Abstract:
A system for providing single portion viscous or semi-viscous food products utilizes an indexing conveyor to serially dispense pieces of top packaging material thereon, deliver a precise volume of the single serve food product, deposit a top packaging material piece thereon, press the sandwiched layer together to form the final shape of the food product and, optionally, heat seal the top and bottom material pieces to enclose the food product. Optional system layouts include cooling and/or oxygen depleted zones and multiple lane operation and serially adjacent rows of system components wherein the indexing conveyor moves forward by two increments at each indexing cycle.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application relates to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/330,585 filed on May 3, 2010. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The disclosure in this application relates to a food portioning apparatus and method and, more particularly, to a system and method for producing single serve portions of viscous semi-liquid or semi-solid food products in various shapes. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In bagel restaurants, cream cheese is either added to the bagel by scooping from bulk containers or the customer is given a single self-serve portion packaged in a small foil wrapped block or in a plastic tub with a foil lid. In the former case, portion control is dependent on the skill of the store personnel. The present invention provides for the production of film or foil wrapped single-serve portions of cream cheese or other food products that are shaped to fit the bagel, with or without a central hole. The single serve portion is applied to the bagel by peeling the film from one side, applying the peeled side to the cut surface of the bagel and removing the remaining film or foil leaving the cream cheese in place on the bagel. This provides accurate portion control and convenience to both store personnel and customers. The technique can be used for other dairy products, such as soft goat cheese. 
     Fast food restaurants place square or rectangular processed cheese slivers on top of hamburgers and breakfast sandwiches. This cheese often partially melts and due to its format, the corners protrude and then droop down the sides of the sandwich. This partially melted cheese often sticks to the paper wrapping and separate from the sandwich. The invention provides for the production of processed cheese slices that fit the hamburger or breakfast sandwich without any corners protruding, thus eliminating the loss of cheese on the wrapper. The fast food restaurant could realize a saving of between 10% and 20%, depending on whether they want a small overlap that will droop over the meat and/or egg filling within the confines of the bun, muffin or bagel. 
     Product can be packaged at high temperature to reduce chances of bacterial contamination. The system can product products of different types, shapes, sizes and thicknesses that can be changed rapidly. Product shape is determined by the design of the product dispensing head. A wide variety of food-safe packaging materials can be used, including, but not limited to parchment paper, plastic film, aluminum foil and multi-layer composite materials. Product can be chilled or flash frozen within the packaging machine. Product can be packed in a modified atmosphere to retard the growth of spoilage organisms. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a side elevation view of one embodiment of the system of the subject invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a side elevation of another embodiment utilizing different bottom and top packaging material dispensing and positioning devices. 
         FIGS. 3 ,  3 A,  3 B and  3 C comprise a composite elevation view of the packaging material dispensing device of the  FIG. 1  embodiment. 
         FIGS. 4A ,  4 B and  4 C are views of the food product dispensing head and supply hopper of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 5A and 5B  are elevation views of the heat sealing device of the disclosed system showing the edge sealing head in its inoperative and operative positions. 
         FIGS. 6A-6D  are side elevations showing the sequence of operation of a bottom and top material dispensing and positioning device supplied by packaging material roll stock. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     One embodiment of a food portioning system  10  comprises the following main components: bottom packaging material dispensing and positioning device  11  ( FIGS. 1 ,  3  and  3 A- 3 C); product feed hopper  12  with optional heating jacket and agitator ( FIGS. 1 ,  4 A and  4 B); product dispensing head  13  ( FIGS. 1 , and  4 A- 4 C); optional modified atmosphere packaging zone  14  ( FIG. 1 ); top packaging material dispensing and positioning device  15  ( FIGS. 1 ,  3  and  3 A- 3 C); product forming press  16  ( FIGS. 1 ,  5 A and  5 B); optional heat sealing device  17  ( FIG. 1 ); optional product cooling zone  18  ( FIG. 1 ); main indexing conveyor  20  ( FIG. 1 ); main conveyor drive sprocket  21  ( FIG. 1 ); main conveyor idler sprocket  22  ( FIG. 1 ). 
     Principle of operation: flowable, viscous or semi-viscous food product is loaded in to the feed hopper  12 . Optionally solid meltable material can be added to the feed hopper. Solid material can be melted by means of an optional heating jacket and agitator fitted to the feed hopper  12 . 
     Prior to normal operation, the food dispensing head  13  is primed to ensure that all air is purged from it. Priming takes place as follows. See  FIGS. 4A and 4B . A rotary valve  23  is rotated by actuator  24  ( FIGS. 4A and 4B ) to a position that enables passage of material from the hopper  12  to a product suction chamber  25  as illustrated in  FIG. 4A . Actuator  24  may be pneumatically, electrically or mechanically operated. Piston  26  is partially withdrawn from the product suction chamber  25  by means of actuator  24 . This creates a negative pressure inducing product to flow from the hopper  12  into the product suction chamber. The rotary valve  23  is rotated by actuator  24  to a position that enables passage of material from the product suction chamber to the food dispensing head  13  as illustrated in  FIG. 4B . Piston  26  pushes the product from the product suction chamber  25  to the food dispensing head  13  by means of actuator  24  working in reverse direction. These steps are repeated until a smooth flow of food product is observed emerging from the food dispense head nozzles  27 . 
