Description

Technical Field

The present invention is applicable to the field of machine for food processing and treatment and it particularly relates with an ice cream machine with integrated blast- chiller.

State of the art

As known, one of the most important steps in the production of traditional ice cream to obtain a high quality product is represented by blast chilling, i.e. the process in which the product needs to be cooled rapidly to preserve the organoleptic qualities once the product will be transferred inside the vessels or pans to be brought into the showcase.

Actually, special machines, known as blast chiller are used for this step, which machines being constituted by powerful refrigerators which, operating at extremely low temperatures, usually between -40° C and -30° C and with forced ventilation to eliminate condensation, allow to subtract heat to the products, allowing rapid cooling or freezing of the core of the product.

This prevents the formation of ice crystals, helping to preserve the structure of the ice cream for a long time without having to use chemical stabilizers and additives.

The most commonly used solutions in the sector provide that the ice cream, leaving the creamer at an average temperature of -9Ύ10 ⁰ C is collected in the pan and brought into the blast chilling cabinet, which is a separate element to the creamer.

This operating mode, no matter rapid the passage from the pan of the creamer to the blast chiller may be, cannot rule avoid a slight thermal excursion and a slight rise in the temperature of the product, which reduces its organoleptic properties.

Scope of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above drawbacks by providing an ice cream machine with integrated blast chiller which has high efficiency properties. A particular object is to provide an ice cream machine with an integrated blast chiller that allows to chill the ice cream directly at the exit of the creamer, avoiding the product to make a way to be transported to a suitable appliance during which it would undergo a heat excursion which would degrade its organoleptic properties. Yet another particular object is to provide an ice cream machine with integrated blast chiller that supplies a product with improved aesthetic properties and in particular greater brightness.

Yet another particular object is to provide an ice cream machine with integrated blast chiller that allows for high productivity, high quality and relatively low energy consumption.

Such objects, as well as others that will become more apparent hereinafter, are achieved by an ice-cream machine with integrated blast chiller which, according to claim 1, comprises a containment casing housing creaming means for the ice cream, a collection basket of the creamed ice cream, an ice-cream dispensing mouth from said basket to a collecting pan.

The casing comprises blast chilling means for lowering the temperature operating at a temperature lower than -30° C to rapidly cool the ice cream leaving said mouth and collected in the pan, said blast chilling means being integrated into said casing and arranged below said dispensing mouth to cool the creamed ice cream immediately after the dispensing thereof from said basket.

Thanks to this combination of features, the ice cream temperature may be quickly cut down immediately after being creamed and without having to transport it to a separate blast chilling unit, avoiding thermal excursion harmful for the product quality.

Preferably, said casing may comprise a blast chilling chamber adapted to house the collecting pan and provided with an upper opening for connection with said dispensing mouth and an inlet for a coolant flow produced by said blast chilling means enclosed in said casing.

In this way, the ice cream will be discharged directly from the creaming means to the blast chiller without the need for any intermediate passage even inside the machine.

Furtherly, said basket may comprise means for heating the ice cream exiting from said dispensing mouth which will preferably be adjusted to increase the temperature of the ice cream from a value between 5 ⁰ C and 10 ⁰ C with respect to the exit temperature from said creaming means.

This will make the flow of ice cream exiting from the creaming means more fluid and also give the product a more shiny and aesthetically more attractive appearance. According to an alternative configuration, the casing has a double structure with at least two means of casing associated with respective baskets provided with a dispensing mouth connected to respective lower abutment basins.

Moreover, said blast chilling means will comprise a single common refrigerant motor housed in said double structure casing and capable of sending a coolant flow in both of said abatement chambers.

In this way, it will be possible to double productivity while maintaining high product quality but using unique abatement tools to simplify machine structure and reduce energy consumption.

Advantageously, the casing, with single or double structure, may house pastorizing means of the ice cream and/or of the raw materials disposed upstream of said creaming means relative to the ice-cream delivery stream.

In this way the machine may carry out the whole process of heat treatment of the product, starting from the raw materials to the finished product ready to be consumed.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are obtained according to the dependent claims.

Brief disclosure of the drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent in the light of the detailed description of some preferred but not exclusive embodiments of an ice cream machine with integrated blast chiller according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example with the aid of the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine according to a first preferred embodiment; FIG. 2 is a side view of the machine of Fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a machine according to a second configuration;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a machine in a third configuration.

Best modes of carrying out the invention

Fig. 1 shows a preferred but not exclusive configuration of an ice cream machine, generally designated by 1, comprising a containment casing 2 housing means 3 for creaming the ice cream, a basket 4 for collecting the creamed ice cream and a dispensing mouth 5 of the creamed ice cream in the basket 4 to send it to a collecting pan or similar container, not shown as per se known and which is not part of the present invention. The casing 2 will have a configuration typical for the machines in the sector and, for example, will have an AISI 316 stainless steel structure. Other materials used for the machine may include, but not being limited to, polymeric materials such as ertacetal and metal materials such as Steel C45.

