AI-Controlled Ice Cream Machine for Dynamic Batch Freezing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing machines for making liquid or semiliquid food products, particularly ice cream, face challenges such as lengthy process times, inability to handle unbalanced mixtures, heat exchange issues with high-fat mixtures, potential ice cream block formation, and repeatability problems in achieving the correct consistency.
Innovation Solution
A machine equipped with a processing container, a stirrer, a thermal treatment system, and a control unit that includes an artificial intelligence control module using a neural network to classify mixtures and regulate the thermal treatment system and stirrer based on real-time sensor data, ensuring optimal batch freezing and product quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional batch freezing process is used with mechanical stirring and refrigerating cycle, then ice cream is frozen and processed, but the process time is lengthy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic control of the thermal treatment system and stirrer based on real-time mixture classification. The system adjusts processing parameters dynamically according to the detected mixture type (balanced, unbalanced with excess water, unbalanced with excess fats, unbalanced with excess sugar) to optimize freezing speed while maintaining quality, thereby reducing overall process time.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit continuously monitors processing parameters and mixture characteristics, using sensor data to classify the mixture in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the system to adapt the thermal treatment and stirring intensity according to the actual state of the mixture, enabling faster freezing without compromising the final product quality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional processing is used, then ice cream is made, but the machine cannot handle unbalanced mixtures
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit modifies processing parameters (thermal treatment intensity, stirring speed and pattern) based on the classified mixture type. For unbalanced mixtures, the system adjusts these parameters to compensate for the imbalances, ensuring reliable processing across all mixture compositions including those with excess water, fats, or sugar.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine is designed to handle multiple types of mixtures (balanced and various unbalanced compositions) through a single unified system. The control unit's ability to classify and adapt to different mixture types makes the machine universal, capable of reliably processing any base product composition without requiring separate equipment or manual intervention.
3Temperature
If thermal treatment system is used for heat exchange, then ice cream is frozen, but heat exchange issues occur with high-fat mixtures
Solution Approach 1:
When the control unit detects a mixture with excess fats through sensor analysis, it automatically adjusts the thermal treatment parameters. This may include modifying the cooling rate, temperature profile, or heat exchange intensity to account for the reduced heat transfer efficiency characteristic of high-fat mixtures, thereby maintaining reliable freezing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The thermal treatment system operates dynamically, with the control unit continuously adjusting heat exchange parameters based on real-time mixture classification. For high-fat mixtures, the system adapts the thermal profile to compensate for the inherent heat exchange issues, ensuring consistent freezing results regardless of fat content variations.
4Productivity
If conventional batch freezing is used, then ice cream is produced, but ice cream block formation occurs inside the stirrer
Solution Approach 1:
The stirrer operates under dynamic control, with the control unit adjusting stirring speed, direction, and intensity based on the classified mixture type and real-time processing state. This dynamic stirring pattern prevents the formation of ice cream blocks inside the stirrer by maintaining adequate movement and preventing localized freezing that would cause blockage, ensuring continuous production.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit monitors processing parameters and mixture characteristics in real-time, using this feedback to adjust stirring operations. When conditions that might lead to block formation are detected, the system modifies the stirring pattern to prevent blockage, thereby maintaining production continuity without interruption.
5Manufacturing precision
If traditional processing is used, then ice cream is made, but repeatability problems occur in achieving correct consistency
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit continuously monitors processing parameters and mixture characteristics, using real-time feedback to adjust thermal treatment and stirring operations. This closed-loop control ensures that the correct consistency is achieved repeatedly by detecting deviations and making corrective adjustments, eliminating the variability inherent in traditional open-loop processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary classification of the mixture type before the main processing begins. Based on this initial classification, the control unit pre-configures the optimal processing parameters for the specific mixture type, ensuring that the correct consistency is achieved from the start and maintained throughout processing, thereby improving repeatability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The machine achieves efficient batch freezing in the shortest possible time while ensuring the production of ice cream with optimal quality, regardless of mixture balance, by promptly identifying and correcting anomalies during the processing cycle.
Implementation Method 1
a thermal system associated with the container to exchange heat with the walls of the container
Implementation Method 2
the base product is thus batch frozen inside the container, that is to say, cooled by the thermal system
Implementation Method 3
simultaneously stirred by the stirrer so as to convert the base product into a finished ice cream product
Data Source
AI summary
A machine for making liquid or semiliquid or semisolid food products, comprising:a processing container for processing base products;a stirrer adapted to mix products inside the processing container that processes the base products;a thermal treatment system, configured to exchange heat with the processing container that processes the base products;a control unit, connected to the thermal treatment system and to the stirrer to drive them,at least one sensor, configured to detect an operating parameter of the machine;a first artificial intelligence control module, configured to define a pre-trained classifier having at least one input and at least one output, where the at least one input is connected to the sensor;a drive module connected to the output of the first control module and at least to the thermal treatment system and/or to the stirrer.