The present invention relates to a food product cooking and vending system.

Food vending machines are known, even machines which sell bread and the like. These machines are filled with the food product ready for consumption and dispense the product on payment of an appropriate sum of money and, where appropriate, selection of the desired product.

The present invention seeks to provide a food product cooking and vending system.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vending system including means for cooking a specified food product and dispensing means for dispensing the food product when cooked.

The system provides for fresh products to be sold from the machine as the products are cooked on demand. This can be especially advantageous for products which are sold fresh, such as bread and the like.

Preferably, the system is designed to cook and vend doughnuts.

The cooking means preferably provides a cooking enclosure within which the product can be cooked. The cooking enclosure preferably provides one or more cooking surfaces on which the product is directly cooked. This structure has the advantage that the system does not need quantities of hot oil within which to fry the products.

The cooking enclosure is preferably formed of upper and lower cooking plates on which the food product can be cooked. Either or both of the cooking plates may be

dished receptacles, such that the whole of the food product can be surrounded by cooking plate. In cases where the food product is cooked from a relatively liquid mixture, such as a doughnut, the lower plate is preferably dished so as to support the liquid mixture prior to and during cooking.

The lower plate may be movable within the system, from a cooking position or orientation to a dispensing position or orientation. Thus, no additional product handling mechanism is necessary to take the product from the cooking station to the dispensing area.

In the case of doughnuts and other filled products, the lower plate may be movable to a filling station.

An embodiment of the present invention is described below, by way of illustration only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of food cooking and vending system; and

Figure 2 is a schematic flow diagram of the operation of the upper and lower cooking plates of the system of Figure

1.

The embodiment of system shown in Figure 1 is designed to cook and vend doughnuts. The system includes a receptacle 10 which holds the liquid dough mixture. This receptacle can be filled, cleaned and/or replaced as required. An outlet conduit 12 couples the receptacle to a pump 14 which is electrically coupled to a control unit 16. The pump 14 includes a dispensing conduit and nozzle 18 for dispensing a predetermined amount of mixture at dispensing station 20.

In cases where it is desired to cook and sell different food products, a plurality of uncooked food receptacles and dispensing pumps may be provided, the pumps being selectively operable to dispense the chosen mixture at the dispensing station 20.

Upper and lower cooking plates 22, 24 are provided on respective tracks 26, 28 and can be moved by means of a motor 30. The plates 22, 24 are dished receptacles, which in this example each have the shape of half the cooked product. They preferably have good quality non-stick surfaces, for example of Teflon (TM) or PTFE.

It is envisaged that the plates 22, 24 could be sprayed with a light coating of a cooking fat when they move to their open position, at spray station 23.

As will be apparent from Figure 1, the motor 30 is coupled by means of a cable with two portions 32, 34 to the lower plate 24, the upper plate 22 being movable with the lower plate 24 as a result of a mechanical coupling therebetween, as is described below in further detail.

The cable portions 32, 34 are coupled to respective sides of the lower plate 24 such that the lower plate 24 moves away from or towards the location shown in Figure 1 by tensioning of the appropriate cable portion 32, 34. For this purpose, the motor 30 is reversible under control of the control unit 16, to which it is coupled by electrical connector 36. It will be apparent that means are provided for determining when the lower plate 24 reaches its various operating positions, which may be controlled motor rotation by the control unit, position sensors disposed where appropriate or a combination of the two.

The upper and lower plates 22, 24 and electrically coupled to the control unit 16 by means of respective wires 38,

40. These couplings provide the heating power to heat the upper and lower plates 22, 24 to cook the product. Cooking temperature and time is controlled by the control unit 16 in a manner which will be apparent to the skilled person.

It will be apparent that the system will also include a vending point 15 for receiving payment from a user, appropriate selection means 21 in the case where different products can be cooked and dispensed and a collection point 17 for collecting the cooked product . There may also be provided a packaging mechanism for packaging the product in a bag or the like.

In the case where filled products are to be sold, such as filled doughnuts, the system will also include a filling station 19. Such a station may, for example, include a syringe mechanism insertable into the cooked product to inject filling into the product. The system could also operate on uncooked mixture or partially cooked product in cases where the filling is to be cooked or served hot.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, in operation, the upper and lower cooking plates 22, 24 are kept constantly hot in order to reduce cooking times. They remain in the position shown in Figure 1, that is in a closed position, to conserve heat and thus energy.

When the system is activated, the motor 30 is caused to rotate so as to move the lower plate 24 to the dispensing station 20. The mechanical coupling between the upper and lower plates 22, 24 is such that the upper plate 22 moves along with the lower plate 24 and up a ramp formed by the track 26. This causes the plates 22, 24 to open for receipt of the mixture.

Once the appropriate amount of mixture has been dispensed

into the lower plate 24, under control of the control unit 30, the motor 30 is caused to reverse direction to return the plates to the position shown in Figure 1, that is to the cooking position. The upper plate 22 may, in some embodiments, return to the cooking position by the force of gravity rather than by the mechanical coupling with the lower plate 24.

In the cooking position, the control unit 30 controls the heat and cooking time until the product is considered to be cooked. Once cooked, the motor 30 is actuated to move the lower plate 24 past the dispensing station 20. During this movement, the mechanical coupling between the upper and lower plates 22, 24 becomes uncoupled, thereby enabling the lower plate 24 to move to a dispensing position 42 located further along the track 34. It can be seen that the track 34 curves downwardly, which will cause rotation of the lower plate 24 and eventually to cause the food product to fall off the lower plate 24 to collection point 17.

When filling of the product is desired, the filling station 19 can be located at any suitable point along the track 34.

In summary, the preferred embodiment uses a specially designed track and microcontroller based control and cooking process.

The two hotplates 22, 24 are kept at a constant temperature. They start off in the closed position in order to conserve heat and energy. Once the cycle is started the hotplates 22, 24 are moved to the open position and doughnut mixture is pumped into the bottom plate 24. Once the correct amount of mixture is dispensed, the two plates 22, 24 move back to the closed position in order to cook the doughnut. When cooked, the

bottom plate 24 moves all the way around the track 34 to the vending position, where the doughnut falls from the plate 24 and is eventually dispensed.

Using this same process, but with a modified program, a variety of toppings and fillings can be incorporated at a stage 19 just before the bottom plate 24 gets to the dispensing position. Different flavours can also be catered for by having a number of pumps and mixture containers, which depending on which button is pressed at the vending selection site 21 will dispense a particular flavour dough.

The system is preferably modular to provide access for cleaning and replacement of dough. It is also possible to change the plate shapes so that other shapes and types of food can be cooked using the same system.

The disclosures in British patent application number 9611911.0, from which this application claims priority, and in the abstract accompanying this application are incorporated herein by reference.