WO2015011691A1

WO2015011691A1 - Extrusion device and collapsible cartridge containing extrudable food material

Info

Publication number: WO2015011691A1
Application number: PCT/IB2014/063438
Authority: WO
Inventors: Esteban GONZALEZ POSADA; Carlos Heriberto DE CASTRO RISATTI
Original assignee: Meals De Colombia S.A.S.; Inversiones Prestigio S.A.S.
Priority date: 2013-07-25
Filing date: 2014-07-25
Publication date: 2015-01-29
Also published as: CR20160096A; DOP2016000029A; CO7170018A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an extrusion device and a collapsible cartridge (18) containing extrudable food material, preferably soft serve ice cream. The extrusion device comprises: a fixed piston (1); a movable chamber (2) having two ends, namely one end arranged to receive the fixed piston (1) and another end equipped with an outlet (13) for the movable chamber, said movable chamber (2) being disposed to house a collapsible cartridge (18) containing an extrudable food material that is extruded through a nozzle (19) aligned with the outlet (13) of the movable chamber; a mechanism for moving the movable chamber (2); and a frame with which the fixed piston (1) and the mechanism for moving the movable chamber (2) are assembled. As the movable chamber (2) moves toward the fixed piston (1), the fixed piston (1) applies pressure on the collapsible cartridge (18) in the movable chamber (2) in order to extrude the extrudable food material through the nozzle (19) of the collapsible cartridge (18). The collapsible cartridge (18) comprises an upper end (20) and a lower end (22). As the collapsible cartridge (18) collapses, the surfaces of the two ends come into contact with one another, the nozzle (19) at the lower end (22) extending away from the collapsible cartridge (18).

Description

EXTRUSION DEVICE AND COLLAPSABLE CARTRIDGE CONTAINING EXTRUDIBLE FOOD MATERIAL

1. Field of the invention

The present invention is developed in the field of mechanical engineering, specifically in the sector of dispensing or portioning machines of extrudable food material, whether for sale and distribution, or for internal institutional or domestic use.

Specifically, the invention is developed in the food industry sector; particularly, it relates to the dispensing and serving of extrudable food material, such as frozen soft ice cream and portioned in thermoformed disposable containers or cartridges. The above is achieved since the containers in which the ice cream is frozen, stored and distributed are crushed by a machine that extrudes the ice cream.

2. Description of the state of the art

Usually on the market there are two types of ice cream, on the one hand the ice cream called "hard", frozen in large containers and served by spoon or scooping, and on the other, the ice cream called "soft", served by ice cream dispensing machines .

One method of dispensing soft ice cream is through ice cream dispensing machines. These machines perform the operation of freezing soft ice cream and dispense it During the soft ice cream dispensing process, a percentage of air that gives its creamy consistency to the soft ice cream can be added.

Another method of dispensing soft ice cream is to extrude it and pass it through a nozzle for dispensing. In this process, the soft ice cream recovers the texture it had before being frozen, giving the consumer the feeling of being a freshly prepared ice cream in an ice cream dispensing machine.

The force necessary to extrude a frozen soft ice cream through a nozzle is between 750 N and 850N. That is why the machines used to dispense frozen soft ice cream use power sources such as compressed air, electric motors, among others.

In the state of the art some manually operated machines are reported to extrude frozen foods, without the collaboration of external power sources such as electric motors or compressed air, to extrude frozen foods. One of these machines is disclosed in patent document EP0995685B1, which discloses a frozen dessert dispensing system that includes a cylindrical body to accommodate frozen dessert containers and has a nozzle towards its lower end, a movable piston and a lever to drive the piston. The cylindrical body is fixed. The piston slides in a straight line to or along a vertical axis, guiding the movement of raising and lowering the piston. The actuator means of the piston is a lever located at a lateral end of the dispenser, which is what allows the reciprocating movement (raising and lowering) of the piston along its longitudinal axis in a straight line. When the piston comes into contact with the container of the frozen desserts, the piston exerts force on the container thus dispensing its contents.

