WO1993023314A1

WO1993023314A1 - A process and equipment for feeding semi-solid edible fats in the foodstuffs production process

Info

Publication number: WO1993023314A1
Application number: PCT/FI1993/000207
Authority: WO
Inventors: Veli-Matti Paukkunen
Original assignee: Raision Margariini Oy
Priority date: 1992-05-14
Filing date: 1993-05-14
Publication date: 1993-11-25
Also published as: EE9400205A

Abstract

The method according to the invention is intended especially for handling an edible fat (1) in the preparation of foodstuffs or the like. In these processes, as for instance in cookie, bakery, processed-food product processes or the like edible fat (1) is used, which has been transported to the preparation process in unit packages (2). For handling the edible fat (1), a feeder (3) is arranged to the connection of the preparation process, by means of which the edible fat (1) is removed from the unit package (2) and fed into the preparation process. The inventive equipment comprises a frame (5), which has a work station (A), to which the unit package (2) is fixed by means of setting elements (5a1, 5a2) arranged on the frame (5), after which the edible fat (1) may be removed from the unit package (2) by a force effect applied to the unit package (2) on the work station (A).

Description

A PROCESS AND EQUIHYENT FOR FEEDING SEMI-SOLID EDIBLE FATS IN THE FOODSTUFFS PRODUCTION PROCESS.

The invention relates to a method for feeding a semi- solid edible fat in a preparation process of foodstuffs. In this connection, a semi-solid edible fat refers to a fat in a non-liquid form, such as butter, margarine, coconut butter and lard. These are used for example in the preparation of cookie, bakery, processed-food prod- ucts and the like, and are transported in large quantiti¬ es in unit packages to the process.

Especially in the bakery industry is used rolling, dough or baking fat, which is generally packed in unit pack- ages of 2.5 kg or 10 kg. In connection with current pro¬ duction methods in small and medium-sized bakeries, the edible fat is generally inserted directly into the dough as pieces or plates. Instead, in larger bakeries mechan¬ ical lines are generally used. For example, the rolling unit of a pastry dough, or a laminator, prepares pastry

^"dough mechanically by consequent rolling and turning pro¬ cedures. In connection with the current technique, lines of said type require, however, still manual work steps for feeding the edible fat into the process. In this case, the edible fat removed from the protective packages is portioned e.g. at the initial end of a laminator line to a feeding funnel, from which the edible fat is trans¬ ferred in suitable proportions by means of a feeding screw arrangement or the like to the dough.

In connection with the current technique, it is thus al¬ ways necessary, independently of the mechanizing degree of the preparation process, to remove the edible fat man¬ ually from its protective package and to feed it further to the preparation process e.g. directly into the dough or the feeding funnel of the laminator line.

The manual feature of the handling requires a certain accuracy so that no wrapping paper adheres to the fat and that a sufficent amount of fat is fed to the process. Especially when rolling on a rolling table, it is in cer¬ tain cases necessary to form the edible fat removed from its protective package in a separate work step into plates. The packaging of edible fat into relatively small unit packages is also uneconomical, since fat always ad¬ heres to the wrapping paper. It has been observed in practise that ca. 40 g of fat adheres to the wrapping paper from a fat package of 2.5 kg. Then, in a conven¬ tional process, in which is used ca. 1000 kg of edible fat, the total loss will therefore be 16 kg. As a manual step, the handling of edible fat in otherwise generally highly mechanized preparation processes is also frustat- ing, which may cause neglect in the supervision of the feeding.

The object of the present invention is to essentially eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above and thereby to essentially raise the technical level prevailing in the field. For realizing this object, the inventive method is mainly characterized in what appears from the character¬ istics of the enclosed patent claim 1.

As the most important advantages of the inventive method may be mentioned simplicity and reliability of operation, whereby both the monotonous manual work step and feeding failures as well as interruptions of the preparation pro¬ cess may be avoided. By means of the inventive method, it is thus possible to essentially improve productibility as well as to decrease the loss of the edible fat, as com¬ pared to the current methods.

In unindependent claims related to the method are pres- ented preferred applications of the inventive method.

A package suitable for the realization of the invention is defined in the independent claim 4.

The invention also relates to an equipment for applying the method. The equipment is defined in more detail in the independent claim 5 related to the equipment.

By means of the inventive equipment, it is possible in a simple and reliable manner to perform the handling of an edible fat, i.e. its removal from the protective package and its feed to the preparation process. By means of the equipment, the edible fat may be continuously fed to the process, whereby the proportioning of the edible fat, and the process supervision are in comparison with the cur¬ rent equipment also essentially more readily controll- able. By using sufficiently large protective packages, it is possible to minimize the loss of the edible fat.

