GB2110626A - Fermentation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Fermentation apparatus serves the purpose of providing optimum charging of an oven with matured dough pieces and of allowing a change or correction in fermenting time to be carried out with no or an only brief charging pause in the dough transfer to, in particular, a feed belt of the oven, the apparatus comprising a fermentation cabinet (1) and a meandering transport system which comprises a pair of endless feed chains (9) and a pair of endless transport chains (10) with carrier hangers (11; 12) each equipped with several bread moulds. The chains are conducted by deflecting chain wheels (13, 15) in such a manner that a horizontal return path section of the feed chains has a plurality of transfer stations (14a-d) which are arranged one after the other and each closely associated with a respective one of a plurality of deflection zones of the transport chains guided underneath in the manner of an endless conveyor type elevator. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Fermentation apparatus The present invention relates to a fermentation apparatus, and has particular reference to apparatus for varying the time of passage of dough through a fermentation cabinet in a continuous dough processing plant for the production of bread or the like.

Dough fermentation apparatus is used in the field of automatically and continuously operating dough processing plant for the production of bread, wherein programmed regulation of the fermenting time takes place in progression. Carrier hangers, each equipped with several bread moulds, may be suspended to be freely pendulating at uniform spacing from two endless parallel transport chains guided in space-saving manner over several chain wneel pairs to circulate around a meandering path in a fermentation chamber. The fermentation path, measured from a charging station to a dicharging station, is always constant by contrast to the stepless variation of the fermenting time in fermenting apparatus for the production of wheat biscuits, and depends constructionally on the maximum fermenting and baking time, the spacing of the carrier hangers and the throughput of an associated baking oven.

Automatic drive of the transport chains is effected intermittently and is controlled by means of control gears of eiectro-mechanical pulse counters, according to a preselected program of the charging sequence from a transfer device above the charging station. For the charging of the carrier hangers with shaped pieces of dough, a respective carrier hanger with empty bread moulds is placed in readiness underneath the charging station. The tranport chains are stationary during the transfer of the dough blanks by means of the transfer device and are set into motion only immediately after completion of transfer and until the succeeding carrier hanger has reached the charging station. The time during which a series of pieces of dough is transferred represents the charging time interval This is dependent on the throughput, i.e. on the number of pieces of dough per hour and rows.With the knowledge that the duration of fermentation results from the number of carrier hangers within the fermenting path multiplied by the charging time interval dependent on the throughput, the maximum fermenting time is achieved through charging of each carrier hanger, as is evident in principle from DE-PS 1230374. A variation or shortening of the fermenting time is obtained if carrier hangers in certain, programmable sequence pass the charging station without stopping and are moved empty through the fermenting pass, as is apparent in principle from DE-PS 2109363 for smaller fermenting paths.It is a condition for the programming of the charging sequence that the number of carrier hangers retained within the fermenting path is divisibie by a whole number to achieve synchronism in the charging and emptying, i.e. when an empty carrier hanger passes the charging station without stopping, the same must take place simultaneously at the emptying station, since charged carrier hangers otherwise pass the emptying station without stopping, are not emptied and cause interruptions in that during repetition of the charging process further pieces of dough fall into those still lying in the carrier hanger, which have already once traversed the fermenting path.

The common disadvantage of the known fermenting apparatus consists particularly in that a necessary resetting of the fermenting duration to another program stage during the continuous production is possible in consequence of the required synchronism only when the charging of the carrier hangers is stopped and the fermenting path conveyor is driven empty by means of its own automatic control system. This means an interruption of the continuous production run in respect of the charging of the baking oven for the time of the previously set fermenting time, which can amount to about 60 minutes, so that for example in the case of a baking oven with a baking area of 81 square metres, a production loss of about 1 500 kilograms of bread occurs and the heat energy necessary for the baking process is not utilized effectively in production during this time.

Further disadvantages are the relatively high costs and the technical complication for the electro-mechanical program control, which is susceptible to faults and can cause production stoppages.

There is accordingly a need for fermentation apparatus in which variation of the fermenting time in progression may be technically simpler and operationally more reliable than hitherto so that a program change or fermenting time correction requires little or no interruption of the transfer of dough pieces either into a fermenting path or to charging means of an associated baking oven.

