Artisan Ice System, Method and Apparatus
In a system for production of artisan ice, a freezer receives an artisan ice production unit comprising a water bath, a mold bottom and a mold top. The mold bottom and top define a mold that is partially immersed in the water bath when the water bath and mold are engaged and filled with water. The water bath may be heated by a heat source to control freezing of the water in the mold. The water bath, and mold top define lips above the level of water in the mold to prevent leakage of water from the mold and water bath. The mold bottoms may be stacked when the mold bottoms contain artisan ice portions for compact storage of the artisan ice portions.
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The Invention is a system for commercial production and storage of artisan ice, as defined below, and a method for the production and storage of artisan ice. The Invention also is an apparatus for production of artisan ice.
B. Statement of the Related Art‘Clear ice’ is water ice that is substantially free of trapped gas bubbles or suspended particulate matter. As a result, clear ice is substantially transparent. In clear ice production, water freezes in a single direction. Freezing the water in a single direction allows gas bubbles and suspended particulate matter that are forced from solution during freezing to move ahead of the advancing ice so that the gas bubbles and particulate matter are not trapped by the ice.
Conventional clear ice production may utilize a cascade of water over the face of the freezing ice to wash gas bubbles and particulate matter from the ice. This technology can produce clear ice cubes of up to 1.25 inches on a side, which is a limitation of the water-cascade technology. Alternatively, conventional clear ice production may use mechanical mixing to strip the gas bubbles and particulate matter from the face of the freezing ice. This technology is suitable for producing large blocks of clear ice. Conventional clear ice production systems are not flexible as to the size or shape of the clear ice produced.
‘Artisan ice’ is a single-serving portion of clear ice that is larger than the 1.25 inch prior art technological limit for commercial production of single serving portions of conventional clear ice. Artisan ice is generally in the shape of a sphere of about 2.5 inches in diameter or of a cube about 2.5 inches on a side. Artisan ice is sized so that only a single portion of artisan ice will fit within a conventional drinking glass. Artisan ice is sought after to serve patrons of bars, nightclubs and restaurants. Patrons find artisan ice to be attractive and desirable and to justify the premium price for a beverage served with the artisan ice. When used to chill a beverage in a drinking glass, the large size and relatively small surface area of a portion of artisan ice results in longer life, slower melting and less dilution of the beverage than is the case for smaller pieces of conventional clear ice.
The problem of commercial production of artisan ice has not been solved using the conventional technologies of the water cascade or mechanical mixing. A common prior art strategy to produce artisan ice is to cut a large block of clear ice into smaller portions of clear ice using a band saw and then to mold the smaller portions into spheres or other shapes using a hand-operated mold or to manually carve the artisan ice using cutting tools. This process of hand shaping each individual portion of artisan ice is labor and energy intensive and hence expensive and not suitable for a commercial environment.
Damage to the artisan ice after it is created also is important to the commercial production of artisan ice. Artisan ice portions that are cracked or chipped are considered undesirable by patrons.
Efforts have been made to allow consumers to produce small quantities of artisan ice for personal use by retarding the rate of freezing of water in a mold and by controlling the direction of freezing. The consumer systems present issues of timing and storage of the artisan ice. In a typical clear ice system for personal use, the shaped clear ice must be removed from the molds in a narrow window of time. Otherwise, the shaped clear ice will freeze to the molds and be difficult to remove. The storage issue is that if two portions of ice are placed in contact with each other, the two portions of ice will tend to freeze together. The merging of the two portions is due to fluctuating temperature within the freezer and also due to pressure effects—the increased pressure of a portion of ice bearing on another reduces the freezing temperature of the water at the point of contact and melting the ice at the point of contact. The subsequent re-freezing of the water at the point of contact welds the two pieces of ice together.
