GB2202931A

GB2202931A - Pass-through refrigerator

Info

Publication number: GB2202931A
Application number: GB08806677A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gerhard Puderbach
Original assignee: Winkler & Dunnebier KG
Current assignee: Winkler & Dunnebier KG
Priority date: 1987-03-21
Filing date: 1988-03-21
Publication date: 1988-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 2008-03-21
Also published as: GB2202931B; GB8806677D0; DE3709428A1

Description

1 Pass-Through Refrigerator 9 9 fl 9 Q 9 1 ki ii U (J.- j The invention

relates to a pass-through refrigeratort for example for the cooling of chocolate products which are moulded in mould depressions and presented in their moulds, and which has devices for detecting supplied moulds, devices for conducting the moulds through a cooling region and devices for delivering the moulds.

For this purpose, the interior of conventional pass-through refrigerators contains chain-driven lifts of paternoster type with associated mechanisms at the inlet and outlet for introducing and removing the moulds.

A disadvantage of these known pass-through refrigerators is that they require complicated gearing and a multiplicity of drive and guide rollers for their operation. The moulds are pushed only loosely into the paternoster compartment; they are thus not reliably guided and may tend to wander slightly. Furthermore, a multiplicity of moulds is contained in each paternoster compartment, and as a consequence the individual moulds take different paths through the Refrigerator and thus pass through zones of differing coldness. This results in variations in the amount of cooling effected.

It is thus an object of the invention to provide a pass-through refrigerator which requires less operating costs, in which all moulds are reliably guided and in which each mould follows the same path, that is in which all moulds are exposed to substantially the same cooling effect.

2 This object of the invention is solved in that the Refrigerator has at least three magazines, that a lifting magazine is arranged between each two fixed magazines, that a number of push shafts corresponding to the number of magazines are provided and that a lifting table for raising or lowering the moulds is arranged beneath each fixed magazine.

According to the present invention there is provided a pass-through refrigerator comprising an input magazine, an output magazine and at least one intermediate magazine, means for loading an item to be cooled into the input magazine at the base of a stack of like items in the input magazine, means for unloading a cooled item from the output magazine at the base of a stack of like items in the output magazine, means for transferring stacks of items between the output and intermediate magazines and between the input and intermediate magazines, and means for selectively raising and lowering a stack of items in the intermediate magazine.

Further convenient embodiments of the pass-through Refrigerator in accordance with the invention will be apparent from the subordinate claims.

The advantages of the pass-through Refrigerator in accordance with the invention reside particularly in that with low operating costs it reliably guides the moulds through the cooling region and thus cools each mould equally effectively.

The invention will be described below in more detail with reference to a purely schematic drawing of an exemplary embodiment. The drawings show:

Figure 1: a side elevation of the pass-through 3 Refrigerator; Figure 2: a plan view on Figure 1, showing the inlet and lifting magazines filled with moulds; Figure 3: a plan view on Figure 1 showing the outlet and lifting magazines filled with moulds; Figure 4: the wall of a magazine having grooves therein for accommodating the moulds; and Figures 5-11: a representation of the sequence of movements of the transport device within the passthrough Refrigerator.

In addition to the cooling units and the thermal protective encapsulation, which are not shown, an important element of the exemplary pass-through refrigerator is the transport device for passing through the material to be cooled.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the refrigerator includes a lifting table 1 on the inlet side, a lifting table 2 on the outlet side and three vertically stacking magazines 4,5,6 which are arranged within the thermal protective encapsulation (not shown) and are substantially surrounded by it.

On the inlet side there is a fixed magazine 4, in the middle a lifting magazine 5 and on the outlet side a further fixed magazine 6.

The lifting table 1 is arranged below the magazine 4 on the inlet side, while the lifting table 2 is arranged below the magazine 6 on the outlet side.

As can be seen in Figure 4, the side walls 7 of the magazines 4, 5 and 6 have grooves 8 which constitute shafts for receiving the moulds 9. On the base of the grooves 8, plastic strips 10 are disposed which reduce friction and simultaneously serve to reduce the sensitivity to dirt deposits.

d.

4 Arranged adjacent each magazine is a respective pair of rod-shaped push shafts 11 l 12 and 13 which are displaceable horizontally to the right from the position illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 into the position of Figure 3. They are in operative connection in a manner to be described later with the transport device of the entire machine by means of a chain drive 14. This transport device is a so-called advancer, which is also termed a "walking beam". This is the designation for a rod arranged in the floor of the installation and extending the entire length of the installation which performs a back and forth movement and effects transport of the moulds via pawl-like carriers. This movement is transferred to the lower run of the chain drive 14 which thus performs the same movement as the advancer. The push-shafts 11, 12 and 13 are articulated to the upper run of the chain drive 14. They thus perform a horizontal movement in the opposite sense to the movement of the advancer. The path which the push shafts cover corresponds approximately to the breadth of a magazine plus the breadth of the gap between the magazines.

