Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
  • A23G9/22—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups
  • A23G9/222—Freezing drums
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
  • A23G9/14—Continuous production
  • A23G9/16—Continuous production the products being within a cooled chamber, e.g. drum
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
  • A23G9/22—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups
  • A23G9/224—Agitators or scrapers

Definitions

• the present disclosure concerns a cooling chamber, cooling system and an appliance for producing cooled edible products, such as ice cream, sorbets, frozen yogurt, foamed cooled drinks, etc.
• cooling aspect a cooling chamber that may be employed in a home appliance for the preparation of a cooled edible product, such as ice cream; and a cooling system or an appliance comprising it.
• a second aspect of this disclosure referred to herein as the "processing aspect" concerns an appliance and a method for producing a cooled edible product. These aspects may be used independently of one another although they may be combined. For example, a cooling chamber or system of said cooling aspect may be employed in the appliance or method of the processing aspect, and vice versa.
• the cooling aspect provides a cooling chamber with a cooling fluid entry port and a cooling fluid exit port connectable to respective source and drain of a cooling fluid (e.g. respective outlet and inlet of a refrigeration unit, cooling pump, etc.).
• a heat exchanger is defined within or associated with walls of the cooling chamber to thereby cool the walls of the chamber.
• said entry port may be associated and in fluid communication with an entry manifold element and said exit port may be associated and in fluid communication with an exit manifold element.
• These manifold elements are in fluid communication with the at least two conduit systems, defining corresponding at least two cooling fluid flow paths between the entry and exit manifolds.
• the conduit systems consist of consecutive conduit segments, each being formed in or associated with different wall portions of the chamber.
• Such conduit segments may be in the form of tubes and made of a heat conductive material, particularly metal, that are fitted to the inside face of at least one such wall portion; or may, by another example, be constituted by bores or cavities formed within said wall portions.
• the bores or cavities may be lined with any suitable heat-conductive lining, e.g. a copper lining.
• the conduit systems are constituted by consecutive conduit segments, the conduit segments being bores or cavities formed within the walls of the cooling chamber.
• the conduit systems that are formed within the cooling chamber's walls e.g. as bores or cavities within the walls through which the cooling fluid is circulated
• a particular, albeit non-exclusive use of such cooling chamber and system is in an appliance for the production of cooled edible products, particularly in home appliances, of the kind disclosed in the above-mentioned PCT publications.
• a particular example is the case of a cooling chamber that has a generally cylindrical shape having an axis that extends between two opposite end walls, the cylindrical shape defined by a circumferential axial wall.
• the conduit segments may include segments that extend between the two end walls. Such segments may be axially orientated, may be angled relative to the axis, may be configured to define a spiral path, or may have any other useful configuration.
• a particular example of the conduit system is one that comprises a plurality of first segments extending between opposite end walls, e.g. axially orientated and linked at each end to one of a plurality of second, peripheral segments that are formed in said end walls, each said second segments linking two first segments that are consecutive in the flow path.
• the flow path comprises a succession of first and second segments.
• the first segments may be defined by bores within the circumferential wall and the second segments may be defined by cavities at or within the end walls or an end wall portion or may be constituted by tubes linking consecutive two first segments.
• a typical arrangement is that each of them is arranged in opposite portions of the circumferential wall.
• one conduit system is arranged at one portion that spans half the circumference of the circumferential wall, and the other conduit system is arranged at the opposite portion of said wall.
• Another exemplary configuration is one with three or four parallel conduit systems, each occupying a different circumferential portion; or one in which the different flow paths are inter- grated with one another.