Patent document US5918767 discloses another frozen dessert dispenser disposed in deformable containers that have an opening at one end for dessert output. The dispenser has a base to place the deformable container, a movable piston and the lever to actuate the piston. The base where the deformable containers are placed is fixed, that is, it does not rise or fall, but it can pivot to facilitate the exchange of dessert containers. The piston moves vertically in a straight line and the drive mechanism is also by lever.

The inventions reported in EP0995685B1 and US5918767 require that the component where the deformable container with the frozen food is located be stationary (they do not have vertical displacement), which is why the nozzle through which the frozen food comes out is fixed. By dispensing food material in a container with these inventions, the column of food material dispensed begins to rise from the container where it is dispensed to the nozzle through which it was extruded. Here the drawback arises that, if the operator of the machine that dispenses the extruded food material is not right-handed or distracted, the extruded material may come into contact with the outlet nozzle, contaminating itself with microorganisms or with residues of the food material adhered to this, and therefore enabling the contamination of the food material to be extruded in the next processes. 3. Brief description of the graphics

FIG. 1. A mode of the inventive device. FIG. 2. Shows the pivoting of the mobile chamber with respect to the mobile support.

FIG. 3. Operational position when the mobile support is away from the fixed piston and no action is exerted on the crank. FIG. 4. Operating position when the fixed piston is introduced into the mobile chamber and action is exerted on the crank.

FIG. 5. A top view and section A-A of the mobile chamber and collapsible cartridge.

FIG. 6. Operating position of the mobile chamber and the fixed piston when the food material of the collapsible cartridge is extruded.

FIG. 7. Top and bottom perspective view of the collapsible cartridge.

FIG: 8. Collapsible collapsible cartridge view. The present invention corresponds to an extrusion device that applies pressure by means of a fixed piston to a collapsible cartridge filled with extrudable food material, for example, an ice cream. In one embodiment, the inventive device is characterized by using a manually operated mechanism to move a mobile chamber vertically, which contains a collapsible cartridge containing extrudable food material, towards a piston such that the piston exerts pressure on the collapsible cartridge and forces the exit of the extrudable food material through a nozzle in the collapsible cartridge. The mechanism for moving the mobile chamber can be a crank, which when driven, moves the mobile chamber vertically towards the fixed piston, thus generating the compression pressure in the collapsible cartridge and the subsequent dispensing of the extrudable food material. The device of the present invention solves one of the drawbacks of the state of the art, as long as the piston remains fixed, and, on the contrary, allows the mobile chamber (containing the collapsible cartridge) to move towards the fixed piston. , it is achieved that the nozzle, where the extrudable food material leaves, moves away from the container where the extrudable food material will be dispensed. This minimizes both the risk of contact of the extrudable food material with the mobile chamber, and the accumulation of extrudable food material in the mobile chamber.

4. Detailed description of the invention

The present invention corresponds to an extrusion device for dispensing extrudable food material contained in collapsible cartridges. According to FIG. 1, an embodiment of the extrusion device comprises: a. A fixed piston (1)

b. A mobile bedroom (2)

C. A mobile stand (3)

d. Two guides (4)

and. A crank (5)

F. A pinion (6)

g. A string (7)

h. A tension spring (8)

i. A return spring (9)

j. A fixed support (10)

k. One base (15)

