Cooking material dispensing method and dispensing system

• US 9,446,876 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2012
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xinyu Liu
• Original Assignee: Xinyu Liu
• Inventors: Liu, Xinyu, Yan, Ping
• Primary Examiner(s): SOOHOO, TONY GLEN
• Application Number:
  US14/373,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20150128536A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 366/185, 414/404, 414/405, 414/480
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 3/001 Details of apparatus, e.g. for transport, for loading or unloading manipulation, pressure feed valves
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 36/34 Supports for cooking-vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 37/045 with endless conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 31/00 Mixers with shaking, oscillating, or vibrating mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/35 Mixing after turning the mixing vessel upside down
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 35/513 Flexible receptacles, e.g. bags supported by rigid containers
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 69/0008 Opening and emptying bags
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 69/005 by expelling contents, e.g. by squeezing the container
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 69/0075 Emptying systems for flexible intermediate bulk containers [FIBC]
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/248 by turning over or inverting them B65G47/244 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/252 about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying direction

Abstract

Disclosed are a cooking material dispensing system and dispensing method. The dispensing method comprises the following steps: setting a material bag (9) clamping station in a position near a cooking pot opening but outside the range of the pot opening, and clamping the material bag (9) containing a cooking material at the material bag (9) clamping station; confining the material bag (9), such that the material bag (9) is kept in a clamped state to control the deformation thereof during the dispensing procedure; flipping and/or tipping the material bag (9), and when in a position near the cooking pot opening, dispensing the cooking material in the material bag (9) into the cooking pot; and once the cooking material has been dispensed, shifting the material bag (9) from the range of the cooking pot opening and releasing the clamping of the material bag (9). The cooking material dispensing system comprises a dispensing device capable of clamping, confining, and transferring the material bag (9) and flipping the opened material bag and/or tipping the cooking material into the cooking pot. The dispensing system and dispensing method take a material packaged in the material bag (9) and can accurately move the material bag (9) into the dispensing position, making the cooking process convenient, fast and simple, and the entire process will not be contaminated.

Claims

1. A method for feeding cooking ingredients, in which cooking ingredients contained in an ingredient bag are put into a cooking pot under the control of a control system, the method comprising the steps of:

arranging a clamping station at a position within the vicinity of the pot mouth but out of the pot mouth area for clamping the ingredient bag at the clamping station in an automatic or semi-automatic manner or for clamping the ingredient bag by a bag clamping means;

limiting the ingredient bag in such a way that the ingredient bag maintains a desirable state when being clamped and is prevented from being deformed during the feeding process;

turning over and/or toppling the ingredient bag for inputting the ingredients in the ingredient bag into the pot at a position in the vicinity of the pot mouth; and

moving the ingredient bag away from the pot mouth area and releasing the ingredient bag from being clamped after the ingredients are fed,

wherein said limiting of the ingredient bag includes limiting the state of the ingredient bag when it is in a static state or being conveyed, limiting the state of the ingredient bag when it is being turned-over and/or toppled, limiting the ingredient bag on the moving direction of the ingredient bag, limiting the ingredient bag on the direction opposite the moving direction of the ingredient bag, and/or limiting the ingredient bag on the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the ingredient bag, and

wherein said limiting of the ingredient bag is applied in such a way that the opening of the ingredient bag remains substantially perpendicular to the moving route of the ingredient bag.

2. The method for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 1, wherein a feeding station is arranged between the clamping station and the pot at a position in the vicinity of the pot mouth;

and before or when the clamped ingredient bag is turned-over and/or toppled, the ingredient bag is conveyed from the clamping station to the feeding station.

3. The method for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

vibrating and/or striking the ingredient bag in such a way that the ingredients inside the ingredient bag are uniformly mixed and/or the ingredients inside the ingredient bag are separated from the ingredient bag.

4. The method for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

compressing the ingredient bag in such a way that the ingredients inside the ingredient bag are separated from the ingredient bag wherein said compressing of the ingredient bag comprises unidirectionally or bidirectionally compressing the ingredient bag, pressing or clamping the ingredient bag and push-pressing or rolling over the ingredient bag towards the opening of the ingredient bag, and winding the ingredient bag in such a way that the ingredients contained in the ingredient bag are squeezed out.

