylindrical envelope ensures the so-called destemming of the bunches of grapes, i.e. the complete separation of the grapes (which are able to escape through the perforations of the cylindrical envelope) from the stalks (which are unloaded through an aperture provided at the end of the horizontal casing); - a first vertical-axis electric motor that rotatably drives the screw feeder, the beater shaft and the cylindrical envelope, or cage, via motion transmission means that comprise a bevel-gear drive; - a pair of parallel, counter-rotating and adjustably spaced rollers driven by a second motor, which are made of a food-grade soft rubber compound and are arranged at an adjustable centre-to- centre distance from each other. In this way, it is practically ensured that solely the grapes escaping from the perforated cylindrical envelope, and not possible foreign matters that are harder than the grapes themselves, undergo a pressing action by the rollers, while the resulting product (i.e. grape juice and skins) is let out through a drawer sliding along the bottom portion of the horizontal casing; - a second horizontal-axis electric motor for rotatably driving the pressing rollers in a manner that is fully independent of the motor driving the destemming parts; - a discharge aperture for unloading destemmed stalks at the terminal extremity of the horizontal casing. Following considerations have to be made in connection with such a kind of apparatus: a) considering that the physical characteristics of the raw material processed in the apparatus, i.e. the average size of the grape clusters and the related grapes can vary to even a wide extent, and that an efficient operation must be in all cases and anyway ensured, the need arises for the rotating speed of the beater shaft (and, as a result, also the screw feeder and the perforated cylindrical envelope) to be adjusted each time. This adjustment, that anyway calls for an operator to perform it manually, may be carried out by using, as a first motor, an adjustable speed electric motor, a gearmotor or, again, a fixed-speed electric motor provided with variable-diameter pulley, i.e. by equipping the apparatus with a beater-shaft driving means which is certainly expensive and/or sophisticated andor relatively unreliable; b) the pressing rollers are in turn driven by a separate motor, which can therefore be kept inactive, i.e. off, if it is not desired to press also the skins of the grapes in view of obtaining a white wine. It can be readily appreciated that the provision of a second motor constitutes a further complication of the apparatus, at least from an economic point of view. Known from the disclosure in TJS-A-3 703 443 is also an apparatus which carries out with the same parts, and therefore at the same time, the separation of the grapes from the stalks and the pressing of the grapes, since the free extremities of the vanes attached to the beater shaft glide against the inner surface of a tube that slopes upwards starting from the loading hopper. On its lower portion, this tube is provided with two arrays of perforations, wherein the perforations of the lower array are larger in their size than the perforations of the higher array, so that through said first, larger perforations there can be discharged the pressed grapes, including the skins thereof, while through said second, smaller perforations there can solely escape pressed grape juice. Essentially, this apparatus has however a couple of major drawbacks, i.e.: a) it is in no case capable of solely destemming and/or solely pressing, so that it is scarcely flexible in its use; b) the functional adaptation to the changing physical properties of the raw material to be processed is obtained by varying the upward inclination of said tube, i.e. with an operation to be carried out by hand and, therefore, scarcely accurate. It would therefore be desirable, and is actually the main object of the present invention to provide a destemming-pressing apparatus, which is capable of ensuring a very flexible mode of operation capable of adapting to the physical properties of the raw material being processed without requesting any action to be performed manually by an operator to such purpose. Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a destemming-pressing apparatus of the above-cited kind, which is simple and reliable in its construction. According to the present invention, these and further aims are reached in a destemming- pressing apparatus incorporating the features as defined and recited in the appended claims. These features, along with the advantages deriving therefrom, will be more readily understood from the description of a preferred, although not sole embodiment of the present invention, which is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 is a front view of the apparatus according to the present invention; - Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line A-A in Figure 1;

- Figure 3 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view along the line B-B in Figure 1 ;

- Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line C-C in Figure 2;

- Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line D-D in Figure 2;

- Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line E-E in Figure 2; - Figure 7 is a front view of the apparatus according to the present invention in a second embodiment and a first operating condition thereof;

- Figure 8 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line A-A in Figure 7;

- Figure 9 is a front view of the apparatus illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, in a second operating condition thereof;

