Automated food processing system and method

• US 20040020555A1
• Filed: 04/21/2003
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Enodis Corporation (Ali Holding Srl), Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Restaurant Technologies Incorporated (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Corliss, John M., Jones, Doug, Lozouski, James, Ceste, Mario G., Nevarez, Roberto, Schackmuth, Glenn, Dorsten, Ron, Ewald, Henry T., Stanger, Keith, Day, William, Pinnow, Curtis Clarence, Sus, Gerald A., Keough, Kevin, Rose, Charles E., Konold, Steven, Nunley, Benny, Bone, David, Montafi, Richard, Courier, Andrew, Meisner, John, Hong, Jenny M., Conley, Craig, Greening, Doug Christian, Rudesill, Brian, Wedel, John A.J., Coul, Chris, Goodwin, Joseph A., Ivancevic, Dusan, Yagla, Steve, Billman, Gregery M., Zizas, Mike
• Granted Patent: US 7,303,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 141/82
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 37/1228 Automatic machines for frying and dispensing metered amounts of food
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 43/305 specially adapted for boxes, cartons or carton blanks

Abstract

An automated food processing system and method is provided that allows food to be dispensed, fried and packaged in a suitable container, which may be an individual portion-sized container. In one embodiment, the system includes separate automated modules for dispensing, frying and packaging the food.

In one embodiment, an automated dispensing device dispenser a predetermined portion of food from a bulk storage container or a food dispensing magazine. Food is dispensed from the automated dispensing device to an automated fry device that can include at least one circular fry wheel having a plurality of food containing compartments. After the food is fried it is dispensed from the fry device to an automated packaging device. The automated packaging device dispenses food to a container that may be an individual portion-sized container that is retrieved, erected and filled by an automated container handling and filling system. After a food container is filled, an automated device transports the filled container to a suitable pick-up location.

Claims

1. An automated dispensing device for dispensing a quantity of food to be cooked comprising:

a freezer;

a storage container located in the freezer for containing food to be dispensed;

means for dispensing a predetermined quantity of food from the storage container into a secondary container, said means for dispensing located in the freezer; and

means for dispensing the quantity of food from the secondary container to a location outside of the freezer.

2. The automated dispensing device of claim 1 wherein said secondary container comprises at least a partially open bottom, the secondary container being movable laterally between a filling position located within the freezer and a dispensing position for dispensing food through the container open bottom and out of the freezer.

3. The automated dispensing device of claim 2 wherein said means for dispensing a predetermined quantity comprises a vibratory conveyor located below said storage container.

4. The automated dispensing device of claim 3 wherein said means for dispensing a predetermined quantity of food further comprises a device for determining the quantity of food located in the secondary container and means for terminating the operation of said means for dispensing when a predetermined quantity of food is sensed in the secondary container.

5. The automated dispensing device of claim 4 wherein the device for determining the quantity comprises a load cell.

6. The automated dispensing device of claim 4 wherein the means for dispensing from the secondary container comprises a device for moving the secondary container laterally sufficiently to the dispensing position so that food contained therein is dispensed.

7. The automated dispensing device of claim 6 further comprising a door that is located over an opening in the freezer compartment in position relative to the secondary container so that when the secondary container is moved laterally to the dispensing position, the food in the secondary container exits the freezer compartment through the open bottom and through said freezer compartment opening.

8. The automated dispensing device of claim 2 wherein said means for dispensing a predetermined quantity of food comprises a food magazine capable of dispensing individual pieces of food on a piece-by-piece basis.

9. The automated dispensing device of claim 8 wherein said magazine comprises dual rotatable spiral flights, said spiral flights having a spacing to allow a food item selected from the group consisting of chicken patty, filet of fish, single serving unitary hash brown and single serving pie to be placed therebetween.

10. The automated dispensing device of claim 3 wherein said vibratory conveyor has a serpentine food travel pathway.

11. The automated dispensing device of claim 8 wherein said means for dispensing further comprises a vibratory conveyor disposed below said magazine.

