CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] Benefit is claimed of US Patent Application Ser. No. 61/351,453, filed June 4, 2010, and entitled "Soft-Serve Confection Valve", the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as if set forth at length.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The disclosure relates to dispensing of frozen confectionary products such as soft-serve ice cream, ice milk, frozen yogurt, artificial substitutes therefor, and the like. More particularly, the disclosure relates to dispensing valves for dispensers of such product.

[0003] Frozen confection dispensing systems are commonly used in the food service industry. An exemplary system configuration comprises a cabinet containing a mixing vessel (e.g., hopper) for mixing the confection. From the mixing vessel, the confection passes to a freezing vessel (e.g., a freezing cylinder). An air pump may add air to the mix. A refrigeration system may refrigerate the confection in the mixing hopper and freeze the confection in the freezing cylinder (cooled to a frozen or semi-frozen state).

[0004] The cabinet may contain one or more stages of pumps for driving the confection from the vessel to a delivery head/valve assembly. An exemplary pump is positioned between the mixing upper and freezing cylinder, with a rotary action of the freezing cylinder acting as a further pump. An exemplary valve assembly is mounted on the front of the cabinet. The valve assembly typically has a downward-facing outlet for discharging the confection into a bowl, cup, cone, or the like. The valve may be manually-actuated (e.g., via a lever pivotable upward or downward about a transverse hinge axis from an off condition to a dispensing condition).

[0005] Variations include electrically-controlled valves. Other variations include multi-flavor cabinets which may utilize separate valves/outlets for each flavor or which may have a selectorized valve system for alternative (and/or mixed) feeding of each flavor to a common outlet.

SUMMARY

[0006] One aspect of the disclosure involves a valve assembly for dispensing a confectionary product. The assembly has an inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet. The assembly has a valve member shiftable between: a first condition providing communication between the inlet and the first outlet; and a second condition providing communication between the inlet and the second outlet.

[0007] In variation implementations, in the first condition, the valve element may block communication between the inlet and the second outlet. In the second condition, the valve element may block communication between the inlet and the first outlet. The valve element may have a third condition blocking communication between the inlet and both the first outlet and second outlet. The assembly may further include an actuator coupled to a valve element and manually engagable by a user to shift the valve element between the first condition and the second condition. The actuator may comprise a lever. The lever may be shiftable from a neutral condition (e.g., associated with said valve element third condition) to respective first and second lever conditions to respectively shift the valve element to the valve element's first and second conditions.

[0008] Other aspects of the disclosure involve a product dispensing system comprising a cabinet having a front. A source of the confectionary product is within the cabinet. The valve assembly is mounted on the front and has its inlet coupled to the source. The system may be combined with the confectionary product. The confectionary product may be a frozen confectionary product. The source may comprise a refrigeration system.

[0009] The dispensing system may be manufactured by removing a single-outlet valve assembly and replacing the single-outlet valve assembly with the present valve assembly.

[0010] The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a front view of a soft-serve freezer.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a right side view of the freezer of FIG. 1.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a left side view of a valve assembly of the freezer of FIG. 1 in a neutral position with a selector in a cone/pour position.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the valve assembly of FIG. 3.

[0015] FIG. 5 is a partial top view of the valve assembly of FIG. 3.

[0016] FIG. 6 is a front view of the valve assembly of FIG. 3.

[0017] FIG. 7 is a rear view of the valve assembly of FIG. 3.

[0018] FIG. 8 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the valve assembly, taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

[0019] FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the valve assembly.

[0020] FIG. 10 is a front view of the valve assembly in a neutral position with the selector in an injection/fill position.

[0021] FIG. 11 is a partial top view of the valve assembly of FIG. 10.

[0022] FIG. 12 is a vertical sectional view of the valve assembly of FIG. 10, taken along line 12-12.

[0023] FIG. 13 is a view of the valve assembly in an extrusion/pouring condition.

[0024] FIG. 14 is a vertical/longitudinal sectional view of the valve assembly in an injection orientation.

[0025] FIG. 15 is a partial view of an alternate valve assembly having an alternate injection probe.

