Standex International Corporation

John W Westbrooks, Jr

Sara Cofield Hurt

Christopher Shea Curry

Granville P Elrod

Alex Saharian

Anthony C Grotefeld

Tracy L McDonald

Warren Frye, Jr

Joseph D Miller

Randal L Delbridge

Sara Coffield Hurt

A rethermalization system for food trays having a hot food side and a cold food side, the system includes a first thermal system having a heating source, a refrigeration coil and a blower; a second thermal system having first and second refrigeration coils and a blower; and a control system operable in one mode to activate the refrigeration coil of the first thermal system and the first refrigeration coil of the second thermal system, and operable in a second mode to activate the heating source of the first thermal system and the first and second refrigeration coils of the second thermal system.

Rethermalization system and method for use with food trays having a hot food side and a cold food side

A bedside rethermalization unit maintains food items placed on meal serving trays, including hot food items to be served at an elevated temperature, in a refrigerated state and rethermalizes hot food items at a desired time prior to meal serving. The unit is preferably in the form of a cart with castered wheels to enhance mobility. The cart includes a cabinet having an upper tray storage compartment for storing and rethermalizing a single day's worth of meals for a single individual, and a lower tray storage compartment for storage of soiled trays and eating utensils. Both compartments are refrigerated. A divider physically and atmospherically isolates the upper and lower tray storage compartments to inhibit contamination of uneaten meals in the upper compartment by soiled trays placed in the lower compartment. Rethermalization of hot food items in the upper compartment may be achieved by convection, conduction, induction, radiant heating, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the upper tray storage compartment is further divided into a rethermalization compartment, defined by a thermal barrier, with one or more heating elements for rethermalizing hot food items positioned on the meal serving trays. A control panel positioned at the front of the cart provides an indication when the meal is ready to be served.

Bedside rethermalization unit

A food temperature maintenance cart transports meals of hot and cold food items prepared at a meal assembly area to a meal serving area where the meals are to be served, while keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold for extended periods of time. The cart includes a cabinet having tray storage compartments for storing meal serving trays containing refrigerated and heated food items. Thermal barriers subdivide each of the tray storage compartments into a refrigerated compartment for maintaining refrigerated foods in a refrigerated state and a heated compartment for maintaining heated foods in a heated state. A refrigerated air delivery compartment separates adjacent refrigerated compartments and produces laminar flows of refrigerated air across refrigerated food items contained on the trays. A refrigeration blower pulls return air from the lower portion of the refrigerated compartments, up through a refrigeration return plenum containing a refrigeration coil which re-cools the air, and then forces the refrigerated air downwardly through refrigerated air supply plenums and out into the refrigerated compartments in laminar flow across the trays. Each of the heated compartments are heated by a vertically oriented, elongate resistance heating element positioned within a heated air supply plenum. A heater blower pulls return air from the upper portion of the heated compartment and forces the return air downwardly across the elongate heating element which re-heats the air. The heated air is then forced out of the heated air supply plenum into the heated compartment in laminar flow across the trays.

Food temperature maintenance apparatus

A rethermalization system for heating refrigerated food on trays, maintaining the food in a refrigerated condition until heated, and heating some of the food to a desired temperature at a serving time while maintaining the rest of the food in a refrigerated condition. The system has a cart which docks inside a refrigerator. The cart has shelves on which trays of food reside. In the shelves there are heaters. The operator programs the system using an intricate series of commands at an operator interface. A first controller interprets the commands and sends the program to a second controller. The second controller controls the heating cycle of the heaters. A current sensor is provided to sense whether there is current to the heaters. The second controller polls the current sensor and compares the findings to what is called for in the program. The second controller sends a status signal, based on the comparison, to the first controller, which provides a response, based on the comparison, to the operator interface.

Rethermalization system

A rethermalization system for storage of prepared meals in a refrigerated state, rethermalization of the meals in accordance with a rethermalization program, and maintenance of the rethermalized meal at a desired serving temperature is disclosed. Refrigerated meals are placed within racks in a rethermalization cart that is retained in a refrigerated area. Beneath the trays are located heater shelves containing one or more heating elements to heat selected food items located on the tray. The carts incorporate controllers which, upon receiving a start signal, provide power to the heater shelves of the cart in accordance with a rethermalization program. The controllers are specially adapted to enable a user to provide various heater shelves on the same cart with different programs to compensate for temperature stratification and warm and cool areas within the refrigerated environment. In an embodiment, the rethermalization program is a three stage rethermalization cycle with the food first heated to a temperature greater than the desired cooking temperature, the food is then maintained at the desired cooking temperature for a period of time and finally, the temperature is reduced and maintained at a desired serving temperature until the tray is removed from the cart or the system is turned off.