What is needed is an artisan ice production system that can be used in a commercial environment such as a bar or restaurant, that allows ready removal of artisan ice portions from the molds, and that allows storage of the artisan ice portions without artisan ice portions contacting one another and without damage to the artisan ice portions. The prior art does not teach the apparatus, system and method of the Invention.
II. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONIn the system of the Invention, a commercial upright freezer includes insulated walls and a door. The air within the freezer is cooled to below the freezing temperature of water by any conventional refrigeration system, such as Carnot cycle refrigeration. The freezer may be divided into a production portion and a storage portion. The production portion is for the purpose of freezing water into artisan ice portions. The storage portion is for storing the frozen artisan ice portions for use. The production and storage portions may be one and the same.
The production portion of the freezer includes a plurality of surfaces. Each of the surfaces is configured to support a single artisan ice production unit. Each surface includes a heat source configured to heat all or a part of the surface on which the artisan ice production unit will reside. Each heat source may be any heat-producing or heat transfer apparatus, such as an electrical resistance heater or a Peltier device.
The commercial freezer includes a control system to control the air temperature within the freezer, to control whether any or all heat sources are activated, and to control the amount of heat generated by each heat source. The commercial freezer may include sensors to inform the control system of the air temperature and the temperature of one or more of the heat sources. A sensor connected to the control system may be embedded in the water bath, mold bottom, or mold top.
The system of the Invention includes at least one artisan ice production unit. The artisan ice production unit is configured to be supported within the freezer by one of the surfaces of the production portion of the freezer. Each artisan ice production unit includes three components: a water bath, a mold bottom and a mold top. The mold bottom and mold top cooperate to define a mold.
As used in this document, the term ‘artisan ice portion’ is the single-serving piece of clear ice produced by the freezing of water in the mold. The mold defines the shape of the artisan ice portion. The mold top and bottom may be hemispherical to produce a spherical artisan ice portion. The mold top and bottom may define a plurality of the same shapes, for example eight shapes, so that a plurality of artisan ice portions will be produced at one time. The shapes defined by the mold top and mold bottom may be the same for the plurality of shapes or they may be different. For example, a single combination of a mold top and a mold bottom may define both spheres and cubes. The shape defined by the mold is not limited to spheres and cubes and the shape of the resulting artisan ice portion can be any three-dimensional solid, provided that the artisan ice portion can be released from the mold without damage to the artisan ice portion or to the mold.
The water bath is an open-top, watertight tray configured to receive and to support the mold bottom. When the water bath contains water and the mold bottom is supported by the water bath, at least a portion of the mold bottom is submerged in the water contained in the water bath. The watertight tray may define a plurality of chambers, with each chamber corresponding to one of the shapes defined by the plurality of shapes of the mold bottom. Alternatively, the watertight tray of the water bath may define a single reservoir.
The water bath defines a water bath lip about the periphery of the water bath. The mold top both defines a mold top lip around the periphery of the mold top. The water bath and mold bath lips are upstanding and extend upward to a lip level, which is above the level of water in the mold when the mold and water bath are filled with water. When assembled, the mold top lip fits within and mates with the water bath lip. This arrangement avoids the need to make the joints watertight between the water bath, mold bottom and mold top and avoids water leaking from the mold when the mold is filled.
The mold top defines a water fill hole at the top of the top of each mold top. The water fill hole is surrounded by a fill lip, which also extends in the upward direction to or above the lip level. The fill lip catches overflow or spillage of water from the mold and acts as a water level indicator—when water extends from the mold into the volume defined by the fill lip, the mold is completely filled.
In use, the mold top and water bath are releasably attached to the mold bottom by a clip to define the assembled artisan ice production unit. The mold bottom may define the clip. Clipping the mold top and water bath together prevents the mold top from floating when the artisan ice production unit is filled with water. The water-filled artisan ice production unit is placed in the production portion of the freezer, with the water bath in contact with a heat source. At least a portion of the mold bottom is submerged in the water of the water bath. The mold bottom defines a perforation below the level of water within the water bath so that the water within the mold is in communication with the water in the water bath.