12. The automated dispensing device of claim 3 further comprising said vibrating conveyor includes a bottom portion having a plurality of spaced apart holes less than about 0.25 inches in diameter.

13. The automated dispensing device of claim 3 further comprising a generally vertically extending declumping member having a portion located above a bottom portion of the conveyor.

14. The automated dispensing device of claim 1 wherein said secondary container comprises a platform and a container with at least a partially open bottom and located above the platform, the platform and the container being movable relative to each other between first and second positions, and wherein in the first position the platform is adjacent the open bottom and prevents food from being dispensed from the container and when in the second position food is free to fall through the open bottom of the container.

15. The automated dispensing device of claim 2 wherein said means for dispensing a predetermined quantity of food further comprises a device for determining the quantity of food located in the secondary container and means for terminating the operation of said means for dispensing when a predetermined quantity of food is sensed in the secondary container.

16. The automated dispensing device of claim 15 wherein the device for determining the quantity comprises a load cell.

17. A tray for vibratory conveying food articles from a hopper comprising:

a tray body, a food inlet portion and a food outlet portion, the food inlet including an upwardly extending dividing member for dividing the tray into at least two food inlet conveyor passageways, the inlet conveyor passageways merging into a single food passageway that extends to the food outlet portion.

18. The tray of claim 17 wherein said single food passageway is non-linear.

19. The tray of claim 18 wherein the single food passageway has a zigzag configuration.

20. The tray of claim 18 wherein the single food passageway has a serpentine configuration.

21. The tray of claim 17 wherein the dividing member is saddle-shaped.

22. The tray of claim 17 wherein the single food passageway causes food the size of chicken nuggets to be conveyed in a single file arrangement.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein said conveying comprises vibratory conveying.

23. A method of dispensing a quantity of food to be cooked comprising:

storing food items in a storage container;

dispensing food items from the storage container to a conveyor;

conveying the food items on the conveyor to a secondary container having at least a partially open bottom with a floor member adjacent the open bottom;

monitoring the amount of food items delivered to the secondary container;

terminating delivery of the food items to the secondary container when a desired amount of food items are determined to be present in the secondary container as determined by said monitoring;

dispensing the food items from the secondary container and through the open bottom of the container by relative movement of the floor member to the open bottom of the container.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein said dispensing comprises lateral movement of the secondary container relative to the floor member that remains stationary.

26. A device for the automated frying of foods comprising:

(a) a fry vat for containing and heating cooking oil;

(b) at least one circular fry wheel having at least a generally circular perimeter and a plurality of compartments each having an opening towards the perimeter, the fry wheel mounted for rotational movement relative to the radial axis of the wheel which radial axis is disposed above the normal operating level of the frying oil in the fry vat;

(c) a drive mechanism for rotating the fry wheel; and

(d) an overflow passageway having an inlet that is located above the normal operating level of the frying oil in the fry vat.

27. The device of claim 26 further comprising a control system for causing the drive mechanism to periodically rotate the fry wheel back and forth through a relatively small amount of rotation to simulate shaking of a fry basket.

28. The device of claim 26 further comprising a foam deck adjacent a side of the fry vat and having a deck surface located above the normal operating level of frying oil in the fry vat, said overflow passageway comprising an elongated slot in the foam deck.

29. The device of claim 26 further comprising a food inlet for supplying a quantity of food to be fried into the compartments and located adjacent the overflow passageway.

30. The device of claim 28 further comprising a food inlet for supplying a quantity of food to be fried into the compartments and located adjacent the foam deck.

31. The device of claim 30 wherein the food inlet comprises an inlet slide disposed to direct food deposited on said inlet slide into one of the compartments of the fry wheel.

