Deep-fried spring rolls

Abstract

Deep-fried spring rolls (1) prepared using: a. Conveying a dough (2) via a metering hose (4) to a dough application device (5), wherein the dough (2) has a ratio of 100 l to 150 l water to 100 kg flour and wherein the dough application device (5) has a dough outlet (6) and is arranged in front of a rotating and heated baking roller (8) such that a variable distance (AB) is defined between the dough outlet (6) and the rotating and heated baking roller (8); b. Applying the dough (2) by means of the dough application device (5) onto the rotating and heated baking roller (8) in the form of a dough sheet (9), wherein a thickness of the dough sheet (9) is defined by the distance (AB) between the dough outlet (6) and the rotating and heated baking roller (8); c. Transporting the dough web (9) over the rotating and heated baking roller (8) with a surface temperature in a range of 130 °C to 180 °C, so that the dough web (9) contacts the rotating and heated baking roller (8) for a residence time in a range of 12 to 30 seconds; d. Grasping the dough web (9) coming from the rotating and heated baking roller (8) by means of two robot arms (10) and cutting the dough web (9), wherein the cutting is carried out by means of a cutting device (12) arranged in the conveying direction (v) behind the rotating and heated baking roller (8) and in front of the two robot arms (10) into dough elements (13); e. Arranging filling material (14) on the dough elements (13) by means of a filling material feeding device (15) to produce filled dough elements; f. Folding the (13) filled dough elements into spring roll blanks (20) using a folding device (21); g. Deep-frying the spring roll blanks (20) by passing the spring roll blanks (20) through an oil bath (17) filled with cooking oil (16) to produce deep-fried spring rolls (1), whereby a cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) is created above the oil bath (17); h. Cleaning the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) by means of a grease separator (19), wherein the grease separator (19) separates oil particles and odor particles from the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) and the exhaust air stream with a volume flow in a range of 500 m 3 / h up to 2000 m 3 / h, preferably within a range of 750 m 3 / h up to 1500 m 3 / h, sucks in.

Description

Technical field

[0001] The present invention lies in the field of food manufacturing and relates to fried spring rolls. Background and state of the art

[0002] Deep-fried spring rolls are known to be produced using methods that often generate exhaust air contaminated with cooking oil and / or very strong odors. Many deep-fried spring rolls are produced largely through manual steps or several uncoordinated steps. For example, the spring roll dough and the filling can be prepared separately in terms of location and time, with a worker filling the dough and manually rolling it into a spring roll in a final step. However, such spring rolls are comparatively slow, prone to errors, and expensive to produce.

[0003] Deep-fried spring rolls are also known, in which dough sections are transported by a conveyor belt, filled mechanically, and then folded into spring rolls using folding mechanisms located on the side of the conveyor belt. However, the appearance of such folded spring rolls is less authentic, and these folding mechanisms can be comparatively prone to failure.

[0004] One objective of the invention is therefore to provide fried spring rolls that can be produced more efficiently, sustainably and cleanly.

[0005] The problems are solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further advantageous embodiments are revealed by the dependent claims and the overall disclosure.

[0006] The disclosed deep-fried spring rolls are produced by conveying a batter, in particular by means of a batter pump, through a metering hose to a batter dispensing device. In the context of this disclosure, the batter forms the dough covering of the spring roll, and the batter consists of flour and water. This is a batter typical for spring rolls, the viscosity and consistency of which can be significantly altered by the baking process. The batter can have a water-to-flour ratio of 100 to 150 liters per 100 kg of flour. In this context, the batter can be understood as a liquid batter.

[0007] The dough application device has a dough outlet and is positioned in front of a rotating and heated baking roller such that a variable distance is defined between the dough outlet and the rotating and heated baking roller. A variable distance means that it can be set to a desired value. The dough outlet can have a tapered cross-section.

