WO2001050878A2

WO2001050878A2 - Method and apparatus for manufacturing edible ice products of the folded sandwich type

Info

Publication number: WO2001050878A2
Application number: PCT/DK2001/000028
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ulrik Vagn Petersen; Per Henrik Hansen
Original assignee: Tetra Laval Holding & Finance S.A.
Priority date: 2000-01-14
Filing date: 2001-01-15
Publication date: 2001-07-19
Also published as: AU2001226644A1; WO2001050878A3

Abstract

For the formation of ice-cream elements of the 'Taco (folded sandwich) type', it is known to use pre-produced ice elements as the folding tool for heated waffle items, which are folded down to cover a bottom area of two side areas of the ice elements. However, there are problems associated herewith, and with the invention it is realised that there is a distinctly better method of folding the waffle items down over fixed forming blocks, and thereafter to fill out the cavity in the folded waffle items by the injection of an ice mass into the cavity.

Description

Method and apparatus for manufacturing edible ice products of the folded sandwich type.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of edi- ble ice products of the so-called "taco-shell" type, i.e. mainly semi-circular ice element which on a long side and on both surfaces are covered with a corresponding folded element of a crisp edible material such as a waffle. This is a pre- baked, flat item which by hitherto-known industrial technique is heated for softening and thereafter brought over a slot- formed matrix opening with a breadth which is slightly greater than the cross-sectional thickness of the ice element, in that this element, standing upright, is then pressed down into the matrix opening during the introduction of the waffle, which is hereby automatically folded up for covering of the bottom edge surface and broad sides of the ice element .

The remaining edge surfaces of the ice element are hereby left uncovered, and it is already known that precisely these relatively narrow edge surfaces can be dipped in a chocolate bath for the formation of a "closing border" for a chocolate coating. In practice, this normally involves only a single edge surface, in that the item appears semi-circular in shape, whereby the free edge surface has an arcuate form which enables edge dipping to be effected by a turning movement of the item with this secured at a suitable distance in height in relation to the surface of the bath.

Moreover, it is also customary and almost a necessity that the ice element in itself appears with a coating of chocolate or a closely related material, in that it is well- known that the surface of an edible ice which abuts directly up against a waffle surface will give rise to a distinct reduction of the crispiness of the waffle material, whereby the overall product becomes less attractive. With products of the present type, there is no technical problem involved in achieving such a separation between the ice element and the waffle material, sine it is already a well-known technique to provide the ice element with a chocolate coating by a simple dipping operation.

However, it will hereby be difficult or simply irrelevant to limit the chocolate coating of the ice element to the plane surfaces at its bottom and side surface areas, the reason being that this covering will quite naturally also be ex- tended to apply also for the said arcuate edge surface of the ice element. However, this will involve that the whole of this edge surface in the end product will be covered by two layers of chocolate, i.e. partly the ice element's own coating and partly by the said additional edge-closing layer, which in practice means an unnecessary over-consumption of chocolate mass.

With the present invention it has been found that the necessary supply of the chocolate layer can be arranged in a more expedient manner, i.e. by dosing out e.g. by spraying out directly on the waffle item before this item is introduced to receive the ice element. It will hereby be possible to completely dispense with the use of a dipping station for the ice items themselves, since the contact surfaces of these with the waffle items will thus in any case comprise an in- termediate layer of chocolate, regardless of whether this appears on the waffle item and not on the ice element. Precisely hereby it becomes possible for the overall product to be exposed to an edge dipping later, by which a single layer of coating mass can be applied along the arcuate edge. With the said known method, use is made of a production conveyor which is composed of transversely arranged support slats with matrix holes, over which the waffle items are laid out on the conveyor, which thereafter carries them through a heating zone in which they are heated to a necessary soften- ing temperature of 100-120°. Thereafter, the already chocolate-coated ice elements are introduced, which thus together with the softened waffle items are pressed down into the matrix holes for the folding of the waffle items up along the plane sides of the ice elements. Regardless of whether or not the waffle items are thoroughly softened by the said temperature, after the matrix forming they can nevertheless have a tendency to deflect out from the sides of the ice element, and for this reason they must be stabilised in their folded- up position. With the known technique, this is carried out by the conveyor, after the matrix forming, being fed further through a cooling zone in which the waffle items are stabilised in their folded-up state by simple cooling. This is simple enough, but it requires a rather extended and herewith expensive production conveyor with associated heating and cooling zones, and also a special upwards-displacement arrangement at the discharge end of the cooling zone.

