DE20003635U1 - Device for producing round dough pieces of the same size - Google Patents

Description

_. . . . .,. , . D-821lOGermering

Dipl.-Ing. A. v. Kirschbaum Bahnhofplatz

Patent attorney telephone: (089) 89 42 73

Attorney file:EB-2100G

Eberhardt Bakery Technology GmbH

Seeholzenstrasse 8

82166 Graefelfing

Device for producing equal-sized round dough pieces

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The invention relates to a device for producing round dough pieces of equal size according to the preamble of claim 1.

In a device for the continuous production of round and/or square dough pieces with the same volume or weight, dough is pressed from a funnel through a main chamber by means of a main piston into sub-chambers arranged in series in the casing of a drum and whose volume can be continuously adjusted. In the production of round dough pieces, the dough pieces in the sub-chambers are rounded by a rounding device which carries out an eccentric circular rounding movement tangentially from the outside against the drum.

In devices of this type, as known for example from DE 29 43 088 C2, DE 28 53 270 C2, the rounding is carried out by a knitting device using a knitting plate in the area of the upper vertex of the drum. In a device known from EP 0 449 840 B1, the rounding is carried out by a knitting device with a knitting belt in the upper vertex of the drum. In a device according to DE 31 23 200 A1, the partial chambers are formed in a carriage which is moved vertically. The rounding is carried out either with a knitting plate arranged vertically in front of it or, as in DE 31 23 200 A1, with a knitting belt arranged vertically in front of it.

A disadvantage of these known devices is that the dough pieces lie in the partial chambers during the kneading process and must be pressed against the kneading plate by the partial chamber base, which can be adjusted in its position relative to the kneading plate, in order to maintain the friction between the dough and the kneading plate; this is absolutely necessary in order to form an approximately round dough ball.

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum Il *, ,1 I '..JJJi Attorney file: EB-210OG

Furthermore, in the known devices, the dough pieces to be shaped into rounds are pushed back and forth in the dividing chambers in a relatively uncontrolled manner by a shaping plate or a shaping belt. A shaping result such as the ideal result achieved with a knife star dough dividing and shaping machine is not achieved. The final position or positioning of the dough pieces in the dividing chambers and the subsequent transfer of the rounded dough pieces to downstream conveyor belts is also more or less uncontrolled, which has a particularly unfavorable effect on continuous further processing.

All of the above-mentioned devices or volume dividers with sub-chambers also have in common that the sub-chambers in the drum shell or on the carriage surface are arranged at a relatively large distance from one another due to the previously usual, generally hexagonal or round base area of the sub-chambers, so that in relation to the opening of the main chamber in relation to the sub-chambers in a drum or carriage, the spaces between the sub-chambers form a large area onto which the dough is pressed and thus squeezed by the main piston when filling the sub-chambers. This changes the structure of the dough in a way that is very unfavorable for the subsequent baking process, i.e. the pore structure is more or less destroyed, which has a detrimental effect on the quality of the baked goods.

In order to mitigate these negative effects to a certain extent, more and more expensive special baking agents are usually used. Due to the extremely unfavourable stress on the dough during dividing, the known equipment cannot produce square pieces of dough that can withstand a qualitative comparison with square pieces of dough produced using a knife star dough dividing and kneading machine.

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum &iacgr; * *. . * I *..**** Attorney file: &Egr;&Bgr;-210OG

machine. Likewise, it is not possible with the known devices to incorporate fat into the dough joint as optimally as with a knife-star dough dividing and kneading machine, for example in the production of so-called "Passau rose rolls".

The object of the invention is therefore to produce round pieces of equal size in such a way that the almost round pieces can be transferred to downstream conveying means in a defined position. In addition, the invention aims to ensure that the dough is treated extremely gently with regard to its structure when filling dough chambers.

According to the invention, this object is achieved in a device according to the preamble of claim 1 with the features in its characterizing part. Advantageous further developments are the subject of the claims that directly or indirectly refer back to claim 1.

According to the invention, after partial chambers of a drum which can be rotated step by step and which are arranged in rows next to one another have been filled with a predetermined amount of dough, the amount of dough introduced into the individual partial chambers is rounded from the outside 5 by a rounding movement carried out in the lower region, preferably in the lower apex of the drum, by means of a rounding device to form approximately spherical pieces of dough.

0 According to a preferred development of the invention, the knitting movement is carried out as an eccentric circular movement, in which the knitting band of the knitting device returns from a zero position to the zero position via a maximum possible knitting deflection. As a result, according to the invention, the round knitted, almost .spherical

Attorney file: EB-2100G

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum &iacgr; I *. . SJ *♦ . f \l *

shaped dough pieces are positioned centrally in the respective sub-chamber and thus lie and adhere to the molding belt during the entire molding process.

