FR2672409A1 - Device for dispensing food product portions extracted from a bulk store of products to be cooked - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for the bulk storage of food products, for the batching of successive portions of portions of the said products, for the unit cooking of each of the said portions and for their individual dispensing into containers (52). It is characterised in that the enclosure (2) is a structural and functional unit consisting, in its upper part, of a thermally-insulated, refrigerated storage compartment (100) intended for containing foods to be cooked in bulk and, in its lower part, of a cooking compartment (200), both of which compartments (100-200) are independent, movable means (43) being provided so as to ensure, alternately, on the one hand the momentary placing into communication of the refrigerated storage compartment (100) and of the cooking compartment (200) and, on the other hand the isolating of the said compartments (100-200), this enclosure (2) including, in its lower part, a housing inside which is placed at least one refrigeration set (101) connected by a pipe (103) to the refrigerated compartment.

Description

DEVICE FOR DISPENSING PORTIONS
OF FOOD PRODUCTS EXTRACTED FROM BULK STOCK
OF COOKING PRODUCTS.

 The present invention relates to a device for the distribution of portions of food products extracted from a bulk stock of products to be cooked: potatoes and donuts in particular.

 The evolution of consumer behavior when eating cooked food is going towards simplification and saving time.

 In particular, we find that to accompany classic cold or hot sandwiches or simply to "cut a little hunger", consumers use cooked food they want to get quickly.

 Currently, these cooked foods are only found in establishments that have a kitchen and heating and / or cooking appliances, which presupposes the presence of personnel to cook the food, its packaging and its sale.

 In addition, fully automatic prepayment dispensers have been known for a long time for products to be consumed: chewing gum, confectionery, drinks, cigarettes, etc.

 Distributors are also known comprising a cooking enclosure which comprises a basket containing cooking oil inside which an amount of food products to be cooked is deposited and means for heating the cooking oil and food to be a temperature suitable for their frying. Means are provided for weighing a determined quantity of food to be cooked and authorizing the release of this determined quantity inside dispensing receptacles, such as trays, cones, etc.

 The consumer introduces a coin which triggers a process consisting in releasing a determined quantity of cooked food inside a receptacle and in opening an external opening to make accessible to the consumer a receptacle filled with cooked food.

 These dispensers have the disadvantage of providing food which does not have a constant degree of cooking. In fact, by introducing a quantity of food to be cooked at one time corresponding to a large number of portions of cooked food to be distributed, the time for soaking the food inside the cooking basket is variable. Consequently, the cooked foods contained in the first portions distributed have a generally soft and pasty appearance because they are undercooked, while the cooked foods contained in the last portions have a hard and possibly blackish appearance because they are overcooked.

 It is understandable that this process is not satisfactory, whatever the nature of the food.

 Furthermore, these dispensers require the use of complex, expensive, fragile mechanical components and are often not very easy to use, both for the consumer and for the operator.

 To avoid the unpleasant odors released by the permanent cooking of food, these distributors must include complex air cleaning devices, which increases their size, price and maintenance cost.

 To overcome these drawbacks, there are dispensers which include a refrigerated storage enclosure for a stock of food to be cooked and an enclosure for cooking said food in a cooking basket.

 The storage enclosure, located in the upper part of the dispenser, is a commercial isothermal refrigerated enclosure (for example a freezer with its refrigeration unit) and the design of which obviously takes no account of the particular conditions of use with a dispenser automatic. This storage enclosure is arranged to overcome the cooking enclosure arranged in the lower part of the dispenser (for example, a casing which comprises a cooking basket and means for heating the cooking oil contained in said basket).

 Means are provided for temporarily placing the storage enclosure and the cooking enclosure in order to authorize the passage of a determined quantity of food to be cooked and mobile shutter means the operation of which is synchronized with the distribution.

 However, the coexistence of a cold enclosure and a hot enclosure poses many problems of heat exchange and temperature regulation.

 In addition, this simple juxtaposition of a storage unit and a separate and autonomous cooking unit does not promote a uniform distribution of the thermal loads throughout the dispenser.

 This is the reason why, in order to remedy these problems, complex and costly members are provided for regulating and controlling the temperature of each enclosure, which increases the price and makes maintenance difficult and costly.

The present invention proposes a new solution which makes it possible to combine many advantages - regulation of the heat exchanges between an enclosure
refrigerated and a hot enclosure; - quick and easy supply of food to a consumer
cooked properly cooked; - possibility of making a distributor thought out so
unitary and homogeneous, of a simple design, of an encom
significantly reduced and easy to maintain; - possibility of offering accompanied cooked food
various ingredients (salt, mustard, etc.).

