Device for coating with breadcrumbs

Abstract: A device for coating food products with granular material, for example breadcrumb material, comprises a rotating conveyor belt which is permeable to the granular material and on which the food products can be held, guide plates which extend beneath at least a section of the top part and the bottom part of the conveyor belt, a feed, which opens out above the top part of the conveyor belt, for the granular material, diverter means for guiding the granular material from the top part to the bottom part of the conveyor belt and back, as well as conveyor means for conveying granular material from the top part of the conveyor belt to the feed. A divider plate to which granular material is fed from the top part of the conveyor belt is situated between the top part and the bottom part of the conveyor belt, via which divider plate the selected granular material is fed to the bottom part of the conveyor belt.

Description: The invention is related to a device for coating food products with granular material, for example breadcrumb material, comprising a rotating conveyor belt which is permeable to the granular material and on which the food products can be held, guide plates which extend beneath a section of the top part and the bottom part of the conveyor belt, a feed, which opens out above the top part of the conveyor belt, for the granular material, diverter means for guiding the granular material from the top part to the bottom part of the conveyor belt and back, as well as conveyor means for conveying granular material from the top part of the conveyor belt to the feed. Such a device is disclosed in EP-A-113927. According to said prior art device, the granular material is divided over the top part and the bottom part of the conveyor belt. The disadvantage of said prior art device is that the relative amounts of fine and coarse grains can not be controlled. This means that always a relatively large amount of fine grains is fed to the bottom part of the belt, and a relatively large amount of coarse grains is fed to the top part of the belt. The object of the invention is to provide a device by means of which distribution of the total amount of material over the top part and the bottom part of the belt, and thus over the top side and the bottom side of the products can be controlled. This object is achieved in that a divider plate with longitudinal slots for dividing the granular material in the unscreened state is situated between the top part and the bottom part of the conveyor belt, said divider plate being used for dividing the material into two streams, one stream being fed to the bottom part of the conveyor belt and the other stream being fed, via the conveyor means, to the top part of the conveyor belt, to which divider plate the granular material is fed from the top part of the conveyor belt. The results relating to coating the food products by means of the device according to the invention can be improved still further if the divider plate is connected to a buffer for collecting the selected material, which buffer has a discharge which opens out above the bottom part of the conveyor belt. The discharge of the buffer may be of adjustable size. Depending on the type of divider plate, the material may be collected in the buffer. Depending on the size of discharge opening which is set, a more or less thick layer of coating material is obtained as the bottom layer on which the food products to be coated are to be placed. The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to a number of exemplary embodiments which are illustrated in the figures, in which: Figure 1 shows a side view, in cross-section, of the device according to the invention. Figure 2 shows a detail in accordance with II of figure 1, in perspective view. Figure 3 shows a divider plate. The device which is illustrated in figure 1 for coating food products with a granular material, such as breadcrumbs, comprises a frame 1, in which the open converyor belt, which is indicated by dot-dashed lines and is made from wire material, is guided around rollers 3. The conveyor belt 2 has a top part 4, beneath which a top guide plate 5 extends; furthermore, the conveyor belt 2 has a bottom part 6, beneath which a bottom guide plate 7 extends. The direction of rotation of the conveyor belt 2 is to the right in figure 1, as indicated by arrows. At the left-hand end, in figure 1, of the conveyor belt 2, the bottom guide plate 7 merges into a diverter plate 8 which lies at a lower level than the bottom guide plate 7 and runs in a curve around the corresponding roller 3. The granular material which is supported on the bottom guide plate 7 is carried along by the conveyor belt 2 which is inherently permeable to the material, and via the diverter plate 8 is fed to the right over the top guide plate 5. On the left-hand section of the top guide plate 5, the food products 9 are moved onto the layer of coating material which has already been formed. The food products 9 emanate from a further conveyor belt which is not shown. The products 9 then pass beneath the outlet 10 of the storage hopper, which is denoted overall by 11, where a further quantity of granular material is position on the top side of the food products 9. As the top part 4 of the conveyor belt 2 moves further to the right, the products 9, which are now fully coated, are removed and the granular material falls through the conveyor belt 2 onto the divider plate, which is denoted overall by 12. As illustrated in figures 2 and 3, this plate has a large number of slots 13 running in the longitudinal direction. As shown in figure 2, the divider plate 12 can be pushed backwards and forwards across the buffer 17. Therefore, the plate 12 can easily be pushed laterally away in a simple manner over the upright walls 24, 25 of the buffer 17. The divider plate 12 is used if the material has to be split into two streams, one for the bottom part 6 and one for the top part 4 of the belt. The material is divided into a fraction which is fed to the bottom part 6 of the conveyor belt 2 and a fraction which is fed to the conveyor device 20, 21 and then, via the hopper 11, to the top part 4.

Claims: Device for coating food products (9) with granular material, for example breadcrumb material, comprising a rotating conveyor belt (2) which is permeable to the granular material and on which the food products can be held, guide plates (5, 7) which extend beneath a section of the top part (4) and the bottom part (6) of the conveyor belt (2), a feed (10), which opens out above the top part (4) of the conveyor belt, for the granular material, diverter means (8, 17) for guiding the granular material from the top part (4) to the bottom part (6) of the conveyor belt (2) and back, as well as conveyor means (20, 21) for conveying granular material from the top part (4) of the conveyor belt (2) to the feed (10), wherein a divider plate (12) with longitudinal slots (13) for dividing the granular material in the unscreened state is situated between the top part (4) and the bottom part (6) of the conveyor belt (2), said divider plate (12) being used for dividing the material into two streams, one stream being fed to the bottom part (6) of the conveyor belt and the other stream being fed, via the conveyor means (20, 21), to the top part of the conveyor belt, to which divider plate (12) the granular material is fed from the top part (4) of the conveyor belt (2). Device according to claim 1, in which the divider plate (12) is connected to a buffer (17) for collecting the selected material. Device according to claim 2, in which the buffer (17) has a discharge (19) which opens out above the bottom part (6) of the conveyor belt (2). Device according to claim 3, in which the discharge (19) has an opening of adjustable size.

Inventors: KUENEN HENDRIKUS ANTONIUS JACO, KUENEN, HENDRIKUS ANTONIUS JACOBUS
Applicants: KOPPENS BV, KOPPENS B.V.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: A23P1
IPC codes: A23G3, A23P1