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US 6,796,223 B2Granted
Food drying machine
OwnerQi Fen Jianginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The machine is operable for continuously extracting moisture or dehydrating food. A plurality of food tray are insertable into a main chamber having an air diffuser mounted on one side and an air collector on the opposite side. Air is drawn through the chamber by a blower. Heat is applied to the food by heater element incorporated at the underside of the food trays. Dampers are located at the air inlet and air exhaust ducts, which may be monitored and adjusted by temperature and moisture sensors for maintaining a selected temperature and moisture condition to extract the moisture content of the food to a desirable condition. The processed food may be retrieved from the machine while a new tray of food is being placed into the chamber.
Claims15
A food drying machine comprising,
- a generally rectangular main chamber having two opposite side walls, a front wall and a rear wall,
- a first large opening formed in one of said side walls, and a second large opening formed in the opposite side wall,
- a first funnel shaped incoming air diffuser member mounted on said one of said side walls and covering over said first large opening,
- a second funnel shaped exhaust air collector member mounted on said opposite side wall and covering over said second large opening,
- a transition duct coupled to said incoming air diffuser member,
- an air inlet duct connected to said transition duct,
- a variable speed air blower located in said transition duct and adapted for drawing air from an inlet port to flow through said main chamber,
- a return air duct coupled to exhaust air collector member and to said air inlet duct and being operative to conduct a selected portion of exhaust air from said main chamber back to said air diffuser member, said return air duct having an exhaust duct provided with an air exhaust port adapted to release selected portion of exhaust air from said main chamber,
- a first door opening formed at a bottom portion of said front wall of said main chamber and extending horizontally over the width of said front wall, and adapted for receiving a plurality of food trays inserted, one at a time, into said main chamber,
- a second door opening formed at a top portion of said front wall of said main chamber and extending horizontally over the width of said front wall, and adapted for retrieving said food tray, one at time, from said main chamber.
7 more elements
A food drying machine comprising,
- a generally rectangular main chamber having two opposite side walls, a front wall and a rear wall,
- a large air inlet opening formed in one side wall and having a size extending over substantially the entirety of one side wall of said opposite side walls,
- a large air exhaust opening formed in the other side wall of said opposite side walls and having a size extending over substantially the entirety of said other side wall,
- a funnel shaped incoming air diffuser member mounted on said one side wall and covering over said air inlet opening in a divergent manner towards said main chamber,
- a funnel shaped exhaust air collector member mounted on said other side wall and covering over said air exhaust opening in a convergent manner outward from said main chamber,
- a transition duct coupled to said incoming air diffuser member,
- an air inlet duct coupled to said transition duct,
- a variable speed air blower located in said transition duct and adapted for drawing air from an air inlet port located at said air inlet duct to flow through said transition duct into said main chamber,
- a return air duct coupled to said air exhaust air collector member and to said air inlet duct, and adapted to conduct a selected portion of exhaust air from said main chamber back to said air diffuser member, said return air duct having an exhaust duct coupled thereto, said exhaust duct having an air exhaust port adapted to release selected portion of exhaust air out of said main chamber,
- a first horizontal door opening formed adjacent to a bottom edge of said front wall of said main chamber and extending horizontally over substantially the entire width of said front wall, and adapted for receiving a food tray to be inserted therethrough into said main chamber,
- a second horizontal door opening formed adjacent to a top edge of said front wall of said main chamber and extending horizontally over substantially the entire width of said front wall, and adapted for a food tray to be retrieved from said main chamber,
- a first damper member located in said incoming air duct and being operative for controlling the amount of air admitted through said air inlet port to flow into said main chamber,
- a second damper member located in said air exhaust duct and being operative for controlling the amount of air exhausting from said main chamber through said exhaust port,
- a plurality of heat tubes located in said transition duct and being operative for heating air flowing through said transition duct into said main chamber,
- a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor located in said return duct and being operative for controlling said first damper member and second damper member to select a drying condition to be obtain in the food in food trays located in said main chamber.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.