To this end, the subject of the invention is a device for the bulk storage of food products, for the metering of successive portions of portions of said products, for unit cooking of each of said portions and for their individual distribution in containers of the type comprising
- an enclosure constituted by a metal frame covered with walls which comprises on the one hand a refrigerated storage compartment for food to be cooked and a cooking compartment and on the other hand a front door to which are subject
- means of individual distribution of
containers for food
cooked associated with at least one coin mechanism;
- a chute for distributing cooked food
inside a container;
- means of distributing ingredients; ;
- command and control means for assu
regulate the functioning of the
seems to organs of the distributor; characterized in that the enclosure is a structural and functional unit constituted in its upper part of a thermally insulated refrigerated storage compartment, intended to contain bulk food to be cooked and in its lower part of a cooking compartment, compartments both of which are independent, mobile means being provided to alternately provide, on the one hand, momentary communication between the refrigerated storage compartment and the cooking compartment and, on the other hand, the isolation of said compartments, this enclosure comprising in its part lower a housing inside which is placed at least one refrigeration unit connected by a conduit to the refrigerated compartment.

According to other characteristics of the invention - the refrigerated compartment has an internal envelope
insulating; - the housing intended to receive the refrigeration unit
has an internal insulating envelope which includes a
removable rear access panel with openings
ventilation; - the refrigerated compartment has a hopper in the form of
inverted truncated cone inside which is arranged
a worm screw actuated by motor parts, the end
mite of this screw opening opposite a formed orifice
at the base of the hopper; one of the walls of the hopper has at least one blade
kinematically connected to drive components to avoid
agglutination of food stored in bulk; - the refrigerated compartment contains a balance which is so
killed under the opening at the base of the hopper which
is attached to the hopper, this balance having a re
ceptacle which has a bottom mounted movable around an ar
ticulation between two extreme positions one called "de
closure "in which it closes said receptacle and
the other called "opening" in which he authorizes the
fall of a predetermined amount of food; - the refrigerated compartment has under the scale, a
discharge chute associated with a guide ramp which de
mouth in the cooking compartment; the enclosure has an insulating wall which separates the
refrigerated storage compartment of the cooking compartment
sound and which has an orifice associated with a door; - the door is slidably mounted on rails by ga
lets between two extreme positions, one called firmness
re "in which it closes the orifice and the other called
"opening" in which it frees the orifice; - the cooking compartment has two parts, one per
fixed upper tie and movable lower part; - the upper part constitutes a hood which has a
fairing that wraps the door to guide food
to cook; - the cooking compartment has at least one orifice
suction associated with filtration means intended for
ensure constant vacuum inside the compartment
cooking; - the suction means consist of an extractor
whose blade speed is regulated; - the cooking compartment has an ex gas inlet
stainer resulting from the operation of means
fireproof; - the cooking compartment has a front door on the
which is subject to a mobile mounted hatch in front of a
passage for the exit of cooked food from the basket
cooking inside a container; the cooking compartment has in its front part
a door, pivotally mounted around a hinge, on
which is subject to a cooking basket; - the upper part supports heating means which
extend in the lower part where there must be a
cooking product such as oil; - the door is coupled to a drive unit which must authorize
open it in two positions, in the first
from which the door is inclined substantially at 45 "by
horizontal compared to dripping ali
cooked items and in the second of which the door is in
marked substantially at 1200 to favor the ejection of
food cooked in a container; - the cooking basket consists of a perforated container
which has a solid front face constituting an element
mobile from the upper part of the cooking compartment,
element which must be overshadowed to allow passage to the ali
items cooked outside the enclosure; - the basket has a movable bottom around a joint
between two extreme positions, one for cooking and the other
ejection of cooked food; - the bottom of the basket has a counterweight; - a vibrator is arranged on the door; - the cooking compartment has a sheath associated with
suction and filtration means; - The filtration means comprise at least one filter; - the filters are filters of the tricometallic type and
filters with ozone emission; - the lower part constitutes a cooking block which com
takes a baking tray inside which is immersed a
cooking basket, block which is associated by means of
removable fixing at the top; - the cooking container has in its upper part a
conduit which opens into an expansion tank in order to evi
ter any overflow of the cooking product; - the cooking compartment has a communicating duct
with a water tank associated with at least one purifier, for
example with ozone ;; - the device includes means of control and verification
cation of the temperature variation of the product of
cooking within a determined thermal range; - the cooking compartment includes anti-fire means
die consisting of at least one gas container such as
C02 under pressure, these fire-fighting means being associated
to means of control and operation as soon as
that a predetermined temperature threshold is reached in
said compartment; - the device has an enclosure door inside
to which a container distributor, a
ingredient distributor, distribution chute
cooked food, a cabinet which includes means for
control and regulation of the operation of the assembly
organs of the device, and a coin mechanism; - the container dispenser has a lower end
which includes means for retaining and maintaining
vertical position of a container; - the ingredient distributor includes on the one hand a box
storage of a strip of containers of ingredients
which leads into a feed guide channel which pre
feels a sensor, and on the other hand means of sectioning
ment and separation of a container such as a guilloti
born; - the internal walls of the storage compartment and the com
cooking part are made of materials which
present the food compatibility standards.

