GB2560637A

GB2560637A - Frozen meal receptacle

Info

Publication number: GB2560637A
Application number: GB1803504.8A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Heath John
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-03-13
Filing date: 2018-03-05
Publication date: 2018-09-19
Also published as: GB201803504D0; GB201703981D0

Abstract

A frozen meal receptacle 158 comprises a rigid substantially circular rim 160, an upward facing surface 161 and an aperture or depression 162. In use the wells (153, fig 13a) of a frozen meal tray (150) may be positioned in the aperture and the rim (156) of the tray may be held securely against the upward facing surface via a holding device 164 (see also 56, fig 7b) provided on the receptacle. The holding device may comprise projections extending from the receptacle over the rim of the tray, such that the tray can be flexed to snap into place. A tag 168 (see also 76, fig 7c) may also be included on the receptacle and can be attached to the meal tray cover film to enable peeling. The receptacle rim may include ratchet shaped notches 166 for engagement by a manipulator finger to cause rotation via ratchet and pawl action.

Description

(71) Applicant(s):

John Heath

Marston Gate, Winchester, SO23 7DS, United Kingdom (72) Inventor(s):

John Heath (51) INT CL:

A47G 23/06 (2006.01) F24C 15/16 (2006.01) (56) Documents Cited:

GB 1321457 A GB 1268063 A

CN 002879849 Y US 20120097673 A1 (58) Field of Search:

INT CL A47G, B65D, F24C

Other: WPI, EPODOC, Patent Fulltext (74) Agent and/or Address for Service:

John Heath

Marston Gate, Winchester, SO23 7DS, United Kingdom (54) Title of the Invention: Frozen meal receptacle

Abstract Title: Meal receptacle with meal tray rim holding device (57) A frozen meal receptacle 158 comprises a rigid substantially circular rim 160, an upward facing surface 161 and an aperture or depression 162. In use the wells (153, fig 13a) of a frozen meal tray (150) may be positioned in the aperture and the rim (156) of the tray may be held securely against the upward facing surface via a holding device 164 (see also 56, fig 7b) provided on the receptacle. The holding device may comprise projections extending from the receptacle over the rim of the tray, such that the tray can be flexed to snap into place. A tag 168 (see also 76, fig 7c) may also be included on the receptacle and can be attached to the meal tray cover film to enable peeling. The receptacle rim may include ratchet shaped notches 166 for engagement by a manipulator finger to cause rotation via ratchet and pawl action.

Figure 13b

164

159

166

At least one drawing originally filed was informal and the print reproduced here is taken from a later filed formal copy.

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Figure 13a

Figure 13d

FROZEN MEAL RECEPTACLE

The present invention relates to a meal receptacle, in particular, but not exclusively, for facilitating the preparation of a frozen meal by a robotic manipulator.

Elderly and disabled people who need assistance in their daily living, often prefer to live as independently as is possible for them. When they need help in preparing food their independence is seriously reduced, as such care is particularly demanding of a carer's time. It is recognised that a robotic device could potentially assist in the kitchen but the available space is limited in the homes of many elderly people. Finance too is often very limited. However compact and low cost robotic manipulators have been conceived and demonstrated that can move meals between a tabletop freezer and a microwave oven within a small space. The availability of attractive ready frozen meals makes this appear to be a feasible way to prepare meals without human assistance, but the way in which ready meals are packaged presents several problems to a robotic manipulator. A ready meal is sealed in a flimsy plastic tray that must not be opened until after it is cooked. The tray is not sufficiently rigid to be gripped by a mechanical device particularly when hot. There are very many different sizes and shapes of tray which are shiny and black in colour making them difficult for robotic vision to delineate. Gripping the film cover to remove it from the cooked meal is often found difficult even by fully able people. Finally in the case where a meal is to be robotically fed to a user, it is necessary to rotationally reorient the meal after heating in a microwave oven with rotating platten.

These and other more minor problems are overcome by the invention which provides a receptacle into which a frozen ready meal packaged this way may be secured and robotically manipulated. The frozen meal receptacle has the following features:

A rigid rim by which the meal may be held by a manipulator with a single grasper.

A defined form with a surface finish easily recognised by robotic vision systems.

A means by which a magnet equipped manipulator may strip the cover from the meal.

A circular rim with notches by which a manipulator may re-orientate the meal.

Thus the object of the invention is to provide a receptacle for a frozen meal that is more suitable for robotic manipulation than the package in which frozen meals are marketed.

To help understanding of the invention, two specific embodiments are described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying isometric drawings.