According to the present invention there is provided fermentation apparatus comprising a fermentation cabinet, and an intermittently drivable endless feed conveyor and an intermittently drivable endless transport conveyor which are each provided with a plurality of freely pendulating and tiltable dough receptacles and which are guided in the cabinet around a plurality of deflection elements to define a meandering fermentation path for dough in the receptacles, the conveyors being so arranged that a substantially horizontal section of a return run of the feed conveyor passes through a plurality of dough transfer stations which are arranged one after the other in the direction of the return run and which are each disposed in association with and at a close spacing from a respective one of a plurality of zones of deflection of upwardly and downwardly extending runs of the transport conveyor below said return run section of the feed conveyor.

In a preferred embodiment, the fermentation path is provided by a pair of endless short feed chains and a pair of endless long transport chains with carrier hangers, the chains being guided around deflecting chain wheels in such a manner that a horizontal return run section of the feed chains has several selectively usable transfer stations, which are arranged one after the other and each associated with and closely spaced from respective deflections of the transport chains guided underneath in the manner of an endless conveyor type elevator. For preferance, the feed chains have a small length component of the fermentation path of variable length.Such an embodiment enables variation of the fermenting time in progression with iittle effort during a continuous production run in the manufacture of bread or the like and, apart from a simple synchronism in the fermentation cabinet, ensures an optimum throughput performance of dough processing plant incorporating the apparatus.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a schematic side elevation of fermentation apparatus with associated means for supply and removal of shaped pieces of dough.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown dough fermentation apparatus comprising a fermentation cabinet 1 with a charging station 2 above which is arranged an upstream endless transport belt 3 of a long mould device 4 and transfer equipment. The transfer equipment comprises a switching roller 5, mounted in the manner of a pendulum, an electro-mechanical pulse counter 6, and a tilting belt 8 which is provided with its own drive and which receives dough pieces 7 formed in transverse row. The number of dough pieces 7 to be received by the belt 8 is determined by the operating width of a baking oven associated with the apparatus.

Arranged in the cabinet 1 is a transport system in the form of a pair of endless feed chains 9 and a pair of endless transport chains 10. Suspended at uniform spacings between the chains of each pair are freely pendulating carrier hangers 11 and 1 2 equipped with several bread moulds. The relatively short feed chains 9 are guided around deflecting chain wheels 13 in such a manner that the carrier hangers 11, starting from the charging station 2, are conducted directly to the upper region of the cabinet interior, while a horizontal section of the return path passes through, for example, four transfer stations 14a, 1 4b, 1 4c and 1 4d, which are arranged one after the other and which are actuable by mechanical means (not shown) for mechanically controlled tilting of the hangers 11.

The longer transport chains 10 are guided on a meandering path around deflecting chain wheels 1 5 in such a manner that these have the smallest possible spacings from the transfer stations 1 4a, 1 4b, 1 4c and 1 4d in order to position the carrier hangers 12, guided forward in the manner of an endless conveyor type elevator, to receive the dough pieces after drop from a small height.

-The last deflection in the fermenting path is at a discharge station 16, which is immediately adjoined by an endless removal belt 1 7 which ends above a mesh belt 1 8 of a through-passage baking oven.

Each of the deflecting chain wheels 1 3 and 1 5 is mounted at a fixed location in a frame of the cabinet 1, disregarding means for possible correction of the chain tension. The length, variable in steps, of the fermenting path consists of the section of the feed chains 9 from the charging station 2 to a selected one of the transfer station 1 4a--d, plus the section of the transport chains 10 from the selected transfer station to the discharge station 1 6. A common drive (not shown) drives the chains 9 and 10 intermittently, the drive being controlled from the tilting belt 8.

In operation, dough pieces from a dough dividing machine (illustrated only schematically) are shaped in a long mould device 4 and continuously fed over the transfer belt 3 to the cabinet 1 via the charging station 2, the feed being carried out at a predetermined throughput rate of the apparatus to the tilting belt 8 of the transfer equipment. The transfer equipment is controlled so that each dough piece 7 on leaving the transport belt 3 catching the switching roller 5 in the line of drop sends a switching pulse to the pulse counter 6 and this in turn by way of the automatic drive of the tilting belt 8 arranged transversely to the transport direction initiates a transport movement through an amount which corresponds to the spacing of the dough pieces 7 from each other and aiso of the bread moulds from each other in the fermention apparatus.This transport movement is blocked by the respectively penultimate dough piece belonging to the piece number of the row and the following dough piece initiates a switching pulse for the tilting movement. As a result, the tilting belt 8 is caused to tilt around its longitudinal axis and the row of dough pieces drops from the belt into the bread moulds of the carrier hanger 11, respectively standing ready at the charging station 2, of the feed chains 9. The relatively short section of the fermentation path represented by the chains 9 ensures that the subsequent transfer of the dough pieces 7 to the carrier hangers 12 of the chains 10 preserves the dough quality, as the dough sensitivity during the initial phase of the fermenting process is very small, i.e. the transfer does not lead to reduction in the quality of the end product.

