WO2008004957A1

WO2008004957A1 - Method and apparatus for cleaning a tool

Info

Publication number: WO2008004957A1
Application number: PCT/SE2007/000668
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dieter Neidhardt
Original assignee: Dieter Neidhardt
Priority date: 2006-07-05
Filing date: 2007-07-05
Publication date: 2008-01-10
Also published as: SE529588C2; SE0601478L

Abstract

A method and a device to clean an ice-cream scoop (5) imply that the ice-cream scoop (5) is immersed into hot water steam in a house (1), whereby the scoop becomes disinfected, and ice-cream residues and other material are rinsed off by condensate from the scoop, which is kept oriented in a steam- exposure apparatus to allow complete draining off from the concave side of the scoop. The apparatus contains a house having an opening (2) for the icecream scoop (5) and a steam generator (10) that introduces hot steam into the house.

Description

A method and an apparatus for cleaning a tool

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cleaning a tool, of the kind that is seen in the preamble of the appended independent claims directed to a method and an apparatus, respectively.

In professional portioning and serving of foodstuffs, particularly ice cream, occasionally a scoop is used by means of which ice-cream portions are collected from different ice-cream containers, the ice cream being shaped into one or more balls and deposited in a serving bowl or a cornet, which also may be eatable. The expression "ice cream" should of course be interpreted in a wide sense and com- prises, among other things, also sorbet or sherbet.

A problem upon such a portioning and serving is that the scoop runs the risk of becoming contaminated with dangerous substances, for instance infectious agents, for instance from the hand of the operator, and that such infectious agents are transferred between the varieties of ice cream in the ice-cream containers and to or from the scoop.

Therefore, there is a need of a technique by which contami- nation chains of the mentioned kind easily, quick, efficiently and conveniently can be broken, in particular upon handling of ice cream, and this is an object of the invention.

In that connection, an additional object is to assist the operator to dig up a cold creamy foodstuff by the scoop from a storage container.

The objects are attained by the invention.

The invention is defined in the appended independent claims . Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.

In the following, the invention will be described by way of examples, reference being made to the appended drawing.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a sectioned embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a container 1 having an opening 2 for a tool 3, which has a handle 4 carrying a spoon-like scoop 5. In the container 1, a grid cage is shown, which receives the scoop 5 of the tool and which, together with the opening 2, ensures a certain type of orientation of the scoop 5 in relation to the vertical.

As an alternative to the net cage 6, the handle 4 may, for instance, have a collar at the transition to the scoop b, the collar (not shown) co-operating with the container opening 2 in order to establish a certain kind of orientation of the scoop 5 in relation to the vertical.

The house 1 is shown to have a generator 10 of water steam, preferably of = 100 ⁰C, wherein water steam 11 may be fed into the house 1 via an inlet 11. In a lower part of the house 1, there is an outlet 20 for liquid. The outlet 20 may, as an example, comprise a liquid trap.

By feeding water steam into the house 1, the water steam can contact the tool 3, particularly the scoop 5 received in its entirety inside the house 1.

It can be assumed that the tool 3, before it was inserted into the house 1, has been used by an operator to dig out a scoop of ice cream from an ice-cream container containing ice cream of a selected flavour, and to deposit this ice- cream portion to a cornet or an ice-cream serving bowl. In connection with such an operation, there is a simultaneous risk that the scoop 5 receives some form of contamination.

Furthermore, the scoop becomes entirely or partly coated with ice-cream residues.

Thus, when the scoop 5 is exposed to the water steam introduced through the inlet 11, a certain degree of steriliza- tion of the scoop 5 will be attained, and furthermore, steam will be condensed on the scoop 5 and afford a washing off of ice-cream residues from the scoop 5, to the bottom of the container 1, from which condensate and ice-cream residues can escape via the discharge 20. The ice-cream residues on the scoop 5 are heated by the steam/condensate and can thereby drain off easier from the scoop.

Furthermore, the scoop 5 will experience a heating that facilitates the next use of the tool 3 for bringing up an ice-cream portion from an ice-cream container.

Preferably, the scoop 5 of the tool 3 is inserted into the container after each operation of bringing up ice cream by the scoop and depositing the ice-cream portion in a receiv- ing vessel, and also before each such operation. The container 1 may carry a water container 30 having a bottom 31 that constitutes a heat-exchanging partition wall between the steam space in the house 1 and the mass of water in the container 30. In that connection, the wall 31 may have sur- face extensions and may, for instance, be corrugated and consist of materials having a good thermal conductivity.

The house 1 is shown to have a cover 40, which is connected via a hinge 41 and is biased against the closed position over the opening 2 by a spring 42. The cover 40 may be provided with a finger grip 43 to be easy to open before insertion of the tool 3. In the embodiment, the opening 2 is shown arranged in an upper wall of the house 21, but other locations of the opening 4 are possible. The net cage 6, the opening 2 and/or other devices to impart the scoop 5 a selected orientation in relation to the vertical, should be formed so that liquid can drain off completely from the concave part of the scoop 5.

In Fig. 1, it is illustrated that water from the container 1 flows through a heater that is supplied from the mains and that generates the water steam introduced subsequently into the house 1 via the opening 11. The power supply for the heater comprises a switch, which is controlled by sen- sors for the control of a desired steam production. For instance, an upper and a lower sensor 61 and 62, respectively, may be arranged in the upper part of the house 1, for instance near the opening 2. The upper sensor 61 may be arranged to interrupt the power supply of the heater when the steam in the house 1 has reached a predetermined level. The lower sensor 62 may be arranged to reactivate the heater when the steam level falls below the lower, selected level .

Furthermore, by treating the scoop 5 with steam and by keeping the scoop 5 placed on a level above the bottom of the container 1, the advantage is attained that the condensate draining off from the scoop 5 can be removed, whereby the risk of recontamination of the scoop in the house 1 is reduced.

Claims

1. A method for cleaning a scoop (3) for portioning ice cream, the scoop (3) having a handle (4) and a cup (5) , and the cup (5) of the scoop being cleaned before each portioning operation by being inserted into a house (1) in which a cleaning medium is brought into contact with the cup, characterized in that warm water steam is used as cleaning medium.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the scoop is kept oriented to allow ice-cream residues and condensate to drain off from the scoop, and that the scoop is kept in contact with the steam to allow the same to entirely or partly neutralize infectious agents and remove contaminants from the scoop.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the water steam is introduced into the house substantially at atmospheric pressure.

4. A device for cleaning a scoop (3), for portioning ice cream, the scoop (3) having a handle (4) and a portion- ing cup (5) , the device comprising a house (1) for the receipt of the scoop, characterized in that the house has a reception space (6) for the cup (5) of the scoop, in a predetermined orientation of the scoop, and that a steam generator (10) is connected to the space for introduction of hot water steam therein upon a cleaning operation of the scoop .

5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the steam generator (10) is arranged to introduce hot water steam substantially at atmospheric pressure into the space (6) .

6. Device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the reception space is formed to receive the cup in an orientation at which contaminants and the condensate can drain off from the cup.

7. Device according to any one of claims 4-6, characterized in that a water container (30) has been added to the house (1) and is spaced-apart from the steam space of the house (1) by a heat-conducting, possibly surface- extended wall for heat exchange between the steam in the house (1) and the water in the water container (30) .

8. Device according to any one of claims 4-7, characterized in that the house (1) has a cover (40) for tempo- rary closure of the opening (2) for the tool (3) .