     The system is now ready to operate normally as follows. Pre-cut pieces of packaging material  28  are loaded into the magazine  30  of the bottom packaging material dispensing device  11  that comprises multiple support columns  31  (FIGS.  3  and  3 A- 3 C) and support ring  32  ( FIG. 3 ). Packaging material  28  is supported on small structures  33  that protrude around the periphery of and support the material. Individual pieces of packaging material  28  are picked from the bottom of the bottom packaging material dispensing device  11  ( FIG. 3A ) by means of a vacuum cup  34  or series of cups and deposited within locating devices  35  ( FIG. 1 ) on the indexing conveyor  20  by means of pivot  36  ( FIGS. 3A-3C ) and vertical actuator  37  as illustrated in  FIGS. 3A-3C . Accurate registration of the deposited film is achieved by means of precise indexing of the indexing conveyor  20  via indexing drive sprocket  21  and its follower  22  and by means of the film locating devices  35 . The film locating device typically comprises four or more tapered pins  38  set into the conveyor  20  and which act as guides for the bottom packaging material  28  as it is released from the vacuum cups  34 . The conveyor  20  indexes forward to bring the bottom film piece  28  into position under the food dispensing head  13  ( FIGS. 1 and 4A ). Piston  26  ( FIG. 4B ) pushes the product from the product suction chamber  25  to the food dispensing head  13  by means of actuator  24  ( FIG. 4B ) working in reverse direction. This deposits a pre-measured quantity of food product  29  onto the bottom film piece  28  in a pattern determined by the discharge orifices of the dispensing head  13 . These may be arranged to form a solid shape or a shape with a void or voids in the final shaped mass.  FIG. 4C  illustrates some typical orifice arrangements. Although pre-measurement of dispensed quantity is typically achieved by the precise volumetric displacement of product  29  by means of a piston  26 , as described, it may also be achieved by means of an alternative pumping system or extruder. 
     The conveyor  20  ( FIG. 1 ) is indexed forward to bring the bottom film piece  28  with its charge of product  29  under the top packaging material dispensing and positioning device  15  ( FIG. 1 ). Pre-cut pieces of top packaging material  40  are picked from the base of the top packaging material dispensing device  15  ( FIG. 1 ) by means of vacuum cups  34  or other device and deposited on top of the dispensed food product  29 . This device is similar in operation to the bottom packaging material dispenser  11  ( FIG. 1 ). The conveyor  20  indexes forward to bring the bottom packaging material  28 , food product  29  and top packaging material  40  under the product forming press  16  ( FIG. 1 ). The product forming press extends to a fixed level above the surface of the conveyor  20 , squeezing the food product  29  into a layer sandwiched between the top  40  and bottom  28  packaging material. This forms a shape that was determined by the arrangement of the orifices ( FIG. 4C ) on the food dispensing head  13  ( FIG. 1 ). The conveyor  20  indexes forward to position the food product and its packaging material immediately under the optional heat sealing device  17  ( FIGS. 1 ,  5 A and  5 B). This device can seal heat sensitive packaging material to totally enclose the food product  29 . For continuous cycling, all devices function as above after every conveyor indexing cycle giving true continuous operation. If required, a modified atmosphere zone  14  ( FIG. 1 ) can be applied between the food dispensing head  13  and the optional heat sealing device  17 . This is typically an oxygen depleted gas mixture that reduces product spoilage due to the growth of aerobic bacteria, yeasts and molds. After either heat sealing or product forming, the food product can be cooled or frozen by means of cold air or gas in the product cooling zone  18 . 
     It is also possible to incorporate an edge heat seal device, similar to optional heat sealing device  17 , into the product forming press  16 . In this manner, two processing steps, forming and heat sealing, may be carried out with a single device. 
     Multiple systems  10  ( FIG. 1 ) can be positioned longitudinally across the width of the indexing conveyor  20  to achieve multiple lane operation. Systems comprising multiple rows of devices can be mounted transversely in index registration across the width of the indexing conveyor  20 , making it possible to increase the capacity of the system without exceeding practical width constraints. For example, where rows of two of each device are installed, the indexing conveyor  20  will move forward by two increments at every indexing cycle. 
     In another embodiment, packaging material dispensers  11  and  15  are replaced by on-machine cutter-dispensers  41  fed from roll-stock material  42  ( FIGS. 2 and 6 ). Cutter-dispenser  41  includes, as shown in  FIG. 6 : roll-stock film or other packaging material  41 ; drive rollers  43 ; cutter with clamping device  44 ; cutter actuator  45 ; support plate  46 ; transfer mechanism  47 ; and, suction cup  48  or cups. 
     Drive rollers  43  index a fixed amount of packaging material  42  onto the support plate  46 . Suction cup  48  or cups hold the packing material in place while cutter and clamping device  44  cuts the film piece  50  from the roll  42 . The clamping device  44  holds the film piece in place while it is cut. Cutting and clamping is achieved by means of the cutter actuator  45 . The cutting and clamping device ( FIG. 6 ) is withdrawn and is retracked by means of the cutter actuator  45 . The cut packaging material piece is transported and rotated to a vertical downward orientation by means of the transfer mechanism track  47  and vacuum cup  48  or cups. The packaging material piece  50  is deposited between the locating devices  35  ( FIGS. 1 and 6D ) on the indexing conveyor  20  by means of releasing the vacuum on vacuum cup  48  or cups.