- Figure 10 is a partial longitudinal cross-sectional view of the apparatus along the line B-B in Figure 9. The grape destemming-pressing apparatus shown in the Figures comprises a roughly cylindrically shaped casing 10 made of stainless steel, which extends along a horizontal axis X and is associated to a hopper 15, which is also made of stainless steel and is loaded with the raw material to be processed, i.e. the bunches of grapes. This casing 10 is supported by two pairs of legs 12, which are situated under the hopper 15 and the front or free end portion thereof, respectively (see Figures 1 and 2), and are provided with wheels or castors 14 in view of enabling the apparatus to be conveniently displaced, if and whenever this may be needed, in particular within a winery or wine-making facility. On the top portion of the casing 10 there is a cover, which is also made of stainless steel and is hinged along an axis extending parallel to the above-mentioned axis X, although it is not shown in the accompanying Figures in view of more clearly and evidently illustrating the functional parts and details of the apparatus described below. On the bottom of the hopper 15 there is provided a screw feeder 16 of stainless steel, which extends along the axis X and transfers the raw material into the interior of the casing 10 through a circular aperture 11 in the wall that is shared by the casing 10 and the hopper 15. Beyond the aperture 11, and up to the front end portion 13 of the casing 10, where a journal bearing 17 is provided, there extends a shaft 20, which is generally designated as beater shaft and is attached to the screw feeder 16 and extends along the same axis X. As well-known to all those skilled in the art, the term beater shaft derives from the plurality of radial vanes 22 that are attached to the shaft itself in a helical pattern with respect to the same axis X and co-operate with a cylindrical envelope 30 surrounding said shaft over most of the length thereof, i.e. up to a point close to said journal bearing 17 - see Figure 2. The cylindrical envelope 30 is obtained by means of generally known deep-drawing, roll- forming and welding techniques starting from a stainless-steel blank. The end portions thereof are provided with radial flanges 34A and 34B, which are obtained by means of heading operations and are such as to ensure the centering, i.e. the concentric placement thereof. In the proximity of the first flange 34A, which is the closest one to the hopper 15, after a first smooth circumferential band

