Apparatus for storing and heating food products

Heat exchange – With thermal or acoustical blocker

Patent

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Details

165 481, 219386, A47J 3902

Patent

active

050868349

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to apparatus for storing and heating food products.


DISCUSSION OF BACKGROUND AND MATERIAL INFORMATION

In known apparatus for storing and heating food products, trays with integrated resistance heating element are used, that have the disadvantage of being extremely expensive. Moreover, these trays are heavy, and preclude the use of disposable trays. Other apparatus include heat barriers that separate the products to be reheated from the refrigerated products, but these heat barriers do not function individually for each tray. Instead, they function all at once in the apparatus, and for all the trays, at the same time. This has the disadvantage of requiring the heating of all the trays at the same time, and thus, not permitting the heating of one individual tray in accordance with requirements, and keeping the heated trays waiting in a refrigerated atmosphere.
These latter apparatus may be appropriate for mass distribution of meals in trays at the same time, because there would not arise the situation of keeping plates waiting to be heated in a refrigerated atmosphere, without having to remove the tray, before it is brought to an appropriate temperature and is distributed, even though the resistance heating element of the trays are individual, the heat from these is communicated to the neighboring trays.
The cold air flow being stopped at this moment, this results is a quick rise in temperature in the refrigerated atmosphere, even though the resistance elements of all the trays were not subject to electric current. French Patent FR-A-2,285,836 describes a system which includes a refrigerated housing containing supports for meal trays, equipped with heating areas for selectively reheating some plates at a given moment. However, once the meal tray has been removed, these heating areas do not become cold instantaneously, and the residual heat must be compensated with introduction of kilogram cooling addition cooling heat, which diminishes the overall efficiency of the installation.
The apparatus, according to the invention eliminates all of these disadvantages enables, the use of disposable trays made of plastic, ABS, polystyrene, cardboard or any other "ephemeral" products, and it enables each tray to be reheated individually or at together at the same time.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus, according to the invention, is composed of a refrigerated housing in which heating supports are placed in racks for trays containing complete meals with food products that need to remain cold, and one or two dishes, that are to be heated. Each heating support includes an electrical resistance element at one or two portions, that enables the tray to be heated in those areas that are placed on this heating support.
These electrical resistance elements are covered with mobile and horizontal heat barriers that are pushed into the heating support by the introduction of the tray, thereby uncovering, the resistance elements which can then be placed under current, in accordance with the information that will have been transmitted to it by the electronic console, in order to heat the desired plate.
Once the user has removed the tray, the heat barrier once again covers the resistance elements and isolation the residual heat produced, thereby ensuring that this residual heat does not spread throughout the refrigerated housing.
At the moment that this isolation occurs, the electrical resistance elements are no longer under current.
The heat barrier is constituted of a strong, high-density heat insulation, whose to and fro movement is easy to manoeuver; a mortise on each side with springs enables the heat barrier to be brought back over the resistance elements when the tray is removed.
The loading phases of the refrigerated housing are done in the following way:
1. By the introduction of trays on their supports, manually, or by a trolley or "rack" in which the trays and the heating supports are already stacked.
2. The tray, sliding on the support, pushes the heat barrier wi

REFERENCES:
patent: 3291546 (1966-12-01), Traycoff
patent: 3784787 (1974-01-01), Shevlin
patent: 3897989 (1975-08-01), Grandi
patent: 3908749 (1975-09-01), Williams
patent: 4005745 (1977-02-01), Colato et al.
patent: 4167983 (1979-09-01), Seider et al.
patent: 4235282 (1980-11-01), deFlippis et al.
patent: 4256952 (1981-03-01), Thomas et al.

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