Method and device for packaging the flesh of an automatically peeled and de-cored pineapple in a container.

Description

The invention relates to a method and device for packaging the flesh of an automatically peeled and de-cored pineapple in a container.

WO 2014/184298 describes a device for processing a pineapple which is provided with a carrier for carrying the pineapple to be processed, a first processing unit for removing the ends of the pineapple and a second processing unit which comprises a pusher with a knife with two concentric blades, wherein the pineapple without ends is pushed by the knife by means of the pusher for simultaneously de-coring and peeling the pineapple. The resulting flesh of the pineapple is collected in a container underneath the knife, following which drive means take the container to a starting position from a position under the knife. At the starting position, the flesh of the pineapple is transferred from the container to a packaging/container, for example a cup. By means of this known device, a pineapple is thus automatically peeled and de-cored in order to obtain the flesh of the pineapple.

The device is being used successfully all over the world. In particular in supermarkets, the device is used to offer people a freshly cut pineapple while they are shopping. The advantage for the consumer is that the unprocessed pineapple can be processed within a relatively short amount of time by means of the device, after which the flesh of the fruit is packaged, so that the flesh of the fruit can be consumed directly and without the skin and core.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and an improved device in order to further stimulate the sale of the flesh of automatically cut pineapples. It is an additional object to provide a method and a device for filling containers relatively quickly and in a way which is user-friendly for a consumer, in which an end user can easily, hygienically and/or simply use the contents of the container without, for example, having to come into contact with the flesh of the pineapple, which is desirable from a hygienic point of view.

At least one of these objects is achieved in a first embodiment of the present invention by a method for packaging the flesh of an automatically peeled and de-cored pineapple, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

placing a container in a collecting position in such a way that the flesh is collected in the container on account of the force of gravity;

automatically positioning at least one closed capsule containing a filling at a predetermined position in the container in the collecting position.

The method according to the present invention makes it possible for the flesh of the processed pineapple, which has been stripped of the bottom, top, core and skin, and a closed capsule filled with a filling to be packaged together in one container. In this way, the demand by the market to offer pineapple together with a filling in a container can be met, so that it is possible to sell a ready-made product in one step. The product pineapple flesh and the contents of the capsule can be served, for example, as a dessert. The closed capsule can be opened by a user, for example by hand and be poured or shaken over the flesh of the pineapple. In addition, it is possible to dip the pineapple flesh into the capsule. By automatically positioning the capsule at a predetermined position in the container, it is in addition possible to provide a user-friendly end-product. In particular, by automatically positioning the capsule at the predetermined position in the container, it can easily and quickly be taken out of the container by a consumer. When serving the flesh, the filling from the capsule can then be combined with the flesh. In addition, the automatic positioning of the capsule in the container makes it possible to prevent or in any case to reduce the risk of a user having to come into contact with the flesh when gripping the capsule in order to remove it from the container, which is particularly desirable from a hygienic point of view. The predetermined position may be chosen such that an end user can take the capsule out of the container without having to come into contact with the flesh.

The container may be a cylindrical packaging, for example a cup, whose dimensions are adapted to the dimensions of the pineapple to be packaged. The height of the container is greater than the height of the pineapple without ends, preferably 10-35% greater. If desired, the container may be provided with a compartment intended for the at least one capsule. The compartment may be configured in such a way that pineapple flesh cannot enter the compartment during filling of the container, for example by means of a specific position of the compartment in the container outside the area where the flesh falls into the container. In addition, the compartment may (temporarily, for example only while filling the container with flesh) be covered in order to prevent flesh from falling into the compartment. By means of a guide mechanism or the like, it is also possible to cause the flesh to fall in such a way that the flesh does not fall into the compartment intended for the capsule.

After the closed capsule containing a filling, preferably sealed by a removable lip on lid, has been opened by hand by a consumer, the pieces of flesh can be dipped into the opened capsule containing a filling or the filling can be poured over the pieces of flesh from the opened capsule. The capsule is a casing, for example in the form of a sachet, small box or a tube.

It is also possible for more than one kind of filling to be contained in a single capsule, preferably in different, mutually separated compartments in the capsule. The compartments may be openable (by hand) independently from each other by a user.

In one embodiment, the capsule is positioned in the centre of the container, preferably in such a way that the axis of the capsule substantially coincides with the axis of the container and/or coincides with the axis of the de-cored and peeled pineapple.

