SE545537C2

SE545537C2 - Hygienic covering of food counters

Info

Publication number: SE545537C2
Application number: SE2130094A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Ing Jan Ruml
Original assignee: Rgt S R O
Priority date: 2020-06-17
Filing date: 2021-04-06
Publication date: 2023-10-17
Also published as: FR3111530B3; DE202021102185U1; PL72587Y1; PL130046U1; CZ34270U1; FR3111530A3; SE2130094A1; HU5613U; AT17557U1

Abstract

:A hygienic covering of food counters for self-service catering of meals and food products is disclosed, consisting of vertically moving glass hood, arranged via its travel system above the counter body, the moving glass hood is fitted with a contactless control of its travel system, which, after the lifting of the glass cover to the upper position, comprises at least one optoelectronic sensor for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption by a movement of the hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system of presence sensors, connected together with the optoelectronic sensors to an electronic power supply switching circuit to the electrical drive of the travel system of the glass hood.

Description

Hygienic covering of food counters Technical field The technical solution pertains to hygienic covering of food counters for self-service catering and food products, consisting of vertically moving glass hood arranged on a travel system above the counter body.

Background Food counters for self-serving of various meals and food products are nowadays increasingly popular in public catering facilities including hotels, and during banquets, buffets, receptions, in large shopping centres, etc. Due to hygienic reasons the upper parts of these food counters in which the food products are placed are usually equipped with moving transparent, usually glass covers or hoods allowing for self-service catering.

An example of so far one of the best solutions of such a glass covering is the glass hygienic covering of food counters under patent specification CZ 307685, which consists of a vertically moving glass hood, which is, through its travel system, placed in a frame superstructure assembled above the food counter space with the offered meals or food products. The travel system of this glass hood comprises at of at least one pair of opposite travel carts with diagonally attached travel wheels with adjustable pressure that sit on inclined travel planes of their vertical travel tracks and via a system of transfer pulleys they are mutually coupled by at least one wire. This may pertain to hygienic glass covering of cooled food counters offering e. g. various types of salads, as well as food counters for self serving of hot meals.

Conceming cooled food counters, this may include e.g. the cooled food counter under the utility model CZ 3ll54, which consists of an extemal housing with an upper space comprising an open cooling box under which the lower cooling space is arranged for keeping food products in at least one cooled closable compartment. The upper space with an open cooling box and the lower cooling space are mutually connected by circulating vents for the circulation of cooling medium between these two spaces created within the partition, and under the open cooling box in the upper space of the extemal housing on the partition between both spaces one common evaporator is installed with a fan for parallel cooling of both spaces to the same temperature.

When it comes to food counters for self-service catering with hot meals, this may include e. g. the food counter under the utility model CZ 32388, which consists of an extemal housing with at least one heating box with water bath for storing stainless steel catering pans with the individual meals, placed from above. Under the heating box the extemal housing contains at least one fan, and around the heating box in the extemal housing there are air gaps directing the air ﬂow generated by the fan towards the bottom surface of the glass hygienic covering in its lower position, which prevents fogging. At the same time, under this bottom part of the glass hygienic covering there may be at least one infra-red radiator to heat up the space above the heating box in the upper position of the hygienic covering.

For the handling of these glass hygienic coverings, both in the case of the cooled food counters, as well as in the case of food counters for self service of hot meals, are usually fitted with handles and to facilitate their manual operation also with counterweights to at least partially balance their weight. However, such manual handling presents a hazard of contamination with harrnful gerrns, especially in the case of epidemics. Although from the above mentioned specification CZ 307685 a solution is known in which the frame superstructure with travel system of the glass covering of the food counter is fitted with a sensor identifying movement of persons within the area of the food display, and for automatic lifting or lowering of the glass hood by means of electric drive. In this case, however, there are often many unnecessary lifts of the glass cover, as potential customers or any other random passers- by pass by the food counter, or just look at the displayed food without the intention to buy it.

Summa These disadvantages of the known state of technology are significantly eliminated by the hygienic cover of the food counter for self-served catering of meals and food products, which consists of vertically moving glass hood arranged on a travel system above the counter body under the currently presented technical solution. The principle of this technical solution is based on the fact that the moving glass hood is f1tted with contactless control of its travel system, which, for the lifting of the glass hood to the upper position, comprises at least one optoelectronic sensor for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption by a movement of the hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system of presence sensors that register the presence and movement of persons near the food counter. Both the optoelectronic and presence sensors are connected to the electronic power supply switching circuit of the glass hood travel system.

It is usually fully sufficient, especially in one-sided food counters, to use one optoelectronic sensor in which a light beam is directed to freely accessible and marked place, e. g. by a sticker with the symbol of a hand. By placing a hand above this point the emitted optoelectronic beam is interrupted, which activates the electrical drive of the travel system of the vertically moving glass hood, which lifts the glass hood to its upper position and holds it in this position until the presence sensors detect that nobody is present at the food counter. The glass counter would retum back to its lower position spontaneously by means of gravity, while the electrical drive only controls, i.e. retards, its downward movement to an optimal speed. In case of two-sided food counters it is naturally better to place the optoelectronic and presence sensors along both sides.

The principle of the technical solution is further based in the fact that the electronic power supply switching circuit of the glass hood travel system comprises a control unit of the electrical drive, which is connected to the optoelectronic sensors; this control unit is further connected to the control unit connected to the system of the presence sensors. With an advantage the electronic power supply switching circuit of the glass hood travel system is also equipped with at least one safety sensor for stopping the movement of the glass hood and for directing its movement in the other direction, which is connected also to the control unit of the electrical drive in order to prevent damage of the individual parts of the hygienic covering, and particularly to prevent any potential injury of the customers.