31 the cylindrical envelope 30 features a second circumferential band, in which there is provided a series of equally spaced elongated slots 38, parallel to the axis X, whose function shall be explained in greater detail further on. Beyond these oblong slots 38, the remaining surface of the cylindrical envelope 30 features a great number of perforations 36 (distributed uniformly all over said surface, resemblant to the rotating drum of a clothes washing machine), which are sized as to prevent the sole stalks, after the separations of the grapes, from passing therethrough, as this shall be described in greater detail .further on. In proximity of the second flange 34B, the cylindrical envelope 30 features another smooth circumferential band 33, which is free from either perforations 36 or slots 38. Upon both said smooth circumferential bands 31 and 33 (see Figures 1 and 3) there are acting some rollers 32 fixed inside the casing 10 in order to ensure the correct alignment of the cylindrical envelope 30 along the axis X. According to an important feature of the present invention, between the screw feeder 16 and the beater shaft 20, and attached thereto, there is placed a hollow member 35 in a frusto- pyramidal shape, which shall be designated as diffuser in the following description. As this is best shown in Figures 2 and 5, this diffuser member 35 has the smaller base thereof located immediately beyond the circular aperture 11 of the wall shared by the casing 10 and the hopper 15, and the larger base thereof, whose overall size is suitably larger than the diameter of the circular aperture 11 and smaller than the inside diameter of the perforated cylindrical envelope 30, located in correspondence of the vanes 22 that are the closest ones to the hopper 15. Thanks to this diffuser member 35, an adaptation of the delivery rate of raw material undergoing destemming to the physical properties of the same raw material is obtained automatically, i.e. without any need for an operator to do this manually. The possibility is in this way given for a single fixed-speed (and, therefore, low-cost and highly reliable) electric motor 50 to be used to drive, among other things, the screw feeder 16, the beater shaft 20, the diffuser member 35 and the perforated cylindrical envelope 30. It has furthermore been found that, thanks to a uniform delivery rate of the raw material, the bunch of grapes is practically prevented from being "whipped" and the skins of the grapes are prevented from breaking up, so that the resulting product is advantageously free from polyols and catechins. Under both the hopper 15 and the portion of casing 10 that is adjacent thereto, as well as in communication with said hopper and casing, the apparatus comprises a second casing 40, which is again made of stainless steel and houses the parts of the apparatus that are used to press the grapes upon them being separated from the stalks. These parts substantially consist of a pair of four-lobe rollers 41 and 42 (see Figure 5), which are made of synthetic materials capable of deforrning elastically and are mounted on respective horizontal shafts 43 and 44, whose axes PI and P2 are fixed and parallel to the axis X (see Figure 6). In order to allow for the pressed grapes and/or the resulting grape juice to be duly let out, said second casing 40 is open on the bottom at 49, so as to be able to be connected, say, to a vinification tank and/or a transfer pump. One of the most important features of the present invention lies in the means used to drive the apparatus, as described below. The apparatus calls for the use of a single fixed-speed electric motor 50, e.g. an asynchronous motor, which is supported by the lower portion of the first casing 10 by means of a bracket 51, in such a manner that the axis M of said motor is parallel to the axis X, too. On the shaft 52 of the motor 50, which protrudes under the hopper 15, there is shrink-fitted a sprocket wheel 53 that is connected via a first chain 54 (or, alternatively, a cog belt) to a gearwheel 29 located thereabove and shrink-fitted on to the thinner end portion 27 of the beater shaft 20, said end portion protruding below the hopper 15, too (see Figures 1 and 2). The gear ratio of the motor 50 to the beater shaft 20 with the screw feeder 16 is obviously fixed and in the order of 4:1. Shrink-fitted on to the same end portion 27 of the beater shaft 20 there is also a sprocket 28 that is connected via a second chain 55 and a chain-stretching (or belt-stretching) wheel to both a second gearwheel 57 and the sprockets 45 and 46 that are mounted on the cantilever end portions of the shafts 43 and 44 of the pressing rollers 41 and 42, respectively (see Figures 2, 5 and 6). This second gearwheel 57 is mounted on a first cantilever end portion of a shaft 58, whose axis C is parallel to the axis X. This shaft 58 is supported by means of bearings provided with two vertical brackets 18 and 19 protruding below the hopper 15. Steink-fitted on to the other cantilever end portion of the same shaft 58, which lies below the end portion of the cylindrical envelope 30 that is the closest to the hopper 15, there is a cog- roller 59 made of nylon or similar plastic material. According to a feature of the present invention, the cogs of this roller 59 are designed in such a manner as to enable them to directly mesh with and engage the slots 38 of the cylindrical envelope 30, thereby avoiding the use of any additional power-transmission means (see Figure 3). Owing to the remarkable difference existing between the diameter of the cylindrical envelope 30 and the diameter of the gear wheel 29, which receives its motion from the motor 50, it can be readily appreciated that the cylindrical envelope 30 revolves in the same direction as the beater shaft 20, however at a definitely smaller number of rounds per minute and, anyway, at a fixed gear, i.e. velocity ratio. It is exactly this difference between the corresponding tangential velocities of the vanes 22 of the same cylindrical envelope 30 that causes the grapes to separate from the stalk during destenmung, after which the same grapes are capable of passing through the perforations 36 so as to fall into the second casing 40 between the pressing rollers 41 and 42. As this has been already hinted at above, the second chain 55 also meshes with the teeth of the sprockets 45 and 46 that are mounted on the cantilever end portions of the shafts 43 and 44 of the pressing rollers 41 and 42, respectively (see Figures 1 and 6). These sprockets 45 and 46, which ensure a fixed gear ratio, are mounted idle, but, according to a further feature of the present invention, are provided with such means as cotter pins or the like, which enable them to be alternatively blocked on to the respective shaft, whenever this may also be needed. With particular reference to Figure 1, and assuming that the motor 50 only revolves in the clockwise direction, if the sprocket 45 is blocked, while the sprocket 46 is left idle, the result is that the pressing roller 41 is driven by the chain 55 to revolve clockwise, thereby forcing the other pressing roller 42 to revolve in the anti-clockwise direction, so that the grapes are really and effectively pressed. On the contrary, if it is the sprocket 46 that is blocked, while the sprocket 45 is left idle, the result is that it is actually the pressing roller 42 that is driven by the chain 55 to revolve in the clockwise direction, thereby forcing the pressing roller 41 to revolve in the anti-clockwise direction, so that the grapes are not pressed, but