NZ613284B - Mold for forming at least one food product - Google Patents

Abstract

613284 A mold (10) for forming at least one food product with a measurement unit (20), the mold having a filling side and a back side (11) opposite to the filling side. Further, the measurement unit comprises: measuring means configured to measure at least one parameter while the mold is used in a production line or testing facility and a data transfer interface (26) configured to transfer data to an external processing unit. n a production line or testing facility and a data transfer interface (26) configured to transfer data to an external processing unit.

Description

basis for the rt form of independent claim 1. EP 1 676 485 A1 bes injection-molding device for molding a confectionery product which is shaped on all sides. It can be produced by (i) preparing an aerated sugar mass, (ii) injecting said mass in a mould cavity defined by two separable mold es having a temperature below 0°C, and (iii) separating the mold surfaces and removing the product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objective of the invention was therefore to provide the means that allows optimizing the design of a mold for food. products, the corresponding production line and/or the corresponding production process.

The present ion solves the above mentioned issues by ing a mold, an apparatus, a method and a use in order to collect and transfer data describing the state of the mold. This solution is brought d by the. subject matter of the ndent claims, wherein the dependent claims be further aspects of the invention, in a first aspect of the invention, a mold for forming at least one food t is equipped with a measurement unit. The mold has a filling side and a back side opposite to said filling side. Further, the measurement unit comprises measuring 3 means configured to measure at least one parameter of the mold while the mold is used in the production line or testing facility. Further, the unit comprises a data transferring device configured to transfer data to an external processing unit.

Preferred food products are confectionery products (including ate, candy, chewing gum and ice«cream), bakery products {including bread, cakes, pastries and. dough) and/or dairy products (including cheese).

The measurement unit of the mold facilitates data acquisition directly at the point of interest, namely the mold itself. Further, the mold may acquire and/or transfer the data on~line and in real time. In one embodiment, the measurement unit may only comprise measarring mean-3, i.e. one or more sensors, and a data transferring device Therefore, the design of the measurement unit can be kept simple and compact. This has the age that such a measurement unit only requires a small installation space for passing through the different production steps together with the mold‘ This ecture of the measurement unit also allows for a robust design that is more fit to endure the production environment and, therefore, offers a longer life \VO 20121097043 PCT/U82012/020903 time and higher ility, The data transfer interface makes it possible to outsource at least parts of the data processing and therefore further reduces the size of the device. The resulting measurement unit is small and has only few parts that are exposed to the measurement environment and that have to be protected to avoid malfmictlons. However, if a malfunction occrrrs, it is also easy to exchange such a device. due to its size and at a low cost.

In another ment of the invention, the measuring means comprise at least sensor that measures mechanical parameters such as stress, strain, acceleration, orientation, velocity and/or force, The sensor or sensors may apply capacitive and/ or resistance working principles. For example, strain and stress may be measured using at least one strain gauge, which in another embodiment are directly attached to the mold and protected by a protective layer, if necessary. Other examples are gyro sensors measuring the orientation of the mold, acceleration sensors and/ or force sensors, measuring the acceleration or force of the mold, respectively, in at least one translational and/or onal axis. Although in all these examples, the sensors are preferably in direct contact with the mold, it is also possible to use s that apply a non—contact measurement principle such as ultrasound or laser. The latter s, for example, the measurement of the velocity and/or position of the mold, Which parameters or which combination of parameters is measured, s on the objective of the measurement. In one embodiment of the ion, the measuring means is configured to measure at least one parameter of the structure or structural integrity of the mold. Additionally and or in another ment, it might be of interest to measure rations that occur in the demolding station, for example a mold knockout station, where the at least one food product is removed. from the mold. In the twisting station this measurement may be complemented with a measurement of the orientation of the mold. A person d. in the art will appreciate that it may also be advantageous to choose a combination of sensors that make it possible to fy certain events such as twisting or rotating the mold during production in order to draw conclusions concerning the cause and effect of certain production stages on the mold. It might also be desirable to investigate the elationship between multiple parameters. For example, measuring the temperature that the mold is exposed to during production may be useful to explain parts of the stresses and s occurring within the mold’s material.

