Refrigeration – Means producing shaped or modified congealed product – Freezing surface mounted for movement during freezing
Patent
1998-12-28
2000-07-25
Tapolcai, William E.
Refrigeration
Means producing shaped or modified congealed product
Freezing surface mounted for movement during freezing
62380, A23G 908
Patent
active
060923881
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for production of edible ice bodies by moulding and freezing the bodies in singular moulds.
2. Description of Related Art
For such a production with high capacity it is customary that the moulds, in transversely arranged rows, are advanced in a conveying line which can be rectilinear or annular in a horizontal plane, the moulds during this conveying being depending into a freezing brine, which ensures a good heat transfer. The moulds are initially filled with a cold ice substance, and in a following station, in which the ice has started to solidify, carrier sticks are inserted in the products, whereafter a final freezing is effected along a freezing stretch. At the end thereof the rows of moulds are successively lifted and transferred to a bath of warm water for a brief heating of the mould walls in order to loosen the adherence of the ice bodies to the moulds, whereafter the upwardly protruding carrier sticks of the products are gripped by a gripping equipment operating to pull the products upwardly and transfer them to further conveying to a packing or working station, e.g. for applying a coating and, optionally, a withdrawal of the carrier sticks in cases where these should not remain on the products.
The use of the freezing brine, which is a strong salt solution, involves a number of problems, partly because it is indeed not a food grade substance and partly because it is heavily corrosive, whereby the moulds and other relevant parts of the apparatus should be made of corrosion resistive materials.
It has previously been recognized that these problems may be overcome by cooling the moulds with cold air instead of brine, but the production systems of this type as disclosed so far have been tremendously energy consuming, with a poor efficiency of the freezing air and even with a non-uniform freezing action on the moulds.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus which enables an air freezing of the moulds with a high efficiency.
According to the invention the transverse rows of moulds, which are mounted depending from transverse carrier plates forming a carrier belt, are advanced stepwise into positions above intermediate areas between underlying, likewise transverse slit nozzles, through which freezing air is blown up against the underside of the carrier belt into the interspaces between the mould rows. It has been found possible to thereby achieve a very efficient air sweeping of the moulds, as the air, in an unobstructed and forceful manner, may be blown up to the carrier belt and be reflected therefrom so as to flow down along the walls of the moulds right from the upper ends thereof.
In an apparatus according to the invention, cf. claim 2, it is advantageous to use depending, flexible and slightly protruding skirt plates at the opposite edges of the carrier plates (claim 3). When these skirt plates meet each other at their lower ends, they will form a depending wedge formation between the neighbouring mould rows, whereby the upwardly directed air flow will be cleaved and guided up to a concentrated impact against the mould walls, whereby an effective heat transfer is obtainable. Moreover, the skirt plates will provide a sealing or shielding effect towards the surroundings, also if changes occur in the mutual distance between the carrier plates, in particular in connection with a sprocketing between a forward run and a return run of the belt formed by the carrier plates, such that no noticeable amount of cold air can escape from the space underneath the moulds.
With the use of an upper forward run and an underlying return run of the said carrier belt it is perfectly possible to expose even the moulds in the lower run to an effective freezing. In this run the moulds face downwardly, but when the ice substance in the upper run has reached such a degree of freezing that the ice bodies adhere to the moulds, then the same bodies
REFERENCES:
patent: 4335583 (1982-06-01), Billett
patent: 4546615 (1985-10-01), Gram
patent: 4715193 (1987-12-01), Curti
patent: 5343710 (1994-09-01), Cathenaut et al.
Safran David S.
Tapolcai William E.
Tetra Pak Hoyer A/S
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