Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or... – Control means responsive to product weight or dimension
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2001-04-10
Heitbrink, Tim (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or...
Control means responsive to product weight or dimension
C425S149000, C425S363000, C425S367000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213749
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and device for refining a confectionery material, such as chocolate.
As is known, a confectionery material is conventionally refined by granulometrically reducing the mass thereof. Such a granulometric reduction is performed by causing the confectionery material to pass through a series of cylinders or rollers pressing the material particles, by applying a pressure to the end supports of the laminating cylinders, and stretching said particles in the cylinder laminating nip, the cylinders defining the laminated nip being driven with different speeds.
The confectionery material refining devices are generally arranged in continuous production lines, for example in the lines of a patterning system.
For managing in a simple manner such a making line, the confectionery material, as is known, must exit the refining machine with a constant amount and a constant or even granulometric quality.
Also known is the fact that a manual adjustment of the refining process parameters does not allow to provide a constant refined product quality and rate, since this manual adjustment does not operate with a sufficient speed on the refining process.
In order to overcome the above mentioned drawback, available confectionery material refining machines comprise adjusting devices for adjusting the revolution speed of the refining or laminating cylinders, said adjusting devices adjusting, based on the thickness of the refined product exiting said series of cylinders, the laminating speeds.
The above confectionery material refining machine, however, is affected by reliability and accuracy problems.
In particular, the adjustment of the refining process based on the measurement of the thickness or film of the confectionery product exiting the cylinders would involve the provision of mechanical elements contacting the confectionery material, with a consequent problem of soiling the system, thereby requiring complex maintenance operations.
Moreover, the refined confectionery product has a thickness in the 15-20 &mgr;m range, which can be only detected by using very accurate thickness detecting devices.
On the other hand, available thickness detecting devices are unsuitable to provide a continuous operation as necessary in the mentioned systems and, moreover, they are negatively affected by hard conditions such as the presence of powder and fat as well as by the high sliding speed of the confectionery mass at the outlet of said cylinders the last of which can revolve with a revolution speed of the order of 400 RPM's.
Moreover, the above mentioned machines, because of their high operating speeds, are affected by vibrations and oscillations which make the measurement system unstable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the aim of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a method and a device for refining confectionery materials, so as to provide a refined product having a sufficient evenness, thereby allowing said device to be included in continuously operating confectionery material patterning systems.
For making said refined product in an even amount, it would be necessary to form a product film having an end even thickness, with a product outlet rate and a peripheral rate of the last cylinder as even as possible.
The aim of the invention is achieved by a method for refining a confectionery material, in which the particles of said material are pressed and stretched between a series of cylinders, characterized in that said method comprises the steps of measuring the distance between the feeding cylinders, comparing the measured distance with a reference distance by setting a distance variation value between said feeding cylinders, measuring the spreading-apart force provided by the material passing through said feeding cylinders, defining, based on the distance variation value and the spreading-apart force of the feeding cylinders, a rated turning speed of the first feeding cylinder so as to adjust the revolution speed of said first feeding cylinder by using the measurement of the revolution speed thereof as a feedback parameter.
Thus, as the consistency of the confectionery material supplied to the refining machine varies, the revolution speed or rate of the first cylinder is suddenly changed. Such a controlled variation of the revolution speed of the first cylinder will provide an unchanged spreading-apart force between the feeding cylinders, thereby providing a desired size evenness of the laminating cylinder nip size, and an even laminating gap or nip. This adjustment is performed without changing the revolution speeds of the cylinders after the first, thereby providing a refined product in a constant amount.
For recovering the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder to optimum values for the driving device, based on a preset optimum revolution speed for the first feeding cylinder, a desired temperature of said feeding cylinders is set, thereby adjusting the temperature of the confectionery material passing through the feeding cylinder by using said temperature as an adjustment feedback parameter.
By changing said temperature, it is possible to modify the consistency or viscosity of the confectionery material mass, thereby allowing the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder to recover its optimum values. Such an adjustment, based on the confectionery mass temperature variation, is characterized by a response time much longer than that of the refining process response to revolution speed variations of the first laminating cylinder, and, accordingly, can be performed at a delayed time, due to the high thermal inertia of the refining device and of the confectionery material being processed.
For defining the desired temperature value allowing to recover the revolution speed of the first laminating cylinder to its preset optimum value, said desired temperature value is defined or set by changing the temperature measured in the laminating cylinders by subsequent increments or decrements, in a preset amount, thereby providing a revolution speed of the first laminating cylinder equal to the preset optimum revolution speed value.
By changing at preset time intervals the value of the laminating cylinder temperature, it is possible to modify the consistency of the confectionery material being processed or laminated.
Accordingly, it is possible to modify the spreading-apart force between the cylinders.
The variations of the spreading-apart force will affect, in turn, the first cylinder revolution speed adjusting system, thereby recovering the revolution speed values to said preset optimum value.
By recovering the revolution speed value of the first cylinder to optimum values, the adjusting system is enabled to operate again for adjusting further variations of the confectionery mass quality supplied to the refining machine.
Thus, the first cylinder revolution speed adjusting system can be designed to change said revolution speed within a small value range, the values whereof will be adapted to provide a very efficient driving system as well as low power consumption.
Advantageously, for providing a more accurate measurement of the distance or gap of the feeding cylinders, said distance is detected at a plurality of detecting points along the feeding cylinder revolution axes, such as at the two end portions of the feeding cylinders, near the supports thereof.
The device for achieving the aim according to the disclosed method, is provided with a series of laminating cylinders, feedback controlled driving devices for said cylinders, in which the first cylinder is swingably supported with respect to the second cylinder and urged against said second cylinder, said device being characterized in that between the feeding cylinders a transducer for detecting the distance of said feeding cylinders and a transducer for detecting the spreading-apart force thereof are arranged, that said position and spreading-apart force transducers are operatively coupled to a control device, and that said control de
Carle & Montanari S.p.A.
Heitbrink Tim
Kirschstein et al.
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