Machine for producing and dispensing liquid and semi-liquid consumer food products
AssigneeCarpigiani Group - Ali S.P.A.
InventorsGino Cocchi, Gianni Zaniboni, Roberto Lazzarini
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A machine for producing liquid and semi-liquid consumer food products comprises one or more containers (2) for a basic product of the consumer product to be made; a refrigeration system (3) acting on the containers (2) to reduce the temperature of the basic product; the refrigeration system (3) comprising a predetermined refrigerant; the refrigerant being carbon dioxide and the refrigeration system (3) being set up to carry out a transcritical refrigeration cycle on the refrigerant.
Claims30
A machine for producing liquid and semi-liquid consumer food products, comprising:
- at least one container for containing a basic product of at least one chosen from a liquid and a semi-liquid consumer food product;
- a refrigeration system including a compressor, the refrigeration system acting on the container for lowering a temperature of the basic product;
- the refrigeration system comprising carbon dioxide as a refrigerant;
- the refrigeration system performing a transcritical refrigeration cycle on the refrigerant;
- a heating circuit connected to the at least one container for increasing the temperature of the basic product;
- wherein the refrigeration system comprises an evaporator in contact with the container, in fluid communication with the compressor, in which the compressed refrigerant is heated, absorbing heat from the container;
- wherein the heating circuit comprises a branch in fluid connection with a compressor delivery side;
- wherein the heating circuit is in fluid communication with the evaporator;
- and further comprising at least one valve positioned in each of the refrigeration system and the heating circuit to selectively isolate the heating circuit for the evaporator from the refrigerator system for the evaporator;
- wherein the refrigeration system also comprises a control system for preventing a pressure of the refrigerant from exceeding a predetermined safety value, the control system including a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure of the refrigerant output from the compressor, the control system acting on the compressor to reduce a thermal power supplied to the refrigerant during compression to prevent the pressure of the refrigerant from exceeding the predetermined safety value.
A method for producing liquid and semi-liquid consumer food products, comprising:
- providing at least one container for containing a basic product of at least one chosen from a liquid and a semi-liquid consumer food product;
- providing a refrigeration circuit acting on the container for lowering a temperature of the basic product;
- the refrigeration circuit comprising carbon dioxide as a refrigerant;
- the refrigeration circuit performing a transcritical refrigeration cycle on the refrigerant;
- providing a heating circuit connected to the at least one container for increasing the temperature of the basic product;
- and
- using compressed and heated refrigerant from the refrigeration circuit in the heating circuit for the increasing of the temperature of the basic product;
- providing the refrigeration system with a control system for preventing a pressure of the refrigerant from exceeding a predetermined safety value, the control system including a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure of the refrigerant output from a compressor of the refrigeration circuit for compressing the refrigerant, the control system acting on the compressor to reduce a thermal power supplied to the refrigerant during compression to prevent the pressure of the refrigerant from exceeding the predetermined safety value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.