Title of Invention

AN AUTOMATIC CONTINUOUS FOOD COOKER

Abstract

An automatic continuous food cooker comprising; an elongated cylindrical steam vessel (1) being horizontally positioned comprising of an elongated steam jacket (2) with double wall which has a semicircular bottom and houses a twin screw conveyor (3), a steam tunnel passage (4) being connected to the said steam vessel (1) through a sparger (5) running through the said steam vessel (1), a rotary valve with steam lock (6) for feeding the product into the said steam vessel, an outlet (7) of the said steam vessel (1) for discharging the product, a cover (8) being provided at the top of the said steam vessel (1) witch can be opened/closed, and said jacket (2) and the sparger (5) are supplied via a pipe (9) with steam as the heat source and steam being controlled via a solenoid valve (10), the said steam vessel (1) also being provided with a water inlet (11) being controlled by a mass flow controller (12), the said screw conveyor (3) and rotary valve (6) being connected to an electrical drive (13), at the outlet a conveyor system (14) with perforated mesh (15) is provided to separate the steam condensate/water from the cooked product, and a micro controller (16), explained with reference to Fig 2, controls the process parameters like steam inlet, water inlet and residence time through a device controller (17), the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor (18).

Full Text

The present invention relates to an automatic continuous food cooker. In particular for automatic continuous cokoking of grains, cereals, pulses and vegetables. Caterers, hotels and restaurants providing a large quantity of cooked products like rice, vegetables and dhal at a time, or in businesses preparing secondary preservable products from cooked products, a need for a system for cooking the product continuously but without damaging the taste and the flavor is kneely felt. Using this unit developed it is possible to cook rice continuously within a period of 20 minutes and the cooked rice will have all the required characteristics such as flavors, aroma and taste. Food products like rice and other grains or cereals are cooked in water, which is absorbed by the product as cooking proceeds. However, vegetables are coked directly in steam, without water. The cereals are boiled, steamed and heated again to evaporate surplus water and to obtain whole grain cooked product. Furthermore, the large scale cooking process is usually controlled by a chef, not by a food technologists and the process of cooking is regarged as an art not a science. Hence, the chefs control over the cooking condition depends on the degree of development of his skills and not on the use of scientific instruments. But the advent of automatic continuous cookers will make this culinary task much easier. This also shifts the skill from the chef on to the machine, which can be suitably incorporated. The two important variables in cooking of foods are the amount of water and the control of heating. The water to product ratio is important in keeping the cooked product from being either too hard or too soft. Controlled heating ensures that grains are lightly heated and cooked completely to the core of the grain. Catering is developing rapidly with the spread of lunch services in large firms and industries, central kitchens for chain restaurants and the lunch supply scheme for schools. Accordingly the present age requires large cooking plants, which are continuous, automatic and hygienic. Presently batch type or semicontineous rice cooking units using jacketed kettles heated by steams is adopted in institutional cooking. Since the texture varies between batches a uniform product as desired by the consumer cannot be consistently prepared. These units are labor oriented and are not economical when large-scale applications are envisaged. Due to batch type operation the hygiene is also poor. Hence the need arises for the development of a continuous cooking unit having a large capacity along with circumventing above defects. The consumer preference for the product namely fluffy individual grains with cooked flavors or optimally cooked vegetables without the loss of their integrity have to be achieved consistently in the large-scale unit. Under the above said constraints, it is advantageous if a device is made available for which food products can be cooked within a short period of time and the cooked products are continuously made available for mass consumption. Reference may be made to Japanese patent JP2147023 by Watanabe Kenji entitled "Automatic contineous rice cooker" dated 1990 -06-06. This invention relates to automatic and continuous rice cooking system, and more particularly to rice cooking. An automatic continuous rice-cooking device is composed of a long steaming pot, which has a screw conveyor at the end of which net shape conveyor is provided. A predetermined amount of rice is sequentially charged into the steam vessel wherein a predetermined amount of water is pooled. While the charged rice is gradually steamed and conveyed toward the terminal end of the vessel by the screw conveyor, the steaming process in which the starch is released from the rice and the gelatination process in which the released starch is gelatinized are conducted. The adsorption process in which the gelatinized starch is adsorbed in the rice once again is conducted in the vessel near the outlet. The rice thus cooked is discharged onto the duct from steam vessel outlet together with the cooking rice, dropped onto the net conveyor housed in the conveyor passaged in the form of a tunnel, and gradually conveyed toward the end. During conveying the rice is sprayed with