Automated food serving and delivery apparatus and automated food serving and delivery table

Abstract

This application provides an automated food dispensing and delivery device and table. The device includes: a food delivery conveyor belt for carrying and moving trays along its extension direction; each tray has a built-in information chip for recording the food information of the corresponding tray; multiple sensing components arranged at intervals on the food delivery conveyor belt to acquire the food information of trays passing through the sensing components; and multiple transfer components arranged at intervals on one side of the food delivery conveyor belt to deliver the trays to different positions on the conveyor belt based on the food information. The trays move along the length of the food delivery conveyor belt until they pass the sensing components. The sensing components read the corresponding food information through the tray's information chip and determine whether to transfer the tray out of the conveyor belt via a nearby transfer component to deliver it to the corresponding dining position, thus alleviating problems such as delayed food dispensing, untimely manual food preparation, and high labor costs.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the technical field of self-service food dispensing and delivery equipment, and particularly relates to an automatic food dispensing and delivery device and an automatic food dispensing and delivery table. Background Technology

[0002] In existing catering establishments, customers typically submit their orders through an ordering system, after which staff manually prepare the food in the kitchen or at the counter, then deliver the corresponding trays to the customers or place them on a conveyor belt for them to collect. While this method allows for order-based food preparation, the manual preparation and delivery rely on staff handling each order individually. When there are many customers or frequent orders, this can easily lead to delays in food preparation, resulting in low overall efficiency. Secondly, errors in food preparation or untimely distribution may occur during manual operations, affecting the customer's dining experience. Furthermore, relying heavily on staff increases labor costs.

[0003] It should be noted that the above content is not necessarily prior art, nor is it intended to limit the scope of patent protection of this application. Utility Model Content

[0004] This application provides an automatic food dispensing and delivery device and an automatic food dispensing and delivery table to solve or alleviate one or more technical problems in the prior art.

[0005] The first aspect of this application provides an automatic food dispensing and delivery device, comprising: A food delivery conveyor belt is used to carry food trays and move the food trays along the extension direction of the food delivery conveyor belt. The food trays have built-in information chips, which are used to record the food information of the corresponding food trays. Multiple sensing components are arranged sequentially and at intervals on the food delivery conveyor belt to acquire food information of the plates passing through the sensing components; Multiple food transfer components are arranged sequentially and at intervals on one side of the food delivery conveyor belt. The food transfer components are used to move the food trays out at different positions on the food delivery conveyor belt according to the food information of the trays.

[0006] Optionally, the food delivery conveyor belt is a circular conveyor belt with its ends connected.

[0007] Optionally, the annular conveyor belt includes a first section and a second section; The automatic food dispensing and delivery equipment also includes a catapult bridge assembly, which includes a bridge plate and a first catapult component. The bridge plate is located between the first section and the second section, and the first catapult component is located on the outside of the annular conveyor belt. The first catapult component is used to catapult the food tray located on the first section to the bridge plate, and move the food tray to the second section through the bridge plate.

[0008] Optionally, it also includes a serving component located at the outer end of the food delivery conveyor belt, for receiving the food tray and transferring the food tray to the food delivery conveyor belt.

[0009] Optionally, the serving component includes a serving conveyor belt and a limiting component. The serving conveyor belt is connected to the outside of the delivery conveyor belt, and the limiting component is used to guide the plates located on the serving conveyor belt to the delivery conveyor belt.

[0010] Optionally, it also includes a food dispensing conveyor belt, one end of which is located below the food delivery conveyor belt and corresponds to one of the food transfer components; When the food information on the plate matches the corresponding sensing component, the food transfer component moves the plate to the food dispensing conveyor belt.

[0011] Optionally, the food transfer assembly includes a second ejection assembly located on the inner edge of the annular conveyor belt, used to eject the food trays on the food delivery conveyor belt to the food output conveyor belt.

[0012] Optionally, the food delivery conveyor belt includes a first food delivery conveyor belt and a second food delivery conveyor belt, and the second ejector assembly includes a first ejector and a second ejector, wherein the first ejector is correspondingly arranged with the first food delivery conveyor belt and the second ejector is correspondingly arranged with the second food delivery conveyor belt.