Preferred applications of the inventive equipment are presented in unindependent patents claims related to the equipment.

In the following description, the invention is illus¬ trated in detail with reference to the accompanying draw¬ ings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows in principle an equipment utilizing the method;

Fig. 2a and 2b show the operational principle of a cer- tain inventive equipment;

Fig. 3 shows a certain preferred unit package to be used in the method;

Fig. 4 shows the operational principle of the unit package of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 shows preferred, nozzle arrangements to be used in the equipment.

The equipment applying the inventive method shown in Fig. 1 as a principle is intended for handling especially an edible fat 1 used in the preparation of foodstuffs or the like. In this case, the edible fat 1, such as butter or margarine, is fed to a preparation process of foodstuffs, such as cookie, bakery, processed-food products or the like, which edible fat is conveyed to the preparation process in a unit package 2. For handling the edible fat, a feeder 3 is arranged to the connection of the prepara¬ tion-process, by means of which feeder the edible fat 1 is removed from.the unit package 2 and fed to the prep- aration process.

The equipment shown in Fig. 1 comprises a frame 5, which has a work station A, to which the unit package 2 is fixed by means of setting elements 5a on the frame 5, after which the edible fat 1 may be removed from the unit package 2 on the work station A by means of a force ef¬ fect directed by force elements 5b. Fig. 1 shows a fee¬ ding funnel 11 describing the preparation process, on the bottom of which funnel are located feeding screws.

In the preferred applications shown in Fig. 1-4, the ed¬ ible fat 1 is packed in a unit package 2 operating according to a push-through principle. In this case, the force elements 5b of the feeder 3 operate according to a piston principle. A piston 5bl moving by means of e.g. an electric motor 5b2 and a screw rod 5b3 presses the edible fat 1 via a first end I of the unit package 2 out of a second end II of the unit package 2. In the application shown, the setting elements 5a comprise countersurface arrangements 5al and 5a2 corresponding to the edge form of the unit package 2. The countersufrace arrangement of the outlet end II of the unit package 2 is comprised of a support rim 5al provided with a fitting groove and of a support plate 5a2 of the pushing end I arranged in a similar manner. To the connection of the support plate 5a2 are arranged locking springs 5c, which cause the locking of the unit package 2 by pressing the unit pack¬ age 2 between the support plate 5a2 and the support rim 5al. After the unit package 2 is empty, the piston 5bl is drawn back, whereby it in connection with its reversing movement draws also the support plate 5a2 backwards by releasing the locking of the unit package 2. It is pre¬ ferable to arrange the operation of the feeder 3 control¬ lable by means of control elements 6, such as a micro¬ computer, a programmable logic or the like, for adjusting at least the feeding rate v of the piston 5bl.

As a preferable application, the feeder 3 is additionally provided with e.g. proportioning elements 4, whereby the edible fat is divided into batches of a suitable size by cutting the edible fat 1 coming out of the unit package 2. The proportioning elements are comprised of a cutting- wire arrangement operating by means of a slide-rail actu¬ ator arrangement provided on the frame 5 to the connec¬ tion of the second end II of the unit package 2.

In the applications shown in Fig. 2a and 2b, the feeder 3 is arranged to be continous, whereby on the frame 5 are arranged storaging elements 7 for an intermediate storage of replacement unit packages 2 ' . The frame 5 is also fur¬ nished with handling elements 8 for moving the ex- changeable 2 and replacement 2 ' unit package, whereby, when the preceding unit package 2 is emptying, the unit package 2 exchangeable by means of the handling elements 8 is removed from the work station A of the actuator 3 and the replacement unit package 2' transferred from the storaging elements 7 is positioned in place thereof. The storaging elements 8 are comprised of an auxiliary frame 5d on the frame 5,. which auxiliary frame 5d comprises a guide ramp in a tilted position, whereby the replacement unit packages 2 ' transfer by gravity to the work station A. The handling elements 8 are then comprised of stop plates 8a fitted on the auxiliary frame 5d for transferr¬ ing one unit package 2' at a time to the work station A. In addition, the handling elements 8 include lifting arms 8b for detaching a replacement unit package 2 by vibra¬ tion or correspondingly off the setting elements 5a and for lifting it away from the work station A.