 The invention will be better understood from the detailed description below made with reference to the accompanying drawing. Of course, the description and the drawing are given for information only and are not limitative.

 Figure l is a schematic overview of a device according to the invention, the door is in the closed position.

 Figure 2 is a schematic overview of a device according to the invention, the door is in the open position.

 Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the device in the rest position.

 Figure 4 is a schematic view similar to Figure 3 which shows the first step in the device operating process.

 Figure 5 is a schematic view similar to Figure 3 which shows the second step of the device operating process.

 Figure 6 is a schematic view similar to Figure 3 which illustrates the third step of the operating process.

 Referring to the drawing, we see a distributor of cooked food products and in particular baked potatoes A intended to be placed in various places (airports, terminals, stations, service stations, swimming pools, ice rinks, in companies, on stands fair, exhibition, etc.). This distributor 1 is constituted by an enclosure 2 formed by a tubular metal frame covered with walls 3. This enclosure 2 has a parallelepiped shape whose dimensions are variable depending on its capacity.

 In addition, this dispenser 1 is as compact as possible to present the minimum size while providing sufficient capacity to give it operating autonomy adapted to specific needs.

 This enclosure 2 constitutes a structural unit which is arranged on a support base 4. In order to facilitate the movement of the dispenser 1 for various reasons (installation at variable locations in a room, change of room, etc.), this base 4 has four casters (not shown), two of which are steerable.

 The front face 5 of the enclosure 2 has an opening inside which is housed an enclosure door 6 composed by a metal frame covered with a metal or synthetic material panel such as methacrylate. This enclosure door 6 is mounted movable between a closed position as illustrated in FIG. 1 in which it is locked by conventional techniques (bolting, screwing, etc.) and an open position as shown in FIG. 2.

 The enclosure door 6 can be straight or curved and has, as shown in Figure 1, on its front face 5 indications 7 various variables in number, shape and nature. For example, here the front face includes a possibly luminous sign 8 and four series of indicator lights 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d light of the light-emitting diode type which respectively indicate to the consumer - in service; - out of order; - during cooking; - choice of an ingredient (salt, pepper, ketchup, mayonnaise).

 The front face 5 of the enclosure door 6 also has keys 9, possibly arranged on a touch screen, to allow the consumer to choose one or more of these ingredients according to his tastes to supplement his ration of French fries A.

 Furthermore, this front face 5 of the enclosure door 6 comprises two external orifices 10, ll each closed by a door 12, 13 movably mounted to make accessible to the consumer the receptacle filled with French fries A and the sachet of ingredients of its choice.

 Referring to Figure 2, we see that on the inner face of the door 6 are arranged a coin mechanism 20, a cabinet 30 which contains means for controlling and regulating the various organs of the distributor 1 such as a machine, a distributor of ingredients 40 packaged in sachets arranged in a strip, a distributor of containers 50 and a chute for distributing fries 60.

 The coin mechanism 20 used of a conventional and known type makes it possible to receive coins of different values and to make change. In an alternative embodiment, a coin mechanism of a design is used which authorizes payment by credit card.

 The cabinet 30, made of a flexible and light material such as PVC, includes a lock 31 in order to limit its opening to authorized persons. This cabinet 30 contains a programmable automaton 32 of a conventional and known type which controls and regulates the operation of all the organs of the distributor 1.

 Here, in order to simplify the maintenance of the device, the automaton 32 used is of a simple design while being adapted to allow rapid and easy management of the products (food and ingredients) and regulation of the operation of the distributor components 1.

 The ingredient dispenser 40 is made up for each different ingredient (salt, mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup) by a storage magazine which includes a strip of 220 sachets each containing about two grams of ingredients. In order to facilitate the separation of a sachet from the strip, each end of each sachet has a precut produced by conventional techniques. This storage warehouse opens out with regard to a supply channel, the downstream end of which has a photoelectric detection cell.

 Above the downstream end of the feed channel a guillotine is provided in order to separate a sachet from the strip before its distribution to the consumer. The movement and advancement of the strip of sachets is ensured by a motor disposed at the upstream end of the supply channel.

 The container distributor 50 (trays, cones, etc.) is constituted by a storage magazine 51 which has two vertical parallel columns which each contain 100 containers 52. A claw distributor 53 of a conventional type actuated by an electromagnet allows the sequential release of a container 52 from one of the columns.

When one of the columns of the store 51 no longer has a container 52, another electromagnet identical to the previous takes over and allows the release of a container 52 from the other column until the available stock is exhausted.

 The container dispenser 50 has at its downstream end retaining means such as three pins, not shown, which keep the container 52 released from one of the columns in a vertical position in order to allow it to be filled with cooked food.

 The distribution chute 60 is constituted by a funnel which guides the fries A to facilitate their introduction into the container 52.

 According to the invention, the enclosure 2 is a structural and functional unit which comprises in its upper part a refrigerated storage compartment 100 and in its lower part a hot cooking compartment 200.

