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US 7,681,761 B2Granted
Apparatus for processing, storing, and dispensing soft serve frozen food product
OwnerJohn Harrainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Soft serve frozen food such as ice cream and frozen yogurt is pumped from a sanitary reservoir into a closed loop flow path that includes an emulsion barrel assembly that intimately mixes the ingredients in the food composition into a smooth consistency frozen food product. A dispensing head allows servings of soft serve food to be withdrawn from the closed loop. A clean-in-place system permits all critical parts of the machine that come in contact with food to be cleaned and sanitized without having to take the machine apart.
Claims20
A soft serve food product manufacturing, storage, and dispensing machine, comprising:
- a source of soft serve food product;
- a closed loop circulation system adapted to receive soft serve food product from the source, the closed loop circulation system comprising an emulsification assembly adapted to emulsify the soft serve food product in the closed loop circulation system;
- and
- a dispensing head connected to the closed loop circulation system adapted to dispense the soft serve food product from the closed loop circulation system;
- in which the emulsification assembly comprises a plurality of emulsification chambers connected in series;
- in which each emulsification chamber has a first end and a second end, an inlet connected to the first end, and an outlet connected to the second end;
- and
- in which said each emulsification chamber contains a rotatable whipping assembly extending from the first end to the second end of the emulsification chamber, the whipping assembly comprising first and second end pieces supporting a plurality of longitudinally extending rods connected between the end pieces, each rod being radially displaced from an axis of rotation of the whipping assembly.
5 more elements
A soft serve food product manufacturing, storage, and dispensing machine, comprising:
- a source of soft serve food product;
- a closed loop circulation system adapted to receive soft serve food product from the source, the closed loop circulation system comprising an emulsification assembly adapted to emulsify the soft serve food product in the closed loop circulation system;
- and
- a dispensing head connected to the closed loop circulation system adapted to dispense the soft serve food product from the closed loop circulation system;
- in which the emulsification assembly comprises a plurality of emulsification chambers connected in series;
- in which each emulsification chamber contains a rotatable whipping assembly comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending rotatable rods and a plurality of longitudinally extending stationary rods, each rod being radially displaced from an axis of rotation of the whipping assembly, at least some of the rotatable rods being radially displaced from the axis of rotation by unequal amounts.
3 more elements
A soft serve food product manufacturing, storage, and dispensing machine, comprising:
- a source of soft serve food product;
- a closed loop circulation system adapted to receive soft serve food product from the source, the closed loop circulation system comprising:
- (a) an emulsification assembly having a first end and a second end, the emulsification assembly adapted to emulsify the soft serve food product in the closed loop circulation system;
- and
- (b) a pump connected between the first and second ends of the emulsification assembly, the pump being adapted to withdraw the soft serve food product from one end of the emulsification assembly and to introduce the soft serve food product withdrawn from the one end of the emulsification assembly into an other end of the emulsification assembly, thereby circulating the soft serve food product in the closed loop circulation system;
- and
- a dispensing head connected to the closed loop circulation system adapted to dispense the soft serve food product from the closed loop circulation system.
4 more elements
A soft serve food product manufacturing, storage, and dispensing machine, comprising:
- a source of soft serve food product;
- a closed loop circulation system adapted to receive soft serve food product from the source, the closed loop circulation system comprising an emulsification assembly adapted to emulsify the soft serve food product in the closed loop circulation system;
- and
- a dispensing head connected to the closed loop circulation system adapted to dispense soft serve food product from the closed loop circulation system;
- in which the emulsification assembly comprises a one or more emulsification chambers;
- and
- in which each emulsification chamber contains a rotatable whipping assembly comprising a first plurality of rotatable emulsification elements and a second plurality of emulsification elements, each of an emulsification elements being radially displaced from the axis of rotation of the whipping assembly, the first and second pluralities of emulsification elements being arranged such that a shearing action is created between the first and second pluralities of emulsification elements when the first plurality of emulsification elements is rotated around the axis of rotation of the whipping assembly.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.