SE2130094A1

SE2130094A1 - Hygienic covering of food counters

Info

Publication number: SE2130094A1
Application number: SE2130094A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Ing Jan Ruml
Original assignee: Rgt S R O
Priority date: 2020-06-17
Filing date: 2021-04-06
Publication date: 2022-03-28
Also published as: AT17557U1; HU5613U; FR3111530B3; CZ34270U1; FR3111530A3; PL72587Y1; DE202021102185U1; SE545537C2; PL130046U1

Abstract

:A hygienic covering of food counters for self-service catering of meals and food products is disclosed, consisting of vertically moving glass hood, arranged via its travel system above the counter body, the moving glass hood is fitted with a contactless control of its travel system, which, after the lifting of the glass cover to the upper position, comprises at least one optoelectronic sensor for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption by a movement of the hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system of presence sensors, connected together with the optoelectronic sensors to an electronic power supply switching circuit to the electrical drive of the travel system of the glass hood.

Description

Hygienic covering of food counters Technical field The technical solution pertains to hygienic covering of food counters for self-service cateringand food products, consisting of vertically moving glass hood arranged on a travel system abovethe counter body.

Background Food counters for self-serving of various meals and food products are nowadays increasinglypopular in public catering facilities including hotels, and during banquets, buffets, receptions,in large shopping centres, etc. Due to hygienic reasons the upper parts of these food counters inwhich the food products are placed are usually equipped with moving transparent, usually glasscovers or hoods allowing for self-service catering.

An example of so far one of the best solutions of such a glass covering is the glass hygieniccovering of food counters under patent specification CZ 307685, which consists of a verticallymoving glass hood, which is, through its travel system, placed in a frame superstructureassembled above the food counter space with the offered meals or food products. The travelsystem of this glass hood comprises at of at least one pair of opposite travel carts with diagonallyattached travel wheels with adjustable pressure that sit on inclined travel planes of their verticaltravel tracks and via a system of transfer pulleys they are mutually coupled by at least one wire.This may pertain to hygienic glass covering of cooled food counters offering e. g. various typesof salads, as well as food counters for self serving of hot meals.

Conceming cooled food counters, this may include e.g. the cooled food counter under the utilitymodel CZ 3ll54, which consists of an extemal housing with an upper space comprising anopen cooling box under which the lower cooling space is arranged for keeping food productsin at least one cooled closable compartment. The upper space with an open cooling box and thelower cooling space are mutually connected by circulating vents for the circulation of coolingmedium between these two spaces created within the partition, and under the open cooling boxin the upper space of the extemal housing on the partition between both spaces one commonevaporator is installed with a fan for parallel cooling of both spaces to the same temperature.

When it comes to food counters for self-service catering with hot meals, this may include e. g.the food counter under the utility model CZ 32388, which consists of an extemal housing withat least one heating box with water bath for storing stainless steel catering pans with theindividual meals, placed from above. Under the heating box the extemal housing contains atleast one fan, and around the heating box in the extemal housing there are air gaps directing theair ﬂow generated by the fan towards the bottom surface of the glass hygienic covering in itslower position, which prevents fogging. At the same time, under this bottom part of the glasshygienic covering there may be at least one infra-red radiator to heat up the space above theheating box in the upper position of the hygienic covering.

For the handling of these glass hygienic coverings, both in the case of the cooled food counters,as well as in the case of food counters for self service of hot meals, are usually fitted withhandles and to facilitate their manual operation also with counterweights to at least partially balance their weight. However, such manual handling presents a hazard ofcontamination with harrnful gerrns, especially in the case of epidemics. Although from theabove mentioned specification CZ 307685 a solution is known in which the framesuperstructure with travel system of the glass covering of the food counter is fitted with a sensoridentifying movement of persons within the area of the food display, and for automatic liftingor lowering of the glass hood by means of electric drive. In this case, however, there are oftenmany unnecessary lifts of the glass cover, as potential customers or any other random passers-by pass by the food counter, or just look at the displayed food without the intention to buy it.

Summa These disadvantages of the known state of technology are significantly eliminated by thehygienic cover of the food counter for self-served catering of meals and food products, whichconsists of vertically moving glass hood arranged on a travel system above the counter bodyunder the currently presented technical solution. The principle of this technical solution is basedon the fact that the moving glass hood is f1tted with contactless control of its travel system,which, for the lifting of the glass hood to the upper position, comprises at least oneoptoelectronic sensor for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption by a movement ofthe hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system of presence sensorsthat register the presence and movement of persons near the food counter. Both theoptoelectronic and presence sensors are connected to the electronic power supply switchingcircuit of the glass hood travel system.

It is usually fully sufficient, especially in one-sided food counters, to use one optoelectronicsensor in which a light beam is directed to freely accessible and marked place, e. g. by a stickerwith the symbol of a hand. By placing a hand above this point the emitted optoelectronic beamis interrupted, which activates the electrical drive of the travel system of the vertically movingglass hood, which lifts the glass hood to its upper position and holds it in this position until thepresence sensors detect that nobody is present at the food counter. The glass counter wouldretum back to its lower position spontaneously by means of gravity, while the electrical driveonly controls, i.e. retards, its downward movement to an optimal speed. In case of two-sidedfood counters it is naturally better to place the optoelectronic and presence sensors along bothsides.