 However, in the current state of the art, this coexistence of a cold compartment and a hot compartment poses numerous problems of heat exchange.

 This is the reason why the distributor 1 according to the invention comprises a refrigeration unit comprising in addition a compressor 101 of a conventional type which is arranged in the lower part of the enclosure 2 inside a insulated housing of the cooking compartment 200. This refrigeration unit communicates by a lateral duct 103 with the storage compartment 100 to allow the passage and circulation of a refrigerant fluid such as freon. This conduit 103 opens out through a series of nozzles 104 inside the interior of the storage compartment 100 in order to ensure the maintenance of a refrigeration temperature of -18 C.

 To ensure the air ventilation of the compressor 101, air intake orifices 105 are formed in the wall 3 of the enclosure 2 constituting the base of the distributor 1.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate access to the refrigerating unit 101 and to the associated regulation and temperature control means, a removable rear panel 106 is provided. This panel 107 is provided with ventilation hem 108 to ensure evacuation of the hot air resulting from the operation of the refrigeration unit 101.

 The storage compartment 100 is a freezer whose walls 109 are fixed to those 3 of the upper part of the enclosure 2. The front face of the refrigerated storage compartment 100 comprises a door 110 mounted movably around a joint 111 between a closed position where it closes and isolates the storage compartment 100 and an open position where it allows access to the interior of this compartment 100.

 In order to maintain the thermal insulation, and to keep the temperature for storing frozen French fries A inside the refrigerated storage compartment 100, the walls 109 are covered externally with a layer 112 of several centimeters of a heat-insulating composite material which has characteristics compatible with food standards. It is, for example, a porous or fibrous material comprising a large number of bubbles or air cells such as a polyurethane insulator injected under a pressure of 10 bars. Of course, this freezer has a variable capacity depending on the needs. For example, this freezer, of the type shown, has a capacity to hold 20 kilograms of loose fries A. This refrigerated storage compartment 100 includes a supply hopper 120 in the form of an inverted truncated cone inside of which a quantity of bulk frozen French fries is placed.

 Inside the feed hopper 120 is arranged a longitudinal endless screw 121 actuated by a geared motor 122 to facilitate the distribution of loose chips A.

 The base of the hopper 120 comprises an orifice 123 which opens out with regard to a receptacle 124 of a balance 125.

 On one of the walls of the hopper 120 is arranged a blade 126 actuated by a geared motor 127 in order to avoid any agglutination of the French fries A to be cooked arranged in bulk at the storage temperature of the container inside the hopper. food 120.

 The balance 125 is a Roman balance of a conventional type, the receptacle 124 of which is secured to the base of the hopper 120 by retaining means which here are two lugs not shown. This balance 120 is preset by known means to contain a predetermined mass of frozen food products to be cooked. It has a bottom 128 articulated, between a closed position and an open position, by an electromagnet 129.

 The gearmotors 122 and 127 are slaved by conventional techniques to the electromagnet 129 of the balance 120 to ensure operation of the screw 121 and the blade 126 and the synchronized closing of the bottom 128 of the receptacle 124 of the balance 125 during the step of filling the receptacle 124 as will be described later.

 Of course, to comply with the quality standards imposed for food products, all these organs are made of an appropriate material. A stainless metal is preferably chosen here because of its satisfactory properties of resistance to stresses resulting from use in wet and cold conditions (of the order of -15 "to -20Qc) and on the other hand part of its sufficient characteristics vis-à-vis the standards imposed for food products.

 Likewise, due to the ambient humidity and the temperature prevailing inside the storage compartment 100, all of the electrical connections used are made by waterproof cables associated with waterproof connectors.

 The balance 120 is arranged above a discharge chute 140 which opens opposite an orifice 141 which is housed in an insulation wall 142 which separates the storage compartment 100 from the cooking compartment 200. This orifice 141 is closed by a door 143 made of stainless metal covered with an insulating material to avoid heat exchanges between the refrigerated storage compartment 100 and the hot cooking compartment 200. This door 143 is slidably mounted on a frame subject to the wall 142 by means an arm actuated by a geared motor as associated with rollers which, for reasons of simplification of the figures, are not shown.

 The cooking compartment 200 is fixed by bolts to the chassis fixed to the wall 126. This cooking compartment 200 comprises a fixed upper part 201 and a movable lower part 202. The mobile part 202 constitutes a cooking block which is secured to the upper part by removable fixing means such as butterfly screws.

 The upper part 201 constitutes a hood which has in its upper part a fairing 203 made of stainless metal which envelops the door 143 by constituting a guide for the French fries A to be cooked coming from the storage enclosure 100.

 This upper part 201 has an orifice which constitutes a suction mouth 204 for filtration means and a nozzle 205 for the entry of pressurized extinguishing gas of the C02 type from fire protection means.

 The rear part of the hood 201 comprises a support 206 on which is fixed by removable means a heating resistor 207 which extends in the lower part 202 of the cooking block 200 as well as a housing 208 comprising the power connections and means for regulating and controlling the temperature of the heating resistor 207.