[0026] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] FIGS. 1&2 show a soft-serve freezer 20 which is formed as a modification of an existing model C708 Soft-Serve Freezer of Taylor Company (a division of Carrier Commercial Refrigeration, Inc.) of Rockton, Illinois. However, other freezers may be similarly modified (including other general configurations and multi-flavor or other variations on the illustrated or other configuration). The freezer comprises a cabinet 22 having a front 24, a back 26, a base or bottom 28, a top 30, and respective left and right sides 32 and 34. An upper portion of the cabinet front is formed by a panel 36 to which a dispensing valve assembly 38 is mounted. The exemplary top includes a removable cover/lid 40. The lid 40 covers a mixing hopper 42 for receiving and mixing the confection or its ingredients (e.g., having an agitator 44 (driven for rotation about an axis 500) and having an air injection pump 46).

[0028] A refrigeration system 50 (e.g., a compression-expansion cycle) is provided to refrigerate the confection in the hopper. A freezing cylinder 52 is located between the hopper 42 and the valve assembly 38. The freezing cylinder contains a beater assembly 53 (driven for rotation about an axis 502). The refrigeration system includes appropriate heat exchangers to cool the hopper 42 and freezing cylinder 52 to appropriate temperatures and maintain them. The heat absorption heat exchangers (which absorb heat in the normal mode (as distinguished from defrost mode, cleaning mode, or pasteurization mode)) may be integrated with the hopper 42 and cylinder 52. A compressor of the refrigeration system is schematically shown as 54, a normal mode heat rejection heat exchanger as 56, its associated fan as 58, and an expansion device as 60.

[0029] The exemplary valve assembly 38 serves as a door which closes the downstream end of the freezing cylinder. The exemplary valve assembly 38 is mounted via hand-actuated screws 62 to permit removal and reinstallation for system cleaning. FIGS. 3-8 show details of the valve assembly 38. The valve assembly includes a door/valve body 64 (FIG. 3) which may be machined of an alloy (e.g., food-grade stainless steel) or molded of a food-grade plastic (e.g., VALOX 315 polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) of GE Plastics. A baffle assembly 66 extends from an aft face/surface 68 of the body 64. The door/valve body 64 includes an inlet 70 (FIG. 8) for receiving the confection from the freezing cylinder and an outlet 72 for dispensing the confection into bowls, cups, cones, and the like. The exemplary valve assembly 38 is a manually-actuated valve which the user may actuate via rotating a lever 74 (e.g., via a handle 76 at a distal end of a lever arm (driving arm) 78) about a lever axis 510. The lever, in turn, controls movement of a piston-like valve member (element) 80 within a vertical bore (valve compartment) 82 of the valve body 64. FIG. 8 further shows the baffle 66 mounted to a central boss 84 along the rear of the valve body 64. The baffle 66 is concentrically received within the beater/scrapper assembly (53 of FIG. 2). A nozzle/cap 85 (FIG. 8) may be secured to the body at the outlet 72. For example, there may be snap-fit engagement with an outwardly open channel and an outlet boss 86. The cap may have an interior surface of a cross-section selected to provide a desired extrusion profile (e.g., a star-shaped cross-section or a fluted cross-section). When present, the downstream rim 87 of the cap may alternatively be regarded as forming an outlet.

[0030] As so far described in this section, the system may represent any of a number of existing baseline systems (although the present principles may be applied to other systems as well). In the system 20, however, the outlet 72 is a first outlet and the system further includes a second outlet 90 (FIG. 8). The second outlet 90 may be used to inject the confection into pastry, baked goods, and the like (collectively a "food product") rather than merely pour or vertically extrude the confection into an open container such as a cup, bowl, cone, or the like. The exemplary second outlet 90 is at the distal end of a narrow probe or sting 92 having a proximal end portion 94 is mounted to the valve body (e.g., threaded or snap-fit into a cross-bore 96 having an opening 98 along the vertical bore 82). The exemplary probe 92 (FIG. 9) has a pair of axially-extending, diametrically opposite, through-slots 100 extending to the proximal rim 102. This allows the opposite sides of the proximal portion to be compressed toward each other to insert and extract the probe. To provide a detented retention of the probe, at an axial position along the slot and relatively near its base, the exemplary probe includes a circumferential rib 104 which engages a complementary circumferential channel 106 (FIG. 8) in the cross bore. The exemplary outlet 90 formed at the distal rim 108 is oriented at an angle θι off radial. To facilitate piercing, exemplary θι is other than 0° (e.g., 30-60°). This leaves a longitudinal extreme 110 of the distal rim 108 angled for piercing into the food product. Whereas the exemplary axis 512 is essentially vertical (e.g., within 20°, more narrowly within 10°) of vertical, the exemplary probe extends well-off vertical, with a central longitudinal axis 513 of the probe is at angle θ ₂ off-vertical (e.g., 30-60°). An exemplary sting is of a molded food-grade plastic (e.g, polypropylene).

