Pastry forming device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a pastry forming device, and aims to solve the technical problems of low production efficiency and high cost caused by complete or partial manual pastry forming in the prior art. The device mainly comprises a rack, a conveying mechanism, a flour scattering mechanism, an embossing mechanism and a water spraying mechanism, wherein the conveying mechanism is fixedly arranged relative to the rack and is used for conveying pastry trays; the flour scattering mechanism, the embossing mechanism and the water spraying mechanism are sequentially arranged at corresponding positions above the conveying mechanism in the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism; the product outlet groove is formed in the tail end of the conveying mechanism and used for outputting formed products, and the control unit is used for operating parameter control. The device does not need human participation, and has the advantages of high embossing forming efficiency, low production cost and the like.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of food processing equipment, and in particular to a pastry forming device. Background Art

[0002] During the pastry making process, especially in the making of glutinous rice balls, the dough can be pressed using molds or hand tools to form various patterns, designs or shapes on its surface, thereby increasing the aesthetics and attractiveness of the pastry, thereby increasing the added value of the pastry products and stimulating consumers' desire to buy.

[0003] Mold molding is one of the most commonly used methods in pastry embossing. The mold is usually made of materials such as metal, plastic or silicone, and is etched with various shapes or groups. When in use, the prepared pastry (glutinous rice balls) is placed in the mold and then gently pressed to make the pastry (glutinous rice balls) tightly combined with the pattern of the mold. Then remove the mold to obtain pastry with a pattern (such as glutinous rice balls, etc.).

[0004] However, the existing pastry forming methods known to the inventors still rely entirely or partially on human participation, which results in low production efficiency and increased product costs due to the input of manpower.

[0005] The information disclosed in this background technology section is only used to deepen the understanding of the background technology of the present disclosure and should not be regarded as an admission or any form of suggestion that the information constitutes the prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of at least one of the above technical problems, the present disclosure provides a pastry forming device, which mainly solves the technical problem that the existing pastry forming method relies entirely or partially on manpower, resulting in low production efficiency and high cost.

[0007] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a pastry forming device is provided, which mainly includes a frame, a conveying mechanism fixed relative to the frame and used to convey pastry trays, a powder sprinkling mechanism, an embossing mechanism and a water spraying mechanism arranged in sequence at corresponding positions above the transmission mechanism along the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism, a product output slot provided at the end of the conveying mechanism for outputting formed products, and a control unit for controlling operating parameters.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt, and the conveyor belt includes a plurality of conveying frames connected end to end in sequence and used to embed the pastry trays.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the transmission mechanism further includes a power shaft transmission-connected to the drive motor, a transmission gear correspondingly fixed to the power shaft, and a transmission chain fixed relative to the conveyor belt and transmission-connected to the transmission gear.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the pastry forming device also includes a positioning mechanism, which includes positioning blocks respectively arranged on both sides of the conveying frame along a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the conveyor belt, and a positioning cylinder fixed relative to the frame for positioning and correspondingly engaged with the positioning blocks.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the end surface of the positioning block that contacts the movable end of the positioning cylinder is provided with a positioning groove or a positioning protrusion; the end surface of the movable end of the positioning cylinder that contacts the positioning block is correspondingly provided with a positioning protrusion or a positioning groove.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the pastry forming device further includes a lifting mechanism for lifting the pastry tray to the product output trough; the lifting mechanism includes a vertical lifting unit and a horizontal pushing unit respectively fixed relative to the frame.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the vertical lifting unit includes a vertical cylinder arranged below the pastry tray and a lifting tray fixed at the movable end of the vertical cylinder for contacting the pastry tray; the horizontal pushing unit includes a horizontal cylinder arranged at a position matching the height of the product delivery trough.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the embossing mechanism includes an extrusion unit respectively provided on the upper and lower sides of the pastry tray for forming surface patterns of the pastries, and a supporting unit supporting the pastry tray.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the extrusion unit includes a positioning plate arranged parallel to and directly above the pastry tray, a plurality of movable rods vertically inserted through the positioning plate, a mold block fixed at the corresponding end of the movable rod and having a plurality of blowing holes on the mold surface, a pneumatic joint arranged on the positioning plate and correspondingly connected to the blowing holes, a pressure plate parallel to the positioning plate and correspondingly inserted through the movable rod, two limit blocks correspondingly fixed to the movable rod for limiting the pressure plate, a spring sleeved outside the movable rod and arranged between the corresponding limit blocks and the pressure plate, and an embossing cylinder for driving the pressure plate to move axially along the movable rod.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the supporting unit includes a supporting cylinder arranged parallel to and directly below the pastry tray, and a supporting tray fixed at a movable end of the supporting cylinder for supporting the pastry tray.