Figures 7 a to c are as described in application UK 1703981.9 for which priority is claimed, and for which the figure and reference numbers have been retained from the priority application. (A reference number error in the priority application has been corrected here by renumbering turned down edge as 69 which was erroneously 55.) Figure 7a shows a meal tray with a film cover having a free margin;

Figure 7b shows a meal receptacle for the meal tray (partly cut away);

Figure 7c shows the meal receptacle of fig 7b containing the meal tray;

Figures 13 a to d are for an alternative method of construction of the meal receptacle and for which figure and reference numbers have been chosen which cannot be confused with the priority application.

Figure 13a shows a meal tray with a film cover having a tab for cover removal;

Figure 13b shows a meal receptacle of alternative construction (partly cut away);

Figure 13c shows the meal receptacle of fig 13b containing the meal tray of fig 13a; Figure 13d shows the construction of cover removal tag 60 of fig 13c.

Figure 7a shows a typical tray in which frozen meals are packed 51. Blow moulded in thin polymer, the trays are flimsy but have a stronger turned down edge 69. A film cover is provided to protect the food, having a free margin for ease of removal. The particular tray illustrated has two wells for food.

To enable a manipulator to handle meals packaged this way without damage or loss, the invention provides a meal receptacle shown in figure 7b. Meal receptacle 52 is formed of a rigid polymer moulding with a circular outer profile 53 and has a central aperture 54 shaped to match the envelope of one or more designs of meal tray 51 to constrain sideways movement or distortion. A recess 55 in the upper surface of the meal receptacle, surrounds the aperture 54 providing a ledge to support the tray under its turned-down edge 69. The aperture is sufficiently deep and wide that all parts of the tray are entirely below the level of the outer edge of the rim, so that the possibly irregular top edge of tray 51 is hidden from optical sensors when the plate is held by a manipulator. Plastic protrusions 56 are formed in the side walls of the recess, proportioned so that a tray may be pressed into the recess, the rim passing, and being trapped under the protrusions, thereby retaining the tray in the receptacle. A continuous rib 57 may be formed integral with the receptacle moulding 52, encircling the aperture 54 in order to stiffen the receptacle moulding sufficiently to allow the tray and meal to be supported horizontally without excessive droop, while held at just one side by a manipulator gripper. Circular V-shaped grooves 58 may be embossed in an area of the lower surface of the receptacle 52, which will be engaged by tire contactpoints ofa gripper when tire receptacle is gripped. Receptacles emerge from being heated in an oven randomly oriented which is problematic for a food tray with multiple wells. To enable the manipulator to reorient such trays in the oven, the meal receptacle can have ratchet shaped notches 59 at regular intervals around the outer profile 53. The manipulator can cause the receptacle to be rotated one notch at a time by engaging the notches with a pawl. A gap 65 in the notches ensures that the receptacle finishes rotation in a preferred orientation.

Meal receptacle 52 also has a cavity 75 for a magnetic tag 76 that is attached to a comer of the film cover that usually covers a frozen meal. Tag 76 has button magnet 79 attached to a flexible link 78 with a plastic snap rivet 77 that can be used to attach the tag to a comer of the film cover. The cavity 76 is positioned so that the snap rivet is housed beneath the free margin of the film cover. The manipulator may then engage the tag magnetically by moving a film stripping magnet into the proximity of the tag, then pulling the magnetically attached tag back across the surface of the tray.

A second embodiment or example of the invention will be described with an alternative construction of possibly lower cost than the first embodiment, and is illustrated in figures 13 a-d. Figure 13a shows a meal tray 150 typical of millions that are sold daily containing frozen meals. Meal tray 150 is not part of the invention, but its construction is described as the invention is intended to provide a receptacle for trays constructed in this way, and to provide a remedy for inherent handling problems. The tray 150 is shown sealed but empty of food and is similar to that of figure 7a except that the film cover 151 is provided with a tab 152 by which it is intended that a person will grip the cover when the meal has been heated and strip the cover off. Tray 150 has a body 152 thermo-formed from flexible sheet polymer and has two wells 153 for food, a rim 156 with flat upper surface 154 to which film cover 151 is bonded. Rim 156 has a turned down edge 155.

Figure 13b shows a preferred method of construction of a meal receptacle. Meal receptacle 158 is formed of a rigid polymer body 159 with a substantially circular rim 160 and an upward facing surface 161 to support the frozen meal tray. Body 159 has a central aperture 162 into which the food wells 153 of a frozen meal tray may protrude. The aperture 162 which may alternatively be a depression, is shaped to conform with the shape of the food containing wells 153 so that when tray 150 is bought into contact with surface 161 of the receptacle body 152, lateral movement of tray 150 is constrained. Aperture 162 may be formed with the edges 163 of body 152 turned down, as might be manufactured by pressing body 159 from sheet polymer material. Such turned down edges 163 enable body 159 to be manufactured from polymer material of reduced thickness, yet be sufficiently stiff to support a food loaded meal tray when grasped and lifted from just one side by a single manipulator gripper. Meal receptacle body 159 has projections 164 above its upper surface, formed and positioned to extend partially over the rim 156 of a meal tray 150 when positioned with food wells 153 entered into aperture 162. Projections 164 are proportioned so that a food tray, which is flexible, may be pressed down by a user and flexed to pass between the projections and snap into place under them as shown in figure 13c. By this means the food wells 153 of tray 150 may be securely retained in aperture 162 of the receptacle plate so that the meal receptacle and meal tray may be handled with normal care as a single unit.