• the structure of the heat exchanger also minimizes the accumulation of fluid (e.g. oil) at the bottom part of the heat exchanger, thus enabling better circulation of the cooling fluid and maintaining cooling efficiency of the cooling system.
• fluid e.g. oil
• Such an arrangement also improves manufacturability of the cooling chamber, as no cooling-fluid conducting coils (such as those known in the art) need to be wrapped and deformed around the chamber's walls (a process which is often complex), thus also reducing production costs.
• the cooling aspect of this disclosure also provides an appliance comprising the above cooling chamber or system.
• the appliance may also comprise at least one, typically two or more temperatures sensors associated with the cooling chamber.
• the temperature sensors may be used to monitor and measure the temperature at various locations in the cooling chamber, thus enabling a controller receiving indications from the temperature sensors to control and modify of the temperature of the cooling fluid, the circulation/flow rate of the cooling fluid, the temperature of the chamber's walls, etc.
• the temperature sensors may also be used to collect data about changes in temperature within the cooling chamber during the preparation process of a cooled edible product, such that tailoring of the preparation process may be carried out on the basis of such data.
• the appliance according to the processing aspect of this disclosure comprises a cylindrical processing chamber with circumferential walls, at least one (typically one) ingredients' inlet for introducing the ingredients that are used for the production of a cooled edible product, at least one (typically one) pressure inlet for introducing gas, e.g. air, into the chamber and an associated cooling arrangement configured for cooling the walls of the chamber.
• the at least one pressure inlet may be the same or different than the at least one ingredients' inlet.
• the forced introduction of the ingredients that typically comprise an aqueous medium, such as water, milk, cream, etc.
• the inlet constitutes an ingredients' inlet for introducing the ingredients and a pressure inlet for pressurizing the chamber (i.e. the ingredients' inlet and the ingredients and the pressure inlet being constituted by a single inlet serving both functions).
• the inlet may, by some embodiments, be formed with baffles or internal ribs to split the ingredients inflow into the processing chamber and/or introduce the ingredients into the processing chamber in a turbulent flow.
• a gas typically air
• a gas at above atmospheric pressure is introduced into the chamber.
• the appliance according to the processing aspect also comprises, as noted above, a blending arrangement which has at least one blade that is proximal to an inner face of the circumferential wall.
• the at least one blade is revolvable within the processing chamber and capable, through such revolution, to scrape said inner face.
• the blending arrangement comprises typically 2, 3, 4 or at times more blades, revolving about and axial axle and arranged in axial symmetry to avoid angular moments during revolution.
• the blending arrangement is coupled to a motor for revolving said axle.
• the blade revolves at a rate of more than 200, typically more than 400 and at times even more than 600 rpm; revolving at about 800 rpm or even higher being a specific example.
• the blade may revolve in a constant speed throughout the production process or in a variable speed within said aforesaid range, depending on the parameters of the cooled edible product preparation process.
• the revolving rate may be carried out at a sequence of different revolution rates.
• the blending arrangement may first revolve at a rate of below 400 rpm in order to facilitate initial mixing of the ingredients within the processing chamber and allow sufficient contact time of the mixture with the cooled walls of the processing chamber in order to enable formation of initial ice crystals, and then the rate may be increased to above 400 rpm (at times above 600 rpm or even above 800 rpm) in order to prepare the cooled edible product.
• the processing chamber may be the cooling chamber of the cooling aspect hereinabove.
• the appliance of the processing aspect also comprises a mechanism for forced introduction of the ingredients into the processing chamber under pressure.
• a pump that pumps the ingredients with a gas (typically air) to thereby increase pressure within the processing chamber is a specific example of such mechanism.
• a gas typically air
• the forced introduction of ingredients, particularly the liquid portion thereof, into the chamber and the consequent spraying thereof onto the cooled walls of the chamber plays a role in the eventual smooth and mouth-pleasing texture of the cooled edible product.