PCTIU82012/020903 According to another embodiment of the invention, the ing means comprise at least one sensor, or in some embodiments multiple sensors, to measure ambient parameters such as pressure, temperature, humidity and/ or light. As explained above, changes in temperature may cause thermal stress within the mold. Humidity on the other hand might affect the heat transfer that occurs to the mold, for example when washing said mold, and therefore indirectly ines the temperature affecting the mold. Light (such as infrared light or UV light} could be used during production and may well have adverse effects on the mold’s material and therefore on the structural integrity of the mold. in another embodiment of the invention, the measuring means comprise at least and in some embodiments multiple sensors to measure one or more chemical parameters such as partial pressures of gases, sugar content, viscosity, fat content, protein and/or pH-value. Although at first sight, these parameters seem to reflect only the quality of the foocl product , they may also have an effect on the longevity of the mold. n gases may affect the mold’s material and therefore their quantification might be useful to estimate the environmental influences the mold is exposed to. r example is the pl‘l—value, since it ents a typical parameter that might have adverse effects on the mold’s materials. i in one embodiment of the invention, the measurement means are configured to withstand or measure acceleration within a range of O to 30 G and/ or atures within a range of 60°C to 120°C. High acceleration occurs, for example, when the food products are knocked out of the mold in a mold knockout station, acting as demolding station. However, such rations may also occur when the mold is transferred from one production station to the next caused by the transport means.

Therefore, the ability to withstanci such nces without a negative effect on the measurement is crucial. During the production of food products, the different production stages may require a wide range of temperatures that the measurement unit is exposed to during measurement. This range comprises low temperatures such as below 0°C to cool down the food product after filling the at least one food mass into the mold, or rather high atures, for example occurring during filling or washing and dismiecting the mold. in on, the measurement unit may be protected from the measurement environment by at least one protective layer such as a sealing layer. Here, it is ally important that the tive layer does not affect the measurement in an undetermined way. This embodiment of the invention especially takes the effects of 2012/020903 the measuring environment on the measurement unit into account. The protective layer around the measurement unit is especially useful when the mold is washed since it may be hard to find a location where the measurement unit is reliably protected from the measurement environment so no malfunction of the unit occurs.

It may be advantageous to design the protecn‘ve layer in a way that it also forms a housing for the measurement unit in order to simplify die attachment of the measurement unit to the mold.

In another embodiment of the invention, the measurement unit is attached to or removably attached to said mold, preferably to the back side of the mold. Further, the measurement unit may have a r design in order to connect different measuring means. Such a modular design enables a wide range of different options to measure the at least one parameter that can be custom fit to each particular question. concerning the loading of the mold. Further, the r design allows for an optimum placement of the sensors on the mold. if the optimum ent for multiple potentially different s is at l locations on the mold, the measurement unit may well be separated into a main unit comprising the data transfer ace and optionally at least one measuring means and at least one auxiliary unit comprising at least one measuring means connected to the main unit.

This is especially the case if multiple strain gauges are applied to the mold in order to determine occurring strain at different locations of the mold in order to estimate the loads acting on said mold during production or testing. Another exemplary application may be the attachment of l acceleration sensors in order to optimize the effectiveness of the mold knockout station at different locations of the mold in order to quickly and reliably remove the food product from the mold.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the processing unit is ted to a control system for controlling the production line or the g facility. Integrating the measurement unit in such a way allows optimizing the production s for the food product beside the aforementioned ement of the design of the mold and the production line. For example, the cooling of the molds when containing a food product can be closely supervised in order to better understand how fast heat is transported away from said product during solidification of the food mass. Another example may be the objective to achieve a threshold temperature of the mold during the g process in order to guarantee that the mold fulfills all hygienic requirements before entering production.

PCT/U52012/020903 Up to now, it usually takes too long before a defect in a mold is discovered, which in turn causes high additional costs that could be reduced by sing the time to such an event. Therefore, it may also be of interest to monitor those parts of the mold that are susceptible to be damaged in order to enable a fast se if, for example, material of the mold chips off. This solves the issue of having to discard a complete production run of food ts in order to assure that no chipped-off parts of the mold remain within these products, representing a ial danger for the consumer.