In addition to the push shafts 11 p 12 and 13, the central magazine, the so called lifting magazine 5, is constructed to be movable. It can perform a vertical movement of pitch "s" (Figure 4) measured along the magazine wall. This distance "s" corresponds to the distance from the floor of a mould 9 to the floor of a mould situated above it in the shaft.

To produce this lifting movement, a hydraulic cylinder 15 is arranged below the pass-through refrigerator and acts via a linkage 16 on the wall 7 of the lifting magazine 5 to lift or lower the magazine by is the said amount. The hydraulic cylinder 15 simultaneously actuates the lifting tables 1 and 2. This is done by two-armed levers 17 and 18 which, with one arm, engage the hydraulic cylinder 15 and which. with the other arm, engage the lifting tables 1 and 2 respectively. The lever arm ratio of the levers 17 and 18 is so selected that a lifting movement of the lifting magazine 5 produces the lifting movement of the necessary size for the lifting tables.

It must be clearly appreciated, in order to follow the subsequent description, that the purpose of the lifting table 1 is to supply new (uncooled) moulds to the base of the stack of moulds in the magazine 4, and that the purpose of the lifting table 2 is to deliver the finished cooled moulds from the base of the stack of moulds in the magazine 6. When the lifting table 1 supplies a new mould to the base of the stack in the magazine 4, the moulds in this stack all rise by one position; when the lifting table 2 delivers a cooled mould from the base of the stack in the magazine 6, the moulds in this stack all lower by one position. The purpose of the central lifting magazine 5 is simply temporarily to raise and lower the stack of moulds in the central location by an amount corresponding to the depth of a single mould.

The mode of operation of the pass-through refrigerator will now be explained with reference to the drawings of the movement sequence, Figures 5 to 11. In order to facilitate the explanation, the moulds involved are numbered with the Roman numerals I to XIII. In Figures 5 to 11, it is assumed that the passthrough refrigerator has already been in operation for sufficiently long that the magazines are filled 6 is with moulds, and that moulds are present in the vicinity of the lifting tables on the inlet side to be introduced and the outlet side to be delivered.

The explanation begins at the time of supply of a new mould (an arbitrarily chosen starting point). This is shown in more detail in Figure 5. The approaching mould II is lifted to the position shown in broken lines by means of the lifting table on the inlet side (not shown in Figure 5). At the same time, the lifting magazine 5 is in its lowered position as shown. The push shafts 11, 12 and 13 are now moved to the right by about one magazine's breadth, pushing the moulds situated in the magazines 4 and 5 in front of them. In this manner the moulds which were originally situated in the magazine 4 on the inlet side move into the guide shafts of the lifting magazine 5, and the moulds which were originally situated in the lifting magazine 5 move into the guide shafts of the magazine 6 on the outlet side. The mould II, which has been newly supplied to the pass through Refrigerator by means of the lifting table 1 on the inlet side, has thus taken its place as the lowest mould in the lifting magazine 5, whilst the mould XIII which was previously there rests on the lifting table 2 on the outlet side. The lifting tables 1 and 2 are now lowered, and simultaneously, the lifting magazine 5 is raised. This state is illustrated in Figure 6. It may be seen there that the uppermost mould VII resting in the lifting magazine 5 has been lifted above the working range of the push shaft 12. If the push shaf ts are again moved to the left by one magazine breadth into the position illustrated in Figure 7, they slide the moulds II to VI situated in the lifting magazine 5 into the magazine 4 A 1 7 is on the inlet side, and the moulds VIII to XII situated in the magazine 6 on the outlet side back into the lifting magazine 5. Only the mould VII which has just been mentioned does not change its position, and this comes to rest above the mould VIII which was previously the uppermost mould in the magazine 6 on the outlet side. Simultaneous with the movement of the push shafts to the left, a new mould I is supplied to the lifting table 1 on the inlet side, and the cooled mould XIII situated on the lifting table 2 on the outlet side is moved away. This situation is shown in Figure 7.

As the next step, the lifting magazine 5 is lowered again and, simultaneously, the lifting tables that on the inlet side having the new mould II are raised, so that the mould I adopts the position in broken lines, as is shown in Figure 8. It will be appreciated that the first cycle is now completed, Figure 8 corresponding to Figure 5. However, for the sake of completeness a further cycle will now be described.

The push shafts 11, 12 and 13 move to the right again, and slide, as already explained in the transition from Figure 5 to Figure 6, the moulds from the lifting magazine into the magazine on the outlet side and the moulds out of the magazine on the inlet side (this time with the newly supplied mould 1) into the lifting magazine. Having reached this position, the and the lifting tables are lowered.

lifting magazine is raised, as shown in Figure 9 The cooled mould XII thus moves into the lower position, illustrated here in broken lines, and the uppermost mould VI of the lifting magazines into the position, also shown in broken lines, above the working region of the push 8 shafts.