• the abrupt pressure reduction of the liquid, with the other ingredients dissolved or dispersed therein at its point of entry into the chamber, with the concomitant cooling also contributes to the eventual mouth-pleasing texture.
• the combination of elevated pressure and high mixing speed enables to shorten the process duration of the preparation of a batch of cooled edible product, typically to below 2 minutes per preparation cycle, below 90 seconds or even below 60 seconds.
• the at least one ingredients' inlet is associated with a heating element.
• the heating element's function is to prevent clogging through freezing, which may otherwise occur.
• clogging prevention may also be obtained by a vibrating element (typically an ultrasonic transducer), that causes both vibrations and local heating of the inlet to prevent freezing of the ingredients therein.
• the appliance may further comprise a pre-mixing chamber to permit pre-mixing of solid (e.g. powder) ingredients with liquid ingredients to introduce the ingredients into the chamber in the form of a liquid, a solution, an emulsion, a slurry, a suspension or any other liquid form.
• the pre-mixing chamber is configured to be in liquid association with the ingredients' inlet.
• the pre-mixing chamber may be an integral part of the appliance, or may be constituted by an ingredients' container (such as a single-use pod or capsule that contains part of the ingredients) such that pre-mixing of the ingredients with a liquid is carried out within the container.
• the processing chamber of the processing aspect of this disclosure may embody features of the cooling aspect of this disclosure, namely a heat exchanger that embodies the characteristics of that disclosed herein in reference to said cooling aspect.
• the method for the preparation of a cooled edible product of the kind described above comprises introducing ingredients into a cooled processing chamber, while maintaining a pressure above atmospheric pressure, typically at least 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 75% or even 100% above the atmospheric pressure.
• the introduction of the ingredients causes the increase in pressure within said chamber.
• the ingredients include an aqueous medium with dissolved or dispersed non-aqueous ingredients.
• the non-aqueous ingredients e.g. withdrawn from a capsule) being a priori dissolved or dispersed in the aqueous medium or mixed with the aqueous medium during said introducing.
• the capsule when a capsule is used as a source of the ingredients, the capsule may contain only dry ingredients (to be mixed with a suitable aqueous medium), ingredients in a paste or concentrate form (to be further diluted with the aqueous medium), or at times contain the all of the ingredients to produce a single-serve portion of cooled edible product (i.e. without requiring addition of further aqueous medium).
• the aqueous medium may be water, flavored water, milk, non-dairy milk, dairy or non-dairy cream, yogurt, etc. Shear forces are then applied on the food ingredients, while maintaining the pressure and continuous cooling to thereby form said cooled edible product.
• the pressure may be increased and maintained by forcing, e.g. through pumping, the ingredients into said chamber jointly with a gas, e.g. air.
• a gas e.g. air
• the shear forces may be formed by a blending arrangement comprising at least one revolving blade.
• the chamber is typically cylindrical and the blades extend along the chamber's circumferential wall's inner face and have an edge proximal to said face.
• the blades typically revolve at a revolution rate of at least 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, or 700 rpm and may be about 800 rpm or by some embodiments even higher.
• Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an appliance according to an embodiment of this disclosure, for the production of ice cream.
• Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the cooling and processing chamber and associated motor, according to an embodiment of this disclosure.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the chamber of Fig. 2, from a different angle, showing the blades within the chamber.
• Fig. 4 is a schematic front elevation of the cooling chamber.
• Fig. 5 is a schematic representation of the cooling chamber with the walls removed to illustrate the structure of the blending arrangement.
• Fig. 6A shows a schematic representation of the cooling chamber with the walls being made transparent and blades having been removed, to illustrate the conduit systems.
• Fig. 6B is the same representation as in Fig. 6A with arrows illustrating the direction of flow of the cooling fluid.
• Fig. 7 is a schematic, block diagram illustration of an appliance in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure.
