Machine for producing and dispensing liquid or semiliquid food products

• US 9,125,426 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2007
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ali Group S.r.l. (Ali Holding Srl)
• Original Assignee: Carpigiani Group - Ali S.P.A.
• Inventors: Zaniboni, Gianni, Cocchi, Gino, Lazzarini, Roberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Shearer, Daniel R
• Application Number:
  US12/678,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20110011887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,916 Days
• Field of Search: 222/23, 222/52, 222/54, 222/146.1, 222/146.6, 700/239, 700/244
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A23G 9/22 Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups
• CPC Class Codes: A23G 9/28 for portioning or dispensing

Abstract

A machine for producing and dispensing liquid or semiliquid food products, includes: a holding vat for a liquid base product; a treatment circuit for treating the liquid base product to obtain a liquid or semiliquid food product; a dispensing mechanism to dispense the food product; one or more actuators acting on the base product, food product and/or parts of the machine; and one or more sensors for detecting one or more operating parameters of the machine. The machine further includes an interfacing unit preferably provided with a control card operatively associated with at least one of the one or more sensors to receive a respective one of the one or more operating parameters and transmit it to a remote processing unit.

Claims

1. A machine or producing and dispensing liquid or semiliquid food products, comprising:

a holding vat for a liquid base product;

a treatment circuit associated with the holding vat for receiving and treating the liquid base product to obtain a liquid or semiliquid food product;

a dispensing mechanism associated with the treatment circuit to receive and dispense said food product;

at least one actuator acting on at least one chosen from said base product, food product and parts of said machine;

at least one sensor to detect at least one operating parameter of the machine,

an interfacing unit operatively associated with the at least one sensor to receive the at least one operating parameter and transmit it to a remote processing unit;

a local processing unit connected at least to the at least one sensor and the at least one actuator and configured to control operation of the machine;

wherein the interfacing unit comprises a management module operatively associated with the local processing unit to receive the at least one operating parameter, compare it with a reference value and transmit a notification signal to the remote processing unit, depending on the comparison;

wherein the management module is configured to carry out a series of transmitting operations, subsequent to the transmission of the notification signal, to transmit a series of detected measures of the at least one operating parameter during a predetermined time interval to the remote processing unit;

wherein the series of detected measures comprises measures preceding transmitting of the notification signal and measures following transmitting of the notification signal;

wherein the interfacing unit is further operatively associated with the at least one actuator to make the at least one actuator receive a local command/adjustment signal as a function of a remote command/adjustment signal sent to said interfacing unit by the remote processing unit;

wherein the at least one operating parameter includes;

movement speed of at least one moving part of the machine; and

a state variable of at least one switch or actuator present in the machine.

2. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reference value is defined by a previous reading of the at least one operating parameter.

3. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein transmission of the at least one operating parameter to said remote processing unit is started at a predetermined time limit.

4. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein transmission of the at least one operating parameter to said remote processing unit is started following a situation of at least one chosen from failure, malfunction and alarm of the machine.

5. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said interfacing unit further comprises a communication module transmitting at least one chosen from the at least one operating parameter and the notification signal to said remote processing unit.

6. The machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein said communication module is drivable between a rest condition at which it transmits no signals, and an operating condition at which at least it transmits signals.

7. The machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein said communication module is normally in said rest condition, and is driven to the operating condition by said management module to transmit the at least one operating parameter to said remote processing unit.

8. The machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein said interfacing unit is operatively associated with the at least one actuator to make the at least one actuator receive a local command/adjustment signal as a function of a remote command/adjustment signal sent to said interfacing unit by said remote processing unit and said management module is associated with said local processing unit to make the latter receive said remote command/adjustment signal and enable said local processing unit to transmit said local command/adjustment signal to said at least one actuator.

9. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said interfacing unit further comprises a memory, said management module being associated with said memory to store said remote command/adjustment signal, said local processing unit being associated with said memory to read said remote signal and generate said local signal, as a function of said remote signal.

10. The machine as claimed in claim 9, wherein said memory is operatively associated with said management module for storage of the at least one operating parameter for at least one chosen from comparison and transmission to said remote processing unit.

11. The machine as claimed in claim 8, wherein said communication module is driven from the rest condition to the operating condition by a connection request signal transmitted by said remote processing unit, said communication module configured to receive said remote command/adjustment signal when it is in the operating condition.

12. The machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein said communication module is at least one chosen from a GSM/GPRS modem, an ADSL modem, an ISDN modem, an Ethernet module, and a module for connection to a local network, which is in turn connectable to a network enabling remote connection to said remote processing unit.

13. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said remote command/adjustment signal is generated by said remote processing unit as a function of a main signal transmitted by a computer remotely connected to said remote processing unit.

14. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

temperature of the base product;

temperature of the finished product;

temperature of specific regions within the machine.

15. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

pressure inside portions of the machine.

16. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

levels of product inside of the machine.

17. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

amount of product dispensed through said dispensing mechanism.

19. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

physical features of the base product or the finished product.

20. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

currents or voltages representative of at least one electric/electronic device present in the machine.

21. The machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remote command/adjustment signal is sent to the interfacing unit in real time in response to the notification signal.

18. The machine as claimed in claim , wherein the at least one operating parameter includes each of the following:

percentages in a composition of said product.

22. A machine for producing and dispensing ice cream food products, comprising:

a holding vat for a liquid base product;

a treatment circuit associated with the holding vat for receiving and treating the liquid base product to obtain an ice cream food product, the treatment circuit including a refrigeration circuit for freezing the liquid base product and a whisking device for whisking the liquid base product into an ice cream food product;

a dispensing mechanism associated with the treatment circuit to receive and dispense said food product;

at least one actuator acting on at least one chosen from said base product, food product and parts of said machine;

at least one sensor to detect at least one operating parameter of the machine,

an interfacing unit operatively associated with the at least one sensor to receive the at least one operating parameter and transmit it to a remote processing unit;

a local processing unit connected at least to the at least one sensor and the at least one actuator and configured to control operation of the machine;

wherein the interfacing unit comprises a management module operatively associated with the local processing unit to receive the at least one operating parameter, compare it with a reference value and transmit a notification signal to the remote processing unit, depending on the comparison;

wherein the management module is configured to carry out a series of transmitting operations, subsequent to the transmission of the notification signal, to transmit a series of detected measures of the at least one operating parameter during a predetermined time interval to the remote processing unit;

wherein the series of detected measures comprises measures preceding transmitting of the notification signal and measures following transmitting of the notification signal;

wherein the interfacing unit is further operatively associated with the at least one actuator to make the at least one actuator receive a local command/adjustment signal as a function of a remote command/adjustment signal sent to said interfacing unit by the remote processing unit;

wherein the at least one operating parameter includes;

movement speed of at least one moving part of the machine; and

a state variable of at least one switch or actuator present in the machine.