A METHOD OF WASHING DISHES AND PREPARING EQUIPMENT FOR USE IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND SERVING OF FLIGHT MEALS

Abstract: Equipment arriving from an aircraft in transport carts is sorted in an air catering kitchen by transport carts with trays and tray equipment being sorted on one side of a conveyor belt whereas transport carts containing drawers and serving equipment are sorted at the opposite side of the conveyor belt, following which the equipment is taken to an industrial dishwasher. Trays and tray equipment are sorted by discharging the contents of the tray onto a conveyor belt following which the individual tray items are arranged in baskets. Transport carts containing drawers with serving equipment are sorted at the opposite side of the conveyor belt, the drawers being arranged on rollers mounted in the side walls of a box. Following washing of the equipment in the dishwasher, the serving equipment arrives at an area with cleaned transport carts where the equipment is again arranged in the transport carts following packaging in drawers.

Description: A METHOD OF WASHING DISHES AND PREPARING EQUIPMENT FOR USE IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND SERVING OF FLIGHT MEALS The present invention relates to a method of washing and preparing equipment for use in the arrangement and serving of flight meals, wherein the equipment is transported to and from the aircraft in transport carts, and wherein the method comprises the following steps: - receiving the transport carts m an air catering kitchen, said carts containing the equipment that comprises soiled tableware arranged on trays and serving equipment arranged m drawers, - removing the equipment from the transport carts sorting of trays, tableware, drawers and serving equipment - transporting the trays, tableware, drawers and serving equipment on the conveyor belt to a dishwasher. The huge air traffic that is handled throughout the word and the many suppliers of services m connection with said flight transports mean that there exists at all times and at all levels a need for promoting the efficiency. This applies to the preparation of flight meals, too, the number of which is quite colossal in view of the very large number of flight departures handled every day throughout the world. Since very large numbers of flight meals are prepared, it goes without saying that any promotion of efficiency m this context will obviously be quite crucial if the fierce competitive environment between suppliers is to be coped with. Exactly in connection with the preparation of flight meals, it is important that the highest possible degree of efficiency is obtained, including savings m storage space for tableware and the like. This constitutes an item of considerable importance since the stores are to be found in the environment surrounding the airport where the price per square meter is high. One quite efficient way of rationalising the preparation flight meals is known from published PCT application No. 96/01584. The philosophy underlying this known method is first and foremost concerned with saving storage space for transport carts, tableware and serving equipment. This is achieved when an aircraft arrives with soiled tableware and delivers this soiled tableware to a kitchen where trays with soiled tableware are instantly made ready with equipment intended for a subsequent flight departure. Following preparation of the trays, they are taken through a dishwasher following which foodstuffs are ar- ranged thereon. This method has proved to be highly efficient and storage space saving and has enabled handling of up to about 250 trays per hour corresponding to an average of 2500 trays per day involving a staff of about 10 employees. Although said method is efficient it has been found, however, that certain problems may arise when the composition of the trays and the equipment that arrive differ widely from the trays that are to be shipped to a subsequent flight departure. These problems may originate l.a. in the fact that in addition to making different requirements to the composition of tray equipment, different airlines even use different tray equipment. Thus, a bottleneck may easily occur during handling of the trays on the so-called "soiled" side since quite a number of operations may be involved at this point if the tray is to be prepared for a composition which is entirely different from the one just arrived. In addition to actual tray equipment the flight further carries accessory serving equipment, such as pitchers, salt shakers, tablecloths, etc., which is packed in drawers arranged m transport carts. This type of equipment is quite comprehensive in case of overseas flights where the passengers are to a somewhat higher degree individually served. It is now an object of the invention to improve the ex- isting system whereby handling of the arrangement of air meals and preparation of serving equipment may be made even more efficient to allow even more improved storage space economy. The object of the invention is obtained by a method of the type defined in the introductory part of claim 1 which is characterised in that the sorting is carried out at both sides of the con- veyor belt, tray equipment being sorted at the one side of the conveyor belt, while tableware arranged in the drawers is sorted at the other side of the conveyor belt. This allows for extremely efficient organisation of the working procedures. The fact that the sorting takes place at both sides of the conveyor belt allows the procedure to be organised in correspondence with the changing needs of different types of flights. As mentioned, overseas flights require handling of a considerably larger amount of serving equipment since it is hereby possible to meet the individual needs of the passengers on board such air- crafts . The discharge of the individual tray items, including waste, on to an additional conveyor belt in accordance with the features of claim 2, said additional conveyor belt having a direction of movement which is opposite that of the conveyor belt, following which the individual tray items are sorted out into each their basket, and that the baskets are conveyed on to the conveyor belt following filling and into the dishwasher while all waste continues to the additional conveyor belt from which it drops into a waste basket, allows for very efficient sorting of trays, cups, plates, cutlery, etc. According to the method it is also advantageous that the standard equipment arranged in drawers is passed on to