In another embodiment of the invention, the data transfer interface comprises a wireless and/or a plug connection for transferring the measurement data. The transfer of the data may take place during and/or after the collection of the data from the measuring means. If seen as necessary, a data logging unit may be added to the measurement unit as an integrated or modular entity. Which architecture is chosen for the measurement unit depends on the task the measurement unit has to fulfill. For e, if the measurement unit is intended for optimizing the design of the mold, a plug connection for transferring the data after the measurement has taken place may well be sufficient and results in an advantageously simple design of the unit. 011 the other hand, if the measurements are used to l or monitor the production s or the mold at least during a set time period, a constant transfer of data during production may well be the better operation mode for the ement unit In another ment, probably in combination with the aforesaid, it might be of advantage to also design the data transfer interface as a module in order to ensure an easy and reliable transfer of measurement data.

In another ment of the invention, the measurement unit further comprises a data logging unit to record the measurement data received from the measming mans. Such a data logging unit has the advantage that data measured while passing through production or testing can be read out after at least parts of the production or testing have been finished. In order to do so, the data logging unit may be easily connected. to a processing device such as a computer for the subsequent data analysis by cable or wireless connection. This provides a cost effective way to collect data of the loads affecting the mold during tion or In another embodiment of the invention, a food production line comprises a mold as described above that is passed through at least one of the following production line stations or testing facility stations such as a mold filling station, a mold washing WO 97043 PCT/U82012/020903 station, a mold twister station, a mold rotator station, a mold cooling tunnel, and/ a demolding n. All these stations are tion stations that fulfill tasks commonly found. for the production of food products. ng the architecture of the measurement unit to provide optimum functionality for at least one of these stations ensures that only data that can, subsequeniiy be used for optimizing the design of the mold and production line and/or the tion of food products is acquired. The insight that this data delivers, ensures that the design of the molds and the production. lines becomes less empirical since it is based on analytical results of common engineering techniques such as finite element modeling According to the entioned, the mold is intended for use in a food production line and/or testing facility, This is especially important, because molds for producing food ts have speciai requirements such as they have to be biocompatibie and have to fulfill hygienic requirements, Le. it has to be possible to disinfect them.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the mold r comprises identification means to distinguish the at least one mold equipped with a measurement unit from other molds used in the production. Hence, one or more molds that are equipped i with measurement units may be passed through the production line. For the i optimization of the mold design it may well be sufficient to pass the mold through the at least one production step without filling the mold. if the measurement mold is used among at least one other production moid that is fully integrated in the production process, Le. it used for the production of the food product, it is desirable to equip at least the measurement mold with identifying means. These identifying means, such as transponders or markings, facilitate the manual and/ or automatic distinction between a normal production mold and the measurement mold. This makes it possible to selectively skip production steps such as the filling of the mold.

For producing a food product while using a mold as described above, a related method has been developed. In a first aspect of this method for producing at least one food t comprising a mold, the method includes several steps. One step is starting the measurement of the at least one parameter with the measurement unit.

Once at least parts of the at least one parameter has been obtained, r step is to stop the measurement. r, the at least one parameter is measured while the mold is passed through at least one production line station or testing facility station in which at least one tion step is performed. 2012/020903 According to another ment of the ion, the method of producing the at least one food product comprises at least one production step at least once. Such a step is filling the mold in a mold filling station with at least one food mass and/or at least one food product ient such as particulate material. Another step is washing the mold in a mold washing station before and/ or after the mold is filled in at least one filling station in order to remove remaining food products or remainders of food products from the mold. Further, twisting the mold in a mold twister station at least once, preferably to remove the at least one food product or to reorient said mold for another production step may also be performed. Another step in the production of the at least one food product is cooling the mold in a mold cooling tunnel, preferably with at least parts of the food product within the mold, in order to speed up the solidification process of the food mass and/or the food t ingredient after the mold has been filled. A technique for removal of a food product is passing the mold through a ing n to separate the food product from the mold. An example for such a demolding station is a mold knockout n in which the mold is knocked in order to remove the at least one food product. In other words, the food t is removed by rating the mold in at least one direction. Another technique to remove the food product is to loosen the at least one food product by vibrating the mold. Further, a combination of these techniques may l also be applied. l Further, passing the mold through more than one production station may be especially useful if the objective of the measurement is to record the loading cycle for parts of or a complete production cycle.

