Patent Application
20250234992
This application relates generally to a refrigerated food preparation table that has an upper food preparation area with cooled space to maintain food temperature and freshness and, more particularly, such a food preparation table that also includes a cooled food compartment with quick chill function.
Refrigerated food preparation tables are commonly used in commercial establishments for preparing food products. A typical refrigerated food preparation table includes a frame and housing structure having internal refrigeration or some other cooling system. An upper surface of the housing typically includes a front preparation surface and an open top storage arrangement that may define multiple food pan wells (or other food pan receiving locations), where each food pan well holds one or more individual food pans for holding multiple individual food items that can be used in the preparation of food products. The pans are cooled in order to keep the food items in the pans fresh. One type of pan cooling system directs cooled air around the external surface of the pans, into the pans and/or over the pans.
As fresh food ingredients are prepared for loading into pans of the food preparation table, it may become important to quickly cool the prepared food ingredients before loading the ingredients into the food pan wells.
It would be desirable to provide a food preparation table that is also capable of addressing the need to quickly cool some food ingredients.
In one aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining both (i) an upper food preparation holding area with multiple food pan receiving locations and (ii) a food compartment that is accessible via at least one of a door or a drawer. A cooling system includes a cooling air flow path internal of the housing, the cooling air flow path including a first region configured for delivering cooling air at least one of below or alongside food pans in the upper food preparation holding area and a second region, downstream of the first region, for delivering at least a portion of the cooling air into the food compartment after the portion of the cooling air has passed below or alongside food pans in the upper food preparation holding area. The cooling air flow path includes a third region, upstream of the first region, and a selectively openable/closeable path portion into the food compartment from the third region for selective delivery of at least some cooling air from the third region into the food compartment without the at least some cooling air passing below or alongside food pans in the upper food preparation holding area.
In another aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining both (i) an upper food preparation holding area with multiple food pan receiving locations and (ii) a food compartment that is accessible via at least one of a door or a drawer. A cooling system is configured to provide cooling air. The food preparation table is selectively operable in at least a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode and the second mode, the cooling system delivers cooling air to the upper food preparation holding area and at a downstream location at least some of the cooling air is then delivered into the food compartment. In the second mode, but not the first mode, the cooling system provides a further cooling air flow into the food compartment, wherein the further cooling air flow is not delivered to the upper food preparation holding area before being directly delivered into the food compartment.
In still another aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining both (i) an upper food preparation holding area with multiple food pan receiving locations and (ii) a food compartment that is accessible via at least one of a door or a drawer. A cooling system is configured to provide cooling air. The food preparation table is configured for operation in at least a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode, the cooling system cools the upper food preparation holding area and maintains the food compartment at a first temperature condition for refrigerating food items therein. In the second mode, the cooling system cools the upper food preparation holding area and maintains the food compartment at a second temperature condition for rapidly chilling food items.
In a further aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining an upper food preparation holding area with multiple food pan receiving locations. A cooling system is configured to provide cooling air. A cooling air flow path arrangement is provided for delivering cooling air to the upper food preparation holding area. The cooling air flow path arrangement including a first path portion that delivers cooling air to a rear side of the upper food preparation holding area and a second path portion for delivering cooling air to a front side of the upper food preparation holding area, such that opposing cooling air flows into the upper food preparation holding area are provided.
In another aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining multiple food pan receiving locations, and a cooling system including an air flow path internal of the housing, the cooling air flow path including a first path portion that is at least below or alongside food pans in the food pan receiving locations. A food compartment is provided within the housing that is accessible via at least one of a door or a drawer. The refrigerated food preparation table is configured for operation in at least a first mode and a second mode, wherein, in the first mode, the cooling system maintains the food compartment at a first temperature condition for refrigerating food items, wherein, in the second mode, the cooling system maintains the food compartment at a second temperature condition for rapidly chilling food items.
In implementations, the first mode may also have a regular air flow, while the second mode has a higher air flow.
In another aspect, a refrigerated food preparation table includes a housing at least in part defining multiple food pan receiving locations, and a cooling system including an air flow path internal of the housing, the cooling air flow path including a first path portion that is at least below or alongside food pans in the food pan receiving locations. A food compartment is provided within the housing that is accessible via at least one of a door or a drawer. The food preparation table is configured for operation in at least a first mode and a second mode, wherein, in the first mode, the cooling system provides a first cooling air flow rate in the food compartment and, in the second mode, the cooling system provides a second air flow rate in the food compartment, wherein the second air flow rate is higher than the first air flow rate.
In implementations, in the first mode, the first cooling air flow rate may follow a first path into the food compartment, while in the second mode the second air flow rate may include a second path into the food compartment, where the second path is not used in the first mode.
The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
Referring to
With respect to the cooling air flow path, as to the pans 18, the cooling air travels from the fan through a supply plenum 30 that runs upward to both axial ends of the food pan locations 16 and food pans 18 therein. A majority of the air exits the supply plenum and moves into a space that is below and/or alongside the food pan walls, and some air may also be delivered over the tops of the food pans and/or into the food pans.
Here, one or more, or all of the food pans 18 include a solid bottom wall 18a and four upright sidewalls 18b, with the sidewalls 18b having a plurality of openings 18c therein. As to each sidewall, the openings 18c are distributed along a majority of the sidewall height and a majority of the sidewall length. These openings 18c enable some of the cooling air to move into the pan interior through the sidewalls 18b, for more direct cooling of the food product within the pan interior. In addition, some of the cooling air that moves into the pans through the openings 18c may move back out of the pans through the openings 18c to rejoin the cooling air circulation path of the cooling system 20.