[0008] Preferably, two spacer rollers are arranged at the dough outlet of the dough application device, by means of which the distance between the dough outlet and the baking roller can be adjusted. The spacer rollers ensure that the dough application device rests against the rotating baking roller with relatively dampened and stable contact. Particularly precise adjustment of the distance can be achieved by an eccentric arrangement on the two spacer rollers. The distance between the spacer roller and the heated baking roller can be in a range of 1 mm to 6 mm, preferably in a range of 3 to 5 mm. Such a distance results in a dough sheet of a specific thickness, which can advantageously be folded into a spring roll blank during production.

[0009] The dough is applied to the heated and rotating baking roller in the form of a sheet of dough by means of the dough application device. The thickness of the dough sheet is defined by the distance between the dough outlet and the heated baking roller. To prevent the applied dough from moving against gravity, in some designs it can be applied at approximately the midpoint of the baking roller, i.e., at the level of the roller's central axis. To counteract any runoff of the dough, the baking roller also rotates continuously around its central axis. This continuous rotation forms a sheet of dough from the applied dough. Simultaneously, the rotation enables a continuous process. Any unwanted flow of the dough sheet is further prevented by a sufficiently heated baking roller.To ensure the dough remains in contact with the heated baking roller for a sufficient length of time, the position of the dough application device can be adjusted depending on the rotational speed of the baking roller. For example, for a slower production process, a position can be chosen so that the dough contacts the baking roller over approximately half its circumference, or about 180°. For a comparatively faster production process, or a higher production rate, a correspondingly longer contact path is necessary. For a faster production process, the contact path can therefore be, for example, approximately ¾ of the baking roller's circumference, or about 270°. At a sufficiently high temperature, the dough sheet becomes more viscous over the longer it remains on the baking roller, making it easier to grip.In this process, the dough sheet is transported over the rotating and heated baking roller, which has a surface temperature ranging from 130°C to 180°C, in such a way that the dough sheet remains in contact with the rotating and heated baking roller for a dwell time of 12 to 30 seconds. Within this temperature and time range, the dough becomes sufficiently viscous and firm to be picked up by the subsequent robot arm, while simultaneously retaining sufficient flexibility to be further processed, i.e., folded, without breaking.

[0010] Through the described baking-like step, the dough is changed in such a way that it has an improved consistency and is more tactile.

[0011] After the dough sheet has been transported, for example, along half the circumference of the rotating and heated baking roller, the dough sheet coming from the rotating and heated baking roller is gripped by at least one robot arm. The dough sheet is then cut, particularly on a conveyor, with the cutting being carried out by a cutting device positioned behind the rotating and heated baking roller and in front of the at least one robot arm in the conveying direction. The cutting device can be positioned above the dough sheet, so that the robot arm pulls the dough sheet under the cutting device. Upon reaching a minimum length, the cutting device can extend a blade and cut the dough sheet into several dough pieces.

[0012] After cutting, a filling material is applied to the dough elements using a filling material feeding device to produce filled dough elements. The filling material is preferably placed centrally on the dough element. Such filling material can be, for example, various types of vegetables. It is understood that the filling material is edible.

[0013] The dough pieces are then folded with the filling material to form spring roll blanks using a folding device. This device may consist of a stamp and a rotating disc and may also be designed in a robotic manner. The folding device enables relatively quick folding, resulting in spring roll blanks that look authentic and are therefore appealing to consumers.

[0014] The spring roll blanks are then deep-fried by passing them through a bath of cooking oil to produce deep-fried spring rolls. A stream of cooking oil-containing air is generated above the oil bath. The cooking oil temperature can range from 160 °C to 190 °C, and the frying time ranges from 70 to 160 seconds. Under these frying conditions, the spring rolls are fried thoroughly and efficiently.

