GB2534123A

GB2534123A - An overhead i-cart system to serve food in a multi-storey automatic restaurant

Info

Publication number: GB2534123A
Application number: GB1422461.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Aziz Akbar Ali Abdul
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-12-17
Filing date: 2014-12-17
Publication date: 2016-07-20
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-17
Also published as: GB2534123B

Abstract

A ceiling or wall mounted monorail with food-carrying carts 17 hanging beneath the track, for serving food to tables in a restaurant. The monorail has vertical, horizontal, and curved sections joined together, with a rack teeth and pin roller connecting the cart to the track. The connection allows the carts to travel along the track maintaining their horizontal orientation. The track-mounted carts are connected to the food-carrying container 19 with a hoist cable 18which can lift and lower the food container to deliver food to an assigned table. A tray release button is actuated by the customer to release the food container from the cart. The system uses a floating drive assembly and a Z type gear box. A control unit for driving the cart is mounted on the floating drive assembly. The control unit has an electronic speed controller and a wireless module.

Description

An overhead i-cart system to serve food in a multi-storey automatic restaurant This invention relates to a device and its system for serving food in a multi-storey automatic restaurant.

There are various types of restaurants today; classification based on food style, preparation methods and serving methods. These classifications have direct or indirect effect on the price of the food served. This invention is related to the food serving method in a restaurant. Generally, restaurants offer counter service, table service and buffet service to their customers.

Most of the counter service restaurants serve fast food and keep the menu simple and at moderate price to attract large number of customers. Here, customers have to wait for their turn to order their food and also to collect their food tray. Waiting time may vary depending upon the length of the queue; hence this service is not always convenient for all types of customers.

Table service restaurants offer very high degrees of convenience to all types of customers. They also have a wide range of varieties in their menu and their prices are above moderate to meet the serving cost; hence serving costs have greater impact on the food price at the table service restaurant.

Buffet restaurants with the fixed prices offer a large variety of food at the unlimited quantity. Here, customers have to serve themselves which involves lots of walking around the public area by holding the plates in their hands which causes inconvenience to certain types of customers. Buffet restaurants with table levelled conveyor avoids customers walking, but it takes large area for installation on the restaurant floor, which blocks free movement of customers and makes the table arrangement difficult for a friendly layout. Also, the running cost of the articulated conveyer is high and it looks like a production line in a factory.

Therefore, all the above mentioned existing serving methods are unable to offer convenience in conjunction with moderate price. To overcome these problems, the proposed invention presents a device called i-cart' and its system.

In an i-cart system incorporated restaurant, customer places an order using a touch screen tablet fitted to the table, the order is then passed on to the chef electronically. Once the food is prepared, the porter uses i-cart system to convey the food directly from the kitchen to the customer's table irrespective to the distance and number of floors of the restaurant. Food travelling from the kitchen to the table uses ceiling levelled monorail to save floor area of the restaurant and to maximum utilise the unused ceiling space. Saving floor area also benefits in increasing the number of seats in a restaurant to generate more business.

The invention will now be described in detail by examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which, Figure 1 shows a table service restaurant, Figure 2 shows a counter service restaurant, Figure 3 shows a buffet restaurant, Figure 4 shows a buffet restaurant with a closed loop articulated disc conveyor, Figure 5 shows an automatic restaurant fitted with overhead i-cart system, Figure 6 shows a food container landing, Figure 7 shows the possible bends of the monorail track, Figure 8 shows the components of the monorail track, Figure 9 shows more components of the monorail from a different view, Figure 10 shows a horizontal 180° bend along the monorail track, Figure 11 shows a vertical 90° inward bend along the monorail track, Figure 12 shows a vertical 90° outward bend along the monorail track, Figure 13 shows a vertical 90° inward bend joining the straight monorail track, Figure 14 shows a closer view of vertical 90° inward bend joining vertical straight monorail track, Figure 15 shows a complete i-cart system, Figure 16 shows a complete i-cart system from a different view, Figure 17 shows an i-cart travelling horizontally carrying the food container, Figure 18 shows an i-cart carrying food container from a different view, Figure 19 shows an i-cart carrying food container from a different angle, Figure 20 shows an i-cart lowering the food container towards the customer's table, Figure 21 shows a food container on the landing area of the customer's table, Figure 22 shows a closer view of customer's table and food container, Figure 23 shows the food dome opening by means of hoist operation, Figure 24 shows the contents of food container, Figure 25 shows an i-cart and monorail track, Figure 26 shows a closer view of i-cart and monorail track engagement, Figure 27 shows main components of the i-cart, Figure 28 shows an i-cart from a different view, Figure 29 shows an i-cart's main frame assembly, Figure 30 shows an i-cart's guide pulley assembly, Figure 31 shows an i-cart's direction changing pulley assembly, Figure 32 shows an i-cart's battery pack assembly, Figure 33 shows an i-cart's guide roller assembly, Figure 34 shows an i-cart's floating drive assembly, Figure 35 shows an i-cart's floating drive assembly from a different view, Figure 36 shows a closer view of rollers of the floating drive, Figure 37 shows the drive roller of the floating drive, Figure 38 shows the components of the drive roller, Figure 39 shows the drive roller from a different view, Figure 40 shows the gear box of the floating drive, Figure 41 shows the gear arrangement inside the gear box, Figure 42 shows a monorail track incorporated with transfer system, Figure 43 shows a monorail track incorporated with transfer system from a different view, Figure 44 shows the components of the transfer system, Figure 45 shows more components of the transfer system from a different view.