It is also within the scope of the invention to start and stop the measurement of the at least one parameter at least once during, before and/ or after the production process. This is ageous if data is to be recorded only at set time intervals, for example, if only certain stages in the production are to be red or investigated.

This avoids sorting out the data after each measurement in order to reduce the recorded data points to the ones of interest in case data has been recorded during the whole production cycle.

Another embodiment of said method is to transfer the measurement data from the measurement unit to an external processing unit with a data transfer interface in order to control the production process and/or to improve the design of at least parts of the production line or {he testing faciliiy. Although the data acquired in this me: is best fit for improving the design of the mold, it might also be useful to improve the design of other parts of the production line. For example, it is possible to improve the production by optimizing the precision or the path of the molds through the production steps. It also becomes possible to investigate the time intervals of certain steps during tion such as the washing of the mold or cooling of the mold to save tion time.

In a further embodiment of the , the measurement data is transferred simultaneous to and/or after the at least one lion step. lncluding such a task in the tion method is especially useful when data acquired with said mold to be used for directly controlling or ring the production process and/ or the mold. This is the case if the mold has to reach a certain temperature during the cooling process before it can be transferred to the next production step. Another example is the heating of the mold during a washing cycle in order to fully remove remaining chocolate. mass and/or food product ingredienls in said mold after removal of the at least one food product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES Figure 1 shows a mold comprising a measurement unit.

Figure 2 shows the measurement unit in more detail.

Figure 3 shows a graph with ement results ed with the mold.

DETAlLED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure I shows a mold 10 for food products with a measurement unit ‘20 attached to it. The mold 10 has multiple depressions 14 with a specific shape for g chocolate bars. The chocolate bars may well contain another food product ingredient such as a parficulate al, for example, nuts and/or raisins.

Although the mold '10 is for the production of chocolate bars, the invention may also be applied to molds for other food products such as prah’nes or ice—cream. The mold is structurally reinforced with reinforcing means, preferably at: least one rib ‘12, its back side 11.

The measurement unit 20 is attached to the back side 11 of a rectangular mold 10, located approximately one. third of the mold’s side length away from the boundary, respectively. The measurement unit 20 is preferably smaller in one of its dimensions than the height of the. ribs 12 so that the mold 10 could be put on its back side 11 on plain surface without the ement unit '20 touching said surface.

PCT/U52012/020903 Measurement unit 20 may be attached to at least one mold 10 during normal tion in order to facilitate the optimization of the design of said mold 10, the design of at least part of a production line and/ or the zation of the production process. The measurement unit 20 is preferably able and detachable from said mold '10, However, it is also within the scope of the invention to integrate the measurement unit 20 into the mold 10, for example to be part of the rcing means or the depressions 3.4. gh measuring means, a data transfer interface 26 and a data logging unit are integrated within the measurement unit 20, it has very t built (Figure '1).

Figure 2 shows a more detailed View of the measurement unit 20 that comprises an integrated circuit board 24, a data transfer interface 26 attached to said circuit board 24, a protective layer 23 configured to protect the ement unit 20 from the measurement environment, a switch 21 to activate or deactivate the acquisition of the at least one parameter and an energy supply 25 such as a y. The measurement unit 20 further has a local coordinate system 22 linked to an acceleration sensor thereon. The measurement unit 20 may also contain at least one additional sensor, for example a temperature sensor and/or a sensor to detect humidity. In this exemplary architecture of the measurement unit 20, the data transfer is performed by the data transfer interface 26 by a cable connection after at least parts of the measurement has taken place. However, it is just as easy to add a ss data transfer to the data transfer interface 26 or to replace it altogether.