[0031] Relative to the baseline single-outlet valve assembly, the valve body, valve element, and/or actuator may be further modified to shift the valve element 80 along the valve/bore axis 512 between a first condition (a "pouring" or "drawing" condition), providing communication between the inlet 70 and the first outlet 72; a second condition (an "injecting" condition) providing communication between the inlet 70 and the second outlet 90; and a third (off or neutral) condition blocking communication between the inlet and both the first outlet and second outlet. In the first condition, the valve element blocks communication between the inlet and the second outlet; and in the second condition, the valve element blocks communication between the inlet and the first outlet. As is discussed further below, from the neutral condition (intermediate position/orientation of the lever of FIG. 8), the respective first and second conditions are provided by rotating the handle downward (clockwise as viewed in FIG. 8) and upward

(counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 8) about the axis 510. The rotation may be facilitated by mounting a pivot aperture 120 of the lever on an axle 122 extending through the sidewalls of a channel 124 of the body 64. The exemplary axle 122 is formed as the longer of the two legs of a J-shaped main selector pin 126 (FIG. 5). The pin 126 has a shorter leg 128 joined to the longer leg 122 by a loop end (180° turn) 130. As is discussed further below, the pin 126 combines with a secondary pin 132 to form a moving member or selector 133 of a selector or locking mechanism 134. The moving member is shiftable between first and second conditions (via a bi-directional shift 513) respectively blocking movement of the lever to the lever second and first conditions (but permitting movement to the lever first and second conditions).

[0032] As is discussed further below, FIG. 5 shows the locking mechanism 134 in its first condition which permits rotation of the lever from the neutral/off condition to the first condition. As noted above, the lever first condition is associated with discharge of confection from the first outlet 70 as is typically associated with filling an ice cream cone or the like. Accordingly, in the first condition of the locking mechanism 134 an associated indicia 136 (FIG. 6) is visible. The exemplary indicia 136 is the word "CONE" on the axle/leg 122 immediately to the loop end 130 side of the adjacent first wall (right side wall) 138 of the channel 124 (which has a second wall (left side wall) 139). The exemplary secondary pin 132 is L-shaped, having a foot 140 mounted to a second end portion 142 of the axle/leg 122. The secondary pin 132 has a leg 146 which extends along an axis 514 to an end 148. In the selector first condition, the leg 146 (FIG. 8) blocks movement of the lever 74 toward the lever second condition via contacting the underside of a valve actuation arm (driven arm) 150 of the lever 74. To shift between conditions, the selector 133 may be laterally shifted (e.g., to its second condition shown in FIG. 10). In this condition, a second indicia 160 (e.g., "FILL") along the axle/leg 122 moves out from the second wall 139 and becomes visible on the side of the channel 124 opposite the loop end 130 of the pin 126. During this shift, the first indicia 136 becomes concealed behind the first wall 138. In this condition, the leg 146 and end 148 are clear of the driven arm 150 but the second leg 162 of the pin (extending to an end 164) now blocks movement of the lever toward the lever first condition (e.g., via cooperating with a stop arm 166 of the lever) (e.g., via an adjustable stop 168 (FIG. 8)). Exemplary materials for the pins are stainless steel.