32. An automated method of frying food comprising:

(a) placing food to be fried in a fry wheel compartment of a fry wheel having at least a generally circular perimeter and a plurality of compartments each having an opening towards the perimeter, the fry wheel mounted for rotational movement relative to the radial axis of the wheel which radial axis is disposed above the normal operating level of the frying oil in a fry vat having heated cooking oil therein;

(b) providing an overflow passageway having an inlet that is located above the normal operating level of the frying oil in the fry vat;

(c) collecting in the overflow passageway at least some of the water-containing foam when the food to be fried placed in the fry wheel contacts the frying oil; and

(d) rotating the fry wheel so that the compartment containing the food travels submerged in the heated cooking oil.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising periodically rotating the fry wheel back and forth through a relatively small amount of rotation to simulate shaking of a fry basket while the food is submerged in the cooking oil.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the periodic rotation in one direction is of a larger angle of rotation than the rotation in the other direction.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the rotating of paragraph (d) of claim 32 comprises rotating the fry wheel in one direction to cause food deposited into one of the compartments to travel through the cooking oil in the fry vat over a period of time to fry the food and out of the cooking oil for subsequent discharge of the food from the compartment.

36. An automated device for packaging cooked French fries into an individual portion-sized French fry container comprising:

a mechanical arm having an end-of-arm tool capable of picking up and grasping an erected individual portion-sized French fry carton from an erected carton pick-up location, and scooping the erected carton while held by the end-of-arm tool into a quantity of cooked French fries located at a filling location to fill the French fry carton and depositing the filled French fry carton at a drop-off location spaced from the filling location.

37. The automated device of claim 36 further comprising a French fry holding bin for holding a bulk quantity of French fries at the filling location and a French fry inlet chute for receiving a bulk amount of French fries.

38. The automated device of claim 36 further comprising means for vibrating the French fry inlet chute.

39. The automated device of claim 38 further comprising means for retaining French fries on the French fry chute.

40. The automated device of claim 39 further comprising means for applying seasoning to French fries contained on the inlet chute.

41. The automated device of claim 39 wherein the means for retaining comprises a plurality of vertically reciprocable fingers movable between an extended position for retaining French fries on the inlet chute and a retracted position for permitting French fries to travel down at least a portion of the chute.

42. The automated device of claim 40 further comprising a salter carriage for moving the means for salting horizontally across the inlet chute.

43. The automated device of claim 36 further comprising a movable gate located between the discharge end of the inlet chute and the holding bin and movable between a raised position for retaining French fries on the inlet chute and a lowered position for permitting French fries to travel from the inlet chute to the holding bin.

44. The automated device of claim 43 wherein said movable gate comprises a plurality of spaced apart fingers reciprocable in up and down directions to restrain French fries from sliding down the inlet chute when in an up position and for declumping French fries when the fingers are reciprocated up and down when French fries are traveling past the reciprocating fingers.

45. The automated device of claim 37 further comprising a sensing device associated with the French fry holding bin for determining whether a desired quantity of French fries are contained in the French fry holding bin.

46. The automated device of claim 45 wherein the sensing device is a weighing device.

47. The automated device of claim 36 further comprising a French fry carton storage and erection device.

48. The automated device of claim 47 wherein the French fry carton storage and erection device comprises an automated, unerected French fry carton retrieving device for retrieving and grasping an unerected individual portion-sized French fry container.

49. The automated device of claim 48 wherein said automated retrieving device comprises a grasping member for selectively grasping and releasing the French fry container.

50. The automated device of claim 49 wherein the automated retrieving device further comprises structure for generally horizontally linearly moving said movable member in two generally horizontal dimensions.

51. The automated device of claim 50 wherein said structure for linearly moving comprises a carriage.

52. The automated device of claim 50 wherein said structure for linearly moving comprises a carriage for each of said horizontal dimensions.

53. The automated device of claim 48 further comprising a magazine for holding a plurality of the individual portion-sized French fry containers in an unerected state.

54. The automated device of claim 48 further comprising a magazine for holding a plurality of segregated groups of individual portion-sized unerected French fry containers, each group in the plurality being of a different size container.

55. The automated device of claim 54 wherein the magazine holds each group of unerected containers in a horizontal stack.

56. The automated device of claim 55 wherein said container retrieving device is positionable to retrieve containers from the front of each stack.