An adjustable part chamber base that lies above the dough pieces during the kneading process releases the kneading space required to form an ideal dough ball in sync with the progressing kneading movement, without exerting any adverse pressure on the kneading blades. In this way, almost spherical dough pieces with a smooth surface and an optimal internal structure are produced, something that could previously only be achieved with a knife-star dough dividing and kneading machine.

Since, according to the invention, an endless knitting belt of a knitting device preferably returns to the zero position at the end of each knitting process, the approximately spherical sections in the partial chambers are always located centrally and have an exactly positioned downward knitting connection with the knitting belt.

0 This in turn is particularly advantageous with regard to a linear movement following the kneading process for transferring the almost spherical dough pieces to further processing stations.

5 According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the endless knitting belt can be designed as a knitting or link belt with a structured surface. Furthermore, in the invention, a knitting device can be exchanged for other knitting devices, the knitting belts of which are each structured differently or also have smooth surfaces.

According to an advantageous development of the invention, the partial chambers arranged next to one another in a row and continuously adjustable in their capacity or volume have

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum | I *. . ! : *. , j J* ? Attorney file: EB-210OG

The walls between the individual sub-chambers and the walls of the two outer sub-chambers opposite them can be concave or convex.

Since the partial chambers are filled with dough from a main chamber by means of a hydraulically, pneumatically or mechanically driven main piston whose pressure can be continuously adjusted, the dough ejected from the main chamber by the main piston encounters virtually no resistance, or at most only extremely little resistance compared to the known previous designs, particularly due to the advantageous design of the intermediate chamber walls, i.e. the walls between the partial chambers. Thus, according to the invention, the structure of the dough is largely retained in an optimal manner, particularly in the area of the intermediate walls, which has an extremely positive effect on the quality of the baked goods.

In addition, no expensive special baking agents are required.

Furthermore, according to the invention, a device can be provided for applying fat to pieces of dough located in the chambers; this device has a number of extendable stamps arranged next to one another, corresponding to the number of sub-chambers arranged next to one another in a row. Fat can emerge from each stamp, so that fat is pressed flatly onto and/or into the pieces of dough located in the sub-chambers. The pieces of dough greased in this way are then shaped into a round shape so that a seal is formed which ideally bursts open during baking.

In order to produce square pieces of dough, the kneading device can be switched off, so that square pieces can also be produced with the device according to the invention,

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum» * ·, , J ; «. , J J · * Attorney file: EB-210OG

which can be compared in terms of quality to dough pieces produced using knife-star dough dividing and rounding machines. When working with and without fat or when dividing and producing square dough pieces, the well-known, advantageous working method of a knife-star dough dividing and rounding machine is thus reproduced as closely as possible and can be implemented in a continuous work process.

This means that all doughs can be processed using the same processing variants, as was previously only possible with a knife-star dough dividing and rounding machine, whereby the products manufactured are characterized by a correspondingly excellent craftsmanship quality.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained in detail below with reference to the drawings. They show:

Fig.l shows a schematic representation of the basic structure of a preferred embodiment of a device;

Fig. 2 also shows a schematic representation of a further advantageous embodiment of the device;
25

Fig.3a to 3c in schematic plan view advantageous embodiment of sub-chambers arranged next to each other in a row, and

0 Fig.4a and 4b show a schematic plan view of previously common forms of sub-chambers arranged side by side in a row.

Both in the embodiment according to Fig.l and Fig.2 5, the material to be processed, shown in Fig.l and 2

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum * £ *. . £ &iacgr; * »··♦ Attorney file: EB-21OOG

dough (not shown in detail) is fed into the hopper 1, a window 2 being provided for convenient monitoring of the filling level in the hopper 1. At the lower end of the hopper 1, which generally tapers conically downwards in Fig. 1 and 2, there is a main chamber 3 in which a main piston 4 (shown schematically) is arranged so as to be linearly movable in the direction of a drum 8 and has a drive (not shown in detail). The drive force of the main piston 4 is continuously variable in a known manner.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 and 2, a number of sub-chambers 5 are accommodated in the casing of the drum 8, for example offset by 90° from one another, arranged next to one another in a row, which are aligned parallel to an axis A of the drum 8 indicated by a dot in Fig. 1 and 2. The special design of the sub-chambers 5 is discussed in more detail in connection with the description of Fig. 3a to 3c. The volume of the individual sub-chambers 5 can be continuously regulated by means of adjustable sub-chamber pistons 6 assigned to the chambers. To adjust the volume of the individual sub-chambers 5, these are assigned an end stop 7.