In order to start the measurement, the measurement unit 20 is activated. This may be achieved by using a simple switch 21 or by remote control. in order to exchange commands between a remote control and the. measurement unit 20, the wireless data transfer interface may be used or an integrated additional remote control unit. The remote control allows to turn the data acquisition of the measurement unit 20 on and off at least once, for example, to only acquire data of specific production steps.

Another possibility is to m the measurement unit 20 at which time intervals and/or sampling rates the measurement unit 20 should record and/or transfer data from the measuring means.

The. ement may be started before the mold ll) enters the production process as well as at a point of time after the mold ‘10 entered the production process or at multiple times during the tion. Once the measurement is started, the measurement unit 20 records the at least one mechanical, chemical and/or ambient PCTI'U32012/020903 parameter. The resulting data points are either logged by a data unit and/or may be transferred in real—time while the data is recorded. It is also an option of the t ion to specifically collect data for specific parameters by only activating the corresponding measuring means. In other words, only the measuring means ed in order to fulfill the measurement task, such as investigating the loads acting on the mold 10 in at least one production station, are activated when starting the measurement.

During measurement, the protective layer 23 seals off parts of the measurement unit that are susceptible to the measurement environment. The measuring means may be completely integrated into said measurement unit 20 and/ or may also have a modular architecture. A modular architecture is for example advantageous if it is ble to place the measuring means at ent locations of the mold 10 to ensure an optimal data acquisition. In case of a modular architecture of the measurement unit 20, the measuring means might either be connected by cable connection and/ or wireless tion. The latter has the advantage of an easier installation. The location for the measuring means has to be chosen according to the task on hand. For example, in order to perform a ement of the acceleralion the mold '10 is exposed to, the measuring means should not be placed at an taneous center of rotation of the mold 10. If such a placement cannot be avoided, more than one acceleration sensor may be used or more than one measurement cycle can be performed. As a person. skilled in the art will appreciate, le sensors have to be used as well for recording stress fields, strain fields, temperature fields, humidity fields and/ or force fields. b1 order to directly acquire data about the strains and stresses within the mold 105 during production, additional strain gauges may be connected to the ement unit 20 (not shown).

Figure 3 shows rocessed measurement results of a measurement unit 20 after the mold 10 has passed through several production stations, namely a twisting station, a mold rotator station as well as a demolding station, respectively, mold knockout station, and. has been transported between these stations by transporting means. As can be appreciated in figure 3, during the time of measurement, the acceleration over lime in all three translational axes (51, 52, 53) as well as humidity and temperature 40 have been recorded. The temperature is approximately constant throughout the whole measurement, wherein the humidity 30 decreases over time with a slight increase at the and. The measurement of the acceleration shows peaks that either corresponds to the twister station, the mold rotator or the demolding station. Further there is unsteady movement of the mold to between WO 97043 these tion stations while the mold 10 is transported by the transporting means. in order to exactly determine. the reasons for the unsteady movement of the mold 10, the measurement cycle may be repeated several times and /or measuring means may be added that record the exact position of said mold 10 that can later on be related to the occurrence of unsteady movement.

After ng the ement, again by using a normal switch 21 and/ or a remote control, the. data can be post-processed for subsequent use, for example by applying common engineering techniques such as finite element analysis or boundary analysis. Further, other analysis ques such as frequency analysis may be used, for example, to detect if material has been d off the mold 10 and therefore changed the frequency profile of said mold ‘10.

The measurement data may also be used to control the production process on~line and in ime at least by monitoring the state of the mold '10 during production during set time intervals that are, for example, found to be critical for the integrity of the mold 10. in summary, the new and inventive way to measure the state of the mold 10 during 3 the production of food products provides the means to reliably and quickly provide l data by measuring at least one parameter delivering objective le information. 3 This information may he used for the design of new molds or the retrofit of existing E molds. For the latter case, said measurement unit 20 can be attached to a mold ll] that shows, although carefully designed cted behavior such as unwanted vibrations during production. The analysis of the acquired data makes it possible to point out the weak spots of such a mold 10 and therefore solves occurring problems with existing molds without having to design complete new ones.