rather fall towards the lower aperture 49 of the second casing 40. This second operation mode of the apparatus is selected when the apparatus itself is used to destemming purposes only, whereas pressing is done in another apparatus, such as for instance a pneumatic press. This in particular stresses the fact that, thanks to the present invention, no need arises for a sophisticated and/or expensive driving arrangement to be used any longer, as this on the contrary is the case in the afore-illustrated prior art. The second embodiment includes a system provided to vary the distance of the beater shaft with respect to the cylindrical envelope. This particular feature of the present invention enables not only the effectiveness of the beater shaft to be enhanced, so as to prevent residues of any kind from being able to mingle with destemmed grapes, but also the cylindrical envelope to be more effectively wiped clean and smaller grapes, that may still be attached to the stalks, to be properly destemmed, too. This second embodiment of the present invention differs from the first afore-described one for the details that are specifically illustrated in the Figures 7 to 10, the remaining construction of the apparatus being for the rest substantially unaltered with respect to the one described in connection with the first embodiment. For this reason, as well as for reasons of greater simplicity and better comprehension, homologous component parts entering the construction of this second embodiment will be indicated using the same reference numerals as used in connection with the first embodiment, however with the addition of the prefix "1". At an end portion thereof, the beater shaft 120 is supported by a journal bearing 117, which is provided in contact with the inner surface of the casing 110 in a position corresponding to the front end portion 113 of said casing. Said bearing 117 has an eccentric cavity 117a adapted to receive a corresponding journal 120a of the beater shaft 120, which extends along the same axis X thereof. Firmly joined to the journal bearing 117, externally of said front end portion 113 of the casing and, therefore, accessible to the operator, there is provided a crank 190. This crank 190 is made so as to be able to perform a rotation of 90° in the clockwise or anti-clockwise direction with respect to an intermediate vertical position thereof (in which both the beater shaft 120 and the cylindrical envelope 130 usually extend along the same axis X), thereby reaching the positions shown in Figures 7 and 9, respectively, and correspondingly moving the journal bearing 117, which it is firmly joined to. This journal bearing 117 is mounted in such a manner that to said positions reached by said crank 190 there corresponds a maximum extent of upwards or downwards eccentricity of the cavity 117a with respect to the axis X, as this is illustrated in Figures 8 and 10, respectively. At this point, it can be readily appreciated that the movement of the crank 190 is capable of determining two extreme working points of the beater shaft 120. By rotating the crank 190 by 90° in the anticlockwise direction, starting from the above-mentioned intermediate position thereof and moving on in the direction indicated as FI in Figure 7, the journal bearing 117 is caused to perform the same rotation, which therefore carries the front end portion of the beater shaft 120 with it and, hence, causes the latter to incline upwards. To such inclination of the beater shaft there corresponds a displacement of the tips of the radial vanes 122 away from the cylindrical envelope 130, since the latter keeps extending along the axis X. Conversely, by rotating the crank 190 by 90° clockwise in the direction indicated as F2 in Figure 9, the tips of the radial vanes 122 are caused to move closer to said cylindrical envelope 130. It stands as a matter of fact that other intermediate positions of the crank 190 can be possibly provided, as well, so as to enable the inclination of the beater shaft 120 relative to the cylindrical envelope 130, and therefore the actual distance of the tips of the radial vanes 122 from the same cylindrical envelope 130, to be modulated, i.e. adjusted as desired. Locking means (not shown in the Figures) may be provided for the crank 190, which may also have extreme positions differing from HIQ ones illustrated in the Figures. Owing to the adequate mechanical clearance provisions in the gear assembly situated on the rear side of the apparatus (which is substantially the same as the one described in connection with the first embodiment), the beater shaft 120 is capable of inclining without any need arising for particular mechanical measures to be taken to such purpose. If required, especially in the case of quite marked extents of eccentricity of the cavity 117a, use can possibly be made of a universal joint (not shown) at the opposite end portion of the beater shaft. It can be readily appreciated that a solution as the just above described one is capable of being most easily adapted for application to the rollers 132 used to sustain the cylindrical envelope 130, such as by for instance mounting one or more rollers 132 on an eccentric journal bearing. By varying each time the positions of said eccentric journals, the possibility is given for the position of the axis of the cylindrical envelope 130 to be correspondingly varied relative to the axis X of the beater shaft 120. Although the above description refers to currently preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is readily appreciated that apparatus according to the present invention may be developed and implemented in a number of different embodiments and be the subject of a number of other variants and modifications without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. Single-block destemmer-crusher apparatus comprising: - a hopper (15) for loading the raw material to be processed, which supports, near its bottom, a screw feeder (16) extending along an horizontal axis (X), - a casing (10) in an elongated shape, separated from the hopper (15) by a wall provided with an aperture (11) that is coaxial with the screw feeder (16) and has no smaller diameter than the latter, - a beater shaft (20) that carries a plurality of radial vanes (22), is attached to the screw feeder (16) and extends along the same axis (X) into the casing (10) so as to be supported by a journal bearing (17) provided at the opposite end portion, - a cylindrical envelope (30), provided with perforations (36) and coaxial with the beater shaft, which jointly with the vanes (22) of the beater shaft (20) ensures destemming of the grapes, - a pair of parallel and counter-rotating rollers (41, 42) adapted to press the grapes which, separated from their stalks, fall from said perforations (36) of the cylindrical envelope (30), - driving means, characterized in that said driving means consist of a single fixed-speed motor (50) associated to both a first group of power-transmission means (53, 54, 29; 28, 55, 57, 59, 38), which connect the motor (50) to the beater shaft (20) jointly with the screw feeder (16) so as to cause them to rotate simultaneously, and a second group of power-transmission means (28, 55, 45, 46) so as to rotatably drive the pressing rollers (41, 42), all of said power-transmission means being at a fixed gear ratio.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the axis (M) of said motor is substantially parallel to the axis (X) of the beater shaft (20; 120), the screw feeder (16) and the cylindrical envelope (30; 130).