[0015] Finally, the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream is cleaned using a grease separator, whereby the grease separator separates oil particles and odor particles from the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream and filters the exhaust air stream with a volume flow in a range of 500 m³. 3 / h up to 2000 m 3 / h, preferably within a range of 750 m 3 / h up to 1500 m 3 / h, drawn in. Cleaning with the grease separator makes the frying process step particularly low in odor emissions in the exhaust air discharged to the outside, thus reducing the odor typically perceived as unpleasant during frying. This is especially advantageous when the exhaust air exits the building into the environment. Exhaust air streams in conventional frying processes are usually at least partially released into the environment, polluting it with cooking oil and odor. In contrast, the previously described step cleans the exhaust air stream, resulting in a purified exhaust air stream being released into the environment. Consequently, the fried spring rolls described here are particularly environmentally friendly. Since the grease separator removes not only odor particles but also oil particles from the exhaust air stream, the separated oil can be collected and further processed.This increases the sustainability and economic efficiency of the fried spring rolls.

[0016] The fried spring rolls are produced sequentially. This means that the spring rolls are made one after the other. Although it is possible for several lines to produce spring rolls in parallel, the production process within these lines is sequential. For example, at least steps d. to f. are performed sequentially. That is, the dough elements are cut, filled, and folded one after the other, and not at the same time.

[0017] The deep-fried spring rolls according to the invention have the advantage that several spring rolls can be produced in a continuous process. Due to the use of the at least one robot arm and the folding device, the spring rolls have an authentic shape compared to spring rolls produced using folding mechanisms. Furthermore, the deep-fried spring rolls are particularly sustainable, economical, and environmentally friendly, as the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream is cleaned by a grease separator.

[0018] Preferably, steps d) to g) are carried out in such a way that the rotating and heated baking roller can rotate at a constant speed without the dough web becoming jammed. This advantageously reduces downtime of the device. The fried spring rolls are then produced in a particularly energy-efficient and economical manner.

[0019] Preferably, the dough has a temperature between 15 °C and 25 °C before step b). This results in less adhesion of the dough to the fittings, and especially to the rotating and heated baking roller, during subsequent processing steps. This leads to fewer defective products and less dough residue on the baking roller, allowing for particularly clean and efficient production of the fried spring rolls. The dough temperature can be achieved by refrigerating the dough at a temperature between 15 °C and 25 °C, so that the dough is essentially at ambient temperature during storage. Furthermore, the dough temperature can be influenced by the water temperature. For example, the dough can have a temperature of 18 °C after being mixed with 18 °C cold water.

[0020] It can be provided that, after step c) and before cutting in step d), the dough sheet is cooled by an airflow from a blower. Preferably, room air at the appropriate temperature can flow from the blower. For this purpose, the blower can be positioned in the conveying direction behind the heated baking roller and in front of the cutting device, and thus in front of the robot arm. Cooling optimizes the consistency of the dough sheet for the cutting and gripping processes.

[0021] Preferably, two robot arms are arranged opposite each other and grip the dough sheet in step d). The two robot arms can be positioned at the same height in the conveying direction and perform the gripping process together. Using two robot arms, the dough sheet, which is still relatively soft at this point in step d), can be gripped particularly advantageously and guided precisely towards the cutting device.

[0022] It can be provided that steps a) to h) take place in a continuous process. This continuous process involves the continuous rotation of the heated roller. This roller has a diameter of approximately 1.00 m to 1.40 m and preferably rotates at a speed of 0.05 m / s to 0.2 m / s. A continuous sheet of dough is thus conveyed by the rotating heated baking roller towards the cutting device and towards the at least one robot arm. Behind the baking roller, the robot arm grasps the sheet of dough and guides it into the area of ​​the cutting device, where a first dough element is cut from the sheet (step d)). The robot arm then transports the first dough element, filling it with the filling material (step e)).

[0023] The folding device then folds the first dough element into a first spring roll (step f)), before the robot arm again grasps the dough sheet near the baking roller and performs steps d) to f) for the second dough element or the second spring roll. The at least one robot arm thus performs a continuous gripping and positioning motion, ensuring that the robot arm is always fully utilized. This results in a particularly efficient production process for the fried spring rolls.