The cold air within the freezer chills the mold top. The mold top is un-insulated and heat moves across the walls of the mold top from the water in the mold to the cold air of the freezer. The chilled water adjacent to the mold top begins to freeze. Gas within the freezing water is forced from solution, along with dissolved solids. The water in the mold freezes from the top downward, with the growing ice forcing dissolved gas and solids out of solution and driving the resulting gas bubbles and suspended solids before it. When the gas bubbles and suspended solids reach the perforations, the gas and solids are expelled from the mold and are not incorporated into the clear ice of the artisan ice portion.
The water bath acts as a heat reservoir, warming the mold bottom and defining the temperature gradient through the mold from top to bottom. The water bath thus controls the rate of freezing of water within the mold. The heat source provides additional heat to the water in the water bath as necessary to control the rate of freezing of the water in the mold. The water bath buffers heat from the heat source to provide even heat transfer to the mold bottom. The combination of the water bath and the heat source, all under the control of the control system, provides an adequately slow rate of freezing for the water in the mold so that the advancing ice does not overtake the gas bubbles and suspended solids. As a result, the ice remains clear. The control of the temperature gradient across the mold allows the highest rate of freezing possible consistent with the production of clear ice.
When the water within the mold is frozen to define an artisan ice portions, a user may remove the artisan ice production unit from the freezer and remove the mold top and water bath. The user will leave the artisan ice portions in the mold bottom and place the mold bottom and artisan ice portions in the storage portion of the freezer, ready for use. Leaving the artisan ice portions in the mold bottom segregates the artisan ice portions from one another, avoiding damage to the artisan ice portions by cracking or by welding the artisan ice portions one to the other. The mold bottom and artisan ice portions combination may be stacked, allowing compact storage of the artisan ice portions.
The method of the Invention is the use of the system of the Invention to produce artisan ice portions. The apparatus of the Invention is addressed to the artisan ice production unit.
The artisan ice production system 2 includes a freezer 4, shown by
From
Artisan ice production units 16 are filled with water 18. A user slides he artisan ice production unit 16 into the ice production portion 10 of the freezer 4, as shown by
As shown by
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When the artisan ice production unit 16 is filled with water 18 and is located within the freezer 4, heat flows from the relatively warm water 18 inside the mold 30 through the mold top 32 to the chilled air 14. The heat flow from the mold 30 is indicated by arrow ‘A’ on
From
As shown by
The mold top 32 defines a mold top lip 50 defined by the periphery of the mold top 32. The mold top lip 50 extends upward to or above the lip level 48 and prevents water 18 overflowing an over-filled water bath 28 from flooding the mold top 32. The use of the water bath lip 44 and the mold top lip 50 that extend above the water level of the mold 30 also provides that none of the joints between the water bath 28, mold top 32 and mold bottom 34 need be watertight. Watertight joints are not required to prevent water 18 leakage from the mold 30 or water bath 28.
The water bath 28 and mold top 32 must be selectably attached together to prevent the mold top 32 from floating on the water bath 28 when the artisan ice production unit 16 is filled with water 18. As shown by
Although watertight joints are not required, it is desirable to prevent adjacent artisan ice portions 38 in adjacent molds 30 from freezing together. The mating surfaces of the mold top 32 and mold bottom 34 may feature mating crenellations 52 to prevent ice bridging between adjacent molds 30, as shown by
The mold 30 may be filled through a fill hole 54 (
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The water bath may be insulated against heat loss from its sides to prevent heat loss from the water bath 28 except through the mold bottom 34. Such insulation 64 reduces the energy requirements for the heat source 22. Insulation also may be disposed on the underside of the mold bottom 34, between the mold top 32 and the mold bottom 34 or on top of the mold top 32 to reduce heat loss from the reservoir to the chilled air 14 through the mold bottom 34 and mold top 32 between the shapes 36 defined by the mold 30.