[0013] A second aspect of this application provides an automatic food dispensing and delivery table, comprising: Automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment as described in any of the above items; A plate, wherein the plate has a built-in information chip, which is used to record the food information on the plate; The main control device is used to input the food information of the plate into the information chip.

[0014] The embodiments of this application employing the above-described technical solution may have the following advantages: After the food is prepared, it is placed on a plate. The plate's information chip records the food's information. The plate then moves along the length of the food delivery conveyor belt until it passes the sensing component. The sensing component reads the corresponding food information through the plate's information chip and determines whether to move the plate off the food delivery conveyor belt via the nearby transfer component to deliver it to the corresponding customer's seat. This alleviates problems such as food delays, untimely manual food preparation, and high labor costs caused by large customer orders.

[0015] The above overview is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features of this application will become readily apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description. Attached Figure Description

[0016] In the accompanying drawings, unless otherwise specified, the same reference numerals throughout the various drawings denote the same or similar parts or elements. These drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. It should be understood that these drawings depict only some embodiments disclosed in this application and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this application.

[0017] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of the automatic food dispensing and delivery equipment provided in the embodiments of this application; Figure 2 for Figure 1 A magnified view of part A.

[0018] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures: Food delivery conveyor belt 10; sensing component 20; food transfer component 30; second ejection component 32; ejection bridge component 40; bridge plate 42; first ejection component 41; food serving component 50; food dispensing conveyor belt 60. Detailed Implementation

[0019] The embodiments of this application are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, for clarity, the dimensions of layers, regions, elements, and their relative dimensions may be exaggerated. The same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are only used to explain this application, and should not be construed as limiting this application.

[0020] It should be understood that when an element or layer is referred to as "on," "adjacent to," "connected to," or "coupled to" other elements or layers, it may be directly on, adjacent to, connected to, or coupled to other elements or layers, or there may be intervening elements or layers. Conversely, when an element is referred to as "directly on," "directly adjacent to," "directly connected to," or "directly coupled to" other elements or layers, there are no intervening elements or layers. It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used to describe various elements, components, areas, layers, and / or portions, these elements, components, areas, layers, and / or portions should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, area, layer, or portion from another element, component, area, layer, or portion. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of this application, the first element, component, area, layer, or portion discussed below may be referred to as a second element, component, area, layer, or portion. And the discussion of a second element, component, area, layer, or portion does not imply that the first element, component, area, layer, or portion necessarily exists in this application.

[0021] In this application, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "joining," and "fixing," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components, unless otherwise expressly limited. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this application according to the specific circumstances.

[0022] It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," etc., in the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be used interchangeably where appropriate so that the embodiments of this application described herein can be implemented, for example, in orders other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion; for example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that comprises a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0023] In this application, when numerical intervals (i.e., numerical ranges) are involved, unless otherwise specified, the distribution of selectable numerical values ​​within the numerical interval is considered continuous, and includes the two endpoints of the numerical interval (i.e., the minimum and maximum values), as well as every numerical value between these two endpoints. Unless otherwise specified, when a numerical interval refers only to integers within that numerical interval, it includes the two endpoint integers of the numerical range, as well as every integer between the two endpoints, which is equivalent to directly listing every integer. When multiple numerical ranges are provided to describe features or characteristics, these numerical ranges can be merged. In other words, unless otherwise specified, the numerical ranges disclosed in this application should be understood to include any and all subranges included therein. The "numerical value" in the numerical interval can be any quantitative value, such as a number, percentage, ratio, etc. The term "numerical interval" can be broadly included to include percentage intervals, ratio intervals, proportion intervals, etc.

[0024] This application provides an automated food dispensing and delivery device and an automated food dispensing and delivery table. This aims to alleviate problems such as delayed food dispensing, low food dispensing efficiency, and high labor costs when orders are frequent. Details are provided below.

[0025] Exemplary embodiments according to this application will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these exemplary embodiments may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

[0026] Please see Figure 1 and Figure 2 This application provides an automated meal dispensing and delivery device, which includes a delivery conveyor belt 10, multiple sensing components 20, and multiple meal transfer components 30. The following is a detailed description: A food delivery conveyor belt 10 is used to carry and move the trays along the extension direction of the conveyor belt 10. Each tray has a built-in information chip for recording the food information of the corresponding tray. Specifically, the information chip can be an RFID chip, an NFC chip, or a QR code tag, and the food information can include the type of food on the tray, the target table number, etc.