The principle of the technical solution is further based in the fact that the electronic powersupply switching circuit of the glass hood travel system comprises a control unit of the electricaldrive, which is connected to the optoelectronic sensors; this control unit is further connected tothe control unit connected to the system of the presence sensors. With an advantage theelectronic power supply switching circuit of the glass hood travel system is also equipped withat least one safety sensor for stopping the movement of the glass hood and for directing itsmovement in the other direction, which is connected also to the control unit of the electricaldrive in order to prevent damage of the individual parts of the hygienic covering, andparticularly to prevent any potential injury of the customers.

The principle of the technical solution is also based in the fact that the electrical drive of thetravel system of the glass hood comprises, with an advantage, a linear electromechanicalactuator.

The hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving of various meals and food products, bythe individual technical solution, therefore represents a further improvement of similar countersand their coverings, allowing for contactless operation, as well as for a certain simplification oftheir design, as due to the solely electrical drive there is no need to use electromagnets to holdthe glass hood in its upper position, and there is no need to ensure an optimal balancing of itsweight by means of a system of counterweights.

Drawings The technical solution is further explained by the drawings of an example of two-sided designof the hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving catering of meals and food productsunder this technical solution, which presents: Fig. l -the assembly of the entire food counter with the hygienic coveringFig. 2 - hygienic covering in a disassembled state Fig. 3 - block diagram of contactless control of the hygienic covering Detailed description The hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving catering of meals and food productsconsists, as shown in Fig. 1 and 2, of the counter body 2, which is in this particular examplef1tted with an upper framework superstructure 2, in which its contactless controlled verticallymoving glass hood l is assembled on a travel system 2. The upper framework superstructure 2consists of two side stands Q and a top connecting crossbar Q.

The glass hood l, as shown mainly in Fig. 2, has a place Q marked with a sticker on its surfacein the central part, from both its sides, which def1nes the space of contactless control of themovement of the glass hood l, while on the bottom part of the upper connecting crossbar Q ofthe upper framework superstructure 2 there are optoelectronic sensors placed on bothlongitudinal sides í for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption in the direction ofthese spaces marked by the points í for activation of the movement of the glass hood l upwards.At the same time, in this example design, the top connecting crossbar Q of the upper frameworksuperstructure 2 on both its longer sides is fitted with a system of four ultrasound presencesensors Q for activation of the movement of the glass hood l downwards.

As roughly provided in Fig. 2, the travel system 2 of the vertically moving glass hood l consistsof two travel carts Q connected via vertical guide slot i in the side stands Q of the upperframework superstructure 2 by means of plastic side holders (no detail image shown) with theglass hood l. The travel carts Q are mutually coupled via the top connecting crossbar Q ofthe upper framework superstructure and a system of transfer pulleys Q by means of a steelwire Q with a counterweight ä attached to its free end, with adjustable weight, that allowsfor the movement of the glass hood l downwards by means of gravity. It is basically the travel _3_ system 2 that has already been known from the above mentioned specification CZ 307685, heref1tted with an electrical drive 1, which comprises a linear electromechanical actuator placedinside the upper connecting crossbar Q of the upper framework superstructure and controllingthe movement of the steel wire ä.

As also roughly provided in Fig. 2, the counterweight ä is f1tted with a safety sensor å forstopping the movement of the glass hood l and directing its movement in the opposite direction.

As shown in Fig. 3, the electrical drive 7 of the travel system 2 of the glass hood l is equippedwith an electronic switching circuit 6 of direct current, which consists of a control unit 6.1 ofthe electrical drive 1, which is connected to the optoelectronic sensors 4, while this control unitQ is further connected to the control unit Q connected to the system of the ultrasoundpresence sensors 5 and to the safety sensor å for stopping the movement of the glass hood l anddirecting its movement in the opposite direction.

In this particular case the design of the hygienic covering under the technical solution is doneon the above mentioned cooling food counter under the utility model CZ 3ll54, however itmay be used in other similar food counters intended also for self-served catering of hot meals.In general, the system of contactless control of a hygienic covering under this technical solutionmay be, with minor adjustments, used also in other designs of self-serving food counters andtheir moving coverings.

List of reference marks: l - glass hood 2 - travel system 2.l - wire 2.2 - transfer pulleys 2.3 - counterweights 2.4 - travel carts 3 - counter body 4 - optoelectronic sensor - presence sensor 6 - electronic switching circuit6.l - control unit 6.2 - control unit 7 - electrical drive 8 - safety sensor 9 - upper framework superstructure10 - side stands l0.l - guide slot ll -top connecting crossbar l2 - marked point.

Claims

1. Hygienic covering of food counters for self-service catering of meals and food products,consisting of vertically moving glass hood (l), arranged via its travel system (2) above thecounter body (3), Wherein the moving glass hood (l) is f1tted with a contactless control of itstravel system (2), which, after the lifting of the glass cover (1) to the upper position, comprisesat least one optoelectronic sensor (4) for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption bya movement of the hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system ofpresence sensors (5), connected together with the optoelectronic sensors (4) to an electronicpower supply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of the glasshood (l).

2. Hygienic covering of food counters according to claim 1, Wherein the electronic powersupply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of a verticallymoving glass hood (l) consists of a control unit (6.l) of the electrical drive (7), which isconnected to optoelectronic sensors (4), whereas this control unit (6. 1) is further connected tothe control unit (6.2), connected to the system of presence sensors (5).

3. Hygienic covering of food counters according to claims 1 and 2, Wherein the electronicpower supply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of avertically moving glass hood (1) also consists of at least one safety sensor (8) for stopping themovement of the glass hood (1) and directing its movement in the opposite direction, connectedto the control unit (6.l) of the electrical drive (7).

4. Hygienic covering of food counters according to at least one of the previously stated claims,Wherein the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of the glass hood (l) consists of a linearelectromechanical actuator.