Method and apparatus for inductive heating of a food container

Abstract

Heating devices and methods which are particularly useful in vending machines for hot Foods. Foods such as beverages contained in individual containers such as cans are rapidly heated to serving temperature by induction heating for delivery to a customer. Various types of foods with food by varying the power and timing of the inductive heating. The type of food is identified by machine-readable indicia on the container which are automatically scanned prior to heating. The food containers may be agitated before, during and/or after heating to mix the contents and distribute heat evenly. The containers are heated in a vertical orientation to safely heat the food without overheating or damage to the container. A power management protocol turns off non-essential components of the vending machine while the inductive heater is energized to permit the vending machine to operate on a standard 120 VAC, 15 A electrical circuit without overload.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary vending machine of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the overall operation of the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inductive heating device used in the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the inductive heating device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing the major components of the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a food container with indicia and the indicia scanner of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for a power management feature of the vending machine of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the indicia, weight and temperature sensing functions of the vending machine of FIG. 1.

Claims

1. A method of vending a heated food comprising: providing a food contained in a conductive container that can be heated by induction heating;vertically orienting the container in proximity to an energizable induction heating sleeve to permit heating of the container by the induction heating sleeve when energized; andheating the food in the container by energizing the induction heating sleeve to heat the container and thereby heat the food contained therein, wherein the container has an internal gaseous headspace and the induction heating sleeve includes a magnetic induction coil, and the magnetic induction coil is located below the internal gaseous headspace during said heating.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sensing the temperature of the container during said heating.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said sensing is performed with an infrared temperature sensing device.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising de-energizing the induction heating sleeve when the temperature sensed by said sensing is at least equal to a predetermined temperature.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising sensing the temperature of the container prior to said heating.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising heating the container for a predetermined time based on the temperature of said container determined by said sensing.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising sensing the temperature of the container during said heating.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said sensing the temperature of the container during said heating occurs periodically.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising terminating said heating when the temperature sensed by said sensing is at least equal to a predetermined temperature.

10. The method of claim 1 the wherein container is generally cylindrical and induction heating sleeve circumferentially surrounds the circumference of the generally cylindrical container.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising dispensing the container with the food contained therein after said heating.

12. The method of claim 4 further comprising dispensing the container with the food contained therein after the temperature sensed by said sensing is at least equal to said predetermined temperature.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining the food contained in the container at or below ambient temperature prior to heating.

14. A method of vending a heated food comprising: providing a food contained in a generally cylindrical metal container that can be heated by induction heating, wherein the container has an internal gaseous headspace;vertically orienting the generally cylindrical container in proximity to a magnetic induction heating sleeve to permit heating the container when the induction heating sleeve is energized, the magnetic induction coil located below the internal gaseous headspace, the induction heating sleeve circumferentially surrounding the circumference of the container;heating the food contained in the container by energizing the induction heating sleeve to heat the container and thereby heat the food contained therein; andvibrating the container during at least a portion of said heating.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising dispensing the container to a consumer after heating the food.

16. A vending machine for vending a heated food contained in a generally cylindrical inductively heatable metal container to a consumer comprising: a housing;a storage area in the housing for storing generally cylindrical metal containers that contain food;an annular induction heating sleeve contained in the housing for heating a generally cylindrical container and the annular induction heating sleeve having a longitudinal axis that is vertically oriented when energized to heat a container;a device for agitating the container during heating in the annular induction heating sleeve; anda device for transferring a generally cylindrical container from the storage area to the annular induction heating sleeve so that the induction heating sleeve circumferentially surrounds the circumference of the container.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein the annular induction heating sleeve comprises an induction heating coil, the coil has a height, and the height of the induction heating coil is less than the height of the container.

18. The vending machine of claim 16 wherein the induction heating sleeve evenly and uniformly heats the container around 360° of its circumference.

19. A vending machine for vending a heated food contained in a generally cylindrical inductively heatable container comprising: a housing;an induction heating sleeve in the housing for heating a generally cylindrical inductively heatable container having a food contained therein, the annular induction heating sleeve being dimensioned and oriented to receive and circumferentially surround the generally cylindrical container when the container is in a generally vertical orientation;means for energizing the induction heating sleeve when the container is received therein to heat the container; andmeans for sensing the temperature of the container during heating.

20. The vending machine of claim 19 wherein the induction heating sleeve comprises a plurality of vertically spaced apart and independently energizable induction heating coils.

21. The vending machine of claim 20 wherein each of the plurality of independently energizable induction heating coils can be selectively energized.

22. The vending machine of claim 19 wherein the induction heating sleeve evenly and uniformly heats the container around 360° of its circumference.