As indicated above, the cooling air is delivered from the supply plenum 30 to both axial ends of the food pans, which will cause some of the cooling air to move through the openings 18c in the sidewalls 18b at the opposite axial ends of the food pans 18. This bi-directional flow toward and/or into opposite end side walls of the food pans and then toward the middles of the food pans provides advantageous cooling of the pans and the food product within the pans. Here, the upper food preparation holding area 14 is formed by a well with a bottom wall 14a extending from the front side toward the rear side of the table, where the bottom wall includes one or more cooling air outlet openings 14b positioned along a middle section of the bottom wall 14a to allow cooling air to exit the well, such that cooling air delivered to both the front side and the rear side of the food recessed well exits the recessed well at the middle section of the bottom wall.
After moving through and/or past the food pans, the cooling air then enters a return plenum 32 and then runs into and through the food compartment 24 and then back to the upstream side of the evaporator 20c. Here, the path to the food compartment 24 runs through a vertical duct 34 from the return plenum 32, which vertical duct 34 acts as an inlet to the food compartment.
As shown, the food compartment inlet formed by the vertical duct 34 is located downstream of the food pan cooling zone, which means that all or substantially all of the cooling air delivered into the food compartment by the vertical duct 34 will have a raised temperature as compared to the cooling air output by the fan to the supply plenum 30 (due to heat exchange with the pans and/or food product). Here, the return plenum 32 is arranged directly adjacent the supply plenum 30, with a common wall 36 of the two plenums providing a heat exchange relationship between the return plenum 32 and the supply plenum 30, such that the warmer cooling air of the return plenum 32 gives up heat to the colder cooling air in the supply plenum 30. This configuration can be provided to better assure that the cooling air that is delivered into the food compartment 24 is sufficiently cool to maintain a desired cooling temperature condition (e.g., a temperature or temperature range at or above 32 F) for the food compartment 24 in a normal operating mode (e.g., as a first mode) of the food preparation table. In the normal operating mode, the food compartment 24 is, effectively, utilized as a refrigerator. A return air flow temperature sensor 35 is provided for such control.
The food preparation table 10 is also configured for operation in a quick chill mode (e.g., as a second mode) in which the food compartment 24 is utilized for more rapidly chilling food items therein. For this purpose, the cooling system is configured to maintain a second desired cooling temperature condition (e.g., a temperature or temperature range at or below 30 F, such as at or below 28 F) in the food compartment 24 and may provide a higher cooling air flow rate through the food compartment 24 to aid in achieving such lower chill temperature condition.
A second inlet or set of selectively closeable/openable inlets 40 are provided from the cooling air flow path to the food compartment 24, enabling selective diversion of some cooling air flow away from the food pans in the upper food pan holding area 14 and into the food compartment 24. The inlets 40 are connected to receive air directly from the supply plenum 30 and are selectively openable/closeable via a slidable damper plate 42 that is movable by a drive 44, which here is in the form of a linear actuator, specifically a motor controlled linear actuator. The damper plate 42 has openings 42a that are selectively alignable with the inlets 40 when the damper plate 42 is moved to the position represented by the dashed lineage 42′ (
In the normal operating mode, the inlets 40 are maintained closed or substantially closed, such that little or no cooling air enters the food compartment 24 directly from the supply plenum without moving past the food pans and the return plenum 32. However, in the quick chill mode, the inlets 40 are opened to provide an additional or further air flow 30b through the food compartment 24. Thus, in the normal operating mode with the damper plate 42 positioned to close the inlets 40, the air flow rate through the inlets 40 to the compartment 24 is substantially zero. However, in the quick chill operating mode with the damper plate 42 position to open the inlets 40, a significant further air flow 30b through the inlets 40 is provided. This provides both a higher overall cooling air flow rate through the compartment 24, and, because the inlets 40 are located upstream of the food pan cooling zone, the cooling air delivered into the compartment 24 via the inlets 40 is much cooler than the cooling air delivered into the compartment 24 via the inlet duct 34. This higher cooling air flow rate, utilizing additional cooling air at a lower temperature, enables the food compartment 24 to function as a quick chill compartment that can rapidly bring food items (e.g., located in food pans or other containers within the food compartment) down to a food-safe temperature.
A controller 50 is provided to effect the normal operating mode and the quick chill mode of the food preparation table, as well as any other operating modes of the table. As used herein, the term controller is intended to broadly encompass any circuit (e.g., solid state, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a combinational logic circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), processor(s) (e.g., shared, dedicated, or group—including hardware or software that executes code), software, firmware and/or other electrical or electronic components, or a combination of some or all of the above, that carries out the control functions of the device or the control functions of any component thereof. The controller 50 is configured to operate the drive 44 to open the inlets 40 during implementation of the quick chill mode, and to close the inlets 44 during implementation of the normal operating mode. In addition, the controller 50 may be configured to increase the speed of the fan 20d during the quick chill mode, to provide higher total cooling air flow during the quick chill mode. For example, the air flow delivery by the fan 20d may be at least 30% higher (such as at least 40% higher or at least 50% higher) in the quick chill mode as compared to in the normal operating mode.
In implementations, a switch or other user input device 60 is provide to change between the normal operating mode and the quick chill mode. The food preparation table may also include a visual output device (e.g., light or lights, or a display) that identifies the operating mode of the table to the user.
It is to be clearly understood that the above description is intended by way of illustration and example only, is not intended to be taken by way of limitation, and that other changes and modifications are possible.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63624005 | Jan 2024 | US |