In figure 1, a waitress is taking order from the customer which is an example of the table service restaurant.

In figure 2, customers are waiting in a queue for their turn to order and collect the food which is an example of the counter service restaurant.

In figure 3, customers are serving food themselves from a public area of the restaurant which is an example of the buffet service restaurant.

In figure 4, a closed loop articulated disc type conveyor 1 circulating different dishes in a random fashion to attract the customers and to allow them to choose the dish of their choice which is an example of advanced buffet service restaurant.

In figure 5, a restaurant fitted with overhead i-cart system to serve food which is an example of the automatic serving restaurant. The i-cart system is the proposed invention.

In figure 6, a food container delivered by the i-cart on to the landing area of the customer's table by means of hoist operation.

In figure 7, a closed loop monorail track with all possible bends joined together at very close tolerance, so that the i-cart can travel smoothly at desired speed.

In figure 8, a basic overhead monorail track construction consists of ceiling mounting plate 2 welded with ceiling level adjuster 3. Then the ceiling level adjuster 3 screws into the rail mounting stud 7, this arrangement enables even levelling of the monorail axis with respect to the ceiling mounting surface. The straight monorail 4 has a circular cross-section and is made of stainless steel. A polyurethane grip sleeve 8 seals the stainless steel surface of the straight monorail 4 for the smooth operation of the i-cart. The straight rack 5 is a stainless steel strip with teeth profile on the either side of the strip is attached to the straight monorail 4 by means of rack rivet 6. This arrangement allows a positive connection between i-cart and monorail track.

In figure 9, a rail mounting plate 10 is welded with the rail mounting stud 7, then the rail mounting plate 10 is riveted to the straight monorail 4 by means of rail rivet 9 The polyurethane spacer 11 maintains a constant gap between monorail axis and rack.

In figure 10, a monorail track makes a horizontal 180° bend in which the horizontally bent rack 12 along the monorail bend is formed from the straight rack using a special bending machine to match the curvature of the monorail track.

In figure 11, a monorail track makes an inward vertical 90° bend in which the inward vertically bent rack 13 along the monorail bend is formed from the straight rack using a special bending machine to match the curvature of the monorail track.

In figure 12, a monorail track makes an outward vertical 90° bend in which the outward vertically bent rack 14 along the monorail bend is formed from the straight rack using a special bending machine to match the curvature of the monorail track.

In figure 13, a monorail track makes an inward vertical 90° bend one end of which is joining with straight horizontal track 15 and the other end joining with straight vertical track 16.

In figure 14, a curved track joining with straight vertical track 16 at a very close tolerance for the smooth operation of the i-cart.

In figure 15, a closed loop monorail track with i-cart 17 and food dome 19 connected together by means of hoist cable 18. This connection uses gravity to maintain the food dome 19 horizontally irrespective to the orientation of the i-cart travelling along various bends of the monorail track.

In figure 16, a closed loop monorail track with i-carts at different position carrying food. The food is placed on the food tray 20 which is attached to the food dome connected to i-cart.

In figure 17, a tray release knob 21 located on top of the food dome can be operated by the customer to detach the food tray from the food dome.

In figure 18, a closer view of food container and its components. The hoist cable 18 connects the i-cart and the food container. The food container comprises of food dome 19 placed on top of the food tray 20 for the proper protection of the food. The tray release knob 21 is actuated by the customer to detach the food tray 20 from the food dome 19 at the final arrival to the customer's table.

In figure 19, an i-cart with a food container from a different view.