5. A system for feeding cooking ingredients contained in at least one of the ingredient bags into a cooking pot by means of an automatic control system and a cooking execution system, wherein the feeding system comprises a feeding device which, under the control of the automatic control system, clamps the ingredient bag at a clamping station, limits the clamped bag, turns over and/or topples the ingredient bag to pour the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot, and then removes the empty bag from the pot mouth area,

wherein the feeding device is a mechanism selected from the group consisting of

i. a clamping, conveying and toppling mechanism, comprising:

a bag clamping means for clamping the ingredient bag and for limiting the ingredient bag, an inter-station conveying means for driving the ingredient bag which is being clamped by the bag clamping means to move between the clamping station and the feeding station, and an ingredient toppling means for automatically pouring the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot,

ii. a clamping-conveying and toppling mechanism, comprising;

a clamping-conveying means which is used for automatically clamping the ingredient bag and limiting the state of the clamped bag and for automatically moving the clamped bag between the clamping station and the feeding station, and an ingredient toppling means used for automatically toppling the ingredient bag to pour the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot,

iii. a clamping-toppling and conveying mechanism, comprising;

a clamping-toppling means for clamping the ingredient bag and limiting the state of the ingredient bag and for automatically pouring the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot, and an inter-station conveying means for driving the ingredient bag which is clamped by the clamping-toppling means to move between the clamping station and the feeding station, and

iv. a clamping and conveying-toppling mechanism, comprising;

a bag clamping means for clamping

the ingredient bag and limiting the state of the ingredient bag, and a conveying-toppling means for driving the ingredient bag which is clamped by the clamping-toppling means to move between the clamping station and the feeding station and for automatically pouring the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot.

6. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the bag clamping means comprises a clamp for clamping the ingredient bag, a clamping driver and a clamping route converter in which the clamp is disposed at the clamping station for clamping or releasing the ingredient bag and the clamping route converter is disposed between the clamp and the clamping driver and is provided for converting the torque outputted by the clamp driver into the clamping torque for driving the clamp to clamp the ingredient bag, and into a releasing torque for releasing the ingredient bag.

7. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the inter-station conveying means comprises an inter-station conveying driver and an inter-station conveying route converter in which the inter-station conveying route converter is disposed between the bag clamping means and the inter-station conveying driver for converting the torque outputted by the inter-station driver into the torque for driving the bag clamping means to move between the clamping station and the feeding station.

8. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the ingredient toppling means comprises a toppling driver and a toppling route converter in which the toppling route converter is used for converting the torque which is outputted by the toppling driver into a toppling torque for driving the bag clamping means or the inter-station conveying means which is connected to the bag clamping means to topple the ingredient bag at the feeding station and into a returning torque for allowing the bag clamping means or the inter-station conveying means which is connected to the bag clamping means to reset to a state before toppling.

9. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the clamping-conveying means comprises a clamp, a clamping-conveying driver and a clamping-conveying route converter, and wherein the clamp is used to clamp or release the ingredient bag, and the clamping-conveying route converter is disposed between the clamp and the clamping-conveying driver, used for converting the torque outputted by the clamping-conveying driver into the clamping torque for driving the clamp to clamp the ingredient bag and into the releasing torque for releasing the ingredient bag, and also used for converting the torque outputted by the clamping-conveying driver into the torque for driving the clamp which clamps the ingredient bag to move between the clamping station and the feeding station.

10. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 9, wherein the ingredient toppling means comprises a toppling driver for causing the ingredient bag to topple and for allowing the clamping-conveying means to turn over or reset and a toppling route converter, and wherein the toppling route converter is disposed between the clamping-conveying means and the toppling driver, and is provided for converting the torque outputted by the toppling driver into the toppling torque for driving the clamping-conveying means to pour out the ingredients in the ingredient bag at the feeding station, and into the returning torque for driving the clamping-conveying means to reset to a state before toppling.

11. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the clamping-toppling means comprises a clamp, a clamping-toppling driver and a clamping-toppling route converter in which the clamp is used for clamping or releasing the ingredient bag, and the clamping-toppling route converter is disposed between the clamping-toppling driver and the clamp, and wherein when the clamp is at the clamping station the clamping-toppling route converter is used for converting the torque outputted by the clamping-toppling driver into the clamping torque for driving the clamp to clamp the ingredient bag and into the releasing torque for releasing the ingredient bag, and when the clamp is at the feeding station the clamping-toppling route converter is used for converting the torque outputted by the clamping-toppling driver into the toppling torque for driving the clamped bag to topple at the feeding station, and into the returning torque for driving the clamped bag to return to a state before toppling.

12. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, wherein the conveying-toppling means comprises a conveying-toppling driver and a conveying-toppling route converter in which the conveying-toppling route converter is disposed between the bag clamping means and the conveying-toppling driver, used for converting the torque outputted by the conveying-toppling driver into the torque for driving the bag clamping means to move between the clamping station and the feeding station, and for converting the torque outputted by the toppling driver into the toppling torque for driving the bag clamping means to topple the ingredient bag at the feeding station, and into a returning torque for driving the bag clamping means to reset to a state before toppling.

15. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, further comprising a compressing mechanism which is used to squeeze the ingredients out of the ingredient bag under the control of the control system, wherein the compressing mechanism comprises a compressing driver and a compressing unit which, driven by the compressing driver, compresses the toppled bag to squeeze the ingredients out of the bag and to feed them into the cooking pot, wherein the compressing mechanism further comprises a compressing route converter which outputs a torque to the compressing unit and converts the torque inputted by the compressing driver into the compressing torque of the compressing unit and into a displacement torque for pushing the compressing unit to displace while compressing the ingredient bag, and wherein the compressing route converter is connected to the compressing driver.

16. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, further comprising a shaking means for enabling the ingredients to mix or shaking the ingredients out of the ingredient bag by means of vibrating or striking the ingredient bag under the control of the control system before or after the ingredient bag is clamped and thereby feeding the ingredients into the cooking pot, wherein the shaking means is arranged at the clamping station or the feeding station and comprises a shaking driver and a shaking unit which strikes or vibrates the ingredient bag when driven by the shaking driver.

17. The system for feeding cooking ingredients according to claim 5, further comprising an ingredient bag conveying means for fixedly mounting the ingredient bag and for conveying each bag to the clamping station under the control of the control system, wherein the ingredient bag conveying means comprises an ingredient bag conveying driver and an ingredient bag fixing means, each bag is fixedly provided on the ingredient bag fixing means, and the ingredient bag fixing means rotates or translationally moves in such a way that each bag is successively conveyed to the clamping station when driven by the ingredient bag conveying driver.

13. A system for feeding cooking ingredients contained in at least one of the ingredient bags into a cooking pot by means of an automatic control system and a cooking execution system, wherein the feeding system comprises a feeding device which, under the control of the automatic control system, clamps the ingredient bag at a clamping station, limits the clamped bag, turns over and/or topples the ingredient bag to pour the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot, and then removes the empty bag from the pot mouth area,

wherein the feeding device is a clamping-inverting feeding mechanism in which the clamping-inverting feeding mechanism is arranged at the feeding station and comprises a clamping-feeding driver, a clamping-feeding route converter, a bag clamping means for clamping and limiting the ingredient bag at the feeding station, and a bag inverting means for turning-over the ingredient bag and pouring the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot,

wherein the clamping-feeding driver is a clamping-feeding drive motor and the clamping-feeding route converter is connected to the output shaft of the clamping-feeding drive motor, used for converting the rotational torque, which is inputted to the clamping-feeding route converter by the clamping-feeding drive motor, into the rotational torque which is outputted to the bag inverting means, and used for converting the rotational displacement, which is inputted by the clamping-feeding drive motor, into the clamping displacement which is outputted to the bag clamping means for clamping the ingredient bag and into the releasing displacement for releasing the ingredient bag,

wherein the bag clamping means comprises a fixed clamping plate and a movable clamping plate in which the fixed clamping plate and the movable clamping plate are respectively provided with buckle structures which is mutually buckled, and the movable clamping plate is connected to the clamping-feeding route converter, and wherein the bag inverting means is a turning plate.

14. A system for feeding cooking ingredients contained in at least one of the ingredient bags into a cooking pot by means of an automatic control system and a cooking execution system, wherein the feeding system comprises a feeding device which, under the control of the automatic control system, clamps the ingredient bag at a clamping station, limits the clamped bag, turns over and/or topples the ingredient bag to pour the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot, and then removes the empty bag from the pot mouth area,

wherein the feeding device is a clamping and toppling mechanism, comprising a bag clamping means for clamping and limiting the ingredient bag, an ingredient toppling means for automatically pouring the ingredients inside the ingredient bag into the cooking pot, and a cutting means for cutting one side of the ingredient bag before pouring out the ingredients,

wherein the bag clamping means comprises a clamp, a clamping driver and a clamping route converter in which the clamp is disposed at the clamping station for clamping or releasing the ingredient bag and the clamping route converter is used for converting the torque outputted by the clamping driver into the clamping torque for driving the clamp to clamp the ingredient bag or into the releasing torque for releasing the ingredient bag,

wherein the clamping driver is a clamping drive motor and the bag clamping means comprises a fixed clamping head and a movable clamping head which are arranged at opposing positions.