 The front part of the hood 201 has a tilting door 210 to which a cooking basket 211 of french fries A is attached. The door 210 mounted movably around a joint 212 is actuated by a geared motor 213 programmed to ensure its opening in two positions.

 A first position, after a pivoting of 45 from the inside to the outside of the cooking compartment (arrow Fl) in which it ensures the dripping and spinning of the cooked fries A and a second position after a second pivoting of 75 "from the inside to the outside of the cooking compartment 200 (arrow F2) in which it authorizes the tilting and ejection of the fries -A into a container 52.

 The lower part 202 which constitutes a cooking block comprises a cooking tank 214 inside which a cooking basket 211 is immersed.

 The cooking basket 211 is constituted by a metal fabric which has a mesh of orifices 215 regularly spaced and a front face constituted by a stainless metal plate 216 which is fixed by two lugs associated with a screw not shown, on the internal face from door 210.

 The bottom 218 of the basket 211 is mounted mobile around a joint in order to facilitate the ejection of the cooked French fries and to prevent them from sticking to the basket 211.

 Furthermore, the bottom 218 of the basket 211 includes a ballast weight 220 intended to promote and access the pivoting movement of the basket 211 around the articulation 212.

 To facilitate the ejection of the fries A from the cooking basket 211, a vibrator 217 is fixed on the door 210.

 The cooking tray 214 is constituted by a double enclosure made of stainless metal filled with cooking product such as oil brought to the temperature of +180 "c by the heating resistor 207 which extends inside. 214 is fixed by quick couplings to the hood 201 so that it can easily be disassembled and reassembled to ensure its cleaning and maintenance.

 In addition, thanks to the fixing of the heating resistor 207 on the support 206, and therefore to the independence of the cooking tank 214 and the heating resistor 207 these operations are less complex and faster.

 This cooking pan 214 has in its upper part a conduit 229 which opens into an expansion tank 231 in order to avoid any oil overflow resulting from the boiling of hot oil caused by the undesired fall of ice fragments associated with frozen French fries from storage compartment 100.

 The cooking tank 214 also has, in its lower part, a drain pipe 232 for the cooking oil it contains which is closed by a plug.

 To avoid any unpleasant odor of hot oil being released and to purify the air which circulates in closed circuit inside the cooking compartment 200, a tricometallic filter 233 is placed downstream of the suction orifice. 204. This filter of a conventional type is inserted inside a casing which constitutes a grease trap, not shown. This filter 233 is held by removable fixing means accessible to facilitate its maintenance and cleaning. This filter 233 collects and retains the fat molecules contained in the air sucked inside the cooking compartment 200 through the orifice 204.

 Upstream of this filter 233, the cooking compartment 200 comprises suction means 234 such as a paddle extractor connected by a sheath 235 to the outlet of the filter 233 so that the air introduced into the suction means 234 purifies the fat molecules it contains.

 To ensure better evacuation of this stale air, the speed of the blades of the extractor 234 and therefore the extraction flow rate is variable and regulated as a function of various parameters and in particular as a function of the operating stage of the distributor as will be described later.

 The downstream end of the extractor 234 opens into a conduit 236 which opens into a water tank 237 associated by a conduit 238 with an ozone filter 239 to purify the air coming from the cooking compartment 200.

 This circulation of ozone inside the water tank 237 makes it possible, on the one hand, to purify the air which bubbles with smelly and foul smells and, on the other hand, to purify it from bacteria, germs and microbes.

 According to the invention, the walls 240 of the cooking compartment 200 associated with those 3 of the enclosure 2 are covered with a thermally insulating composite material having properties compatible with the standards imposed for food products which is identical to that which covers the internal walls of the storage compartment 100.

 As a result, the cooking compartment 200 is thermally insulated but also hermetically protected against the introduction of unwanted dust or the evacuation towards the outside of foul odors.

 The front part of the cooking compartment 200 comprises a door 250 movably mounted around an articulation between two positions, one of closing where it hermetically closes the cooking compartment 200 and one of opening where it allows access to inside this compartment 200.

 The upper part of this door 250, facing the door 210 to which the cooking basket 211 is fixed, comprises a hatch 251. This hatch 251 actuated by a geared motor 252 is mounted so as to be movable around a joint 253 between two extreme positions. A first closed position in which on the one hand it hermetically closes the cooking compartment 200 and on the other hand it protects the door 6 in the event of fire and a second open position in which it clears a passage for the outside towards the inside of the cooking compartment 200 (arrow F3) for the release of the cooked French fries as will be described later.

 To facilitate disassembly for maintenance and servicing of the cooking group organs, the cooking compartment 200 is fixed by removable and easily removable fixing means such as parking screws.

 In the interest of safety, to avoid any risk of fire, sensors 260 associated with an adjustable thermostat 261 make it possible to maintain the temperature of the desired cooking oil (in the vicinity of + 180au).