In accordance with Figure 10, the push shafts now move again to the left. They thus push the mould contained in the magazines, with the exception of mould VI, in front of them, as already described in the transition from Figure 6 to Figure 7. The mould VI not engaged by the. push shafts comes to rest as the uppermost mould on mould VII, which, one working cycle previously, was transferred from the lifting magazine to the lifting magazine on the outlet side. Simultaneous with the movement of the push shafts, the lower mould 12 is delivered whilst, on the inlet side, a new mould is presented to the lifting table.

These movements which have been described with reference to Figures 5 to 11 are repeated constantly and thus effect an uninterrupted flow of the moulds through the refrigerator, the rate being determined by the movement of the advancer.

This exemplary embodiment with three magazines is the simplest embodiment. In a further development of the invention an extension of the pass through Refrigerator to substantially more magazines is possible. To preserve the principle it is only necessary that each lifting magazine is arranged between two fixed magazines. Pass through refrigerators may thus be realised with three,, five, seven, etc magazines.

A pass-through Refrigerator with for example seven magazines would thus have, seen successively from the inlet to the outlet side, the magazine sequence: 1. Fixed inlet magazine 2. Lifting magazine 3. Fixed intermediate magazine 4. Lifting magazine 5. Fixed intermediate magazine - 6. Lifting magazine - 9 is 7. Fixed outlet magazine.

As in the example with three magazines, a push shaft is associated here also with each magazine and a lifting table is arranged beneath each fixed magazine. In this case also, each mould lowered onto the lifting tables is moved to the right by one magazine's breadth, in the manner of the simplest embodiment, whilst the push shaf ts move at the same time on the same path to the left.

The resultant path of an incoming mould through the Refrigerator should now be clear: an incoming mould to be cooled goes f irst into the bottom of the lef thand stack. As this stack is moved back and forth, this mould gradually works its way to the top. When it reaches the top. it is passed to the top of the righthand stack, from which position it gradually works its way down the stack to the delivery position at the bottom of the stack. Of course, if the Refrigerator has more than three stacks, the path will be repeated on each subsequent pair of stacks.

To clarify the principle, independently of the number of the magazines, a tabular view is given in conclusion of the movement processes divided into vertical and horizontal movement. A working cycle is thus divided into four steps. The cycle proceeds as follows, starting with the supply of a new mould:

VERTICAL MOVEMENT Step 1.

2.

3.

4.

2.

3.

4.

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT Lifting Lifting Push Tables Magazines Shafts are at are at the the bottom top move up move down are at are at the the top bottom move move up down are at are at the the bottom top move up move down are at are at the the top bottom move move up down are at are at the the bottom top etc etc etc Supply and Delivery of Moulds move to the lef t are to the lef t move to the right move to -- ------the right are to the right move to the lef t are to the lef t move to the right are to the right move to move to the left the right etc etc 1

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A pass-through refrigerator comprising an input magazine, an output magazine and at least one intermediate magazine, means for loading an item to be cooled into the input magazine at the base of a stack of like items in the input magazine, means for unloading a cooled item from the output magazine at the base of a stack of like items in the output magazine, means for transferring stacks of items between the output and intermediate magazines and between the input and intermediate magazines, and means for selectively raising and lowering a stack of items in the intermediate magazine.

2. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 1 in which the input and output magazines are fixed and the or each intermediate magazine is a lifting magazine.

3. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the means for loading and unloading items comprise loading and unloading lifting tables arranged beneath the respective magazines.

4. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 2 and Claim 3 in which the lifting magazine is arranged to move in the opposite sense to the movement of the lifting tables.

5. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 4 in which movement of the lifting tables is derived from movement 12 of the lifting magazine, or vice versa, via two-armed levers.

v

6. A refrigerator as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 6 in which the movement of the lifting magazine and/or the lifting tables is effected by means of at least one hydraulic cylinder.

1k

7. A refrigerator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the means for transferring stacks of items between the magazines comprise a plurality of push-bars, extending vertically between the stacks.

8. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 7 in which the number of push-bars corresponds to the number of magazines.

9. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8 in which movement of the push-bars is coupled to movement of an advancer for supplying items to be cooled and for delivering cooled items.

10. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 9 in which the push-bars are actuated by means of a chain device which also drives the advancer.

11. A refrigerator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims having a plurality of intermediate magazines.

13

12. A refrigerator as claimed in Claim 11 having a fixed magazine located between the or each pair of intermediate magazines.

13. A refrigerator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims arranged for the cooling of chocolate items.

14. A pass-through refrigerator substantially as specifically described with reference to the drawings.

Published 1988 at The Patent Mce, State House, 66171 High Holborn, London WC1R 4TP. Further copies may be obtained from The Patent Office, Sales Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BM 3RD. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd, St Mary Cray, Kent. Con. 1187.