Underside Sprinkling on Dough via Inverted Conveyor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for arranging sprinkling material on dough pieces, such as bread rolls or croissants, face issues with adhesion, particularly on the underside, and are inefficient for endless or soft dough strips, as they often require turning the dough, which can damage it and is not feasible for continuous production.
Innovation Solution
A device that allows sprinkling material to be applied to the underside of dough pieces without turning them, using a conveyor system with an adhesive application mechanism to ensure good adhesion, suitable for dough of indefinite length, and includes features like a sprinkling roller, adhesive roller, and collection systems to manage excess material and prevent fouling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the dough piece is turned over to arrange sprinkling material on the underside, then the sprinkling material can be arranged on the underside, but the dough piece and already sprinkled layer can be damaged
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of turning the dough piece upside down to access the underside, the invention inverts the approach by bringing the underside to the sprinkling surface while the dough piece remains in its original orientation. The dough piece is transported with the underside facing upward, allowing direct application of sprinkling material without flipping or turning operations that could damage the dough or previously applied layers.
2Manufacturing precision
If the dough piece is turned over twice to arrange sprinkling material on the underside, then the sprinkling material can be arranged on the underside, but the device becomes unsuitable for dough pieces with unlimited length
Solution Approach 1:
The invention inverts the conventional approach by not turning the dough piece at all. Instead, the transport system is designed to present the underside of the dough piece to the sprinkling surface while maintaining the dough piece's original orientation, enabling continuous processing of endless or very long dough strips without requiring flips or turns.
Solution Approach 2:
The device enables continuous sprinkling operation on endless dough strips by maintaining a constant processing orientation. The dough piece moves continuously through the device with the underside facing upward, allowing uninterrupted application of sprinkling material without stopping, turning, or reversing the dough flow.
3Manufacturing precision
If a predetermined height is used for dough pieces to drop and reverse, then individual dough pieces can be provided with sprinkling material, but the device has to be reset for each product type
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a dropping and reversing mechanism that requires height adjustments and resets for different products, the invention uses a continuous transport system that presents the underside of dough pieces to the sprinkling surface. This eliminates the need for height adjustments and device resets when changing product types.
4Reliability
If the dough piece is placed in a bed of sprinkling material without turning, then good adhesion occurs due to pressure from dough piece weight, but this requires a new device configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The invention inverts the conventional sprinkling approach by placing the sprinkling material bed beneath the dough piece rather than sprinkling from above. The dough piece is transported with its underside facing upward and placed directly into the bed of sprinkling material, allowing the weight of the dough piece to press the sprinkling material onto the surface for reliable adhesion.
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
Ensures effective adhesion of sprinkling material to the dough pieces, allowing for continuous processing of endless dough strips without damage, improving product quality and ease of handling in baking, while enabling even distribution and reuse of sprinkling material.
Implementation Method 1
means for applying to at least a part of the dough piece to be provided with the sprinkling material an adhesive
Implementation Method 2
due to the pressure caused by the weight of the dough piece a good adhesion of the sprinkling material to the dough piece already occurs
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2a
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and device (1) for arranging sprinkling material (21), such as seed, on a dough piece (15), comprising means for arranging the sprinkling material (21) on a surface (4) for dough pieces and means (5) for placing the dough piece on the surface (4) provided with the sprinkling material (21), and also further comprising in an advantageous embodiment means (7) for applying an adhesive such as water to at least a part of the dough piece (15) to be provided with the sprinkling material, wherein the means (5) for placing the dough piece are adapted to place the dough piece with the part provided with the adhesive facing toward the surface (4).