 In the event of failure of thermostat 261, as soon as the sensors detect a temperature of the cooking oil greater than + 210au, they transmit the information to the automaton which short-circuits all the electrical supply connections of the hotplate.

 A bottle of extinguishing gas 262 under pressure such as C02 is disposed in the cooking compartment 200. This bottle 262 associated with a conduit 263 which opens into the nozzle 205 is equipped with a pyrotechnic device of a conventional type.

 Consequently, in the event of failure of the sensors 260, as soon as the temperature of the cooking oil exceeds +240 "c, the pyrotechnic device is triggered and the bottle then pours its contents into the cooking basket.

 To put the dispenser back into operation, simply replace the bottle of C02 262 and empty the cooking basket.

Distributor 1 operates as described below under
Prior to the commissioning of the dispenser 1, an operator performs an initialization and adjustment operation.

 To do this, it introduces a bulk quantity of frozen French fries into the feed hopper 120.

 I1 adjusts the ballasting means of the balance 125 so that the receptacle 124 contains a mass of French fries A to be cooked corresponding to that of a portion which will be distributed, then it manually controls the introduction of this quantity of French fries A to the interior of receptacle 124.

 As soon as the balance is in equilibrium, it puts the automaton 32 into operation so that an impulse is transmitted by this automaton 32 by means of conventional connections on the one hand to the gearmotor which actuates the opening of the door 143 and d on the other hand, to the electromagnet 129 which controls the opening of the bottom 128 of the receptacle 124 of the balance 125 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

 Thus the French fries A to be cooked contained in the receptacle of the scale 125 fall by gravity inside the cooking basket 211 of the cooking compartment 200 to be cooked there.

 As soon as all of the cooking fries A have fallen, the automaton 32 sends an electrical pulse on the one hand to the gearmotor which actuates the closing of the door 143 and on the other hand to the electromagnet 129 which actuates the closing of the bottom 128 of the balance receptacle 125.

 After this operation, the dispenser is in working condition and therefore the receptacle 124 of the scale 125 must again be filled with a portion of French fries A.

For this, as shown in FIG. 3, as soon as a user introduces the necessary amount of money into the coin mechanism 20, the automaton 32 transmits an electrical impulse by conventional connections to the gearmotor 122 which actuates the screw without end 121 to allow the distribution of frozen French fries A contained in bulk in the feed hopper 120. To facilitate the fall of frozen French fries and in order to avoid their agglutination inside the feed hopper 120, the PLC 32 controls the operation of the geared motor 127 which actuates the blade
These frozen French fries then fall by gravity inside the receptacle 124 of the scale 125. As soon as the receptacle 124 is filled with a predetermined quantity of frozen fries corresponding to a portion of cooked fries which will be distributed, the balance 125 is in equilibrium and a micro-contact interrupts the operation of the gearmotors 122 and 127. In this state of equilibrium, the bottom 128 of the balance 125 opens under the effect of the electromagnet 129 whose operation is synchronized with that of the gearmotors 122 and 127.

 As illustrated in FIG. 4, at the same time as the bottom 128 of the balance 125 opens, the automaton 32 controls the opening of the door 143 which separates the storage compartment 100 from the cooking compartment 200. This operation d opening of door 143 is very brief (about three to four seconds) on the one hand to avoid any unwanted heat exchange and on the other hand to limit the fall of ice needles from the refrigerator into the cooking basket 211.

 Furthermore, as soon as door 143 is opened, to limit these heat exchanges (the thermal amplitude that exists between the cold enclosure (100) and the hot enclosure (200) being +198 "c) which increases the condensation and increase the volume of steam inside the cooking chamber (200), the automatic device 32 triggers an increase in the suction speed of the suction means 234.

 Thus, by sucking in a larger volume of hot air, the volume of hot air capable of rising from the hot compartment 200 towards the cold compartment 100 is reduced and therefore the heat exchanges between the two compartments are limited (100 , 200).

 Of course, this operation which begins simultaneously with the opening of the door 143 is carried out all the time that the door 143 is in the open position and it continues for a very short period of time (approximately one second) after the door 143 has been closed in order to restore an appropriate volume of hot air in the cooking compartment 200.

 As soon as the entire portion of French fries A on jellies has fallen into the cooking basket 211, the door 143 and the bottom 128 of the scale 125 close as shown in FIG. 5 to allow the receptacle of the scale 125 to be filled a new portion of frozen Fries to cook.

 The automaton 32 transmits an electrical impulse to the gearmotor 122 which actuates the worm screw 121 to allow the distribution of frozen A chips contained in bulk in the feed hopper 120. To facilitate the fall of frozen A chips and in order to avoid their agglutination inside the feed hopper 120, the automaton 32 controls the operation of the geared motor 127 which actuates the blade 126.