In figure 20, as the i-cart reaches its destination table 23 supported by table leg 24, i-cart performs the hoist operation to lower the food container on to the landing table 22. The hoist cable 18 remains connected to the food container.

In figure 21, a food container reached the destination table and is waiting for the customer's action.

In figure 22, the tray release knob 21 is operated by the customer to detach the food dome 19 from the food tray. This action enables customers to self serve the food at their convenience.

In figure 23, for customer's convenience the released food dome can be raised to certain level by the customer using the tablet computer attached to the table. This enables the customer to use both the hands to handle the food tray safely.

In figure 24, a food container is also capable of carrying beverages 25 at i-cart's safe speed.

In figure 25, an i-cart 17 travelling along the monorail track 26; there is always a positive connection between i-cart 17 and monorail track 26 to avoid slippage during vertical climb and to track the location for every task.

In figure 26, the positive connection between i-cart and monorail track is achieved by steel pins 28 arranged on the pin roller block 27 in a circular pitch engaging with the teeth profile of the straight rack 5. The location of the i-cart in the monorail track is determined by the number of rack teeth passed by the pin roller block 27 per revolution.

In figure 27, the sub-assemblies of the i-cart are floating drive assembly 29 located inside the main frame assembly 35. The front guide roller assembly 30 and rear guide roller assembly 34 are located on the either side of the floating drive assembly 29. The main frame assembly 35 acts as a chassis for the entire arrangement.

The right battery pack 31 and the left battery pack 36 are mounted on the either side of the main frame assembly 35. The direction changing pulley assembly 37 and hoist cable guide pulley assembly 32 are located at the bottom of the main frame assembly 35. The hoist cable guide spring 33 is a short closed coil helical spring to prevent hoist cable from damage is attached with the hoist cable guide pulley assembly.

The two main operations of the i-cart are driving and delivering. Driving operation is performed by floating drive assembly 29 and delivering operation is achieved by internal hoist arrangement. The front guide roller assembly 30 and rear guide roller assembly 34 guide and automatically steer the i-cart in to the monorail track. The right battery pack 31 and the left battery pack 36 power the motors to perform the task. The hoist cable guide pulley assembly 32 and direction changing pulley assembly 37 position the hoist cable delivered from the i-cart.

In figure 28, an i-cart with all the sub-assemblies from a different view.

In figure 29, the main frame assembly consists of two main frame plates 39 bolted together maintaining a space between two plates using two main frame spacers 41. At the bottom of the main frame assembly, guide pulley mounting bolt 42 and direction pulley mounting bolt 43 are positioned to mount the corresponding pulley assembly. The vertical suspension slot 40 on the main frame plate 39 is to accommodate the floating drive assembly, and the horizontal suspension slot 45 on the main frame plate 39 is to accommodate the guide roller assembly.

The guide roller assembly's pitching action is limited by stop stud rivet 44, a 'V' spring mounting stud 46 holds one end of the horizontal suspension 'V' spring emerging from the guide roller assembly. The panel mounting stud 38 facilitates the mounting of the outer body panel of the i-cart.

In figure 30, a hoist cable guide pulley assembly consists of two guide pulleys 50 arranged in parallel to each other and positioned by four guide pulley spacers 47. This arrangement allows the hoist cable to position and pass through two guide pulleys 50. This assembly also facilitates the mounting of the outer body panel at the bottom panel mounting stud 49, which is welded with the bottom panel mounting plate 48.

In figure 31, a direction changing pulley assembly consists of a direction changing pulley 52 positioned by two direction pulley spacers 51. This arrangement allows the hoist cable to change the direction, so that it can pass through the hoist cable guide pulley assembly.

In figure 32, a left battery pack consists of a battery 53 located inside the battery holder 55. The battery holder 55 attaches to the i-cart's main frame plate by means of two battery holder clamps 54. The battery holder rib 56 is welded with the battery holder 55 for rigidity. The battery locking plate 57 locks the battery in place and battery release knob 58 is actuated to release the battery from the battery holder 55 for recharging.

In figure 33, the construction of front and rear guide roller assembly are identical. A guide roller assembly consists of 'C' type frame 66 on which two guide roller mounting studs 67 are welded to hold the guide roller 65. Each guide roller 65 consists of two guide roller bearings 64 for smooth operation. The guide roller 65 is locked with the 'C' type frame 66 by means of guide roller locking plate 63 and guide roller locking nut 59. The 'C' type frame 66 is welded with two horizontal suspension studs 61 on the either side of the 'C' type frame 66. The horizontal suspension stud 61 holds polyurethane radial shoe 60 which slides on the inner surface of the main frame plate of the i-cart. The 'C' type frame 66 is also reinforced by means of a welded 'C' frame rib 62. This entire assembly guides and automatically steers the i-cart smoothly along the monorail track.

