AUTOMATIC DISTRIBUTOR FOR JUICES EXTRACTED FROM FRESH FRUIT

• US 20130160658A1
• Filed: 07/09/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A.A.T. AGROINDUSTRY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES S.P.A.
• Original Assignee: A.A.T. AGROINDUSTRY ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES S.P.A.
• Inventors: Torrisi, Salvatore, Venticinque, Mario
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 99/512
• CPC Class Codes: A23N 1/00 Machines or apparatus for extracting juice preparation of non-alcoholic beverages, e.g. by adding ingredients to fruit or vegetable juices, A23L2/00; apparatus for making beverages A47J31/00 ; centrifuges B04B; extracting presses B30B
• CPC Class Codes: A23N 1/02 combined with disintegrating or cutting
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/065 for drink preparation

Abstract

A refrigerated automatic distributor (51) for juices extracted from fresh fruits (53) comprising a fruit or vegetable stocking store (52), a juice extraction device (54) for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables, a fruit moving mechanism for moving the fruits or vegetables between the stocking store and the extraction device, a mouth (26) of access to a container (33) for the juice and an electronic control unit (31). The distributor (51) further comprises a sealing device (41) for sealing the container (33) with the juice extracted and to be dispensed and in which the electronic control unit (31) is provided for activating the sealing device (41) on request of the user.

Claims

1. A refrigerated automatic distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits comprising a fruit or vegetable stocking store, a juice extraction device for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables, a fruit moving mechanism for moving fruits or vegetables between the stocking store and the extraction device, an access mouth of access to a juice container, interposing means for spilling juice from the extraction device to the juice container, and an electronic control unit, said refrigerated automatic distributor further comprising a sealing device for sealing the juice container with the juice spilled and to be dispensed and wherein the electronic control unit is provided for activating the sealing device on request of the user.

2. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1 wherein the stocking store stores citrus fruits and wherein the juice extraction device includes a squeezing machine for extracting the juice as citrus squash from said citrus fruits.

4. The distributor for juices of fruit according to claim 2 including a cabinet having a door provided with a glass window, wherein the stocking store comprises a fruit container with front visible through said glass window, and wherein the fruit moving mechanism comprises, one above the other, an upper conveyor belt and a lower conveyor belt, said fruit container is limited, in a lower part thereof, by an upper branch of the upper conveyor belt and a terminal opening for the fall of the citrus fruits toward an upper branch of the lower conveyor belt, while the squeezable fruits are deviated by an inclined crossbar above the lower transport belt and are serialized by a sequencing mechanism toward said squeezing machine.

5. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1 wherein the sealing device includes a container seat for the juice container to be sealed with possibility of movement with respect to the access mouth, a feeding spool for a sealing film, a taking up spool for portions of the film remaining after the sealing, a sealing member for sealing a flange or edge of the container with the sealing film and a seat moving member for shifting the container seat with the juice container to be sealed from the access mouth to the sealing member and return from the sealing member to the access mouth.

6. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1 wherein the sealing device comprises a cover store for storing covers for juice containers and moving and closing members for moving each cover between the cover store and the access mouth for the closing of the juice container with the spilled juice.

7. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1 wherein it comprises a cabinet with a room for the fruit stocking store, the extraction device and the sealing device and wherein the stocking store, and/or the extraction device, and/or the sealing device have possibility of shifting with respect to said room between an operative position and a position of service in function of maintenance.

8. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1, comprising more fruit or vegetable stocking stores, more juice extraction devices and more fruit moving mechanisms and wherein the electronic control unit activates selectively, on request of the user, the fruit moving mechanism and the juice extraction device for extracting a juice of a given typology, or more fruit moving mechanisms and more juice extraction devices for extracting juices of different typologies, and spilling in the juice container a juice of fresh fruit of a single taste or juices of fresh fruit of a mixed taste.

9. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 8 wherein one of the said juices is obtained by centrifugation and wherein one of said extraction devices comprises a mechanism of dissection and centrifuging for the fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged, and wherein the electronic control unit activates, on control, one of the fruit moving mechanisms for moving fruits or vegetables from the stocking stores and transferring them to the mechanism of dissection and centrifuging with centrifuging of the fruit or vegetable for a single or mixed taste spilling of the squeezed juice and/or the centrifuged juice, and wherein a juice feeder for aromatizing additive is optionally provided, said juice feeder being actuatable for the addition of an aromatizing additive to the extracted juice or juices.

10. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 1, wherein the stocking store, the juice extraction device, the fruit moving mechanism and the sealing device define respective modules, wherein said modules are easily interchangeable, the electronic unit includes an interface group and wherein each of said modules has a connector for said interface group and is recognizable by the electronic unity for an automatic configuration of said refrigerated automatic distributor according to the used modules.

11. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 5, wherein said refrigerated automatic distributor further comprises a container feeder for dispensing the juice containers into the container seat on the access mouth

12. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 8, wherein said refrigerated automatic distributor further comprises a container feeder for dispensing the juice containers into the access mouth, respective channels of said interposing means arranged between the juice extraction devices and the access mouth, and channel moving groups actuatable for moving said channels between a rest position and a work position, and wherein the rest position is such to allow the dispensing of the juice containers from the container feeder to the access mouth, while the work position ensures the spilling of the juice or juices to the juice container of the access mouth.

13. The distributor for juices of fruit according to claim 2 wherein the fruit or vegetable stocking store comprises a fruit container, while the fruit moving mechanism comprises, overlapping, an upper conveyor belt and a lower conveyor belt, and in which said fruit container is limited, in a lower part thereof, by an upper branch of the upper conveyor belt and a terminal opening for the fall of the citrus fruits toward an upper branch of the lower conveyor belt, while the citrus fruits are deviated by an inclined crossbar above the lower transport belt and are serialized by a sequencing mechanism toward the squeezing machine.

14. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 5 wherein the sealing device further comprises a seal body with an upper portion, an intermediate portion and a lower portion, and intermediate rollers, wherein said upper portion supports the feeding spool and the taking up spool the container seat projects from a said lower portion, while the sealing member projects from said intermediate portion, said intermediate rollers are adjacent to a lower part of the sealing members and wherein the sealing film extends downwardly from the feeding spool to the intermediate rollers, proceeds upwardly to the taking up spool and defines a plain section tensioned between said intermediate rollers.

15. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 14 wherein the seat moving member is actuatable for shifting the container seat with the juice container horizontally and vertically between the access mouth and the plain section of the sealing film against the lower part of the sealing member and from the sealing member to the access mouth.

3. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim wherein the fruit moving mechanism includes a belt conveyor for singularly conveying the citrus fruits toward the citrus squeezing machine.

16. A refrigerated automatic distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits comprising a fruit stocking store for fruits to be squeezed, a squeezing device, a fruit moving mechanism between the fruit stocking store for fruits to be squeezed and the squeezing device, an access mouth of access to a juice container for the juice and an electronic control unit, wherein said refrigerated automatic distributor is provided for distributing a single taste or a mixed taste fresh fruit juice into said, juice container, said distributor further comprising:

an additional stocking store or more additional stocking stores for fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged,

a dissecting and centrifuging device or more dissecting and centrifuging devices for a centrifuged juice from the fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged, and

a transferring mechanism or more transferring mechanisms for the fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged, wherein

the electronic control unit is provided for activating, on request, the transferring mechanism or the transferring mechanisms, the squeezing device and/or the dissecting and centrifuging device or more dissecting and centrifuging devices for selecting the fruits or vegetable from the stocking stores and transferring to the squeezing device or the dissecting and centrifuging device or the dissecting and centrifuging devices with squeezing of the selected fruits and/or, respectively, dissecting and centrifuging of the other fruits or vegetable for a single taste or mixed tastes for spilling out into the container a single taste or mixed taste fresh fruit juices.

17. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 16, wherein the additional stocking store or one of the stocking stores for fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged comprises a hopper, substantially funnel like shaped, for containing the fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged, and having a corresponding output mouth, while the transferring mechanism or one of the transferring mechanisms for the fruits or vegetable to be centrifuged comprises a motorized cochlea for feeding the fruits of the hopper through said mouth, and wherein the dissecting and centrifuging device or one of the dissecting and centrifuging devices includes a centrifuge downstream of the said mouth, said centrifuge having a centrifuge drum and corresponding shuttering knives downstream of said cochlea.

18. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 16, wherein the cochlea crosses the output mouth of the hopper and extends internally to the centrifuge drum, and wherein said cochlea is axially shiftable for being spaced away from the centrifuge drum so as to allow the extraction of the centrifuged juice from the dissecting and centrifuging device.

19. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according to claim 16, further comprising washing mechanisms for the dissecting and centrifuging device or the dissecting and centrifuging devices, said washing mechanisms including a tubular element, of support for the cochlea, connected to a hydraulic installation with a washing liquid and having nozzles for pressure ejection of the washing liquid.

20. The distributor for juices extracted from fresh fruits according claim 16, further comprising a container feeder for dispensing the juice container into the access mouth, and including channels for the juices arranged between the squeezing device and the dissecting and centrifuging device or devices and the access mouth, and channel moving groups actuatable for moving said channels between a rest position and a work position, and wherein the rest position is such to allow the dispensing of the containers from the container feeder, while the work position ensures the spilling of the juice or juices toward the container of the access mouth.