MXPA99009463A - Equipment for producing small uncooked tortillas of nixtamalized corn taco-shaped - Google Patents

Abstract

La presente invención se refiere a un equipo para el enrollado preciso y perfectamente definido de pequeñas hojuelas de masa cruda de maíz nixtamalizado, de manera continua, caracterizado por comprender un laminar convencional sheeter con un transportador de malla de salida, al final del cual se dispone un transportador de malla de aceleración, impulsado por un s tema de generación y transmisión de movimiento con un motor, un reductor y una guarda de transmisión al eje del rodillo de dicho transportador de aceleración, que en sus costados tiene dispuestos dos bastidores con tres estructuras de soporte rectangulares con una ranura central superior fijas perpendicularmente;en estas estructuras se soportan en forma desmontable y transversalmente con respecto al transportador de aceleración, tres flechas;en dos de ellas penden de ambos extremos en forma semejante a columpio, el conjunto de masas metálicas individuales de pre enrollado, con poca superficie de arrastre con la malla del transportador de aceleración;mientras que de la tercera flecha penden de un solo extremo en forma parecida a cortina, el conjunto de mallas metálicas de enrollado final de dichas pequeñas tortillas, con mayor superficie de arrastre con la malo del transportador de aceleración.

Description

EQUIPMENT TO PRODUCE SMALL TORTS OF MAIZE CRUDE MIX NIXTAMALIZED IN THE FORM OF TACO FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention refers to a device for rolling up raw tortillas that gives them a taco shape. More specifically, it is a fully automated equipment for the precise and perfectly defined rolling of small tortillas or flakes of raw nixtamalized corn dough, in a continuous manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION At the moment for the elaboration of omelettes or flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, conventional sheeter mills are used; same that by means of a cutter can realize different shapes and sizes of tortillas or flakes through the design and predetermined molding of the same.

Prior to the present invention, the formation of tacos from flakes or raw tortillas of nixtamalized corn dough was unknown and its manufacture presents unresolved technical problems. For the above, it was required, then, to roll over said tortilla or flake, which once rolled completely acquires the shape of a taco.

The tacos of raw dough can be of different sizes and thicknesses, depending on the size and thickness of the tortillas or flakes, which are the basis of the product.

The obvious solution to achieve the rolling of the raw tortilla on itself was to carry it out manually, with the problems that this procedure represents.

Indeed, the manual elaboration of tacos from small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn for the purpose of industrial processing that involves the production of large volumes of this product, does not meet production expectations to cover a market more or less large; since it would require a considerable amount of manpower that affects high production costs and therefore low profitability.

Therefore, a machine to roll on itself small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, adapted to elaborate mechanically in considerable quantities and at adequate speeds, that meets the expectations of industrial production with commercial purposes, would solve the problem described above .

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION The main purpose of the present invention is to make available a device that allows to roll on itself small tortillas or flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn in a continuous and automatic way.

Another objective of the present invention is to make available equipment with the qualities described above, which also has the particularity of being able to vary the speed of the acceleration conveyor, which allows to obtain a more accurate rolling on itself to the small tortillas or flakes of dough raw nixtamalized corn continuously and automatically.

Another objective of the present invention is to make such equipment available so that, in addition, it has the particularity of producing said product at considerable speeds and volumes at the industrial level for commercial purposes.

Another objective of the present invention is to make said equipment available, so that, in addition, it can form said product in a single row, up to those that could be formed in the total width of operation of the production line.

Another objective of the present invention is to make said equipment available, so that it has the peculiarity of being able to be assembled and disassembled in any conventional sheeter line mill at the end of the outlet mesh, without affecting the production of products characteristic of the corn line. .

And all those qualities and objectives that will be present when making a description of the present invention based on the illustrated modality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Broadly speaking, the present invention consists of automated equipment for rolling up small tortillas or flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, which finally has the shape of perfectly rolled small tacos.