An example of a relevant, known forming principle is disclosed in US 5,709,898, where it is characteristic that it is precisely the ice elements which are used as folding-up forms for the waffle shells. In practice, however, experiments with this principle in connection with high-capacity production have not proved to be particularly successful, in that it is difficult to ensure the necessary good contact between the sides of the ice elements and the shell surfaces via the chocolate coating.

With the invention it has been realised that it is possible to achieve considerably improved results by making use of a changed forming principle in connection with the said ap- plication of the chocolate mass on the already-formed waffle shells, and by controlled injection of the ice mass for the formation of the ice element while using this element as the folding-up form. There is hereby used a folding method by which the supplied, pre-baked waffle items are fed through a heating zone supported partly on conveyed, central carrier blocks, and partly on opposing slide surfaces at the sides. In the transport direction, the slide surfaces slope downwards in relation to the movement path of the carrier blocks, whereby the waffle items, softened by the heating, bend downwards at the sides under their own weight. Thereafter, this bending down at the sides is brought to completion by a forming tool from above.

Thereafter, the shell item formed on the carrier block is gripped for feeding to a processing station in which means are provided for the application of hot chocolate mass on the internal sides of the waffle shell, and subsequently to a second station in which a filling-out injection of ice mass into the cavity of the shell is effected in a controlled man- ner. Hereafter, the earlier-discussed application of a chocolate coating is carried out on the exposed edge surface of the ice element and the free edges of the shell element.

In that the ice mass is introduced by injection, i.e. as a viscous mass, into the cavity which is formed by the newly chocolate-coated inner sides of the shell element, perfect conditions are achieved for an effective binding of the ice mass to the waffle shell via the chocolate mass, which is an important quality criterion.

It has proved that the actual folding-up technique dis- closed here has earlier been proposed for the formation of a deviating type of taco shell, i.e. pre-baked shells for detail distribution with the view to individual filling at the consumers, corresponding e.g. to the use of pita-bread. Such a forming and baking technique is disclosed in US 3,680,474 and DE-A-2, 250, 700. It is characteristic that there are hereby produced shell elements which, after folding-up, are finally-baked with a slightly open form upwards, so that they are suitable for stacking together with the view to distribution in detail packaging. With the invention, on the other hand, what are involved are items which are rich in sugar which shall not be baked further after the heat folding and, since they are filled out already in the production phase, neither are they required to be stacked into one another. Therefore, it is directly desirable that they are supplied from the production with substantially plane parallel sides to enable a compact stacking together of the finished items, and in accordance with the invention it is perfectly possible to form the items precisely in this manner.

It should be noted that the actual products, i.e. the ice-filled taco shells, normally appear with such a distinct thickness, preferably 1-3 cm, that technically seen it will not be particularly problematic to arrange the necessary means for effective internal application of the chocolate mass, preferably by spraying-on from suitable nozzle equipment, and subsequent injection of the ice mass for controlled filling of the folded-up sugar waffle items.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which

Fig. 1-3 are views of a folding station in a plant according to the invention, seen from above, from the side and from the end respectively.

Fig. 4 is a side view of a plant unit for further trans- port, and

Fig. 5 is an end view of a detail therein.

In figs. 1-3 the pre-baked waffle items 4 are fed through a preferably infra-red heating zone 36 by means of central carriers 40 on a drive chain 38, while the outer areas of the items 4 are supported underneath and slide on adjacent outer support surfaces 42 which have upright outer guide rails 43. The carriers 40 are disposed at the rear end of respective block elements 44 which constitute lower bending tools for the waffle items 4.

As will be seen in fig. 2, the support surfaces slope downwards along the last part of the heating zone (to the right) , namely to allow the now hot and soft waffle items 4 to begin to fold down under their own weight on both sides of the blocks 44. Thereafter, the blocks 44 are fed to a folding station in which an upper folding tool 46 shaped as an inverted U is fed down over the already partly folded-down item 4, whereby the folding-down of this item is brought to completion.