An automated fill system may include a fill pipe 66, shown by
The following are the numbered elements from the claims, specifications and drawings:
artisan ice production system 2
freezer 4
insulated walls 6
freezer interior 8
production portion 10
storage portion 12
air 14
artisan ice production unit 16
water 18
surface 20
heat source 22
control system 24
plurality of sensors 26
water bath 28
mold 30
mold top 32
mold bottom 34
shape 36
artisan ice portion 38
reservoir 40
perforation 42
upstanding water bath lip 44
periphery of said water bath 46
lip level 48
mold top lip 50
crenellations 52
fill hole 54
fill lip 56
clip 58
mold top latch 60
water bath latch 62
insulation 64
fill pipe 66
artisan ice engaging feature 68
Claims
1. An artisan ice production system, the system comprising:
- a. a freezer configured to chill an air within the freezer to below a freezing temperature of water;
- b. an artisan ice production unit, said freezer being configured to receive and to support said artisan ice production unit, said artisan ice production unit including a water bath and a mold, said water bath and said mold being configured to contain a water, a portion of said mold being configured to be submerged within said water bath when said mold and said water bath contain said water.
2. The artisan ice production system of claim 1 wherein said freezer defines a surface within said freezer, said surface being configured to receive and to support said artisan ice production unit, said surface including a heat source, said heat source being configured to provide heat to said water bath.
3. The artisan ice production system of claim 2 wherein said mold defines a mold top and a mold bottom, said mold bottom defining a perforation communicating through said mold bottom, whereby said water within said mold is in communication with said water in said water bath when said mold top and bottom are in engagement with said water bath and said mold and said water bath contain said water.
4. The artisan ice production system of claim 3 wherein said water bath is insulated against a heat transfer from said water bath to said chilled air within said freezer.
5. The artisan ice production system of claim 3, further comprising:
- a. an upstanding water bath lip defined by a periphery of said water bath;
- b. a mold top lip defined by said mold top, said water bath lip and said mold top lip extending upward to a lip level, said lip level being above a level of said water in said mold when said mold and said water bath are in engagement and said mold and water bath are filled with said water, whereby said water does not leak from said mold when said mold is filled with said water.
6. The artisan ice production system of claim 5, further comprising:
- a. a fill hole communicating through said mold top;
- b. a fill lip surrounding said fill hole, said fill lip extending upward to said lip level, whereby a level of said water within said fill lip corresponds to a level in said water bath and provides a feedback to a user as to whether said mold is filled and as to whether said water bath will overflow.
7. The artisan ice production system of claim 3 wherein said mold defines a shape for an artisan ice, said shape being a sphere or a cube.
8. The artisan ice production system of claim 3 wherein said mold bottom contains an artisan ice portion, said mold bottom is a one of a plurality of mold bottoms, each of said mold bottoms containing a one of said artisan ice portions, said plurality of mold bottoms combined with said artisan ice portions being stackable one on another without contact between said artisan ice portions, whereby said artisan ice portions may be compactly stored without damage to said artisan ice portions.
9. The artisan ice production system of claim 8 wherein said freezer is configured to accept said plurality of stacked mold bottoms containing said artisan ice portions in a stacked condition.
10. The artisan ice production system of claim 2, further comprising:
- a. a plurality of sensors, said sensors being configured to detect a temperature of said heat source and a temperature of said chilled air;
- b. a control system, said control system being configured to control said temperature of said heat source and said temperature of said chilled air.
11. A method for producing an artisan ice, the method comprising:
- a. providing an artisan ice production unit, said artisan ice production unit comprising a water bath and a mold configured to be immersed partially in said water bath;
- b. filling said mold and said water bath with a water so that mold is partially immersed in said water bath;
- c. providing a freezer;
- d. placing said artisan ice production unit in a chilled air in said freezer.