[0033] Turning to FIG. 8, the exemplary valve member 80 is seen as comprising a lower portion 180 and an upper portion 182 coaxially secured along the axis 512 (e.g., via threaded engagement). The exemplary lower portion is formed of metal (e.g., MIL-A-8625 anodized aluminum alloy) while the exemplary upper portion is formed of a plastic (e.g., CELCON M90 acetal copolymer from Ticona, a division of Celanese Corporation or DELRIN

polyoxymethylene plastic from E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company). The upper portion 182 has radial through aperture 184 across which a pin 186 extends. The pin is captured in an end yoke 188 of the driven arm 150 so that rotation of the lever 74 is converted to vertical movement of the valve member with the pin 186 sliding within the open channel 190 of the end yoke.

[0034] The exemplary lower portion 180 has a series of grooves/channels in its lateral periphery 192. As is discussed further below, an intermediate circumferential channel 194 functions to pass flow from the inlet 70 to the sting when the valve assembly is in its second condition. Immediately above the channel 194 are a pair of circumferential channels 196 which each carry an O-ring to seal the valve member to the bore. Above these channels is a channel 200. In the neutral condition, the channel 200 is aligned with an inwardly-open shallow channel 202 in the bore 82. This allows an additional O-ring carried by the channel 200 to cooperate with the channel 202 to detent the action of the valve mechanism at the neutral condition. Below the channel 194, and immediately above the lower end/face 204 of the valve element, is a channel system 210 (FIG. 9) comprising upper and lower annular grooves 211 , 212 and four axial grooves 213 which receives an elastomeric seal 214 having corresponding upper and lower rings 215, 216 and four axial legs 217 joining those rings. This seal 214 provides a full seal of the inlet 70 in the neutral condition. In this condition, one of the vertical seal legs seals against a vertical guard portion 220 (FIG. 8) which extends along the inlet 70. The guard 220 helps prevent any object entering through the outlet 72 from, in turn, getting into the beater assembly.

[0035] With the locking mechanism 134 in its first condition, the lever handle may be rotated downward to its first condition. This downward rotation raises the valve element (e.g., to the FIG. 13 condition wherein the end of the adjustable stop 128 has contacted an adjacent portion of the valve body). This permits a flow 230 of the product to enter the inlet 70 from the freezing cylinder and exit the outlet 72. In this condition, the valve lower member lower face 204 has raised partially above a port 232 in the bore 82 formed at either side of the guard 220. The seals, however, still block an upper portion of the port 232.

[0036] For use of the secondary outlet 190, the lever may be returned to the neutral condition and the locking mechanism shifted to its second condition. Thereafter, the lever handle may be rotated upward (FIG. 14) causing a further downward movement of the valve member. In this condition, the channel 194 comes into registry with both the cross bore opening/port 98 and an upper portion of the port 232, thereby allowing a flow 240 to pass through the inlet 70.

[0037] FIG. 15 shows an alternate variation which may be otherwise similar to the system described above. However, this variation replaces the snap-in probe with a nipple 300 (e.g., machined stainless steel) threaded into the cross bore. The nipple has a tapering distal portion 302 which can receive the proximal end of a straw 304 (e.g., non-metallic such as extruded polypropylene or other plastic). For example, a proximal end portion of the straw may be stretched over the nipple. FIG. 15 shows the straw 304 in solid line prior to insertion and in broken line as 304' in installed condition. The straw has a distal end 308 forming the outlet and which may be cut at an angle. An exemplary off-radial angle θι is other than 0° (more narrowly at least 30°, 30-60°, or an exemplary 45°). This facilitates the straw to be economically made (e.g., via making alternate cuts in a continuous straw: one cut at a 90° angle off-axial (0° off-radial, more broadly, 0-30° off-radial), to form the proximal end 306 of two straws and the next cut at the 45° angle to form the distal ends of two straws). Thus, the straw 304 may be more economically made than the probe 92 and thus may more economically be disposed of (e.g., disposed and replaced at a more frequent interval than the probe 92 (e.g., replaced with every injected product or batch thereof)).

[0038] Manufacturing methods and materials may otherwise be the same as those of any baseline system. Similarly, use parameters of the baseline system may otherwise be the same.

[0039] Although an embodiment is described above in detail, such description is not intended for limiting the scope of the present disclosure. It will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, when implemented in the engineering of an existing system configuration or the remanufacturing of an existing system, details of the existing system or configuration may influence or dictate details of the particular implementation. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.