Fully-automated sushi making apparatus

A fully-automated sushi making apparatus, comprising a fixed plate (1), a container module (2), an annular shielding module (3), a center shielding module (4), a dispensing module (7), a ring-shaped isolation module (5), a cylindrical pushing module (6), an extraction module (8), a recovery module (9), and a controller (10). The controller controls vertical drive units (52, 62, 81) and horizontal drive units (31, 41, 51, and 61) to drive the connected annular shielding module, ring-shaped isolation module, and cylindrical pushing module to perform layerwise removal of rice from the container module, then drives the center shielding module, the dispensing module, and the cylindrical pushing module to add sushi ingredients into the hollow center of the rice removed from the container module, and finally drives the extraction module, the annular shielding module, and the center shielding module to move in unison to extract the completed sushi.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a fully-automated sushi making apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Sushi is widely loved by the public because of its delicious taste and simple production steps. Most of the sushi sold in the past were handmade, which has the disadvantages of low production efficiency, unsatisfied sanitary conditions and high labor cost. However, the existing sushi making machines on the market are complex in structure and low in automation. In the process of making sushi, the staff are required to add the taste materials manually, which does not reduce the labor cost. At the same time, due to the unreasonable design of its own structure, the probability of machine failure in the production process is high, which leads to the difficulty of popularizing automatic life making drivers.

Technical Issues

The object of the invention is to provide a fully-automated sushi making apparatus.

A fully-automated sushi making apparatus comprises a fixed plate, a container module, an annular shielding module, a center shielding module, a dispensing module, a ring-shaped isolation module, a cylindrical pushing module, an extraction module, a recovery module and a controller;

The fixed plate comprises a bottom plate, a top plate and a rear plate, is used for fixing the apparatus.

The container module is used to provide a space for sushi processing, and comprises a processing barrel for containing rice to be wrapped with nori slices, and a container support, wherein the processing barrel is in the shape of a hollow cylinder with two open ends and is fixed to a certain height of the bottom plate through the container support;

The annular shielding module and the center shielding module are used to prevent rice from being scattered in the sushi processing process and push processed sushi out of the processing barrel, the annular shielding module is fixed to the top plate, and the center shielding module is fixed to the bottom plate;

The annular shielding module comprises a first horizontal drive unit and a first drive rod, wherein a first sliding block is mounted on the first horizontal drive unit and reciprocates along the axis of the processing barrel, the first drive rod is composed of a first L-shaped connecting rod and a first shielding plate, one end of the first L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to the sliding block of the first horizontal drive unit, the other end of the first L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to a side, away from the container module, of the first shielding plate, the center of the first shielding plate is located on an extension line of the axis of the processing barrel, the first horizontal drive unit drives the first shielding plate to move in a left opening and interior of the processing barrel through the first L-shaped connecting rod to shield rice in the sushi processing process so as to prevent the rice from falling and to push finished sushi out of the processing barrel after sushi processing;

The center shielding module comprises a second horizontal drive unit and a second drive rod, wherein a second sliding block is mounted on the second horizontal drive unit and reciprocates along the axis of the processing barrel, the second drive rod is composed of a second L-shaped connecting rod and a second shielding plate, one end of the second L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to the sliding block of the second horizontal drive unit, the other end of the second L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to a side, away from the container module, of the second shielding plate, the center of the second shielding plate is located on the extension line of the axis of the processing barrel, and the second horizontal drive unit drives the second shielding plate to move in the left opening and interior of the processing barrel through the second L-shaped connecting rod to shield rice in the sushi processing process so as to prevent the rice from falling and to push finished sushi out of the processing barrel after sushi processing;

The first shielding plate, connected to one end of the first L-shaped connecting rod, of the annular shielding module is annular and has an annular outer circle identical in shape with an inner circle of the processing barrel;

The second shielding plate, connected to one end of the second L-shaped connecting rod, of the center shielding module is circular and has a circular edge identical in shape with an inner circle, connected to the annular shielding plate, of the annular shielding module;