[0024] According to another aspect of this disclosure, packaged fried spring rolls are described, in which the spring rolls are first produced as described and then packaged after step g). For this purpose, the spring rolls can be removed from the oil bath after frying and transferred into packaging via a conveying device. Such packaging could be, for example, a food-grade box or a plastic bag. It may be provided that the spring rolls are flash-frozen or deep-frozen beforehand. The fried spring rolls of this disclosure are thus produced using a nearly complete process chain, so that no further post-processing steps are necessary. The production of the spring rolls is therefore particularly efficient and cost-effective.

[0025] Aspects of the invention are explained in more detail with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the following figures and the accompanying description. The figures show: Fig. 1a a device for producing fried spring rolls with a focus on gripping the dough sheet and Fig. 1b a device for the production of fried spring rolls with a focus on folding and frying the spring roll blanks.

[0026] Fig. 1a and Fig. Figure 1b shows a device for producing deep-fried spring rolls 1, wherein a dough 2 is first conveyed by a dough pump 3 via a metering hose 4 to a dough application device 5. The dough application device 5 has a dough outlet 6, at the end of which a spacer roller 7 is arranged. The dough outlet 6 is positioned in front of a rotating and heated baking roller 8, such that a distance AB is set between the dough outlet 6 and the rotating and heated baking roller 8. The dough 2 is applied in the conveying direction v by the dough application device 5 onto the rotating and heated baking roller 8 in the form of a dough sheet 9. The dough outlet 6 of the dough application device 5 can taper in the direction of rotation of the heated baking roller 8. This allows the dough 2 to be applied particularly evenly in the form of a dough sheet 9 onto the heated baking roller 8.The thickness of the dough sheet 9 is defined by the distance AB between the dough outlet 6 and the heated baking roller 8, where the distance AB is proportional to the thickness of the dough sheet 9. The baking roller 8 rotates in the direction of the arrow, thereby conveying the dough 2 from the dough outlet 6 as a dough sheet 9 over the baking roller 8 to a side opposite the dough outlet 6. The rotation of the heated baking roller 8 enables a continuous process, making the production of the spring rolls 1 particularly economical.

[0027] The baking roller 8 has a surface temperature in the range of 130 °C to 180 °C, so that the dough sheet 9 is lightly baked. Subsequently, the dough sheet 9 is cooled down by a blower 22 arranged behind the baking roller 8 in the conveying direction, so that the dough sheet 9 has improved strength and can be processed more easily.

[0028] Fig. Figure 1a shows the process by which the dough sheet 9, coming from the rotating and heated baking roller 8, is gripped by at least one robot arm 10. The gripping robot 10 thus takes over the dough sheet 9 from the baking roller 8, with the dough sheet 9 being at least partially arranged on a conveying device 11. Subsequently, a cutting device 12 cuts the dough sheet 9 into at least one or more dough elements 13. For this purpose, the cutting device 12 is arranged in the conveying direction v behind the baking roller 8 and in front of the robot arm 10. After the cutting process, a filling material feeder 15 places filling material 14, for example, cut vegetables, onto the dough elements 13 to produce the filled dough elements. For the sake of clarity, only one robot arm 10 is shown in each case. Fig. 1a and Fig. However, 1b can also be understood to mean that two robot arms 10 perform the steps.

[0029] Fig. Figure 1b shows the process according to which a folding device 21, after filling the dough elements 13, folds each of them into a spring roll blank 20. The folding device 21 can also be designed in a robotic manner, for example in the form of a combination of a stamp and a rotating disc, so that in Fig. 1b for the folding device 21, a robot arm pictogram was also chosen. The rotational speed of the rotating and heated baking roller 8, and the corresponding conveying speed of the dough web 9, are coordinated with the folding process by the folding device 21. The robot arm 10 therefore only picks up the dough web 9 again and passes it on to the folding device 21 once the previous folding process is complete. This enables a particularly continuous and economical process for producing the spring roll blanks 20.