[0027] Multiple sensing components 20 are sequentially and spaced apart on the food delivery conveyor belt 10 to acquire food information of the plates passing through the sensing components 20. Specifically, the sensing components 20 can be RFID sensors, which can automatically read the food information in the information chip as the plate passes by.

[0028] Multiple food transfer components 30 are arranged sequentially and at intervals on one side of the food delivery conveyor belt 10. The food transfer components 30 are used to transfer the food trays to different positions on the food delivery conveyor belt 10 according to the food information of the food trays.

[0029] In practical applications, each sensing component 20 can be equipped with a transfer component 30 on one side of the food delivery conveyor belt 10 along its moving direction. After the food is prepared, it is placed on a plate. The information chip on the plate records the food information. Then, the plate moves along the length of the food delivery conveyor belt 10 until it passes the sensing component 20. The sensing component 20 reads the corresponding food information through the information chip on the plate and determines whether to transfer the plate out of the food delivery conveyor belt 10 through the adjacent transfer component 30 to deliver it to the corresponding customer's seat. This alleviates problems such as delayed food preparation, untimely manual food preparation, and high labor costs caused by large customer orders.

[0030] In some embodiments, the food information on the plate can be fixed. For example, a certain type of plate may only be used to hold beef, and the information chip of that plate may record information including beef. In some embodiments, the information on the plate can also be entered into the plate in real time through a main control device. For example, after the food is placed on the plate, the operator can enter the specific information of the food into the plate's information chip through the main control device.

[0031] Furthermore, the food delivery conveyor belt 10 is a circular conveyor belt with its ends connected, allowing the trays to be transported repeatedly, avoiding empty operation and improving utilization. The circular conveyor belt can be configured with multiple food preparation points and food dispensing points. The food preparation points are used to prepare the food and place it on the trays, while the food dispensing points are where the food transfer component 30 moves the trays out of the food delivery conveyor belt 10, thereby improving food dispensing efficiency.

[0032] In this embodiment, the annular conveyor belt includes a first segment and a second segment. The annular conveyor belt can be elliptical in shape, and the first segment and the second segment can be divided along a straight line from the two foci of the ellipse. Multiple food preparation points can be set on the outer side of the first segment, and multiple food dispensing points can be set on the outer side of the second segment.

[0033] The automated food dispensing and delivery equipment also includes a catapult bridge assembly 40, which comprises a bridge plate 42 and a first catapult assembly 41. The bridge plate 42 is located between the first section and the second section, and the first catapult assembly 41 is located on the outer side of the annular conveyor belt. The first catapult assembly 41 is used to launch the tray located on the first section onto the bridge plate 42, and then move the tray to the second section via the bridge plate 42. Specifically, the first catapult assembly 41 can be an electromagnetic catapult device or a pneumatic catapult device to achieve fast and stable tray transfer.

[0034] Specifically, the bridge plate 42 can be a flat plate with guide grooves, allowing the plate to slide smoothly along the guide grooves to the second section after being ejected onto the bridge plate 42. The bridge plate 42 can also be a conveyor belt structure, which can reduce the ejection force of the first ejection assembly 41 and prevent the plate from tipping over.

[0035] The ejector bridge assembly 40 can quickly transfer the plate to the second section for fast serving. For example, the first section has a first food preparation point and a second food preparation point set at intervals. After the food preparation is completed at the first food preparation point, the plate sent out from that point needs to pass through the second food preparation point to reach the second section. By setting the ejector bridge assembly 40 at the first food preparation point and the second food preparation point, the plate sent out from the first food preparation point can be directly transferred to the second section through the ejector bridge assembly 40 to complete the fast serving.

[0036] In this embodiment, the catapult bridge assembly 40 can also be used to transfer the tray on the second section to the first section, so as to shorten the movement path of the tray and improve the efficiency of serving food.

[0037] Before passing through the ejection bridge assembly 40, the plate will pass through a sensor assembly 20 to read the food information and determine whether to trigger the subsequent ejection bridge assembly 40.

