System for holding food in a ready-to-serve state

#This invention relates to a system for holding food in a ready-to-serve state.

#In large commercial kitchens it has become common practice to prepare and freeze food several days before it is served so that a few hours prior to being served it can be thawed, divided into portions, made up and, until served, placed on plates that allow the food to be cooled and/or reheated and kept warm.

#An earlier design of a warm-up and cooling tray for ready-to-serve food, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,077, features two heat-conducting plates in an enclosure, two Peltier elements positioned underneath these plates, a control device for switching the Peltier elements into a plate-cooling or plate-heating mode, as well as selector switches for selecting the desired mode and temperature.

#The following describes this invention in more detail with reference to an implementation example illustrated in the attached schematic diagrams in which—

#FIG. 1 is a perspective front view, from the top right, of a heating/cooling plate;

#FIG. 2 is a perspective front view, from the top left, of the heating/cooling plate;

#The outer contour of the heating/cooling plate 2 is defined by an enclosure 4 made of stainless steel or ABS plastic and accommodating on its top surface a glass-ceramic plate 6. The enclosure 4 is composed of a tub-shaped base 8 that is closed toward the bottom and the sides, and a frame-like top section 10 that is closed only towards the sides. The upper rim of the base 8 and the lower rim of the top section 10 are at least in part offset inwards, whereby both sections fit together in matching, positive-fit fashion.

#The base 8 is provided in front and back with cooling louvers 12. It also houses a blower and a power supply, both not illustrated. Its front end features a handle-like element 14 that rises past its upper rim and in the assembled state of the system extends fully into the top section 10. The area underneath the bottom surface in the longitudinal direction of the base has a tripartite configuration, with two wide outer skids 16 featuring peg feet 18 and a space in between whose width matches the opening of the handle-like element 14. The longitudinal sides of the base are vertical, its front and rear are cambered up- and outward in mirror-image fashion relative to each other.

#The top section 10 on its part has vertical longitudinal sides and its front and rear are cambered down- and outward in mirror-image fashion relative to each other. The horizontal front end features an operating and/or indicator panel 22 and, not shown, a control unit. The longitudinal and horizontal walls protrude past the perimeter of the glass-ceramic plate 6 by a fraction of the thickness of the latter.