a transport device comprising two rollers mounted on the inside of two oppositely arranged side walls m an elon- gated box with a bottom, following which the contents of the drawer are arranged m baskets that, following filling, are passed on to the conveyor belt that conveys the baskets on to the dishwasher. In this manner serving equipment may also be sorted in a very efficient manner. In this context is should be noted that the individual items of the serving equipment which may include pitchers, dishes, spare glasses, etc., have dimensions that are typically somewhat larger than tray equipment which means that the tray equipment is advantageously served on conveyor belts whereas, as mentioned, the serving equipment is sorted directly from the drawers that are advanced on the rollers of the transport device. Also in connection with serving equipment some waste will occur. This is readily disposed of by discharging the waste from the serving equipment into the box, as featured in claim 4. Conveniently, m accordance with claim 5, the baskets for trays as well as tableware and drawers and serving equipment are arranged on a rack that has a downwardly inclining bottom plate and an upwardly inclining frame and wherein the upwardly inclining frame has dimensions that correspond to the bottoms of the baskets. This makes it easy to handle the baskets since the baskets may be pushed directly from the upwardly inclining frame onto the conveyor belt optionally by using an empty basket as pushing means. In accordance with claim 6, by intending the inclining bottom plate on the racks on each side of the conveyor belt for receiving waste that is not discharged into the box at the side of the conveyer where the drawers and serving equipment is sorted, a convenient manner is provided of removing this waste since, in all simplicity, it slides down the downwardly inclining bottom plate, optionally aided by the supply of water to this bottom plate . Conveniently, as featured in claim 7, waste is passed from the inclining bottom plate to a central area below the conveyor belt from where it is removed by means of flushing. It is a further advantage as featured in claim 8 that the empty transport carts are taken to an additional dishwasher for transport carts where they are cleaned, and subsequently to an area in which the conveyor belt con- veys cleaned drawers and serving equipment. Hereby the particular advantage is provided that the cleaned drawers and their contents are not to be taken to a store but are arranged directly, as featured in claim 9, in the transport carts that thus serve as stores. In this context it should be noted that the transport carts that contain serving equipment never contain foodstuffs and it follows that they may be made ready and simply left at the conveyor belt where th'ey await their depar- ture on a flight. The invention will now be explained in further detail with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings, wherein Figure 1 illustrates typical steps in a method of preparing flight meals, Figure 2 schematically illustrates how the principles of the invention are implemented in an air catering kitchen, and Figure 3 schematically shows a cross section of the sorting area before the dishwasher. To the left in Figure 1 an air craft is shown which has arrived while an aircraft ready for departure is shown to the right in Figure 1. As will appear from the Figure, a cold dish kitchen and a hot dish kitchen receive food- stuffs from an external supplier, said food being arranged on trays equipped with tableware. Prior to this, however, the soiled tableware from the plane arrived has been washed and typically this tableware will be arranged in stores for cutlery and ordinary tableware, respectively. When the flight meals are to be portioned, the tableware and trays are taken from the stores and food is portioned thereon following which they are sent in transport carts to a flight for the next departure. In addition to transport carts with trays and tableware, there will also usually be transport carts containing drawers with serving equipment, such as pitchers, trays, salt and pepper, tablecloths, etc. This applies m particular to overseas departures where the passengers are often individually served. Typically these transport carts are also packed at the storage facility. This known way of organising m connection with the preparing of transport carts is associated with certain drawbacks. In particular a quite considerable amount of storage space is required and the tray turnover per hour is not optimal either. As mentioned above, the conditions for promoting the efficiency have been considerably improved by means of the method known from the above-identifled PCT application published under No. WO 96/01584. According to the invention this known method has become even more efficient as will appear from the more detailed explanation given with reference to Figure 2. In Figure 2, I is used to designate an area m which the soiled tableware from an arrived aircraft is handled. II is used to designate an area for cleaned trays, tableware, drawers, and serving equipment. As will appear, area I receives a number of transport carts 2 on a storage device 1 for transport carts. Herein that side of the sorting unit 3 is shown at which the transport carts with trays and tray equipment arrive. One or more persons now discharge the trays onto the conveyor belt 5 that moves in the direction of the arrow 12. The individual items on the trays, such as cups, plates, cutlery, etc., are sorted out and arranged in not shown baskets in areas designated by the reference numeral 11. The Figure features five such areas but nothing prevents the presence of more such areas in order to enable sorting of more types of equipment. Waste arrived along with the tray equipment is conveyed on the conveyor belt down to a waste container 7. When a basket m the area 11 is full, a subsequent basket is seized and used to push the full basket onto the conveyor belt 4 from where it is transported via the conveyor belt 16 to an industrial dishwasher 6 in the direction of the arrow 14. At the other side of the sorting area 3, transport carts 23 arrive that contain serving equipment arranged m drawers. This equipment is also sorted in baskets arranged in areas as indicated by the reference numeral 13 in a manner similar to that of the tray equipment at the opposite side. As will appear from Figure 2, the sorting starts at the end opposite that of the sorting of the tray equipment, and a conveyor