To roll over small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamaized corn, they started with the use of a conventional sheeter laminator, which is integrated by a hopper receiving the dough, a pair of laminating rollers with very little separation distance, they both turn in the same direction inwards; a lower roll with a cutter that gives shape and size to the tortillas or flakes detached by a device that takes off the product; In the lower part of the laminator, the exit mesh conveyor is also arranged.

From the sheeter rolling mill, they began experimenting to roll the tortillas or flakes on themselves, first placing people on the sides of the conveyor that rolled the tortillas manually; but this despite being acceptable from the point of view of the final form of the product, it was not attractive from the point of view of production volumes, it was also not attractive due to the high production costs involved in using a large quantity of hand of work, resulting in an operation with low profitability.

It was thought then to substitute labor and design a team that would carry out such an operation without the intervention of the hand of man, which would yield the same results as the formation of the product and that would increase production volumes, at higher speeds in shorter times, so it was decided to design an automated equipment.

Then they began to think about the type of equipment that could be used to carry out such an operation, which would allow to roll over themselves small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn with the appropriate quality, which would give the final shape of the roll in the form of taco . It was then thought to use an element to replace the movement and manipulation effected by the human hand; the idea was that through a roller with an appropriate surface, the same operation could be carried out that would give the necessary effect and manipulation to be able to roll said tortillas on itself; however, this involved designing a roller with the ability to rotate, and having some slack and pivoting effect of vertical movement that would allow the rolling and passing of the tortillas once rolled; but because of the great complexity it represented and the infinity of pieces that it would possibly require, it was a very difficult element to design, so that possibility was ruled out.

It was decided to place a mesh transversely to the output conveyor of the sheeter laminator in curtain hanging form, which would allow to carry out such a rolling effect, where it was necessary to choose the most appropriate material, which would avoid the adherence of the tortillas or flakes of dough raw in the mesh; until finally that purpose was achieved; but one more problem persisted, since the separation distance at which tortillas or flakes of raw dough come out, determined by the speed of the output conveyor of the sheeter mill, during the rolling process, the tortillas or flakes were too close together it resulted in a rolling of two, three or more tortillas at the same time, resulting in an unwanted amorphous rolling.

It was then thought to modify the sheeter laminator, which would allow the elaboration of tortillas or flakes of raw nixtamalized corn dough at higher speeds, with the adjustment of the output conveyor speed and modifications in the rollers and the rolling mill structure; but this implied greater modifications, adaptations and additional equipment in said laminator, which would result in the elimination of the versatility of this conveyor, without being able to be subsequently used to elaborate other types of products that require the manufacturing speeds with which the mills are designed .

It was therefore thought to adapt a mesh conveyor to the end of the laminator exit conveyor with greater speed, placing a frequency inverter to the motor of said conveyor that allowed to adjust the more precise speed, which provided a greater space of separation between the tortillas, the space of separation adequate to allow the precise rolling of each tortilla or flake individually, eliminating the problem of agglutination.

But in spite of having solved the previous problem, we still obtained a high percentage of malformed product, undesirable due to the great loss generated; and after an analysis, it was found that said inefficiencies and malformations were due to the lack of flexibility of the mesh in the form of a curtain, given that the length of the mesh was quite adequate when it was arranged transversely in the acceleration conveyor; so it was decided to section it, in such a way that they had meshes in the form of individual and more flexible curtains, which improved the rolling; but still the percentage of malformations in spite of being smaller than the previous one, represented a considerable loss of raw mass.

The operation was analyzed in a detailed and meticulous way, reaching the conclusion and determination to try with two meshes for the rolling of the small tortillas on themselves, and after considerable time • and of multiple trials and experimentations, the layout and final conformation that should have the two mesh curtains to achieve a hundred percent of properly formed product and the required speeds of operation for the formation of tacos from the precise rolling on themselves of small tortillas of raw corn dough nix-tamalizado, without modifying at all the laminator sheeter, maintaining its versatility and the possibility of using the same line to elaborate other characteristic products in this corn line, without any problem.