hot water vapour both from the top and the bottom, during which time the remaining portion of said adsorption process and the fixing process in which the surface of the cooked rice gain is coated with gelatinized starch are conducted. The cooking juice discharged from the vessel outlet together with the cooked rice is retained in the sump provided below the duct. A portion of the cooking juice in the sump is sprayed on to the rice being conveyed from the end of the conveyor inside the tunnel passage, supplying gelatinized starch contained in the cooking juice on to the grain surface. The remaining portion of the cooking juice in the sump is returned to the vessel at its mid portion where the gelatination process shifts in to the adsorption process. Supplementing the cooking juice containing the gelatinized starch to ensure a sufficient supply of gelatinized starch during the adsorption process. The drawback of this system that, the process is dividing into three stages ofi gelatinizsition of starch, adsorption of starch and fixing of adsorbed starch. Accordingly, different sections and corresponding devices are assembled to make a Continuous cooker. The three different sections, a screw conveyor, a sump and a perforated conveyor system make the process too costly and the processing time is high. This may not be suitable for all type of food products like vegetables, cerjeals and may be suitable only for grains. Also, it may be difficult to control too ma^y sections to obtain a good product for different applications. The process is suitable for complete cooking and may not be suitable for different unit operations alike blanching and partial cooking as well. A prior art system available for continuously cooking the rice is disclosed, for Example, continuous gas rice cooker a Japanese Patent No. JP 2001299585 dated 2001-10-30 by Miyake Tadao and Yamamoto Akifumi. Most of the prior art designs available in the literature are variation of this design. The continuous gas rice cooker includes a plural number of rice cooking pans or pots, a transport means that transports continuously the plural number of rice cooking pans along a transport pass on a conveyor and a heating means arranged at an underside of the transport pass and comprising plural number of heat Sources to heat the rice cooking pans with a predetermined amount of heat. A tunnel is provided that defines a heating chamber by enclosing the conveyor and the heating source. The rice cooking pans are sequentially transported in the heatirtg chamber to heat the rice cooking pans in the heating chamber during transportation. Reference may be made to an Indian patent No. 189422 (951/DEL/94) dated 27-7-94 by Ramesh, M.N., Srinivasa Rao, P.N and Subbarao, V.N entitled "A continuous rice cooking unit". The continuous cooker has been developed for cooking rice within a short time and made available continuously which comprises of a screw conveyor with atleast twin screws housed in a chamber, the conveyor being fixed to the wall of the chamber, the chamber being jacketed for circulation of steam, the top cover of the chamber having an opening and being connected to a steam spreader housed inside the chamber and above the screws, the spreader provided with nozzles per sparging steam on to the screws, the chamber being also provided with an inlet and outlet for feeding raw rice and withdrawing the cooked rice respectively, the outlet being provided at the bottom of the chamber with a chute and the inlet provided at the top of the chamber connected to a feeder, a water inlet is also provided at the top of the chamber near the inlet of the rice, a rotary feeder being attached to the inlet so as to control the feeding of a raw rice into the chamber, the other end of the chamber being provided with hopper for control feeding of rice, the screws of the conveyor being connected to a variable speed drive in an approximate manner so as to rotate the screws. The drawback of the above system is that, it is not automatic and the parameters have to be controlled manually. Also, vegetables cannot be cooked with the existing setup. The device of present invention is illustrated with reference to Fig 1 and Fig -2 of the drawings accompanying this specification. The main objective of the present invention is to provide an automatic continuous food cooker. In particular for automatic continuous cokoking of grains, cereals, pulses and vegetables Another object of the invention is to provide a device for cooking any type of products like grains, cereals or vegetables. Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device wherein the cooking conditions are selected automatically but the control system based on the product being cooked. Stitl another object of the invention is to provide a device wherein the device can be suitably adopted for various heating operations like blanching, partial cooking or complete cooking, ready for consumption. Still another object of the invention is to provide a device can be suitably cleaned - in-place automatically at the end of the cooking cycle. Still another object of the invention is to provide a device wherein the cooking operation is done under hygienic conditions untouched by hand. Accordingly an automatic continuous food cooker comprising; a) an elongated cylindrical steam vessel (1) which is a horizontally positioned comprising of an elongated steam jacket (2) with a double wall which has a semicircular bottom and houses a twin screw conveyor (3), b) a steam tunnel passage (4), which is connected to the steam vessel (1) through a sparger (5) running through the steam vessel (1). c) a rotary valve with steam lock (6) for feeding the product into the steam vessel. d) an