The dispensing module comprises a dispensing support, a concave storage unit and a rectangular pushing unit, wherein ingredients for sushi processing are stored in the concave storage unit, the rectangular pushing unit comprises a rectangular pushing plate which is inlaid in the concave storage unit and a horizontal pushing mechanism which is vertically mounted on a side, away from the processing barrel, of the rectangular pushing plate and is able to drive the rectangular pushing plate to stretch and retreat repeatedly in the concave storage unit, and the dispensing support is vertically mounted on the concave storage unit, fixes the concave storage unit on the bottom plate, and is used to push the ingredients for sushi processing out of the concave storage unit;

The ring-shaped isolation module comprises a first vertical drive unit and a third horizontal drive unit, wherein the first vertical drive unit is disposed on the third horizontal drive unit and is driven by the third horizontal drive unit to reciprocate along the center axis of the processing barrel, the movement direction of the third horizontal drive unit is parallel to the center axis of the processing barrel, and the movement direction of the first vertical drive unit, the movement direction of the third horizontal drive unit and the center axis of the processing barrel are coplanar;

The cylindrical pushing module comprises a second vertical drive unit and a fourth horizontal drive unit, wherein the second vertical drive unit is disposed on the fourth horizontal drive unit and is driven by the fourth horizontal drive unit to reciprocate along the center axis of the processing barrel, the movement direction of the fourth horizontal drive unit is parallel to the center axis of the processing barrel, and the movement direction of the second vertical drive unit, the movement direction of the fourth horizontal drive unit and the center axis of the processing barrel are coplanar;

The ring-shaped isolation module is used to layer rice in the processing barrel and temporarily store the ingredients for sushi processing pushed out by the dispensing module; a thin-walled hollow cylindrical device is mounted on the vertical drive unit of the ring-shaped isolation module and has a front half in the shape of a thin-walled ring and a rear half in the shape of a thin-walled half ring; after the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device is inserted into the processing barrel, the interior of the processing barrel is divided into an inner layer and an outer layer by the front half, and the ingredients for sushi processing pushed out by the dispensing module are temporarily stored in the rear half;

The cylindrical pushing module is used to push out the rice stored in the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device and push the ingredients for sushi processing in the rear half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device into the processing barrel, and an ingredient pushing cylinder is mounted on the vertical drive unit of the cylindrical pushing module and is able to reciprocate in the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device along the center axis of the processing barrel after the front half of the ring-shaped isolation module is inserted into the processing barrel;

The extraction module comprises a third vertical drive unit and an extraction plate for extracting finished sushi pushed out of the processing barrel, is disposed above the right side of the processing barrel and is located above the dispensing module, and the vertical drive unit can stretch downwards to move the extraction plate to a position below a right opening of the processing barrel to extract the finished sushi pushed out via the right opening of the processing barrel;

The recovery module comprises a recovery pushing unit which is a recovery box, and a second horizontal push-rod motor, wherein the second horizontal push-rod motor is vertically mounted on the rear plate, and the recovery box is a hollow uncovered cuboid, is mounted on the head of the second horizontal push-rod motor, is located below the left opening of the processing barrel of the container module, and is driven by the second horizontal-rod motor to stretch and retreat to recover the rice in the inner layer of the processing barrel;

The controller is connected to the first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit, the third vertical drive unit, the first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit, the fourth horizontal drive unit and the horizontal pushing mechanism of the rectangular pushing unit to control the operation of the first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit, the third vertical drive unit, the first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit, the fourth horizontal drive unit and the horizontal pushing mechanism of the rectangular pushing unit;

The annular shielding module and the center shielding module are both disposed on the left side of the processing barrel;

The ring-shaped isolation module is disposed below the right side of the processing barrel;

The cylindrical pushing module is disposed on the right side of the ring-shaped isolation module.

The first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit and the fourth horizontal drive unit each comprise a screw motor, a screw and a nut, wherein an output end of the screw motor is connected to one end of the screw and drives the screw to rotate, and two ends of the screw are connected to bearing pedestals through pivotal bearings so that the screw is able to rotate around the bearing pedestals; the nut is disposed on the screw, and the nut reciprocates in an extension direction of the screw under the effect of a thread on the screw.

The first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit and the third vertical drive unit each comprise a push-rod motor and a push rod, wherein the push-rod motor is disposed on a nut and reciprocates along with the nut in an extension direction of the screw, and one end of the push rod is disposed at an output end of the push-rod motor and vertically reciprocates under the effect of the push-rod motor.