In the preferred embodiment, the chassis of the extrusion device is the two guides (4), since the components of the extrusion device are assembled to the two guides (4), however in other embodiments of the invention, the chassis can be shaped by a plurality of guides (4) or a single guide (4). An additional requirement of the chassis, in addition to assembling the components of the extrusion device, is to include a mechanism to guide the movement of the mobile chamber (2), a mechanism that in the preferred mode are the guides (4). Therefore, another embodiment of the chassis materialization is a scissors geometry structure in which when the scissor arms are closed, the mobile chamber (2) moves towards the fixed piston (1). The fixed gun (1) and the mechanism for moving the mobile chamber (1) are assembled to the chassis. In the mode preferred of the invention, the fixed piston (1) is assembled in the fixed support (10), which is assembled to the guides (4), which are the chassis, therefore, the fixed ramp (1) is assembled to the chassis . In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the mechanism for moving the mobile bedroom (2) is formed by crank (5), pinion (6) and chain (7), the chain (7) embraces the pinion (6), the pinion (6) is assembled to the fixed support (10) which in turn is assembled to the guides (4) that are the chassis. The crank (7) is assembled to the pinion (6). Therefore, in the preferred mode the mechanism for moving the mobile bedroom is assembled to the chassis. According to FIG 1, the two guides (4) fix the extrusion device to a base (15) with the screws (16). The two guides (4) can be fixed directly to a fixed surface and not directly to the base (15). In addition to the use of screws (16), rivets, welding or other fixing means can be used. In accordance with FIG 1, the fixed support (10) is assembled at the top of the guides (4), fixing the fixed support (10) to the guides (4) by means of the screws (16). In addition to the use of screws (16), rivets, welding or other fixing means can be used. If a scissor geometric structure chassis is used, the fixed support (10) would be located on the fixed scissor arm.

According to FIG 1, the fixed support (10) holds the fixed piston (1) at one of its ends. The fixed piston (1) is assembled to the fixed support (10) restricting any degree of freedom in movement of the fixed piston (1). According to FIG 1, the pinion (6) is assembled in the fixed support (10). The pinion assembly means (6) on the fixed support (10) must allow the pinion (6) to rotate with respect to its center axis. In other embodiments, the pinion (6) can be replaced by a pulley.

The crank (5) is assembled to the pinion (6) in one of the walls normal to the central axis of the pinion (6), preferably and in accordance with FIG. 1, on the right side view. The crank (5) rotates with respect to the center axis of the pinion (6). According to FIG 1, one of the guides (4) passes inside the return spring (9), placing the return spring (9) between the fixed support (10) and the mobile support (3). A return spring (9) can be located for each guide (4), that is, the extrusion device can consist of two return springs (9). If a scissor geometric structure chassis is used, the return spring (9) could be located inside the angle formed between the two scissor arms.

According to FIG. 1, the mobile chamber (2) is assembled at one of the ends of the mobile support (3) by means of the screw (17). If a scissor geometric structure chassis is used, the mobile support (3) would be located on the scissor's mobile arm.

According to FIG. 2, the mobile chamber (2) is assembled to the mobile support (3) by means of the screw (17) allowing a degree of freedom in rotational movement, being able to rotate up to 90 ° with respect to the mobile support (3). That is, the assembly allows the mobile chamber (2) to pivot with respect to the mobile support (3). The action of allowing the mobile chamber (2) to pivot with respect to the mobile support (3) is to facilitate the insertion of the collapsible cartridge (18) into the mobile chamber (2). Another alternative to facilitate the insertion of the collapsible cartridge (18) into the mobile chamber (2) is an assembly that allows the mobile chamber (2) to move horizontally with respect to the mobile support (3). An assembly that allows horizontal displacement is the use of displacement guides, or using an arm that is in alignment with the mobile support (3) and when inserting the collapsible cartridge (18) can be rotate with respect to the mobile support (3).

According to FIG. 1, the chain (7) is attached at one of its ends to the mobile support (3) and at its other end to the tension spring (8). The chain (7) is attached at one of its ends to the mobile support (3), hugs the pinion (7), crosses the mobile support (3) through the spring hole (11) and at its other end is attached to the tension spring (8). The tension spring (8) is attached at one of its ends to the chain (7) and at the other end is attached to the base (15). The mobile support (3) is passed through the guides (4) through the holes (12). For purposes of the present invention, "external command" is understood as the application of a power source to move the mobile chamber (2). The energy source is selected from the group comprising mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic source and a combination thereof. According to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the mobile support (3) moves vertically along the two guides (4) in upward or downward motion in response to an external command. The vertical movement of the mobile support (3) occurs between the lower part of the guide (4) and the upper part of the guide (4), when the crank (5) is operated. That is to say, when turning the crank (5), the pinion (6) is turned which is embraced by the chain (7), and the chain (7) is attached at one of its ends to the mobile support (3). Consequently, the rotational movement of the crank (5) is converted into a vertical displacement movement of the mobile support (3). According to FIG. 3 and 4, by moving the mobile support (3) vertically, the mobile support (3) moves the mobile chamber (2) with it. Therefore, when moving the mobile support (3), the mobile chamber (2) will approach or move away from the fixed piston (1), depending on whether the movement of movement is ascending or descending respectively. If the movement of movement of the mobile support (3) is ascending, the fixed piston (1) will eventually enter the interior of the mobile chamber (2).