[0017] One or more technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application have at least any of the following technical effects or advantages:

[0018] 1. Through the movement of the conveyor belt, the powdering, embossing and spraying operations are realized in sequence without human intervention, thus improving production efficiency and reducing production costs.

[0019] 2. By fitting the pastry tray into the conveyor frame with a matching contour, the position of the pastry tray can be positioned, thus avoiding the problem of inaccurate embossing caused by the pastry tray being tilted.

[0020] 3. The cooperation between the positioning block and the positioning cylinder can achieve precise adjustment and positioning of the embossing position, avoiding misalignment between the pastry tray and the embossing mechanism due to rotation error of the conveyor belt, and ensuring the reliability and stability of the embossing forming.

[0021] 4. The spring installed at the moving rod of the embossing mechanism can realize the adaptive adjustment of the embossing extrusion force, so that the embossing mechanism can be applied to glutinous rice balls of different sizes, thereby improving the applicability of the embossing mechanism.

[0022] 5. The lifting mechanism can achieve stable separation of the pastry tray and the conveyor frame, avoiding problems such as the glutinous rice balls in the pastry tray spilling out and achieving the purpose of stable transfer of the pastry tray. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 This is a partial structural diagram of a pastry forming device in one embodiment of the present application.

[0024] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the positioning state of the positioning mechanism in one embodiment of the present application.

[0025] Figure 3 This is a partial structural diagram of the extrusion unit of the embossing mechanism in one embodiment of the present application.

[0026] Figure 4 for Figure 1 A partial enlarged view of part A in the middle.

[0027] In the above figures, 1 is a frame, 2 is a transmission mechanism, 21 is a conveying frame, 3 is a powder spreading mechanism, 4 is an embossing mechanism, 401 is an extrusion unit, 402 is a supporting unit, 41 is a device shell, 42 is a main cylinder, 43 is a positioning plate, 431 is a positioning convex plate, 44 is a pneumatic joint, 45 is an embossing cylinder, 46 is a pressure plate, 47 is a moving rod, 48 is a limit block, 49 is a spring, 5 is a water spray mechanism, 6 is a product trough, 7 is a control unit, 8 is a positioning mechanism, 81 is a positioning block, 82 is a positioning cylinder, 9 is a lifting mechanism, 91 is a vertical lifting unit, 911 is a vertical cylinder, 912 is a lifting plate, 92 is a horizontal pushing unit, 921 is a horizontal cylinder, and 10 is a pastry tray. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the description of this application, it should be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "back", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "vertical", "horizontal", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", etc., indicating directions or positional relationships, are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings and are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description. They do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operate in a specific direction, and therefore should not be understood as limiting this application. The terms "first", "second", etc. involved in this application are used to distinguish the objects being described and do not have any order or technical meaning.

[0029] The procedures involved or relied upon in the following embodiments are all conventional or simple procedures in the art, and those skilled in the art can make conventional selections or adaptive adjustments according to specific application scenarios. Unless otherwise specified, the unit modules or devices involved in the following embodiments are all conventional commercially available products.

[0030] In order to better understand the technical solution of the present application, the above technical solution will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0031] In order to solve the problem of low efficiency and high cost of existing pastry forming, this example discloses a pastry forming device. Taking glutinous rice balls forming as an example, see Figure 1 It includes a frame 1, a conveying mechanism 2, a powder sprinkling mechanism 3, an embossing mechanism 4, a water spraying mechanism 5, a product dispensing trough 6, and a control unit 7.

[0032] In order to ensure the embossing effect of the glutinous rice balls, it is necessary to perform powdering and water spraying operations before and after the embossing process. In order to reduce the manpower input in the whole process, in this embodiment, a conveying mechanism 2 is provided to realize the reliable conveyance of the glutinous rice balls between various mechanisms.

