An unmanned cooking vending apparatus

Abstract

The application discloses an unmanned cooking and selling device and belongs to the technical field of full-automatic food processing and selling. The device is provided with a bulk food storage bin, a quantitative feeding mechanism and a heat insulation partition which are linked and opened and closed, and a general control system which schedules multiple work stations for synchronous operation at different times. The whole machine automatically completes the whole process of feeding, cooking, self-adaptive cleaning and meal serving, pushes in real time the early warning of out-of-stock, water and electricity and equipment failure, and realizes 24-hour unmanned operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of automatic food cooking and vending technology, specifically to an unmanned fully automatic food cooking and vending equipment. It can realize fully automatic cooking and vending of various bulk ingredients such as frying, boiling, stir-frying, braising, and roasting. It does not require manual portioning, automatically dispenses quantitative ingredients, and has two serving modes: raw and cooked. Its vending efficiency is several times that of existing equipment, and it is especially suitable for cooking and vending bulk foods such as dumplings, glutinous rice balls, beef balls, and wontons. Background Technology

[0002] The current pain points of equipment on the market are as follows: First, it requires a large amount of manpower to divide ingredients into portions and place them in the storage bins. Although it is claimed to be unmanned, the portioning, packaging, and storage work still requires a lot of manual labor. Second, the storage capacity is small. Because there are shelves inside the storage bins, a single machine can only hold dozens to a hundred portions. Customers are concentrated at lunchtime, and after selling out, manual restocking is still required, which greatly affects operations. Third, the equipment has a complex structure, high cost, and high market price, making it difficult to quickly popularize. Fourth, there are too many parts, resulting in a high failure rate. The equipment often breaks down during peak hours, seriously hindering commercialization. Fifth, it has limited functions, only capable of stir-frying and boiling, not frying, braising, or grilling. Sixth, the work efficiency is low. During mealtimes, customers are concentrated, and a single machine of the same size has only one worktable and one serving outlet, resulting in low efficiency. Therefore, developing a low-cost, simple, and stable cooking and vending machine that can achieve full automation from customer ordering, including ingredient feeding, cooking, bowling, and serving, and truly 24-hour unmanned operation, has become a technical problem that the industry urgently needs to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of this invention is to provide an unmanned, fully automated food cooking and vending equipment that can achieve full automation from food storage, quantitative feeding, cooking, and serving. As long as there is water and electricity, the food only needs to be replenished once a week. No human intervention is required throughout the process, and it can operate continuously for 24 hours.

[0004] The technical solution is a fully automated, unmanned food cooking and vending equipment, comprising a central control system for ordering, a storage device (1), a quantitative feeding device (2), a cooking device (3), a serving device (4), a water supply device (5), a liquid seasoning dispensing device (6), an automatic cleaning program, an auxiliary ingredient package pushing device (7), an automatic heat insulation partition device, a raw and cooked dual-mode control program, and early warning programs for inventory, water and power outages, and equipment malfunctions. The following explanation uses the cooking and vending of frozen dumplings, glutinous rice balls, beef balls, and wontons as examples.

[0005] 1. The central control system for ordering is equipped with a display screen, an ordering operating system, and a PLC controller. The PLC includes a microcontroller, a computer host, and similar equivalent control equipment. The system can drive multiple storage bins and cooking stations to operate synchronously. The system has a built-in raw food direct-out program. When the user selects the raw food mode, after the quantitative feeding device delivers the ingredients to the cooking pot, the cooking device does not start the heating or water injection process. It directly flips the pot to pour the fresh ingredients into the tableware, making it convenient for customers to take away for processing, shortening the waiting time for picking up food, and improving the overall food serving efficiency.

[0006] 2. Storage device (1) is suitable for storing bulk ingredients in batches without the need for manual pre-portioning and plating. It can be set to ambient temperature storage, heat preservation storage, or refrigerated / frozen storage according to the needs of the ingredients. The refrigerated / frozen storage mode is equipped with a heat preservation structure to maintain the freshness of the ingredients. Quantitative feeding device (2) can automatically quantitatively distribute bulk ingredients in the storage silo to the cooking device. The quantitative mode supports two forms: single quantitative dispensing and cumulative metering. This solution preferably uses a double hemisphere turnover silo structure (see Figure 2 When in standby mode, the inner and outer hemispheres overlap with the opening facing upwards to receive food ingredients. After receiving an order, the outer hemisphere rotates 180° to block the storage bin's outlet, and the inner hemisphere rotates 180° to discharge the material. After discharging, the inner hemisphere resets, and the outer hemisphere rotates back to its original position, completing the cycle of quantitative feeding. This turnover bin can be replaced with an equivalent hollow double-cylinder structure, with the same working logic. In addition, horizontal / vertical conveyor belts, quantitative solenoid valves, spring-loaded rotating tracks, etc., can all achieve the same quantitative effect, which will not be elaborated on in this embodiment.