To fill the number of sub-chambers 5 arranged next to each other in a row, the dough in the main chamber 3 is pressed into the sub-chambers 5 by means of the main piston 4, which is in its starting position in Fig. 1 and 2. The capacity of the sub-chambers 5 can be continuously adjusted by means of the sub-chamber pistons 6. The sub-chamber pistons 6 are pressed by the amount of dough pressed into the sub-chambers by means of the main piston 4 up to the correspondingly set end stop 7. When the preselected pressing pressure is reached, the drum 8 carries out a work step, i.e. it is rotated by 90° in the functional example shown in Fig. 1 and 2, whereby the next row of sub-chambers arranged next to each other is filled.

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net empty sub-chambers 5 are positioned in front of the main cannon 3.

After two further work steps, i.e. after a total rotation of 270°, the row of sub-chambers 5 arranged next to each other, which was first filled with dough, is aligned downwards. The dough in each sub-chamber 5 is pressed downwards against a working belt 9 arranged there by means of the adjustable sub-chamber pistons 6. In this way, the amount of dough in each of the sub-chambers 5 has a good frictional connection with the working belt 9, which preferably has a structured surface.

At the same time as the position is reached in which the amount of dough in the sub-chambers of a row of chambers is pressed downwards against the working belt, a working device 10 carrying the endless working belt 9 is set in an eccentrically circular working movement. The working movement begins in the zero position and after the maximum 0 possible working deflection of the working belt 9 is reached, the device returns to the zero position. During this eccentrically circular working movement, the sub-chamber pistons 6 are moved back into the sub-chambers 5 synchronously with the ongoing working movement and thereby free up the working space that is necessary to work the amount of dough in each sub-chamber into an approximately spherical piece of dough, so that an optimal, approximately spherical working piece can be formed.

0 After completion of the knitting process, which lasts a few seconds, the drum 8 is rotated further at a peripheral speed that corresponds to the simultaneously occurring linear forward movement of the knitting belt 9. As the drum 8 continues to rotate anti-clockwise, the 5 partial chamber pistons 6 are moved towards the outer surface of the drum until

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extended so that the pistons have reached the outer surface before the row of partial chambers 5 has reached the filling position on the main chamber 3.

The approximately spherical kneading blades 11 lying on the kneading belt 9 and conveyed further by it are conveyed onto a transfer belt 12 or alternatively onto spreading belts (not shown in detail). In order to ensure a safe transfer of the kneading blades from the kneading belt 9 to the transfer belt 12 or the spreading belts, a correspondingly adjustable transfer roller 13 is preferably arranged in the transfer area. In order to ensure a safe detachment of the round-shaped dough pieces 11 from the bottom of the partial chambers 5, a stripping roller 14 can also be arranged on the casing of the drum 8.

Preferably exactly diametrically opposite the position in which the dough quantities in the sub-chambers 5 are formed into approximately spherical shapes 11, a device 15 is provided from which a number of piston-like stamps 16 corresponding to the number of sub-chambers arranged next to one another can be extended and pressed against the dough quantity in the individual sub-chambers 5. If this is the case, fat is pressed flatly from the individual stamps 16 onto and/or into the dough pieces in the individual chambers.

The embodiment of the device according to the invention shown schematically in Fig.2 has, in contrast to the embodiment shown in Fig.1, a longer knitting device 10' and thus also a correspondingly longer endless knitting belt 9'. In addition, a further knitting station 17 is provided, which is raised and lowered in time with the linear forward movement of the longer knitting belt 9', so that the respective

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum * &iacgr; % . ; \ ·* . * *? * Attorney file: EB-210OG

Row of dough pieces 11 is conveyed into the working station 17.

In the second molding station -17, the molding process is completed in such a way that the dough quantities that were only partially molded into a round shape in the first molding station, located further to the left in Fig. 2, are turned into fully molded, round and thus almost spherical pieces of dough. This measure means that the molding time is distributed over two molding stations, for example, and is thus halved overall, which increases the hourly output of the facility accordingly.

In Fig. 4a and 4b, for example, five sub-chambers arranged next to one another in a row are shown in a schematic top view, the bases of which have the shape of a circle or an equilateral hexagon. In relation to the opening of a main chamber, for example the main chamber 9, the intermediate areas 0 between, above and below the round or hexagonal sub-chambers represent a relatively large area compared to the area of the five sub-chambers arranged in a row, for example, against which the dough is pressed and thus squeezed by the main piston when filling these sub-chambers.