Circular grooves which may be V-shaped shown in part section at 165 may be formed on the underside of the meal receptacle body 159 concentric with the body, and which can be engaged by complementary shaped contact points in the lower jaw of a manipulator gripper. The meal receptacle body 156 can have ratchet shaped notches 166 formed at regular intervals on its periphery. A manipulator grasper provided with a spring loaded finger or pawl may engage the notches, and by oscillating sideways, nudge the notches one at a time, causing the meal receptacle to rotate. For rotation to occur the receptacle plate must be constrained from radial motion, for instance by enclosure within an oven. The meal receptacle may be caused to finish rotation at a preferred position by the omission of one or more of notches 166 as shown at 167.

To provide a way in which a manipulator can remove the cover film 151 of a frozen meal tray, the invention provides a magnetic cover removal tag 168. Tag 168 shown in figure 13d has a flexible elongated body 169 with at a first end a hole 170 to accept the stem of a commodity plastic snap rivet 171. The user or carer who provides a meal for later preparation by a manipulator can attach the tag 168 to the tab 152 or to the margin 55 of the frozen meal tray film cover 51 by penetrating the tab or margin upwardly with the pointed stem of the rivet, then threading the stem through hole 170 of tag body 169 and finally snapping the closure button of rivet 171 into place over the stem, as shown in figure 13c. At the second end, tag 168 has a button magnet 172 with magnetic axis parallel with the axis of hole 161 and with a specific north/south polarisation with respect to a polarising member 173. Polarising member 173 is a projection from tag body 169 proportioned to ensure that the tag can only be assembled to the film in one orientation. This ensures that the button magnet 172 will be strongly attracted when an oppositely polarised film stripping magnet is brought into close proximity by a manipulator. To remove cover film 151 of the meal tray 150, a manipulator fitted with a downward facing magnet, can be manoeuvred to engage magnetically with button magnet 172 and then move diagonally across the top of the meal tray, thereby peeling the film 151 from tray 150 as it goes.

A further advantage of the invention is that all simple manipulators able to pick up a plate will be able to prepare any ready meal from any manufacturer when the meal is presented in a receptacle. It will be for meal distributors to supply receptacles that match the dimensions of the meal trays that they use. The receptacles are reusable many times and of little cost, so it is likely that these will be supplied free of charge. A further advantage of a meal receptacle according to this invention is that market forces will probably ensure that receptacles from competing suppliers will share a standardised external dimensional format.

Thus by providing a receptacles for frozen meals it will be possible for a robotic manipulator of modest capability to prepare ready meals in the home kitchen.

Claims

1. A frozen meal receptacle having a rigid substantially circular rim, and having an upward facing surface or surfaces against which the rim of a frozen meal tray may be held, the receptacle having an aperture or depression into which the food containing wells of a frozen meal tray may protrude, the receptacle having means to hold the meal tray rim securely against the upward facing surface or surfaces.

2. A frozen meal receptacle as claimed in claim 1 in which the means of holding the meal tray against the upward facing surface or surfaces is through projections extending from the receptacle over the rim of the meal tray, the projections being proportioned such that the tray can be flexed to snap into place held by the projections.

3. A frozen meal receptacle as claimed in claim 2 with a cover removal tag that may be connected to the meal tray cover film, the tag having a magnet for magnetic engagement by a manipulator, such that a manipulator may by suitable movements peel the cover film from the meal tray.

4. A frozen meal receptacle as claimed in claim 3 in which the cover removal tag can be attached to the cover film by a snap rivet.

5. A frozen meal receptacle as in claim 1 in which the rim is circular with ratchet shaped notches for engagement by a manipulator finger, such that by oscillatory motion a manipulator may cause the meal receptacle, located within the constraining walls of an oven, to rotate by ratchet and pawl action.

6 A frozen meal receptacle as in claim 5 in which the absence of a ratchet notch causes rotation of the meal receptacle to cease at a preferred rotational position despite continued manipulator oscillation.

7. A frozen meal receptacle as in claim 1 in which circular grooves are embossed on the underside of at least part of the rim for co-operation with a complementary formed grasping device.

8. A frozen meal receptacle as in claim 1 with a matt surface finish and light colouration for ease of recognition by a digital vision system.

Intellectual

Property

Office

Application No: Claims searched:

GB1803 504.8 1-8