[0007] 3. Taking dumpling cooking as an example: The automatic lid is open during standby; after ingredients are added and water is poured in, the lid closes, and the pot's reciprocating shaking mechanism activates to prevent food from sticking and burning; after cooking, the lid opens, and the pot automatically flips to dispense the contents onto utensils. Taking squid ball baking as an example: The lid is open during standby; after ingredients are added and seasonings are added, the lid closes, and the rotating stirring mechanism on the lid operates to prevent food from sticking; after cooking, the lid opens, and the pot flips to dispense the contents.

[0008] 4. Water supply device (5) can be an instant water heater, which heats up when water is supplied and stops heating when water is cut off; it can also be equipped with an insulated water storage tank to store hot water in advance, shortening the cooking time. Water needs to be added during the dumpling cooking process, but not during the squid ball baking process, but the control logic for adding liquid seasonings is the same for both. The equipment has an adaptive pot washing logic: the same type of ingredients are processed at the same workstation, and meals can be served continuously during peak hours without midway washing; during off-peak standby, water is added in conjunction with the stirring component to complete the washing, and the pot is turned over to drain and air dry after washing; the pot can also be turned over and the pot body and lid can be cleaned by high-pressure spray. For ingredients that are prone to cross-contamination, the equipment implements a one-pot-one-wash strategy; the washing time and washing mode are automatically matched by the ordering control system according to the type of ingredients and cooking mode.

[0009] 5. The food dispensing device (4) is controlled by the ordering control system. The mechanical clamping mechanism moves up and down, forward and backward, and left and right along the preset track to realize the placement of tableware, receiving of food, and delivery of food. There are two working modes: one is that the clamping mechanism resets after placing the tableware, and the safety door opens to prompt the customer to pick up the food after the food falls into the tableware; the other is that the clamping mechanism lifts the tableware to receive the food and then directly delivers it to the food dispensing port. The conveying track can adopt rack and pinion drive, belt drive, multi-axis robotic arm and other structures.

[0010] 6. The quantitative feeding device (2) is equipped with an insulation layer to isolate the cooking end from the hot and humid gas after feeding. A power-driven movable heat-insulating partition (8) is provided between the storage chamber and the cooking device. The partition is opened when feeding and closed after feeding. The insulation layer and the movable heat-insulating partition work together to double block the hot and humid gas from entering the storage chamber and ensure the food storage environment. The movable heat-insulating partition can be opened and closed through the structure of rotation, push and pull, extension and retraction, hinge flipping, etc.

[0011] 7. The central ordering system has a built-in online reservation ordering program; in the case of takeout orders, delivery personnel can trigger the cooking process via their mobile devices while en route to the equipment after receiving the order, and then pick up and deliver the food upon arrival. Once cooking is complete, the safety door automatically opens and notifies the user to pick up the food, avoiding the risk of burns from high temperatures; the system also monitors the remaining food in the bin, water and power supply status, and machine malfunctions in real time and sends out warnings to reduce downtime losses.

[0012] 8. The storage compartment can be configured with heat preservation, refrigeration, and freezing functions according to the needs of the stored ingredients. The auxiliary material package pushing device outputs matching auxiliary materials according to the number of orders. Auxiliary materials include bowl lids, tableware, packaging bags, seasoning packets, side dishes, vacuum-packed meat products, beverage gifts, etc. The auxiliary material pushing structure can be integrated with the food dispensing mechanism, or it can use a spring spiral conveyor vending mechanism to achieve automatic dispensing.