In contrast to this, in the case of square sub-chambers 5, ie the sub-chambers 5 with a square base, as shown in Fig.3a, the areas between the five sub-chambers 5i to 5s, for example, are preferably designed as narrow intermediate chamber walls 5O ₂ to 5O ₅ , the wall thickness of which can be in the order of 2 to 2.5 mm, for example. This results in a very favorable ratio of the surfaces of the intermediate chamber walls 50, ie the areas between the square sub-chambers 5, to the area of the opening of the main chamber, as can be seen from the top view of Fig.3a.

Patent Attorney von Kirschbaum | * *, , · f »" X * * * Attorney file: EB-21OOG

For example, with a side length of 60mm for the square bases of the sub-chambers 5, this ratio is 1:29.8. For circular sub-chambers with a diameter of 60mm, the ratio of the surface area of the intermediate areas between the round sub-chambers to the area of the main chamber opening is 1:4.2, while for sub-chambers with a hexagonal base, the corresponding ratio is 1:3.6. This shows how low the resistance is that acts on the dough when filling square sub-chambers, or in other words, when filling square sub-chambers, the dough structure is retained.

The dough structure is also largely preserved if, as shown in Fig. 3b, the walls 5I2 to 5I5 formed between, for example, five subchambers 5i' to 5s' and the opposite walls 51i and _5I6 of the two outer subchambers 5i' and ₅₆ ' are concavely curved. Similar good results as with the square subchambers 5 are obtained if the intermediate walls 522 to ₅₂₅ and the opposite walls 52i and ₅₂₆ of the two outer subchambers 5i" and ₅₆ " are convexly curved. In both cases, the structure of the dough quantities pressed into the subchambers by means of the main piston 9 is essentially preserved or is only very slightly impaired.

Claims (10)

1. Device for producing round pieces of dough of the same size with a gradually rotatable drum ( 8 ), in the casing of which a number of sub-chambers ( 5 ) are arranged next to one another in rows parallel to the drum axis, the volume of which can be continuously adjusted and which can be filled with a certain amount of dough from a main chamber ( 3 ) by means of a hydraulically, pneumatically or mechanically driven main piston with continuously adjustable pressing pressure, and with a kneading device which carries out an eccentric circular movement from the outside, characterized in that the kneading device ( 10 ) is arranged in the lower region of the drum ( 8 ) outside of it in such a way that the amounts of dough introduced into a row of sub-chambers ( 5 ) are kneaded into approximately spherical pieces ( 11 ). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the knitting device ( 10 ) has an endless knitting belt ( 9 ) and is arranged outside the drum ( 8 ) at its lower apex, so that by an eccentrically circular knitting movement generated by means of the knitting device ( 10 ), in which the knitting belt ( 9 ) returns from a zero position via a maximum possible knitting deflection to the zero position, the dough quantities introduced into the partial chambers ( 5 ) of a row are roundly knitted into approximately spherical dough pieces and are positioned centrally in the middle of the respective partial chamber. 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the endless knitting belt ( 9 ) executes a corresponding linear forward movement after completion of the knitting process synchronously with the peripheral speed of the drum ( 8 ) which is rotated further step by step. 4. Device according to one of claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the knitting belt ( 9 ) is designed as an endless knitting or link belt with a structured surface and is driven in such a way that it returns from a zero position to the zero position via the maximum possible knitting deflection. 5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the knitting device ( 10 ) is interchangeable with other knitting devices having the same function, the endless knitting belts of which each have differently structured or smooth surfaces. 6. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in the case of a longer knitting device ( 10 ') one or more further knitting stations ( 17 ) are arranged at an appropriate distance from the lower apex of the drum ( 8 ). 7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the sub-chambers ( 5 ) of the drum ( 8 ) which are arranged next to one another in a row and are continuously adjustable in volume have a rectangular cross-section and a distance of less than 6 mm. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the partial chambers ( 5 ) have a square cross-section. 9. Device according to one of claims 7 or 8, characterized in that the walls ( 512 to 515 ) formed between the individual partial chambers ( 51 ' to 55 ') and the opposite walls ( 511 , 516 ) of the two outer partial chambers ( 51 ', 55 ') are concavely curved. 10. Device according to one of claims 7 or 8, characterized in that the walls ( 522 to 525 ) formed between the individual partial chambers ( 51 " to 55 ") and the opposite walls ( 521 , 526 ) of the two outer partial chambers ( 51 ", 55 ") are convexly curved. 11. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a device ( 15 ) for applying fat to pieces of dough located in the partial chambers ( 5 ; 5 '; 5 ") arranged next to one another in a row has extendable stamps (15??) adapted in their dimensions to the partial chambers ( 5 ; 5 '; 5 "), by means of which fat emerging from the stamps ( 16 ) is pressed onto and/or into the quantities of dough located in the partial chambers ( 5 ; 5 '; 5 ").