These frozen A chips then fall by gravity inside the receptacle 124 of the scale 125. As soon as the receptacle 125 is filled with a predetermined quantity of frozen A chips corresponding to a portion of cooked fries which will be distributed, the balance 125 is in equilibrium and a micro-contact interrupts the operation of the gearmotors 127 and 122. In this state of equilibrium, the bottom 128 of the balance 125 will open as soon as a consumer has introduced the appropriate sum into the coin mechanism 20 under the effect of the electromagnet 129 whose operation is synchronized with that of the gearmotors 122 and 127
Similarly, as soon as this phase of introducing the fries is finished, the machine 32 controls the suction means 234 so that the suction speed of the extractor returns to its normal speed. Here, the blades of the extractor rotate at a speed that allows a hot air flow of 80
3 to 100 m per hour.

 In order to avoid any release of vitiated air, the sucked air is continuously treated. Thus, this air sucked into the cooking compartment 200 in the orifice 204 is first of all sent into the sheath 235; then filtered in a tetrametallic filter 233 which retains the fat molecules, then it is injected into the extractor 234. This air is then sent through the conduit 236 which opens into a water tank 237 associated with an ozone filter 239 where it is purified and purified before being returned to the interior of the cooking compartment 200.

 During the cooking time which is approximately 40 seconds, the cooking basket 211 is immersed inside the cooking tank 214 filled with a cooking oil brought to a temperature of + 180oc. During this step, the machine 32 transmits information to the container dispenser 50 which releases a tray 52 from the magazine 51 as illustrated in FIG. 4. This tray 52 is positioned opposite the discharge chute 60 in a vertical position in which it is held by the three pins.

 As soon as the cooking time for the fries is finished, the automaton 32 transmits a control signal to the geared motor 213 which triggers the pivoting of the door 210 to 45 "from the inside to the outside of the cooking compartment 200 (arrow F1 ) for 7 seconds as shown in Figure 5. In this position, French fries A are drained of the cooking oil with which they are impregnated.

 After this drip phase, the automaton controls the geared motor 213 which allows a second pivoting of the door 210 by 75 "from the inside to the outside of the cooking compartment (arrow F2) so that it comes into contact of the discharge chute 60. At the same time as this operation of opening the door 210, the automatic device 32 triggers the operation of the geared motor 253 which authorizes the rotation of the hatch 251 as illustrated in FIG. 6.

 In this position, the hatch 251 frees the passage from the outside towards the inside of the cooking compartment 200 (arrow F3) for the fries A and the bottom 218 of the basket 211 opens by tilting forwards. so that the cooked French fries are ejected and fall by gravity into the chute 60.

 To facilitate the ejection of cooked fries and to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the cooking basket, the automatic device 32 authorizes the operation of the vibrator 217 which acts by controlled electrical pulses.

 As soon as this operation is completed, the basket 211 returns to its position in the cooking tray 214 to receive another portion of French fries A to be cooked and the hatch 251 closes to ensure the insulation of the cooking compartment 200 and the protection of the door 6 in case of fire.

 The portion of cooked French fries A introduced into the tray 52 is available to the consumer who can take it from an opening 10 provided for this purpose in the door.

 If he wishes, the consumer can then decorate his portion of fries with ingredients of his choice.

 To do this, he programs his choice by pressing the corresponding button on the external face of the enclosure door and enters the required amount of money into the coin mechanism 20.

 The information is transmitted to the controller 32 which triggers the operation of the ingredient dispenser.

 The dispenser motor advances the strip of sachets of the ingredient chosen in the channel until the photoelectric cell detects the cut previously made on the strip between each sachet of ingredients. As soon as the cutout appears a guillotine blocks the entire strip so that the consumer can in the opening 11 provided for this purpose detach and separate this sachet.

Claims (34)