After tilting, the belt 8 immediately returns to its initial setting in order to receive the following dough pieces 7 brought forward by the transport belt 3. At the same time, the drive of the transport system in the cabinet 1 is switched on by this movement process until the downstream empty carrier hanger 11 has reached the charging station 2. In repetition of the transport steps and with the fermenting time set to, for example, the maximum, the dough pieces 7 pass the transfer stations 1 4a, 1 4b and 1 4c and reach the functionally active transfer station 1 4d, where the hanger 11 is tilted so as to transfer the dough pieces to the bread moulds of a carrier hanger 1 2 which is synchronously disposed below the station.The transferred dough pieces are now conducted by the chains 10 through the fermentation cabinet in steps on a meandering path. On reaching the station 16, the now matured dough pieces 7 are continuously transfered to the removal belt 1 7 through tilting of the carrier hanger 12 and, after a further treatment, for example cutting-out, ,decorating, etc., are transferred to the belt 18 of the oven.

A desired shortening of the fermentation time during production can be achieved through reduction in the length of the fermentation path by redisposing the transfer of the dough pieces 7 from the transfer station 1 4d to, for example, the station 1 4c. For this purpose, the dough piece transfer to the tilting belt 8 is interrupted briefly.

The transport system of the cabinet 1 must be switched over to its own automatic control in order to further transport the carrier hangers 11 and 12 occupied by dough pieces until the same number of empty carrier hangers 11 has passed the charging station 2 as are contained together within the fermentation path sections of the feed and transport chains 9 and 10 from transfer station 1 4c to station 1 4d. Thereafter, the automatic control of the transport system is switched over to the previous continuous dough piece transfer onto the tilting belt 8. When the first uncharged carrier hanger 11 of the chains 9 then reaches the transfer station 1 4d, this is switched off functionally and the station 14c is switched on functionally.The following empty carrier hangers 11 are tilted at the transfer station 1 4c, whilst underneath, the still charged hangers 12 of the chains 10 leave the fermentation path section from the station 1 4d to the station 1 4c. When the first charged hanger 11 in the sequence reaches the transfer station 1 4c, the first empty hanger 1 2 has arrived underneath at the same place for ..dough piece reception, and the shortening of the fermentation time is thus completed. No 'interruption of the continuous oven charging occurs.

For prolonging of the fermentation time and thus of the fermentation path, for example from the transfer station 1 4c to the station 1 4d, the functional switching-over of which takes place in the standstill time of the intermittently driven transport system, a brief interruption of the continuous oven charging onto the mesh belt 1 8 is caused in the further sequence. This charging gap results from the fact that, after switching-over takes place corresponding to a positive progression, carrier hangers 12 remain empty in the number in which they are contained together within the fermentation path sections of the chains 9 and 10 from the transfer station 1 4c to the station 1 4d. By contrast, the dough piece transfer at the charging station 2 into the carrier hangers 11 continues without interruption.

Claims (5)

1 Fermentation apparatus comprising a fermentation cabinet, and an intermittently drivable endless feed conveyor and an intermittently drivable endless transport conveyor which are each provided with a plurality of freely pendulating and tiltable dough receptacles and which are guided in the cabinet around a plurality of deflection elements to define a meadandering fermentation path for dough in the receptacles, the conveyors being so arranged that a substantially horizontal section of a return run of the feed conveyor passes through a plurality of dough transfer stations which are arranged one after the other in the direction of the return run and which are each disposed in association with and at a close spacing from a respective one of a plurality of zones of deflection of upwardly and downwardly extending runs of the transport conveyor below said return run section of the feed conveyor.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the conveyors comprises a pair of chains with the receptacles arranged therebetween and the deflection elements comprise chain wheels.

3. Apparatus as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, comprising transfer means for transferring dough to the feed conveyor and for actuation of means controlling the drive of the conveyors.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the feed conveyor defines a smaller length portion of the fermentation path than the transport conveyor.

5. Fermentation apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.