[0033] Specifically, in this embodiment, see Figure 1 The pastry forming device includes a frame 1, and a conveying mechanism 2 is fixedly arranged relative to the frame 1. The conveying mechanism 2 specifically includes a conveyor belt, and the glutinous rice balls are carried and transported through the circular rotation of the conveyor belt. In this embodiment, in order to improve the efficiency of glutinous rice balls forming and to reduce the subsequent subpackaging and placement process, the glutinous rice balls are first packed into a pastry tray, and the pastry tray is part of the glutinous rice ball packaging. In this way, the whole plate of glutinous rice balls can be uniformly embossed at a time, and the problem of glutinous rice balls placement caused by embossing and then subpackaging can be avoided (the embossed surface needs to be uniformly placed upwards). This can optimize the embossing process, reduce the investment in manpower and material resources, and help improve the embossing efficiency. In this way, the pastry trays with glutinous rice balls placed in each slot are placed on the conveyor belt in turn, and the conveyor belt transports each pastry tray in turn to achieve embossing on the surface of the glutinous rice balls on each pastry tray.

[0034] Considering the need for precise alignment of the embossing die with the glutinous rice balls on the pastry tray during the subsequent embossing operation, and to avoid difficulties and inaccuracies in alignment caused by a skewed pastry tray, in this embodiment, the conveyor belt comprises a plurality of conveyor frames connected end to end, each of which forms the conveyor belt body. In this example, the inner edge contours of the conveyor frames match the outer edge of the pastry tray, allowing the pastry tray to fit snugly within the conveyor frames. This ensures accurate positioning of the pastry tray while allowing it to move with the conveyor belt.

[0035] See also Figure 1 After the transmission mechanism is started, the powdering process is first carried out. By sprinkling powder on the surface of the glutinous rice balls, the glutinous rice balls are prevented from sticking to the mold during embossing, which may cause the glutinous rice balls to separate from the pastry tray or embossing failure. Specifically, in this example, a powdering mechanism is set to sprinkle powder on the surface of the glutinous rice balls. Figure 1 The powder spreading mechanism 3 is relatively fixed to the frame 1 and is set up at a position just above the conveyor belt to ensure the uniformity of the powder spreading. In this example, a vibrating screen is used to spread the powder. In other embodiments, a spraying method is used to spread the powder.

[0036] The surface of the glutinous rice balls is evenly dusted with flour before being embossed. Figure 1 In this example, an embossing mechanism 4 is provided downstream of the powder sprinkling mechanism 3 along the conveying direction of the conveyor belt, and the corresponding texture on the surface of the glutinous rice balls is pressed and formed by the mold at the embossing mechanism 4.

[0037] Among them, considering the conveyor belt's positioning error, it is difficult to ensure that the pastry tray on the conveyor belt is exactly under the embossing mechanism when the conveyor belt stops; therefore, the position error between the pastry tray and the embossing mechanism will cause the embossing on the surface of the glutinous rice balls to be skewed and offset, resulting in unqualified embossed products. Therefore, in this embodiment, see Figure 1 and Figure 2The positioning mechanism 8 is provided to achieve accurate parking of the conveyor belt, thereby ensuring accurate alignment between the pastry tray and the embossing mechanism. Specifically, in this embodiment, the positioning mechanism 8 includes positioning blocks 81 respectively provided on both sides of each conveyor frame 21 along a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt, and two positioning cylinders 82 are fixedly provided on both sides of the frame 1 along the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt to cooperate with the positioning blocks 81. In this embodiment, the end surface of the positioning block 81 for contacting the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82 is provided with a positioning groove, and the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82 is provided with a positioning protrusion that matches the positioning groove. Therefore, when the conveyor belt pauses, the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82 extends, causing the positioning groove and the positioning protrusion to engage with each other, thereby achieving accurate positioning of the conveyor frame 21 and further achieving position adjustment of the conveyor belt when it temporarily loses power. In other embodiments, the end surface of the positioning block 81 for contacting the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82 is provided with a positioning protrusion, and the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82 is provided with a positioning groove that matches the positioning protrusion. In addition, in order to achieve the extension of the movable end of the positioning cylinder 82, the conveyor belt position can be fine-tuned through the positioning groove and the positioning protrusion, and the side edges of the positioning protrusion and the positioning groove are set as bevel edges, thereby playing a guiding role, ensuring that the positioning protrusion and the positioning groove can be smoothly embedded under the action of the positioning cylinder, thereby ensuring the positioning effect. In addition, in this embodiment, the positioning mechanism is set between the powder spreading mechanism and the embossing mechanism. In other embodiments, see Figure 3 , the positioning mechanism is arranged at the embossing mechanism.