The rolling system on itself of small tortillas of raw mass of nixtamalized corn comprises then, a conveyor of acceleration of mesh, with the same cross section as the output conveyor of the sheeter mill, driven by a system of generation and transmission of movement, which comprises an engine that, through a reducer and a transmission guard, transmits movement to the roller axis of said conveyor.

The acceleration conveyor has a variable acceleration mesh and a frame at each lateral end, said frames have a series of rectangular supports with grooves in the upper part arranged perpendicularly to said frames, where three arrows resting transversely with respect to the conveyor rest. of acceleration. In the first two arrows, a series of individual meshes are suspended and suspended at their two ends in a swing-like manner, each end supported by a different arrow; said meshes correspond to the pre-rolled meshes, which have a small trailing surface and contact with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor, which allows to fold up only a small portion of the tortilla or flake, in the third and last Arrows hang from a single end in the form of a curtain, a series of meshes aligned and of the same number as those previously described, which correspond to the final winding meshes, with greater contact and drag surface with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor , which allows with the help of the first doubles previously made, to roll easier, perfectly and efficiently the said small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn.

Said equipment has the particularity of implementing or incorporating so many meshes of pre-rolling and final rolling of small tortillas of raw mass of nixtamalized corn, across the width of the accelerated transporters, as product ice boxes are required.

Furthermore, said equipment has the particularity of being able to remove the arrows that support the pre-rolled and final rolled meshes of said small tortillas and continue to produce on the line, corn products with similar or different characteristics of the line, without the need of make modifications to the structure or dismantle the additional equipment such as the acceleration band, or the frames with the supports.

For a better understanding of the invention, description will be made of the same, shown in the drawings that are annexed to the present description for non-limiting purposes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows an isometric of the equipment for rolling up small tortillas of raw nixtamalized corn dough on themselves, illustrating the arrangement and conformation of the sheeter mill. For a better understanding of the invention, a detailed description will be made of one of the modalities thereof, shown in the drawings that are annexed to the present description with non-limiting illustrative purposes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The characteristic details of this structure in one of the preferred embodiments are illustrated and described in the following figure.

Figure 1 shows an isometric of the equipment for rolling up on itself small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, illustrating the layout and shaping of the sheeter mill, the conveyor with wire mesh exit from the mill, the acceleration mesh conveyor, the frames , the system of generation and transmission of movement and the details of the arrangement and shaping of the axes in the supports, as well as the pre-rolled and final rolling males of said small tortillas.

In said figure the sheeter laminator 100 comprises a reception hopper 101 of dough, under which the rolls 102 and 103 for forming the sheet of raw dough of nixtamalized corn are arranged; said rollers have two axes 104 and 105 through which they receive movement, both with the same direction of rotation, towards the center, to favor the rolling process.

The roller 103 has a series of divisions in its cross section and in its lower part a roll is arranged with a cutter (not shown in the figure) that provides the shape, size and thickness to the tortillas or flakes of raw dough and that are detached from the lower roller with a spear-type peeler (not shown in the figure); also in the lower part of the sheeter mill 100, an exit metal mesh conveyor 106 driven by the roller 107 is arranged.

After the output metal mesh conveyor 106, a second accelerating metal mesh conveyor 108 with the same cross section is disposed, which advances with greater velocity than the output conveyor 106; said accelerating metal mesh conveyor 108 is driven by a movement generation and transmission system with appropriate location, which comprises a motor 109 with a reducer 110, which through a transmission guard 111, transmits movement and drives said conveyor.

