Abstract:
An arrangement for refining a confectionery material includes a series of cylinders for pressing and stretching the confectionery material particles, driving devices for driving the cylinders, and heat removal devices for removing the refining heat. Between the freely swinging first cylinder and the second cylinder, a position transducer for measuring the spacing between the first two cylinders is arranged. The first cylinder is pressed against the second cylinder and a spreading-apart force transducer measures the force between the two cylinders. Temperature transducers for measuring the temperature near the confectionery material refined by the first two cylinders are moreover provided. The transducers are operatively coupled to a control device which provides a reference signal for the cylinder feedback driving device.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a method and device for refining a confectionery material, such as chocolate. 
     As is known, a confectionery material is conventionally refined by granulometrically reducing the mass thereof. Such a granulometric reduction is performed by causing the confectionery material to pass through a series of cylinders or rollers pressing the material particles, by applying a pressure to the end supports of the laminating cylinders, and stretching said particles in the cylinder laminating nip, the cylinders defining the laminated nip being driven with different speeds. 
     The confectionery material refining devices are generally arranged in continuous production lines, for example in the lines of a patterning system. 
     For managing in a simple manner such a making line, the confectionery material, as is known, must exit the refining machine with a constant amount and a constant or even granulometric quality. 
     Also known is the fact that a manual adjustment of the refining process parameters does not allow to provide a constant refined product quality and rate, since this manual adjustment does not operate with a sufficient speed on the refining process. 
     In order to overcome the above mentioned drawback, available confectionery material refining machines comprise adjusting devices for adjusting the revolution speed of the refining or laminating cylinders, said adjusting devices adjusting, based on the thickness of the refined product exiting said series of cylinders, the laminating speeds. 
     The above confectionery material refining machine, however, is affected by reliability and accuracy problems. 
     In particular, the adjustment of the refining process based on the measurement of the thickness or film of the confectionery product exiting the cylinders would involve the provision of mechanical elements contacting the confectionery material, with a consequent problem of soiling the system, thereby requiring complex maintenance operations. 
     Moreover, the refined confectionery product has a thickness in the 15-20 μm range, which can be only detected by using very accurate thickness detecting devices. 
     On the other hand, available thickness detecting devices are unsuitable to provide a continuous operation as necessary in the mentioned systems and, moreover, they are negatively affected by hard conditions such as the presence of powder and fat as well as by the high sliding speed of the confectionery mass at the outlet of said cylinders the last of which can revolve with a revolution speed of the order of 400 RPM&#39;s. 
     Moreover, the above mentioned machines, because of their high operating speeds, are affected by vibrations and oscillations which make the measurement system unstable. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the aim of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a method and a device for refining confectionery materials, so as to provide a refined product having a sufficient evenness, thereby allowing said device to be included in continuously operating confectionery material patterning systems. 
     For making said refined product in an even amount, it would be necessary to form a product film having an end even thickness, with a product outlet rate and a peripheral rate of the last cylinder as even as possible. 
     The aim of the invention is achieved by a method for refining a confectionery material, in which the particles of said material are pressed and stretched between a series of cylinders, characterized in that said method comprises the steps of measuring the distance between the feeding cylinders, comparing the measured distance with a reference distance by setting a distance variation value between said feeding cylinders, measuring the spreading-apart force provided by the material passing through said feeding cylinders, defining, based on the distance variation value and the spreading-apart force of the feeding cylinders, a rated turning speed of the first feeding cylinder so as to adjust the revolution speed of said first feeding cylinder by using the measurement of the revolution speed thereof as a feedback parameter. 
     Thus, as the consistency of the confectionery material supplied to the refining machine varies, the revolution speed or rate of the first cylinder is suddenly changed. Such a controlled variation of the revolution speed of the first cylinder will provide an unchanged spreading-apart force between the feeding cylinders, thereby providing a desired size evenness of the laminating cylinder nip size, and an even laminating gap or nip. This adjustment is performed without changing the revolution speeds of the cylinders after the first, thereby providing a refined product in a constant amount. 
     For recovering the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder to optimum values for the driving device, based on a preset optimum revolution speed for the first feeding cylinder, a desired temperature of said feeding cylinders is set, thereby adjusting the temperature of the confectionery material passing through the feeding cylinder by using said temperature as an adjustment feedback parameter. 
     By changing said temperature, it is possible to modify the consistency or viscosity of the confectionery material mass, thereby allowing the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder to recover its optimum values. Such an adjustment, based on the confectionery mass temperature variation, is characterized by a response time much longer than that of the refining process response to revolution speed variations of the first laminating cylinder, and, accordingly, can be performed at a delayed time, due to the high thermal inertia of the refining device and of the confectionery material being processed. 