The capsule may be cylindrical and its dimensions may be adapted to the dimensions of the automatically de-cored and peeled pineapple, with the maximum dimension of the cross section of the capsule preferably being smaller than the dimension of the cross section of the hollow space of the de-cored pineapple, that is to say the cross section of the capsule is for example 1-6 cm. The height of the cylindrical capsule is preferably greater than the height of the flesh in the container and/or smaller than height of the container. For example, the height of the cylindrical capsule is 10-30 cm. In this way, one end of the capsule can be supported by the bottom of the container, the side wall of the capsule can at least partly lie in the space created in the pineapple flesh by de-coring and the other end of the capsule which protrudes above the flesh can easily be gripped by a user without having to be in contact with the flesh in order to remove the capsule from the container. The type of filling or the amount of filling in the at least one capsule may be selectable, for example by a user, before the step of automatically positioning the at least one closed capsule in the container. In this way, a user is given greater freedom of choice based on the individual wishes of the user. In addition, the container may, if desired, be provided with more than one capsule, for example two capsules containing the same filling or, for example, a first capsule containing a sauce and a second capsule containing a topping. In addition, it is possible to select capsules with different volumes for selecting the desired amount of filling.

After a selection from different kinds of closed capsules has been made, the capsule with the selected filling can automatically be positioned in the predetermined position in the container.

The filling to be selected may be a product containing cocoa as raw material, such as, for example, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate and/or cocoa. The chocolate may be for example liquid chocolate. The filling to be selected may furthermore comprise a product which contains coconut as raw material and/or comprise sugar. The filling may be a syrup, for example.

In order to automatically position the capsule in an easily accessible and predetermined position in the container, the container may first be filled with the flesh, after which the at least one closed capsule containing a filling may automatically be positioned on the pineapple flesh in the container. The capsule which is situated on the flesh in the container can then be removed from the container by an end user in a hygienic manner without having to be in contact with the flesh. Between the step of filling the container with flesh and before positioning the capsule in the container, a separating member may furthermore be automatically positioned in the container in order to cover the flesh in the container, preferably the capsule is positioned on the side of the separating member facing away from the flesh. In this way, it is possible to provide a compartment in the container by means of the separating member, as a result of which the risk of a user coming into contact with the flesh when removing the capsule from the container can be reduced still further, which is particularly attractive from a hygienic point of view.

Furthermore, after the step of filling the container with flesh and automatically positioning the capsule at a predetermined position, the container can be automatically sealed, for example by means of a lid. In this way, the sealed container can be transported in a user-friendly way, for example without the risk of liquid, for example pineapple juice, leaking from the sealed container during transportation.

The present invention, and in particular the device for packaging the flesh of an automatically peeled and de-cored pineapple, in which the device is configured to carry out the claimed method steps, will be explained in more detail by means of a number of examples in the following figures, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of the device. Fig. 2 shows a top view of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of a filling mechanism for filling a capsule.

Identical parts are denoted by the same numerals in the figures.

Figs. 1 and 2 show a perspective view and a top view, respectively, of a device 1000 for packaging the flesh of an automatically peeled and de-cored pineapple and at least one capsule 101 containing filling. The device comprises a carrier 7 for carrying the pineapple to be processed. By means of the carrier 7, in this example embodied as a clamping unit, the pineapple to be processed, which has been inserted automatically or manually by a user, is moved towards a first processing unit 3 for removing the ends of the pineapple and to a second processing unit 5 for de coring and peeling the pineapple. The part of the device for automatically processing the pineapple, that is to say the peeling, the de-coring and any cutting operations to obtain pineapple flesh, optionally in a desired form, is known from WO 2014/184298, which is hereby incorporated by reference, so that the operation and the components for processing the pineapple of the device 1000 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 do not have to be repeated here, despite the fact that components in Figs. 1 and 2 for automatically processing the pineapple may differ slightly from the device shown in the figures of WO 2014/184298 with regard to details. Examples of these details which differ but do not affect the operation are the shape of the knives of the processing unit 3 and the design of the support in the form of the rails. In the device 1000, in order to ensure a short processing time of the pineapple in the device 1000, it is advantageous for the peeling and de-coring (removal of the core of the pineapple) to be performed automatically in a single step.

The flesh is collected in a container (see for example Fig. 1 of WO 2014/184298, reference numeral 159), whereas the ends, core and skin are collected in a refuse receptacle.