57. The automated device of claim 49 wherein said grasping member comprises a suction device for grasping and releasing the French fry container.

58. The automated device of claim 57 wherein said suction device comprises a suction cup located on the grasping member that is capable of said grasping and releasing by applying and releasing a vacuum, respectively.

59. The automated device of claim 58 wherein said suction device comprises two suction cups that are disposed adjacent each other on the grasping member.

60. The automated device of claim 49 wherein said retrieving device is capable of grasping and releasing a French fry container on one side and further comprising means for erecting the unerected French fry container.

61. The automated device of claim 60 wherein the container has a bottom and further comprising urging means for urging the container to an erected position and for urging the container bottom upwardly relative to the sides of the container when the retrieving device grasps the container and retrieves the container from the stack.

62. The automated device of claim 61 wherein said urging means comprises an inclined ramp.

63. The automated device of claim 62 further comprising means for applying a stream of compressed air into the top end of the container and towards the bottom of the container.

64. The automated device of claim 61 further comprising an elevator for moving an erected French fry container from a first location proximate said retrieving device to a second location.

65. The automated device of claim 64 wherein the elevator comprises a rodless cylinder and a receptacle for holding an erected French fry container and said receptacle being movable between said first and second locations by said rodless cylinder.

66. The automated device of claim 65 wherein said second location is proximate said mechanical arm so that a French fry container in said second position can be grasped by said end-of-arm tool.

67. The automated device of claim 66 wherein said mechanical arm is mounted to a carriage for providing lateral movement of said mechanical arm.

68. The automated device of claim 67 wherein the mechanical arm further comprises structure for selectively and independently moving the end-of-arm tool through a generally vertical compound arc.

69. The automated device of claim 68 wherein the mechanical arm further comprises structure for selectively moving the end-of-arm tool linearly up and down.

70. The automated device of claim 36 wherein said end-of-arm tool comprises a French fry scoop.

71. The automated device of claim 70 wherein said end-of-arm tool further comprises a gripping mechanism actuable between clamping and non-clamping positions wherein the gripping mechanism can grasp a French fry container when in the clamping position and release the previously grasped French fry container when the gripping mechanism is in the non-clamping position.

72. The automated device of claim 71 wherein said gripping mechanism comprises a finger.

73. The automated device of claim 72 further comprising an actuator device for moving said finger between clamping and non-clamping positions.

74. The automated device of claim 72 wherein the gripping mechanism clamps an upper end of the French fry container between the finger and the French fry scoop.

75. The automated device of claim 70 wherein said mechanical arm comprises a plurality of pivotable links connected in series.

76. The automated device of claim 75 wherein said mechanical arm comprises at least two pivotable links.

77. The automated device of claim 75 wherein said mechanical arm comprises three pivotable links.

78. The automated device of claim 77 wherein the links are each pivotable in parallel planes.

79. The automated device of claim 77 wherein the links comprise first, second and third links, the first link connected to a generally horizontally movable carriage, the third link connected to the end-of-arm tool and the second link connected to the first and third links.

80. The automated device of claim 79 wherein the connection of each of said links to another link comprises a pivot connection.

81. The automated device of claim 80 further comprising an actuator for each pivot connection for pivoting the respective one of said links about the pivot connection which connects that link to another of said links.

82. The automated device of claim 36 further comprising a structure for containing a plurality of French fry cartons filled with French fries and at least a portion of the structure in communication with said drop-off location.

83. The automated device of claim 82 wherein the structure is a stationary rack that is inclined in a direction away from said mechanical arm.

84. The automated device of claim 82 wherein said structure comprises a rotatable carousel.

85. The automated device of claim 36 wherein said mechanical arm is configured to mimic the motion of a person'"'"'s arm, wrist and hand action in scooping French fries into a French fry container while grasping the French fry container in one hand and moving the French fry container in a vertical arc, and thereafter, moving the French fry container to a generally upright position and shaking it sufficiently to cause loosely contained French fries to fall from the container.