The horizontal pushing mechanism comprises a push-rod motor and a push rod, wherein the push-rod motor is disposed on a nut and reciprocates along with the nut in an extension direction of the screw, and one end of the push rod is disposed at an output end of the push-rod motor and horizontally stretches and retreats under the effect of the push-rod motor.

The fixed plate is made of stainless steel 408.

Beneficial Effects

The invention ensures that the rice and sushi ingredients in the processing barrel will not be spilled during the sushi processing by combining the longitudinal driving unit with the transverse driving unit, improves the hygienic index of the sushi processing and avoids the waste of the food materials. In the process of sushi processing, the rice in the processing barrel is layered to ensure that the outer rice in the processing barrel will not fall off during the process of pushing out the inner layer rice and adding the sushi ingredients, which will affect the sushi processing process, and improve the automation level of the sushi processing and the aesthetic degree of the finished sushi.

REFERENCE SIGNS

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A fully-automated sushi making apparatus comprises a fixed plate1, a container module2, an annular shielding module3, a center shielding module4, a dispensing module7, a ring-shaped isolation module5, a cylindrical pushing module6, an extraction module8, a recovery module9and a controller10;

The fixed plate1comprises a bottom plate11, a top plate12and a rear plate13, is used for fixing the apparatus, and is made of stainless steel 408.

The container module2is used to provide a space for sushi processing, and comprises a processing barrel22for containing rice to be wrapped with nori slices, and a container support21, wherein the processing barrel is in the shape of a hollow cylinder with two open ends and is fixed to a certain height of the bottom plate through the container support;

The annular shielding module3and the center shielding module4are used to prevent rice from being scattered in the sushi processing process and push processed sushi out of the processing barrel22, the annular shielding module3is fixed to the top plate12, and the center shielding module4is fixed to the bottom plate11;

The annular shielding module comprises a first horizontal drive unit31and a first drive rod32, wherein a first sliding block is mounted on the first horizontal drive unit and reciprocates along the axis of the processing barrel22, the first drive rod is composed of a first L-shaped connecting rod321and a first shielding plate322, one end of the first L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to the sliding block of the first horizontal drive unit, the other end of the first L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to a side, away from the container module2, of the first shielding plate, the center of the first shielding plate is located on an extension line of the axis of the processing barrel22, the first horizontal drive unit drives the first shielding plate to move in a left opening and interior of the processing barrel through the first L-shaped connecting rod to shield rice in the sushi processing process so as to prevent the rice from falling and to push finished sushi out of the processing barrel after sushi processing;

The center shielding module comprises a second horizontal drive unit41and a second drive rod42, wherein a second sliding block is mounted on the second horizontal drive unit and reciprocates along the axis of the processing barrel, the second drive rod is composed of a second L-shaped connecting rod421and a second shielding plate422, one end of the second L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to the sliding block of the second horizontal drive unit, the other end of the second L-shaped connecting rod is vertically connected to a side, away from the container module2, of the second shielding plate, the center of the second shielding plate is located on the extension line of the axis of the processing barrel22, and the second horizontal drive unit drives the second shielding plate to move in the left opening and interior of the processing barrel through the second L-shaped connecting rod to shield rice in the sushi processing process so as to prevent the rice from falling and to push finished sushi out of the processing barrel after sushi processing;

The first shielding plate, connected to one end of the first L-shaped connecting rod, of the annular shielding module is annular and has an annular outer circle identical in shape with an inner circle of the processing barrel;

The second shielding plate, connected to one end of the second L-shaped connecting rod, of the center shielding module is circular and has a circular edge identical in shape with an inner circle, connected to the annular shielding plate, of the annular shielding module;

The dispensing module7comprises a dispensing support71, a concave storage unit72and a rectangular pushing unit73, wherein ingredients for sushi processing are stored in the concave storage unit, the rectangular pushing unit comprises a rectangular pushing plate731which is inlaid in the concave storage unit and a horizontal pushing mechanism which is vertically mounted on a side, away from the processing barrel, of the rectangular pushing plate and is able to drive the rectangular pushing plate to stretch and retreat repeatedly in the concave storage unit, and the dispensing support is vertically mounted on the concave storage unit, fixes the concave storage unit on the bottom plate, and is used to push the ingredients for sushi processing out of the concave storage unit;

