CONTINUOUS CONVEYOR FOR PASTA PRODUCTS INSIDE A DRYER

Abstract: A continuous conveyor for pasta products inside a dryer consisting of substantially flexible transport means arranged inside the dryer according to the desired path and of a plurality of containers which are restrained to said substantially flexible transport means characterized in that each container (1) consists of at least two ventilated (3) shelves located at different heights and in staggered position one in respect of the other so that when said containers are restrained to said transport means (13) they result to be partially penetrated one into the other, with each shelf of any element located in a position underlying the upper shelf of the adjacent element.

Description: Continuous conveyor for pasta products inside a dryer - 1 - . The invention relates to a continuous conveyor for pasta products inside a dryer. In the pasta production industry it is a known process that of having fresh pasta to undergo a drying cycle. In particular, such fresh pasta in the form of nests is obtained by placing simultaneously more threads of pasta, and these ' already wound-up in form of a spiral , into a special container shaped like a cylindrical holed bottom cup- It goes without saying that the pasta nest height depends on the weight of the nest itself, and usually it is some centimeters high. As a consequence of this, dryer optimal exploitation turns out to be almost impossible because of the limited height of pasta nest. It is infaσt well known that a dryer is dimensioned for a certain capacity, that is to remove a certain quantity of water per unit of volume of pasta and it is also known that , under conditions which are very different to nominal ones, dryer efficiency is low; which consequently increases running costs. Moreover, the whole conveying system used for the pasta to be dried is exploited only partially, which results in high operating costs since the hourly quantity of treated pasta is lower than that which would re po sntially treated. All this is true for the transport lines of nest-shaped pasta containers which within certain limits are dimensioned independently from container size; but it is particularly true for the same containers whose cost per unit of volume of pasta is reciprocally proportional to their capacity. With the aim of eliminating, or at least reducing this inconvenience, it has been proposed to place, one over the other while keeping them separated, more pasta nests into each container- In such a way it has been possible to exploit more efficiently each container, its transport lines and the whole dryer. This known solution however does not solve all problems; and particularly, .being the pasta fresh when placed into the containers, it frequently happens to find some pasta nests stuck together at dryer exit . This is trot a problem when cooking the pasta as the nests when into the water get immediately separated, whereas they may be the cause of big troubles at the packaging machines- Pasta nest_s are infaσt packed according to quantities which ' not always are multiples of those obtainable from each - -Λ - container; therefore, their separation which does not result to be so easy when they are already "dried". is absolutely necessary- A further problem of these known machines is represented by the fact that it is not possible to superimpose more than two pasta nests at the time since the weight itself and the low consistency of the fresh pasta would result in squashing the underlying nest flat- These, already serious, limitations of nest shaped pasta products become still more serious, and even unacceptable, should there be the case of other pasta shapes such as spianarelle, lasagne or matasse. According to the invention all these drawbacks are eliminated by a continuous conveyor for pasta products inside a dryer, consisting of substantially flexible transport means arranged inside the dryer according to the desidered path and of a plurality of containers which are restrained to such subst nti ll flexible transport means, characterized in that each container comprises at least two ventilated shelves placed at different heights and in staggered position one with respect to the other in such a way that when said containers are restrained to said transport means they result to be partially penetrated one into the other, with each shelf of any element located in a position underlying the upper shelf of the adjacent elemen - The invention is hereinafter further clarified with reference to the enclosed drawings in which: fig- 1 shows in perspective view a length of the continuous conveyor with three matched containers, fig. 2 " illtistrates the continuous conveyor according to section II-II fig. 3, fig. 3 shows it according to section III-III of fig- 2, and fig- 4 shows it in partially sectioned side view. As • it can-'be seen from the drawings, the continuous conveyor according to the invention comprises a set of containers 1 formed by two staggered shelves 3. Such shelves 3 have substantially a parallelepiped shape with the holed bottom made, for instance, of a wire gauze 5- On the two side walls 7, 9 of these containers 1, two cylindrical pins 11 have been mounted in a center-of-gravity position for their restraining to correspondent sprockets 12 provided on chains 13 driving the containers into the dryer- These chains 13 are supported by a runner 14 and they are generelly driven by means of an electric motor which is not shown in the drawings. According to machine drying capacity and to its dimensioning, containers may be also be formed by more than two superimposed shelves- The continuous conveyor according to the invention operates as follows. As fresh products, in the desired shape, are laid into the containers these latters are hooked through their cylindrical pins 11 by the sprockets 12 of the chains 13 in close succession so as they penetrate one into the other in such a way that every staggered shelf is positioned perfectly under the upper shelf of the container coming next. Should a more precise transversal positioning of the pasta nests or pasta matasse be required, the shelves may be also used as supporting elements for metal or plastic, cylindrical or prismatic holed-bottom cups. From what it has been above described it clearly appers that the continuous conveyor for pasta products offers many advantages and particularl : - it enables an optimun exploitation of the dryer; - it makes it possible to obtain high efficiencies and consequently lower operating cost; - it enables to keep the various nests or matasse of dried fresh pasta separated; - it may be easily utilized with practically any- kind of fresh pasta.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. A continuous conveyor for pasta products inside a dryer consisting of substantially flexible transport means arranged inside the dryer according to the desired path and of a 5 plurality of containers which are restrained to said substantiall " flexible transport means characterized in that each container (1) consists of at least two ventilated (3) shelves located at different heights and in staggered position one in respect of the other so that when said 10 containers are restrained to said transport means (13) they result to be partially penetrated one into the other, with each shelf of any element located in a position underlying the upper shelf of the adjacent element. 2. Conveyor according to claim 1 characterized in that the 15 containers (1 ) are restrained to transport means by means of pins (.11) which are in a centre-of-gravity position with respect to the staggered shelves. 3. Conveyor according to claim 1 characterised in that the bottom and/or the walls of the shelves of the containers are 20 holed. 4. Conveyor according to claim 1 characterised in that container shelves act as supports for holed-bottom cylindrically shaped cups. 5. Conveyor according to claim 1 characterised in that container shelves act as supports for holed-bottom prismatiσally-shaped cups- 6- Conveyor according to claim 1 characterised in that the holed surface of container shelves is made of a wire gauze.

Inventors: CONSELVAN PIER LUIGI, DE PIERO GIUSEPPE, DIDONE GASTONE, CONSELVAN, PIER, LUIGI, DE PIERO, GIUSEPPE, DIDONE, GASTONE
Applicants: PAVAN MAPIMPIANTI SPA, PAVAN MAPIMPIANTI S.P.A.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: F26B15
IPC codes: A21C9, B65G17, F26B15, F26B25