belt is not used in the sorting. On the contrary, the sorting is effected, cf. Figure 3, by drawers indicated by dashed lines by the reference numeral 24 being arranged on a pair of rollers 20 mounted in a box 8 with two side walls. Once the drawer is arranged on the rollers, the equipment is taken from the drawers and arranged in baskets illustrated schematically by the reference numeral 11. Any waste from the serving equipment is dropped to the bottom of the box 8. Figure 3 further illustrates that the bas- ket 11 is arranged on a rack with a downwardly inclining surface 18 and an upwardly inclining rack 17. Any remaining waste from the basket 11 may now pass through the rack 17 and down onto the downwardly inclining bottom plate 18 and from there optionally by means of water supply it is conveyed into a central area 19 below the conveyor belt 4. From here the waste is passed on towards a grid system 20,21 from where water is conveyed out through a pipe 22. As will appear there are two grids 20,21 which means that it is possible to clean the one grid while the other remains in position which eliminates the need for operation shut downs of the sorting area. To the left m Figure 5 the conveyor belt 5 for sorting equipped trays is shown. Besides, the rack is removably arranged so as to facilitate access for cleaning purposes. In the following it will be briefly described how trans- port carts coming from an aircraft is handled m a process . From a truck the transport carts are taken onto a ramp where an initial sorting is carried out during which equipment outside the transport carts is removed on the ramp. The transport carts are subsequently driven into the air catering kitchen, transportation carts with trays and tray equipment being sorted on the conveyor belt 5 while the transport cart with drawers containing serving equipment being sorted at the opposite side. During sorting the equipment is arranged in baskets which are, upon filling, conveyed to the industrial dishwasher 6 via the conveyer . Following dishwashing in the industrial dishwasher 6 the equipment is passed on to an area 10 where serving equip- ment and drawers are packed in transport carts that have been cleaned in a particular dishwasher for transport carts. Trays and serving equipment are passed on to a not shown area where they are prepared for use. As will appear, the method thus improved presents an extraordinarily essential flexibility since the sorting is carried out in such a manner that the manning may be adapted exactly to the relevant place in need of staff. Moreover very large savings in terms of storage space are obtained since the transport carts are in themselves used as storage space for serving equipment.

Claims: C l a i m s 1. A method of washing dishes and preparing equipment for use in the arrangement and serving of flight meals wherein said equipment is transported to and from the aircraft m transport carts, and wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving the transport carts in an air catering kitchen, said carts containing the equipment that comprises soiled tableware arranged on trays and serving equipment arranged in drawers, removing the equipment from the transport carts sorting of trays, tableware, drawers and serving equipment transporting the trays, tableware, drawers and serv- mg equipment on the conveyor belt to a dishwasher, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in the sorting being carried out at each side of the conveyor belt, equipment arranged on the trays being sorted at the one side of the conveyor belt, while serving equipment arranged m the drawers is sorted at the other side of the conveyor belt. 2. A method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the individual items on the tray including waste are discharged onto an additional conveyor belt which has a di- rection of movement opposite the direction of movement of the conveyor belt, following which the individual items are sorted in each their basket, and that, following filling, the baskets are passed on to the conveyor belt and on to the dishwasher while all waste continues on the additional conveyor belt from where it drops into a waste basket. 3. A method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the standard equipment arranged in drawers is conveyed onto a transport device comprising two rows of rollers mounted on the inside of mutually opposite side walls in an elongated box having a bottom, following which the contents of the drawers are arranged in baskets which, following filling, are conveyed onto the conveyor belt that conveys the baskets on to the dishwasher. 4. A method according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that waste from the serving equipment is discharged into the box. 5. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the baskets for trays as well as tableware, and drawers and serving equipment are arranged on a rack with a down- wardly inclining bottom plane and an upwardly inclining rack, and wherein the upwardly inclining rack has dimensions corresponding to the bottoms of the baskets. 6. A method according to claim 4, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in the inclining bottom plane on the rack on each side of the conveyor belt is intended for receiving waste which does not drop into the waste basket at the side of the conveyor belt for trays and tableware, and which does not drop into the box at the side of the conveyor belt where drawers and serving equipment are sorted. 7. A method according to claim 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the waste is conveyed from the inclining bottom plane to a central area below the con- veyor belt from where it is disposed of by means of flushing. 8. A method according to claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the empty transportation carts are conveyed to a further dishwasher for transportation carts where they are cleaned, and are subsequently taken to an area where the conveyor belt transports cleaned drawers and serving equipment. 9. A method according to claims 1 through 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the cleaned serving equipment is packed into the cleaned drawers following which the drawers are arranged in the transport carts .

Inventors: HOEST-MADSEN KNUD, REENBERG STEEN, HOEST-MADSEN, KNUD, REENBERG, STEEN
Applicants: GATE GOURMET INTERNATIONAL AG, HOEST MADSEN KNUD, REENBERG STEEN, HOEST-MADSEN, KNUD, REENBERG, STEEN
Application year: 1997
Main classification: A47L15
IPC codes: A47F10, A47L15