[0038] In an optional embodiment, the automated meal dispensing and delivery device further includes a meal loading component 50 located at the outer end of the delivery conveyor belt 10, for receiving the trays and transferring them to the delivery conveyor belt 10. One meal loading component 50 may correspond to one tray preparation point, where the prepared trays are placed on the meal loading component 50 to automatically feed them into the delivery conveyor belt 10. In some embodiments, the meal loading component 50 may also be equipped with an information input component for inputting meal information into the tray's information chip before the tray enters the delivery conveyor belt 10.

[0039] Furthermore, the serving assembly 50 includes a serving conveyor belt and a limiting assembly. The serving conveyor belt is connected to the outer side of the delivery conveyor belt 10, and the limiting assembly is used to guide the plates located on the serving conveyor belt to the delivery conveyor belt 10. The limiting assembly can be a guide groove, a guide wheel, or a device with an elastic clamping structure, used to constrain the movement direction of the plates so that the plates can be correctly fed into the delivery conveyor belt 10.

[0040] In an optional embodiment, the automatic meal dispensing and delivery device further includes a dispensing conveyor belt 60, one end of which is located below the delivery conveyor belt 10 and corresponds to a transfer component 30. When the food information on the plate matches the corresponding sensing component 20, the transfer component 30 moves the plate to the dispensing conveyor belt 60.

[0041] The food delivery conveyor belt 60 can be a straight line or a zigzag structure to adapt to the food delivery needs of different areas of the restaurant. Furthermore, the surface of the food delivery conveyor belt 60 can be provided with anti-slip textures or cushioning pads to prevent plates from sliding or colliding. At the same time, adjustable guide baffles can be set according to the size of the plates to ensure that the plates fall smoothly onto the conveyor belt.

[0042] Multiple tables can be set up at intervals on the outer side of the food delivery conveyor belt 60 to facilitate customers' seating, ordering, and ultimately retrieving their orders from the conveyor belt 60. If the food information includes the target table number, the conveyor belt 60 can deliver the corresponding tray to the corresponding table and then stop to remind the customer to collect their order.

[0043] Furthermore, the transfer assembly 30 includes a second ejection assembly 32, located at the inner edge of the annular conveyor belt. The second ejection assembly 32 ejects the trays from the delivery conveyor belt 10 to the serving conveyor belt 60. The second ejection assembly 32 transfers the trays from the delivery conveyor belt 10 to the serving conveyor belt 60 for easy customer access. It can be understood that there are multiple transfer assemblies 30 and multiple ejection assemblies. Each transfer assembly 30 may correspond to one ejection assembly, and each ejection assembly may correspond to one serving conveyor belt 60, allowing the trays to be transferred to the serving conveyor belt 60 at the appropriate location.

[0044] Specifically, in this embodiment, the food delivery conveyor belt 60 includes a first food delivery conveyor belt 60 and a second food delivery conveyor belt 60, and the second ejector assembly 32 includes a first ejector and a second ejector. The first ejector is correspondingly arranged with the first food delivery conveyor belt 60, and the second ejector is correspondingly arranged with the second food delivery conveyor belt 60.

[0045] In one specific embodiment, the first ejector and the second ejector can be driven independently to accurately eject the trays onto the corresponding food delivery conveyor belt 60, ensuring that trays for different dishes or different orders are not mixed up. Furthermore, the action of the ejector can be synchronously triggered with the data from the sensing components 20 on the food delivery conveyor belt 10 to achieve automated, real-time tray sorting.

[0046] The first food delivery conveyor belt 60 and the second food delivery conveyor belt 60 can be arranged side by side. Multiple spaced dining tables can be set on both sides of the first food delivery conveyor belt 60 and the second food delivery conveyor belt 60 that are far apart from each other to improve space utilization.

[0047] In a preferred embodiment, the distance between the tables on both sides of the food delivery conveyor belt 60 can be flexibly adjusted according to the restaurant layout to ensure smooth passage for customers when picking up their food. Furthermore, to improve system adaptability, the position and number of tables can be preset in the control system. When a tray is about to reach the corresponding table, the system can remind the customer to pick up their food through visual recognition or information sensing, thereby achieving efficient and accurate food delivery service.

[0048] This application also provides an automatic food dispensing and delivery table, including the automatic food dispensing and delivery device, a plate, and a main control device as described in any of the above embodiments. The plate has a built-in information chip for recording the food information of the corresponding plate. The main control device is used to input the food information of the plate into the information chip.