 1- Device for the bulk storage of food products, for dosing successive portions of portions of said products, for unit cooking of each of said portions and for their individual distribution in containers (52) of the type comprising  - An enclosure (2) constituted by a metal frame covered with walls (3) which comprises on the one hand a refrigerated storage compartment (100) for food to be cooked and a cooking compartment (200) and on the other hand a front door (6) to which are subject  - individual distribution means (50) of  containers (52) for receiving food  cooked A associated with at least one coin mechanism (20);  - a feed distribution chute (60)  cooked inside a container (52);  - means of distributing ingredients (40) ;;  - command and control means (32) for  regulate the functioning of the  seems to organs of the distributor; characterized in that the enclosure (2) is a structural and functional unit constituted in its upper part of a thermally insulated refrigerated storage compartment (100), intended to contain food to be cooked in bulk and in its lower part of a cooking compartment (200), compartments (100 - 200) which are both independent, mobile means (43) being provided to alternately provide on the one hand momentary communication between the refrigerated storage compartment (100) and the cooking compartment (200) and on the other hand the isolation of said compartments (100200), this enclosure (2) comprising in its lower part a housing inside which is placed at least one refrigeration unit (101) connected by a conduit (103) to the refrigerated compartment.  2- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the refrigerated compartment (100) has an insulating internal envelope.  3- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing intended to receive the refrigeration unit (101) has an insulating internal envelope which comprises an access panel (107) removable rear which has ventilation openings (108) .  4- Device according to claim 1, characterized in this raw the refrigerated compartment (100) comprises a hopper (120) in the form of an inverted truncated cone inside which is arranged an endless screw (121) actuated by organs motor (122), the end of this screw (121) opening opposite a hole (123) formed at the base of the hopper (121).  5- Device according to claim 1, characterized in this flood one of the walls of the hopper (121) comprises at least one blade (126) kinematically connected to the driving members (127) in order to avoid agglutination of the stored food in bulk.  6- Device according to claim 1, characterized in this raw the refrigerated compartment (100) contains a balance (125) which is located under the orifice (123) formed at the base of the hopper (121) and which is integral with the hopper (121), this balance (125) having a receptacle (124) which comprises a bottom (128) mounted mobile around a joint between two extreme positions, one called "closing" in which it closes said receptacle (124 ) and the other called "opening" in which it authorizes the fall of a predetermined quantity of food.  7- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the refrigerated compartment comprises under the scale (125), a discharge chute (140) associated with a guide ramp which opens into the cooking compartment (200).  8- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the enclosure (2) comprises an insulation wall (142) which separates the refrigerated storage compartment (100) from the cooking compartment (200) and which has an orifice ( 141) associated with a door (143).  9- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the door (143) is slidably mounted on rails by rollers between two extreme positions, one called "closing" in which it closes the orifice (141) and the other called "opening" in which it releases the orifice (141).  10- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that aue the cooking compartment (200) has two parts, a fixed upper part (201) and a removable lower part (202).  11- Device according to claim 1, characterized in this raw the upper part (201) constitutes a hood which has a fairing (203) which envelops the door (143) in order to guide the food to be cooked.  12- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the cooking compartment has at least one suction opening (234) associated with filtration means (234) intended to ensure a constant vacuum inside the compartment cooking (200).  13- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the suction means (234) are constituted by an extractor whose speed of the blades is regulated.  14- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooking compartment (200) has an inlet nozzle (205) of extinguishing gases resulting from the operation of fire-fighting means (262).  15- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooking compartment (200) has in its front part a door (210), pivotally mounted around a joint (212), on which is fixed a cooking basket ( 211).  16- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the cooking compartment (200) has a front door on which is secured a hatch (252) movably mounted in front of a passage for the outlet of cooked food from the cooking basket (211) to the inside of a container (52).  17- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that aue the upper part (201) supports heating means (207) which extend in the lower part, where there must be a cooking product such as oil.  18- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the door (210) is coupled to a motor member (213) which must allow its opening in two positions, in the first of which the door is inclined substantially at 45 relative to the 'horizontal for the dripping of cooked food and in the second of which the door is inclined substantially at 1200 to promote the ejection of cooked food in a container.  19- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the cooking basket (211) consists of a perforated container which has a full front face (216) constituting a movable element of the upper part of the cooking compartment (200), element which must be overshadowed to allow passage of food cooked outside the enclosure.  20- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the basket (211) has a movable bottom (218) around a joint between two extreme positions, one for cooking and the other for ejecting cooked food.  21- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottom bottom (218) of the basket comprises a counterweight (220).  22- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that cru'a vibrator (217) is arranged on the door (210).  23- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the cooking compartment has a sheath (235) associated with suction and filtration means (233 239).  24- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that aue the filtration means comprise at least one filter.  25- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the filters are tricometallic filters (233) and filters with ozone emission (239).  26- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower part constitutes a cooking block which comprises a cooking tank (214) inside which is immersed a basket (211) for cooking, block which is associated by removable fixing means to the upper part (201).  27- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the cooking tank (214) has in its su périeur part a conduit (229) which opens into an expansion tank (230) in order to avoid overflow of the product Cooking.  28- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooking compartment (200) comprises a conduit (236) communicating with a water tank (237) associated with at least one purifier, for example ozone (239).  29- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the device comprises means of control and verification (260 - 261) of the variation of the temperature of the cooking product in a determined thermal range.  30- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that aue the cooking compartment (200) comprises fire-fighting means constituted by at least one gas container (262) such as C02 under pressure, these fire-fighting means being associated to control and operating means as soon as a predetermined temperature threshold is reached in said compartment.  31- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device comprises a door (6) enclosure inside which is secured a container dispenser (50), an ingredient dispenser (40), a chute distribution of cooked food (60), a cabinet (30) which comprises means for controlling and regulating the operation of all of the device organs, and a coin mechanism.  32- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the container dispenser (50) has a lower end which includes means for retaining and holding a container in a vertical position.  33- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that raw the ingredient distributor (40) comprises on the one hand a housing for storing a strip of containers of ingredients which opens into a feed guide channel which has a sensor, and secondly means for sectioning and separating a container such as a guillotine.  34- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the walls of the storage compartment and the cooking compartment (200) are made of materials which have food compatibility standards.