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EP-4736662-A1 - IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CONTROL OF PRODUCTION OF FROZEN ITEMS

EP4736662A1EP 4736662 A1EP4736662 A1EP 4736662A1EP-4736662-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for operating a production system and the production system, for the manufacture of a plurality of frozen foodstuff items. The system includes apparatus for the supply of one or more materials, combining apparatus to combine at least some of said materials to form the said items, apparatus for use in the freezing and hardening of the items and one or more packaging apparatus located downstream of the freezing and hardening apparatus. Control means are provided such that should the combining apparatus or apparatus downstream of the combining apparatus stop operating, an indicator signal is generated and passed to the control means which processes and generates a control signal for at least the combining apparatus so as to at least reduce the throughput of items leaving said combining apparatus for a period of time and hence prevent build up of items and possible wastage of the same.

Inventors

  • APASA, Ryad

Assignees

  • Froneri Ice Cream UK Limited

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20251029

Claims (16)

  1. A method of operation for a production system for the manufacture of a plurality of frozen foodstuff items, said system including apparatus for the supply of one or more materials, combining apparatus to combine at least some of said materials to form the said items, apparatus for use in the freezing and hardening of the items and one or more packaging apparatus located downstream of the freezing and hardening apparatus, and control means wherein should the combining apparatus or apparatus downstream of the combining apparatus stop operating, an indicator signal is generated and passed to the control means which processes and generates a control signal for at least the combining apparatus so as to at least reduce the throughput of items leaving said combining apparatus for a period of time.
  2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the reduction in throughput of items is determined with respect to an estimated time of stoppage of the apparatus which has stopped.
  3. A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the reduction in throughput is selected so as to prevent a buildup of items being formed and, in turn, prevent the need to stop operation of the said combining apparatus during the stoppage of said one or more of the apparatus downstream of the combining apparatus.
  4. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the control signal causes the material supply apparatus for providing materials thereto to be slowed in operation so as to provide only the amount of said materials required to form the reduced throughput of items from the combining apparatus.
  5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the rate of slowing down of the material supply apparatus is linked to the reduced throughput rate of the combining apparatus, resulting from the receipt of said control signal.
  6. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the reduction of the throughput of the combining apparatus and/or material supply apparatus is performed in a graduated manner upon receipt of said control signal.
  7. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the rate of reduction of throughput of items and/or slowing down of the material supply apparatus is dependent on the particular apparatus which has stopped and/or numbers of apparatus which have stopped at that instant of time.
  8. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the packaging apparatus downstream of the freezing and hardening apparatus includes box forming and erecting apparatus to form boxes into which the items are placed after leaving the freezing and hardening apparatus.
  9. A method according to claim 8 wherein the reduction of throughput is determined with reference to whether all, one or a plurality of said box forming and erecting apparatus has failed and/or the number of said box forming and erecting apparatus which still remains operational.
  10. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the said packaging apparatus includes weight checking apparatus, contamination checking apparatus, transfer apparatus and/or subsequent transport apparatus, or any combination thereof.
  11. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the production system includes transfer apparatus for the items located intermediate the combining apparatus, freezing and hardening apparatus and/or packaging apparatus and the throughput in operation of the transfer apparatus is altered accordingly with the alteration and operation of the combining and/or freezing and hardening apparatus which occurs at that time.
  12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the transfer apparatus is provided in the form of robotic means.
  13. A method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the packaging apparatus includes a plurality of packaging stations, each of which performs the same packaging operation, and are synchronised to operate at the same speed when operating correctly.
  14. A method according to claim 1 wherein the period of time is typically that which is required to repair the packaging apparatus and once repaired to allow the items which have already been produced to be packaged and whereupon normal operation of the combining apparatus and the freezing and hardening apparatus is recommenced.
  15. A system according to claim 17 wherein the recommencement of operation of the combining apparatus and freezing and hardening apparatus is performed by the generation of a further control signal when the normal operation of the packaging apparatus has been indicated.
  16. A production system for the manufacture of a plurality of frozen foodstuff items, said system including apparatus for the supply of one or more materials, combining apparatus to combine at least some of said materials to form the said items, apparatus for use in the freezing and hardening of the items and one or more packaging apparatus located downstream of the freezing and hardening apparatus, and control means wherein should the combining apparatus or apparatus downstream of the combining apparatus stop operating, an indicator signal is generated and passed to the control means which processes and generates a control signal for at least the combining apparatus so as to at least reduce the throughput of items leaving said combining apparatus for a period of time.