[0049] In one specific embodiment, the main control device can be a computer, controller, or embedded system, which is connected in real time to the serving components and sensing components to achieve unified management of plate information. Furthermore, the main control device can generate food information based on the restaurant's ordering system and automatically send it to the information chip of the corresponding plate, thereby establishing a unique correspondence between the plate and the customer's order. Preferably, the main control device can also record the plate's trajectory and serving time for subsequent service statistics and optimization management.

[0050] It should be noted that the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," and "circumferential," etc., are used only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation on this application. The directional terms "inner" and "outer" refer to the inside or outside relative to the outline of the component itself. For example, if a device in the drawings is inverted, a device described as "above" or "on top of" other devices or structures will subsequently be positioned as "below" or "under" other devices or structures. Thus, the exemplary term "above" can include both "above" and "below." The device may also be positioned in other different ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatial relative descriptions used herein are interpreted accordingly.

[0051] It should also be noted that the terms "one embodiment," "another embodiment," and "embodiment" used in this application refer to specific features, structures, or characteristics described in connection with that embodiment, which are included in at least one embodiment described in the general description of this application. The appearance of the same expression in multiple places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with any embodiment, the intention is to suggest that implementing such a feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments also falls within the scope of this application.

[0052] In the above embodiments, the descriptions of each embodiment have different focuses. For parts not described in detail in a certain embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions in other embodiments.

[0053] It should also be noted that the above are merely preferred embodiments of this application and do not limit the scope of patent protection of this application. Any equivalent structural or procedural changes made using the content of this application’s specification and drawings, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the scope of patent protection of this application.

Claims

1. An automatic food dispensing and delivery device, characterized in that, include: A food delivery conveyor belt is used to carry food trays and move the food trays along the extension direction of the food delivery conveyor belt. The food trays have built-in information chips, which are used to record the food information of the corresponding food trays. Multiple sensing components are arranged sequentially and at intervals on the food delivery conveyor belt to acquire food information of the plates passing through the sensing components; Multiple food transfer components are arranged sequentially and at intervals on one side of the food delivery conveyor belt. The food transfer components are used to move the food tray out of different positions on the food delivery conveyor belt according to the food information of the tray. Each sensing component has a food transfer component on one side along the direction of movement of the food delivery conveyor belt.

2. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, The food delivery conveyor belt is a circular conveyor belt with its ends connected.

3. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that, The circular conveyor belt includes a first section and a second section; The automatic food dispensing and delivery equipment also includes a catapult bridge assembly, which includes a bridge plate and a first catapult component. The bridge plate is located between the first section and the second section, and the first catapult component is located on the outside of the annular conveyor belt. The first catapult component is used to catapult the food tray located on the first section to the bridge plate, and move the food tray to the second section through the bridge plate.

4. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a serving component located at the outer end of the food delivery conveyor belt, used to receive the food tray and move the food tray to the food delivery conveyor belt.

5. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 4, characterized in that, The serving component includes a serving conveyor belt and a limiting component. The serving conveyor belt is connected to the outside of the delivery conveyor belt, and the limiting component is used to guide the plates located on the serving conveyor belt to the delivery conveyor belt.

6. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that, It also includes a food dispensing conveyor belt, one end of which is located below the food delivery conveyor belt and corresponds to one of the food transfer components; When the food information on the plate matches the corresponding sensing component, the food transfer component moves the plate to the food dispensing conveyor belt.

7. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 6, characterized in that, The food transfer assembly includes a second ejection assembly located on the inner edge of the circular conveyor belt, which is used to eject the food trays on the food delivery conveyor belt to the food output conveyor belt.

8. The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment according to claim 7, characterized in that, The food delivery conveyor belt includes a first food delivery conveyor belt and a second food delivery conveyor belt. The second ejector assembly includes a first ejector and a second ejector. The first ejector is correspondingly arranged with the first food delivery conveyor belt, and the second ejector is correspondingly arranged with the second food delivery conveyor belt.

9. An automatic food dispensing and delivery table, comprising: The automatic meal dispensing and delivery equipment as described in any one of claims 1 to 8; A plate, wherein the plate has a built-in information chip, which is used to record the food information on the plate; The main control device is used to input the food information of the plate into the information chip.

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