12. The method of claim 11, the method further comprising: providing a heat source within said freezer, said heat source being in contact with said water bath, said heat source being configured to provide a heat to said water bath to control a freezing of said water in said mold.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
- a. providing a plurality of sensors, said plurality of sensors detecting a temperature of said chilled air and a temperature of said heat source;
- b. providing a control system, said control system being in communication with said sensors, said control system be operably connected to said freezer and to said heat source;
- c. controlling said temperature of said air and said temperature of said heat source using said control system to control a freezing of said water in said mold.
14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: providing an insulation, said insulation being configured to reduce a flow of heat from said water bath to said chilled air, whereby a requirement for said heat from said heat source is reduced.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein said mold comprises a mold top and a mold bottom, said step of providing said water bath and said mold further comprises:
- a. providing said mold top, said water bath having a periphery, said periphery of said water bath defining a water bath lip, said mold top defining a mold top lip, said mold top lip being configured to engage said water bath lip, said water bath lip and said mold top lip extending upward to a lip level, said lip level being at or above a level of said water in said mold when said mold and said water bath are in engagement and said mold and water bath are filled with said water;
- b. providing a fill hole communicating through said mold top;
- c. providing a fill lip surrounding said fill hole, said fill lip extending upward to said lip level, whereby said water does not leak from said mold when said mold is filled with said water and whereby a level of water in said fill lip provides a feedback to a user as to whether said mold is filled and as to whether said water bath will overflow.
16. The method of claim 11 wherein said mold comprises a mold top and a mold bottom, the method further comprising:
- a. removing said mold top and said water bath to reveal an artisan ice portion in said mold bottom;
- b. stacking said mold bottom with said artisan ice portion in said mold bottom with another mold bottom with another artisan ice portion, whereby said mold bottom is configured for stacking without damage to said artisan ice portions.
- c. placing said stacked mold bottoms and artisan ice portions in said freezer for storage.
17. An apparatus for artisan ice production, the apparatus comprising:
- a. a water bath, said water bath having an open water bath top, said water bath being configured to contain a water;
- b. a mold top and a mold bottom configured for engagement with said water bath, said mold top and bottom in combination defining a mold, said mold being configured to contain said water, said mold bottom being configured to be at least partially immersed in said water contained in said water bath when said mold top and said mold bottom are in engagement with said water bath and said mold and said water bath are filled with said water.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said mold bottom defining a perforation communicating through said mold bottom, whereby said water within said mold is in communication with said water in said water bath when said mold top and bottom are in engagement with said water bath and said mold and said water bath contain said water.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, the apparatus further comprising:
- a. an upstanding water bath lip defined by a periphery of said water bath;
- b. a mold top lip defined by said mold top, said water bath lip and said mold top lip extending upward to a lip level, said lip level being above a level of said water in said mold when said mold and said water bath are in engagement and said mold and water bath are filled with said water;
- c. a fill hole communicating through said mold top;
- d. a fill lip surrounding said fill hole, said fill lip extending upward to said lip level, whereby said water does not leak from said mold when said mold is filled with said water and whereby a level of said water within said fill lip corresponds to a level in said water bath and provides a feedback to a user as to whether said mold is filled and as to whether said water bath will overflow.
20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said mold bottom is a one of a plurality of mold bottoms, each of said plurality of mold bottoms being configured to hold a plurality of artisan ice portions, each of said plurality of mold bottoms being stackable one on another when each of said plurality of mold bottoms contains said plurality of artisan ice portions, said plurality of mold bottoms being stackable without touching of any one or said artisan ice portions to any other of said artisan ice portions, whereby said artisan ice portions may be compactly stored without damage to said artisan ice portions.
Type: Application
Filed: May 17, 2017
Publication Date: Nov 22, 2018
Applicant:
Inventors: Edward P Denigan, III (West Chester, PA), Vida J Denigan (West Chester, PA), Peter J Hanchette (Glen Mills, PA)
Application Number: 15/598,075