The principle of the technical solution is also based in the fact that the electrical drive of the travel system of the glass hood comprises, with an advantage, a linear electromechanical actuator.

The hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving of various meals and food products, by the individual technical solution, therefore represents a further improvement of similar counters and their coverings, allowing for contactless operation, as well as for a certain simplification of their design, as due to the solely electrical drive there is no need to use electromagnets to hold the glass hood in its upper position, and there is no need to ensure an optimal balancing of its weight by means of a system of counterweights.

Drawings The technical solution is further explained by the drawings of an example of two-sided design of the hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving catering of meals and food products under this technical solution, which presents: Fig. l -the assembly of the entire food counter with the hygienic covering Fig. 2 - hygienic covering in a disassembled state Fig. 3 - block diagram of contactless control of the hygienic covering Detailed description The hygienic covering of food counters for self-serving catering of meals and food products consists, as shown in Fig. 1 and 2, of the counter body 2, which is in this particular example f1tted with an upper framework superstructure 2, in which its contactless controlled vertically moving glass hood l is assembled on a travel system 2. The upper framework superstructure 2 consists of two side stands Q and a top connecting crossbar Q.

The glass hood l, as shown mainly in Fig. 2, has a place Q marked with a sticker on its surface in the central part, from both its sides, which def1nes the space of contactless control of the movement of the glass hood l, while on the bottom part of the upper connecting crossbar Q of the upper framework superstructure 2 there are optoelectronic sensors placed on both longitudinal sides í for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption in the direction of these spaces marked by the points í for activation of the movement of the glass hood l upwards. At the same time, in this example design, the top connecting crossbar Q of the upper framework superstructure 2 on both its longer sides is fitted with a system of four ultrasound presence sensors Q for activation of the movement of the glass hood l downwards.

As roughly provided in Fig. 2, the travel system 2 of the vertically moving glass hood l consists of two travel carts Q connected via vertical guide slot i in the side stands Q of the upper framework superstructure 2 by means of plastic side holders (no detail image shown) with the glass hood l. The travel carts Q are mutually coupled via the top connecting crossbar Q of the upper framework superstructure and a system of transfer pulleys Q by means of a steel wire Q with a counterweight ä attached to its free end, with adjustable weight, that allows for the movement of the glass hood l downwards by means of gravity. It is basically the travel _3_ system 2 that has already been known from the above mentioned specification CZ 307685, here f1tted with an electrical drive 1, which comprises a linear electromechanical actuator placed inside the upper connecting crossbar Q of the upper framework superstructure and controlling the movement of the steel wire ä.

As also roughly provided in Fig. 2, the counterweight ä is f1tted with a safety sensor å for stopping the movement of the glass hood l and directing its movement in the opposite direction.

As shown in Fig. 3, the electrical drive 7 of the travel system 2 of the glass hood l is equipped with an electronic switching circuit 6 of direct current, which consists of a control unit 6.1 of the electrical drive 1, which is connected to the optoelectronic sensors 4, while this control unit Q is further connected to the control unit Q connected to the system of the ultrasound presence sensors 5 and to the safety sensor å for stopping the movement of the glass hood l and directing its movement in the opposite direction.

In this particular case the design of the hygienic covering under the technical solution is done on the above mentioned cooling food counter under the utility model CZ 3ll54, however it may be used in other similar food counters intended also for self-served catering of hot meals. In general, the system of contactless control of a hygienic covering under this technical solution may be, with minor adjustments, used also in other designs of self-serving food counters and their moving coverings.

List of reference marks: l - glass hood 2 - travel system 2.l - wire 2.2 - transfer pulleys 2.3 - counterweights 2.4 - travel carts 3 - counter body 4 - optoelectronic sensor - presence sensor 6 - electronic switching circuit 6.l - control unit 6.2 - control unit 7 - electrical drive 8 - safety sensor 9 - upper framework superstructure 10 - side stands l0.l - guide slot ll -top connecting crossbar l2 - marked point.

Claims

1. Hygienic covering of food counters for self-service catering of meals and food products, consisting of vertically moving glass hood (l), arranged via its travel system (2) above the counter body (3), Wherein the moving glass hood (l) is f1tted with a contactless control of its travel system (2), which, after the lifting of the glass cover (1) to the upper position, comprises at least one optoelectronic sensor (4) for emitting a light beam and detecting its interruption by a movement of the hand, and to lower it back to the lower position by means of a system of presence sensors (5), connected together with the optoelectronic sensors (4) to an electronic power supply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of the glass hood (l).

2. Hygienic covering of food counters according to claim 1, Wherein the electronic power supply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of a vertically moving glass hood (l) consists of a control unit (6.l) of the electrical drive (7), which is connected to optoelectronic sensors (4), whereas this control unit (6. 1) is further connected to the control unit (6.2), connected to the system of presence sensors (5).

3. Hygienic covering of food counters according to claims 1 and 2, Wherein the electronic power supply switching circuit (6) to the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of a vertically moving glass hood (1) also consists of at least one safety sensor (8) for stopping the movement of the glass hood (1) and directing its movement in the opposite direction, connected to the control unit (6.l) of the electrical drive (7).

4. Hygienic covering of food counters according to at least one of the previously stated claims, Wherein the electrical drive (7) of the travel system (2) of the glass hood (l) consists of a linear electromechanical actuator.