Batch Freezing Cylinder Merging Production and Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing and selling Italian ice cream and similar foodstuffs involve cumbersome equipment, hygiene issues, and exposure to the environment, leading to organoleptic changes and increased operational and spatial requirements.
Innovation Solution
A method and equipment that allow for the production and direct retailing of Italian ice cream in self-contained batch freezing units, where the ice cream is preserved and dispensed directly from the same units, reducing handling and exposure, and featuring a modular display counter with temperature-controlled batch cylinders and stirring mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ice cream is produced in batch freezers and then transferred to tubs for display, then production capacity is achieved, but handling complexity increases and hygiene problems occur
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the production function and display function into a single integrated unit. The batch freezer cylinder serves both as the production vessel and as the display container, eliminating the need for separate transfer operations to tubs. This combination resolves the contradiction by maintaining productivity while eliminating handling complexity and hygiene issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The cylinder is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as the mixing bowl during production, the freezing chamber during batch freezing, and the display container during retail presentation. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate equipment for each stage, thereby reducing operator workload and maintaining hygiene.
2Productivity
If multiple separate equipment are used for production and display, then production requirements are met, but space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention combines multiple separate equipment (batch freezer, display counter, storage container) into a single integrated unit. The cylinder serves as both the production vessel and the display container, eliminating the need for separate tubs and display equipment. This merging significantly reduces the space required in the laboratory-retail shop environment.
3Ease of operation
If ice cream is exposed to environment in tubs, then display is enabled, but organoleptic characteristics deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs a transparent lid or cover that can be placed over the cylinder when not in active production. This flexible covering maintains the sealed environment during display, protecting the ice cream from environmental factors while still allowing visual presentation through the transparent material.
Solution Approach 2:
The cylinder's transparent construction allows it to serve as both a functional production vessel and a display window. The same container that protects the ice cream during production also enables visual display to customers, eliminating the need to transfer to separate display tubs that would expose the product to environmental deterioration.
4Loss of information
If transparent cylinders are used for display, then visual monitoring is enabled, but cleaning difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cylinder is designed with a removable lid or cover that can be easily detached. This segmentation allows customers to view the ice cream through the transparent cylinder during production and display, while simultaneously enabling easy access for cleaning operations by removing the lid to reach all internal surfaces.
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
This approach maintains better organoleptic characteristics, reduces operator workload, and minimizes space requirements while enabling consumers to visually monitor production, resulting in a more efficient and hygienic process for producing and selling Italian ice cream.
Implementation Method 1
a batch freezer and even a pasteurizer or cooking machine. The pasteurized mixture to be batch frozen is introduced into a batch cylinder provided with cooling means for its walls, and eventually the bottom, and with stirring blades treating the cooled liquid mixture until the desired pasty consistency is reached
Implementation Method 2
with stirring blades treating the cooled liquid mixture until the desired pasty consistency is reached
Implementation Method 3
a batch cylinder provided with cooling means for its walls, and eventually the bottom
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention refers to a method and an equipment for producing, exposing and extemporaneously retailing foodstuffs subjected to thermal treatment and mixing or stirring, particularly of Italian ice cream or similar, having several flavors, wherein: - several flavors of such foodstuffs are produced, particularly of ice cream or similar in at least as many treatment units, each one having a stirring or batch cylinder and thermal treatment means; the obtained product is preserved in the corresponding stirring or batch cylinders; and - product measures are taken out whenever requested by consumers directly from said stirring or batch cylinders.