86. An automated method of packaging cooked French fries in an individual portion-sized French fry container comprising:

delivering with a mechanical device cooked French fries to a French fry holding bin;

mechanically scooping with a mechanical device an open French fry container into the cooked French fries in the holding bin to fill the French fry container with French fries; and

mechanically depositing the filled French fry container at a drop-off location.

87. The method of claim 86 wherein said delivering comprises receiving the French fries on an inlet chute before the French fries enter the French fry holding bin.

88. The method of claim 86 further comprising applying seasoning to French fries while on the inlet chute.

89. The method of claim 87 wherein said delivering comprises vibrating the inlet chute and using gravity to cause the French fries to travel into the holding bin.

90. The method of claim 87 further comprising moving a first gate for the inlet chute to a position that restrains the French fries from traveling down the chute and applying seasoning to the French fries while so restrained.

91. The method of claim 86 further comprising mechanically shaking the filled individual portion French fry container prior to said depositing.

92. The method of claim 91 wherein said shaking comprises back and forth movement through an arc of said filled individual portion French fry container in a generally vertical axis.

93. The method of claim 90 further comprising further restraining the French fries from exiting said inlet chute at a location downstream of said gate after passing the first gate.

94. The method of claim 93 wherein said further restraining is performed by a second gate downstream of the first gate.

95. The method of claim 94, further comprising moving the second gate to a position that does not restrain the French fries so that the French fries are free to travel into the holding bin.

96. The method of claim 86 further comprising holding the individual portion French fry container with a mechanical arm of the mechanical device while performing said scooping.

97. The method of claim 96 further comprising shaking the individual French fry container by movement of said mechanical arm after said scooping.

98. The method of claim 97 wherein said shaking is performed by up and down vertical movement of said mechanical arm.

99. The method of claim 86 further comprising mechanically obtaining an unerected individual portion French fry container to be filled from a stack of unerected individual portion French fry containers.

100. The method of claim 99 further comprising mechanically erecting the unerected individual portion container prior to said scooping.

101. The method of claim 100 further comprising, before said obtaining, selecting and holding with the mechanical device an individual portion-sized container of a desired size from a plurality of different sizes of individual portion-sized containers that can be selected and held by said automated device.

102. A method of erecting a collapsed individual portion-sized French fry type container of the type having opposed sidewalls connected by a collapsible container bottom, comprising:

grasping the unerected French fry container, pulling the container against a restraining member;

mechanically dragging the bottom of the container so that it traverses up an inclined ramp to urge up the container bottom to urge the container to an erected position.

103. The method of claim 102 further comprising injecting a stream of compressed air into the open end of the container and towards the container bottom for assisting in the erecting.

104. An automated device for erecting an individual portion unerected French fry container of the type having opposed sidewalls connected by a collapsible container bottom, comprising:

an automated retrieving and container grasping device for grasping one of the opposed sidewalls of the unerected container;

a restraining member for restraining from relative movement the other of said opposed sidewalls when said one sidewall is grasped by the grasping device and moved in the desired direction;

means for causing relative movement of the grasping device away from the restraining member while the grasping device grasps the unerected carton for causing the opposed carton sidewalls to move apart from each other.

105. The device of claim 104 further comprising an urging member for urging the carton bottom upwardly during the movement apart of the carton sidewalls.

106. The device of claim 104 wherein said grasping device comprises a suction cup for grasping one of the opposed container sidewalls.

107. The device of claim 106 wherein said grasping device comprises a vacuum source to apply at least a partial vacuum to the suction cup.

108. The device of claim 105 wherein said urging member comprises an inclined ramp.

109. The device of claim 104 further comprising means for injecting a stream of compressed air into the open end of the container when the opposed sidewalls are at least partially moved apart from each other to help urge the opposed sidewalls apart in erecting the container.

110. The device of claim 104 further comprising a carriage on which said grasping device is mounted for causing linear movement of said grasping device in a first dimension.

111. The device of claim 110 further comprising a second carriage for linear movement of said grasping device in a second dimension.