     For defining the desired temperature value allowing to recover the revolution speed of the first laminating cylinder to its preset optimum value, said desired temperature value is defined or set by changing the temperature measured in the laminating cylinders by subsequent increments or decrements, in a preset amount, thereby providing a revolution speed of the first laminating cylinder equal to the preset optimum revolution speed value. 
     By changing at preset time intervals the value of the laminating cylinder temperature, it is possible to modify the consistency of the confectionery material being processed or laminated. 
     Accordingly, it is possible to modify the spreading-apart force between the cylinders. 
     The variations of the spreading-apart force will affect, in turn, the first cylinder revolution speed adjusting system, thereby recovering the revolution speed values to said preset optimum value. 
     By recovering the revolution speed value of the first cylinder to optimum values, the adjusting system is enabled to operate again for adjusting further variations of the confectionery mass quality supplied to the refining machine. 
     Thus, the first cylinder revolution speed adjusting system can be designed to change said revolution speed within a small value range, the values whereof will be adapted to provide a very efficient driving system as well as low power consumption. 
     Advantageously, for providing a more accurate measurement of the distance or gap of the feeding cylinders, said distance is detected at a plurality of detecting points along the feeding cylinder revolution axes, such as at the two end portions of the feeding cylinders, near the supports thereof. 
     The device for achieving the aim according to the disclosed method, is provided with a series of laminating cylinders, feedback controlled driving devices for said cylinders, in which the first cylinder is swingably supported with respect to the second cylinder and urged against said second cylinder, said device being characterized in that between the feeding cylinders a transducer for detecting the distance of said feeding cylinders and a transducer for detecting the spreading-apart force thereof are arranged, that said position and spreading-apart force transducers are operatively coupled to a control device, and that said control device is operatively coupled to said feedback controlled driving device for rotatively driving said first feeding cylinder. 
     For providing, in addition to an adjustment of the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder, a contemporaneous adjustment of the temperature of the confectionery material mass being refined between the feeding cylinders, said control device is operatively coupled to a temperature adjusting device for adjusting the temperature of said cylinders, said temperature adjusting device being feedback controlled by a temperature transducer or sensor as provided in the feeding cylinders. 
     By the disclosed approach it is possible to modify the temperature of the feeding cylinders to change the consistency of the confectionary mass being processed. Such a variation causes a corresponding variation of the cylinder spreading-apart force and, hence, of the distance of said feeding cylinders. The consistency variation is adjusted by a suitable and sudden variation of the revolution speed of the first cylinder, thereby affecting the average confectionery material feeding or supplying speed, to provide an even throughput of the refined mass. 
     Such an adjustment is performed so suddenly that the pressure applied to the feeding cylinders is not substantially changed thereby said cylinders are held in substantially optimal parallel conditions. 
     Advantageously, between the first two cylinders a hydrostatic or hydrodynamic load applying system allowing the first cylinder, swingably supported with respect to the second fixed cylinder, to compensate for the abrupt load variations, is provided. 
     The disclosed method and device provide the advantage, with respect to the prior art, of defining or setting the thickness of the made film by measuring the distance between the axes of the first feeding cylinders. 
     At first, this measurement is performed outside of the working zone, without soiling the device and, accordingly, with a less maintenance requirement. 
     Moreover, by advantageously performing said measurement near the end portions of the axes of the two first cylinders, it is possible to provide an average of at least two measurement points thereby more accurately defining the variations of the feeding gap or nip between the first two cylinders. 
     A further advantage is that the detection of the distance between the first two cylinders provides a greater reliability and accuracy. In fact, the revolution speed of the first cylinder (of about 80 RPM&#39;s) will be much smaller than that of the last refining or laminating cylinders. 
     Accordingly, the vibrations and oscillations affecting the distance measurement will be very small. 
     Moreover, the distance value to be measured between the first two cylinders (i.e. the thickness of the produced film) will be of about 100 μm, instead of a 20 μm thickness of the already refined product exiting the refining device. 
     These different distance values will allow a simpler and more accurate measurement to be performed. 
     Accordingly, the greater value of the distance to be measured will allow greater measurement tolerances, while providing an end refined product of high quality. 
     In fact, by measuring the distance or gap between the two first cylinders, the end product will be minimally affected, since a possible measurement error, as referred to the exiting product, will be reduced by a factor equal to the revolution ratio of the second and last cylinders, which ratio, for example, varies from ¼ to {fraction (1/10)}. 