In figure 34, a floating drive assembly consists of a 'Z' type gear box 76, which is the foundation for all other components. The drive motor 84 and hoist motor 77 mounted on the 'Z' type gear box 76 drives the internal gears to deliver power output to the drive roller shaft 82 emerging from the gear box cover 75 and hoist drum shaft emerging from the bottom of the 'Z' type gear box 76. This motor arrangement on the Z' type gear box 76 looks like an alphabetical letter thus this gear box is named as 'Z' type gear box 76. The drive roller 73 and pin roller 74 are mounted on the drive roller shaft 82. The drive roller shaft 82 is accompanied by idle roller shaft 81 which carries idle roller 71 and locked by means of idle roller locking plate 68 and idle roller locking nut 70.

The entire 'Z' type gear box 76 floats inside the main frame assembly of the i-cart by means of four vertical suspension studs 69, two of which are welded with the gear box upright plate 83 and located on the slit parallel sides of the 'Z' type gear box 76. The oil indicator 86 and oil in hole 87 are located on the angled side of the 'Z' type gear box 76. The free drive lever 72 can be actuated to engage and disengage an internal clutch gear to free drive the drive roller shaft 82 in a rescue operation of the i-cart. The 'Z' type gear box 76 uses splash lubrication system to lubricate the internal gears and clutch arrangement.

The control unit mounting plate 80 is located at the bottom of the 'Z' type gear box 76, which carries all control related electronic devices; mainly processor board 85 and optical encoder 79. Each motor mounted on the 'Z' type gear box 76 is capable of sending feedback signals through optical encoder 79 by means of encoder slotted disc 78 mounted on the motor rear shaft.

In figure 35, a floating drive assembly from a different view. The hoist drum shaft 89 emerging from the bottom of the 'Z' type gear box carries a hoist drum to wind and unwind the hoist cable passing through the hoist cable way 91. The electronic speed controller 90, relay 88 and wireless module 92 sends and receives various signals to and from the processor board to perform the assigned task of the i-cart. The control unit closing plate 93 secures and seals all the electronic devices in place.

In figure 36, a closer view of idle roller 71 and drive roller 73 of the floating drive assembly.

In figure 37, a complete drive roller sub-assembly of the floating drive assembly.

In figure 38, a drive roller sub-assembly consists of drive roller 73 with grip ring grooves 94 and aligns axially on the top of the pin roller block 27. The pin roller block 27 carries a number of steel pins 28 located on the pin locator plate 95, which are arranged in a circular pitch and locked together with the pin roller block 27, by means of shaft locking plate 96 and pin roller bolt 97. The shaft locking plate 96 connects the entire drive roller sub-assembly with the drive roller shaft.

In figure 39, a complete drive roller sub-assembly of the floating drive assembly from a different view. The shaft locking plate 96 with shaft locking plate flat 98 enable a positive connection between drive roller sub-assembly and drive roller shaft.

In figure 40, the output drive roller shaft 82 with drive roller shaft flat 99 engages with the flat on the drive roller sub-assembly for the slip free positive connection.

In figure 41, an internal gear arrangement of the 'Z' type gear box is capable of delivering two different outputs through two different shafts. The input power from the hoist motor 77 is delivered to the hoist drum shaft 89 through hoist worm 102 and hoist worm wheel 108. This arrangement enables speed reduction and self-locking of the hoist drum 103. The self-locking function acts as an automatic brake for the hoist drum 103. The gear parting plate 109 acts as a base for primary gear arrangement.

The input power from the drive motor 84 is delivered to the drive roller shaft 82 through two pairs of gears and a clutch arrangement. The first pair of gears consists of drive worm 107 and drive worm wheel 101 which enables speed reduction and self-locking. The second pair of gears consists of intermediate gear 106 and final drive gear 100 which are constant mesh gears with equal number of teeth. The push rod 104 connected to the internal clutch gear is capable of engaging and disengaging the power transferred between drive worm wheel 101 and intermediate gear 106. This function is necessary for the i-cart in case of a rescue operation.

The idle roller shaft 81 is locked with gear box cover by means of an idle shaft base nut 105.

In figure 42, a transfer system 110 is incorporated on the monorail track. The main purpose of the transfer system 110 is to change the direction of the motion of the i-cart In figure 43, a monorail track incorporated with a transfer system from a different view.