Description

The invention to which this application relates is to improvements in the method of control of operation of apparatus for use in the manufacture of frozen items such as, for example, items which include a portion of ice cream or frozen water-based items such as sorbets or the like. One particular, non-limiting, example is an item which includes a wafer, typically in the form of a cone, which supports a portion of ice cream therein. In the manufacture of large volumes of frozen items which are intended to be supplied for subsequent consumption whilst still in a frozen condition for optimum pleasure, it will be appreciated that it is imperative that the manufacturing process is controlled, in order to allow the items to be provided and then retained in a suitable condition for transportation to a retail point of sale at which the same can be purchased for consumption. This can be problematic especially when one considers that the manufacturing process includes the provision and operation of a range of apparatus in sequence, typically including apparatus for the supply and filling of ingredient materials, apparatus at which the materials can be combined and/or applied in a stepwise manner and, apparatus, referred to as a freezing tunnel, through which the items are passed to freeze and harden the same, followed by packaging apparatus for groups of the items, which can include; carton erecting apparatus, apparatus for checking the weight and/or other parameters for quality purposes and to check that there is no contamination, as a result of, for example, metal fragments using detection apparatus, and apparatus for the subsequent palletisation or collection for subsequent movement of the items to a storage facility and/or ongoing distribution. It is found that if, for example, one or more items of the apparatus, such as for example, the packaging apparatus, fails or stops for a period of time, then this can result in considerable wastage as typically, the ongoing operation of apparatus used to supply and fill materials and form the items upstream of the packaging apparatus, quickly creates an oversupply of numbers of items which can no longer be packaged and stored. This can mean that the items have to be removed and destroyed as waste, or, while there may be capacity for storing excess items for a period of time, this then requires additional storage space to be provided and/or labour to be used to subsequently package the additional items. Furthermore, a build-up of items which cannot be moved downstream of the forming apparatus can mean that the material supply and filling apparatus experience a build-up of the materials in the supply apparatus at the initial filling stages. In addition to the wastage of items and/or raw materials, the closure or stopping of the supply and filling apparatus means that, before the same can be restarted, a thorough cleaning and sterilisation of the apparatus is required to be performed in order to ensure that the apparatus, when restarted, is free of contamination. This can take several hours to achieve which represents significant downtime and hence a reduction in the production rate of the items which in turn, is an economic loss. Furthermore, if the cleaning is not performed adequately, then contamination of the apparatus can result in further economic loss and/or potential issues with regard to the health of consumers who purchase the items. It will therefore be appreciated that it is important that if part of the apparatus of the described stops for a period of time, then action to prevent or minimise loss of items and/or control operation of the apparatus upstream is desired to be taken as soon as possible. Conventionally, the approach taken is to stop the apparatus upstream of the broken down apparatus as soon as possible after it is detected that there is an issue with the said broken down apparatus in the production line. By doing so, and despite the fact that subsequent cleaning operations will still be required to be performed, this is conventionally regarded as the only practical way by which to react, in order to avoid further or more significant problems. It is also known to provide an item capacity storage buffer in terms of an increased size and hence extra capacity within the freezing tunnel but it is found that in practice, this extra capacity is quickly used up and can itself cause a problem in terms of how to deal with the extra items which are stored as the consistency of, for example the ice cream or wafer, can change over time and may lead to the items not being usable, even though it does prevent having to stop the upstream apparatus for a period of time. Furthermore, the provision of the freezing tunnel apparatus which includes the buffer capacity requires the same to be larger in size so as to have sufficient space to accommodate the additional items and also represents additional significant expense in the cost of the apparatus and the operation of th