     Accordingly, it will be advantageously possible to use, instead of optical rule or strip transducers, linear potentiometers or other types of transducers or sensors based on a like principle and which are commonly available on CNC machine tools. 
     A further advantage is the possibility of changing the temperature of the feeding cylinders and, accordingly, of the material being processed between the first two cylinders. Thus, it is possible to change the consistency of the confectionery material and, accordingly, hold the revolution speed of the first cylinder within value ranges allowed by the driving device thereof. 
     Accordingly, as the working conditions are changed, the control system will affect the temperature of the two feeding cylinders, by increasing or decreasing it to change, even if slowly, the consistency of the confectionery material and, hence, the gripping force of the laminating cylinders on the product. 
     Accordingly, it is possible to gradually recover the value of the peripheral revolution speed of the first cylinder to the starting conditions thereof, thereby providing an evenly broad operating range adapted to efficiently operate even in a case of a great variation of the operating conditions of the upstream line and easily affecting the characteristics of the mass being refined. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The subject matter of the present invention will be hereinafter disclosed and illustrated in a more detailed manner by an exemplary embodiment thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where: 
     FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a 5-cylinder confectionery material refining device; 
     FIG. 2 is a further schematic side view, as partially cross-sectioned, illustrating the confectionery material feeding cylinder control and adjusting devices; and 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a method for adjusting the distance or gap between the first two cylinders, as well as their temperature. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Since the construction and operation of the confectionery material refining device are well known, in the following disclosure only the novel parts thereof, essential for understanding the present invention, will be disclosed. 
     In FIG. 1 a five-cylinder refining device or machine has been generally indicated by the reference number  1 . 
     Said refining device or machine comprises a holding casing  2 , for example of a box-like type, supporting in its inside laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  which are arranged in a parallel adjoining relationship. 
     On a side of the laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , feeding  8  and unloading  9  devices are provided. 
     The feeding device  8  conveys the confectionery material mass  10  to be refined to the bottom of the refining device  1 , at the two laminating cylinders  3  and  4  thereof which, accordingly, are called “feeding cylinders”. 
     The confectionary material mass  10 , passing through the laminating nip  11  of the first cylinders  3 ,  4 , is spread along the overall length of said cylinders  3 ,  4  thereby forming a product film  12  which, by passing through the following series of cylinders  4 ,  5 ,  6  ,  7 , will be refined and reduced in thickness. 
     The confectionery material film  12 , upon passing through the series of cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5  ,  6 ,  7 , will be supplied to the unloading device  9  provided for feeding, for example, a basin or “conch” of the processing line (not shown). 
     The laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  are operatively coupled to driving devices therefor. 
     For example, the first feeding cylinder  3  is coupled to a motor reducing unit  15 , allowing to change the revolution speed V 1  thereof and, accordingly, the feeding speed of the confectionery material mass  10 . 
     It would be possible to provide different revolution speeds or rates V 1 , V 2 , V 3 , V 4 , V 5  for each laminating cylinder  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , said laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  being adjustably supported by said supporting casing  2 . 
     By adjusting the positions of the supports of said laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , it is possible to change the laminating nips or gaps  16 ,  17 ,  18  defined between the cylinders  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 . 
     The driving and adjusting devices, in turn, are operatively coupled to a control unit  20 . 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the constructional details of the adjusting devices for the first two feeding cylinders  3 ,  4 . 
     The first feeding cylinder  3  is swingably supported about a pivot pin  21  rigid with the box-like casing  2  of the machine  1 , and the first feeding cylinder  3  is pressed against the second cylinder  4 . 
     For example, a pair of hydraulic devices  24 , or of hydrostatic or hydrodynamic devices, are operatively coupled to levers  25  rigid with the end portions of the feeding cylinder  3 , thereby causing said first cylinder  3  to swing against the second cylinder  4 . 
     The outer casing of the hydraulic devices is coupled to a second lever  26  provided at the end portion of the second feeding cylinder  4 . 
     The hydraulic device  24  is supplied by a controllable hydraulic circuit  27 . 
     Between the piston of the hydraulic device  24  and an articulated coupling support for connecting the lever  25  of the first cylinder  3 , a spreading-apart force transducer or sensor  30  is arranged. The spreading-apart force transducer  30 , for example, a load cell, is operatively coupled to said control unit  20 . 
     Between the two feeding cylinders  3 ,  4  position detecting or sensing devices  31  are provided. For example, linear potentiometers are coupled, at the end portions thereof, to the levers  25 ,  26  provided on the sides of the feeding cylinders  3 ,  4  and supporting said hydraulic device  24 . 