The ring-shaped isolation module5comprises a first vertical drive unit52and a third horizontal drive unit53, wherein the first vertical drive unit is disposed on the third horizontal drive unit and is driven by the third horizontal drive unit to reciprocate along the center axis of the processing barrel, the movement direction of the third horizontal drive unit is parallel to the center axis of the processing barrel22, and the movement direction of the first vertical drive unit, the movement direction of the third horizontal drive unit and the center axis of the processing barrel are coplanar;

The cylindrical pushing module6comprises a second vertical drive unit62and a fourth horizontal drive unit61, wherein the second vertical drive unit is disposed on the fourth horizontal drive unit and is driven by the fourth horizontal drive unit to reciprocate along the center axis of the processing barrel22, the movement direction of the fourth horizontal drive unit is parallel to the center axis of the processing barrel, and the movement direction of the second vertical drive unit, the movement direction of the fourth horizontal drive unit and the center axis of the processing barrel are coplanar;

The ring-shaped isolation module is used to layer rice in the processing barrel and temporarily store the ingredients for sushi processing pushed out by the dispensing module; a thin-walled hollow cylindrical device is mounted on the vertical drive unit of the ring-shaped isolation module and has a front half in the shape of a thin-walled ring and a rear half in the shape of a thin-walled half ring; after the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device is inserted into the processing barrel, the interior of the processing barrel is divided into an inner layer and an outer layer by the front half, and the ingredients for sushi processing pushed out by the dispensing module are temporarily stored in the rear half;

The cylindrical pushing module is used to push out the rice stored in the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device and push the ingredients for sushi processing in the rear half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device into the processing barrel, and an ingredient pushing cylinder is mounted on the vertical drive unit of the cylindrical pushing module and is able to reciprocate in the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device along the center axis of the processing barrel after the front half of the ring-shaped isolation module is inserted into the processing barrel;

The extraction module8comprises a third vertical drive unit81and an extraction plate82for extracting finished sushi pushed out of the processing barrel, is disposed above the right side of the processing barrel and is located above the dispensing module, and the vertical drive unit can stretch downwards to move the extraction plate to a position below a right opening of the processing barrel to extract the finished sushi pushed out via the right opening of the processing barrel;

The recovery module9comprises a recovery pushing unit91which is a recovery box911, and a second horizontal push-rod motor912, wherein the second horizontal push-rod motor912is vertically mounted on the rear plate, and the recovery box is a hollow uncovered cuboid, is mounted on the head of the second horizontal push-rod motor, is located below the left opening of the processing barrel of the container module, and is driven by the second horizontal-rod motor to stretch and retreat to recover the rice in the inner layer of the processing barrel;

The controller10is connected to the first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit, the third vertical drive unit, the first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit, the fourth horizontal drive unit and the horizontal pushing mechanism of the rectangular pushing unit to control the operation of the first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit, the third vertical drive unit, the first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit, the fourth horizontal drive unit and the horizontal pushing mechanism of the rectangular pushing unit;

The annular shielding module and the center shielding module are both disposed on the left side of the processing barrel;

The ring-shaped isolation module is disposed below the right side of the processing barrel;

The cylindrical pushing module is disposed on the right side of the ring-shaped isolation module.

The first horizontal drive unit, the second horizontal drive unit, the third horizontal drive unit and the fourth horizontal drive unit each comprise a screw motor, a screw and a nut, wherein an output end of the screw motor is connected to one end of the screw and drives the screw to rotate, and two ends of the screw are connected to bearing pedestals through pivotal bearings so that the screw is able to rotate around the bearing pedestals; the nut is disposed on the screw, and the nut reciprocates in an extension direction of the screw under the effect of a thread on the screw.

The first vertical drive unit, the second vertical drive unit and the third vertical drive unit each comprise a push-rod motor and a push rod, wherein the push-rod motor is disposed on a nut and reciprocates along with the nut in an extension direction of the screw, and one end of the push rod is disposed at an output end of the push-rod motor and vertically reciprocates under the effect of the push-rod motor.