• cooling chamber having a heat exchange arrangement embodying the features of the first aspect, is employed as part of the cooled edible product preparation unit in accordance with the second aspect.
• the different aspects may be employed independently in other embodiments.
• Appliance 100 incorporating exemplary embodiments of different aspects of this disclosure are as shown in Fig. 1.
• Appliance 100 is intended for the production of cooled edible products, particularly ice cream.
• This appliance is generally based on some structural and operational aspects disclosed in WO 2013/121421and WO 2015/022678 and, in particular, uses disposable capsules that contain dry or wet ingredients for the preparation of ice cream.
• Appliance 100 comprises a capsule bay 102 that includes a capsule placement tray 104 that can vertically reciprocate in the direction represented by arrow 106, between an open state (not shown) permitting placement of the capsule thereon and a closed state, as shown in Fig. 1, in which the tray 104 is in a fully upward position and the capsule is received within bay 102.
• the appliance may also comprise a reservoir (not shown) that includes an aqueous liquid, such as water, milk, cream, non-dairy milk, etc. that is mixed with the capsule's content to produce a cooled edible product.
• an aqueous liquid such as water, milk, cream, non-dairy milk, etc. that is mixed with the capsule's content to produce a cooled edible product.
• the aqueous liquid may be introduced into the appliance from a different source, i.e. from an external reservoir, a feed line (such as domestic water supply), batch-wise feeding by the user, etc.
• the main housing portion 108 of appliance 100 houses the machinery used for production of a cooled edible product including the cooling chamber and its associated motor (to be described below), and a refrigeration unit for the supply of a cooling fluid, a pumping mechanism for withdrawing the food ingredients from the capsule, mixing them with aqueous liquid and introducing them into the cooling chamber, and others (the reader is referred, among others, to the aforementioned two PCT publications which disclose modules that may be included in such appliances).
• Seen in Fig. 1 is the front face 112 of the cooling unit that can be removed to clean the chamber.
• Formed in face 112 is a dispensing opening 114 for dispensing of the cooled edible product upon completion of its preparation process.
• Module 110 seen in Figs. 2-6B, includes a cooling chamber 116 and associated electric motor 118 that has an integral sprocket wheel 120 coupled through belt 122 to a blending arrangement.
• the blending arrangement includes sprocket wheel 124 that is axially coupled to an axel 126 and three rotating blades 128, as will be described below in connection with Figs. 3-5.
• the cooling chamber 116 has an ingredients' inlet port 130 for introducing food ingredients to be processed within chamber 116 and also an outlet port 132 for removal of the content of the chamber, for example, in a cleaning cycle that involves circulation of the cleaning fluid.
• the cooling chamber also includes a cooling fluid entry port 134 and a cooling fluid exit port 136. While it is preferred that the cooling fluid will be introduced at the bottom and removed at the top (which is the reason for ports 134 and 136 being so positioned), the role of ports 134 and 136 may also be reversed.
• the cooling chamber 116 is typically cylindrical and is defined by a circumferential wall 160, that extends between front and back end plates 162 and 164.
• the cooling chamber defines a longitudinal axis 113, as seen in Fig. 3.
• Blades 128 are fixed to a revolving plate 140, that is coupled to axel 126 and revolved thereby about axis 113, thus causing revolving of the blades 128.
• the blades each have a peripheral edge 142 which is in close proximity to the internal circumferential wall 144 of the cylindrical cooling chamber 116. In consequence of the axial revolution of the blending arrangement, the blades constantly scrape the internal wall of the cooling chamber, removing frozen/solidified food from the walls and agitating the entire content of the chamber.
• the blending arrangement typically rotates at a rate of at least 200 rpm, preferably at least 400, 500, 600, 700 and at times about 800 rpm or even higher.
• the blades 128, as can be seen, are arranged in an off-axial angle relative to axis 113. As can be appreciated, other than such an oblique orientation, in other embodiments the blades may be axially orientated, curved, etc.
• the blades have associated lateral internally projecting end portions 150 and 152 to improve agitation and induce some shearing force on the content of formed cooled edible product within the chamber.