The vertical movement in upward or downward movement will depend on the side where the chain (7) embraces the pinion (6), that is, according to FIG. 1, from the right side view, the chain (7) hugs the pinion (6) counterclockwise, therefore, turning the crank (5) counterclockwise, the mobile chamber (2) moves vertically in upward movement towards the fixed piston (1), in case of turning the crank (5) clockwise, the mobile chamber (2) would move vertically in downward movement moving away from the fixed piston (1), therefore the mechanism for moving the mobile bedroom (2) is made up of crank (5), pinion (6) and chain (7), a mechanism to which the external command is applied.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the vertical displacement of the mobile bedroom (2) due to the vertical displacement of the mobile carrier (3), is in a straight line, however, the vertical displacement of the mobile bedroom (2) a Because of the vertical displacement of the mobile support (3), it can follow the geometric contour of any line, for example a parabola, curved, wavy, among others. The tension spring (8) has the function of maintaining the chain tension (7) when the mobile support (3) is in the lowest position, that is, when no external command is being exerted on the crank (5) , and also pulls the chain (7) when the mobile support (3) moves vertically in upward movement, maintaining tension in the chain (7).

The return spring (9) has the function of keeping the mobile support (3) in the lower part of the guide (4) when the extrusion device is not being operated.

The collapsible cartridge (18) is inserted into the mobile chamber (2). For this and in accordance with FIG. 2, the mobile chamber (2) can rotate with respect to the mobile support (3) in order to insert the collapsible cartridge (18). The internal contour of the mobile chamber (2) preferably conforms to the external contour of the collapsible cartridge (18). The adjustment is prudent given that during the extrudate, the pressure exerted by the fixed piston (1) on the collapsible cartridge (18) is transferred to the mobile chamber (2). In case of not performing a good fit, the collapsible cartridge (18) could crack, creating a risk of spillage of the contents inside the mobile chamber (2).

The collapsible cartridge (18) contains extrudable food material. Preferably the extrudable food material is soft ice cream, however it can also be arequipe, yogurt, creams, sauces, doughs, desserts, chocolate, among others.

The collapsible cartridge (18) has a nozzle (19) through which extrudable food material comes out when the collapsible cartridge (18) is extruded. According to FIG. 5, the mobile chamber (2) has two ends, an upper end that is arranged to receive the fixed piston (1) a lower end which has a mobile chamber exit hole (13), the mobile chamber (2) is d arranged to accommodate the collapsible cartridge (18) containing the extrudable food material that is extruded through the nozzle (19) that aligns with the exit hole of the mobile chamber (13). According to FIG. 5, the nozzle (19) has a length "L" that is preferably greater than 4mm. The nozzle (19) extends away from the collapsible cartridge (18), with the purpose of moving the extrudable food material out of the moving chamber (2) and the extrusion device in general, in such a way that the risk of cross contamination and the need to be cleaning the extrusion device after each dispensing of extrudable food material is reduced.