In Fig. 3 and 4 is shown a preferable unit package 2 ap¬ plicable to the inventive method and equipment. The unit package shown in Fig. 3 comprises a cylindrical frame section 2a, at one end of which is arranged an end cover 2b made of a wear-resistant material, such as plastic, and at the other end of which is arranged an end plate 2c made movable inside the frame section 2a. A fairly large unit package of e.g. ca. 100 kg may be kept especially in the conveying step in a vertical position on its end deck 2b, which is, however, removed at least before the posi¬ tioning of the unit package in the work station (Fig. 4a) . The end plate 2c acts correspondingly in the operat¬ ing step of the unit package 2 as an intermediate surface between the piston 5bl and the fat 1, whereby it is not necessary to remove it.

Depending on the application, it is preferable to furnish the feeder 3 with nozzle arrangements 9 shown as examples in Fig. 5, which, when fixed to the connection of the second end II of the unit package 2 e.g. by quick-lock¬ ing arrangements, affect the solidity or appearance of the edible fat 1 to be fed to the preparation process. By means of a narrowing and compensating nozzle 9a shown in Fig. 5a, a solid plate-like edible fat is achieved and by means of a narrowing nozzle 9b shown in Fig. 5b a non- uniform edible fat mass. Similarly, the fat 1 may be fed continuously e.g. to the feeding nozzle 11 of the lamina- tor line by varying the feeding rate v of the piston 5bl or by using the proportioning elements 4 in batches of a certain size.

It is apparent that the invention is not limited to the applications described above, but it may be modified to a considerable extent within the basic idea. First of all, the unit package may be formed sausage- or tube-like whereby the force elements of the feeder are comprised of a roller, roll or the like, which empties the unit package by rolling or plating it. Such an arrangement naturally requires fixing arrangements essentially devi¬ ating from the application described. The frame of the feeder may be easily arranged as movable by means of rail or roller arrangements. It is naturally preferable to arrange the feeder fully automatic by means of a micro¬ computer or the like, whereby also the changing of unit packages occurs in a preprogrammed manner. The force elements of the feeder may be arranged e.g. pneumatic, whereby the feeding movement of the piston occurs by means of a cylinder or in a similar manner. The frame may naturally also be arranged vertically adjustable for ap¬ plying the feeder to different application environments.

Claims

1. A method for feeding a semi-solid edible fat in a pre- paration process of foodstuffs, characterized in that the fat is fed to the process from a unit package by de¬ creasing the volume of the package by a mechanical force effect applied thereto.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the force effect is adjusted according to need of fat in the process.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the feeding is performed by simultaneously maintain¬ ing the package form by transferring its one part rela¬ tive to the other parts.

4. A package for realizing the method according to claim 3, characaterized in that the package comprises a longi¬ tudinal frame section (2a) with a constant cross- sectional surface and open by its both ends as well as closing elements (2b, 2c) corresponding to the cross-sec¬ tion of the frame section (2a) for closing the openings at the ends of the frame section (2a) , and that at least one closing element (2c) is arranged to be pushed to the inner space of the frame section (2a) with a slide clear¬ ance.

5. An equipment for utilizing the package according to claim 4 in the method according to claim 3, which equip¬ ment comprises a frame (5) , which has setting elements (5al, 5a2) for fixing the frame section (2a) of the pack¬ age to a work station (A) on the frame (5) of the equip- ment, as well as force elements (5bl, 5b2, 5b3) for push¬ ing the second closing element (2c) inside the frame sec¬ tion (2a) of the package.

6. An equipment according to claim 5, characaterized in that the force elements (5bl, 5b2, 5b3) are arranged to cause the penetration of the closing element (2c) into the frame section (2a) at a controlled rate.

7. An equipment according to claim 5 or 6, characaterized in that proportioning elements (4) are arranged to the connection of a feeder (3) for batching the edible fat (1) in batched quantities.

8. An equipment according to any of the preceding claims 5-7, characaterized in that on the frame (5) are arranged storaging elements (7) for an intermediate storage of at least one replacement package (2 ' ) and handling elements (8) for moving the exchangeable and replacement package (2, 2 ' ) , whereby when the preceding package (2) is empty, the package (2) to be exchanged by means of the handling elements (8) is arranged to be removed from the work sta- tion (A) and the replacement unit package (2') transferr¬ ed from the storaging elements (7) is arranged to be po¬ sitioned in place thereof.

9. An equipment according to claim 8, characaterized in that the storaging elements (7) comprise an auxiliary frame (5d) arranged on the frame (5) , which has a guide ramp or the like in a tilted position for transferring one or more replacement packages (2 " ) essentially by gravity to the work station (A) , whereby the handling elements (8) include guide elements (8a) arranged to the connection of the auxiliary frame (5d) for transferring one replacement unit package (2') at a time to the work station (A) and transfer elements (8b) arranged to the connection of the work station (A) for detaching the ex- changeable unit package (2) from the setting elements

(5al, 5a2) and for removing it from the work station (A) .