• the internal walls of the cooling chamber 116 are cooled by a cooling fluid which flows within conduits formed in the circumferential and end walls, as will now be explained. These conduits, which are an embodiment of the cooling fluid flow system generally described above, and thus the cooling chamber 116 is also an embodiment of the cooling chamber aspect described above.
• entry manifold element 170 and an exit manifold element 172 are Formed within end wall 162 , entry manifold element 170 and an exit manifold element 172, in fluid communication with entry and exit ports 134 and 136 via axial conduits 174 and 176, respectively.
• the entry and exit manifolds may be defined by cavities formed in end wall 162 or by planar elements that are associated with the face of end wall 162.
• the manifold elements are in fluid communication two conduit systems that define corresponding two cooling fluid flow paths between the entry and exit manifolds.
• One of the two conduit systems is defined by a plurality of axially directed first conduit segments 178A, 180A, 190A and 192A formed within circumferential wall 160 and a plurality of peripheral second segments 179A, 181 A, 189A and 191A formed at the end walls.
• Each peripheral segment links between two consecutive axial segments, thereby forming a flow path from the entry port 134 to the exit port 136.
• the other of the two conduit systems is similarly defined by a plurality of axially directed first conduit segments 178B, 180B, 190B and 192B formed within circumferential wall 160 and a plurality of peripheral second segments 179B, 181B, 189B and 191B formed at the end walls.
• Cooling fluid is introduced into the conduit system via entry port 134
• the entry port is in fluid communication via axial segment 174 with entry manifold element 170, which functions to divide the stream of the cooling fluid into two streams; each such stream flows into one of the two conduit systems.
• the cooing fluid flows from the manifold element into axial segment 178A, from there to peripheral segment 179A (formed in end wall 164), and from there to axial segment 180A.
• the peripheral segment 179A fluidly links between consecutive axial segments 178A and 180A.
• each peripheral segment links between two consecutive axial segments along the flow path.
• the second flow path (designated by the same numbered elements, however with the index B instead of A) is formed in a similar manner. Fluids from axial segments 192A and 192B enter exit manifold element 172, in which the two streams are unified into a single exit stream that exists the cooling system via axial conduit 176 to exit port 136.
• Fig. 7 is a block diagram describing some elements of the appliance.
• the cooling chamber 200 which may be that described above, receives supply of cooling fluid from the refrigeration unit 210 via circular flow path as described by arrows 220, 230.
• a pump 240 is linked to a capsule coupling unit 250 and to a source of aqueous liquid 260 and can thus pump a mixture that includes the content of the capsule and the liquid into the chamber 200, as represented by fluid line 270.
• the pumping action forces the food ingredients into the chamber and this forced introduction increases pressure within the chamber.
• this combination increases the pressure within the chamber.
• the abrupt introduction at the point of entry of the food ingredients into the chamber and the agitation which is induced by a shearing force provides optimized conditions for preparation of a quality cooled edible product, such as ice cream, as well as significantly reduced duration of production (typically below 90 seconds or even below 60 seconds per production cycle).

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)
• Dairy Products (AREA)
• Freezing, Cooling And Drying Of Foods (AREA)

Priority Applications (8)

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Publications (1)

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Cited By (13)

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Citations (12)

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• 2017
  • 2017-12-13 WO PCT/IL2017/051345 patent/WO2018109765A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2017-12-13 EP EP17822036.4A patent/EP3554252B1/en active Active
  • 2017-12-13 AU AU2017378448A patent/AU2017378448B2/en active Active
  • 2017-12-13 CA CA3045259A patent/CA3045259A1/en active Pending
  • 2017-12-13 MX MX2019006937A patent/MX2019006937A/es unknown
  • 2017-12-13 KR KR1020197020438A patent/KR102468255B1/ko active Active
  • 2017-12-13 CN CN201780077387.2A patent/CN110248554B/zh active Active
  • 2017-12-13 JP JP2019531132A patent/JP7076449B2/ja active Active
  • 2017-12-13 US US16/469,931 patent/US11191287B2/en active Active

Patent Citations (12)

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