Recording chemical ters such as the pH~value may also help to optimize the mold 10, the production line and/ or the tion process. This is for example the case for a mold washing station in order to determine how much the washing liquid changes the pvaalue the mold 10 is exposed to. For such a purpose, the measuring means may well be attached to the front of the mold 10 or be integrated within the mold 10 so that they are in contact with the front side of the. mold 10, for example by being part of the surface of the depression 14 within the mold 10.

Claims (23)

What is claimed

1. A mold for forming at least one food product, the mold comprising a measurement unit, a g side and a back side opposite to the filling side, the measurement unit further sing: measuring means ured to measure at least one parameter of the mold while the mold is used and passed through a production line or testing facility; and a data er interface configured to transfer measurement data to an external sing unit.

2. The mold ing to claim 1, wherein the measuring means comprise at least one sensor to measure mechanical parameters selected from the group consisting of: stress, strain, acceleration, orientation, velocity and/ or force.

3. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims, n the measuring means comprises at least one sensor to measure ambient parameters selected from the group consisting of: pressure, temperature and/ or humidity.

4. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the measuring means comprises at least one sensor to measure chemical parameters ed from the group consisting of: partial pressures of gases, sugar content, Viscosity, fat content, protein and/ or pH—Value.

5. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the measuring means are configured to withstand or measure acceleration within a range of 0 to 30 G and/ or temperatures Within a range of -50°C to 120°C and/ or in that the measurement unit is protected by at least one protective layer.

6. The mold according to any one of the ing claims, wherein the ement unit is attached to or removably attached to the mold.

7. The mold according to claim 6, wherein the measurement unit is attached to or removably attached to the back side of the mold.

8. The mold according to claim 6, wherein the measurement unit has a modular design for the connection of different measuring means devices.

9. The mold according to any one of the ing claims, wherein the processing unit is connected to a control system for controlling the production line or the testing facility.

10. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the data transfer interface comprises a wireless connection and/ or a plug connection for transferring the measurement data during and/ or after the collection of data from the measuring means.

11. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the measurement unit r comprises a data logging unit to record the measurement data.

12. The mold according to any one of the preceding claims further sing an identification means to distinguish the mold from other molds used in the production line.

13. A food production line for producing at least one food product comprising the mold according to any one of claims 1 to 12 and at least one of the following production line stations or testing facility stations: a mold filling station; a mold washing station; a mold twister station; a mold rotator station; a mold cooling tunnel; and a demolding station.

14. The use of a mold ing to any one of claims 1 to 12 in a food production line and/ or testing facility.

15. A method for producing at least one food product comprising the mold according to any one of claims 1 to 12, comprising; starting a measurement of at least one parameter with the ement unit; stopping the measurement of the at least one parameter with the measurement unit; and measuring the at least one parameter while the mold is passed through at least one food production line station or testing facility station in which at least one production step is performed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the production method ses at least one of the ing production steps performed_at least once: filling the mold in a mold g station with at least one food mass and/ or at least one food product ient; washing the mold in a mold washing station before and/ or after the mold is filled in at least one filling station; twisting the mold in a mold twister station at least once; rotating the mold in a mold rotator station at least once; cooling the mold in a mold cooling tunnel; and passing the mold through a demolding station to separate the food product from the mold.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein ng the mold in the mold twister station removes food products.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein cooling the mold in the mold cooling tunnel with at least parts of the food product within the mold.

19. The production method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the measurement of the at least one parameter is started and stopped at least once during, before and/ or after the production process.

20. The production method according to any one of claims 15 to 19, wherein the measurement data is transferred from the measurement unit to an external processing unit with the data transfer interface to control the production process and/ or to improve the design of at least parts of the production line or the testing facility.

21. The production method of claim 20, wherein the measurement data is transferred from the measurement unit to an external processing unit with the data transfer interface to improve the mold.

22. The tion method according to any one of claims 15 to 21, wherein the ement data is transferred aneously to and/ or after the at least one production step.

23. The mold according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with nce to any one of the