[0013] Beneficial Effects: Compared with existing technologies, this invention has the following beneficial effects: Existing equipment suffers from the following pain points: First, existing equipment stores ingredients in portions, requiring a large amount of manpower to place them into the storage bins. While it appears to be unmanned, the preparation work actually requires a lot of manpower. This equipment, however, stores ingredients in bulk; they can simply be poured in, and no manual placement is needed when replenishing. Second, existing equipment has a small storage capacity, with each machine only able to hold dozens to a hundred portions, insufficient for a single mealtime, requiring frequent manual replenishment and impacting operations. For the same size, this equipment has a storage capacity many times greater, requiring no replenishment for 7 days under normal circumstances. It proactively reminds staff when inventory is low, allowing them to plan replenishment in advance, eliminating the need for any manual work – truly unmanned. Third, existing equipment has a complex structure, high cost, and expensive price, making it difficult to rapidly popularize. This equipment has a simple structure, low cost, and is easily and quickly popularized. Fourth, existing equipment has too many parts, resulting in a high failure rate and low practicality. This equipment has a simple structure, fewer parts, and almost no failures. Even if a failure occurs, it will alert staff to troubleshoot promptly, minimizing the impact on business. Fifth, existing equipment can only handle stir-frying and boiling, but not braising, frying, or grilling, which this equipment can address. Sixth, existing equipment is inefficient, especially since meal times are concentrated, and it only has one worktable and one serving outlet. This equipment, however, is smaller, holds more food, requires less manpower, has a lower failure rate, and is cheaper. More importantly, it can accommodate 4-5 worktables and serving outlets simultaneously, increasing efficiency by 4-5 times. Seventh, it features an automatic heat insulation device to effectively reduce the impact of hot and humid gases on stored food. Eighth, it adds a shaking and stirring function to prevent sticking. Ninth, it adds an automatically opening and closing rotating stirring lid, enabling multiple cooking modes and shortening cooking time. Tenth, it offers a choice between raw and cooked food modes. Eleventh, it adds an adaptive cleaning system with three levels of adaptive cleaning strategies: peak-hour no-clean, off-peak simple cleaning, and deep cleaning for different food types, automatically matching the cleaning method based on the ingredients being cooked. Attached Figure Description Figure 1 It is an overall diagram of the equipment. Figure 2 This is a diagram of a quantitative feeding device. Figure 3 It is a diagram of a cooking apparatus.

Claims

1. An unmanned cooking and vending machine, comprising a frame, a central control system for ordering, a storage device, a quantitative feeding device (2), a cooking device, and a serving device, wherein the central control system for ordering is electrically connected to the above-mentioned devices to collaboratively complete the entire process of selling food, including food storage, automatic quantitative feeding, automatic cooking, and automatic serving; characterized in that: The storage unit is designed to accommodate bulk ingredients directly, eliminating the need for manual portioning and plating. Below the storage unit is a quantitative feeding device with a quantitative turnover compartment and a distribution mechanism. Controlled by the central ordering system, the device automatically portions and delivers the bulk ingredients to the cooking unit. An automatic heat insulation barrier separates the storage unit from the cooking unit. This barrier is linked to the quantitative feeding device, opening during feeding and closing afterward to prevent hot, humid gases from entering the storage unit. The equipment also includes an anti-stick mechanism, an automatic pot washing system, a water supply system, and an ingredient package delivery system.

2. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The ordering control system includes a display screen, an ordering operating system, and a PLC (including a microcontroller, a computer host, and equivalent control equipment). The ordering control system can control a single workstation or simultaneously control multiple workstations in a sequential manner, increasing the storage capacity and food preparation efficiency several times over. It also features a raw food direct-out program, enabling switching between raw and cooked food modes.

3. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The quantitative feeding device (2) is controlled by the ordering control system and automatically completes the quantitative portioning of bulk ingredients and puts them into the cooking device.

4. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cooking device (3) realizes the sequential linkage of opening and closing the pot lid, adding water, liquid seasoning, cooking, pot shaking to prevent sticking, stirring and running, and water supply to wash the pot according to the instructions of the ordering control system, so as to realize stirring and stir-frying ingredients, turning and serving the food, and completing adaptive pot washing in conjunction with the water supply device.

5. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1 is further provided with a device (6) for adding liquid seasonings such as oil, soy sauce, and vinegar, characterized in that... Controlled by the central ordering system, liquid seasonings are added as needed.

6. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The food dispensing device (4) can move up and down, forward and backward, and left and right along a predetermined track according to the instructions of the ordering control system, and is used to place tableware and receive and dispense food.

7. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The turnover bin of the quantitative feeding device is equipped with an insulation layer, and a power-driven movable insulation door (8) is set between the storage bin and the cooking device. It is linked with the feeding device, opens when feeding, and closes after feeding. After closing, the insulation layer and the insulation door work together to prevent hot and humid gas from entering the storage bin.

8. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that, The ordering control system also includes online reservation ordering, food preparation safety gate reminders, and simultaneous push notifications for inventory, water and power outages, and equipment malfunctions.

9. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The storage compartments are equipped with heat preservation, refrigeration, and freezing functions according to different types of food.

10. The unmanned cooking and vending equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The turnover bin has a double hemispherical structure, or an equivalent hollow inner and outer double hemispherical structure, and relies on rotation switching to complete the quantitative feeding cycle.

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