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US 11,389,027 B2Granted
Conveyor belt and endless fryer system
AssigneeWilde Brands
InventorJason Wright
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flying system for flying a food product is disclosed having an endless conveyor system for cooking product in a bath of hot cooking oil. An upper conveyor belt of the conveyor system includes a plurality of protrusions on the surface that retains the food items with a lower conveyor belt. The protrusions may be formed by bars or rods that may be integrally formed with a fluid pervious surface forming the belt. Also, a process of cooking food items with an endless conveyor system.
Claims21
An endless frying system comprising:
- a reservoir for holding cooking fluid;
- and,
- a conveyor system configured to move food items through the bath in a direction of travel while the food items are cooked in the cooking fluid, the conveyor system comprising:
- a first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt forming a loop;
- and,
- a second conveyor belt positioned to retain the food items on the second conveyor belt as the food items are moved through the bath, the second conveyor belt comprising a fluid porous structure and a plurality of protrusions extending away from the fluid porous structure towards the first conveyor belt, the second conveyor belt forming a loop, and wherein longitudinal axes of each protrusion from the plurality of protrusions extend perpendicular to the direction of travel,
- wherein the first conveyor belt comprises a lower conveyor belt, and
- wherein the second conveyor belt comprises an upper conveyor belt.
5 more elements
A process of cooking a food item in an endless flying system, the process comprising:
- continuously providing a plurality of uncooked food items at a first end of a first conveyor belt, wherein the uncooked food items are planar, when viewed from a side;
- moving the first conveyor belt with the uncooked food items through a bath of cooking fluid in a direction of travel;
- retaining the uncooked food items relative to the first conveyor belt with a second conveyor belt while the first conveyor belt is being moved through the bath of cooking fluid, the second conveyor belt comprising a fluid porous structure and a plurality of protrusions extending away from the fluid porous structure towards the first conveyor belt to provide the second conveyor belt with a non-planar surface, wherein the first conveyor belt comprises a lower conveyor belt and wherein the second conveyor belt comprises an upper conveyor belt and wherein longitudinal axes of each protrusion from the plurality of protrusions extend perpendicular to the direction of travel;
- and,
- recovering cooked food items at a second end of the of the first conveyor belt, wherein the cooked food items have a non-planar shape.
2 more elements
An endless flying system comprising:
- a reservoir for holding cooking fluid;
- and,
- a conveyor system configured to move food items through the bath in a direction of travel while the food items are cooked in the cooking fluid, the conveyor system comprising:
- a first conveyor belt, the first conveyor belt forming a loop;
- and,
- a second conveyor belt positioned to retain the food items on the second conveyor belt as the food items are moved through the bath, the second conveyor belt comprising a fluid porous structure and a plurality of protrusions extending away from the fluid porous structure towards the first conveyor belt, the second conveyor belt forming a loop and wherein longitudinal axes of each protrusion from the plurality of protrusions extend perpendicular to the direction of travel,
- wherein the fluid porous structure comprises a plurality of links.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.