outlet (7) of the steam vessel (1) for discharging the product, and e) a cover (8) being provided at the top of the steam vessel (1) witch can be opened/closed, f) and said jacket (2) and the sparger (5) are supplied via a pipe (9) with steam as the heat source and steam being controlled via a solenoid valve (10), and g) the steam vessel (1) also being provided with a water inlet (11) h) and controlled by a mass flow controller (12), and i) the screw conveyor (3) and the rotary valve (6) are connected to an electrical drive (13), at the outlet a conveyor system (14) with perforated mesh (15) is provided to separate the steam condensate/water from the cooked product, and j) a micro controller (16), explained with reference to Fig 2. Controls the process parameters like steam inlet, water inlet and residence time through a device controller (17), the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor (18). In an embodiment of the device during operations the material is fed through the rotary valve, wherein the material is dosed into the steam vessel, for grains and cereal, pre-determined amount of water is continuously supplied into the vessel (1) from said inlet port (11). In an another embodiment of the device the twin screw conveyor (3) transports the product with water or without water towards the terminal end, the product is sequentially heated by the steam by the hot water vapor supplied into the jacket (2), as twin screws are used, the product is also simultaneously mixed and tumbled inside the steam vessel, facilitating uniform cooking of the product. Conventionally, water is used for cereals and grains and water is not used for vegetables. In an another embodiment of the device the cooked product is discharged out of the vessel onto a conveyor system, which separates the cooked product and excess water. In an another embodiment of the device the speed control of the motor is achieved through the micro controller by varying the duration of operation. The time of operation of the motor (residence time) is selected by the user through the micro controller. The block diagram of the entire setup is as shown in fig 2. In an another embodiment of the device the system comprises of a Data acquisition system (19), which receives analog signal from the temperature sensor (18). The data acquisition system consists of an 8- bit analog to digital converter, AD0809 and the digital signal is conveyed to the 8051 micro controller (20), which in term is interfaced to a LCD display (21), a keyboard unit (22) for user interface, a Digital Analog Converter (23), DAC0808. The DAC unit is interfaced with the AC drive (24) to control the motor (25). The micro controller (20) controls the operation of the solenoid valve (27) for steam inlet through an actuator interface (26). In an another embodiment of the device the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor is continuously acquired by the data acquisition system and sent out to the micro controller. This temperature value is compared with a preset value to operate the solenoid valve and thereby regulate the steam flow. The duration for which the motor is to be operated (residence time) is selected by the user. The residence time and temperature are displayed on the LCD display unit. The LCD display unit used here is ODM-16 216-2S, which is 16 characters, 2- line display. The voltage code corresponding to this user selected residence time will be calculated in the micro controller and sent to the DAC. This voltage is first amplified and then given to the drive (VFD) to run the motor. The VFD used here can be operated both in auto and manual modes. The frequency is maintained at 50 Hz and the voltage is varied to control the speed of the motor. The micro controller, which actually controls the speed of the motor, and thereby the residence time of the continuous cooker, is programmed such that the motor stops after the residence time has elapsed. However, there is also provision for manual control of the speed system through the micro controller. In this case the motor continuous to run at the specified speed until the user desires to stop through the keyboard. The micro controller is also programmed to provide the user with an automated product menu, such that the user chooses only the product and the appropriate residence time is automatically set. All the data for a particular unit operation and a specific product is built in to the system. In an another embodiment of the device the device is used for cooking grains, cereals or vegetables. In yet an another embodiment of the device the cooking conditions are selected automatically by the control system based on the product being cooked. In yet an another embodiment of the device the device is suitably adopted for various heating operations like blanching, partial cooking or complete coking, ready for consumption. The novelty of the system is that (1) Any type of product like grains, cereals, pulses or vegetables can be cooked. (2) The products can be cooked completely or partially or can also be blanched. (3) The products are processed under hygienic conditions untouched by hands. (4) The processing conditions are built in to the system and only the product and the unit operations have to be selected. (5) The extent of cooking can be suitably controlled through an elecfronic control system. EXAMPLE-1 10 kg of Sona masuri rice variety was soaked in water for 30 minutes and was continuously fed in to the rotary valve of the system through the hopper. The product on the control system was selected as rice. The operating conditions like water inlet, steam and residence time were automatically set by the controller. The stea^m was let in and the