According to FIG. 7, the collapsible cartridge (18) has an upper end (20), which has a protuberance (21). The depth of the protuberance (21) is equal to or greater than the length "L" of the nozzle (19). The collapsible cartridge (18) also has a lower end (22), where the nozzle (19) is located. As can be seen in FIG. 8, the protuberance (21) is operatively arranged to fit the nozzle (19) when the collapsible cartridge (18) collapses. When the collapsible cartridge (18) collapses, due to the entry of the piston (1) into the mobile chamber (2), the surfaces of the upper end (20) and lower end (22) come into contact, and in particular the protuberance ( 21) fits the nozzle (19) in such a way as to maximize the removal of the largest amount of extrudable food material from the collapsible cartridge (18).

Once the collapsible cartridge (18) is inserted into the mobile chamber (2), according to FIG. 6, the crank (5) is operated by an external command in order to move the mobile support (3) in upward vertical movement. In turn, the mobile chamber (2) moves with the mobile support (3), and therefore the fixed piston (1) enters through the upper end of the mobile chamber (2). In this way the fixed piston (1) exerts pressure on the collapsible cartridge (18), which allows the extrudable food material to exit through the nozzle (19) of the collapsible cartridge (18) and be dispensed into the container (14). Due to the displacement of the chamber (2), the nozzle (19) moves away from the container (14) where it is dispensed, automatically generating a growing column of extruded food material without having to move the container (14). This facilitates the dispensing of the material and reduces the risk that the user puts the extruded food material in contact with the extrusion device.

To operate the extrusion device of extrudable food material, in the event that the extrudable food material is soft ice cream, an external command with a force between 45 N and 90 N is required to the mechanism for movement of the mobile bedroom (2). External command that can be exercised by a mechanical source, such as the force of an operator of the device.

It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the modalities described and illustrated, since as will be evident to a person versed in art, there are possible variations and modifications that do not depart from the spirit of the invention, which is only found defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. An extrusion device comprising:

a- a fixed piston;

b- a mobile chamber with two ends, where, at one end it is arranged to receive the fixed piston and, at the other end, it has a mobile chamber exit hole, where the mobile chamber is arranged to accommodate a cartridge Collapsible containing an extrudable food material that is extruded through a nozzle that aligns with the mobile chamber exit hole;

c- a mechanism to move the mobile chamber and;

d- a chassis to which the fixed piston and the mechanism for moving the mobile chamber are assembled; where by moving the mobile chamber towards the fixed piston, the fixed piston presses on the collapsible cartridge in the mobile chamber to extrude the extrudable food material through the nozzle of the collapsible cartridge.

2. The device of Claim 1, characterized in that the chassis includes a mechanism to guide the movement of the mobile bedroom.

3. The device of Claim 1, characterized in that the mechanism for guiding the movement of the mobile bedroom is a structure in scissors geometry.

4. The device of Claim 1, characterized in that the mobile bedroom is assembled to a mobile support.

5. The device of Claim 4, characterized in that the assembly allows the mobile chamber to pivot with respect to the mobile support.

6. The device of Claim 4, characterized in that the assembly to the mobile support allows the mobile bedroom to move horizontally with respect to the mobile support.

7. The device of Claim 1, characterized in that the mechanism for moving the mobile chamber uses a source selected from the group comprising mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic source and a combination thereof.

8. The device of Claim 7, characterized in that the mechanism for moving the mobile chamber is formed by a crank, pinion and chain.

9. The device of Claim 1, characterized in that the internal contour of the mobile chamber conforms to the external contour of the collapsible cartridge.

10. A collapsible cartridge for extrudable food material with a body consisting of two ends where, when the collapsible cartridge collapses, the surfaces of the two ends come into contact, characterized in that one of the ends has a nozzle which extends away from the collapsible cartridge.

11. The collapsible cartridge of Claim 10, characterized in that the nozzle is longer than 4mm.

12. The collapsible cartridge of Claim 10, characterized in that the extrudable food material is soft ice cream.

13. The collapsible cartridge of Claim 10, characterized in that the other upper end has a protuberance that is operatively arranged to fit into the nozzle when the collapsible cartridge collapses.

14. The collapsible cartridge of Claim 13, characterized in that the depth of the protuberance is equal to or greater than the length of the nozzle.