The device 1000 is provided with a transport mechanism 52 for automatically moving a capsule 101 from a storage position formed by a storage cassette 54 to a dispensing position above the container. The illustrated transport mechanism 52 comprises a vertical guide 56, an arm 58 and a capsule pick-up element 60 on the arm at the end of the arm 58 which is turned away from the vertical guide 56. The pick-up element 60 may be configured in such a way that it is movable in the directions illustrated by arrow P1 via the arm 58 by means of a moving mechanism (not shown). The arm 58 may be configured in such a way that it is movable in the vertical directions illustrated by arrow P2 via the guide 56 by means of a moving mechanism (not shown) and is rotatable with respect to the guide 56 in the directions illustrated by arrow P3. In this way, a capsule can be picked up from the storage cassette 54 by the pick-up element 60 and can be moved to a position for dispensing the capsule 101. By means of the pick-up element 60, the closed capsule 101 containing filling can automatically be positioned in the container at a predetermined or set position. The predetermined position is chosen such that an end user can remove the capsule from the container without having to come into contact with the flesh, which is desirable from a hygienic point of view.

The storage cassette 54 may contain capsules with the same content, but it is also possible for the storage cassette 54 to contain capsules with different content, for example capsules 101 A may contain a topping and capsules 101 B may contain a sauce, for example syrup or liquid chocolate. By means of an interface (not shown) of the device 1000, a user can select the desired capsule contents, following which this is put ready for the pick-up element 60 by means of the storage cassette 54 or, in the case of a passive storage cassette 54, the capsule selected by the user is taken from the storage cassette 54 by means of the pick-up element. In the illustrated embodiment, the pick-up element 60 also forms the dispensing mechanism, that is to say the transport mechanism 52 and the dispensing mechanism are incorporated in a single mechanism in the device 1000. In an alternative embodiment (not shown), it is in addition possible for the device 1000 to be provided with a separate dispensing mechanism by means of which the capsule can automatically be positioned in the predetermined position in a container in the collecting position.

From the storage cassette 54, the capsule 101 is moved to a position above and near the container by means of the transport mechanism 52. The pick-up element 60 may be a gripper mechanism or a suction cup, by means of which the capsules 101 can be picked up, following which the capsule 101 is placed in the container, for example by dropping the capsule under the effect of the force of gravity. The capsule may be placed before, during or after the pieces of flesh have been placed in the container. In the simplest embodiment, the capsule 101 is placed after the container has been filled with flesh.

The storage cassette 54 is positioned on the outside of the device 1000, so that it is readily accessible to an operator from outside in order to replenish it with capsules.

Fig. 3 diagrammatically shows a perspective view of a filling mechanism for filling a capsule 1101 with filling. This filling mechanism 1200 is usable in the device illustrated in Fig. 1. However, the storage cassette 54 then contains empty capsules which are filled and closed by means of the illustrated filling mechanism 1200. The transportation of an empty capsule in the device from the storage cassette 54 to the filling mechanism 1200 can be accomplished by the transport mechanism 52 illustrated in Fig. 1 (not shown in Fig. 2), in which the transport mechanism can also be used for automatically positioning a filled capsule in the container at the predetermined position. The capsule 1 101 is filled by means of a filling mechanism 1200. The filling mechanism 1200 comprises a pump 204, preferably electrically actuated, which moves the sauce, for example liquid chocolate, from a refillable and exchangeable supply reservoir 1202 to the capsule 1 101 by means of supply line 1204. After filling, the capsule 1 101 can be closed by means of the filling mechanism. The supply reservoir 1202 is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3, that is to say, normally this will be embodied larger than illustrated, in particular be larger than the capsule 1101.

In one embodiment (not shown), filling of the capsule 1 101 may take place before, during or after positioning of the capsule 1 101 in the container. This is possible, for example, by incorporating the filling mechanism in a dispensing mechanism (not shown).

In addition, the device 1000 may be provided with a separating member-supply mechanism (not shown) by means of which, between the step of filling the container with flesh and before positioning the capsule 101 ; 1101 in the container, a separating member, for example a plastic panel, may automatically be positioned in the container for covering the flesh in the container, wherein the capsule can be positioned in the container on the side of the separating member facing away from the flesh by means of the transport and dispensing mechanism 52. In this way, a compartment for the capsule can be provided in the container by means of the separating member, as a result of which the risk of a user coming into contact with the flesh when removing the capsule from the container can be reduced still further, which is desirable from a hygienic point of view.

Furthermore, the device may be provided with a container-closing mechanism for automatically sealing the container, for example by means of a lid, after the steps of filling it with the flesh and automatically positioning the capsule at a predetermined position.