The item is then fed further through a cooling zone 48 for the stabilisation of the bent shape, and from here further to a gripping station in which the U-shaped folded item is transferred to a suitable gripping arrangement 50 which carries the item to two further stations which are quite important for the process, i.e. first an arrangement for the spraying of chocolate mass on the inner sides of the folded waffle item, and thereafter an arrangement for controlled in- jection of ice mass for the filling out of the cavity in the waffle item. The spraying of the chocolate mass can be effected by a simple nozzle system, preferably merely by soft spraying up from a riser pipe 52, fig. 4, whereby the hot chocolate mass distributes itself of its own accord on the inner sides of the passing waffle item, with possibility of dripping-off to an underlying tray 54. The mass can be pumped up from this tray, which can receive supplementing mass via a pipe 56.

Thereafter, a turning of the items is effected during a drying and cooling sequence, e.g. with a duration of only ap- prox. 1 minute, and the turned items are then fed through an ice supply station 58 where they pass an injection nozzle 60 which, in a known manner, can be controlled for the depositing of the ice mass up to the desired height. It is hereby possible to carry out the filling of the folded-up shells with precisely the relevant amount of ice.

Use is made of a gripping arrangement 50 which, by cooperation with the opposing outer sides of the waffle items, stabilises these against folding out when the injection takes place. With this injection, the ice mass is brought against the still hot chocolate mass, whereby a fully satisfactory binding is achieved between the waffle, the chocolate and the ice. Thereafter, the products are fed through a freezing zone for stabilisation of the injected ice mass, and finally there is effected the chocolate coating of the arcuate edge surfaces of the products as discussed above.

For this aspect of the invention, it is of special sig- nificance that it is not the ice element but a separate folding tool which is used for the folding-up of the waffle item.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. Method for manufacturing edible ice products of the Taco-type (folded sandwich), which appear as a block ice ele- ment which along a straight edge is in contact with a plate element of a crisp edible material such as a waffle which is folded up into a U-shape along both of the adjacent side surfaces of the ice element, preferably with a separating layer of chocolate between the ice element and the waffle item, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that in the heated, pliant condition, the waffle item is conveyed to a folding station in which on a forming block with a thickness corresponding to the ice element it is folded to said U-shape, after which the block ice element is formed by the injection of a viscous mass into the cavity of the thus folded waffle item, preferably after active cooling of this and after the spraying of a chocolate mass on the inner side of the folded waffle item.

2. Method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t er i s e d in that for the transport of the waffle items through a heating zone, use is made of a chain of forming blocks over which the waffle items are placed with both sides extending out from both sides of the respective blocks, where these extending parts are supported underneath on fixed slide surfaces which are not continued into the folding station, whereby the softened waffle elements are freed for natural bending-down of the extending parts, in that this bending- down is furthered by use of an overlying folding tool with opposing, downwards-extending side parts for the forcing-down of the sides of the waffle item.

3. Method according to claim 2, c h a r a c t er i s e d in that the now folded waffle items are conveyed further through a cooling zone to a station for the spraying of hot chocolate mass on the inner side of the waffle items, and thereafter to a station for the injection of ice mass against the still warm chocolate mass.

4. Method according to claim 1, where the waffle items are basically circular in shape, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the injection of the ice mass into the folded waffle items is controlled in such manner that the resulting, substantially semi-circular waffle items are filled out in the formation of a correspondingly semi-circular ice-cream element in the cavity in the waffle item.

5. Plant for the execution of the method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it comprises an endless chain structure of forming blocks which are conveyed through a heating zone with their upper sides lying flush with fixed support surfaces on both sides of the chain, and thereafter through a folding station in which there are no fixed support surfaces, and in which an upper folding tool (46) has downwards-extending side parts which can be moved downwards and upwards for the folding-down of extending side parts on the waffle items transported on the forming blocks, and further through a gripping station in which the folded waffle items are gripped for removal from the forming blocks for further transport to a station for the application of hot chocolate mass on the inner side surfaces of the waffle items, and thereafter for injection of ice mass into the cav- ity in the waffle items for the filling out of these with respective ice elements.