The casing 2 may be made up of side panels 6 provided with ventilation grilles 7 and a bottom panel 8 which will preferably be provided with wheels to facilitate displacement thereof.

On the upper panel 9 there will be a control panel 10 connected to processor control means, such as a PLC, and optionally provided with a touch- screen display for monitoring the whole working of the machine 1.

The creaming means 3 will be housed inside the casing 2 and preferably comprise a whip with steel support and food grade plastic blades coupled to a gearmotor by bearings support means.

The gearmotor will be provided with a motovariator system adapted to ensure double speed rotation of the whip, at 700 rpm and 1400 rpm, to ensure high product quality and 8/1 reduction ratio.

The creaming means 3 will be connected to the basket 4 provided with a loading slide 11 of the raw materials and with the dispensing mouth 5 of the creamed ice cream.

The basket 4 will be provided with a door 12 hinged to the casing and provided with a removable locking device 13 to be opened in order to access the creaming means 3.

Below the dispensing mouth 5 there will be provided a discharging slide 14 facing a blast chilling chamber 15 formed in the lower part of the same casing 2 and inside which the pan or other container may be arranged, which may be the same pan designed to be arranged inside a showcase for sale of bulk ice cream.

The blast chilling chamber 15 is in turn into communication with blast chilling means for lowering the temperature housed directly within the casing 2 and therefore not visible.

The blast chilling means will operate at a temperature below -30° C, preferably -31° C, to rapidly cool the creamed ice cream leaving the mouth 5 and collected into the pan immediately after it is supplied from the basket 4.

The blast chilling chamber 15 is provided with an upper opening 16 for connection with the dispensing mouth 5 and an inlet for a cooling stream produced by the blast chilling means enclosed in the casing 2. The blast chilling chamber 15 also comprises a top lid 17 which can be removed at least partially, for example hinged to an edge of the upper opening 16, to close the upper opening 16 almost completely, leaving a slit free for the passage of the ice cream outgoing from the dispensing mouth 5.

In particular, the inlet slot may be faced with the outlet section of the discharging slide 14.

The blast chilling means will comprise a cooling motor provided with an expansion vessel housed into the casing 2 and coupled to a vaporizer and forced ventilation means of the cooling stream inside the blast chilling chamber 15.

The back panel of the casing 2 will also have an opening for the cooling fan of the cooling motor.

According to a further particularly advantageous aspect, the basket 4 will comprise means for heating the ice cream exiting the dispensing mouth 5, adjusted to increase the temperature of the ice cream at a predetermined value.

Preferably, the temperature increase provided by the heating means may be between 5° C and 10° C with respect to the exit temperature from the creaming means 3.

In a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the machine, the heating means may be associated directly with the dispensing mouth 5 and may comprise a resistance associated with a grid 18 arranged at the dispensing mouth 5.

According to an alternative variant, the ice cream machine 1 may be provided with creaming means 3 associated with a basket 4 provided with heating means in a manner similar to the one described above, but the casing 2 will not be provided with integrated blast chilling means.

In this case, the blast chilling may be carried out in a manner similar to that provided for machines according to the state of the art, that is, within a separate blast chiller. However, the presence of the heating means will provide a better product at least in aesthetic terms and moreover it will also facilitate the dispensing of the preserved ice cream as it will improve the fluidity leaving the mouth 5.

According to yet another variant, which can be implemented both in the variant with integrated blast chilling means and heating means and in the variants provided only with the blast chilling means or only with the heating means, the casing 2 may house thereinside pasteurization means 19 of the ice cream and/or of the raw materials arranged upstream of the creaming means 3 with respect to the ice-cream delivery stream.

Pasteurization means 19 may be selected from those commonly used in the art, without any particular limitations, and are therefore not described in more detail.

Fig. 3 shows a further configuration of the machine 31 which differs from the preceding one first of all by having a double structure casing 32 having double creaming means 33 associated with respective baskets 34 provided with own dispensing mouth 35 and connected to respective lower blat chilling chambers 315.

The blast chilling chambers 315 are however connected to the same blast chilling means housed in the casing 32 and having a single coolant engine adapted to send a coolant stream in both the blast chilling chambers 315.

In this way you will have a particularly compact structure that will guarantee productivity of two distinct machines and at the same time allow to get the benefits of immediate temperature dropping by substantially halving the power consumption of the blast chiller as it will not be necessary to duplicate them. The machine is also provided with a pasteurization means 319, which may also be unique for both the creaming means 33. Finally, Fig. 4 shows a further variant that differs from the previous one by not including the pasteurization means.

From the description it is apparent that the machine according to the invention achieves the intended objects.

The machine according to the invention is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which fall within the inventive concept expressed in the appended claims. All details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements and the materials may be different according to the needs without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Although the machine has been described with particular reference to the attached figures, the reference numbers used in the description and claims are used to improve the intelligence of the invention and do not constitute any limitation to the claimed scope.