     Preferably, the position transducer  31  is operatively coupled to the end portions of the feeding cylinder  3 ,  4  supports, thereby the connecting points thereof will coincide with the revolution or rotary axes of the cylinders  3 ,  4 . 
     The position transducer  31  is operatively coupled to said control unit  20 . 
     Inside said laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  an adjusting device for adjusting the temperature of the confectionery mass being defined is arranged. 
     For example, in the inside of said laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7  a hydraulic circuit is provided. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the end portions of the lines of the cooling hydraulic circuits of the first two feeding cylinders  3 ,  4 . 
     The delivery lines or ducts  35 ,  36  are coupled to three-way servo valves  37 ,  38 . 
     The servovalves  37 ,  38  are coupled to ducts which are supplied with a hot fluid (H) and a cool fluid (C). 
     Said servovalves  37 ,  38  are operatively coupled to a driving or actuating device  39 . 
     The actuating device  39  of said servovalves  37 ,  38  is in turn operatively coupled to the control unit  20 . 
     Temperature transducers or sensors are arranged near the confectionery mass laminated by the first two cylinders  3 ,  4 . 
     For example, temperature transducers (not shown) are arranged in the hydraulic circuit ducts or lines provided in the feeding cylinders  3 ,  4 , thereby allowing to measure the temperature of the fluid passing through the hydraulic circuit inside said cylinders  3 ,  4 . 
     The temperature transducers are operatively coupled to the control unit  20 . 
     A speed transducer  43  is operatively coupled to the rotary shaft of the feeding cylinder  3 . 
     The detecting or transducing device  43  for detecting the rotary or revolution speed of the feeding cylinder  3 , for example a resolver, is operatively coupled to the control unit  20 . 
     Said swinging feeding cylinder  3  is operatively coupled to the motor reducing unit  15 . 
     Said motor reducing unit  15  is controlled by a drive  45  operatively coupled to said control unit  20 . 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the operating control logic for controlling the confectionery material mass refining process. 
     In order to better understand said refining process or method, it is deemed as indispensable to disclose the parameters affecting said method and the confectionery material refining step proper on the processing line. 
     The quality and amount of the refined product will depend on the thickness of the laminating gaps or nips of the laminating cylinders and the peripheral revolution speeds thereof. 
     The first nip or gap formed between the first two cylinders, or feeding cylinders, will allow to distribute the product all along the length of the cylinders thereby allowing to adjust the product being fed to the top cylinders. From the second laminating nip to the last, the granulometric reduction proper of the confectionery material mass is performed. In said subsequent laminating steps, a constant relationship between the ratios of the peripheral revolution speeds of the cylinders V n  and the thickness ratios of the thicknesses Xn of the laminated product film will be held. More specifically, by evaluating this relationship between the last and second laminating cylinders, we will have:          X2     X   n       =       V   n       V   2                              
     Accordingly, it is possible to provide a refined product of set quality and amount, by only changing the working or processing conditions upstream of the cylinder series. 
     Thus it is possible to independently adjust the revolution speed of the first feeding cylinder in order to either increase or decrease the fed product amount, and preserve the desired end granulometry downstream of the cylinder series. 
     The confectionery material refining method or process provides for a strict relationship between the mechanical parameters of the refining device and the confectionery mass consistency. 
     In particular:        F   =         η                       V   1     +     V   2       2       d                   C                            
     where F represents the load between the refining cylinders, d represents the distance of the cylinders or laminating nip or gap, V represents the peripheral revolution speed of the cylinders involved in the refining step, M represents the consistency or viscosity of the confectionery mass and C represents a proportionality constant. 
     A confectionary mass viscosity or consistency M will also depend on the temperature of the refining process. 
     A variation of said parameters (F, V, M, d, T) would cause a corresponding variation of the refined product quality and amount. 
     A variation of the spreading-apart force F or load between the refining cylinders could cause negative effects, since it would contribute to a mechanical deformation of the laminating cylinders, thereby preventing them from being properly arranged. 
     In fact, the laminating cylinder mantle or shell is not perfectly cylindric, but has a crowned contour to counter-balance the pressing there against of the product being laminated, thereby resiliently deforming and providing, in a balanced condition, a gap or nip having an even width all along the length of the cylinders. 
     Thus, it should be apparent that a single working condition of the refining device would exist, applying to the cylinders such a force or pressure providing an even gap or nip at each point between the laminating cylinders. 
     The components constituting the confectionery material mass are supplied to a kneading machine arranged upstream of the refining machine, for providing a paste-like and fluid mass suitable for processing by refining machines or devices (not shown). 
     The confectionery mass exiting the kneading device is pre-refined in order to reduce, at first, the granulometry of the particles thereof. 
