Mass supply system
AssigneeGea Food Solutions Bakel B.V.
InventorHendrikus Petrus Gerardus Van Gerwen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for forming a product from a food mass that includes: a hopper with a rotating feeder; a mould drum with cavities to form products; a feed pump having a moving member; and a divider located between the feed pump and the mould drum and configured to distribute the food mass over an axial length of the mold drum, the divider is directly connected to a housing of the feed pump or is integral with the housing of the feed pump, the divider has at its inlet side a slightly sloped sidewall, having an angle of between 10 degrees to 30 degrees relative to a longitudinal axis of the divider and a height of 20 mm to 40 mm, to distribute the food mass and a seal provided between the divider and the mould drum downstream of the divider and in contact with a surface of the mould drum.
Claims18
A system for forming a product from a food mass, the system comprising
- a hopper comprising a rotating feeder;
- a mould drum comprising cavities to form products, the cavities axe at least partially made from a porous material;
- a feed pump comprising a moving member;
- and
- a divider comprising an inlet side, that is located between the feed pump and the mould drum and is configured to distribute the food mass over an axial length of the mold drum, the divider is directly connected to a housing of the feed pump or is integral with the housing of the feed pump, wherein the divider comprises at the inlet side a slightly sloped sidewall, having an angle of between 10 degrees to 30 degrees relative to a longitudinal axis of the divider and a height of 20 mm to 40 mm, to distribute the food mass;
- a seal is positioned downstream of the divider, between the divider and the mould drum, and is in contact with a surface of the mould drum
- wherein the feed pump is a positive displacement pump comprising a rotor, whose axis of rotation is in parallel to an axis of rotation of the mould drum, and
- wherein an axial length of the rotor of the feed pump is at least equal to the axial length of the mould drum.
A system for forming products from a food mass, the system comprising:
- a hopper comprising a rotating feeder,
- a mould drum comprising cavities to form the products, the cavities are at least partially made from a porous material;
- and
- a feed pump comprising a moving member and an outlet;
- at least one pressure sensor arranged between the mould drum and the feed pump,
- a divider, comprising an inlet side, that is located between the feed pump and the mould drum, the divider is directly connected to a housing of the feed pump or is integral with the housing of the feed pump, the divider is configured to direct the food mass from the outlet of the feed pump to the cavities and distribute the food mass over an axial length of the mold drum, wherein the divider comprises at the inlet side a slightly sloped sidewall, having an angle of between 10 degrees to 30 degrees relative to a longitudinal axis of the divider and a height of 20 mm to 40 mm, to distribute the food mass;
- a seal is positioned downstream of the divider, between the divider and the mould drum, and is in contact with a surface of the mould drum
- wherein the feed pump is a positive displacement pump comprising a rotor, whose axis of rotation is in parallel to an axis of rotation of the mould drum;
- wherein the feed pump is connected to a vacuum source;
- wherein the feed pump is a vane pump comprising vanes and a compression zone, and at least in the compression zone and in a transport zone and/or at an outlet, tips of the vanes are free from touching the housing of the feed pump;
- and
- wherein an axial length of the rotor of the feed pump is at least equal to the axial length of the mould drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.