HELICAL CONVEYOR FOOD FREEZER

摘要

A freezer (10) includes an insulated enclosure (12) for maintaining low temperatures therewith and a conveyor belt (20) that carries food products throughout the enclosure (12). The conveyor belt (20) includes a straight-line path section (40) and at least one helical path section (22a) and is driven by vertical drive elements (32) carried by a rotating drum (28) about which the conveyor helical path section (22a) is located. Upon entering a helical path section (22a) from a straight-line path section (40), the conveyor belt (20) undergoes expansion only, with the inner ends of its transverse rods (52) maintaining a precise spacing which allows smooth interengagement between heads at the inboard ends of the rods (52) and the leading surfaces of the vertical drive elements (32) that are located along the circumference of the rotating drum (28) which defines the curved helical path (22a). Because of the improved arrangement, both an ascending helical path and a descending helical path can be established within a single freezer with both rotating drums (28) simply driven by a single motor (30).