[0038] After the positioning mechanism ensures that the transmission belt stops accurately, the embossing process begins, and the glutinous rice balls are embossed. Specifically, in this embodiment, the embossing unit includes a pressing unit 401 fixed relative to the frame 1 and located directly above the conveyor belt. Considering that the pressing unit 401 applies a certain pressing force perpendicular to the conveyor belt direction when pressing the texture on the surface of the glutinous rice balls, and since the transmission belt is relatively soft, in order to avoid the problem that the conveyor belt is deformed under force, resulting in insufficient contact between the glutinous rice balls and the pressing unit, thereby causing unqualified embossing, in this embodiment, the embossing unit also includes a supporting unit located directly below the pressing unit 401 for supporting the pastry tray during embossing.

[0039] For details, see Figure 3 The extrusion unit includes a housing 41, with a main cylinder 42 fixed to its top. The main cylinder 42 is configured to move perpendicular to the conveyor belt, and a positioning plate 43 is fixedly positioned at its distal end. In this embodiment, the bottom of the positioning plate 43 is provided with a positioning protrusion 431 that aligns with the pastry tray. During embossing, as the main cylinder 41 extends, the positioning protrusion 431 abuts against the pastry tray, pressing against it and stabilizing it. In this embodiment, the positioning protrusion 431 is provided with an array of through-holes corresponding to the slots in the pastry tray.

[0040] In addition, in order to achieve the pattern pressing, the extrusion unit also includes an embossing cylinder 45. The movable end of the embossing cylinder 45 is connected to a pressing plate 46 parallel to the positioning plate 43. The pressing plate 46 is vertically penetrated by a number of movable rods 47 at the positions of the respective slots of the pastry tray. The bottom end of each movable rod 47 is fixed with a mold block for pressing the pattern. Among them, the mold blocks are correspondingly embedded in the respective through holes of the positioning convex plate 431, which can play a guiding role when the mold blocks are pressed down. In addition, in this embodiment, in order to ensure smooth demoulding, a number of blowing holes are opened on the mold surface of the mold block engraved with the patterns in this example. By blowing gas out of the holes, the mold surface is assisted to separate from the surface of the glutinous rice balls. Among them, see Figure 3 In this example, a pneumatic connector 44 for connecting to an air source is provided at the positioning plate 43 to supply air to the blowing holes at the mold block.

[0041] In this embodiment, two stoppers 48 are fixed to the movable rod 47, which constrain the pressing plate 46 to the position of the rod body between the two corresponding stoppers on the movable rod 47. Furthermore, in this embodiment, a spring 49 is provided between the pressing plate 46 and the corresponding stoppers, which is sleeved around the movable rod 47. As a result, when the embossing cylinder 45 drives the pressing plate 46 downward, the elastic deformation of the spring 49 allows the movable rod 47 to automatically adjust its downward pressure depth. This allows the extrusion unit to accommodate glutinous rice balls of varying sizes, improving the embossing mechanism's adaptability.

[0042] In this embodiment, the support unit comprises a support cylinder fixed relative to the frame 1. This support cylinder moves perpendicular to the transmission belt. A support tray is fixed to the movable end of the support cylinder, positioned below the pastry tray. During the embossing operation, the support tray is lifted to provide support for the pastry surface. Furthermore, in this example, the support tray is provided with a groove that matches the bottom contour of the pastry tray to further stabilize the pastry tray.

[0043] See also Figure 1 The glutinous rice balls embossed and formed by the embossing mechanism 4 are transported along the conveyor belt to the water spray mechanism for spraying to stabilize the shape of the rice balls for subsequent processing. In this example, the water spray mechanism is fixed directly above the conveyor and includes an atomizing unit to achieve uniform spraying of the rice balls. In addition, a dispensing trough 6 is provided at the end of the conveyor mechanism, from which the pastry trays after spraying are discharged, completing the embossing process.

[0044] Specifically, in this embodiment, the dispensing trough 6 includes a horizontal section and an inclined section, and the water spraying mechanism 5 is fixedly located at the horizontal section of the dispensing trough 6. This allows the pastry trays to slide directly out of the dispensing trough 6 after being sprayed, and then proceed to other process steps. However, considering that each pastry tray is separately embedded in the conveyor frame in this embodiment, the pastry forming device in this embodiment also includes a lifting mechanism 9 to facilitate the separation of the pastry trays from the conveyor frame.