The horizontal pushing mechanism comprises a push-rod motor and a push rod, wherein the push-rod motor is disposed on a nut and reciprocates along with the nut in an extension direction of the screw, and one end of the push rod is disposed at an output end of the push-rod motor and horizontally stretches and retreats under the effect of the push-rod motor.

In this embodiment, a first screw motor311is powered on to drive a first nut313to move rightwards, the first nut313is connected to the first L-shaped connecting rod321to move synchronously, the first shielding plate322moves along the axis of the processing barrel22to move along the axis of the processing barrel22, and when moving to the left opening of the processing barrel22, the first shielding plate322shields part of the rice in the processing barrel22.

The first shielding plate322shields the left opening of the processing barrel22, a first push-rod motor521is powered on to drive a first push rod522to move upwards, and the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53is drive to move upwards; when the center axis of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53is collinear with the axis of the processing barrel22, the first push-rod motor521is powered off, and a third lead-screw motor511is powered on to drive the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53to move towards the processing barrel22; when the left end of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53reaches the left opening of the processing barrel22, the third screw-rod motor511is powered off; when the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53entirely enters the processing barrel22, the rice in the processing barrel is divided into an outer layer and an inner layer by the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53.

A second horizontal push-rod motor912stretches to convey the recovery box911to a position below the left opening of the processing barrel22, and a second push-rod motor621is powered on to drive the second push rod622to move upwards; when the center axis of the ingredient pushing cylinder63is collinear with the axis of the processing barrel22, the second push-rod motor621is powered off, and a fourth screw motor611is powered on to drive the ingredient pushing cylinder63to move towards the processing barrel22; when the left end of the ingredient pushing cylinder63reaches the left opening of the processing barrel22, the fourth screw motor611is powered off, the ingredient pushing cylinder63enters the processing barrel22to push the rice in the inner layer divided by the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53out of the left opening of the processing barrel22, the rice falls into the recovery box911, and the process of sushi removal is completed.

The second horizontal push-rod motor912drives the recovery box911to retreat, the fourth screw motor611retreats to drive the ingredient pushing cylinder63to move to the right end of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53to empty the rear half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53to provide a space for sushi ingredients to be added later, then a second screw motor411drives the cylindrical shielding plate41to move towards the processing barrel22to reach the left opening of the processing barrel22, then the second shielding plate422is embedded into the first shielding plate322to completely seal the left opening of the processing barrel22, a first horizontal push-rod motor732starts to move to push the rectangular pushing plate731connected to the first horizontal push-rod motor732towards the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53, and sushi ingredients such as cucumbers and ham sausages stored in the concave storage unit72are pushed into the semi-cylindrical rear half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53.

The fourth screw motor611drives the ingredient pushing cylinder63to move towards the processing barrel22again, and when reaching the right opening of the processing barrel22, the ingredient pushing cylinder63stops to push the sushi ingredients temporarily stored in rear half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53into the front half of the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53.

The third screw motor511drives the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53to be extracted from the processing barrel22, and the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53stops after being completely extracted from the processing barrel22; at this moment, the fourth screw motor611drives the ingredient pushing cylinder63to be extracted from the thin-walled hollow cylinder device53; when the ingredient pushing cylinder63retreats to be not in contact with the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53, the third screw motor511and the fourth screw motor611respectively drive the thin-walled hollow cylindrical device53and the ingredient pushing cylinder63to return to an initial state, and thus, the sushi processing process is completed.

The third push-rod motor811stretches to move the extraction plate82connected thereto to a position below the right opening of the processing barrel22, and at this moment, the first screw motor311and the second screw motor411synchronously drive the first shielding plate322and the first shielding plate422to move towards the right end of the processing barrel22; when reaching the right opening of the processing barrel22, the first shielding plate322and the first shielding plate422stops moving, and finished sushi is pushed onto the extraction plate82; at this moment, the first horizontal push-rod motor732, the first screw motor311, the second screw motor411and the third push-rod motor811synchronously drive the rectangular pushing plate731, the first shielding plate322, the second shielding plate422and the extraction plate82to return to initial positions, and the sushi extraction process is completed. In this way, the whole sushi making process is completed.