[0030] After folding, the spring roll 1 is passed through an oil bath 17 filled with cooking oil 16 for deep-frying. The oil typically has a temperature in the range of 160 °C to 190 °C. Since an exhaust air stream 18 containing cooking oil is generated during the frying process, a grease separator 19 is arranged above the oil bath 17. The grease separator 19 draws in the exhaust air stream 18 containing cooking oil and separates the oil and odor particles. The grease separator can generally be located at any point in the exhaust system. For example, exhaust air can be drawn into the exhaust system via pipes, from where it is directed to the grease separator and then released to the outside environment. A comparatively low-odor exhaust air stream is then generated above the grease separator 19.Of course, the grease separator 19 can also be arranged in other positions near the oil bath 17 in order to further optimize the cleaning of the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream 18. LIST OF REFERENCE MARKS 1 spring roll 2 Dough 3 Dough pump 4 dosing hoses 5 Dough application device 6 Dough outlet 7 spacer roller 8 Heated baking roller 9 sheets of dough 10 robot arms 11 funding opportunities 12 Cutting device 13 Dough element 14 Filling material 15 Filling material feed device 16 Cooking oil 17 Oil bath 18. Exhaust air containing cooking oil 19 grease separators 20 spring roll blanks 21 Folding device 22 blowers 22 AB distance spacer roller baking roller v Direction of conveyance

Claims

[1] Deep-fried spring rolls (1) prepared using: a. Conveying a dough (2) via a metering hose (4) to a dough application device (5), wherein the dough (2) has a ratio of 100 l to 150 l water to 100 kg flour and wherein the dough application device (5) has a dough outlet (6) and is arranged in front of a rotating and heated baking roller (8) such that a variable distance (AB) is defined between the dough outlet (6) and the rotating and heated baking roller (8); b. Applying the dough (2) by means of the dough application device (5) onto the rotating and heated baking roller (8) in the form of a dough sheet (9), wherein a thickness of the dough sheet (9) is defined by the distance (AB) between the dough outlet (6) and the rotating and heated baking roller (8); c. Transporting the dough web (9) over the rotating and heated baking roller (8) with a surface temperature in a range of 130 °C to 180 °C, so that the dough web (9) contacts the rotating and heated baking roller (8) for a residence time in a range of 12 to 30 seconds; d. Grasping the dough web (9) coming from the rotating and heated baking roller (8) by means of two robot arms (10) and cutting the dough web (9), wherein the cutting is carried out by means of a cutting device (12) arranged in the conveying direction (v) behind the rotating and heated baking roller (8) and in front of the two robot arms (10) into dough elements (13); e. Arranging filling material (14) on the dough elements (13) by means of a filling material feeding device (15) to produce filled dough elements; f. Folding the (13) filled dough elements into spring roll blanks (20) using a folding device (21); g. Deep-frying the spring roll blanks (20) by passing the spring roll blanks (20) through an oil bath (17) filled with cooking oil (16) to produce deep-fried spring rolls (1), whereby a cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) is created above the oil bath (17); h. Cleaning the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) by means of a grease separator (19), wherein the grease separator (19) separates oil particles and odor particles from the cooking oil-containing exhaust air stream (18) and the exhaust air stream with a volume flow in a range of 500 m 3 / h up to 2000 m 3 / h, preferably within a range of 750 m 3 / h up to 1500 m 3 / h, sucks in. [2] Fried spring rolls (1) according to claim 1, wherein in step a) the distance AB between the spacer roller (7) and the heated baking roller (8) is in a range of 1 mm to 6 mm, preferably in a range of 3 to 5 mm. [3] Fried spring rolls (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein steps d. to g. are carried out such that the rotating and heated baking roller can be rotated at a constant rotational speed without jamming of the dough web. [4] Fried spring rolls (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dough has a temperature in the range of 15 °C to 25 °C before step b). [5] Fried spring rolls (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein after step c) and before cutting in step d) the sheet of dough (9) is cooled down by an air stream from a blower (22). [6] Fried spring rolls (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein two opposing robot arms (10) are arranged to grasp the dough sheet (9) in step d). [7] Fried spring rolls (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein steps a) to h) are carried out in a continuous process. [8] Packaged and fried spring rolls (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein after step g) the fried spring rolls (1) are packaged.

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