In figure 44, the construction of a transfer system consists of an index plate 111 which mounts to the ceiling by means of transfer unit level adjuster 113 and ceiling mounting plate 2. The indexing axis shaft 115 which is welded with the indexing bar 116 aligns to the centre axis of the index plate 111. The servo motor H2 controls the entire operation of the transfer system. The stop groove 114 limits the indexing angle of the indexing bar 116.

In figure 45, the servo motor of the transfer system connects to the indexing axis shaft by means of servo motor arm 119, connecting arm 118 and indexing shaft arm 117. The sandwich ring 121 and transfer system rib 120 reinforces the entire transfer system. The servo motor turns the indexing axis shaft, so that the indexing bar turns to the set indexing angle allowing the i-cart to change the track to reach its destination.

Claims

Claims 1 An overhead i-cart system for serving food in an automatic restaurant using i-cart which can travel vertically, horizontally and incurved path of the monorail track.
2. A monorail track with combination of vertical, horizontal and curved path joined together and fitted with the matching rack for positive connection between monorail track and i-cart to avoid any slippage of the i-cart.
3. A positive connection according to claim 2, is achieved by the smooth engagement of rack teeth with the pin roller of the i-cart.
4 A rack according to claim 2, is a flexible metal strip with teeth profile on either side to accommodate the steel pins of the pin roller of the i-cart.
5. A rack according to claim 2, is capable to bend horizontally and vertically to match the path of the monorail track.
6. An i-cart which carries the food container maintains the food container horizontally irrespective to the orientation of the i-cart.
7. An i-cart according to claim 6, is connected with the food container by means of a hoist cable.
8. A food container according to claim 7, is connected to the i-cart by means of hoist cable, which uses the gravity to balance the food container and to keep it horizontally.
9. A food container according to claim 8, is delivered to the assigned table by means of hoist operation performed by the i-cart.
10. A food dome of the food container is released from the food tray by means of tray release knob mounted on top of the food dome.
11. A floating drive assembly is capable of driving the i-cart along the monorail track irrespective to any bends and curves along the path.
12. A floating drive assembly according to claim 11, floats inside the i-cart's main frame assembly by means of vertical suspension slots on the main frame plates and vertical suspension studs of the floating drive.
13. A floating drive assembly according to claim 12 in which a 'Z' type gear box delivers power to drive the i-cart.
14. A 'Z' type gear box according to claim 13, in which dual worm and dual worm wheel arrangement performs two different operations of the i-cart.
15. A 'Z' type gear box according to claim 14, in which drive motor and hoist motor are mounted and this arrangement looks like an alphabetical letter 'Z', thus it is named as 'Z' type gear box.
16. A 'Z' type gear box according to claim 15, in which internal drive gears and hoist gears are separated by means of a gear parting plate.
17. A floating drive assembly according to claim 13, in which the drive roller assembly is mounted on the drive roller shaft and smoothly engages with the teeth of the rack fitted along the monorail track to move the i-cart to its destination.
18. A drive roller assembly according to claim 17, in which the pin roller with steel pins arranged in a circular pitch engages smoothly with the teeth of the rack fitted along the monorail track to move the i-cart to its destination.
19. A floating drive assembly according to claim 13, in which a push rod linked with the free drive lever engages and disengages the internal bell gear to free drive the i-cart in a rescue operation.
20. A floating drive assembly according to claim 13, in which a control unit mounting plate carries processor board and all other electronics components necessary to drive the i-cart.
21. A pair of guide roller assembly accompanying the floating drive assembly secures, guides and automatically steers the i-cart to follow the monorail track.
22. A guide roller assembly according to claim 21, in which a pair of guide rollers are mounted on the 'C' type frame and locked by means of a guide roller locking nuts.
23. A guide roller assembly according to claim 21, in which a pair of horizontal suspension studs integrated with the 'C' type frame slides along the horizontal suspension slots of the main frame plates to enable the i-cart to travel along the curves of the monorail track.
24. A guide roller assembly according to claim 21, in which a pair of horizontal suspension studs are linked with 'V' spring mounting studs by means of a 'V' spring, which results in smooth start and stop of the i-cart.
25. A transfer system incorporated along the monorail track can benefit the i-cart system for optimal path planning by saving time and energy utilized to drive the i-cart.
26. A transfer system according to claim 25, in which the indexing bar connected to the indexing axis shaft turns by means of a servo motor to engage the indexing bar to the nearest stop groove, so that the direction of the i-cart is diverted to follow a different monorail track.