     The confectionery mass pre-refining devices are usually adjusted to provide a consistency as constant as possible in the time. However, because of a variation of the components and of the processing conditions of the confectionery mass, said consistency will change in the time, thereby negatively affecting the subsequent refining process. 
     Actually, a variation of the mass consistency being refined causes a variation of the forces between the laminating cylinders of the refining devices, thereby changing the laminating nip or gap size thereof and, consequently, the refined product quality and amount. 
     For preventing such a laminating nip size variation from occurring, the distance or nip  11  between the two feeding cylinders  3  and  4  is measured, by a position transducer  31 . 
     The electric signal  50  produced by the position transducer  31  is sent to the control unit  20  where, for example, it is conditioned and digitized. The size of the laminating nip  11  between the two first feeding cylinders  3 ,  4  is at first displayed. For example, the digitized signal  50  corresponding to the measurement of the feeding cylinder distance  11  is sent to a monitor which is operatively coupled to said control unit  20 . 
     Alternately, the digitized signal  50  is sent to a digital display  100 . 
     Said digitized signal  50 , corresponding to the laminating nip  11 , is compared with a signal d 12  corresponding to the reference distance of the two first cylinders  3 ,  4 . From the comparison of the measured distance  11  and the reference distance d 12 , a distance variation  51  to be sent to a first processor  101  or speed processor is defined. 
     The spreading-apart force  52  provided by the hydraulic device  24  urging the first swinging cylinder  3  against the second cylinder  4  is detected by the load cell  30 . 
     The electric signal  53  produced by said load cell  30  is sent to said control unit  20 , where it is conditioned and digitized. 
     The signal  53  proportional to the spreading apart force  52  is then displayed, for example, on a monitor operatively coupled to said control unit  20  or, alternately, on a display  54 , said signal  53  being further fed to said speed processor  101 . 
     During the refining method, or process, the operating conditions of the cylinder series following the first feeding cylinder  3  will tend to remain substantially constant, thereby providing a constant thickness of the product film exiting the laminating cylinders  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 . 
     Accordingly, the revolution speed V 2  of the second feeding cylinder  4  will be held nearly constant through the overall refining process. 
     The revolution speed V 2  of the second feeding cylinder  4 , independently from the fact that it is preset in the control unit  20  or it is measured for example by a resolver (not shown), is then fed, as an electric signal  58 , to the speed processor  52 , for defining a rated revolution speed or rate V 1  of the first feeding cylinder  3 , allowing to recover the distance  11  between the feeding cylinders  3 ,  4 , to the reference value d 12  thereof. 
     The revolution speed  60  of the first laminating cylinder  3  is measured by the resolver  43 . 
     Thus a signal  61  proportional to said revolution speed  60  will be then sent to said control unit  20 , where it will be displayed, for example on the display  62 . 
     The electric signal  61  proportional to the revolution speed  60  of the first cylinder will be then compared against the speed signal V 1  defined by the speed processor  52 , thereby providing a speed variation  63  constituting the reference speed for a speed adjuster R 1 . 
     The speed adjuster R 1  will provide a driving signal for the drive  45  of the motor reducing unit  15  operatively coupled to the shaft of the first feeding cylinder  3 . 
     The speed processor  101  is operatively coupled to a temperature processor  102 , thereby providing a signal indicative of a need of changing the temperature of the first two laminating cylinders, as the optimum refining conditions are changed. 
     The temperature of the confectionery mass being refined, which is proportional to the temperature of the cooling fluid provided in said laminating cylinders  3 ,  4 , is measured by the temperature transducer  42 , the corresponding electric signal  55  being supplied to said control unit  20  to be conditioned and digitized and then being supplied to the temperature processor  102 , which is also fed with a signal  65  proportional to the optimum revolution speed (V 10 ) of the first cylinder  3 . 
     Thus the temperature processor  102  will provide a temperature signal  68  proportional to the temperature desired for the confectionery mass. 
     For example, the temperature microprocessor  102 , upon detecting the electric signal  55  proportional to the temperature measured in the feeding cylinders, will add or subtract to/from the electrical signal  55  a signal proportional to a preset and modifiable value, thereby defining the signal  68  proportional to the new temperature or the temperature which is desired for the feeding cylinders. 
     The signal  68  proportional to the desired temperature is then compared with the signal  55  proportional to the measured temperature, thereby providing a reference signal  69  for a temperature adjuster R 2 , which will provide a control signal  70  for the drive  39  of said servovalves  37 ,  38  adjusting the temperature of the fluid supplied to the cooling device of the feeding cylinders  3 ,  4 .