Convoluted Chocolate Sheet with Transverse Creases for Clean Portioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Convoluted chocolate sheets are difficult to eat and divide due to their crumbly texture, leading to fragmentation and mess when attempting to break them into portions.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating regions of weakness along the chocolate sheet, created by slits in the scraper blade during the chocolate sheet formation process, allows for clean breaking into portions with minimal fragmentation, and the use of an air nozzle or knife edge to create these weaknesses ensures the sheet can be easily divided.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the chocolate sheet is made convoluted with large air pockets to reduce weight and calorific value, then the product has a crumbly, flaky texture and low weight, but the bar becomes difficult to divide into portions without fragmentation
Solution Approach 1:
The chocolate sheet is segmented by introducing transverse creases that divide the sheet into multiple sections before folding. These creases create predetermined breaking points that allow the final convoluted bar to be divided into portions without fragmentation, resolving the contradiction between maintaining crumbly texture and enabling easy division.
Solution Approach 2:
The chocolate sheet has non-uniform structure with creases located at specific transverse positions while maintaining the convoluted fold pattern. This local modification creates regions of weakness that facilitate division without affecting the overall crumbly texture and air pocket structure that provide low weight.
2Quantity of substance
If the chocolate sheet is made thin with large air pockets to achieve low calorific value, then the product has reduced weight and lower calorific value, but the sheet becomes more fragile and difficult to handle
Solution Approach 1:
The thin chocolate sheet is segmented into multiple sections by transverse creases, which distributes the structural load and prevents complete fragmentation. This allows the sheet to maintain its thin, low-calorific structure while improving handleability through predetermined division points.
3Productivity
If a scraper blade is used to remove chocolate from the roller, then the chocolate sheet can be formed efficiently, but the blade may become clogged with chocolate
Solution Approach 1:
The scraper blade is designed with a leading edge that creates transverse creases in the chocolate sheet before the main scraping action. This preliminary action prevents chocolate from accumulating and clogging the blade by creating a cleaner separation interface, maintaining both productivity and operational reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A confectionery composition is described. The confectionery composition includes a convoluted chocolate sheet having fold lines arranged generally along a first direction and having at least one region of weakness. Each region of weakness extends along the full width of the chocolate sheet substantially in a single plane transverse to the first direction. Also described are scraper blades for removing chocolate from a roller to form a chocolate sheet, and apparatus and methods for producing the confectionery composition described.