system was started. At the end of the set residence time, uniformly cooked rice was collected at the discharged end of the collecting conveyor. EXAMPLE-2 10 kg of Bangara therulu rice variety was soaked in water for 30 minutes and was continuously fed in to the rotary valve of the system through the hopper. The product on the control system was selected as rice. The operating conditions like water inlet, steam and residence time were automatically set by the controller. The steam was let in and the system was started. At the end of the set residence time, uniformly cooked rice was collected at the discharged end of the collecting conveyor. EXAMPLE-3 10 kg of diced carrot cubes (12 mm3) was continuously fed in to the rotary valve of the system through the hopper. The product on the control system was selected as carrot. The operating conditions like water inlet, steam and residence time were automatically set by the controller. The steam was let in and the system was started. At the end of the set residence time, uniformly cooked carrots were cdllected at the discharged end of the collecting conveyor., , , , , , We claim 1. An automatic continuous food cooker comprising; a) an elongated cylindrical steam vessel (1) being horizontally positioned comprising of an elongated steam jacket (2) with double wall which has a semicircular bottom and houses a twin screw conveyor (3), b) a steam tunnel passage (4) being connected to the said steam vessel (1) through a sparger (5) running through the said steam vessel (1), c) a rotary valve with steam lock (6) for feeding the product into the said steam vessel. d) an outlet (7) of the said steam vessel (1) for discharging the product, and e) a cover (8) being provided at the top of the said steam vessel (1) witch can be opened/closed, f) and said jacket (2) and the sparger (5) are supplied via a pipe (9) with steam as the heat source and steam being controlled via a solenoid valve (10), and g) the said steam vessel (1) also being provided with a water inlet (11) being controlled by a mass flow controller (12), h) the said screw conveyor (3) and rotary valve (6) being connected to an electrical drive (13), at the outlet a conveyor system (14) with perforated mesh (15) is provided to separate the steam condensate/water from the cooked product, and i) a micro controller (16), explained with reference to Fig 2, controls the process parameters like steam inlet, water inlet and residence time through a device controller (17), the temperature being sensed by a temperature sensor (18). 2. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1, wherein during operations the material is fed through the rotary valve, wherein the material is dosed into the steam vessel, for grains and cereal, pre-determined amount of water is continuously supplied into the vessel (1) from said inlet port (11). 3. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-2, wherein the twin screw conveyor (3) transports the product with water or without water towards the terminal end, the product is sequentially heated by the steam by the hot water vapor supplied into the jacket (2), as twin screws are used, the product is also simultaneously mixed and tumbled inside the steam vessel, facilitating uniform cooking of the product. 4. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-3, the cooked product is discharged out of the vessel onto a conveyor system, which separates the cooked product and excess water. 5. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-4, wherein the speed control of the motor is achieved through the micro controller by varying the duration of operation. 6. An automatic continuous food cooker claimed in claim 1, wherein the system comprises of a Data acquisition system (19), which receives analog signal from the temperature sensor (18). The data acquisition system consists of an 8- bit analog to digital converter, AD0809 and the digital signal is conveyed to the 8051 micro controller (20), which in term is interfaced to a LCD display (21), a keyboard unit (22) for user interface, a Digital Analog Converter (23), DAC0808. The DAC unit is interfaced with the AC drive (24) to control the motor (25). The micro controller (20) controls the operation of the solenoid valve (27) for steam inlet through an actuator interface (26). 7. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-6, wherein the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor is continuously acquired by the data acquisition system and sent out to the micro controller. 8. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-7, wherein the cooking conditions are selected automatically by the control system based on the product being cooked. 9. An automatic continuous food cooker as claimed in claim 1-9, wherein the device is suitably adopted for various heating operations like blanching, partial cooking or complete coking, ready for consumption.

Documents:

553-del-2004-Abstract-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-abstract.pdf

553-del-2004-Claims-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-Claims-(27-09-2013).pdf

553-del-2004-claims.pdf

553-del-2004-Correspondence Others-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-Correspondence Others-(27-09-2013).pdf

553-del-2004-correspondence.pdf

553-del-2004-Description (Complete)-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-description.pdf

553-del-2004-Drawings-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-drawings.pdf

553-del-2004-Form-1-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-Form-1-(27-09-2013).pdf

553-del-2004-form-3-(15-12-2011).pdf

553-del-2004-form1.pdf

553-del-2004-form2.pdf

553-del-2004-form3.pdf

553-del-2004-form5.pdf