[0045] See also Figure 4 In this embodiment, the lifting mechanism 9 includes a vertical lifting unit 91 and a horizontal pushing unit 92, which are respectively fixed relative to the frame 1. The vertical lifting unit 91 includes a vertical cylinder 911 located below the pastry tray. A lifting plate 912 is fixed to the movable end of the vertical cylinder 911. The outline of the lifting plate 912 is smaller than the outline of the inner frame edge of the conveyor frame. Therefore, through the vertical movement of the vertical cylinder 911, the lifting plate supports the pastry tray 10, thereby achieving the separation between the pastry tray 10 and the conveyor frame. In addition, in this example, the horizontal pushing unit 92 includes a horizontal cylinder 921. When the pastry tray is lifted to the same height as the horizontal section of the delivery trough 6 by the vertical cylinder 911, the horizontal cylinder 921 extends forward to push the pastry tray 10 to be transferred to the bottom of the water spraying mechanism at the delivery trough 6 for water spraying. As the pastry tray continues to enter the delivery trough, the pastry tray will move to the inclined end of the delivery trough 6 in turn after being sprayed with water, and slide down under the action of gravity, thereby completing the pastry embossing.

[0046] In addition, the pastry forming device also includes a control unit 7. In this embodiment, the control unit specifically adopts a PLC controller, which controls the movement timing of the conveyor belt and the action timing of each mechanism and cylinder, thereby ensuring the orderly and efficient operation of the device.

[0047] Although some preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, those skilled in the art may make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they have learned the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and any changes and modifications that fall within the present application.

[0048] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventive concept. Thus, if such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the claims of this application and their equivalents, this application is intended to include such changes and modifications.

Claims

1. A pastry forming device, characterized in that: The machine comprises a frame, a conveying mechanism fixed relative to the frame and used to convey pastry trays, a powder sprinkling mechanism, an embossing mechanism and a water spraying mechanism sequentially arranged at corresponding positions above the conveying mechanism along the conveying direction of the conveying mechanism, a product output trough provided at the end of the conveying mechanism for outputting formed products, and a control unit for controlling operating parameters.

2. The noodle forming device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The conveying mechanism includes a conveyor belt, and the conveyor belt includes a plurality of conveying frames which are connected end to end in sequence and are used to embed the pastry trays.

3. The noodle forming device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The transmission mechanism further includes a power shaft transmission-connected to the driving motor, a transmission gear correspondingly fixed to the power shaft, and a transmission chain fixed relative to the conveyor belt and transmission-connected to the transmission gear.

4. The noodle forming device according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a positioning mechanism, which includes positioning blocks respectively arranged on both sides of the conveying frame along a direction perpendicular to the movement direction of the conveyor belt, and a positioning cylinder fixed relative to the frame for positioning and correspondingly engaging with the positioning blocks.

5. The noodle forming device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The end surface of the positioning block used for contacting the movable end head of the positioning cylinder is provided with a positioning groove or a positioning protrusion; the end surface of the movable end head of the positioning cylinder used for contacting the positioning block is correspondingly provided with a positioning protrusion or a positioning groove.

6. The noodle forming device according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a lifting mechanism for lifting the pastry tray to the product output trough; the lifting mechanism includes a vertical lifting unit and a horizontal pushing unit respectively fixed relative to the frame.

7. The noodle forming device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The vertical lifting unit includes a vertical cylinder arranged below the pastry tray and a lifting tray fixed at the movable end of the vertical cylinder for contacting the pastry tray; the horizontal pushing unit includes a horizontal cylinder arranged at a position matching the height of the product dispensing trough.

8. The noodle forming device according to claim 1, wherein: The embossing mechanism includes extrusion units respectively arranged on the upper and lower sides of the pastry tray for forming surface patterns of pastries and a supporting unit for supporting the pastry tray.

9. The noodle forming device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The extrusion unit includes a positioning plate arranged parallel to and directly above the pastry tray, a plurality of moving rods vertically inserted through the positioning plate, a mold block fixed at the corresponding end of the moving rod and having a plurality of blowing holes on the mold surface, a pneumatic joint arranged on the positioning plate and correspondingly connected to the blowing holes, a pressure plate parallel to the positioning plate and correspondingly inserted through the moving rod, two limit blocks correspondingly fixed to the moving rod for limiting the pressure plate, a spring sleeved outside the moving rod and provided between the corresponding limit blocks and the pressure plate, and an embossing cylinder for driving the pressure plate to move axially along the moving rod.

10. The noodle forming device according to claim 8, characterized in that: The supporting unit includes a supporting cylinder arranged parallel to and directly below the pastry tray, and a supporting tray fixed at the movable end of the supporting cylinder for supporting the pastry tray.

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