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that some of said power-transmission means (53, 28, 55) are common to both said groups of power-transmission means.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said first group of power- transmission means (53, 54, 29; 28, 55, 57, 59, 38) causes the cylindrical envelope (30; 130) to revolve in the same direction as the beater shaft (20; 120) with the screw feeder (16), however at a different speed.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each one of the power- transmission means (45, 46) associated to the pressing rollers (41, 42) is capable of being alternatively blocked so as to cause the revolving direction of the rollers to be reversed, while said motor (50) and all other power-transmission means (53, 54, 29; 28, 55, 57, 59, 38) keep revolving in the same direction.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylindrical envelope (30) is driven by said first group of power-transmission means (53, 54, 29; 28, 55, 57, 59, 38).

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said first group of power- transmission means includes a cog-roller (59), preferably made of plastic material, which is adapted to directly mesh with a plurality of slots (38) provided in the cylindrical envelope (30), the latter being preferably made of stainless steel.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that said first group of power- transmission means includes known means such as for instance a pinion-gearwheel coupling.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressing rollers (41, 42) are provided with a plurality of lobes and are made of synthetic materials that are capable of deforming elastically.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressing rollers (41, 42) are mounted on respective shafts (43, 44), the axes (PI, P2) of which are fixed and parallel.

11. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that between the beater shaft (20; 120) and the screw feeder (16) there is placed, and attached to the same members, a diffuser member (35), which has a cross-section that is progressively increasing towards the opposite end portion of the cylindrical envelope (30; 130) and ensures that the delivery rate of raw material from the screw feeder (16) into the casing (10) is adapted to the physical properties of the same raw material being processed.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that said diffuser member (35) is a hollow body in the shape of a frustum of a pyramid, which is preferably made of stainless steel as the beater shaft (20; 120), the vanes (22; 122) thereof and the screw feeder (16), in which the smaller base of said diffuser member is located beyond the aperture (11) in the wall separating the casing (10) from the hopper (15), and the larger base thereof, which is larger in size than said aperture (11), is located in correspondence of the vanes (22; 122) that are the closest ones to the hopper (15).

13. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means (190, 117, 117a, 120a) for varying the relative position of the axis (X) of the beater shaft (120) with respect to the axis of the cylindrical envelope (130).

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that said adjustment means include a crank (190) provided on the outside of the casing (10) and connected to a journal bearing bush

(117) that is in turn provided with an eccentric cavity (117a) adapted to accommodate an end portion (120a) of the beater shaft (120).

15. Apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that at least some of the rollers (132) sustaining the cylindrical envelope (130) are provided with means adapted to vary the relative position of the axis (X) of the beater shaft (120) with respect to the axis of the cylindrical envelope (130).