An integrated refrigeration and rethermalization system for storage of prepared meals in a refrigerated state, rethermalization of the meals in accordance with a rethermalization program, and maintenance of the rethermalized meals at a desired serving temperature is disclosed. Refrigerated meals are placed on trays, supported by heater shelves, in a refrigeration-rethermalization cart having onboard refrigeration. Critical cooling elements of the onboard refrigerator are located within the food storage area of the cart for improved cooling air flow and maximum cooling efficiency. The heater shelves contain one or more heating elements designed to heat only selected food items located on the trays in accordance with preset time-temperature curves, or rethermalization programs. A user control panel is located on the outside of the cart and enables a user to select from onboard electronic memory one or more rethermalization programs for use by an onboard integrated control system, or the user may construct a rethermalization program by entering the appropriate parameters. Rethermalization programs provide the instructions necessary to enable the integrated control system to rethermalize selected food items located on the trays. The program tells the integrated control system when rethermalization should be initiated (by turning on the heaters located in the heater shelves), the desired temperature that should be reached during rethermalization, and when rethermalization should be completed. Since the integrated control system, user interface, rethermalization heaters, and refrigerator are all located onboard the cart, the system can be programmed at the kitchen where the food is loaded into the cart, or it can be programmed at a remote location after the cart has been loaded.

Refrigerated rethermalization cart

An integrated refrigeration and rethermalization system includes a wall unit having a refrigeration system for producing refrigerated air and a convection heating system for producing heated air. A cart having hot and cold compartments for storing food items on trays is docked with the wall unit to receive refrigerated and heated air. A thermal barrier isolated the hot and cold compartments of the cart. The thermal barrier includes a plurality of thermal dividers filled with an insulating foam material. Each tray contains both hot and cold items and is positioned in the cart so that hot food items are located within the hot compartment and cold food items are located within the cold compartment. Movable damper doors within the wall unit control the flow of refrigerated and heated air from the wall unit to the cart. When the cart is docked with the wall unit, foods within both compartments are initially stored in a refrigerated state. At a desired serving time, the damper doors are moved to enable air to flow from the wall unit into the hot compartment while refrigerated air flow is maintained in the cold compartment. If needed, the rethermalization cycle can be extended by a manually activated boost cycle. After rethermalization is completed, the cart is undocked and transported to a food service area where the meals are served.

Convection rethermalization system

Food service tray

A rethermalization system for rethermalizing refrigerated foods in an institutional food service setting is disclosed. A rethermalization cart is provided with a plurality of trays for supporting food items to be served. The trays are supported on heater shelves including heating elements located under the portions of the trays corresponding to locations of food items to be heated. A loaded cart is placed in a refrigerator and is attached to a power supply and controller. A serving time is programmed into the system and the controller provides power to the cart a predetermined interval before the desired serving time. Heater microcontrollers are associated with the heater shelves and control power to the heating element on the shelves in accordance with at least one rethermalization program.

Rethermalization system having microcontroller computed start times and

An improved thermal curtain for separating a food service cart into hot and cold regions is disclosed. The thermal curtain is composed of composite foam structural elements which have enhanced insulating capability, toughness and the ability to provide structural support for food service trays placed thereon. The thermal curtain is composed of a plurality of vertically superposed tray support/thermal barrier sections which attach to a support bracket which further attaches to the back of the food service cart. The upper portion of the support/barrier is adapted to provide a tray support and conforms to the design of the food service tray to minimize migration of heated or cold air to the opposite compartment. The lower edge of the support/barrier section is composed of a blade seal floating in a retention channel which allows vertical movement of the seal. When a tray is inserted, the blade seal travels upward so that the tray may be inserted and the lower edge of the blade seal contacts the upper edge of the tray. When a tray is removed, the blade seal lowers into contact with the upper edge of the next lower support/barrier to form a thermal seal.

Insulating barrier for combined hot/cold food service cart

Covered tray with recesses

A refrigeration system comprised of a walled insulated enclosure is provided with a drive motor having a drive shaft extending therefrom. The drive shaft and drive motor are positioned along the ceiling of the walled enclosure. The drive shaft terminates at a coupling mechanism. A complimentary coupling mechanism is attached to the top of a well-known movable food rack. Thus, when the food rack is stored within the walled enclosure, the coupling mechanism on the food rack mates with and attaches to the complimentary coupling mechanism of the drive shaft. When the drive motor is actuated, the drive shaft will rotate the movable food rack. It will be appreciated that by rotating the movable food rack, the present invention will permit the food stored on the food rack to chill far more quickly than if the food rack were to remain stationary. In addition, by rotating the food rack, the present invention eliminates warm air pockets which allow bacterial growth. As a result, the present invention provides less food spoilage relative to prior art refrigeration systems and therefore is more economical to the food service industry user.

Growing community of inventors

Christiana, TN, United States of America

John W Westbrooks, Jr