The acceleration conveyor 108 has fixed on each side a metal frame 112, said frames each having two supports 113 and 114 in rectangular shape with a slot in the upper part and with greater separation, a third support 115 is fixed to them. same characteristics; the supports 113 and 114 of each frame 112 support in their grooves the arrows 116 and 117 respectively, arranged transversely with respect to the acceleration conveyor 108 in removable form; while the supports 115 support in their slots the arrows 118, also in transverse form. At the same time, the arrows 116 and 117 hold at their two ends in a swing-like manner the pre-coiled meshes 119, said pre-coiled meshes are arranged with a small contact and drag surface with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor 108, which allows to fold up only a small portion of the tortilla or flake; on the other hand, the arrow 118 supports at one end in the form of a curtain the final winding meshes 120, aligned and with the same number as the pre-wound meshes 119; the final winding meshes 120 have a greater contact and drag surface with the meshes of the acceleration conveyor 108, which allows, with the aid of the first doubles previously made, with the pre-winding meshes 119, to wind up the said windings more easily, perfectly and efficiently. small tortillas of raw dough of nixta-malized corn.

Said equipment has the particularity of implementing or incorporating so many metal meshes of pre-wound 119 and final winding 120 of small tortillas of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, across the width of the accelerated transporters, as ice makers are required of product.

Said equipment has the particularity of being able to dismantle the arrows 116, 117 and 118 that support the pre-wound meshes 119 and final rolled 120, of said small tortillas and continue producing in said line, characteristic products of the corn line, without the need to make modifications to the structure or dismantle the additional equipment such as the acceleration band 108, or the frames 112 with said supports 112, 114 and 115, without affecting the production of other products characteristic of this line.

The invention has been sufficiently described so that a person with average skill in the art can reproduce and obtain the results that we mentioned in the present invention. However, any person skilled in the art who is competent in the present invention may be able to make modifications not described in the present application, however, if for the application of these modifications in a certain structure or in the manufacturing process of the same, it is required of the matter claimed in the following claims, said structures should be included within the scope of the invention.

Claims (1)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S Having sufficiently described the invention as above, is considered as a novelty and therefore claimed as property expressed and contained in the following clauses claim.

1. Equipment to produce small tortillas of raw mass of nixtamalized corn in the shape of a block, from a conventional sheeter lamella with an output mesh conveyor, characterized by integrating an additional equipment at the end of said conveyor, which comprises a mesh conveyor. acceleration with the same cross section as the output conveyor of the laminator, driven by a system of generation and transmission of movement comprising a motor, a reducer and a transmission guard to the roller axis of said acceleration conveyor, which on its sides has arranged two frames with three rectangular support structures with a central upper slot, fixed perpendicular to the frames; in which three arrows are supported demountably and transversely with respect to the acceleration conveyor; in two of them hanging from both ends similarly to swing, a set of individual meshes corresponding to the pre-coiled meshes; while in the third arrow they hang from a single end in a curtain-like manner, a set of end coils of said small tortillas. Equipment for producing small tortilla roll snacks of raw nixtamalized corn dough, according to the previous clause, characterized in that said pre-wrapped meshes that hang in the form of a swing, have a small contact surface and drag with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor; while said final winding meshes that hang in the form of a curtain, has a greater contact surface and drag with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor. Equipment to produce snacks in the form of a tortilla roll of peanuts of raw nixtamalized corn dough, according to clauses 1 and 2, characterized in that said system for generation and transmission of movement to the acceleration band, comprises a frequency variator that allows to vary the speed of the mesh of the acceleration conveyor and therefore can adjust the speed of the forming, depending on the rhythm required in the production line. SUMMARY The present invention relates to a device for the precise and perfectly defined rolling of small flakes of raw dough of nixtamalized corn, in a continuous manner, characterized by comprising a conventional laminar sheeter with an output mesh conveyor, at the end of which is available an acceleration mesh conveyor, driven by a system of generation and transmission of movement with a motor, a reducer and a transmission guard to the axis of the roller of said acceleration conveyor, which on its sides has two frames arranged with three structures of rectangular supports with a central top slot fixed perpendicularly; in these structures, three arrows are supported in a removable manner and transversely with respect to the acceleration conveyor; in two of them hanging from both ends in a similar way to swing, the set of individual metal meshes of pre-coiled, with little surface of drag with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor; while of the third arrow they hang from a single end in a form similar to a curtain, the set of metallic meshes of final winding of said small tortillas, with greater surface of drag with the mesh of the acceleration conveyor.